https://www.gog.com/game/system_shock

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598858095/system-shock/posts/2115044

This is worrisome.

CrazyCanuck went right for the heart and asked... No refunds, wont happen they intend to deliver. But how long will it take?

I'm guessing 2019 if not later now :( On the bright side the original core dev team is still there, they only removed the additional devs they brought in.

I don't know if this is good, or bad news.

It must be hard to capture the same feel of a game this old with modern technology. The "blocky" maps of the first System Shock might not appeal to modern players, but the sterile looking maps of the remake did not appeal to me either :/

Hopefully they do something like Shadows of the Colossus and keep the spirit of the original, while also getting rid of some
of the clunkiness and add a believable style to the maps.

At least we can still play the original, so if the remake fails - we have a playable port to fall back to.

Well, it sure is worrying, to get that out of the way first.

But, I think it's just all too common for devs on Kickstarter to be blown away with the support and surpassed goals, and naturally, want to scale what they "give back" accordingly. I don't fault them for that! Except, they have to realize, that's where it begins to derail all too often - you've gotten that amount of support for what you originally promised, and put on display. Not for anything you feel like you now owe the fans after these goals have been surpassed!

Biting off more than you can or should chew is incredibly dangerous. Just deliver exactly on what you promised, add some more final touches and polish to that maybe, add expanded and themed OST and art packages of your ideas for the future, but don't overdo it, that should be the mantra here. Gotta get to base 1 first, before you try and reach for base 3.

Enhancing your vision after you've already "sold it" to your backers may work with that new game you imagined, albeit still being dangerous and presuming most of your backers are of the tolerating, patient kind rather than the "You missed your deadline. Again. Refund!" kind. But dabbling in changing your vision when it's a remake (not a reboot) of a well beloved game? That's... something else entirely.

Don't change the game to appeal to newer audiences when it's aimed at the old fans, because chances are newer audience don't care much about it first and foremost, but more importantly you'll lose the fans that enabled you to do this in the first place on top of that. You end up making it harder on yourself, dooming the project to a certain amount of failure by default, and disappointing or outraging your / the originals fans, too.

Going forward from this, I'm still cautiously willing to give them the time they need to not fuck this up. To realize what they got the support for, and from where that support came. They are really talented, awesome guys, I just hope they'll be okay with limiting their own influence to refining and mastering the art of recreation, to make a true remake instead of something that's just "inspired by" the original. If they do this right, it'll be a beautiful ode to one of the most significant entries in gaming history, and revitalize the franchise for more to come.

I can safely say to all of you guys that this remake is dead, and what killed it was over-ambition and a sudden change in priorities.

And heck it wasn't even going to be like how Demo they gave us, it was gonna be completely different with a change from Unity to Unreal Engine. They wanted to get a Publisher Backing, and sell it as a multiplatform system, Shamus Young explains in detail this whole kerfuffle:

http://shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=42010

Basically they went wanting to make a carbon copy remake of System Shock 1with some needed improvements and streamlinings on a modest budget.

To wanting to make a Multiplatform AAA Budget, and Publisher Support, complete re-imaginging of System Shock 1.

and you know this for sure because?

Because Shamus Young said so? (who the heck is Shamus Young, anyway?)

Former writer of the Escapist.com.

And if you read his page, he clearly did his research, I just gave a complete summery of what he was trying to say.

yes, he seems like a smart guy, but unless he's holding a written confirmation from NDS that SSR is not happening in his hand, all he's got is an opinion.

let us remember the opinion most people held circa 2012 - "there is no chance in hell anyone's ever going to untangle the legal situation surrounding the System Shock IP".

and yet, here we are.

Apparently from the article I read when this was first announced, they took the money and were working on other things with it instead of on the game.


I loved the demo, because the original, even the enhanced version, is annoying to play . The so called sterile environments as someone referred to them don't bother me one bit. I want it as close to the original as possible just with better controls and camera like the demo. One of the main issues with modern games is there is too much clutter which means that many time the developer makes them glow or some other thing for people to be able to find them. The last thing I want is a CoD . modern take on SS1.

I loved the proof of concept demo! I also thought that the lack of texture filtering was intentional.
What i meant with sterile was the look of the latest concept arts and screenshots.

Citadel should look lived in, dirty and like something bad happened to it and the inhabitants(which, as we all know is what happened after all). A clean and flashy look just does not cut it for me. It should not look like Destiny 2, but more like Bloodborne, or a more fitting setting - Alien Isolation.

Of all the games i really often thought to myself that the Design of Alien Isolation would fit perfectly for System Shock.
The low ceilings, the sounds, the gameplay - everything screams System Shock to me ;)

Hey guys, would it be possible to take the existing assets in the demo, and have the community finish the game? I don't think it's going to be good otherwise, especially with the engine and direction changes.