KickStarter Consortium: The Tower - now available on Early Access

[LESS T_T]

1.11 update, they also updated the free demo: https://steamcommunity.com/games/ConsortiumTheTower/announcements/detail/1707359247078520385

They say "development of Consortium: The Tower will steadily continue at the fastest pace that we're able to muster."

Also official announcement of the spin-off Whispers From The Rift and teaser to "a couple big surprises" that will be announced early next year.

12-21 -- Early Access ALPHA 1.11 -- Stealth fixes and improvements
Also...Consortium prequel "Whispers From The Rift" is coming soon to Steam...

Greetings everyone,

So, we're briefly poking our heads out of our dev caves on 12 21 to first, just let you know that we're alive and well, and 2econd, to te1l you about two key 1tem2.

CONSORTIUM: THE TOWER - ALPHA V1.11

Since our last public update of the game, Consortium: The Tower dev work has focused on addressing as many of the principal bugs and gameplay concerns we have received over the past year or so.

The free demo has also been updated to include all the latest improvements.

The latest version to Consortium: The Tower has gone live today with big improvements to the stealth and combat gameplay, major bug fixes and more. As usual, scroll to the bottom of HERE to see all of the details.

While Whispers From The Rift (see below!) has taken up a significant amount of our time lately, our eyes remain on the prize of a completed Consortium: The Tower.

We have recently made some major improvements and refinements to the remaining narrative of the game. These changes have the benefit of ensuring that the finished version of the narrative will be much easier to properly test than it would have been before. It is also just much better, given our benefit of time to get this right. We think it is going to be worth the wait for all of you...

WHISPERS FROM THE RIFT

The official prequel to Consortium and Consortium: The Tower: Whispers From The Rift is coming soon to Steam. The latest version is v0.998p4. Getting very close!



It is also very close to launching onto Google Play. (and iOS coming soon after). Check out the trailer, and please feel free to share!



If you want access to the latest version of Whispers now, there is a way. Supporting us on PATREON is currently the only way to get access to the latest version of Whispers From The Rift (unless you are a Tower backer, of course...).

If you do get yourself access, please send us actionable feedback and/or bugs that you find, Doing so will get your name into the credits!

WHAT'S NEXT?

We still have a couple big surprises brewing, one of which is bound to be announced in early 2020.

Other than that, development of Consortium: The Tower will steadily continue at the fastest pace that we're able to muster. We thank all of you for your continued patience!

As a reminder, here are the best ways to communicate with us and send us feedback from playing the latest build of Consortium: The Tower:

• Jumping into the iDGi Discord server and share your opinions with us (to get access to the hidden backers-only Discord channel, simply post in this thread)
  
• Posting on our dev forum.
  
• Sending us an email.

Thank-you, everyone. We wish you all a safe, happy and fun holiday season for you and your loved ones!

Until early 2020,
-iDGi

" Of all that is good, sublimity is supreme. 2ucceed1ng is the coming together of all that is beautiful. Furtherance is the agreement of all that is just. Perseverance is the foundation of all actions. " - Lao Tzu

 

[JDR13]

Wtf? This game was released in 2017 and it's still in Alpha?

 

[grimace]

They say "development of Consortium: The Tower will steadily continue at the fastest pace that we're able to muster."

I think every year since launch early access, it has only been for sale on December 21 for 21% off.

Two years of early access! Hooray!

Meanwhile, enjoy this not a game teaser for a beta text-based, action-adventure, interactive novel where the narrative is defined by your choices.


iDGi are creators of tech demos or something.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

To be fair to them the game they are aiming to create is way over their budget.

 

[Jinn]

So I ended up getting the original game for free a few years ago, fired it up once back then, but never played it again until yesterday. I just finished my first playthrough of it today, and I must say I'm extremely impressed. The amount of choices, the individual character reputation system, the incredibly in-depth setting, the writing, the characters, the foundations of a rewarding and challenging combat system, the suit, health, and inventory management. It has got me so excited to play The Tower.

I'm going to be playing it through until I get the run I want to transfer into The Tower, as your choices do have tangible consequences, and there are many over the course of the game. I'm assuming it'll take me at least 1 or 2 more times. I read probably half of the "lore" documentation you have access to in the game, and plan to finish it up this second time. Fascinating reading that really pulls you into the setting, and very well written overall. The way I went about reading it in my first playthrough is whenever a strange term or concept was brought up in the course of normal conversation, and when my character was given a free moment, I'd find the corresponding topic, then find myself getting sucked into reading several more pieces. It's really worth it, and I think many would find it enjoyable if they decide to delve into the texts.

Anyway, the game has issues mainly in the gameplay department, but that makes me all the more excited to try The Tower since they've chosen to make that the emphasis in this next installment. Not to say that I didn't enjoy the gameplay - I definitely did. There is such an excellent foundation laid down here, and I can't wait to see how they've expanded on that. I'll likely be buying into the early access. I want to support the continuation of this trilogy. It'd be so sad if they couldn't finish it, and continue to take advantage of the wonderful setting they've crafted.

If anyone ended up with a copy through bundles or for free, or happens to find it on sale soon, I would highly recommend giving it a shot.

 

[LESS T_T]

https://steamcommunity.com/app/626250/discussions/0/1746773126359386607/

Any word on the next update?

It will admittedly be awhile until the next update. But we've recently made a breakthrough that is *finally* leading to our desired choreography solution for The Tower. For those following for a long time, you know this is a pretty big deal. But it does mean that the CURRENT version still does not have choreography. For some play-styles this really doesn't matter too much, however.

However, if you (or anyone reading this) DO decide to give it a go, contact us on our public Discord server ( https://discord.gg/xvKzS4U ) - we're in closed testing for a secret new dialog feature for The Tower. For those who prefer to use dialog to solve problems especially, we're interested in gathering feedback at this time.

When you say choreography, what do you mean?

People gesturing/lip syncing/facially animating while talking.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/626250/discussions/0/1864993937058700449/

Any ETA on when the game will be out of EA?

It is still officially "when it's done" right now. We are not giving out any dates until we're quite sure they are reasonably accurate. I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but it's just reality.

We are actively (and finally) realizing a custom choreography solution for The Tower right now, though, which has remained unsolved for far too long. This means that it will soon be possible to hit BETA for Act 1 of The Tower in the somewhat near future...

And while we realize that those who only care about The Tower might not care too much, we're very close to finished with Whispers From The Rift (official Consortium and Tower interactive novel prequel), and the original Consortium is getting a major remaster which is going to debut as Consortium VR with an extremely innovative dialog feature. (The same secret dialog feature that the backer build of The Tower has right now....)

 

[Jinn]

and the original Consortium is getting a major remaster which is going to debut as Consortium VR

Stop! Just leave it in the past and focus on moving ahead.

 

[Twiglard]

How much of The Tower is feature complete in the present downloadable state? Worth buying in the present state?

 

[tsiforb]

To be fair to them the game they are aiming to create is way over their budget.

Posted a couple weeks ago in the steam forums

"We still do not know when the game will reach v1.0... Right now, we are working on various projects to help us fund the remainder of production for The Tower - an update explaining more IS coming - watch for a post here on Steam in the near future..."

 

[LESS T_T]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/ConsortiumTheTower/announcements/detail/2881703291722227716

Happy inaugural 21 day!
The first of new monthly iDGi updates.

Happy Nov 21st to everyone!

This is the first in a series of iDGi update bulletins, to come monthly on the 21st here on Steam. We are aiming to keep them very short but hopefully informative and useful for you. For today:

iDGi1.ca
We first present to you our brand new home on the web: iDGi1.ca

Whispers From The Rift
Our first mobile game reached v0.998p18 today. Most of the ~22 core narrative endings are now polished and done. We are a release or two away from hitting v0.999, at which point we will be launching a public free-to-play beta release via Google Play. Learn more about the project here.

Consortium: The Tower
The Tower is undergoing a major project upgrade from V4.15 of the Unreal Engine, to V4.25. Various improvements to the Consortium Bishop game mechanics and a custom choreography solution from our VR project will be directly applied to allow for the ultimate completion of The Tower’s narrative.

Any questions, concerns or comments? The bottom of our new homepage lists the ways you can reach us,

Finally, we will leave you with an in-progress screenshot from something we’re working on right now:

iDGi-1 has uncovered additional details of the C-3800 Hangar Bay. We think those cables are physical kill switches for Zenlil’s weapons and fusion engines.

We hope this message finds you all safe and healthy in these incredibly difficult times.

Until next month,

-iDGi

 

[LESS T_T]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/ConsortiumTheTower/announcements/detail/3019071321405555266

21-21- iDGi Game development stream - starting 21 hours from now...
See our new choreography tools in action!


Happy 21 day to all!

We're even busier than last month, so for 21 today this month, we will be doing a game development steam on Twitch in precisely 21 hours as of this bulletin.

At exactly 21:00 PST, Feb 21st (9pm), we will be going live for an approximately 2 hour long stream to demonstrate for everyone our new custom choreography tools for Consortium!

We will also take on as many of your questions and concerns as we can.

Hope you see you in 21 hours!

Namaste,

--iDGi

 

[Smoker]

Hmmmmm intredasting

 

[Infinitron]

 

[forumvisitor#451]

No update on Tower? Vaporware status imminent

 

[LESS T_T]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/ConsortiumTheTower/announcements/detail/3035965529903081662

21-21 Day - 21 seconds of Consortium: The Tower's Act 2...
Happy 21 day!

Here is a brief 21 second clip of something most of you have never seen, from Act 2 of The Tower.



When it comes to The Tower stream, iDGi-1 has been constantly shunting us to an unknown time when the Churchill Tower appears to be buried under a mountain of snow and presumably ice. Is this a glimpse at some possible future, or something else? We don't have the answers...

The final round of testing for Consortium and The Tower prequel Whispers From The Rift has been going great. Steve has been staying on top of all of the feedback and bug finds. We are super appreciative of all of the folks playing the latest and giving us great feedback. They are credits bound.

The first external testing round of our upcoming VR game by backers and patrons has mostly ended. With this in the bag, we've passed a major internal milestone and are now just keeping our heads down to complete the experience.

Namaste,

--iDGi

“An obstacle is often a stepping stone”

― William Prescott

 

[grimace]

21 seconds
of
shunting
your
namaste

 

[Nifft Batuff]

So, is it completed now? Can I play it?

 

[HoboForEternity]

21 seconds of Consortium

It should've been 21 minutes.

Doubt this vaporware have more than 30 seconds of new content to show off.

 

[grimace]

21 seconds of Consortium

It should've been 21 minutes.

Doubt this vaporware have more than 30 seconds of new content to show off.

We've seen the sky dive into a skyscraper introduction scene many times.

https://www.idgi1.ca/about#Owners-and-Operators

Founded in September 2006. Headquartered physically in the Lower Mainland, BC, Canada area. iDGi is a boutique R&D video-game developer specializing in first-person interactive narrative simulations with a moral compass.

Their tech demos are said to have a moral compass. Do the owners?

OWNERS AND OPERATORS
‍
Gregory MacMartin, Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Ryan Sheffer, Chief Technical Officer (CTO)

Steven MacMartin, Chief Narrative Officer (CNO)

Stewart Marshall, Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

(iDGi is, of course, not just the above people. )

 

[LESS T_T]

I didn't post May update because there's not really much in it, and I felt the same with June update but well just to point that they are alive: https://steamcommunity.com/games/ConsortiumTheTower/announcements/detail/2981927408947756322

21-21 Day - iDGi Summer 2o1stice Dev bull2t1n
06-21 2021 - New screenshot, LockDownCon II, general update on all projects

Greetings everyone!

We’d like to start out today by informing you all that we are roughly only two months away from compiling the first BETA build of our first VR Game. This means it will be “story campaign complete”, and is when the final rounds of testing and polishing will begin. When this (internally) momentous event occurs, rest assured that the project will finally emerge from the shadows soon afterwards…

iDGi’s Greg MacMartin is on the first panel that opens a free two day online “fan con” called LockDownCon II. It’s all happening THIS Saturday, 10am Pacific, check it out!



If you join us, feel free to ask Greg any questions about the iDGi development process during the Q&A section.

Steve is now over ¼ done with the “meta-endings” for



We were recently asked “What’s a meta-ending?”.

The only answer we can offer is that if we told you what it was, it would spoil some aspects of the work that we would rather not spoil. So, let’s just say that meta-endings are basically the “cherry on top of the sundae” for this dense and multi-layered interactive work.

In other news, we’ve been making some major iDGi combat A.I. system improvements - potential combatants will now use cover intelligently, viscerally react much more to all incoming shots that damage them, intelligently run and hide, etc. We aim to hopefully SHOW you folks some of this in action, next month.

Here is a new in-progress shot from something we’re working on right now. iDGi-1 has uncovered new and additional details of the Virtual Trainer user panel.

From our analysis thus far, the updated Virtual Trainer is going to allow users to switch scenarios from within the Trainer, and possibly even browse and access additional scenarios.

Last but not least, we would like to make it very clear once again that much of our development work over the past year has been simultaneously both for our upcoming VR game AND for Consortium: The Tower. They now mostly share a common code-base, which means that any features implemented for one project can be automatically applied to the other project, when applicable.

All will be made more clear, soon...

May you all have a wonderfully happy, peaceful and healthy start to your summer!

Namaste,

--iDGi

“I am summer, come to lure you away from your computer... come dance on my fresh grass, dig your toes into my beaches.”

― Oriana Green

 

[LESS T_T]

Another glimpse of Consortium VR and little bit on the upcoming update on The Tower: https://steamcommunity.com/games/ConsortiumTheTower/announcements/detail/2858087298181582906

21-21-21 iDGi Dev bull2t1n
08-21-2021 - 21212121212121

Happy 21 day all!

This month, we have another glimpse of something we’re working on...



So we haven’t reached beta for our VR Game yet, but we are technically *really* close. The last big technical hurdle in the way of reaching Beta - our completely updated save/load system - has come a long way since since last month. Our UE4 projects (this includes Consortium: The Tower) are now utilizing the latest Unreal Engine release - 4.27. We’ve also started the process of updating all of our combat related particle FX, and this will continue throughout the next month.

For those desperate for any news about The Tower, know that the next big update (ETA unknown) will include this new save/load system, which means that the #1 complaint from folks about The Tower’s Alpha gameplay -- the “save spheres” used to save your universe state -- are going away. You will be able to save anywhere (with just a few limitations).

Steve is still cranking away on the final “Meta-Ending” for



... and is now roughly 90% done with the meta-endings overall. Chances are extremely good that Whispers will finally make its initial, free-to-play mobile release via Google Play before the year is out!

Keep in mind that we’re also still working contract jobs to keep the lights on, which is really why it is quite challenging for us to determine exact dates for when our two new games will launch. However, rest assured that we’re getting closer to their completion every day.

Until next month...

Namaste,

--iDGi


Diplomacy should always be our first option. Most politicians only talk, not fight. I’ve fought; talking is far better than fighting.

-- Seth Moulton

 

[LESS T_T]

Another eh update: https://steamcommunity.com/games/ConsortiumTheTower/announcements/detail/3021345332633509102

21-21-21 iDGi Dev Bulletin
10-21-2021 - 21212121212121

Happy 21 day everyone,

Short but sweet bulletin today! First up, a little glimpse at one of the things we’re working on.



VR Game (+ Consortium: The Tower) update: Our new Universe Save/Load system is done. FX and combat feedback overhaul has made a big difference already, but is still not quite done. With the exception of one particular game mode, all that remains on our plate for the VR experience is bug fixes, minor features and additional polish. We are also now actively working on our marketing plan and materials.

Steve has just completed all meta-endings for https://store.steampowered.com/app/1099900

Among other things, we’re going to be working to get the Whispers App itself in shape for shipping out for our upcoming open public Free-To-Play Beta mobile release as well as Steam Playtest rounds. We’ll also be finding time to add some needed finishing touches to the interface, sound FX and some very minor features.

Until next month, we’re --

Namaste,

--iDGi

YOU are the glitch in the matrix!

-- Rikka Zimmerman

 

[Harthwain]

Until next month, we’re --

I see what you did here...:

Spoiler

 

[LESS T_T]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/ConsortiumTheTower/announcements/detail/3102412650212092644

11-21-21 iDGi Dev Bulletin
11-21-21 -21 21 21

Happy 21 day everyone,

The Tower:
Here is an in-progress shot of something we’re working on.

Whispers:
Since the “Canon Continuation Chapters” (CCCs) for Consortium: The Tower prequel Whispers From The Rift (formerly known as the “meta-endings”) were completed last month, we have been working to get the actual program itself ready for a general public beta release!

The CCCs have all been polished, edited and integrated into the program itself. The entire first chapter of the experience has received a big polish pass based on more playtesting feedback. The game now features actual whispers. We’ve just released version 0.9.6.21 of Whispers From The Rift to our closed beta testing group and we are still on track to release the first public beta and open up Steam playtests in December...

VR Game:
We have made progress towards getting a build of our game working well with Quest 2 mobile VR headsets. General Special FX pass (narrative and combat FX) improvements have continued, with strommon shield FX, impact FX, narratively triggered spark explosion FX and a lot more. We will very likely be starting a new testing round with our backers quite shortly...

Namaste,

--iDGi

“While leisure and recreation are necessary to get closer to life, you need alertness and effort to face it.”

-- Tapan Ghosh

 

[LESS T_T]

Umm, they expect a "great success" from the VR game and think it will fund the budget to complete The Tower. https://steamcommunity.com/games/ConsortiumTheTower/announcements/detail/3100164020360916230

12-21-21 iDGi Dev Bulletin
12-21-21 Whispers, VR Game and The Tower updates...

Happy 21 day everyone,

Whispers From The Rift:
We had hoped to be able to publicly release our mobile prequel to CONSORTIUM and Consortium: THE TOWER onto Google Play TODAY, but we’re still –

• Working out some of the kinks with navigating the meta-endings / canon continuation chapters.
  
• Processing quite a few new brain-scan images coming down the pipe. To see another sneak-peek at one of them, hop into our Discord server and take a peek in the Whispers From The Rift channel

In addition, the Whispers From The Rift Website has received an update. Another closed beta Whispers update is coming within a few days, and the first worldwide free-to-play public release on Google Play will follow shortly afterwards. We also anticipate locking in the release date for Whispers on Steam quite soon.

The VR Game:
We now have this running extremely well on the Quest 2 headset now, and there are still more optimizations to make. We are in the midst of prepping what we’re calling a “Pre-Beta Backer Test Build” of the game, with limited-time-only beta test keys to be sent out later this week! We also have a huge announcement to make for this project, but we can’t say anything publicly until the next 21 day in January…

Consortium: THE TOWER:
We’ve been attempting to illustrate for a couple years now that our ultimate goal in the grand scheme of things is the completion of THE TOWER. Just because we have not been updating the public Alpha build of the game doesn’t mean we haven’t been hard at work towards the goal of its completion!

As you will all see for yourself soon enough, our upcoming VR Game is poised to basically become the world’s first interactive cinema experience on the Quest 2. Given market research by Oculus itself (see “Story Seeker”), all of our practical testing results so far and simply because of the fact that there are NO games even remotely like ours on the platform, we are anticipating great success! We then intend to build a nice completion budget for THE TOWER.

That said, we wanted to leave you folks today with a simple list of all of the stuff
already done
and is ultimately coming to a future build of THE TOWER directly because of our VR game project:

• Vastly improved combat AI - combatants now react to incoming fire more realistically, use cover intelligently and use various tactics to try and gain an advantage over players.
  
• Virtual Trainer scenarios will be made available to Tower players, giving access to an all new Combat Training scenario in addition to the basic Consortium Bishop tutorial scenario.
  
• The Info Console has been completely overhauled with improved functionality.
  
• As mentioned a year ago and elsewhere online, it is still 100% true that the character choreography pipeline we’ve developed with the UE4 engine for the VR Game will be used to bring all of THE TOWER’s cast to life.
  
• Various improvements to weapons and a vast reworking of all inventory and Consortium Bishop systems (healing, repairing, etc).
  
• A completely rewritten Universe saving system that will allow players to save anywhere.
  
• Consortium: THE TOWER is now going to have an optional VR mode, to maximize immersion.

Soon after we’ve shipped both Whispers From The Rift and our VR Game, we aim to be setting our sites back to Consortium: THE TOWER development full-time in 2022, for a possible completion date of v1.0 happening in 2023.

Have any questions, comments or concerns? Join the iDGi Discord community and/or shoot us an email. Until next year, we wish you all a safe, healthy and happy holiday season, and may the New Year bring good tidings for us all…

Namaste,

--iDGi

“There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, there are no limits”

-- Michael Phelps