SSR: System Shock Kickstarter

[6741d53178e35icemann]

Oh man. Hope there's not more waiting.

So apparently a hefty FPS improving update is on the way thanks to nvidia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NsfqJPmhYY

In most sections it appears (from the video) to be a doubling of the framerate. Nice.

Kotaku article on the topic:
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2021/03/dlss-just-casually-doubles-system-shocks-frame-rate/

[6741d53179058ZylonBane]

DLSS as a concept just seems sketchy as hell. Who in their right mind would want a game to intentionally render at a lower resolution, then rely on some AI upscaler to give its real-time best guess as to how the scene is supposed to look? Is this the lossy dystopia we've been forced into by 4K resolutions?

[6741d53179216voodoo47]

ah, that thing? made me remember the time when nvidia was "optimizing" their aniso filtering in a lets say, questionable way, and when someone found out they went with "is it really cheating if you can't see it?".

good old times.

[6741d531793dbKolya]

I don't have an RTX card, so joke's on them! 

EDIT: The discussion drifted off into personal drama at this point and has been cut off. You can read it here:  Hikari to yami

[6741d53179670Hikari]

That Zylon feedback? That is the exact feedback the developers need. Take or leave the argument of overal pixilation if you like i don't care on that sigular point. However zylon has put in an easily readable ad diguestable manner a laundry list of concerns and noteable attributes that need changing... from the standpoint of someone who has picked the original apart for the past twenty+ years, so it isn't like 'us oldsters are sobbing for pixel perfect recreations or some other impossible standard.' This is the guy that has put forward a heck of a large chunk of his life into documenting the franchise and improving shock 2. So while I personally despize the guy? Dude knows what he talks about here.

Were I in your position nightdive I would choose to listen to all of it. However, I will underscore one point of personal interest:

Pixelated text needs to go. Period. I don't care about artistic intent. I don't care about your aesthetics arguments. All of those are invalid. My eyes are super jank (and I have surgery in a couple weeks to try correcting/mitigating issues) so I understand this is not a universal concern or at least not as noticeable. Text needs to be above all else READABLE. If I can't read the text I don't care what it says because it's visual clutter, and while intentional visual clutter can lead to atmosphere in a survival horror game? This is unintended (i think? I hope anyway) obfuscation and making it harder on the player to find need to know information.

[6741d531797e0edx]

April 2021 Kickstarter Update:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598858095/system-shock/posts/3167221

[6741d53179b5aicemann]

Stuff from the update:

Hacker's apartment:

Concepts:

Vids:

Lighting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UfNoci7bcc

Fridge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9BQePXt4s8

Bathroom:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ns29J9nqhk

[6741d53179e79unn_atropos]

Finally. For years I had this nagging question in my head: What kind of lightswitches does the hacker have in his apartment??
And there are five lights. Don't you agree!?!

[6741d53179f87voodoo47]

there's pizza, so all's good.

[6741d5317a0ddJDoran]

That does feel a little more 'lived in' than most futuristic first person shooter apartments. They could do more in that direction, but it's a good start.

[6741d5317a1faunn_atropos]

If they make it so that there is a minigame in which you hack into the TriOpt network, that could be interesting.
Or that the hacker can say "To hell with TriOp!" and starts up "a system about to be shocked" (basically System Shock classic but names like S.H.O.D.A.N. changed to W.O.T.A.N.-Wireless Optical Transceiver Array Nomination)

[6741d5317a2dbicemann]

And have a rival Corp's AI be called Durandal for a bit of cross game stuff (Marathon game series).

[6741d5317a43bedx]

June 2021 Update:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598858095/system-shock/posts/3234413

Of note: Stephen Kick and Evelyn Mansell will be the guests on the Twitch Weekly show starting at 1:00 PM PST this Thursday! They will be showing a never-before-seen level from System Shock.

So tune in and don’t miss a thing:
https://www.twitch.tv/twitchgaming

[6741d5317a53aZylonBane]

That moment when they realized the shuttle model they'd built explicitly for getting the player to the groves didn't have enough room on the destination screen to actually spell out which grove you're going to.

[6741d5317a676Nameless Voice]

Not like they couldn't decrease the font size.

[6741d5317a9fcicemann]

Key things from the update:

Work on Avian Mutant:

Work on teleporters:

Animated textures now in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkzVyYE2eYg

New Grove doors:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7eEN5mhtyU

Gamepig implemented:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoxNncNSrl4

[6741d5317ab9eicemann]

Stephen Kick and Evelyn Mansel of Night Dive featured on "The Weekly" last night, showing off some gameplay.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1073549248

Jump to 33:32 in the above video to skip to the Night Dive section. The video shows off some enemies not mentioned in the KS update like the Cortex Reaver, Sec-Bot (which looks A LOT like the Security Robot from SS2) and more. The gameplay reveal primarily focuses on the Research level, which previously no gameplay videos had been done for. Worth a watch if you want to see some new stuff.

[6741d5317ad0dDark-Star88]

Interesting stuff, glad to see there is at least some progress.

[6741d5317b020ZylonBane]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1073549248

Jump to 33:32 in the above video to skip to the Night Dive section.

That abject "god help us" look on Evelyn's face after she says people will really enjoy the pixelated look (38:55) was just perfect.

Weird choice to change the Research level's walls from red to dark magenta. Looks like playing inside of Galactus's helmet.

[6741d5317b27bicemann]

ZylonBane
I have to admit that on seeing Evelyn I thought her and Daniel were one and the same (due to the facial similarities, accent and voice) until I did a check of Night Dive's discord.

[6741d5317b50cDark-Star88]

That abject "god help us" look on Evelyn's face after she says people will really enjoy the pixelated look (38:55) was just perfect.

Yeah it's enough BS to fertilize the entire MidWest region and she knows it.

[6741d5317b610edx]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZWaCLBUCeA

[6741d5317b76fKolya]

Kick and Mansell at least know what they are talking about. Frank has heard other people talk about System Shock, whereas Briana hasn't got the faintest idea what all this is about. All in all a shit show.

[6741d5317b9faZylonBane]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZWaCLBUCeA

They appear to have learned nothing from the criticisms of how dark the Medical demo was. Original Research level was mostly very well lit, but in their version the entire deck is apparently now an eye-straining nightmare. You literally couldn't even see the new security bot other than the blinking lights and a vague outline.