KickStarter System Shock 1 Remake by Nightdive Studios

[Infinitron]

which I lost interest since they switched to Unity.

I have some bad news for you.

 

[Baron Dupek]

That's two lost interest.
Srsly why the coding slaves and modders are sucked up hardy with this shit? It don't do much beside scraps and prototypes.

 

[LESS T_T]

http://www.nightdivestudios.com/first-look-at-system-shock-reimagined/

In an exclusive interview with Polygon, Night Dive Studios reveals for the first time a re-imagined experienced for System Shock. Built upon the Unity Engine and supported by original concept artist, Robb Waters, we anticipate a remake that not only provides the modern visuals and interactivity of today’s games, but with the spirit of the classic.

"Interactivity of today’s games", heh.

Also: https://www.facebook.com/NightDiveStudios/posts/661359870672770

James Awsumlazer Looking at the concept art, it seems like you're missing an opportunity for the horror aspect here. The cyborgs kinda look like Lobot from Star Wars more than horrific robotic experiments done on humans by an insane computer. The Borg in star trek were a lot creepier than these guys. The mutant... google "sleestack". That's kind of funny, actually.

I don't mean to be "that guy" who can't say anything nice about something - because I really appreciate that you're doing this, trust me. But if you're going to do it, GO FOR IT.

Night Dive Studios - Nate Hurley You guys are recognizing the many challenges behind this project. One challenge I want to point out is the element of the unknown.

A significant portion of System Shock's original 'creepiness' was the unknown lurking around the corner. The challenge is to return the element of unknown suspense to veterans and newcomers to this classic. This day and age, you don't even have to play a game to be familiar with it; all the pop-culture, youtube playthroughs, and the like.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

That's a lame-ass excuse, and they know it. It's just "too easy" to blame "experience of the elders" onto a project where you're taking something and trying to re-envision it for a modern-day audience.

In full honesty, I'm neither for or against this project - but I AM AGAINST bullshit of this caliber.

 

[Lyric Suite]

"Interactivity of today’s games"

 

[toro]

They went a little overboard with the lighting stuff but I have to admit that it looks better than expected.

 

[LESS T_T]

Oh, Stephen "Nyarlathotep" Kick of NDS is gathering feedback and answering questions for the remake at SystemShock.org: https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=8402

Turns out they secured the source code of the original and planning to release it to the community.

Also they are planning crowdfunding for this remake.

Greetings Everyone,

This is Stephen Kick from Night Dive Studios and as most of you know we're currently developing a complete remake of the original System Shock. As we get further along we'd like to reach out to you, the Shock community that has kept the franchise alive for so many years for feedback, suggestions, ideas - anything that you'd like to share with us so that we can deliver an experience worthy of the Shock name.

I realize that not everyone here is pleased with how we handled the release and distribution of SS2 almost 3 years ago - "Tech Ninjas" aside, I admit, mistakes were made. We were a brand new studio who had been handed the keys to the castle and we did the best we could. Since then we've secured the rights to the franchise, worked very closely with community member Malba Tahan to finish and release his port of System Shock and are currently collaborating with OtherSide Entertainment to create something many of us never could have imagined: System Shock 3

We've also tracked down the source code to the original game and will be releasing it to the community once it's ready.

We will most likely be seeking crowd funding to complete the game so if you have any ideas for features you'd like to see, rewards, stretch goals, concerns, anything crowd funding related, please don't hesitate to share. This is a dream project for us and working with some of the original LG crew to bring you a faithful Shock experience has been an absolute pleasure - we can't wait to show you what we have in store.

And Q&As:

Multiplayer: This is another beast entirely and while I agree that co-op would be a great feature the amount of work involved will have to be carefully considered. It is something that's been brought up in discussion that we'll explore further down the line.

Level Editor & Mods: Mod support is another thing we'd love to include and would make a great stretch goal if we can determine the amount of work it will take to provide adequate tools to the community.

Soundtrack: We are composing a brand new soundtrack.

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Don't make me have to buy a new rig just to play.
This will come down to how well we can optimize the game. With all the settings turned on to Ultra and running at 4K will require a beefy machine, but all the effects and advanced video options will be scalable from the main menu. We've had lots of problems with integrated Intel graphics so an entry level Nvidia card will probably be a minimum requirement.

Please look at linux.
We've tried to release as many of our games on Linux as possible, and will do the same for this game.

Source Code?
Will have to consult with our legal team to see if this is possible. We released the code to Strife: Veterans Edition and will most likely release the code to other titles.

Scaling UI
I have a 4K monitor and have experienced how non-scaling UI ruins workflows.

Remappable Controls.
We will have this.

Easy to use Mapping/Modding Tools.
See above, this is wishlist territory and would require a massive amount of work.

Getting to see more of the setting.
Allow us to tackle problems in our own ways.
Choices that Matter.

We aren't deviating very far from the original design and mechanics, but I agree - I'd personally love to see more of the station.

Keep the horror house feel and sound.
We're completely re-designing the sounds, music, and atmosphere - it's still Shock, but it will be scarier. You'll finally get to see the full extent of Shodan's experiments on the crew members and the effect she's had on the station.

ZERO Micro-Transactions
We are saving these for our SHODAN themed Angry Bird mobile game

Oh! A manual.
We are building a "TriOptimum Employee Handbook" that will be a prop from the game, and include the standard stuff from a game manual.

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- don't use the original level geometry.
We are using the original level geo as a guide, but are fixing wonky areas, non-manifold geometry, and improving the flow overall.

- unless the aforementioned concept was one whacky idea out of a dozen, please tone down the effects.
The effects and various post processing features can be disabled from the video options.

- here's something for a nifty stretch goal: Add a playable intro where you can experience (parts of) Citadel before Shodan's takeover. Doesn't need to be long, in fact, it shouldn't be too long, but it'd be a nice way to see more of the world and interact with some of the characters.
Great idea!

- add more choices
We have to be careful about messing with the original design/puzzles too much - but if we see an opportunity to add more depth we'll consider it.

- Make a serious effort to fix cyberspace
We are completely redesigning cyberspace.

- I'm glad you got Terri on board, but please ditch the rest of the voice over
We are re-recording all the voice over with professional voice actors - for the demo we are releasing to the public we will be using remastered versions of the original VO, but it's temporary.

---

I don't have much to say except this: make sure there are proper difficulty settings.
We love the multiple difficulty levels in Shock and will be implementing a similar system.

---

-Try to nail combat harder than in the original game, as it is the core of the game yet was a little underwhelming If we're being honest here, even with all the player choice and freedom of movement.
We want the combat to be visceral and the weapons to have weight. One of my personal wishlist goals is to have a dynamic dismemberment system similar to dead space or the original soldier of fortune. There are so many great weapons in Shock, each one should damage enemies accordingly.

I also propose the typical hand-holders can be added exclusively to lower difficulties. Add new modifiers for navigation, namely objective markers.
Great idea.

This is form that Kolya:

My respect for you actually planning to create something with the IP you got. I mean that.

Thank you! We want new Shock games just as much as anyone and it feels good knowing the future of the franchise is in the hands of the original developers.

Alternatively you could diverge from the original. You could try to introduce some clever new mechanics through the backdoor. Like being able to switch between the real world and cyberspace any time and cyberspace is this digital mesh version of reality. Nobody really liked cyberspace as it were. So there's room to improve.

This is a really good idea - we have some thoughts concerning cyberspace but hadn't considered this possibility.

More Q&As:

with the small exception of the hw requirements (intel gpu people are numerous, and I'm not sure whether ignoring them completely is such a good idea), I quite like what I see so far.

We definitely won't be ignoring them, integrated graphics will be supported. It will take more work on our end to ensure compatibility and it definitely won't be the ideal experience, but the game will run.

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While it might be interesting to see Citadel remade with realistic modern AAA standards, I see two issues. One is that the amount of work seems out of scope. If there were budget and manpower to do that, they might as well have done SS3 themselves.

When we first considered the project we came to the same crossroad and ultimately decided to hand the project over to Paul Neurath and OtherSide Entertainment. Many of the original devs are part of his team and I couldn't think of a finer or more appropriate group of people to bring their vision of SS3 to life. As far as scope goes I disagree, with SS1 we've been given the blue print to a solid foundation. We've all played the game and have identified the flaws and weaknesses that made the experience inaccessible to users in 94 and people who play the game today. By rebuilding the game from scratch and addressing these issues we believe we'll be able to deliver an amazing experience that will be both faithful and innovative. It's certainly a tall order but no where near as demanding as building an entirely original game.

Based on that I actually liked the approach of those released remake screenshots/mockups. Keeping the abstract and original mood, with some touchup. I'm not sure how much of those shots are actual shots and how much of them is photoshopped. To keep abstract feel I'd like to see the game look exactly (to the pixel) like those screenshots (DOF and bloom effects aside, I expect those to be configurable so I'm not talking about that).

I'm happy to say that those are all straight screen shots from the engine - no photo shopping here. All the post processing effects will be adjustable. We know a lot of people don't care for blur, aberration, etc...personally I like the look

Pretty sure he means an in-game document you discover, likely in the first room, that acts as an on demand tutorial, and implemented with simulation in mind to some degree (hence "Tri-op employee manual"). Not certain though.

The plan is to have a printed version of the TriOptimum Employee handbook accompanying the Big Box CE as well as a .pdf version bundled with the game.

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Story-wise, i would love to see a stretch goal where a "what-if-mode" would be introduced. This would be unlocked after completing the canonical ending. You could play as different people, and different scenario's would be played. What if Bianca Schuler would have arrested Edward Diego on time? You could play as her, gathering evidence, and depending on how well you do you could have different outcomes.

This is a really cool idea we're discussing but would most likely come after the release of the game as an expansion pack. Same idea as Half-Life: Opposing Force and Blue Shift.

Enemies in SS1 were honestly quite generic. Most of them looked the same. I would like to see certain enemies made more unique.

This is a design element we're going to stress. For instance expect to see variants on enemy types, for the Mutants there will be both male and female versions mutated to various degrees. Maybe some "experiments" were left in the over a bit longer than others?

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manual saves
- autosaves/checkpoints are fine, but let us save the game manually where we want, and when we want as well. I need to be able to quicksave and terminate the game quickly when I see my boss coming.

keep any potential console UI/controls simplifications out of the pc version
- while I understand that the UI and controls may have to be reworked further to allow proper control on consoles, any such modifications should be exclusive to the console version (having one key perform many different actions based upon how hard you press it and on what it is currently pointed at is beyond awful, yes, I'm looking at you Fallout4). I'm aware this is extra work, but it's work well worth it.

Manual saving would be my preference as well - However, I have seen some good arguments for checkpoint saves merely as a tool to build tension and fear. What did you think about Alien: Isolation? Do you think it would have been as good if you could save at any moment? Maybe manual saving is a feature available in the first two difficulty levels but not the hardest level? Thoughts?

We're working very hard on the UI, in all honesty it's probably going to be the most challenging part of development - rest assured we're avoiding anything that even remotely resembles Fallout 4's "UI" - yikes.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Cool beans and all, but what really got me stoked is

We've also tracked down the source code to the original game and will be releasing it to the community once it's ready.

 

[Infinitron]

"Tracked down" probably means "the OtherSide guys had it all along and gave it to us"

 

[Mustawd]

"Tracked down" probably means "the OtherSide guys had it all along and gave it to us"

 

[Riskbreaker]

Am I mistaken, or have folks from OtherSide also confirmed that they possesses source code for UU games some time back? Would love to see a modern source port for those, or at least something akin to Night Dive's re-release of Shock 1.
Of course, in order for something like that to happen, EA would have to be willing to budge.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Am I mistaken, or have folks from OtherSide also confirmed that they possesses source code for UU games some time back?

Yes they do. If they have any talent for marketing they'll either release the source code or update the games for modern operating systems, sometime between now and when UA is released.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

I want to play this before the world ends singleton takes over.

 

[Jaesun]

I wonder what they will do music wise on this? The original music (for the most part) was meh. There are a few really good soundtracks in the game though.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

If they wanna make it scary, they'd leave music out altogether. That's how Shock2 worked best.

 

[pippin]

Fuck them SS1 is one of the most interactive games of all time. I think the controls are/were fucked up for that very same reason.

 

[Cerulean]

If they wanna make it scary, they'd leave music out altogether. That's how Shock2 worked best.

Back when I played System Shock 2 for the first time, I remember entering that corridor where the background hum of the Von Braun, a sound that had been with me for the entire game, was replaced by complete silence. I had to stop in my tracks, take a deep breath, and collect my thoughts for whatever was about to happen. Scared me pretty good, actually.

That was one of those rare epic moments in gaming, and I still remember it a good sixteen years later.

 

[kwanzabot]

as long as they make it an actual remake as in they dont take anything out of the game i don;t see why people are bitching about a console version or even a remake, i liked ss1 alot but there's no rpg elements to take out or character system to dumb down, i dont even see how they could dumb it down unless they changed the level design completely

if it looks good ill play it, if it doesnt i wont

 

[Melan]

The first System Shock wasn't a horror game, though, it was a cyberpunk - sci-fi hybrid. The music was completely fitting for a game where you played a heavily modded hacker going up against an insane AI created by a megacorporation. Where it specifically needed to be scary (the dark corridors on maintenance), the track was subtle and scary. But there was much more to the game. Infiltration, action, subversion and yes, some horror.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I played System Shock 2 without music as well.

 

[Jaesun]

System Shock 2 is already in need of a new soundtrack for it (that techno shit was just fucking terrible, and immersive breaking). But I already mentioned that in another thread (It just needs a new dark ambient soundtrack for it).

 

[Lyric Suite]

Shouldn't even be there. How can anyone see that and think it looks good?

 

[Cosmo]

System Shock 2 is already in need of a new soundtrack for it (that techno shit was just fucking terrible, and immersive breaking). But I already mentioned that in another thread (It just needs a new dark ambient soundtrack for it).

I can appreciate drum'n'bass, but the guy that thought it'd be fit for AN ENTIRE SOUNDTRACK should be put to death.

 

[Baron Dupek]

The first System Shock wasn't a horror game, though, it was a cyberpunk - sci-fi hybrid. The music was completely fitting for a game where you played a heavily modded hacker going up against an insane AI created by a megacorporation. Where it specifically needed to be scary (the dark corridors on maintenance), the track was subtle and scary. But there was much more to the game. Infiltration, action, subversion and yes, some horror.

That (somehow) may explain why enemies in SySo1 were generic (except the latest one, I liked them).

Fuck them SS1 is one of the most interactive games of all time. I think the controls are/were fucked up for that very same reason.

Yeah, with few tweaks it could feel like mech simulator a'la Mechwarrior or something.
They could use UU control with few tweaks and more intuitive use - voila.

PS. UU is the game that spoiled me, couldn't play Doom because control and primitive gameplay.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

For me it was System Shock that showed me what could be accomplished in a 3D environment...then mouselook came along and made all of that not only possible, but made it feel so easy.

As for the music in System Shock 1 - the music isn't doing anything in that game, with the elevator muzak being the sole exception. If System Shock should have music, it should be situational, part of the scenery, like a music player in the executive lounge still playing even though SHODAN has butchered everyone in there and just left the corpses to rot. Imagine walking in there while "The Girl From Ipanema" is playing.

I recently replayed System Shock 2 and this time I had the music on. There are a few tracks in there worth a damn like Hydro 2 and Command 3, and then there's Command 2 which fits in a big action scene/boss fight. Otherwise it's the completely wrong soundtrack.