KickStarter System Shock 1 Remake by Nightdive Studios

[Carrion]

Experience is overrated anyway.

Not when you're giving money to people who might or might not get the game finished at some point. It's much easier to put your trust on a Brian Fargo, who not only has his reputation at stake but also lots of experience managing fairly big game projects, than some rather inexperienced bunch of people who may not be aware of all the potential pitfalls that such an endeavor entails. You might have an inexperienced development team that is capable of putting together a very good game, but it's another thing entirely to give them a huge sum of money in the hopes that they manage to spend it all wisely.

In terms of getting a lot of money, the lack of a proper figurehead like Fargo or Tim Cain will probably be a bigger hindrance than experience per se, though. This project does look excellent, I just wonder if that's enough to persuade people to make it all happen.

 

[Ash]

Of course experience has a lot of value. Ultimately though, newbies with a brimming passion to make a great game would be more valuable to me than a washed up experienced veteran who can manage the project perfectly, yet is not particularly passionate about making the game to the "best" of his ability to the extent he was in his younger years, or simply doesn't value what is expected from the game in relation to those older in the series.
Which kickstarter adding to an existing series has produced something "better" than the older games in the series, that I'd like to know. Matter of opinion what is better or not of course but that Kickstarter fatigue exists for a reason: many aren't delivering, and it seems to be an issue of design not meeting the fan's standards/exceptions, rather than an issue of management.

Anyway, Kick has a shitload of experience in that it won't fall apart. He's published over 90 games since 3 years ago! Sure that is not exactly management of a game development project, yet it is the same in principle. This kickstarter just feels right to me, but I could always end up wrong.

 

[LESS T_T]

Polygon's preview...of campaign rewards: http://www.polygon.com/2016/6/24/12007602/system-shock-kickstarter-campaign-rewards-screens-demo

- It's not System Shock Remastered anymore, it's System Shock. Now they're calling it "reboot".
- Demo will be available at day one. Polygon will release a gameplay video early next week.
- The Razor partnership is SS-themed hardware.

System Shock is still getting remastered, but don't call it System Shock Remastered anymore.

Just ahead of the game's Kickstarter campaign launch, developer Night Dive Studios told Polygon that the upcoming re-imagination of Looking Glass Technologies' 1994 game has a new name now: System Shock.

"We felt that the amount of passion and resources that we are putting into this game elevated it beyond the expectations that someone would have for a remaster," CEO Stephen Kick said. "This is a full-fledged reboot of a classic game into something new."

We've gotten glimpses of the reboot through early alpha footageand screenshots. When the crowdfunding campaign starts at 12 p.m. PT next Tuesday, June 28, nostalgic backers and the genuinely curious alike will have a chance to actually play System Shock themselves. A short demo of the Windows PC version will be made available to anyone through Steam, GOG and Humble the same day that the Kickstarter opens.

Polygon got an early look at that build, as well as the various rewards that will be offered just to those who back the crowdfunding project. Take a look at some screenshots above — we'll also have a full gameplay video up early next week.

We also got a preview of some of the campaign rewards. These include a collector's edition box with a physical copy of the game (launching on both Windows PC and Xbox One), a miniature and a manual, among other items; there's also a Razer-brand laptop with System Shock-centric detailing. There will be other rewards offered on a variety of tiers.

Spoiler

These and other rewards are still being revised ahead of the crowdfunding campaign's launch. The game is still a work in progress too, and players may note some unfinished parts of the user interface here and there.

For those looking for even more System Shock in advance of the demo and the full game's release — scheduled for sometime next year — take a look at some of the concept artwork by original artist Robb Waters below.

Spoiler

And two new screens:

 

[Zombra]

Wow, a full demo available for the kickstarter? Hopefully that will go a long way.

 

[Infinitron]

Geez, they're making this a goddamn extravaganza. Brian and Feargus, take notes.

 

[Space Insect]

I feel like they could very well make the 900K with all of this marketing that is going on, not to mention the fact that they actually have a demo ready.

 

[Melan]

That laptop.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Demo?

How retro.

 

[praetor]

That laptop.

Tripotimum!

 

[Athelas]

It will be interesting to see how much the Kickstarter will raise, considering it's a remaster of a game that seems to be much less popular than its sequel. Though that might work in its favor, since the remaster will basically be an opportunity to play a brand new System Shock game for a whole lot of people.

 

[toro]

That laptop.

Tripotimum!

TriOptimum

 

[Average Manatee]

Was gonna say, 900k is already a pretty tall order for a SS1 remake. They'd really need something interesting like a demo to meet these lofty expectations. So it's great news that Night Dive thinks the same as well. A full demo of the whole medical level would be pretty awesome.

 

[Cassar]

It will be interesting to see how much the Kickstarter will raise, considering it's a remaster of a game that seems to be much less popular than its sequel.

Its not a remaster anymore.

"We felt that the amount of passion and resources that we are putting into this game elevated it beyond the expectations that someone would have for a remaster," CEO Stephen Kick said. "This is a full-fledged reboot of a classic game into something new."


I suspect trying to go multiplatform with a 22 year old PC game led to too much altering and changing so now they're calling it a reboot. A new game for modern times. Will be interesting to see how they tackled everything.

 

[DeepOcean]

It could be just a marketing move, remaster, imply some expectation that the game will use the same assets as the original with a slight make over on the graphics. They seem to be revamping the whole graphics but keeping in line with the original level geometry, for newfags, it will look like a new game anyway. I hope they don't mess with the gameplay and level design, original System Shock just needed mouse look and a fix to the godamn cyberspace.

 

[DraQ]

Regarding optimism - a good original game requires the devs to do at least one thing extremely right. A good remake requires the devs to do nothing wrong (compared to the original).
This here is promising, because sticking to the original this closely pretty much ensures the latter. They leave themselves very little room to fuck anything up.

good evaluation overall, however one correction: apparently according to the AMA they do have collective industry experience. Experience is overrated anyway. Many great games back in the day were made by relative newbies.

Also there are many industry veterans responsible for timeless classic who come off as bumbling fools whenever they open their mouths to speak game design. And if they say all the right things, then chances are they did or would do something else about monumentally wrong without even understanding the magnitude of their fuck-up (like Deus Ex: Invisible War) or that it was a fuck up at all.

 

[Athelas]

Its not a remaster anymore.

I know, I meant 'remake' when I said 'remaster'.

 

[Turtle-Zone 3000]

So if this kickstarter is a success we'll have three System Shock inspired games competing.
An unknown team, Warren Spector with his somewhat more experienced team and a AAA team.

Place yer bets on who makes the best successor people.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Regarding optimism - a good original game requires the devs to do at least one thing extremely right. A good remake requires the devs to do nothing wrong (compared to the original).
This here is promising, because sticking to the original this closely pretty much ensures the latter. They leave themselves very little room to fuck anything up.


Also there are many industry veterans responsible for timeless classic who come off as bumbling fools whenever they open their mouths to speak game design. And if they say all the right things, then chances are they did or would do something else about monumentally wrong without even understanding the magnitude of their fuck-up (like Deus Ex: Invisible War) or that it was a fuck up at all.

They already got the music wrong, plenty of opportunities to fuck it up.

 

[Average Manatee]

Remaster is what consoles call a 30 FPS 1080p version of a 3 year-old game that was originally running at 20 FPS 720p but advertised at 30 FPS 1080p. No surprise they would want something that sounds like actual work was put into it, especially for a kickstarter.

 

[DraQ]

Regarding optimism - a good original game requires the devs to do at least one thing extremely right. A good remake requires the devs to do nothing wrong (compared to the original).
This here is promising, because sticking to the original this closely pretty much ensures the latter. They leave themselves very little room to fuck anything up.


Also there are many industry veterans responsible for timeless classic who come off as bumbling fools whenever they open their mouths to speak game design. And if they say all the right things, then chances are they did or would do something else about monumentally wrong without even understanding the magnitude of their fuck-up (like Deus Ex: Invisible War) or that it was a fuck up at all.

They already got the music wrong

Nah, that's original team.

 

[Space Insect]

With all the talk about how this is a reboot, I wonder if they plan to try to do a "reboot" of SS2 if this is successful. It would tie in quite nicely with Otherside doing SS3 at the moment.

 

[DeepOcean]

So if this kickstarter is a success we'll have three System Shock inspired games competing.
An unknown team, Warren Spector with his somewhat more experienced team and a AAA team.

Place yer bets on who makes the best successor people.

If they are good, gonna buy all three.

 

[LESS T_T]

Also Ken Levine's new game is a sci-fi FPS/RPG. FWIW.

 

[Durandal]

Also Ken Levine's new game is a sci-fi FPS/RPG. FWIW.

The nostalgia train has no brakes.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

BTW, did System Shock 1 have fall damage?