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Game News Gamedec Backer Build Released

Infinitron

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Tags: Anshar Studios; Gamedec

In the two months that have passed since upcoming cyberpunk detective RPG Gamedec appeared on the Escapist Indie Showcase stream, Anshar Studios have released two additional dev diary videos introducing aspects of the Gamedec universe. We haven't seen any additional virtual worlds since the game was Kickstarted, but it is still due out this year and today a pre-release build was released to backers. The backer build apparently consists of the Twisted & Perverted scenario we saw back in March. There's no trailer for this release, but a handful of press outlets have previewed it. Here's the preview from Gaming Trend, who also uploaded a cool 100 minutes of gameplay footage:



You play a cyber detective who specializes in helping people in the game space — a Game Detective, or Gamedec for short. In the demo I got to play (which I’ve captured in its entirety below — it’s anything but short!) I was contracted by a rich CEO of a software conglomerate named Geoffrey Haggis. His son logged into a virtual world and has somehow ended up stuck there for well past the maximum amount of recommended time. Seems simple enough.

Nearly every single interaction you have in the world of Gamedec results in a consequence of some kind. Having run this demo several times, the game never judges you for your actions, merely accounting for the choices you make. Something as simple as looking at graffiti on the wall and selecting how you interpret it results in a logged action. Do you see it as art? Defacing property? Do you see something religious buried inside? No matter your choice, the game is using each one to define your personality. What I noticed immediately is that there are so many of them that it’s nigh impossible to just “back up” and just choose all the “Paragon” options — the world is more gray than that.

Fredo Haggis, the son of Director Haggis, was celebrating his birthday with his friend Timmy. They decided to set out on a wild night, as evidenced by the obvious hooker strapped into a nearby VR couch. Looking around the room, I also found Timmy and Fredo’s discarded clothes. From the moment I created my character I had already decided on a path — I was born in the lower city. As I had made this choice I knew that if I rifled through the clothes of these two rich kids, I’d likely find something tucked away in a hidden pocket somewhere. Similarly, if I was born on the high city side of town I’d have different options with Director Haggis and he wouldn’t look at me like something he just scraped off his shoe.

As the game is in development, the devs give you an immediate boost, letting you pick from four different professions to start to define your Gamedec. A Sleeve is a person with ties to the world of crime, a Glazier is a magician of virtual worlds and a machine tamer, the Infotainer is a high-charisma charmer in the virtual world, and the Scalpel is a medic with extensive knowledge of medicine. Beyond the obvious Shadowrun-like backstory choices, you’ll also get points in four different categories called “Aspects.” These color-coded choices tie directly to the decisions and observations you make through the course of interaction with people, places, and things. Perhaps you show a bit of compassion to Timmy and his situation and that puts a point in that column under that heading. Maybe you really lean on your AI to help you with the crushing loneliness of your bachelor life, putting a point into that aspect. Verbosity, intuition, selfishness, determination, impatience, calmness, caution, logic, discretion — this long list doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface on all of the possibilities. In the current build there are 32 skills you can unlock with these various aspects, granting access to other professions, as well as deeper specializations within them. The demo only grants access to a few of them, but it’s already very apparent that every run can be wildly different based on these choices. Below you’ll see a second full playthrough that has me interacting with the characters in this scenario in a completely different way, and with very different outcomes. I’m sure I’m only scratching the surface.

Using my powers of persuasion I took a run at Timmy to see if he could tell me why his friend is currently stuck in the virtual world. A small meter shows me that Timmy has more than a few secrets to reveal, but I’d have to either get him on my side, or scare him shitless till he coughs them up. Either way, it’s another choice with consequences. Actions now can lock other actions later.

As a detective, my job is to draw conclusions. Scouring an area I collect clues and create a hypothesis about what might have happened, both in the real world and the virtual one. Using the decision screen I can use the clues I’ve uncovered to decide what thread I want to pull. Which virtual world did Timmy and Fredo go to? Which ways did the clues point? Once I made the choice, there was no going back. Each branch leads to new investigation options, but closes any you didn’t choose permanently — choose wisely. As a prime example, I had to track down a cult leader in my playthrough, leading me to have to decide between two people as the culprit. You can imagine my surprise when the final clue I uncovered was whether that person was a man or a woman — it’d be very easy to go off half-cocked and make the wrong choice, but it could make for interesting RPG arcs.

I went into Gamedec just excited to see a fresh take on Cyberpunk storytelling, and boy did I get it. Too many games make the claim that choices matter, but Gamedec’s focus on detective storytelling creates a grand tapestry of interwoven choices that can have a wide variety of outcomes. You’ve seen me fail to keep Fredo alive twice in the videos above, but know that the right choices can end with a happy father and a very alive Fredo. Gamedec is an indie game flying in very rarified air. There’s something here — something I’ve not seen massive publishers with hundreds of millions of dollars at their fingertips deliver. Not only do choices matter more than “good” and “bad”, they have far-reaching implications and often further-reaching consequences.

An additional preview is available at IGN and isn't as positive, though I'm not sure the author entirely gets the point of the game. Gamedec will be at the virtual Gamescom later this month and I imagine we'll get to see more of it there, including perhaps a release date announcement.
 

CyberWhale

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I like the visuals, definitely something achievable for an average indie developer yet still good looking.
Not sure why they decided on using that popamole dialog-wheel, though.
 

KeighnMcDeath

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Cyberpunk2077 will have combat right? Will this game have lots of cybersex or is that 2077 also?
 

Skdursh

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I too am a fan of adventure games that masquerade as RPGs.

Been watching the video for a little bit now and it looks interesting enough. I'll probably play it when it eventually comes out, but I think it would definitely benefit from some voice acting, even if it isn't every single line of text and only the important stuff. The world feels way too silent so far.
 
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Matt [Anshar Studios]

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I'll probably play it when it eventually comes out, but I think it would definitely benefit from some voice acting, even if it isn't every single line of text and only the important stuff. The world feels way too silent so far.

We will have partial VO, and there will be more background music in the next builds. Right now we're gathering performance/UI/design feedback.
 

Infinitron

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I'll probably play it when it eventually comes out, but I think it would definitely benefit from some voice acting, even if it isn't every single line of text and only the important stuff. The world feels way too silent so far.

We will have partial VO, and there will be more background music in the next builds. Right now we're gathering performance/UI/design feedback.

The IGN preview says (and from what I've seen I agree) that you need background sound effects as well.
 

KeighnMcDeath

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Background and sound FX are more important to me than voice acting. I mean OLD SCHOOL RPGs.... we had to use our imagination. So, we as players; get a little MPD and do your own voices... with hand puppets even...
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Tyranicon

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Looks good, cautiously optimistic about this one.

Will this game have lots of cybersex or is that 2077 also?

I'm gonna corner the market on cyberpunk pixelated sex, woooooooo. The only problem is I have to build a real game around it and not a trashy visual novel.
 

thesheeep

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Infinitron You're cute.
There's a reason no self-respecting gamer believes the crap mainstream media puts out anymore (beyond trying to filter it for some relevant information, and the exclusives they stil unfortunately get) and instead trusts in select YouTubers, niche sites and communities like these, etc.
One of the reasons being that outlets like IGN don't really care about the games, they care about what agendas the games are or aren't pushing, what stories they can tell using the games, how clickbaity they can make their articles... - like in this case, the author going on about how "edgy" it is to show some NSFW content and how "problematic" some words are. Could've been written just like that in Polygon or Kotaku as well.
Getting the point or premise of the game just isn't really high on their priority list, and as such, not getting a game's point isn't exactly unexpected.
 
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KeighnMcDeath

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Having played some of the popular adventure games like Zork, Myst, Kyrandia, Monkey Isle, Kingsquest, etc etc I could see investing some time playing this or DE. I don't need every game to be a full fledged RPG with combat.

If every game mimicked each other exactly my burnout factor would explode.
 

Hellion

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Managed to play the Preview build today. The game really feels like a cyberpunky Disco Elysium combined with non-combat elements from the recent Shadowrun games. The case we get to investigate as part of the demo also brought back yuge feels of Ripper, the FMV adventure game from 1996.

The demo also offers great replayability. I'll definitely get back into it to see what I missed on my first attempt.

Super-excited, in general.
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Managed to play the Preview build today. The game really feels like a cyberpunky Disco Elysium combined with non-combat elements from the recent Shadowrun games. The case we get to investigate as part of the demo also brought back yuge feels of Ripper, the FMV adventure game from 1996.

The demo also offers great replayability. I'll definitely get back into it to see what I missed on my first attempt.

Super-excited, in general.

What's your opinion of the writing? I don't know, it just seems really crude to me.
 

Tyranicon

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Managed to play the Preview build today. The game really feels like a cyberpunky Disco Elysium combined with non-combat elements from the recent Shadowrun games. The case we get to investigate as part of the demo also brought back yuge feels of Ripper, the FMV adventure game from 1996.

The demo also offers great replayability. I'll definitely get back into it to see what I missed on my first attempt.

Super-excited, in general.

What's your opinion of the writing? I don't know, it just seems really crude to me.

I'm not sure if I'd say it's crude. It seems competently written, just somewhat lacking... flavor.
 

Hellion

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"Straightforward" is what I'd call it, I think. Most of the dialogue and descriptive text (even the more "surreal" examples in the later stages of the demo) just want to get the information across as directly as possible. Not necessarily a bad thing.
 

Tyranicon

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"Straightforward" is what I'd call it, I think. Most of the dialogue and descriptive text (even the more "surreal" examples in the later stages of the demo) just want to get the information across as directly as possible. Not necessarily a bad thing.

Yes, I think you hit it on the nose. Not always a bad thing, but it makes the writing less memorable and more, well, uninteresting.
 

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