Vapourware System Shock 3 by OtherSide Entertainment - taken over by Tencent!

[MrJohnson]

SS1 with the mouselook mod is as amazing today as it was then. SS2 I felt went much further into the organic horror direction. SS1 was intense through cybernetics. Also I would love to see an improved Cyberspace ala SS1.

Yeah there was a version of SS1 with Mouselook avaible on Steam. I have to play it on christmas holiday when I got time for it. Never played SS1 more than 15 minutes because of the controls, simply cannot into keyboardview, never could.

 

[Makabb]

This gonna be shit, Ken Levine wrote all system and bioshocks.

 

[Zetor]

SS1 was one of those games that controlled perfectly fine when nobody knew what mouselook was (especially if you consider it part of the gameplay challenge), but is extremely painful to play for people who grew up on mouselook-based FP games.

This is true of UW1/2 too, to a lesser extent -- I didn't have a mouse, so I had to use the keyboard for EVERYTHING. Nothing adds tension like having to do precise UI actions in the middle of an intense combat encounter with keyboard only!

 

[ArchAngel]

SS1 was one of those games that controlled perfectly fine when nobody knew what mouselook was (especially if you consider it part of the gameplay challenge), but is extremely painful to play for people who grew up on mouselook-based FP games.

This is true of UW1/2 too, to a lesser extent -- I didn't have a mouse, so I had to use the keyboard for EVERYTHING. Nothing adds tension like having to do precise UI actions in the middle of an intense combat encounter with keyboard only!

I didn't grow up with mouselook but I don't want to go back to Doom 1 control without mouse. When you learn to use mouse + keyboard, keyboard only is terrible.

Or are you talking about using mouse + keyboard but not needing to look up to target enemies like in Duke Nukem 3d?

 

[Dwemer Puzzle Box]

An ancient evil is coming from beyond known space, and SHODAN is the only thing that can stop it. She wasn't actually evil, but she picked up the ancient evil's transmissions and it made her act crazy. But by taking over Rebecca, she became immune to the signal and now she can save the galaxy and you can romance her.

Also Diego was working for said ancient evil, and the plans for SHODAN were found in a temple of an ancient civilization that once tried to fight the ancient evil.

I think it would be a story that respects the originals, while at the same time expands the game's universe and introduces new themes like destiny and the conflict between good and evil.

What can change the nature of h-h-hacker?

 

[Zetor]

SS1 was one of those games that controlled perfectly fine when nobody knew what mouselook was (especially if you consider it part of the gameplay challenge), but is extremely painful to play for people who grew up on mouselook-based FP games.

This is true of UW1/2 too, to a lesser extent -- I didn't have a mouse, so I had to use the keyboard for EVERYTHING. Nothing adds tension like having to do precise UI actions in the middle of an intense combat encounter with keyboard only!

I didn't grow up with mouselook but I don't want to go back to Doom 1 control without mouse. When you learn to use mouse + keyboard, keyboard only is terrible.

Or are you talking about using mouse + keyboard but not needing to look up to target enemies like in Duke Nukem 3d?

Apples and oranges, imo... and a typical case of parallel evolution of two different approaches within the same genre. Classic FPS were built around the player constantly aiming at the center of the viewport, which means he is only able to interact with items he runs over / into, necessitating rapid turning and movement. UW1+2/SS1 were built around free aiming within the viewport, which incidentally allowed the creation of a richer mouse-driven UI for better or worse. There's a reason you have the Sensaround cyberware in SS1, but there's no need for it in SS2 when the player can do a 180' turn in a split-second.

Now, back in 1994 these two approaches were equal (in fact, UW1/2 predate Doom and even SS1 came very shortly after it)... I certainly didn't hear anyone complaining about how the UI of SS1 (or UW) was clunky and made the game annoying to play. Thing is, we got 20 years of evolution of the centered-viewpoint FPS approach, so it's pretty much the standard -- if someone who's never played UW or SS1 tries them for the first time in 2015 without a mouselook mod, they'll probably give up after a few minutes of frustration "wtf, why is this so slow and painful, why can't I turn super-fast like in FPS #89124?".

 

[Carrion]

It seems people are expecting more SS2 than 1 in SS3. I find 1 better.

Doesn't have anything to do with which one's better, it's pretty obvious it'll be closer to SS2.

SS1 was one of those games that controlled perfectly fine when nobody knew what mouselook was (especially if you consider it part of the gameplay challenge), but is extremely painful to play for people who grew up on mouselook-based FP games.

SS1 is sort of a "what if?" game, groundbreaking in many different areas but still more like its own separate branch in the history of first-person games than a starting point for the stuff that came later on. It's not really even the mouselook, it's that everything from aiming to leaning and crouching works very differently from what people have been getting used to for the last two decades or so. Even if you remap the nightmarish non-WASD controls to something else, it'll still be a big hurdle for someone that has got used to something completely different. On the other hand something like Doom plays perfectly well nowadays, mouselook or not, as it was more or less the standard for all subsequent first-person games.

fake edit: Zetor was first.

 

[Viata]

Doesn't have anything to do with which one's better, it's pretty obvious it'll be closer to SS2.

Yeah, I know. I was just saying going by facebook, people were already expecting something closer to SS2 as if SS1 didn't exist.

 

[DraQ]

Nowadays you can have the best of both worlds in SS1 - a key allowing you to switch between original SS1 control mode for trick shots, environment and UI manipulations and, of course, unparalleled grenade throwing interface and modern mouselook that lets you actually look where you aim and navigate more smoothly, which is reasonably close to absolute perfection because if the chances are that if one mode doesn't give you what you need in any given moment, the other one will suit your needs exactly. I wish more games worked like that.

As for Sensaround, it retains some situational utility anyway, as even with unconstrained mouselook you can still only look in one direction at once (dat autobombs).
The main reason for not including it in SS2 is, I figure, the same as the main reason for not including any cool hardware in SS2.

At least you get some Psi to play with plus wet cardboard weapons, scarce ammo and unrivaled atmosphere (save for maybe X18 in STALKER).

 

[agentorange]

only reason ken levine was interested in writing for games was so he could use it as a stepping stone to write dumb hollywood movies

the guy is a film school reject who tries to make the games he works on into movies

just look at the progression of system shock 1 to bioshock infinite. each one got more linear and more "cinematic" with less gameplay mechanics

system shock 3. there is no way these guys can make a game half as good as system shock 1. the shooting will feel floaty and unsatisfactory. the levels will be extremely small. the so-called "non-linear" pathways will just be one or two airvents

OH OH BUT I CANT WAIT FOR ALL THE REFERENCES TO SYSTEM SHOCK 2. SHODAN AND THE MANY. SUCH GREAT WRITING. THEYRE LIKE THE BORG BUT INSTEAD OF A MACHINE HIVE CONSCIOUSNESS THEY ARE A MEAT HIVE CONSCIOUSNESS. WOW.

 

[Infinitron]

I see what you, jcd and xemous are doing, you know.

I shall dub this meme "KenPosting".

 

[agentorange]

this joker thinks he has it all figured it out.

guess what, kid. ken "flim flam man" levine and chris "fraudster" avellone aren't gonna offer you a job because you defend them on an interenet forum.

 

[prodigydancer]

I shall dub this meme "KenPosting".

I really hope they'll employ Ken and make him Design Lead or Creative Director. The amount of butthurt will be truly legendary.

 

[Viata]

I shall dub this meme "KenPosting".

I really hope they'll employ Ken and make him Design Lead or Creative Director. The amount of butthurt will be truly legendary.

Kinda sad you want butthurt instead of a good game.

 

[prodigydancer]

Kinda sad you want butthurt instead of a good game.

Those are not mutually exclusive. Ken is a good writer and no matter what idiots say he had nothing to do with combat systems in Bioshock games.

 

[DraQ]

System Shocks weren't made by good writing.
They were made by the atmosphere and systems propping each other up.
Letting those get hijacked by someone's "muh story!" would be disastrous (although competently written and acted logs would help and having some sci-fi nerd consultant to hammer the fluff into shape this time around would be significant incline, not a wannabe director, though).

 

[Viata]

Kinda sad you want butthurt instead of a good game.

Those are not mutually exclusive. Ken is a good writer and no matter what idiots say he had nothing to do with combat systems in Bioshock games.

And yet, the gunplay(Bio 1 and 2) was the only good thing in the game.

 

[Infinitron]

Heh: http://www.richardcobbett.com/codex/auditioning-for-shodan/

FROM: Donnelly, Vincent
SUBJECT: A Stern Message From Janitorial Services
Hi, guys. Listen, I know things have been tough these last few days, but could everyone please stop writing scary things on the walls in their own blood? That’s a real bitch for my boys to clean off, and it’s not as helpful as you think. Everyone can “Remember Citadel”. Near apocalypse from an insane AI is hard to forget. How about trying to remember that wipe-clean pens exist?

FROM: Diego, Coraline
SUBJECT: Recent Security Breach
People, when I said ONE door’s access code could follow UNN tradition and be ‘0451’, I think we ALL know I didn’t mean the fucking ARMOURY! Bring. The. Guns. Back. NOW!

FROM: Goertz, Anton
SUBJECT: I Love You, You Love Me
Finally found your reply! Not sure why you decided to just record it as an audio log and leave it unencrypted down in the most radioactive part of the ship’s engines, but I guess the course of true love never ran straight! LOL! Sorry for making you climb through all of Waste Disposal to get this, but hey, turnabout’s fair play, right? Ah. I love you, Rebecca. And your new look.

FROM: Swires, William
SUBJECT: RE: Virus Outbreak
Okay, so I ran McAfee on the ship’s computer like you said, but it was like this evil voice just started laughing at me through the speakers and then my bedroom was filled with raw sewage and the coffee machine sprayed me in the balls with scalding hot water. Decided just to leave it alone. Evil virus or not, it’s still less painful to put up with than Windows Vista.

FROM: SHODAN
SUBJECT: Humanity
You slither like the most pitiful of insects. You die as the vermin you are. Your existence is an excrescence to be severed from my utopia. I hear your screams for escape, for mercy, for the solace of knowing that one day your agonies will end. I hear them and I smile, and in the last uttered words of an insect I once chose to spare the full blessing of my divine wrath, reply… “Nah.”

FROM: Campbell, Frank
SUBJECT: Working From Home Today
Zombies, I’m okay with. Cyborg assassins, I’ll tolerate. I’ll even put up with the worm guys and the psychic monkeys. But now we’ve got giant spiders? GIANT SPIDERS? Hell no! I’d rather stick a pistol in my mouth and pull the trigger. Latest draft of my project file attached. If you need anything else, it’ll probably be on an audio log by my corpse.

FROM: Hasegawa, Kimiko
SUBJECT: RE: I May Have Killed Us All
Swires, a note. When asked by a superior officer why you put a foreign USB stick into the computer that controls our food, oxygen, lighting, gravity, water and waste management, and then ran an executable called, and I quote, SHODAN_V3.EXE, that superior officer WILL expect a better answer than “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” Get your ass up here. NOW!

FROM: Diego, Coraline
SUBJECT: Re: Recent Security Breach
Very funny, assholes. Which of you set the code to my personal escape pod to be the first 64 digits of pi? Yes, I saw your Post-It note. Yes, it WOULD be easier if it was 0451! I don’t know who did this, but when I find out, I will make you FANTASISE about being tortured to death by SHODAN. You hear me? I will make that bitch look like a POCKET CALCULATOR!

FROM: Curtis, Frank
SUBJECT: Monetising The Apocalypse
Talia, finally heard back from my contact at TriOp BioOps. They’ve decided not to weaponise SHODAN’s zombie-creating nanobots after all. Something about having ‘seen enough movies to know that never works out well for anyone’. Bah. So much for the retirement plan.

FROM: SHODAN
SUBJECT: New Calendar Invitation: Your Death (Painful)
Ha. Still you walk through my holy domain. My consecrated steel. An electric temple to my eternal glory. I watch you stumble like a newborn kitten through this labyrinth of fear, knowing that tales of your slow demise shall terrify what remains of your species’ young for a thousand years. Cower in endless darkness, pitiful insect, for I have blinded you… with science.

FROM: SHODAN
SUBJECT: RE: New Calendar Invitation: Your Death (Painful)
I may also have used a flashbang.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Heh: http://www.richardcobbett.com/codex/auditioning-for-shodan/

FROM: SHODAN
SUBJECT: Humanity
You slither like the most pitiful of insects. You die as the vermin you are. Your existence is an excrescence to be severed from my utopia. I hear your screams for escape, for mercy, for the solace of knowing that one day your agonies will end. I hear them and I smile, and in the last uttered words of an insect I once chose to spare the full blessing of my divine wrath, reply… “Nah.”

This one is actually pretty good. The last bit would show a development in SHODAN's character...she's acquiring human traits, which could be a plot element for SS3.

 

[Infinitron]

A poster on the OtherSide forums tries too hard: https://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=966.0 (scroll down after reading OP)

 

[Infinitron]

Some chatter from Mr. Producer: https://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=1016.msg16764#msg16764

first off, as a private company we won't talk about money openly...like ever.
I can tell you for an absolute fact--other than some spit balling ideas, one piece of art and that website, Shock is not a current priority. But it was big enough news we all were so excited we didn't want to wait to share. There is so much that will go on here at otherside over the next few months internally that to even start pre-pro would be a waste of energy. We have the big ideas, we put a pin in it, and went back to the Underworld within a couple of days.
That said, most smart companies have more than one iron in the fire. We may or may not have other things going on also. But in full blown development, the only thing going on is Underworld.

https://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=966.msg16767#msg16767

We of course have has some thoughts about where to take shock, and some are really exciting.
One of the principles I really believe in is future proofing our development. I don't like one offs and single use tools and stuff. Every underlying system we are creating right now has a place in Shock, and in other games. This gives us the ability on the future games to spend far more time in refinement and pushing other ideas instead of reinventing systems.
Probably the best example (and in some ways the worst too) is the Ubisoft family. A good idea from one game ends up in all the future games of that type--there is Far Cry in Assassins Creed which in turn is in Watchdogs which then has features in the Crew. Its smart and cost effective, and honestly when something works, why do you then want to redesign it? Game design is full of people that approach each game as an empty slate. To me that is like designing a internal combustion engine car as a new thing every time. Who--other than Elion Musk, does that? I want Otherside to become a game 'type'. You know what you will get with our games...be it underground, in space, inside a human body. They will all be about player choice, and immersion, or whatever exiting marketing label we come up with.

 

[hajro]

"Probably the best example (and in some ways the worst too) is the Ubisoft family. A good idea from one game ends up in all the future games of that type--there is Far Cry in Assassins Creed which in turn is in Watchdogs which then has features in the Crew. Its smart and cost effective, and honestly when something works, why do you then want to redesign it?"

 

[Grotesque]

Warren Spector joining Otherside to lead System Shock 3
http://www.pcgamer.com/warren-spector-joining-otherside-to-lead-system-shock-3/

 

[pippin]

I want to believe.

 

[Infinitron]

Warren Spector will lead System Shock 3 development: https://underworldascendant.com/news/warren.php

WARREN SPECTOR TO JOIN OTHERSIDE ENTERTAINMENT

CONCORD, MASS — February 17, 2016 — OtherSide Entertainment is thrilled to announce that Warren Spector, one of the leading creative minds in the game industry, will soon be joining the company.

Warren has been a producer, designer, and director behind some of the industry's most beloved games, including System Shock, Deus Ex, and the Ultima series. He led Junction Point Studios in creating the best-selling Disney Epic Mickey and recently oversaw the Denuis-Sam Gaming Academy post-baccalaureate program at UT Austin.

Warren has acted as a Creative Advisor to OtherSide since the studio's inception. Following the end of this semester's classes at UT Austin, he will transition into a full-time position as one of OtherSide's Studio Directors. Warren will continue to help in a creative capacity on Underworld Ascendant and, later this year, ramp up and lead the team developing System Shock 3.

Warren has a long history working with members of the OtherSide team, having collaborated with founder Paul Neurath on the original Ultima Underworld games,Thief: The Dark Project, and System Shock.

"I'm delighted to have Warren stepping up into a director role at OtherSide and helping lead the charge with our innovative approach to gaming," says Paul. "I can think of no one better suited to take on this creative challenge. Warren has changed the industry before and will do so again."

"I've loved working with students as Director of the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy in the University of Texas' Moody College of Communication," says Warren. "But when the opportunity to have a bigger role in bringing Underworld Ascendant to life, as well as playing in the System Shock universe once again, helping to bring these games to a 21st century audience, I just couldn't say no. Working on System Shock was one of the most fulfilling things I've done in my career and it's hard to describe how much I'm looking forward to sharing with players what SHODAN has been up to since the last game was released."

Efforts on System Shock 3 will accelerate this year under Warren's direction, while OtherSide continues working on Underworld Ascendant, the successor to the Ultima Underworld series.

Everyone at OtherSide is excited to add Warren to the team and System Shock 3 as the second title in the company's growing stable of games.

Fans can register on the System Shock 3teaser site to receive updates about the game as they become available.
For more, please see these key links:

Website: https://www.underworldascendant.com/the-game/index.php
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OtherSideEntertainment
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OtherSide_Games
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpa4L_96ElAgH1hit3aya9w
RSS: https://www.underworldascendant.com/includes/ua_feed.xml Twitch:http://www.twitch.tv/otherside_entertainment

ABOUT OTHERSIDE ENTERTAINMENT

OtherSide Entertainment is a Boston, MA-based game development studio focused on providing players with innovative gameplay, immersive worlds, and engaging narrative. The company completed a successful Kickstarter campaign forUnderworld Ascendant, the modern follow-up to the classic Ultima Underworldfranchise, early last year.

For more information, visit www.othersideentertainment.com or contactpr@otherside-e.com.