Twist on 29/6/2016 at 20:35
A little more than 24 hours since the Kickstarer began and they've already passed $500K.
Regardless of what people think of the demo or the stretch goals, this Kickstarter is clearly on the way to being a resounding success for Night Dive. They're doing much better than OtherSide did with the Underworld Kickstarter.
Here's hoping this bodes well for the future of the System Shock franchise.
Pyrian on 29/6/2016 at 21:20
Quote Posted by Twist
They're doing
much better than OtherSide did with the Underworld Kickstarter.
I wonder why? Better marketing? Bigger, more excited fanbase? Better prototype?
Twist on 29/6/2016 at 22:30
I imagine age of the IP has something to do with it. System Shock 2 only came out six years after Underworld 2, but for the era that's an eternity in gamer generations. System Shock also got brought up a lot with each of the BioShock releases.
But I think offering a no-strings-attached free playable demo on day one helped. Despite some concern and criticism expressed in the hardcore community (here and over at SystemShock.org), most gaming media, gamers and fellow developers seem to be impressed by the demo, so I think it has helped positive word-of-mouth.
To be completely honest, this demo feels more polished than the current prototype offered by OtherSide, which is kind of startling. I know Underworld is a more ambitious project and OtherSide had to start from scratch, whereas Night Dive built their System Shock demo on a clearly defined template. But it's still a little startling how much more solid and polished Night Dive's demo feels compared to OtherSide's prototype even though OtherSide kickstarted Underworld over a year ago now.
And despite this being their first true development project, Night Dive has earned some loyalty and trust by working hard to herd old IPs and get them working and available on modern distribution platforms.
These are my guesses, anyways. :erm:
Brad Schoonmaker on 29/6/2016 at 22:36
Quote Posted by heywood
The original level architecture was constrained by the limitations of.the engine and tools. So it is dominated by simple shapes like square blocks and split blocks with 45 and 90 degree angles. It was always blocky, but that was.forgivable given the tech and kind of goes along with the low res textures and sprites and stuff. In a modern engine with high resolution textures and fancy effects, the blocky architecture looks amateurish.
Also, some of the levels are overly maze-like with nonsensical structure and locations, like a.dungeon but with industrial looking textures. That was.acceptable in 1994 as a way to build up level complexity when you're limited to building with basic shapes. But in a modern engine it just seems odd.
I've heard these points (complaints from some) for some time and just mutter to myself that the layout of the game world is as much to do with the in game story as it is to do with the limits of the game engine. The hacker is asleep for six months after SHODAN is set loose. Logs in game indicate that SHODAN changed the layout of the station for defense of key areas during this time. Sniping stations galore on engineering. I myself prefer this 'dated' architecture to a modern take.
The other thing is Citadel Station is a space station. It's not like Star Trek where everything is neatly spaced apart for clear access to every part of the ship. Tight quarters are completely understandable and expected. Submarines have the same limitations.
The greater response to the Shock kickstarter could simply be name recognition. Underworld has a less recognizable lineage than the Shock games.
ZylonBane on 29/6/2016 at 23:28
I saw someone post somewhere that the recommended RAM to run this will be 16GB. Jesus f*ck, WHAT?
Renault on 29/6/2016 at 23:45
OK, but isn't it a bit early for system requirements?
terrannova on 30/6/2016 at 01:26
Seeing as how 16GB of RAM has been quite affordable since 2010 and 2011, it's no surprise. I embrace it if that is the case. :)
Vivian on 30/6/2016 at 01:28
There is absolutely no way it needs 16 gigs of ram, what are you talking about.
Vae on 30/6/2016 at 08:03
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
I saw someone post somewhere that the recommended RAM to run this will be 16GB. Jesus f*ck, WHAT?
Yep...Minimum is 8GB, Recommended is 16GB:
Quote Posted by Vae
Check out these requirements...
(
http://store.steampowered.com/app/482400/) System Shock - System Requirements
MINIMUM:
OS: Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit versions)
Processor: Intel Core i5-2400/AMD FX-8320 or better
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 670 2GB/AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB or better
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 2 GB available space
RECOMMENDED:
OS: Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit versions)
Processor: Intel Core i7-3770/AMD FX-8350 or better
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 970 4GB/AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB or better
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 2 GB available space
This is probably due to when testing with the relatively high resource using Windows 10, the system reported at least at one point using more than 8GB...and because of this, they jumped the recommended requirements to 16GB, as a precaution.
ZylonBane on 30/6/2016 at 13:27
Quote Posted by terrannova
Seeing as how 16GB of RAM has been quite affordable since 2010 and 2011, it's no surprise.
You are bonkers. I put my current rig together in 2010, and its 4GB of RAM cost $100 back then.
