KickStarter STASIS 2: BONE TOTEM - new isometric adventure in Stasis universe set in deep sea installation

[Pyke]

Desolation covered its budget, and fully funded Bone Totem - so from the POV of a tiny studio like ours it was a success!
Its hard not want/hope for one of those smash-hit-retire-young sorta games, but we know that we make strange games in a small niche.

 

[HoboForEternity]

In chapter 2

corpse

in the vents, the blooming corpse has a protuding bone right on hia crotch that he looks like he's having a boner. Despite the seriousness of the situation i couldn't help but laugh lol.

 

[Neuromancer]

Both have advantages. Steams audience is bigger - so if you're planning on dropping a review, Steam is really good for us. But GOG definitely gives you a good deal, and they are just an awesome group of people. There isn't really a preference from out side!

Just bought it on GOG.

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

Pyke, fess up. You were thinking of codex

when you designed this beauty

and

.

Also,

Spoiler

turning off stasis pods really struck a chord, especially that it was poor Moses who had to do it. Love the QR code easter eggs!

.

 

[Pyke]

Also,

Spoiler

turning off stasis pods really struck a chord, especially that it was poor Moses who had to do it. Love the QR code easter eggs!

.

Spoiler

That was a later addition. It was Jack who came up with the 'these are in pain' line - and man... it did hit harder than I expected!

.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Look at me! 40.000 leagues under the sea, in an unstable, leaking complex full with body horrors and ancient mind fuckery and I'm searching every nook&crany for blood VHS cassettes! Gotto find'em all I guess but I only have a BETA player...

 

[Infinitron]

Pyke Well, this release got zero press coverage and unlike with Desolation, you don't seem to mind it much either.

Would it be accurate to say that at this point making these games is more like what you do for fun in between doing contract work for other studios?

 

[Pyke]

The games is still our main source of income and focus, but we do have contract work and some other income sources to keep us going. And yeah - it is quite... frustrating that we got no press coverage - even in some of the places that were almost a guarantee. Maybe the games we make are too niche even for the niche websites?

But I know that our games are a slow burn with a long tail. Our games sell fairly consistently and dont really have as steep a drop off as other games. I think that the game is a lot bigger than some of the outlets thought - so their reviews are probably going to come out over the next week or so.

But the word of mouth has been very good - and I believe that we made an excellent game that will find its audience.

 

[Rean]

IDtenT BruceVC Star Citizen TheImplodingVoice

I'm gonna play this game, make sure it's good.

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

The games is still our main source of income and focus, but we do have contract work and some other income sources to keep us going. And yeah - it is quite... frustrating that we got no press coverage - even in some of the places that were almost a guarantee. Maybe the games we make are too niche even for the niche websites?

But I know that our games are a slow burn with a long tail. Our games sell fairly consistently and dont really have as steep a drop off as other games. I think that the game is a lot bigger than some of the outlets thought - so their reviews are probably going to come out over the next week or so.

But the word of mouth has been very good - and I believe that we made an excellent game that will find its audience.

We'll make sure all die naaiers buy it. I'll poesklap them until they do

 

[Alienman]

The games is still our main source of income and focus, but we do have contract work and some other income sources to keep us going. And yeah - it is quite... frustrating that we got no press coverage - even in some of the places that were almost a guarantee. Maybe the games we make are too niche even for the niche websites?

But I know that our games are a slow burn with a long tail. Our games sell fairly consistently and dont really have as steep a drop off as other games. I think that the game is a lot bigger than some of the outlets thought - so their reviews are probably going to come out over the next week or so.

But the word of mouth has been very good - and I believe that we made an excellent game that will find its audience.

I wonder what changed. It's not that they are allergic to indies. Maybe they have a quota since System Shock remaster seem to get a lot of attention. Only one sci-fi indie horror game per week

 

[BruceVC]

The games is still our main source of income and focus, but we do have contract work and some other income sources to keep us going. And yeah - it is quite... frustrating that we got no press coverage - even in some of the places that were almost a guarantee. Maybe the games we make are too niche even for the niche websites?

But I know that our games are a slow burn with a long tail. Our games sell fairly consistently and dont really have as steep a drop off as other games. I think that the game is a lot bigger than some of the outlets thought - so their reviews are probably going to come out over the next week or so.

But the word of mouth has been very good - and I believe that we made an excellent game that will find its audience.

Well done on the release of this game, in my 20 years of active gaming your studio is the only South African one that has released games that people talk about. I bought STASIS years ago but its still on my large unplayed list of games but I will be buying STASIS 2

I always support good South African products

 

[lightbane]

Alpha Beta Gamer, the Youtube channel who's all about indie games (mostly horror-themed ones) made a full longplay of your game, so that's some free exposure:

 

[Darkozric]

Would it be accurate to say that at this point making these games is more like what you do for fun in between doing contract work for other studios?

This is insulting to say the least.


For Infinitron everything is about exposition, like a good thot that he is.

If you worry so much about press coverage go ahead and post about it in the front page, instead of those countless Trannyhammer news.

 

[Pyke]

If anyone wants an official 'RPGCodex review' - I'm happy to provide a key. :D Anything for that sweet front page goodness.

 

[lightbane]

Sadly Infinietron only covers games that few here like, not actually good games, nevermind non-RPGs. Perhaps Darth Roxor will provide?

 

[agris]

Bonus if the reviewer has beaten day of the tentacle, given the 3 protagonist setup in Bone Totem

 

[Pyke]

Bonus bonus if the reviewer has a fetish for games where you milk things.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Man, I think I'm really nearing the end

Milking again...

I'm at the troglodyte village where "Mother"s are feeding their spawns.

Pyke How close and/or precise we have to be with the VHS? Can't believe I missed that much and I tried step on everywhere I could.

Also I'm loving the story, being a huge archeology and sci-fi nerd, seeing them melding together like this, makes me really happy.

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

If anyone wants an official 'RPGCodex review' - I'm happy to provide a key. :D Anything for that sweet front page goodness.

Unfortunately Infinitron doesn't do the whole "good games are on the front page" thing. He only puts shit on the front page and stuff he shills for from the cunts at Larian and Obsidian.

 

[Pyke]

The VHS's are just super well hidden. They are inside little 'nooks' in the levels - Honestly I think I even missed one or two of em!
You don't have to be 'too' close to them - but you have to be inside the little hook that they are in. They are almost all on the edges of the navmesh - so if you check the borders you should find em!

There is 1 tricky 1 - it can only be collected by Charlie:

Spoiler

When the diving bell falls down, and Mac is holding open the door.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Bonus bonus if the reviewer has a fetish for games where you milk things.

funny now that i passed that part of the game. i will never see boobies the same again.

 

[Cyberarmy]

So I finished in 12,6 hours and found only half of the VHS.GRRRRRRRRRRR

Liked the ending overall. Came for graphics, mood and puzzles but stayed for the story. I think you did a good job in general, especially with the characters. I want my own personel

REDACTED

Calaban

Also got 2 minor questions about an item and an achievement

ITEM

Russian dagger was in my inventory at the end, the only thing remaining. My OCD was huge! Did I miss something not on the main path??

ACHIEVEMENT

After the credits saw Moses (Cayne, I love that furball) washed up to shore, still "kicking". Then ending achievement told me that I saved Moses, was there a way to abondon him there? Because some players that finished the game don't have that achievement

I got some problems with the sound, it was too loud if I maxed anything in games options, so had to tune'em down to 7 at most.
I wanted to be able to zoom in a bit more to watch some details (certainly not the "boobies"...)
I think some areas and vidoes are a bit visually "crowded"? There were lots of things going on at the same time and it was easy to miss things. Like 10 damn VHSs!

Edit: Also missed a death achievement, the second one!

 

[Pyke]

So I finished in 12,6 hours and found only half of the VHS.GRRRRRRRRRRR

Liked the ending overall. Came for graphics, mood and puzzles but stayed for the story. I think you did a good job in general, especially with the characters. I want my own personel

REDACTED

Calaban

Also got 2 minor questions about an item and an achievement

ITEM

Russian dagger was in my inventory at the end, the only thing remaining. My OCD was huge! Did I missed something not on the main path??

ACHIEVEMENT

After the credits saw Moses (Cayne, I love that furball) washed up to shore, still "kicking". Then ending achievement told me that I saved Moses, was there a way to abondon him there? Because some players that finished the game don't have that achievement

I got some problems with the sound, it was too loud if I maxed anything in games options, so had to tune'em down to 7 at most.
I wanted to be able to zoom in a bit more to watch some details (certainly not the "boobies"...)
I think some areas and vidoes are a bit visually "crowded"? There were lots of things going on at the same time and it was easy to miss things. Like 10 damn VHSs!

Edit: Also missed a death achievement, the second one!

Spoiler

So there is a funny thing with the dagger! Originally, the dagger was used in the Charlie surgery thing, where Mac has to spike the parasites and cut them out of her using the dagger. But we just couldnt get it to work nicely. So the dagger just stayed in the inventory.

Spoiler

The way to avoid that achievement is to skip the credits altogether. It's to reward the people who watch Marvel movies. :D

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

Finished the game, little bit over 11h. What an amazing thing! Though I'm quite mad at you Pyke for

Spoiler

treating Moses the way you did. at least it looks like he has kind happy ending given post-credits scene and achievement. Still, to make the purest, most un-selfish character so far seen in Stasis game to suffer so much is just terrible.

A bug I spotted, might be me, might be the game

Spoiler

You know where it's from. You monster.

I very thoroughly enjoyed the game, the emotional rollercoaster, writing, graphics, sounds, music, even voice acting (and I usually dislike audio in games so much I play without sound). Left a review on steam, hope it helps a little bit with visibility. Really hope to see more games from The Brotherhood!

I do have some complaints though:

Spoiler

999.553 atm means roughly 10km depth, as it's ~1atm per every 10m of water above you. Yet depth on MULE interface is listed as 7135m. So why the 999.553 number? 713.553 would be just as good for puzzle. And I admire your geographical effort

. Off the coast of Chile, on such big shelf, nice
Other stuff about pressure is more "dynamic". It looks like the grenade is RGD-5. Fatality radius 3m, injury 25m. No way Charlie's diving suit would remain intact after an explosion in 5m diameter room, with grenade less than 2.5m from her. Not to mention the onrush of ~700 atmospheres of water and subsequent nuke. Even if it went off while she was at the surface (doesn't look like that from the cinematic), she would still be in trouble of that sonic wave. I don't know how much in trouble, but intuition tells me a nuke going off is very, very loud, and sound carries in water very well. I found this paper but I'm not nerdy enough to actually go through it and calculate how much trouble she is.
Primitive tech/organics being able to contain ~700atm pressure differential doesn't seem possible either.
This is of course stuff that most people will not notice or care about.
Why does the heli at the end have it's gear lowered? It's above water, clearly has floats, why lower gear?

Now, go and make that Crusader-like with your quality graphics and story