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General discussionSTASIS: Developer Q&A(59 posts)(59 posts)
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Posted September 01, 2015
Have questions that only the devs can answer? Join the team behind STASIS for a special Q&A session!

Chris and Nic Bischoff from The Brotherhood, the two-person team behind the game, are here to answer all your pressing questions about their title from 6 to 8pm GMT.

Comment in the thread below to ask all about the title, the game-developing duo’s life behind game development, and their inspirations in creating what is thought to be a journey back into Fallout’s vaults, Sanitarium’s halls, and Planescape: Torment’s ambience.

Before you do, we’ve put together some ground rules for this Q&A to work as smoothly as possible:

1. Not all questions might get answered during the Q&A. This means your specific question might go unnoticed or unanswered, but feel free to read along anyway and hang out with us - it’s gonna be fun anyway!
2. Be nice. This means no abuse, harassment, name-calling and the like.
3. Don’t spam or take over the thread to go off-topic. This will help us all keep track of incoming questions and help you get the most out of this event - and keep our guests involved!
4. Try to look through some recent questions before asking a new one. If the Q&A has been going on for a while, it’s likely your question has already been addressed.
5. Try to keep it about Rampart. Just kidding, we’re sure the devs have lots of subjects aside from STASIS that they’d love to have a chat about with you guys!

Let’s get this show on the road!
Post edited September 01, 2015 by GOG.com
Posted September 01, 2015
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GOG.com: Try to keep it about Rampart. Just kidding, we’re sure the devs have lots of subjects aside from Victor Vran that they’d love to have a chat about with you guys!
While I had a good laugh about the Rampart thing, you should probably change that Victor Vran to Stasis. Or maybe the devs are more interested in talking about another developers game than their own? :D

*edit* Unless that's a joke within a joke within a joke. It's a jokeception. My god, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE */edit*
Post edited September 01, 2015 by Jinxtah
Posted September 01, 2015
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GOG.com: Try to keep it about Rampart. Just kidding, we’re sure the devs have lots of subjects aside from Victor Vran that they’d love to have a chat about with you guys!
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Jinxtah: While I had a good laugh about the Rampart thing, you should probably change that Victor Vran to Stasis. Or maybe the devs are more interested in talking about another developers game than their own? :D

*edit* Unless that's a joke within a joke within a joke. It's a jokeception. My god, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE */edit*
It WAS a jokeception. But since there'd be a chance that not everyone would have been following our previous Q&As (almost impossible, we know, but still)... We changed it to STASIS, at least here on the forums.
Posted September 01, 2015
Alright, so I guess it's practically tradition that I'm one of the first in these Q&As, so let's go:

It's gonna be a big topic: inspiration.

I keep hearing about how the game has drawn from Planescape Torment, and from Fallout, and from Sanitarium, and it's basically the best of many various horror games stuck in space.

This raises a few questions for me:

1) Are these people just madly interpreting your creation in ways you didn't intend (and turning it into clickbait), or did you actually get inspired by those games?

2) What other games inspired you?

3) What added value, apart from good mixing of various inspirations, did you put into the game (basically: what makes it unique and worth playing, if it's so heavily inspired by games I already may have on my shelf)?
Posted September 01, 2015
Just a quick and simple question from a backer.

For successfully releasing a title that both hit its targets and exceeded them would you like to have your heads patted or bellies rubbed for the wonderful work you've done?

Congrats on the release!
Posted September 01, 2015
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Hicks233: Just a quick and simple question from a backer.

For successfully releasing a title that both hit its targets and exceeded them would you like to have your heads patted or bellies rubbed for the wonderful work you've done?

Congrats on the release!
You have to do it at the same time, there are two of us :)
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justMaku: Alright, so I guess it's practically tradition that I'm one of the first in these Q&As, so let's go:

It's gonna be a big topic: inspiration.

I keep hearing about how the game has drawn from Planescape Torment, and from Fallout, and from Sanitarium, and it's basically the best of many various horror games stuck in space.

This raises a few questions for me:

1) Are these people just madly interpreting your creation in ways you didn't intend (and turning it into clickbait), or did you actually get inspired by those games?

2) What other games inspired you?

3) What added value, apart from good mixing of various inspirations, did you put into the game (basically: what makes it unique and worth playing, if it's so heavily inspired by games I already may have on my shelf)?
1) STASIS was inspired by the games you mentioned and many others that we grew up playing. We tried to bring a little bit of each of them - or rather - how we remembered them playing. The obvious visual aspect of each was Isometric which has always been a love for both of us.

2) I would say that DEAD SPACE really changed the way I played and saw games. BIOSHOCK, FALLOUT (of course), THE DIGG, THE LAST OF US and many more. We loved the classic adventure games and we wanted to bring a modern twist to the aged genre.

3) We tried to incorporate modern game design and story telling techniques (like the LAST OF US) and logical puzzle design into a age old medium of Point and Click.
Post edited September 01, 2015 by THEBROTHERHOOD
Posted September 01, 2015
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THEBROTHERHOOD: 2) I would say that DEAD SPACE really changed the way I played and saw games
I was actually gonna ask if Dead Space was one of your inspirations, since some of the screenshots reminded me of it.
Posted September 01, 2015
avatar
Hicks233: Just a quick and simple question from a backer.

For successfully releasing a title that both hit its targets and exceeded them would you like to have your heads patted or bellies rubbed for the wonderful work you've done?

Congrats on the release!
avatar
THEBROTHERHOOD: You have to do it at the same time, there are two of us :)
avatar
justMaku: Alright, so I guess it's practically tradition that I'm one of the first in these Q&As, so let's go:

It's gonna be a big topic: inspiration.

I keep hearing about how the game has drawn from Planescape Torment, and from Fallout, and from Sanitarium, and it's basically the best of many various horror games stuck in space.

This raises a few questions for me:

1) Are these people just madly interpreting your creation in ways you didn't intend (and turning it into clickbait), or did you actually get inspired by those games?

2) What other games inspired you?

3) What added value, apart from good mixing of various inspirations, did you put into the game (basically: what makes it unique and worth playing, if it's so heavily inspired by games I already may have on my shelf)?
avatar
THEBROTHERHOOD: 1) STASIS was inspired by the games you mentioned and many others that we grew up playing. We tried to bring a little bit of each of them - or rather - how we remembered them playing. The obvious visual aspect of each was Isometric which has always been a love for both of us.

2) I would say that DEAD SPACE really changed the way I played and saw games. BIOSHOCK, FALLOUT (of course), THE DIGG, THE LAST OF US and many more. We loved the classic adventure games and we wanted to bring a modern twist to the aged genre.

3) We tried to incorporate modern game design and story telling techniques (like the LAST OF US) and logical puzzle design into a age old medium of Point and Click.
Can I butt in with a question? I'm wondering why so many developers these days seem to go for classic/retro/isometric games rather than realism. Is it because 3D art has moved so far along that expectations are so high, it's hard to reach them within a reasonable indie budget, or because the whole idea of indie gaming is people who love games kind-of recreating their childhood in the modern era?
Posted September 01, 2015
high rated
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THEBROTHERHOOD: You have to do it at the same time, there are two of us :)

1) STASIS was inspired by the games you mentioned and many others that we grew up playing. We tried to bring a little bit of each of them - or rather - how we remembered them playing. The obvious visual aspect of each was Isometric which has always been a love for both of us.

2) I would say that DEAD SPACE really changed the way I played and saw games. BIOSHOCK, FALLOUT (of course), THE DIGG, THE LAST OF US and many more. We loved the classic adventure games and we wanted to bring a modern twist to the aged genre.

3) We tried to incorporate modern game design and story telling techniques (like the LAST OF US) and logical puzzle design into a age old medium of Point and Click.
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Ciris: Can I butt in with a question? I'm wondering why so many developers these days seem to go for classic/retro/isometric games rather than realism. Is it because 3D art has moved so far along that expectations are so high, it's hard to reach them within a reasonable indie budget, or because the whole idea of indie gaming is people who love games kind-of recreating their childhood in the modern era?
Good question. I guess it is a bit of both - it is easier to sell nostalgia. For us though we are primarily 2D artists - we do commercial illustration for architects so we stuck with what we knew.it is easier to make 2D look good than 3D - 3D is also very expensive to produce if you want to compete with AAA - that is not a space we would even think about getting into.
Posted September 01, 2015
How have you found the public reception to Stasis? Relief? Satisfaction?

I remember the Kickstarter campaign having a really friendly feel to it, there seems to have been an increase in wariness in regard to Kickstarter projects lately so it was nice to see such a positive campaign.

Do you think you'll utilise Kickstarter or other similar crowd funding platforms for subsequent projects?
Posted September 01, 2015
high rated
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Hicks233: How have you found the public reception to Stasis? Relief? Satisfaction?

I remember the Kickstarter campaign having a really friendly feel to it, there seems to have been an increase in wariness in regard to Kickstarter projects lately so it was nice to see such a positive campaign.

Do you think you'll utilise Kickstarter or other similar crowd funding platforms for subsequent projects?
You guys are on a roll with the good questions!

We have been very happy so far - STASIS has only been out for 24 hours and we have reviewed well - we are averaging 9/10 so at least we have made some people happy :) We are relieved, tired (insert every emotion know to man here). Chris has spent 5 years on this, I have spend 2. Chris said on twitter that it was almost like seeing your kid off to school on the first day and then they graduate on that same day - that is how much emotion we felt hitting the go button.

We are friendly guys - we do work very hard but we always try to smile - I think it is because we have been running a business together for almost 15 years and we deal with massive projects. We have learnt to handle stress and engage with people. So we tried to bring that to Kickstarter; friendliness but also professionalism.

We may use KS again, we learnt so much and I think we could run an even better campaign - maybe? :)


You guys might like this:

http://imgur.com/a/UJ8l3
Post edited September 01, 2015 by THEBROTHERHOOD
Posted September 01, 2015
Hello Chris and Nic, nice to have you here!

What major difficulties have you faced during the creation of the game? Have you ever reached a point where you didn't know how to proceed on creating what you had on your mind? Thank you in advance!
Posted September 01, 2015
avatar
Hicks233: How have you found the public reception to Stasis? Relief? Satisfaction?

I remember the Kickstarter campaign having a really friendly feel to it, there seems to have been an increase in wariness in regard to Kickstarter projects lately so it was nice to see such a positive campaign.

Do you think you'll utilise Kickstarter or other similar crowd funding platforms for subsequent projects?
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THEBROTHERHOOD: You guys are on a roll with the good questions!

We have been very happy so far - STASIS has only been out for 24 hours and we have reviewed well - we are averaging 9/10 so at least we have made some people happy :) We are relieved, tired (insert every emotion know to man here). Chris has spent 5 years on this, I have spend 2. Chris said on twitter that it was almost like seeing your kid off to school on the first day and then they graduate on that same day - that is how much emotion we felt hitting the go button.

We are friendly guys - we do work very hard but we always try to smile - I think it is because we have been running a business together for almost 15 years and we deal with massive projects. We have learnt to handle stress and engage with people. So we tried to bring that to Kickstarter; friendliness but also professionalism.

We may use KS again, we learnt so much and I think we could run an even better campaign - maybe? :)
Looking forward to seeing what comes next!

Watching the opening sequence it was nice to see FMV again. Noticing the shared surnames I'm guessing it was partially a family affair making Stasis? It was one of those warm and fuzzy things to see.

I'm not hugely far into the game (methane filled conduit area) but some of the sound design really reminds me of Dead Space, the gruesome nature of the deaths and deliberate ramping up of tension interwoven with narrative reveal reminded me a lot of Dead Space 2 in particular. I've got to ask though - during development did you find yourselves increasing the brutality or pushing the player that little bit further with a sense of giddy glee? It has that feel that you had a lot of fun making the game seeing how much you could toy with the player and make them feel unease or horror while at the same time having to temper that enthusiasm to make sure it didn't descend into parody. Very much akin to the sense of dread or unease in Sanitarium when without that sense of control and focus it could have been simply goofy.
Posted September 01, 2015
1.) How many ways are there to get John killed? I encountered 10 ways, 5 of which were by enemies and 5 by environment - but I'm sure there are more ways.

2.) Are some of the NPCs based on real life people in terms of their characteristics and are you making fun of anyone you know by putting them into this kind of setting and exaggerating things a bit. If Dr. Charlotte Williams is based on a real person, that would be amusing. Not for her "pesky neighbors" though...

3.) Are there any hidden alternative endings, secret rooms or alternative puzzle solutions? I didn't find any on my first playthrough. I'm aware of the fact that if you tell us the secrets, they are not secrets anymore. But I'll still ask!
Post edited September 01, 2015 by awalterj
Posted September 01, 2015
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Vythonaut: Hello Chris and Nic, nice to have you here!

What major difficulties have you faced during the creation of the game? Have you ever reached a point where you didn't know how to proceed on creating what you had on your mind? Thank you in advance!
Hi there. Making games is hard - this is probably the hardest thing we have ever done. Once we took money from the Kickstarter we didn't even consider the notion of not completing the project. Chris and I have been making games for 20 years together, but this was the most ambitious project that we had undertaken.
I don't think there is anything that we wanted to add but didn't - we found a way to make the engine work for us. Using Visionaire which is NOT designed for this sort of game had its challenges and we pushed it to its limit and beyond. In the game we have some tricks to manage memory and make sure the game doesn't die when loading 7500 frames of animation every other scene.

People have been making comparisons between STASIS and TIDES etc but they have big teams with massive resources. STASIS was rendered on 2 machines and 1 of them was my programming/design pc.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionSTASIS: Developer Q&A(59 posts)(59 posts)
(59 posts)