Night Dive Twitch Streams

[675ae809c1cd8sgupta]

02/25/19 Dev Stream w/ Daniel & Jonathan (Art) & Stephen (Later)

* They start showing off Jonathan's work on the Reactor sections (of Medical).  Moving red lighting and some reflections are working, etc., but final lighting isn't done yet even with how much is already visible.  Blue radioactive tiling/piping/trench area is all there as well.  [Even unfinished, this looks really cool and really unique IMO - I can't think of anything else that looks quite like it (similar to how I felt about the distinct look of the original)!]  Force fields they're still working on.

* Reflections are done by placing a reflection sphere, and much of the work is done for you.

* They're working on the last section of Medical level. 

* He's rearranged some things like corridors.  Same look, but some of the corridors and such don't make a lot of sense.

* SERV-BOT and Repair Bot models are both in (not shown as he's not sure where the files are atm, but they're otherwise ready)!

* Chris has some really cool light changes planned to break up some of the blue look of the level.

* Daniel will be at GDC.

* They have tech to make things as shiny or rough as they want (like a slider). 

* Stephen joins.  Nightdive has 22 meetings scheduled at GDC. 

* Probably no posters in the games, but plenty of the screens (some rectangular; some like the TriOp shape - both are shown).

* Ceilings have been raised in some areas - this helps accomodate some of the new, bigger objects (ie. the new Cyborg Conversion Chambers).

* There's a GDC demo (video I assume) coming that's going to show off some new stuff.  Jonathan mentions it in reference to it using Quixel Megascans for some of the stuff we'll see.  He also mentions Quixel Mixer, which isn't used here, but is free at the moment and allows for texture creation for those wanting to play with it.

* Nightdive is currently looking for at least one skilled artist (prop/environmental), so if you know of anyone, message Karlee or Stephen in the Nightdive Discord for more information or to apply.

* Q: (Somewhat unrelated) How is blood coming?  A: Coming along well.

* Q: Will the game be out in 2019?  A: No.  They'd like to, but they're a small team and also don't want to get burnt out by working too many hours.  That said, progress is going well despite a bumpy start, so it's definitely coming along, but 2019 is just not realistic.

* It sounds like Jonathan would like to have all the Groves in initially, but it's still up in the air whether that will make it in. 

* Daniel's favorite color is orange.  Jonathan's used to be blue but as he's gotten older became orange as well.

* There's a demonstration towards the very end of how they're going to take the 2D textures that were supposed to be 3D objects (ie. a computer console with pipes and such expressed in a flat texture) and translate it to a true 3D object instead of a 2D texture made to look like one.  They'll be using this in retro mode as well.

[675ae809c1e9eZylonBane]

Jesus, they're really using those idiotically impractical TriOp logo shaped screens? I was hoping that would die at the concept art stage.

[675ae809c2223sgupta]

New video of SERV-BOT (just noticed Repair Bot is there as well, though not really focused on): https://www.facebook.com/NightdiveStudios/videos/1188991181269575/

Probably one of my favorite enemies in the game; I know, I know, but I'm a sucker for the 80's style robots.  Had a Radio Shack Robbie Junior as well as a robot desk fan (looked a lot like Nintendo's R.O.B.) and other assorted bots.  So these types of things make me smile. 

Also, I forgot to mention some discussion in the last stream about possibly replacing some of the ramps with stairs.  They seem to be back and forth on this a bit. 

Re the vid screens, I like the different shapes, including the TriOp ones, and the K.I.T.T. style scanner light shown in the last update.  It is definitely something new from what was in the original, but they did have some weirdly shaped grates and such even then, so it doesn't seem that much of a stretch to me, and it mixes it up.   Personal preference varies of course.  I don't consider practicality that much in the designs as the original station layout didn't seem practical to begin with.  I think it might also depend on what the various shaped displays are actually used for in-game.     

[675ae809c2737icemann]

My notes for the latest stream

* Reactor sections of Medical looking very nice. Similar to before, and yet very different all the same. Now has a strong red glow to it, which makes perfect sense considering it's a reactor section.
* 0:17:00 - Daniel mentions that the triangular areas of medical will be removed, and changed to be more in a cyborg-style.    - Is that more borg like? Some further detail there I'd have liked.
* For the servbot and repairbots, the material was in Daniel's version but not the model itself. Hence why it could not be placed.    - Been playing around in the Unreal Engine due to uni teaching work, so its making a bit more sense to me now.
* 1:15:00 - You see a bit of the player walking about in the cyborg conversion room that Daniel's working on. Is this the first time that we see the player unarmed? I don't recall seeing the players fists before in early gameplay showings.
* Is it just me, or is the game a bit too dark? Then again, he hadn't re-built the lighting.
* 1:16:30 - Daniel states that there will be no posters in the game, because they have the technology to use electronic boards everywhere.      - This I'm not a fan of. If your going to say that in the future no'one uses posters anymore then that creates a bit of a plot hole with System Shock 2 which has them. People said years ago that electronic tablets would replace physical books, but they haven't. Papers still very popular with many people.
* Jonathan responds to Daniel "Right because it's not cyberpunk if it's printed on paper", to which Daniel replies "Nope".   - Sorry don't agree at all.
* Daniel says that "in System Shock 1 lore wasn't it that nearly all of Earth's tree's were gone?"   - Err. No. That's not in the lore. Jonathan states that no that's incorrect, and that he knows SS lore very well.
* Majority of the video is focused on changes to various rooms, with new models or just making them larger.

[675ae809c284cMaggot]

Is it just me or are the two bots identical to the Unity version? What took so long to bring it over to UE4?

[675ae809c29f4JosiahJack]

No posters???

Also, yes there should be paper...you can read papers in the original.  Heck we can make more papers scattered in offices and such.

[675ae809c2b13JosiahJack]

Triangular areas removed??  The heck is going on over there?????

[675ae809c2c82ZylonBane]

Regarding the posters, SS has always had schizo tech. You've got teleporters and giant boxy security cameras on the same station. Just go with it, guys.

[675ae809c2dedJosiahJack]

True that.  I always did like that 90's charm where they forget to assume that stuff will always get smaller and have large clunky devices in the so called future.

I mean really, the CPU cores wouldn't be much fun to destroy if they were the size of pinheads so I suppose there is a balance somewhere.  Then again quantum computers are rather massive with their coolant systems and all so maybe SHODAN runs on Quantum CPUs.  And security cameras are harder to hack or accidentally get destroyed by stray gunfire if they have boxy 3-inch thick plating around them?


I like the servbot's twitchiness.  Gives it character.  Quirky hunk o' coke-toting junk.

[675ae809c2f06ZylonBane]

Basically "cyberpunk" isn't just futurism, it's now a specific flavor of 80s/90s retro futurism, complete with anachronisms and terrible predictions about where technology is going.

[675ae809c30b2sgupta]

There were paper notes you could find in the original as well, though I recall in a much earlier video discussion (I think Stephen?) saying they might change those to tablets/PDA's.  Honestly, I don't have super strong feelings on it either way.  I love a well-designed poster (the Alien: Isolation ones really blew me away).  That said, I think vid-screens and tablets can do things just as interestingly, so if this is a change from the original, it doesn't really bother me all that much. 

[675ae809c31f8JosiahJack]

Ya it's fine, I just don't like false claims about the lore.  It doesn't sit well with me when they keep seeming uninformed about some fairly basic details.

[675ae809c332ficemann]

Daniel said it was mentioned in the strategy guide. I don't recall that at all, and I don't like the presumption that no'one would use paper anymore.

Hell, even the movie Bladerunner (which is HEAVILY cyberpunk) still had paper in it. A paper based book will always have more "texture" to it, and is easier on the eyes.

[675ae809c3529ZylonBane]

My only objection to the paper notes in SS1 is that they looked so much like every other piece of environmental trash that it never occurred to me that they were actually readable.

This could of course be resolved by making readable paper more visually distinctive, and training the player to read them.

[675ae809c370fsgupta]

Yeah.  I'd also like a record of the paper notes if they do remain paper.  If I'm remembering right (it has been a while; I keep meaning to play the original again soon), you couldn't keep them in the original - they were placed back where you found them.  It'd be nice if they were auto-OCR'd into your brain or something, if they did stay paper.  =oP  I'm kind of curious now thinking about it why those notes were done that way.

[675ae809c3d5cSynaesthesia]

Ya it's fine, I just don't like false claims about the lore.  It doesn't sit well with me when they keep seeming uninformed about some fairly basic details.

Something to note here is that Shock is rarely consistent with itself, and Shock 2 was retrofitted to be part of the Shock story. If we change anything it's going to retroactively change the "lore" of the game. That's just how it is. Same with the new Star Trek series, Discovery - the new visuals have completely supplanted the old 1960s look, and that's the official look for the TOS era now.

I don't like leaving negative comments so I hope none of you take it this way - but keep in mind that we're doing a lot of chatter on stream and none of it should be construed as official until there's an actual Kickstarter update. Even then, development is subject to change. There is no guarantee that posters will exist, there's no guarantee that they won't. There's still a lot of time left between now and the release.

[675ae809c3ec9Gawain]

I vote for more posters than in the original.

[675ae809c4392icemann]

Something to note here is that Shock is rarely consistent with itself, and Shock 2 was retrofitted to be part of the Shock story. If we change anything it's going to retroactively change the "lore" of the game. That's just how it is. Same with the new Star Trek series, Discovery - the new visuals have completely supplanted the old 1960s look, and that's the official look for the TOS era now.

The thing there is that Discovery is not a remake, where as this is. So it's very different, and the justifications for the lore change don't really make sense.

For the record I've been a lifelong fan of Star Trek since TOS and quite like Discovery. I went back and watched the "Mirror, Mirror" (the first parallel universe) episode recently. Still holds up despite the sets looking silly. TOS really shines when it comes to stories.

[675ae809c45b9sgupta]

I can understand concern about lore changes, but I'd also recommend keeping an open mind.  Paper or no paper is a relatively small thing, and steps will be taken to make the world interesting either route they take.  Also, I think it's fair to say Daniel (and most of the people at Nightdive) know System Shock pretty well, but that doesn't mean certain details can't sometimes be overlooked or misremembered.  Most of us have our own headcanons about certain things that aren't as well fleshed out, and it's certainly easy to misattribute or misremember something you saw concerning something else.  If not in that guide, I'd guess he did see the no paper thing somewhere, and for some reason he thought it was SSHOCK.  At any rate, I think the best thing to do when you notice something like this is bring it up in a constructive manner - that's been done, so they're at least aware of the concern now.

Re Discovery, I've tried - I really have.  I just cannot seem to like it.  I still watch every week hoping it grows on me, but well into the second season, I doubt it at this point.  (That said, I absolutely love The Orville, so I'm not too upset about not loving Discovery, and I'm glad it has a fanbase of people who are digging it.  I think it's great it appeals to some people.  I just wish it worked for me more.  =oP).  TNG (which is what I grew up with) and DS9 were always my favorites. 

[675ae809c4775icemann]

For the record, if I'm not mistaken the "almost no trees left in the world" was in the latest Bladerunner, which might be where he's getting that from.

I do recall that being in the plot toward the start of the film. And yep I said about newspapers in the first movie, but I'm strictly speaking on the sequel. From memory in the first film nearly all animal life was extinct. I recall something about most animals being cloned, or manufactured or something. I dunno, it's about a decade or more since I last watched it.

As for Discovery the second season has been a real mixed bag for me. The first season I majorly enjoyed, and it spent a FAIR bit of time in the mirror universe (more so than any Star Trek show has so far) which scores it bonus points. Second season though has been all over the place. Some episodes have been really boring and felt like filler, while others have been quite good. TOS was my favorite of the shows with DS9 taking second place.

As for favorite space based sci-fi show of all time, that goes to Babylon 5. I LOVED that show. The shadows were the best villains I've seen in a sci-fi show so far. Mass Effect completely ripped them off.

[675ae809c487dicemann]

And no new streams SS remake related. Been more of a focus on gameplay videos from non Night Dive games this year which I have zero interest in. Last few weeks has been Daniel playing Resident Evil 2. Last year had wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy more SS remake streams on a weekly basis.

[675ae809c4968Synaesthesia]

Last year didn't have us preparing to showcase at GDC, either. We'll get back to development live streaming when things calm down after next week.

[675ae809c4a84sgupta]

Yup - my impression from Discord is just that; they're too busy with development for streams at the moment.  I actually take it as a good sign for the game, even though I too miss the streams and look forward to some coming back.  Streams are tons of fun, but they do slow down actual dev work I'm sure.  But I'll be very curious about what we're going to see at GDC, and I look forward to the dev streams that do come back after!

[675ae809c4be5icemann]

I didn't mean it as a negative in the slightest against ND. Just me liking the steady amount of streams from last year. Plenty and varied is how I like it.

And each streamer was worthy watches in their own right.

Chris - 3D modelling stuff mostly.
Daniel - Game design stuff. Occasionally stories about life in England, and how he's going, gaming talk.
Jonathan - Game design stuff. Very very very passionate about System Shock. Some really interesting stories. Good stuff on lighting, textures etc.
Steve - Good insights into running a company, info on how ND is going generally, what new games have been acquired, 3D modelling work, unusually open about things for a company CEO.
Tom - 3D modelling stuff. Some good talk on movies and music. You can tell that music is his second love after 3D modelling (basing that off how often he talks about music).