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Interview Turn-based Space Action RPG in the making from Ex-Troika

DarkUnderlord

Professional Throne Sitter
Staff Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2002
Messages
28,547
Tags: Dropship; Laidback Gaming; Michael Sean McCarthy

Remember Michael McCarthy? He used to work for <a href="http://www.terra-arcanum.com/troikagames/">Troika Games</a>. Well, from their ashes, he's moved out and decided to set up his own company. He let us know about the project he's working on so we decided to <a href="http://rpgcodex.com/content.php?id=130">follow him up and do an interview</a>. Here's a taste of the game:
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<blockquote>Oh it's going to be dark....
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The game is set in the year 2109 and takes place entirely around the moons of Saturn. Most of solar system is colonized and space travel is common, but still very dangerous. You are the commander of a powerful Dropship that houses a 4 man team You are charged with the responsibility of system security. You are like an extreme military enforced S.W.A.T. team in space. You are concealed in the control room of your Dropship and issue commands to your units in the field.
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In this game, space is dangerous. Forget warp drives and beaming up anything. For instance, if one of your team members is in space and gets his suit damaged, he may only have 60 seconds to reach the airlock before his temperature control system fails and he freezes to death instantly. Same thing goes for someone you might be supposed to rescue. If you bust into a room on a spacecraft and start firing your cannon off, you might crack a window and suck little Timmy out into the void of space. A lot of this plays into equipping your team; big firepower can certainly be effective, but might not always be the best choice given the environment you are in.
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On the RPG end, all communication with people you encounter comes from you. Any member of your team can fire up the communicator and you can speak through it to NPC's in the field. What you say, who you kill or who you let live, how you handle the mission, etc., all play into what missions you receive, what kind of help you have during your missions, available equipment, and a number of other factors that will reveal themselves as the game progresses.
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There are two things you manage and upgrade during the game, your team and your Dropship. For your team stat wise, you can expect all the standards like strength and dex and intelligence and such. There are skills as well. Raising your skills and stats gives you the ability to use technology like forced entry devices (lock picks) and field med scanners (health packs). Your Dropship has many areas that can be upgraded as well. Of course your weaponry, but also things like your landing gear. Better landing gear will give you more advantageous landing locations around the level.</blockquote>
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<a href="http://rpgcodex.com/content.php?id=130">In our interview you'll find more questions</a> such as what it was like to work at Troika, how Troika went about making games and how Michael plans to avoid the same fate as his former employer.
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Thanks <b>Michael</b>!
 

One Wolf

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Planet X
this is one of the greatest things i've ever read. suddenly my deadened hope revitalizes.
 

Ausir

Arcane
Joined
Oct 21, 2002
Messages
2,388
Location
Poland
Yay! Troika might be no more, but it's good to know that its spirit continues. By the way, does anyone know what Tim, Leon and Jason are doing nowadays?
 

Llyranor

Liturgist
Joined
Jun 13, 2004
Messages
348
I read somewhere that Leon works at Blizzard, but I don't know if that has any shred of truth to it.
 

Mefi

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waiting for a train at Perdido Street Station
The greatest gift I have been given in my journey through making games is the concept that "it's ok to give the player control". What would the player want to do? Why can't we let them do that? Most importantly, who's to say that the player will care about the story or not? Don't thrust the player into something they wouldn't want to do. While it is impossible to give people complete control within the game, do your best to give them as much control as the budget, technology, and development cycle can muster. While this may sound like a simple concept, it's surprisingly rare these days. Tim, Leonard, and Jason really forged a company based around giving the player freedom. It's about making role playing games The key is to let the player do what he wants, but have his decisions affect the world he lives in.

You sir are a gem. Good luck with this title. I really hope it succeeds. My only problem is steam. It is the work of the devil. I fully understand the reasons why you have gone that way thanks to your explanation but , meh, steam smells worse than Norton. What a horrid choice to have to make.
 

Zomg

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 21, 2005
Messages
6,984
Another RPG messiah, perhaps?

It never stops amazing me how horrifically developers get fucked by the retail system. It's a wonder anything gets made.
 

Slylandro

Scholar
Joined
Nov 27, 2005
Messages
705
Best news I've heard in a long time. Nice work DU.

Edit: exactly who was really in charge of Bloodlines? I remember Tim Cain saying he worked mainly on the programming side, and it seems Michael also denies being in charge of the overall design.
 

Atrokkus

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Feb 6, 2005
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Borat's Fantasy Land
Outstanding work, DU!

I want to translate and post on my RPGplanet.ru, but DAMN IT"S HUGE! Heh, I don't know if I have the the time for that, but hey you never know.
 
Self-Ejected

dojoteef

Self-Ejected
Joined
Oct 26, 2004
Messages
970
Hey Michael, where's your studio located? I'd love to intern for you. I'm currently a grad student at the Guildhall@SMU learning game programming and I'm looking for a studio to intern with for the summer.

Alright enough of the shameless plug. Another Troika-like turn-based RPG is great news.
 

Greatatlantic

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The Heart of It All
I heard Boyarsky was at Blizzard of all places. I think I made a thread about it, do a search for "boyarsky at Blizzard" if you are curious. Couldn't tell you about anyone else, though.

As for the topic at hand. I like the way he talks. Now, if he can deliver if only in part, he'll have a sale from me.
 

Lurkar

Scholar
Joined
Feb 22, 2006
Messages
791
Fuck you. All my pants are in the wash right now, and now I need a new pair.

Asshole.
 

Atrokkus

Erudite
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Messages
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Location
Borat's Fantasy Land
Alright, translation in process. Soon this masterpiece will be gawked upon by the Russian audience as well.

this is, by far, the best dev. interview I've ever read.
And the game is extremely promising.
 

Elwro

Arcane
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Dec 29, 2002
Messages
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Location
Krakow, Poland
Divinity: Original Sin Wasteland 2
He's limited by his own savings until "the money comes in", and if I'm not mistaken this will only happen after he releases the first part on Steam, which will occur "sometime in 2007"... good luck, but I have my fears. Looking forward to the game!

Releasing a game in parts has some drawbacks from the developers' perspective. In case of games like Oblivion, you can be disappointed after buying but who cares - you gave Bethesda your $50. However in this case if you are filled with disgust after playing the first part of the game the devs will only get a few $.

At a certain point, when discussing Steam, he says " you guys all get the game for 30 bucks instead of 50". Does it mean each part will cost $10?
 

VasikkA

Liturgist
Joined
Oct 21, 2002
Messages
292
Location
DAC
An amazing interview. Especially the parts about Troika-think, dealing with publishers and how 1st person affects the linearity and control aspects of the game were interesting. Also, how the RPG scene lost a great team with Troika.

No words are enough to describe how much I'm waiting for a new turn-based tactical combat game(not to mention choices and consequences) and I wish the bestest of luck that he can pull it off the way he describes it.
 

Oarfish

Prophet
Joined
Sep 3, 2005
Messages
2,511
What the hell is going on? I didn't join the codex to read encouraging stories about intelligent, idealistic developers figuring out a way to get games to market that I might actually love.

I came here for the bitching, despair and psychosis, get your shit in order DU.
 

Surlent

Liturgist
Joined
Jul 21, 2004
Messages
825
Elwro said:
At a certain point, when discussing Steam, he says " you guys all get the game for 30 bucks instead of 50". Does it mean each part will cost $10?
He mentioned each stage would have about 20 hours of gameplay. When you consider it's done with source engine and have different options which makes the testing more time consuming and increase development time, I'd guess each one would be 30 bucks.
Sounding from the interview things are looking up for Michael. Hope he can pull the funding of his studio till the release.
 

Elwro

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Messages
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Location
Krakow, Poland
Divinity: Original Sin Wasteland 2
There's no way I'm going to pay $90 for the whole game. As for some pointless and unfair comparison, for $100 you can get Avernum 1-3 AND Geneforge 1-3. And before you pay, you can get at least a few hours of free play with demos of each game.
 

Hazelnut

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Joined
Dec 17, 2002
Messages
1,490
Location
UK
Why Steam... the reason Steam is so fantastic, is because the game can be developed and distributed without any publisher involvement. Laidback will get to keep the IP, which means that the idea and world the game takes place in will still be ours. Laidback can make a great title, put it up there and people can download it for less than they'd pay in the stores. On top of that, Laid Back will only need to sell a very small number of copies to recoup its cost and keep the company going.

Yes yes yes yes yes! Oh, and another yes!

I want to see more of this - games being produced for something other than money. Games targeting niche markets, and not trying to be all things to all people. No more disapointing AAA shit involving publisher suits who've never played a decent PC game in their blood sucking sellout lives!

As for choosing Steam. I hate it sometimes, and really it's just online distribution that is the concept that I like, but it's okay - they have sorted out some problems with it since release. I can live with it.

The only thing in that interview that I didn't like was the thought that with the 'problems' inherent in 1st person games, that we'll not see niche games of this type. I don't see why not as long as their not trying to compete on the visual fidelity front with the latest titles. Maybe that's just my wishfull thinking...

Looking forward to this game tho.
 

Elwro

Arcane
Joined
Dec 29, 2002
Messages
11,751
Location
Krakow, Poland
Divinity: Original Sin Wasteland 2
Hazelnut said:
The only thing in that interview that I didn't like was the thought that with the 'problems' inherent in 1st person games, that we'll not see niche games of this type. I don't see why not as long as their not trying to compete on the visual fidelity front with the latest titles.
Example: Vivisector.
 

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