STASIS, An Isometric SciFi Adventure Game

Another thumbs up for the sound design. It is truly outstanding work and took me from “interested” to “day one”. Thanks for posting that youtube video!

Happy New Year!
I hope that you guys had a fantastic break before the start of 2013.
2012 was a very difficult year for me, with quite a few personal ups and downs. Through it all tho, I had STASIS, and honestly, I think that its the beacon that kept me sane through a lot of it! I have grown so attached to this game, that Im hesitant to think of what my life will be like without it…but then again, there are always sequels…

I have been doing quite a bit of work on the cinematics that link chapters together. One thing I loved about Starcraft, and pretty much the reason I played Blizzard Games was to watch the cinematic sequences in the campaigns. Now while I don’t think that I can match the brilliance of the Starcraft ones, I will be happy if I can give players that giddy feeling that an animated sequence instills in me!
.
The sequences will be short (I am after all just one guy!), but will hopefully provide a nice link between sections of the game. Something that Im also doing with them, is the areas that are shown in the sequences are going to be playable areas in the game-giving the animated parts a cool flourish, in that as a player you know yu will be able to explore those areas. This also ups the amount of detail needed in the levels, but more detail is never bad!

Here are 2 shots from a sequence I finished last night, involving an abandoned tram line. The trams ahead of you have all powered down, so you have to get out and walk along the tunnel, towards….well, you’ll just have to wait and see!

And here is the start of the level that this cinematic takes place in. Note, I only started this level last night, so its missing all of its cool stuff (flares, particles, colour correction, etc).

Hope you guys are going strong, and good luck for 2013!

-Chris

The game looks and sounds amazing, but I hope you’ll change the interface. I can guess why it must be particularly tempting to hide the GUI for a graphics guy, but in terms of usability it is exactly the same as hitting people with a confirmation nag every time they try to interact with stuff.

  • And I hope this year will bring you fewer downs & lots more ups :)

What are you talking about Disconnected?

From the videos, it looks like an ordinary minimalistic adventure interface.
If anything, I’d even hide the disc thingie and just have a pointer in it’s place, unless you hover over something that can be interacted with.
Clicking and keeping the button pressed on such hotspot should bring up the interaction disc, whilst merely clicking should just execute the default action.

Like others wrote upthread, my main issue is that I keep wanting to roll around blasting away with my energy weapon when I see the graphics.
(Why was there nothing like a Crusader Kickstarter?)

If it’s a straight adventure … it’ll all depend on the story told, I guess.
I found myself pretty bored by the isometric adventures I can remember, but on the other hand, sometimes a game hardly worth being called a game can be quite entertaining if the story is solid enough - some of the japanese interactive novels or - just recently - TellTale’s The Walking Dead come to mind.

Definately impressive so far for a one-man-show, that can be said even now.


rezaf

Damn this looks more amazing every time you post Chris!

:D

Thanks guys!

I’m busy working on an updated ‘cinematic ready’ model for the main character. The suit design will be updated to show more detail. Things like a more interesting silhouette, and some small light sources will hopefully make it much easier to identify the character in the more detailed, and darker environments.

The in game character will also have 4 different levels of wear and tear, which is pretty cool. The differences will be subtle, with John getting dirtier, and covered in blood and grime as he moves through the game.

The interface has been under constant revision, and I’m still refining and working on it. I like the idea of clicking and holding on a hotspot to open the inventory…Ill give it a try this afternoon and see how it feels. Honestly, I’m trying to keep the ‘clicking’ to a bare minimum, which is why the inventory opens up just through moving the mouse to the bottom corner.

It is a straight adventure, although possibly focusing more on exploration of the environment and story, than on puzzles. I get the most joy from looking around, reading documents, listening to recording, and fleshing out the world in my mind.
The pace of the game is pretty quick for an Adventure Game tho. That is to say, the story has a sense of urgency to it, that will hopefully keep the player moving forward, and feeling the ‘pressure’ to go on. Its a very delicate line to walk!

I know what you mean about wanting to whip out a blaster and destroy things! I loved Crusader when it came out, and I think its influence on my artwork shows! I took a look at Construct 2 (By Scirra) for a possible engine for STASIS, and what I saw really impressed me. I think I could probably do something like Crusader (although honestly, it would probably be a little more like Commandos…) in the future. Right now, Im just going to focus on STASIS!

-Chris

ps-if anyone finds a cool screenshot that screams out ‘Crusader!’, and they want me to give it a go at recreating it with my style, just post it here. I really enjoy those types of projects!

If you were referring to my “suggestion”, you misunderstood me, it’s not about clicking to open up the inventory.
What I was trying to describe was something like the interface in Full Throttle - you see a pointer, and when you click on something you can interact with, you get a disc menu from which you pick what exactly it is you want to do.
Like, you only see a mouse cursor normally, but when you move across some door, you get a different cursor (or the round menu immediately with the default choice highlighted). If you just click, the default action is executed (for example, the door is opened). If you keep the mouse button pressed, you can select “Look” from the interaction disc, which will make the game describe the door instead of opening it. Something like that.
I hope that’s a more accurate description.

Probably a good thing that you’re focusing on your adventure, I was never a big fan of Commandos. ;)

Oh, and …


rezaf

The interface does work kinda like that, except you dont ‘choose’ LOOK AT, USE, etc). The interface automatically switches the cursor to those options depending on the object. The game only has 3 options for interacting with the environment. MOVE, INTERACT, SCAN.

SCAN, and MOVE are always left click, as those are the things you are going to be doing most often. INTERACT is done with a right click, the reason being that you can scan an object, and then interact with it. BUT the interface will change the cursor to let you know what you can do. So some objects you can only scan (ie, look at), with others having both SCAN and INTERACT highlighted.

Thats the reason for the ‘pie’ cursor that I know many people don’t like! I’m still thinking of a better way to display that information, but I don’t know…I just kinda like the circular cursor!

It sounds confusing when I type it, but once you use it for a minute its pretty intuitive. Most importantly, its not ‘niggly’ when it comes to doing things. Its as absolutely basic as I could make it!
It also serves the dual purpose of me not having to do the absolutely annoying ‘I don’t think that would work’ inner monologue of the character. IE, saying ‘INTERACT’ on a wall or some other arbitrary object. I know that those work very well in a comedy game, but in a serious game it really destroys the atmosphere.

Fair enough Chris - the specifics are hard to judge by just looking at screenies and videos.
Like I said, I’m basically fine with the interface (which is why I asked Disconnected what issue he had with it), the only really minor nitpick is that it slightly obstructs the screen (and looks kinda weird) to have the “action trinity disc” visible at all times.
REALLY REALLY MINOR issue, though.


rezaf

Last year I moved houses, and have been wanting to redo my new office for a while. I decided that I needed some really cool images framed and on the wall…things I could look at and be inspired by! But it had to be related to STASIS. This room is, after all, where STASIS is being born…

Each image took roughly a day to produce (over nights after work), and feature assets that are built for the game. I think this also gives a good idea about how detailed the assets are! You are also getting your first real look at John Maracheck, and the Plug Suit.

Originally, I was going to have writing on them, but honestly, I think that the images speak for themselves.

When they are printed, and block mounted, I will take some photos of the office for you guys to see where the magic happens. Until then, I hope that you enjoy these images as much as I enjoyed creating them!

-Chris

Gorgeous.

2nd image is my new wallpaper! :D

Same :)

I hadn’t seen this thread until now but after reading through it I can’t wait. Everything looks awesome. Keep your nose to the grindstone!

When you are finished with this, use the engine to make an isometric RPG :)

Thanks guys! I wish I could spend more time on them, but they really are a nice to have!
I’ve been thinking about how to design an RPG, but I think that the mechanics involved are just immense. Good RPGs are SO specialized…there is a reason that even the big AAA companies sometimes mess them up!

Still, it’s something that I have played around with…
What I would imagine the best way to do it, would be to have a hybrid RPG/Adventure Game. So an AG with a linear story (easier to control from a design point of view), but with a mostly freeform element of exploration.

I built a prototype a while ago called 1000 Years Later, which had the basic elements of the exploration and map in place. If you look at my blog, you can find it there (www.stasisgame.com/blog).

The Worlds of Ultima games (Savage Empire and Martian Dreams) are good examples of Adventure Games with RPG trappings. Basically an open overworld map and a smattering of wildlife around with which to have RPG combat.

Ill do a bit more research on how those games worked. I was thinking something more akin to how the Blade Runner AG worked, with a large persistent world that moves forward with or without the characters action. The difference being that the characters actions (or inactions) change the direction of the game.

An example I was playing with (actually in the 1KL Prototype) was the idea of a serial killer who is moving from town to town. The player is a bounty hunter who tracks him down.
The kills would take place with the killer staying in a town for a certain amount of time, killing, and then moving on. The player would need to work out which town he would hit next, and try to head him off, while also trying to figure out who he was.

I liked the idea of the game ending because the killer gets away because of the players inaction, or the player making one of those ‘is it town A or B?’ choices, and either just missing him, or getting there in the nick of time to stop something going down.

There would of course be other story elements flowing through the game that would influence which town would be next. For instance, a train was built, but a gang robs it, stopping the killer from getting to one of the larger stops. As a result, a murder happens on a small homestead. The player interference would come in you thwarting the robbery attempt by capturing and receiving the bounty on one of the robbers.

A game like that would be incredibly challenging to plan, but immensely fun!

That serial killer part kinda reminds me of how Fahrenheit was,. if I remember correctly you played in “real time” and had to reach your objectives within a time period before you missed your window…

A game where the ‘world’ continued to struggle on without the player, but where the player could affect the future would be a lot of fun. It would require a lot of simulation but I think it would be worth it – at least as a player, but perhaps not monetary in terms of how much effort it would take ;)

There are plenty of stories where the protagonist goes back in time and tries to change things but fails to change things “enough” - two I’ve read that I can think of offhand are a novel I really love called Replay, a Stephen King’s 11/22/63. Not to mention movies like Groundhog Day and The Butterfly Effect.

I think a game modeled after this idea could be completely awesome. You’d go back (forward) in time and try to change things - but your changes will often have unintended consequences and maybe you’d have to go back and try again. So it’d be like having a bunch of do-overs!

On second thought, yeah, it might not be commercially viable… but it could definitely be awesome.