KickStarter System Shock 1 Remake by Nightdive Studios

[Fenix]

I remmeber that floor - engineering? with invisible mutants. My balls turned first time I played it into peas...

 

[Morenatsu.]

SS2 was also a proper horror game, unlike SS1. Having the music tell you when monsters are around isn't exactly a good thing in horror games.

Doesn't play when they're around, it plays when you take damage or hit an enemy. It also has a klaxon track for when you're low on health.

wrong. there is a second layer that plays different sequences depending on nearby monsters.

fast guitar = small robot
slow guitar = big robot
bagpipe = mutant
funny distortion = cyborg

now you know!

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Now I understand why some people consider SS2 mainly an action game: because they played it with music on.

Even Silent Hill become a boring action game if you play in background some dumb fast paced looping music instead of a soundscape with sparse/ambient music.

 

[ciox]

Now I understand why some people consider SS2 mainly an action game: because they played it with music on.

Even Silent Hill become a boring action game if you play in background some dumb fast paced looping music instead of a soundscape with sparse/ambient music.

Ah, excellent breakdown of the situation.

Unfortunately, turning the music off in SS2 removes far more sparse ambient tracks than fast paced tracks, making the breakdown very disingenuous.

 

[Tweed]

wrong. there is a second layer that plays different sequences depending on nearby monsters.

fast guitar = small robot
slow guitar = big robot
bagpipe = mutant
funny distortion = cyborg

now you know!

Paging RoSoDude to the thread, maybe he can put this to rest.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Now I understand why some people consider SS2 mainly an action game: because they played it with music on.

Even Silent Hill become a boring action game if you play in background some dumb fast paced looping music instead of a soundscape with sparse/ambient music.

Ah, excellent breakdown of the situation.

Unfortunately, turning the music off in SS2 removes far more sparse ambient tracks than fast paced tracks, making the breakdown very disingenuous.

Yes, there are also some scary tracks that you can miss, but I found the overall balance to be still positive, considering also that SS2 already has a good scary soundscape and that the tracks are too short and playing them in a continuous loop become boring soon.

Indeed few games nail perfectly the good equilibrium in music. Thief 1-2, the mentioned Silent Hill (1-4) games, are among these exceptions.

 

[Fenix]

Music is "soul" of SS2.

 

[gurugeorge]

Music is "soul" of SS2.

Music really binds me to a game psychologically - or does the opposite, repulses me. That's the difficulty with music, it's so subject to personal taste.

But there are obviously some things that a lot of people like, just as with "hits" in the real world.

I'll always give it a chance though, because I'm aware of how much love and labour are involved - I've never understood people who just switch off the music and have none at all or just put on their favourite Metallica. Music can obviously be an important factor in movies and it can be an important factor in games too for the same reason - setting the emotional tone of events, enabling you to access the protagonist's emotions in a way that just the script alone won't let you, etc.

 

[Fenix]

I can say that TTLG is the only (known to me) who handled the music in games perfectly imo.
And this perfection gone with 90s avd talente people of 90s.

 

[Morenatsu.]

wrong. there is a second layer that plays different sequences depending on nearby monsters.

fast guitar = small robot
slow guitar = big robot
bagpipe = mutant
funny distortion = cyborg

now you know!

Paging RoSoDude to the thread, maybe he can put this to rest.

it's literally the first thing you hear when you start the game

Now I understand why some people consider SS2 mainly an action game: because they played it with music on.

Even Silent Hill become a boring action game if you play in background some dumb fast paced looping music instead of a soundscape with sparse/ambient music.

it's almost like it's meant to be an action game or something. even without the music I was still somersaulting around instantly respawning enemies

 

[RoSoDude]

wrong. there is a second layer that plays different sequences depending on nearby monsters.

fast guitar = small robot
slow guitar = big robot
bagpipe = mutant
funny distortion = cyborg

now you know!

Paging RoSoDude to the thread, maybe he can put this to rest.

The best source of information on SS1's music system is this writeup by Speedy, who used it to compose the music for the ReWired fan mission for System Shock. His identification of the stems is still incomplete, however. Some layers are used for specific encounters (the associations Unreal posted are essentially correct to my knowledge) while others are based on proximity to a given enemy type.

[...]

System Shock takes advantage of this by storing up to but possibly less than 49 sub-songs in a single XMI track. These are then called upon dynamically depending on the situation the player has gotten in, and will also be randomly applied to the music in order to help make the music feel less repetitive.


There’s three types of music in each track: Exploration Melodies, Combat Melodies, and Layer. Exploration contains the basic melodies played during normal exploration. Combat contains the basic melodies contained during Combat. Layers are melodies that play when specific events happen, like enemy encounters.

 

[Tweed]

Well, that was an interesting and informative read. I have no idea how I never noticed this.

I'm not apologizing to Unreal though because he's a dong.

 

[Morenatsu.]

I once created the best recording of the soundtrack to date.

Then I deleted it from Youtube!

 

[Maggot]

Now I understand why some people consider SS2 mainly an action game: because they played it with music on.

Even Silent Hill become a boring action game if you play in background some dumb fast paced looping music instead of a soundscape with sparse/ambient music.

It's an action game even on impossible, you might as well consider UUW a survival horror game if you think SS2 is one because the resource management for both are on the same level.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Now I understand why some people consider SS2 mainly an action game: because they played it with music on.

Even Silent Hill become a boring action game if you play in background some dumb fast paced looping music instead of a soundscape with sparse/ambient music.

It's an action game even on impossible, you might as well consider UUW a survival horror game if you think SS2 is one because the resource management for both are on the same level.

They are not at the same level, but yes, even Silent Hill is an action game from this point of view.

 

[Tweed]

Now there's only two mysteries left I want to solve about Shock's music. The first is why does the Cyberpspace track always fuck up after the first transition (he said it was bugged, but regarding max volume) and why does every single midi outside of the game miss that hammer-on note in the medical suites?

 

[schru]

Now there's only two mysteries left I want to solve about Shock's music. The first is why does the Cyberpspace track always fuck up after the first transition (he said it was bugged, but regarding max volume) and why does every single midi outside of the game miss that hammer-on note in the medical suites?

I think it might be present towards the end of the track in the recordings I posted earlier (they're Unreal's, save for the SC VA additions): https://mega.nz/file/LBlEQTaL#5IZlRE58Ky_c3kvl-gJKsWXmnNxdhxArUNZzpM6jHBE

 

[Tweed]

I've never heard half the tracks in the cyberspace set.

 

[Morenatsu.]

Now there's only two mysteries left I want to solve about Shock's music. The first is why does the Cyberpspace track always fuck up after the first transition (he said it was bugged, but regarding max volume) and why does every single midi outside of the game miss that hammer-on note in the medical suites?

nonstandard pitch bend range settings be like that

 

[prengle]

wrong. there is a second layer that plays different sequences depending on nearby monsters.

fast guitar = small robot
slow guitar = big robot
bagpipe = mutant
funny distortion = cyborg

now you know!

Paging RoSoDude to the thread, maybe he can put this to rest.

The best source of information on SS1's music system is this writeup by Speedy, who used it to compose the music for the ReWired fan mission for System Shock. His identification of the stems is still incomplete, however. Some layers are used for specific encounters (the associations Unreal posted are essentially correct to my knowledge) while others are based on proximity to a given enemy type.

[...]

System Shock takes advantage of this by storing up to but possibly less than 49 sub-songs in a single XMI track. These are then called upon dynamically depending on the situation the player has gotten in, and will also be randomly applied to the music in order to help make the music feel less repetitive.


There’s three types of music in each track: Exploration Melodies, Combat Melodies, and Layer. Exploration contains the basic melodies played during normal exploration. Combat contains the basic melodies contained during Combat. Layers are melodies that play when specific events happen, like enemy encounters.

for people who are physically incapable of reading text:


i didn't know that ss1's dynamic music was this fucking complicated but i'm not surprised, as a zoomer i grew up with ss2's soundtrack and the ss1 midi remixes that chicajo made, so every single time i actually tried playing ss1 i figured nightdive must have botched the midi playback because it always sounded too janky for its own good. little did i know, looking glass was trying to pull off fully dynamic music in 1994... christ they really were too good for this gay earth

even now i still swear the original dos version sounds a little less broken, i couldn't get the original """"enhanced""""" edition to sound like this even with a decent soundfont - maybe the kex port fixed this, i doubt it:

 

[Tweed]

In my defense I think I was unaware since I've been playing this game since I was a kid and I originally played it using an Adlib card.

 

[Morenatsu.]

roland master race!! woo yeah yall are loosers

 

[Razor]

MMMMmmmmmmm. Delicious normie memes...

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598858095/system-shock/posts/3236806

September Update


Welcome back hackers,

It’s been a wild couple of months as we continue to work towards launching the game we’ve all been patiently waiting for. I know there has been some confusion over dates, and announcements which is an unfortunate reality of making games, but I can assure you that System Shock is on the way. We have some big news to share in the future that will help make sense of what’s been going on, and again we thank you for your patience.


What are we working on?
We are working on the final polish for the enemies, weapons, levels, and cinematics. We will post a few screenshots here, but we’re at the point where we don’t want to ruin any surprises.

Grove Dome - One of the largest assets in the game, its translucent windows will allow you to see the outside of the Citadel Station and Saturn while visiting the Groves.

Grove Vegetation - There will be many different varieties of plant life living inside the Groves.

Avian Mutant - We originally cut this enemy from the game but decided it was important to have an enemy that introduced verticality to the combat, specifically in the Grove levels.

Spoiler

System Engineering - Early Blockout

We will have a few updates coming to the demo which include full dismemberment across all enemies along with updated AI, new behaviors, new animations and hit reactions, updated weapon fx as well as numerous bug fixes and performance optimizations. We’ve compiled feedback from discord and the various forums and will continue to do so to improve the game. A big thanks to everyone who has been sharing their feedback with us in a constructive way, it’s greatly appreciated and extremely helpful!


Studios News
Our KEX team has been hard at work after launching the critically acclaimed remaster of Quake with Bethesda and Id Software.

System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition and it’s VR counterpart are being developed simultaneously.

Shadow Man console ports are on the way and our friends at Limited Run have pre-orders of Strife: Veterans Edition for Switch and Turok & Turok 2: Seeds of Evil for PlayStation available now. Pre-orders for the physical editions of Quake have just wrapped for both Switch and Playstation, so I hope you were able to secure a copy!


Be sure to follow us on:

Nightdive Twitter

System Shock Twitter

Nightdive Facebook

Nightdive Discord

Nightdive Instagram

See you next time!

 

[SharkClub]

That looks pretty good.