Citadel - System Shock Fan Remake

[67422cac9a8bbZanderat]

Not enough that it would even stand out as a hotly discussed topic in this forum.

True.

[67422cac9aa37JosiahJack]

So...no demo?  Just keep worrying about making it awesome and patching the patch and so forth?

[67422cac9ae93Marvin]

I already explained why such a package - even if it's realistic - doesn't provide recognisability and therefore sucks for gameplay.
It could just as well be a pack of condoms. Flavour: Saturnine Fantasy.

So it's a transparent packaging. Jesus.

So...no demo?  Just keep worrying about making it awesome and patching the patch and so forth?

Just release one.

[67422cac9b158RocketMan]

Yes, please release!

[67422cac9b2a0icemann]

Demo would be good

[67422cac9b3d1JosiahJack]

Hmm...I have a request.  Could someone please go to Citadel Github and open a new issue, categorize as bug, and call it "No Demo Exists".  I want to see how easy it is for people to submit bug reports.

[67422cac9b527Kolya]

I managed to do it from my phone easily. No problem there, except I couldn't categorise it. No such selection.

[67422cac9b64fJosiahJack]

Hmm, yesh it seems the mobile version of the site is horrendously limited.  Still  though, glad it works easily.

I may or may not be releasing version 0.1 soon...

Part of the problem is getting the enemies to be fun.  I at least want the servbot to be up to my standards before releasing anything.

[67422cac9b7e0RocketMan]

That's cool.  Do it when you're ready.  I think it's an excellent idea though for several reasons.  One of them is that I think it would be great for ND to play your demo alongside their own so they can see how much better you nailed it than they did, despite Citadel being artistically inferior (and I don't intend that as an insult).  It's important for ND to see that nailing the art style is good, but ultimately hollow if you can't preserve the other hallmarks of the game and focus your efforts on core feature sets without getting too side-tracked.  They've done a pretty good job for the most part but don't have your discipline IMO.

[67422cac9b965Hikari]

I view both as good things to exist for different reasons.

Citadel for those that want the original assets and the gameplay more or less the same save for some updating to controls.

Remake for those that want to see what twenty three years does to development priorities.

Neither are right nor is either wrong. They just are options and i'm all about options.

[67422cac9ba83RocketMan]

Well, I don't think JosiahJack went through all the hassle of doing what he did just to re-release the game almost exactly the same as it already exists.  Making the game in Unity opens up many possibilities as he pointed out before.  It will evolve in time to be more of a remake than a re-do, I'm sure.

[67422cac9bd38RocketMan]

Thank you!  I'll have to post a quick video of it sometime soon.

So far this is one of my most re-read threads.  That's an achievment in and of itself.  Caught this one however... sorry my friend but I'm gonna have to hold ya to this

[67422cac9be5aJosiahJack]

I did post a video.  For those who missed it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCxWnMn00Fg

[67422cac9bf88JosiahJack]

Note that no one has caught that I said that I would release an alpha version once all elevators were linked in the game...then I posted this video see.  I also mentioned something about enemies too I believe. 

[67422cac9c0d5CaveManta]

Ooh, I'm watching the video right now, and it's looking fantastic! The lighting, textures, etc look spot-on! There are even some annoying blast doors opening and closing, which gives you that classic Shock atmosphere. And I love the way you bounced when you get off the top of the ladder in level 8, it was just like getting off a ladder in the original. I'm really impressed!
But one thing that seemed kinda weird to me is how long it takes blast doors to open. Is that still being worked on?

[67422cac9c1e7JosiahJack]

Thanks!  I could speed up the large blue blast doors a bit.  They are intended to feel bulky but doesn't mean they should be annoying.

And...looks like I said that after posting the video.  Drat! Ya got me there RocketMan.

[67422cac9c2f6RocketMan]

I was talking about the video of the inviso-mutant approaching from the end of a very dark hallway.  It was a request in response to your inviso-mutant model, which looked very nice but I wondered at the level of transparency and thought a demo would prove out the correct values it ought to have.

[67422cac9c673JosiahJack]

...weird to me is how long it takes blast doors to open. Is that still being worked on?

  I've sped it up 1.5x for open and 1.75x for closing.  It's more snappier now but still feels like a big bulkhead.

In other news, npc AI is working at a basic level.  Need to figure out a better method for searching for the player and then roaming code for when the player is forgotten about.  Currently I can assign random locations in a list but they need to be actual objects manually assigned right now which is tedious.  Was pretty satisfying though, for me to run from a humanoid mutant and then watch to see it wander off in the wrong direction trying to find me.

Also, need to add delay for when mutant attacks, it's not lining up with the animation timing so player gets hurt at the wrong times.

Minor notes:
Decreased font size slightly on all UI text.  Felt too clunky.  Might decrease further later on or add a script that autosizes it based on screen size (like I did for the cursor).
Decreased cursor size some and set to autosize per screen resolution. (Note, doesn't show up in prt screen)
Decreased health and energy ticks size slightly.

[67422cac9c7a9JosiahJack]

Keep...resisting...hitting...[upload demo] button...

At some point I'll stop nitpicking and release something for you all to fool around with.

Part of my problem is that I implement the system first, then fill the system.  This means that I take much longer getting a fully working system for a particular feature (e.g. weapon switching).

[67422cac9c8d5JosiahJack]

Oooh...so close to demo.  I have a partly made main menu.  Background needs to be redone still and the all-glorious ever needed options menu still needs to be made.  I've added the remixed menu music that Denhonator so kindly made (his other tracks are great too!).

[67422cac9c9e2CaveManta]

That menu sure looks great, though I'll miss the low-res, aliased text of the original. [Sniffle] Will the beautiful and very useful bio-monitor still be at the bottom of the difficulty select screen?

[67422cac9cacclerenwe]

Looks good, I'm really impatient for the demo release! =D
But I think I missed something, where can we hear those music remixes? =O

[67422cac9ce5aJosiahJack]

Looks good, I'm really impatient for the demo release! =D
But I think I missed something, where can we hear those music remixes? =O

Thanks! Looking back I thought Denhonator had uploaded them somewhere.  Anyhow here's a couple:

Main Theme (From Intro)


Level 1

Let me know if you have trouble downloading them and I'll put them in my dropbox public.

Will the beautiful and very useful bio-monitor still be at the bottom of the difficulty select screen?

Of course.  Not that I necessarily agree that it's useful on the main menu , but in game it is interesting.

[67422cac9cfb0lerenwe]

Not bad! It seems it just lacks a bit of bass and a bit more punchy drum, but it's a pretty good rendition of the MIDI songs =)
Would you think it would be possible to also add the MAC OS versions of the tunes as an option?
It could be cool to do it for some kind of preservation of these remixes.