Nightdive Studios Releases New System Shock Remake Demo

[Raevenlord]

While expectations for the System Shock franchise may have cooled a little following last week's report that the much-awaited System Shock 3 had been dropped by its development team and rights sold to Chinese giant Tencent, all is not terrible in the land of Shodan. Nightdive Studios, the actual holders of the franchise development rights, have just dropped a demo for the game on both Steam and GOG - a show of faith on the developers' part regarding their work of love in rebuilding the original game from the ground up.

Alongside the demo (which weighs in at a mere 2.3 GB on GOG), Nightdive Studios has also released a 40 minute video showcasing gameplay on the rebooted game, including developer commentary. The developers also coordinated with Shacknews in order to release an in-depth interview regarding the development of the game and its original reception.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[TheDeeGee]

I have to checkout with PayPal to claim a Free DEMO, what the heck GOG?

 

[W1zzard]

Wow extremely unimpressed with the demo, isn't that like something a bunch of game dev students make in a week?

 

[Raevenlord]

Wow extremely unimpressed with the demo, isn't that like something a bunch of game dev students make in a week?

Agreed, this is... Extremely disappointing.

 

[bug]

"expectations for the System Shock franchise may have cooled a little" <- wth, did you just win a contest for the understatement of the month or smth?

 

[Cheeseball]

Jesus this is sad. They simplified it too much.

 

[mouacyk]

Wha... don't you guys have nostalgia or something...?

 

[Cheeseball]

Wha... don't you guys have nostalgia or something...?

Download and play the demo.

The Enhanced Edition is better than this.

 

[Decryptor009]

I never understood the hype for System Shock anyway, but it did release when i was enjoying Dreamcast.

 

[ObiFrost]

Wow extremely unimpressed with the demo, isn't that like something a bunch of game dev students make in a week?

As a 3rd year (almost graduate) student majoring in game dev, creating this in a week would be marvelous. If you work in a group of trio (1 full time coder, 1 full time artist and a level designer/writer/audio engineer) in a week you can reach 1/4 scale of this project, perhaps less and that is with the exclusion of code debugging, polishing model edges, texture mapping etc. Unless your teammates, including yourself are natural prodigies.

 

[Splinterdog]

Is it designed as pixelated for nostalgic reasons then?
If so, it looks bloody awful and I certainly wouldn't buy it.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I have to checkout with PayPal to claim a Free DEMO, what the heck GOG?

I didn't have a problem. Clicked on it to be in my cart then clicked the button to buy and BAM, it be in my games list. I think you either read something and took it the wrong way, or you got another problem. None here...

Wow extremely unimpressed with the demo, isn't that like something a bunch of game dev students make in a week?

Agreed, this is... Extremely disappointing.

Jesus this is sad. They simplified it too much.

I don't know what you people are complaining about. Yup, calling you all out on this. It's an ALPHA build, what do people want, perfection? Seriously. If it were a final release it would be unacceptable, but this is an alpha-build demo. Come people, reality check eh? I think it's a damn good demo! I like what they are doing so far.

Is it designed as pixelated for nostalgic reasons then?
If so, it looks bloody awful and I certainly wouldn't buy it.

Look at those screenshots. See the part that says Alpha Build? Come on now, you all know better than this nonsense.

 

[bug]

I don't know what you people are complaining about. Yup, calling you all out on this. It's an ALPHA build, what do people want, perfection? Seriously. If it were a final release it would be unacceptable, but this is an alpha-build demo. Come people, reality check eh? I think it's a damn good demo! I like what they arewere doing so far.

Ftfy

 

[Splinterdog]

I didn't have a problem. Clicked on it to be in my cart then clicked the button to buy and BAM, it be in my games list. I think you either read something and took it the wrong way, or you got another problem. None here...



I don't know what you people are complaining about. Yup, calling you all out on this. It's an ALPHA build, what do people want, perfection? Seriously. If it were a final release it would be unacceptable, but this is an alpha-build demo. Come people, reality check eh? I think it's a damn good demo! I like what they are doing so far.

Look at those screenshots. See the part that says Alpha Build? Come on now, you all know better than this nonsense.

I don't get that at all. Why release an alpha build in low quality/ resolution where you can see blocky pixels as if it were made in the early 90s? I changed resolutions just be sure and it looks the same even at 1440p.
Or is it supposed to look like Minecraft? Serious question.

 

[W1zzard]

I don't get that at all. Why release an alpha build in low quality/ resolution where you can see blocky pixels as if it were made in the early 90s? I changed resolutions just be sure and it looks the same even at 1440p.
Or is it supposed to look like Minecraft? Serious question.

Exactly my thoughts.

If this was my company/project I'd whip all developers for a week or two to make an impressive first build, to hype up people and generate good feedback. Maybe slap on some RTX to get NVIDIA PR machinery working for me (it's REALLY easy with UE4)

 

[ObiFrost]

I don't get that at all. Why release an alpha build in low quality/ resolution where you can see blocky pixels as if it were made in the early 90s? I changed resolutions just be sure and it looks the same even at 1440p.
Or is it supposed to look like Minecraft? Serious question.

Probably to show off that the project is still active. The "blocky pixels" are present due to unrendered, raw textures dropped onto a scene in a rush (presumably), hence why the materials are still low poly in a upscaled resolution. The devs major focus seems like is only the gameplay and features rather than visual fidelity quality at the moment. This is still in pre-alpha at best, but 90% of the AAA/AA and indie fan-remakes in alpha and even in beta phases appear like this. Artist usually drop surfaces for imaginable scenarios and at the end of development polish most of the assets.

Exactly my thoughts.

If this was my company/project I'd whip all developers for a week or two to make an impressive first build, to hype up people and generate good feedback. Maybe slap on some RTX to get NVIDIA PR machinery working for me (it's REALLY easy with UE4)

They did with the first demo reveal, what followed afterwards were a mere devblogs. On top of that, without defending the project, the team lacks some serious developer horsepower in terms of everything (wouldn't be surprised if it's only a handful of devs), hence why such fan-remakes for any genre are short lived trial and error portfolios, eventually winding up cancelled or blackmailed to sue in court by original IP holders.

 

[bug]

Exactly my thoughts.

If this was my company/project I'd whip all developers for a week or two to make an impressive first build, to hype up people and generate good feedback. Maybe slap on some RTX to get NVIDIA PR machinery working for me (it's REALLY easy with UE4)

Here's a scary thought: maybe they did.

 

[Chomiq]

I never understood the hype for System Shock anyway, but it did release when i was enjoying Dreamcast.

OG system shock was released in 486 era, you're thinking of the sequel.

 

[W1zzard]

fan-remake

oh it is? i assumed there's a professional gaming studio behind the project

 

[Chrispy_]

oh it is? i assumed there's a professional gaming studio behind the project

I'm confused about this too. I first read about this project on long the train journey home for Christmas with family - December 2018. I remember it because I tabbed out of SS2 to look for something game-related and stumbled on news of this project.

I thought it was an official, license-owning developer redoing SS2 in a new engine but trying to keep the maps and gameplay mechanics as faithful to the original as possible.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I don't get that at all. Why release an alpha build in low quality/ resolution where you can see blocky pixels as if it were made in the early 90s? I changed resolutions just be sure and it looks the same even at 1440p.
Or is it supposed to look like Minecraft? Serious question.

I think some perspective and context is needed. Having worked in game development I can tell you for an Alpha build that this is very good and polished. I think people need to take onboard just how complicated and difficult the process of making a game as complex as System Shock really is. The devs are just showing where they are at the moment in a playable format. I think this demo is very cool and it excites me for the finished game!

 

[Splinterdog]

I think some perspective and context is needed. Having worked in game development I can tell you for an Alpha build that this is very good and polished. I think people need to take onboard just how complicated and difficult the process of making a game as complex as System Shock really is. The devs are just showing where they are at the moment in a playable format. I think this demo is very cool and it excites me for the finished game!

I'm sorry mate, but I don't concur at all. They're using the Unreal Engine 4 from what I can gather and I simply don't get why it looks so awful, or even if it's intentional.
Remember the Tomb Raider DOX (Dagger of Xian) demo? He used the Unreal engine and even the early teasers looked way better than this. The demo itself was superb, so I don't understand why this demo has been released in such low quality, pixelated textures.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I'm sorry mate, but I don't concur at all. They're using the Unreal Engine 4 from what I can gather and I simply don't get why it looks so awful, or even if it's intentional.

And that only shows that you misunderstand the game dev process.

Remember the Tomb Raider DOX (Dagger of Xian) demo? He used the Unreal engine and even the early teasers looked way better than this. The demo itself was superb, so I don't understand why this demo has been released in such low quality, pixelated textures.

You are focusing on the graphics, which are clearly still in development. Instead focus on the gameplay.

 

[W1zzard]

Instead focus on the gameplay.

Did you see anything in the demo's gameplay that deserves a positive mention?

 

[lexluthermiester]

Did you see anything in the demo's gameplay that deserves a positive mention?

What I find interesting is that you had to ask that question, implying that you didn't. However, I'll spell it out. What works, works well. No serious glitches or bugs to speak of and everything is running as well as can be expected for an alpha based demo, which is actually very good. Everything feels silky smooth.