Paz on 27/6/2009 at 17:40
.. with me.
Having looked around for old Syndicate threads, the 'newest' seems to be about rumours of the possible Starbreeze remake from October '08 - so I think we can have a new one.
I spoke with Sean Cooper about Syndicate, Bullfrog, violence and his flash games. (
http://www.incgamers.com/Features/218/SeanCooperOnSyndicate) This is what he said. A lot of it is pretty interesting - especially if you were a Bullfrog junkie like I was in the 90s.
"I think Peter [Molyneux] was the one who said 'we should have a population that go to work,' and all the press releases at the time were describing this great new simulation where people would go to work and then go home. It was a bit of nonsense, but good hype at the time."Ahhh, how things have changed ...
I couldn't use all the interview material for the article (there was too much!), so if you're wondering what he thought about some issue or other, ask away and I might be able to give you some kind of an answer.
addink on 28/6/2009 at 10:28
Bullfrog junkie here too.
A good read.
I do feel however that Syndicate is more that just big guns and killing people; at a very basic level that is indeed part of it, but setting up a hit and the timing was part of the fun too, not even mentioning the excellent dystopian atmosphere and the unprecedented eye for detail. This was the first game that had collateral damage, apart from the obvious citizens that got caught in the line of fire, it had nice details like bushes catching on fire.
The collateral damage, I thought, was were Syndicate Wars really got it right, blowing up buildings seemed like the logical next step. Wars was fun too, beit a bit hard.
Fragony on 28/6/2009 at 10:51
Played this to death, what a game. I would love a remake, hope they keep it 2d-ish.
icemann on 28/6/2009 at 12:34
As much as I`d love a 2D remake as well, they`d probably do it in GTA style or Freedom Fighters as in from a view perspective.
Paz on 28/6/2009 at 12:44
Quote Posted by addink
not even mentioning the excellent dystopian atmosphere and the unprecedented eye for detail.
Yeah, certainly true. This was something I had to cut actually - I asked about Blade Runner as an obvious influence. Although he'd not seen it himself at the time of making the game, he gave a lot of credit to the artists for combining all that stuff into the 'look'. Japanese-style billboards etc. Same with the box, he loved the bright green and the agent pulling a gun (this possibly wasn't the same in the US, I dunno).
AltF4 on 28/6/2009 at 23:04
Nice article - good to see someone is keeping an eye on one of the best games of all time. I still fire this up on dosbox regularly - ah the dulcet tones of 4 miniguns on full auto !
I like the quote from Sean where he mentions that the best chance of an authentic remake is if he does a syndicate clone himself, and to keep an eye on his website - was there any genuine intent here ?
Paz on 29/6/2009 at 13:01
I think it's possible. He has an isometric 3d engine for flash up on his site - (
http://www.games.seantcooper.com/IsometricEngine.aspx) which is actually for sale too.
"This engine is based on some techniques used in the PC game Syndicate, which I wrote in 1993."
Obviously the demo he has up there is more of a regular town-based setting, but I think it's clear he'd have all the code to do a flash Syndicate clone if he wanted. My guess is he'd have to weigh up the interest in that vs interest in a brand new game, and then make the decision.
Malf on 29/6/2009 at 13:24
Great article Paz, really informative. I found myself wondering what a multiplayer Syndicate would be like these days, and I must say I think it'd be a massive hit.
AltF4 on 29/6/2009 at 23:59
Thanks for the link Paz - had a play around with the demo engine, and its not bad for a tech demo. It seems like there is a default persuadatron like behaviour, as every toon you come into contact with starts following you. Before long half the map is part of your growing corporate empire of mindless slaves :)
I imagine that realising a full commercial version of an older style isometric game like syndicate would be hard in todays game market - but a flash based web game, or a compiled version downloadable over steam or similar, even to divergent platforms such as mobile phones or xbla would be something I would pay for.
henke on 30/6/2009 at 14:50
Quote:
Talking to IncGamers' Peter Parrish, creator of videogame icon Syndicate, Sean Cooper, reveals the secrets...
Is this grammatically correct? Because to me it reads like Peter Parrish is the videogame creator. Then it gets all wierd. Maybe I'm just tired.
Rest of the article: :thumb:
also, Syndicate fans might get a lol out of (
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/video-game-article/sims-infamous-powers.php) this
