Vapourware System Shock 3 by OtherSide Entertainment - taken over by Tencent!

[Bubbles]

I wonder if SS3 will be more like Epic Mickey or more like Invisible War.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

"You see an unemployed spectre named Warren."

 

[nil]

When the opportunity to have a bigger role in bringing Underworld Ascendant to life, as well as playing in the System Shock universe once again, helping to bring these games to a 21 st century audience, I just couldn’t say no,

Not a good start.

Working on System Shock was one of the most fulfilling things I’ve done in my career and it’s hard to describe how much I’m looking forward to sharing with players what SHODAN has been up to since the last game was released.

Like when you shared with us what JC has been up to after Deus Ex?

 

[Ash]

Spector, back in the game.

Like many, this is both a joy and a worry for me given the sheer discrepancy between the likes of Underworld/Shock/DX and anything since then.
His blogs and talks further reveal a steep decline away from those exceptional concepts also, for example his lack of interest in games about "men in armor".

http://kotaku.com/5982586/warren-spector-doesnt-think-lollipop-chainsaw-should-have-been-made

"I have no interest in guys who wear armor and swing big swords"

So, I guess he's gone full circle? Not saying that is a bad thing. It's good he's returning to his roots, but he needs be in that specific mindset that developed the mastercraft of game design. They all need to be, but I question if they have "got it" in them anymore. It's like that thing Zep was talking about, but we just have to wait and see.

 

[LESS T_T]

Spector will building OtherSide Austin, heh: https://www.facebook.com/warren.spector/posts/10208609662021880

Word's out - I'm joining Paul Neurath's Otherside Entertainment to make System Shock 3. I'm going to work part-time on my own until the end of the school year but come June I'll be building a studio in Austin. Start updating those resumes, System Shock fans!

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

They should hire you, Ash!

 

[Ash]

Well, I've certainly proven myself in terms of design capability, and it would absolutely be a dream come true, and I would be determined to bring a whole lot to the company and game. I believe I understand those ingenious design concepts exceptionally well...but I suspect I may be socially inept, which it seems all that is really relevant in getting anywhere in this world. And by socially inept I simply mean not very skillful, I'm a good guy at heart and don't manipulate people or play bullshit mind games and such. I would have to be one of the quiet devs that never speaks publicly, except perhaps excluding a blog covering game design concepts or some such, but even then I'd have to tread carefully.

 

[Baron]

Forget Spector... I didn't know that Paul Neurath was behind OtherSide. I love that guy! He designed Space Rogue (Origin, 1989), a space tradin' classic.

Look at it! Still so beautiful today.

I don't want to play Elite Dangerous. I want to smuggle contraband past law enforcement patrols, roam about a space station looking for safes to crack, then finish up playing a few games of Hive!, the coin-op game inside the game. I think I just want to play Space Rogue again, they need to remake this.

 

[Mustawd]

I would have to be one of the quiet devs that never speaks publicly, except perhaps excluding a blog covering game design concepts or some such, but even then I'd have to tread carefully.

That or going batshit crazy against a guy who runs the forum in which you are posting...

I swear you attnetion-whore modders must be delusional in that you seriously think you do not want attention. Of course you do. Maybe not personally, but definitely for the product you are trying to encourage people to play. Otherwise, "typical modder" would not exist. As it describes a modder who gets butthurt over the fact that no one will pay attention to them or their mod.

Nothing against you Ash, but it's just hard to believe what you say on the subject of attention.

 

[agris]

Don't talk yourself out of pursuing an opportunity. If you're interested, contact him. Your work on GMDX speaks for itself, you don't need to be a used car salesman.

Spoiler

 

[Ash]

Don't talk yourself out of pursuing an opportunity. If you're interested, contact him. Your work on GMDX speaks for itself, you don't need to be a used car salesman.

Spoiler

Thanks, agris.

Nothing against you Ash, but it's just hard to believe what you say on the subject of attention.

All I want to receive attention is my work, which damn well deserves it as it is one of few works these days that strives to push forward in terms of classic game design and is huge in scale. We haven't had anything forward-thinking & uncompromisingly hardcore from the Immersive Sim in years. Me? I'm considerably introverted in reality, definitely not a people person.

 

[LESS T_T]

I wonder how many pages of 'anguish and rage' this will produce: http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2016/02/system-shock-3-warren-spector.html

"I think it's safe to say SHODAN and Citadel Station will be involved," Warren tells me, mentioning elements from the first game. "Though maybe not in the ways people expect. We'll just have to wait and see."

System Shock 2's lead designer was Ken Levine, but after the rights to the franchise were tied up, he went on to lead design its "spiritual successor" -- the BioShock games. Warren tells me they have fans of both franchises in mind:

"It's early days but I think we'll be able to put a unique spin on things that will make old and new fans of System Shock happy as well as all those BioShock fans out there."

 

[Ash]

Consider that it could just be marketing bullshit. If they want to reach the audience/numbers they very much deserve, milking the Bioshock name is a good way to go about it. That watered down System Shock game has so many damn fans - industry insiders and the audience. PC and console. First person fans and first person haters. System shock is not on the map in comparison. So basically we have to cross our fingers and hope we're being lied to. It's a lovely world we live in.

...but putting some dummy-fication options in the can be acceptable (but still a shitty compromise), but only if they are truly optional and only what is "necessary".

 

[Infinitron]

http://venturebeat.com/2016/02/17/w...tem-shock-by-joining-otherside-entertainment/

Spector said during a conversation at the DICE Summit game event in Las Vegas that he plans to finish up his game design teaching work at the University of Texas at Austin and start a new studio in Austin with OtherSide Entertainment, which is headed by Paul Neurath, the founder of Looking Glass, the now-defunct company that made the original System Shock.

Neurath is doing a “spiritual successor” to the Ultima Underworld dungeon-crawl games, dubbed Underworld Ascendant. That PC game is being made without the Ultima franchise name, which Electronic Arts owns. But the game is a reimagining of the Ultima series in a new fantasy universe. He recruited Spector to come back into gaming by asking him if he would make a new version of System Shock.

Spector was the creator of the very first System Shock, which debuted in 1994. Neurath has been able to secure the rights to System Shock.

Spector also was a key creator of the Deus Ex and the Ultima series. Spector has been advising OtherSide on Underworld Ascendant since its start. Spector is looking for funding for the new studio, which will need to hire a considerable number of people to make System Shock 3 as a PC game. The title could be made for other platforms too.

“Paul was the devil sitting me on my shoulder tempting me to come back and make games,” Spector said.

Spector said that the studio will be a reasonably big effort for an indie game company, with a relatively large budget. But he said it won’t be on the order of $40 million to $50 million, as he has done in past games.

“I’ve been there, done that,” he said.

 

[sullynathan]

fuck man, how the hell is this guy so quick with reporting the news.

 

[CreamyBlood]

fuck man, how the hell is this guy so quick with reporting the news.

I don't know, but it seems like I constantly re-read duplicate posts of his within fifteen minutes of each other in two different threads.

 

[Ash]

"Spector said that the studio will be a reasonably big effort for an indie game company, with a relatively large budget. But he said it won’t be on the order of $40 million to $50 million, as he has done in past games."

$40-50 million...which ones I wonder? I suspect DX1 was in the range of 5-10 million. Invisible War/Thief 3 wouldn't have been much more, so just Epic Mickey?

So I seems they have funding sorted anyhow. Good.

 

[Jaesun]

Just a guess, but I would say DX was in the 10 - 15 MIL mark in development.

 

[Zetor]

Austin, eh? Smells like ION Storm v2.0 to me. I can see the Tom Hall and John Romero Fig stretch-goals already!

at least we'd get Anachronox 2 out of it

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Looks like a job for...

Zep Zepo

 

[MrJohnson]

Don't care who works on it as long as they don't produce a unenjoyable fuck-up

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

How does some rando company with a few good people end up starting to talk like they've got millions of dollars at their disposal?

 

[Ash]

How does some rando company with a few good people end up starting to talk like they've got millions of dollars at their disposal?

Publisher funding. It's common for kickstarted games to be publisher backed, which I have been confused about since day 1 as the whole point of it is to cut out the middle man.
Personal finances: these guys are were not underpaid by any means before forming Otherside. Neurath was creative director for Zynga, pumping out highly creative classics :D
Respected: we aren't the only ones that respect them. They aren't exactly a "rando" company now are they. I hear talk that although they may not be well known among gamers, they are considered legends in game dev circles. Some would surely be happy to invest.

Just some possibilities, ultimately all speculation.

 

[Roguey]

The upside of this is that SS3 likely won't be needlessly groggy since Spector hates that in particular.

 

[V_K]

SS3 likely won't be needlessly groggy

Judging by Ascendant's skill system that's an understatement.