Arkane PREY - Arkane's immersive coffee cup transformation sim - now with Mooncrash roguelike mode DLC

[Child of Malkav]

Arkane are finished, doesn't matter if they're caught in the "crossfire" or not. Deathloop and Redfall are testament to that.

 

[Morgoth]

Arkane are finished, doesn't matter if they're caught in the "crossfire" or not. Deathloop and Redfall are testament to that.

Phil might have rescued Arkane from Bethesda, so don't be so gloomy just yet.

 

[Lyric Suite]

https://www.eurogamer.net/arkane-really-didnt-want-to-call-prey-2017-prey

Arkane really didn't want to call Prey (2017) 'Prey'​

"It was never our intention to steal their IP and make it ours."

Raphaël Colantonio has revealed that nobody at Arkane Austin wanted Prey (2017) to be titled Prey, and how it felt "gross" to have release something under someone else's IP.

Colantonio, known as the founder of Arkane Studios, served as the game's director and writer. He announced his departure from the studio shortly after the game's release, citing burnout and a desire to spend time with his son.

The fact that the game was never envisioned to be a part of the Prey IP isn't new for fans of the game or Arkane. It was documented by NoClip last year, in which Colantonio and other leads on the game explained that Bethesda was insistent that Arkane's next project had to be called Prey. Colantonio described the decision as a "non-negotiable compromise".

In an interview released a couple of weeks before Noclip's documentary went live, Colantonio said that he was "a little bit resentful" and bummed that Bethesda had mandated the project be called Prey, but stated that he maintained a friendly relationship with Bethesda.

Now, in a new interview with The AIAS Game Maker's Notebook Podcast released earlier this week, Colantonio shared more about his own thoughts and the sentiments within the development team as they had to transform their original sci-fi space pitch into a part of the Prey IP.

"I think that I was a little at odds with some of the management [regarding] the decision of calling Prey [2017] 'Prey', that was very hurtful to me," Colantonio revealed. "I did not want to call this game Prey and I had to say I wanted to anyway in front of journalists," he continued. Colantonio said he hates lying and although it wasn't a "personal" lie, he still felt bad fronting to press that he had wanted to continue the Prey IP.

The decision wasn't unpopular with just Colantonio. "Not only me, but nobody in the team wanted to call this game Prey," he said. He stated he was grateful for the financial security of having a corporation behind him and his team, but was insulted when he was told the game had to be called Prey. "You go like, ‘I don’t think it should. I think it’s a mistake'."

Colantonio already knew that the idea it would help with marketing the game would not be true. "It's a sales mistake," he called it, "because it backfires from older [fans], [they] are not going to be happy. Then the [people] who did not like Prey, they're not even going to look for our game, [so] they're not going to find our game." He was right, as the sales for the game were "horrible".

He continued to describe his discomfort with the situation, stating that he wanted to apologise to the team behind the original Prey of 2006. "It was also a kick in the face to [them]," he stated. "I wanted to apologise to them many, many times. I didn't really have a chance because I don't really know those people. It was never our intention to steal their IP and make it ours. It's gross and that's not what I wanted to do."

Colantonio said at this point, he knew he had to leave because he had realised he was "not in control of [his] own boat" anymore. This was a direct contradiction to the "full artistic control", with no interference from higher up the chain, Arkane had been promised in their acquisition deal with Bethesda in 2010.

The corporate structure took its toll on Colantonio, but burnout wasn't the only reason why he decided to leave Arkane. He felt that his time with the company was at an end, having seen it from birth to winning GOTY awards. He wanted to start something new, but he didn't know what. At the time, he said he was "exhausted and frustrated", and wanted to take a break to travel, make music, and spend time with his son.

After parting with Arkane, he spent a couple of years consulting. He stated he didn't know if he wanted to make video games anymore, but couldn't go back into development yet as he was under a two year non-compete clause with Bethesda. He consulted for various different studios and leads, including Julien Roby who was previously an intern under Colantonio during development of Arx Fatalis.

"The itch was there again," Colantonio said, after speaking with Roby, "but this time I wanted it different." The two of them formed a new studio together, WolfEye Studios, and Colantonio set out his goals to Kusters. "I wanted to stay independent for real and make games that are cheaper... The more you have to make a game, the more budget you have, you never make great decisions. Everything has got so much pressure."

But we've known this for years where's the news?

And it's funny to see companies do this despite how many times it backfires. Quake 2 was supposed to be a new IP but they decided to call it Quake for marketing and it pissed people off because the game had nothing to do with the original.

 

[Bad Sector]

Quake 2 was supposed to be a new IP but they decided to call it Quake for marketing and it pissed people off because the game had nothing to do with the original.

It wasn't for marketing, it was because they found the name they were about to use was trademarked, so they used the trademark they already had.

Also were people really pissed by that? I don't remember anything like that. At the time most people, especially FPS fans, weren't really that interested in game stories - at least in genres outside of adventures, etc.

I remember people being a bit annoyed that Quake 3 was multiplayer only and had the most basic of stories (the eternal arena thing or whatever it was called), but even that was a side comment alongside praising the game :-P.

 

[Roguey]

I think Typhon was our candidate

<anything>shock would have been goofy and would sound like a parody. Neuroshock was a joke internally, but for some reason it became a rumor that won’t die.

Of course Raph would be the kind of person too self-conscious to use Neuroshock, which sounds cool. Typhon sounds like a game that would sell even fewer copies than Prey. Pompous shit.

 

[RoSoDude]

In more interesting news, a new community-made modding tool for Prey was just released. Includes a mod manager capable of merging mods, compatible with legacy releases like my own CORE BALANCE mod, and some new ways to dig around and make changes, it seems.

https://github.com/thelivingdiamond/Chairloader/releases/tag/beta

Chairloader Mod Manager​

A mod Manager and merger for Prey (2017) Mods​

Key Features​

• Install mods from .zip or .7z file
• Enable and disable mods from loading through Chairloader
• Easy Chairloader install and uninstall wizards
• Automatic DLL patching to add Chairloader support
• Asset management and patching
• Merging XML based asset files
  • Base asset files and level files are supported
  • Localization file support coming soon!
• Supports merging "Legacy" mods

Chairloader Modules​

• Entity Manager
• Player Manager
• World Manager
• Performance Profiler
• In-game dev console
• Config manager
• Overlay Log

Modding API​

• Load mod DLL files
• Full header decompilation of the game DLL
• Function hooking support
• Full documentation coming soon!

 

[SharkClub]

Neuroshock and Psychoshock are both better potential titles than Typhon, no matter what Raph thinks, even though I would have preferred it being called Typhon rather than Prey.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Neuroshock and Psychoshock are both better potential titles than Typhon, no matter what Raph thinks, even though I would have preferred it being called Typhon rather than Prey.

I would have come up with Golden Coral, Frozen Light, Encased Terror, Neural Universe/Reality, Noetic Will, Mirrored Minds, IDK, something revolving around the Typhon, space, experiments on Talos, thoughts (as that is a major theme in the game), alien abilities and origins, some dialogue in the game etc. while still remaining abstract or vague and not spoiler anything.

 

[Silverfish]

The Yu Diaries would have been hilarious.

 

[Belegarsson]

Best title is obviously The Talos Principle

 

[ciox]

Best title

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I tried out alien trees. I didn't care for them. The energy tree caused me into a lot of direct confrontation and didn't blend well with stealth attacks. The remote viewing and mimic skills are pretty great though. I will probably take a fair amount of the psychic tree. The antigravity ability seems really good too. In the meantime, pure human still seems plenty powerful enough. The skills which facilitate access are the strongest, and those are mostly human.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I am glad I decided to go full human. I experimented with Leverage 3 and it is a hoot. My game has now become some kind of Looney Toons episode where I ambush creatures with traps. Dropping refrigerators on Typhons from a balcony or knocking them down with a hurled crate as they enter my turret kill zone is great fun. I am reaping the rewards for rushing the surgical talent and am flush with skills.

I will probably do a follow up run as a space wizard abomination, but being a wily trickster is definitely my favorite way to play first person RPGs like this. Prey enables and rewards creativity even more than M&M Dark Messiah, which is not easy to do.

 

[Silverfish]

After you finish the game, try the no needles run sometime. I thought it was going to be a slog, but there's still so much to experiment with, that the challenge is more like figuring out alternate solutions than just an optional hard mode (which is what I was expecting).

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I finished Prey last night. Fully upgrade human tree and weapons, no Typhon mod, saved everybody, harmed no humans, and activated the nullwave device. The ending was lackluster, but I had a great time playing it. Admittedly this game started slow. It felt too much like all of its predecessors initially, but I quickly came to see it was far better executed. I might have to play System Shock 2 over to decide if I like Prey better--it's been a very long time. Currently I'm erring that Prey is superior. Everything in this game was crafted with expertise and care. The exploration, opportunities for creativity, multiple solutions, atmosphere, good crafting, great monsters, good combat, and enjoyable skills really make Prey a phenomenal CRPG. Games like this make me glad that I've kept true to clearing out my backlog. This game is every bit worth the hype. I think it will place within my top 10 CRPGs.

 

[Ash]

You and all the 6 people that brofisted you = low standards. What a shame. "top ten CRPGs" "superior to SS2"

 

[MajorMace]

And yet it's absolutely true.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Ok who merged threads again

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

It's not top 10 material for me, nor do I think it's superior to SS2, but I'm of the opinion that people playing through intelligent games and then writing down their thoughts on them are deserving of brofists. Do you seriously think that brofisting somebody means a user agrees with every single thing stated in the post? I don't think I would have ever given a single one out if that were the case.

 

[Blaine]

But we've known this for years where's the news?

And it's funny to see companies do this despite how many times it backfires. Quake 2 was supposed to be a new IP but they decided to call it Quake for marketing and it pissed people off because the game had nothing to do with the original.

It wasn't for marketing, it was because they found the name they were about to use was trademarked, so they used the trademark they already had.

Eventually, of course, we'll run out of non-invented one- and two-word titles (that are in any way coherent as well as relevant to the source material) entirely.

A good, non-invented, non-compound one-word title, especially if it's just one syllable, is now totally unachievable for most without reusing the title of a decades-old IP in the best-case scenario. In the FPS genre alone, for example, we've got "Doom," "Quake," "Unreal," "Heretic," "Blood," "Halo," "Metro," "Battlefield," "Killzone," "Alien," "Dusk," "Black," and who knows how many more from less successful/more obscure franchises, or ones I've neglected to include.

 

[Ash]

Reminder to the low standards cucks:

-Broken resource management/economy. You get way more resources than you ever need. Health kits, ammo, armor repair kits, infinite use psi water fountains.
-Hacking minigame is lame, never progresses beyond its basic concept and gets repetitive. There was plenty potential to make a genuine good mini-game with this one, which is quite rare.
-The game has like 4 guns and 4 enemy types (slight exaggeration). What a joke. Enemies are also only ever in high traffic safe areas (e.g cental hallways), the game never surprises.
-The sound design is grating sometimes (e.g mimic sound cues and sounds when an enemy spots you), and there isn't much a soundtrack to speak of.
-RPG systems do not really force specialisation thanks to infinitely craftable neuromods. People contest whether SS2 and Deus Ex are even RPGs which is somewhat understandable, but this crosses the line. It's barely even replayable. I played it once, tried a second time and gave up in boredom.
-Station exterior space walks is completely wasted potential for multiple reasons.
-Going up is too exploitable (in trouble? Look up and jump = danger is gone. It's too reliable, there's always somewhere to jump up to).
-It lacks some monocled immersive sim/old school trappings seen in the likes of SS2, Deus Ex and Arx Fatalis, the actual games that make the top ten CRPG roster. I'll throw in objective markers as an easily recognizable example of decline here.
-The latter half is boring as fuck: level design falls off a cliff, they give you infinite psi, resource balance if fucked by this point, and they expect you to run backwards and forwards between long ass loading screens doing boring shit.
-Despite the entire premise and design, the game isn't remotely scary which is just pathetic.
-The overarching story and pretty much all sub plots are a bit boring and uninteresting. arkane have never been known for their writing and that rings true still.

It's not top 10 material for me, nor do I think it's superior to SS2, but I'm of the opinion that people playing through intelligent games and then writing down their thoughts on them are deserving of brofists. Do you seriously think that brofisting somebody means a user agrees with every single thing stated in the post? I don't think I would have ever given a single one out if that were the case.

Fair. I can't bring myself to fist a post I strongly disagree with. I mean, we are all here to discuss games, ideally intelligently-made ones, so that is the premise of this forum and we shouldn't throw fists around on that virtue alone. Also I struggle to call Prey an intelligent game (it's compromised) but it certainly isn't a dumb one. It's a nice game with great potential and certainly some high points, but ultimately fell short of classic status let alone top ten or superior to SS2.

 

[Jasede]

You know, it's not nearly as good as SS2, but can you name a game that's gotten closer to SS2 that's not Prey?

Any game since SS2/Deus Ex will do. Please don't say Bioshock because I'll laugh at you.

 

[Ash]

Aren't I recognized as the biggest critic of Bioshock on this damn forum?

"can you name a game that's gotten closer to SS2 that's not Prey"

It's your lucky day, because I have two:

An intelligent non-compromised immersive action survival horror with RPG elements? Darkwood (2017). we have a thread for that on the codex but it is flying over the low standards cucks' heads.

an actual FP/RPG "immersive sim"? Arx Fatalis! Other than that, none.

Prey is "closer" in that it is a straight SS2 clone in concept (not execution), but the above games are closer in terms of design intelligence, hardcore uncompromised design, immersion & entertainment factor, overarching design synergy (how everything comes together, works in tandem; the whole picture), replayability and all the good stuff.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

 

[Blaine]

You know, it's not nearly as good as SS2, but can you name a game that's gotten closer to SS2 that's not Prey?

ELEX.

Ash As far as I can ascertain (from the entire Steam page, the official Prey page on Bethesda.net, and the Wikipedia article), Prey isn't actually marketed nor described as "survival horror," but rather as a "sci-fi thriller." Therefore, utter resource scarcity wasn't necessarily a design goal, so citing that as a shortcoming is a bit of a reach. Besides which, many of we Codexers are incredibly autistic when it comes to scrounging every last nut and bolt and using them as efficiently as possible, and frankly in many games with acknowledged stringent resource economies I still find myself with loads.