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KickStarter STRAFE® - fast-paced, gib-fest FPS with procedural generation, 1996©

LESS T_T

Arcane
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Codex 2014
I approve this trailer (might slightly NSFW). :thumbsup:



STRAFE® is the fastest, bloodiest, deadliest, most adjective-abusing, action-packed first-person shooter of 1996! Auto-generating levels of pure mayhem constantly change up the carnage.

The future of 3D gaming is in your hands. Are you ready to push the limits of computer-generated realism and hardcore scifi action to a new level that threatens the very existence of humanity?*

Good. Humanity is not worthy of STRAFE®:

• BILLIONS of level possibilities with a unique level generated on every load
• OCULUS RIFT compatibility - put yourself inside 100% virtualized "real" environments
• Randomized enemies, monster closets and hidden secrets surprise at every turn
• ÜBER-GORE® Tech for ludicrously persistent gibs
• Lifelike digital gravity
• BLAZING fast gameplay and responsive controls
• Realtime first person upright biped simulation
• Weapon upgrades and power-ups that’ll change your play style
• Unsigned 32 bit colors!
• Colored lighting!
• Ultra large resolutions with a unique 16:9* screen ratio (*only in 2d mode)
• Multi dimensional polygonal meshes derived from over a thousand unique vertices
• STRAFE®!

You survived the hell demons of DOOM, the pure evil of QUAKE and the insane Nazi regime of WOLFENSTEIN 3D. But nothing can prepare you for the depravity of deep space in STRAFE®.**



It's on Kickstarter now: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/strafegame/strafe

The goal is pretty high, but the trailer going viral now so I guess there's a good chance they'll make it.

http://www.strafe1996.com/
http://strafedevblog.com/
 

Melan

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PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! I helped put crap in Monomyth
They spent their budget on an ironic video that spoofs "eXXXtreme gaming" ads, but doesn't show us anything about the game except that it is gory. Then they released a tech video where they also don't show us anything about the game except that it is gory. They also made a 1996 Geocities-style page where they also don't show us anything about the game except that it is gory, and procedurally generated. Then they launched a Kickstarter campaign where they also don't show us anything about the game except that it is gory, ironic and it is not a cover shooter with recharging health.

I am fully convinced their priorities are in the right place, and this will be a gameplay experience on par with the original Quake. After all, Quake was all about hilarious amounts of gore.
 

bert

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howardheader.jpg


Lets all just own up to it! Violence done well is fucking hilarious. It's like Itchy and Scratchy or Jackass –now that's funny!
 

Astral Rag

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-randomly generated levels
-boring weapon design
-boring enemy design
-"lulzy" and hilariously Brütal

Just like all those 90s FPS they namedrop.

IS STRAFE® AN ARENA SHOOTER?

Nope, There are amazing Arena shooters available that you should already be playing and Quake Live is free... come on. STRAFE®'s focus is on a fast, gory, fun singleplayer experience with endless replay value.

:hmmm:


On the plus side, the very few environments they show do look pretty nice, they remind me a little of Fade to Black.

tumblr_nfzaj3KZOD1ty4xg7o1_1280.jpg
 
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skacky

3D Realms
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I hate this goddamn trend of random levels. Trailer is one of the best I've seen for any game though.
 

warpig

Incel Resistance Leader
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There's a possibility of this ending up as a cool game, depends on the shooty combat mechanics and whether their random level generator can produce interesting maps. I would prefer a "classic fps" level design and exploration instead of this randomly generated stuff though. The enemies look like shit and I don't like the graphic style. If they want to make $$$ on 1990's nostalgia they're doing it wrong. This looks like too much like a hipster game, should be more grimdark sf or some "occult" stuff.
Cool marketing, I liked it more when games were advertised as entertainment for edgelords than something for everyone and their dog.
 

Unkillable Cat

LEST WE FORGET
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Codex 2014 Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy
Why do I get the feeling that the owners to the rights for the Strife game (1996) will sue them?
 

Boleskine

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What experience do these devs have? Their presentation is good, but I don't see any indication from them that they actually know how to make a 90s styled FPS.
 
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The trailer is funny, I liked it. But the game feels more like Minecraft + Brutal Doom + weapons from AAA popamole shooter. Random generated levels in FPS ? I can't even remember any game in this genre that would do that.
 

Unkillable Cat

LEST WE FORGET
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Codex 2014 Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy
Because you're dyslexic.

There's only one vowel seperating their names, they're (retroactively) associated with the same year, they're both videogames, both FPS titles and both on the same platform.

I've seen lawsuits take off based on less than that.
 

Destroid

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The trailer is funny, I liked it. But the game feels more like Minecraft + Brutal Doom + weapons from AAA popamole shooter. Random generated levels in FPS ? I can't even remember any game in this genre that would do that.

There have been several recent indie entries in the genre (Tower of Guns, Paranautical Activity, Ziggurat), seems to be pretty new.
 

LESS T_T

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Codex 2014
Apparently there was a relevant update from last July: http://strafedevblog.com/post/93056717598/how-we-are-handling-level-generation-in-strafe

How we are handling level generation in STRAFE



It was important to us that the player have an authored experience. We are deeply inspired by early id games and love the level of detail and love that they put into the their maps but we wanted to create a fun fast gameplay experience that you could return to after beating the game and not get sick of static levels. But at the same time completely procedural levels are often not fun to traverse or balanced, they work well in Minecraft but not in a game that would play like Quake so we are approaching it in an interesting way.



We started by creating a large collection of rooms that fit together like a puzzle and randomize every play. I build each room to have multiple entrances that the game will choose to plug or open depending on the generation.



To do this Steve created two door nodes that I can build into our levels. The pieces I have named simply the “door plug” and the “tile plug”. The door plug is a 4x4m node that will connect to other 4x4m nodes and disappear after connecting two rooms. It can also have geometry childed to it. This helps me gate off areas if the door is inactive to help keep the room feeling good. For example If a door is at the bottom of a set of stairs I can place a wall to block off those stairs if the door is inactive during that spawn.

The “tile plug” is really cool, I like it a lot. It’s a 8x10m tile that will connect two spaces and the purpose of this connection is to help change the feel of rooms and not just connect them at the doors. This can connect two smaller rooms making a larger one or it can add a smaller room onto different areas of a larger one.

After the map is created all of the content that the player will interact with is randomized within the environment. This includes: enemy placement, food dispensers, ammo, power ups, etc. Each of the assets are coded to follow a specific set of rules so that they will behave appropriately.

I really love secrets in games, and not lazy ones. I don’t think that an extra clip of ammo behind a staircase is a rewarding secret. I adore developers who spend time on content that will not be seen by a substantial amount of their players but will truly reward the people who dig in and dedicate their time. To me that shows passion because any company focused on their bottom line won’t waste their teams time on such content.



(The orange walls are moveable walls for secret rooms)

One of the staples of STRAFE is secret rooms (that is not our only form of secret) and monster closets. Much like the entrances there are secret doors littered throughout each room and the game decides a percentage that will be monster closets, secrets or inactive and then randomizes them throughout the level. This should keep the player on their toes even if they play the game enough to memorize all of the door placements.

There’s still a long way to go before I’m in a place where I feel good showing the game off but I wanted to share our level generation solution with you. I’ll write about my process in designing rooms next.

Thanks for reading about our development, we’ll be sharing more soon. You can keep an eye on our project via the links below if you aren’t already!

Twitter Facebook

-Thom

 
Joined
Oct 19, 2010
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The name is really good.

The design principles are really good.

The graphics are not impressive - looks retro, but without the art direction of those older games.


The concept art looks so much better than the in-game product it isn't funny. That's bound to work against them.



The randomly generated levels though IMO are probably the biggest problem they have. Create a hand-crafted campaign then either scatter the randomly generated levels between those levels or have it as a secondary play mode. You'll never capture that oldschool feel without huge, hand crafted levels
 
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grudgebringer

Guest
Going with randomly generated levels is the stupidest thing ever, those screens have no soul in them. Doom, Quake and of its ilk are all famous for their level design, not some pre generated shit. :argh:
 

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