Night Dive Twitch Streams

[664725a32637dfox]

It's not on YouTube yet (should be in the next few days I'd guess), but you can watch it here:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/281691716

Thanks!

[664725a326758sgupta]

07/09/18 Dev Stream w/ Daniel

* Just Daniel for the first part of the stream; Karlee joins later.

* Greybox work continues on Security.  He's doing some of it off-stream as it's big enough he needs to.

* When asked about fall damage being a thing in this new version, Daniel says probably, yes, but that's not 100% definitive.

* When asked full game price, he said he could only guess, but maybe $40 - they really haven't talked about it yet.

* A few more paper thin wall issues and an explanation of how that works/why it's a problem.

* Asked by a new stream-goer how things are going in general, they had a meeting and the consensus is everything's going very well.  Daniel is actually ahead of schedule with his greybox progress.  (Personal note: Keep in mind this is since the refocus/hiatus, so expectations are based on that new timeline.)

* There haven't been streams with Jonathan Peros because he's working on other projects as well and it's something where he just doesn't have the time right now - too many things on his plate.

* Various people are placing art assets/items in the levels.

* When asked about the Robb Waters stream, Daniel says he doesn't know - they need to talk about it from more.  They hope to have more variety in streams in the future as they can fit them in.  (I'm not sure he remembered this was a stretch goal, so I'm guessing it'll happen at some point - I hope so as it'd be really, really cool.)

* When asked about the biggest mistake in the System Shock games, Daniel would say the ending, particularly of System Shock 2.

* Security level is nearing completion - a lot of work on the shaft portion, and he worked on Diego's room as one of the last things in this stream.

* There was a question about whether Diego's voice actor could change.  Daniel said they'd most likely be changed - he did say they could ask, but seemed amused about it and thought the answer from that particular person would be no.

* When asked about the final boss fight, Daniel would vote (and fight for) the classic cone.  But they don't 100% know yet.

* Daniel's favorite level in SS1 is Executive (to play). 

* Next stream *might* be the end of level 8.

[664725a3268caJosiahJack]

Cone?

Also for those interested, greyboxing = grayboxing = blocking in = blocking out = rough in = painting with broad strokes = establishing composition and generic shapes.  However, since this is a remake, it means recreating the level shape and uses brushes (blocks) textured in developer gray grid texture.

[664725a3269dfsgupta]

I think he means the "cone" form of SHODAN we see in the intro movie (the one that starts out blue and neat end "evolves" into a red much more malevolent looking spikier thing).

[664725a326d69unn_atropos]

Dev - System Shock - Daniel Grayshon - 07.02.2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur0zjqKn1zg

More progress with Daniel Grayshon.

[664725a3271a4unn_atropos]

Dev - System Shock - Stephen Kick - 06.15.2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTc0eNkv05g

---
Notes by iceman
Video 16 - Jonathan - 15.06.18

FINALLY someone different for a change. Great to see work on something different. Work on 3D props.

* Shows off new iris door. Does some work adding texturing to it. Shows off how various lighting effects will change the colors on it.
* Lots of discussion on how reflections of light affect light hues etc. How he does things in Photoshop etc.   - I do a fair bit of my art work for my games in photoshop so this one was of interest to me.
* Does some direct copy / pasting of things from 2D concept art directly onto 3D props.
* Get to see some other props he's been working on - 0:56:00
* You get to see: Medical cart, cans of drink, medical waste bag, nurse computer, triop mug, PDA device, tech pedestal, sanitation dispenser, test tubes, surgical tray, syringe, maintenance door, microscope, one iteration of the keypad, medical level logo

---
Notes by sgupta
06.15.18 Dev Stream with Stephen Kick

* Showing off final supermutant model

* Showed several layers of mutant (bloody body, bloody face, blood rain, shadow detail, blue veins [may not use this as too busy]).

* Apparently Chris was showing Stephen the mutant model in-game, forgot it was there, turned around quickly, and scared himself a bit, which is a great sign =oP

* Mutant is in game, but changes to view it weren't pushed yet, so he couldn't show it yet

* Walkaround in Medical - as icemann said, the door out of the immediate medical area now requires the briefcase keycard to unlock.

* Asked about random skins on enemies.  It's a pipline thing they're working on, but as an example, mutants may have multiple skins for different variations - ie., a little blood, a lot of blood, etc.

* Asked about an in-game reason for why all enemies of a certain type are in the same place; no - no good in-game reason.

* Daniel's college education is actually in game design.  He had a story about knowing a lot about Unreal in a course that introduced it and finishing a whole deathmatch area in an hour.  =oP

* Nightdive became aware of Daniel because he had a modding guide for System Shock 2 up very shortly after release.  They approached him about guides for various mods, etc., and became impressed by his drive and work ethic as well as his ability to quickly learn any skills they needed to be a sort of jack of all trades.  For example, he didn't have a Mac, they sent him one, and he quickly learned to do some Mac work they needed.

* One of the biggest criteria as far as who Nightdive hires is self-motivation.  They like people who can get things done and learn what they need to do so on their own within the deadlines as that's their responsibility.

* Daniel also deals a lot with some of the older/ported titles on Steam.  Interestingly, Nightdive doesn't retain control of all titles after release, so sometimes they can't patch them after they no longer have ownership.

* One of Daniel's first releases was Wizardry V/VI, and they were very nervous about it as it was one of their first ported gamse.

* Daniel recommends playing Noctropolis as a great game.  (And they gave away some keys.)

[664725a327353sgupta]

07.11.18 Karlee playing Life is Strange

* Karlee alone today as Stephen was traveling and Daniel was busy; she's playing Life is Strange

* Asked if once the System Shock Remake is successfully out, do they have any plans for System Shock 2?  She said they've been talking about it, but no firm plans yet.  There are multiple options they're looking into.

* Stephen should be back in the next couple days, and the next KickStarter update is tentatively scheduled for Friday.  Stephen may also be streaming Friday.

* Unfortunately, the last few minutes of the video was muted by Twitch for copyright issues (I'm guessing some music used in Life is Strange, but I don't know), so unfortunately I can't tell you if anything else relevant was said (I'm guessing not too much, but can't say for sure).

[664725a327519icemann]

I miss the days when people could put clips of movies and music into their videos without someone claiming copyright and wanting all revenue from it. It's all gone out of hand.

Half the reviewers on youtube regulary get copyright claims on their videos even though their reviews, which falls under the "fair use" policy under US law.

[664725a327756JDoran]

Yes, and the situation will probably just get worse. It might well be that one day it becomes possible to copyright well known words or phrases, and so any video (or book, movie, etc) containing someone saying "Let's take a look", or "In my opinion", or "If you ask me" might be declared a breach of copyright. With wealthy companies gaining more powers, and their armies of lawyers happy to do anything, however harmful to the public's rights, to fill their own bloated bank accounts, then a situation as ridiculous as that can no longer be said to be 100% impossible.

Oh, and Disney will continue making movies/cartoons based on public domain or out of copyright IPs, then claiming that the copyright on their version of the IP somehow legally now applies to everything to do with the original subject's IP.

[664725a327852icemann]

Which from a legal srandpoint would never work (I'd hope).

[664725a327a99icemann]

Daniel - 14.07.18

* Show casing of maintenance with textures (SS1 PBR) in place. Entire level has textures in place.
* Get to see the research level for the first time. 0:06:55. This also has textures done throughout.
* A note to make sure that you've done your backer survey.  - Pretty sure I did mine a fair while ago.
* Some animated textures at work in Research. Nice. 0:08:15
* Many of the textures have light sources built into them. No work in the level editor necessary. Big resource saver.
* Medical is the only level left to require completion of blockout after the current level is finished off.
* Rest of the video is Daniel working on the security level up until 1:25:00 where level is 100% completed. Only 1 level to go .
* Are there limits to how big a level can be - No, but the more objects present, the greater the drain on the engine. You can definitely see some lag as Daniel walks around the level to make sure he didn't miss anything.
* Starts on Medical - 1:38:00 - Odd, I definitely remember Chris's earlier videos + Stephen's showing Medical with it being about 50% done. But what Daniel shows of it has literally just 1 block in place and that's it.
* Daniel gets asked about this soon after. What everyone has seen of Medical so far has been Chris's work for just a baseline of the level. But for Chris's work to be able to continue, a full blockout needs to be done first. The blockout will be retro fitted around the work already done by Chris.
* What will Daniel stream once blockout is 100% done - He's not sure
* By videos end he has the starting room done and part of the bit outside of that (with the med bed part).
* Who textures the levels - Jonathan

[664725a327fb2sgupta]

07.13.18 Dev Stream w/ Daniel

* Karlee sitting in.  This was originally going to be a Stephen stream, but they had to change the schedule.  A big KS update did come out today, though - check it out!  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598858095/system-shock/posts/2237646

* Daniel finishes off greyboxing Level 8 on-stream.

* The stream starts out (first 10 minutes) showing off some of Maintenance and Research levels in the editor with the original SS1 textures (including motion/lights).  (Some of this is also shown in the KS update but with PBR.)

* He was asked if the lights on the walls were rigged by Jonathan.  In those cases, they were actually baked into the textures, which was weird but interesting.  Some of the other standalone lights do need to be rigged up I believe.

* After Level 8, he'll be working on Medical, which is the LAST level they need to do.  (They had to talk about it since a lot of the texture work and testing things out has used the part of Medical already done, so they needed to plan how to integrate everything, which they've done, so he'll be able to start once 8 is done).   

* Asked if they're just going to modify the existing textures shown or build them from scratch, Daniel explained they'll be built from scratch - what we're seeing as far as the old textures are just placeholder assets.

* Daniel finished off Level 8, then played around a bit with lighting.

* Asked if he could show the tool for finding holes in levels (as there is one), but he said he really hasn't used it yet - another dev primarily has used that so far.

* Asked if there are size caps for a level; no, but it's limited by performance.  Some techniques are used to improve performance - things like level of detail or not drawing things that can't be seen by the player, etc.

* He finally started the Medical blockout, which is from scratch.

* Asked if the original System Shock developed Medical last, he said he didn't know, but this is often the case with game design.  As development continues, game makers often get better at using the tools, and initial impression is important to get people to play to later into the game, so it's not uncommon for the first few areas to be done last to get players hooked.

* Some (me included) were confused since a lot of Medical has been shown.  This is work done by Chris and is only part of the level (baseline as icemann pointed out).  Daniel still needs to do the blockout to work out the entire level for Chris to continue, but the work will be merged/retrofitted with what's already done.

* Asked if modern games are blocked out like this or just older games, Daniel gave assurances that it's a normal part of game development and that a good example for viewers to check out is the Overwatch level design videos from 2017 or 2016.

* Jonathan Homles is responsible for texture work on blockouts.  They're hoping to stream more from him next month.

[664725a32812bsgupta]

Oh, forgot one:

* I didn't fully understand this, but there was a discussion about anchor points to the Bridge?  (Maybe meaning how it would be in relation to the other levels?  I really wasn't quite sure.)  Daniel indicated it's reversed from where it should be, and they may fix that for their version.

[664725a3283caicemann]

Daniel - 17.07.18

* More work on Medical with a quick reshowing of the work that was done on Security last stream.
* Initially it's just Daniel and Karlee but Stephen joins later
* What's the public alpha teased in the latest KS update - This will be an alpha version of the game. Ready by mid September. Cyberspace will not be included. Will be made available via Steam most likely.
* Favorite texture from the original SS1 - The look of Shodan in cyberspace.
* Will the alpha have enemies - No. Exploration only.
* Will there be puzzles in the alpha - Yes
* Will creepy SS2 style ambient sounds be added to the game - Yes
* Karlee thinks they should have a "La Croy"-like drink in the game since Stephen's always drinking them during the Streams. Daniel thinks it should be called Delacroix for a SS2 in-joke.
* How will character portraits be done in-game - Conceptual art done by Rob Waters. Get to see one at 1:08:00 of Edward Diego.   -  Looks nothing at all like the original Diego.
* Who did the original SS1 portraits and what program was used - Rob Waters. Done in "Mudbox".
* Will the Cortex Reaver game over be recreated in this remake - Yes plus some others.
* The alpha will be a closed alpha, open only to a small batch of people.
* The majority of backers wont get to test the game out till the beta.
* Why ND started doing these streams - To provide greater transparency into what's going on with this games development.
* Favorite level to work on - Level 8
* Will Chris be doing anymore streams - They avoided this one.   - I wonder if he got stage fright and didn't want to do anymore as he only did one.
* Will there be streams regarding the game design behind this remake - Their not sure at this stage. Maybe. Daniel said he'd be happy to do one.
* Daniel has a fair bit done by the end of this stream. I'd estimate another 1-3 videos before this level is fully blockmapped.

[664725a32890esgupta]

07.16.18 Dev Stream w/ Daniel (Karlee sitting in; Stephen joins a few minutes in and leaves about a half hour before the end.)

* Grayboxing of medical continues.  Daniel hopes to have it finished by the end of the month; then greyboxing is done!

* Adventure Alpha (with a current ETA of September) will be the full layout of the station and playable from start to finish, but without enemies (described previously as similar to setting 0 for everything in the original).
 
* While it will be the whole physical station (much of it with placeholder SS1 textures at first), Cyberspace won't be part of Adventure Alpha.

* No word yet on who exactly Adventure Alpha will be available to yet; there have been discussions on how to roll it out, and it will most likely require Steam.

* Asked about whether the older geometry style would be a problem for navigating the levels in Unreal, Daniel said there were small tweaks here and there, but nothing obvious, and it shouldn't be a problem.

* Asked about how the editor for the original System Shock compared to Unreal's, Daniel couldn't comment as he didn't know exactly how SS1 was greyboxed.  He said you can find screenshots of the Ultima Underworld level editor, and the process was probably similar.

* Asked about Daniel's favorite SS1 texture/asset, he says it's SHODAN's boss form (the Citadel-shaped cone with devil horn things).  He liked that it wasn't just a face, even though the face was a big part of her.

* Asked their expectations for breaking the levels, wall glitching, etc., Daniel said record video of it and send it to them so they can fix bugs. 

* There will be puzzles in Adventure Alpha.

* Asked if ramps will still be turned into stairs, Daniel said yes, but Karlee pointed out the skates.  They didn't really come to much of a conclusion - mainly joked about Skate Station mode.

* Asked about it, there will be lots of creepy ambient sounds ala System Shock 2 and the Unity demo (which Daniel loved about it).

* Character portraits are being redone by Robb Waters - they're all being repainted using conceptual art techniques like digibashing and 3D modeling.  They're coming out really great according to Stephen. 

* Stephen will not be recording Diego's lines for the remake, but he might do a voice in the game. 

* System Shock 2 will be remade at some point, probably with a similar style to how System Shock 1 is being done.

* System Shock 3 will probably not have the same feel as SS1/2 remakes, but they're not in charge of that (OtherSide Enterteinment is).
 
* Edward Diego's new portrait is shown at at 1 hour 8 minutes and change.  He looks great, though a bit older than SS1's originally.

* Robb Waters did the Edward Diego portrait in MudBox.

* Polygons in Cyborg Diego's Butt = 100 Million Polys.

* Asked where the crew goes to the bathroom, they are planning to add bathrooms.  They spent a whole month concepting bathrooms.  =oP

* They are remaking the Cyborg Reaver "Game Over" scene, and they'd like to add additional death scenes.

* Some flat walls will be turned into slightly 3D assets (ie. computer walls).

* Adventure Alpha is a closed alpha so very limited at first.  Non-Disclosure Agreements will need to be in place.  First batch will be in September most likely, but Closed Beta will open it up to a lot more people.

* Asked about other developers streaming (Chris, Jonathan, programmers), it's just a matter of them being busy and not having time.  They'd like to, but it's as they are available.  Regarding programming in particular, they worry it won't be that interesting and could potentially allow code to be taken.  There is a possibility of a game design stream at some point (also asked about), but they don't know yet.  Daniel might be willing to do one.

* It sounds like they still plan to open up the room with the station view/sun like in the Unity demo, but for now Daniel greyboxed it as is.

* Daniel has gone back to previous levels like the Reactor level to make some tweaks so it makes more sense (nothing dramatic).

* Asked about modifying levels after greybox, Daniel said the greyboxes will be reviewed first, but after development begins, they should have everything they need to make changes where necessary.

* For people who get to name mutants/cyborgs, the name has to be sensible and preferably like a real name.  For cyborgs, there might be more leeway (ie. twitch names), but they still need to decide on that.  You get one submission for a name - after that, it's at Karlee's discretion if you have another chance should your name is rejected for some reason as they'd like to avoid redundant work or reaching out to tons of people.  She'd like to have all the name selections by the end of September if possible.

* Asked about it, they do have some sort of plan for their own names and/or images somewhere in the game, but he didn't elaborate.

[664725a328a93sgupta]

Just a note that I go out of town early Saturday for about a week.  It's highly unlikely I'll get a chance to watch the streams during this time (unless I have a lot more downtime and better internet than expected), and it'll also take me time to catch up with everything when I'm back, so you might not see a lot of updates from me for a couple of weeks.  I'll hopefully cover Karlee's stream Wed should anything SS-related come to light, and I'm not yet sure about Friday's stream (it'll depend on timing).  I intend to catch up when I'm back, but please bear with me as it will take some time. 

[664725a328c06sgupta]

Just a quick note:
07/18/18 was a game stream with Karlee playing Noctropolis - nothing really relevant though.
07/20/18 stream was supposed to be with Stephen, but had to be cancelled.  Regular schedule should go back into effect Monday.  DeepChrome did do an art stream instead (you can see her work in #fanart on the Nightdive Discord if interested!)

Like I mentioned, out of town next week, so don't be surprised if you don't hear from me until early August or so.  I will attempt to catch up tho'!

[664725a328d89icemann]

Daniel - 24.07.18

* More work on medical. He definitely did some work off stream. Some extra stuff added in since the last one.
* ND's been super busy over the past few days as preparations for the alpha near.
* Stephen joins 40 mins in.
* Will the remake have HDR - Not sure
* Asked what games they'd most like the source code for - Blood, NOLF 2
* Newly acquired IP - Azrael's Tear    - Never heard of it
* Daniel's next task once blockout is done - Item placement
* Does ND plan on making any other source ports for other games - Yes, but they wont say which. Stephen says that they'd love to do one for Trespasser.
* The level is very close to completion. All that's left is 2 big areas. The radioactive trench + the surrounding bits, and the cyborg conversion area and CPU core. All the rest is done. 1-2 videos max before this levels finished.

[664725a328f26voodoo47]

lets make sure they are aware that Blood source code is not lost, just unreleased because of legal stuff. sound like something right up their alley.

[664725a32905aunn_atropos]

Dev - System Shock - Daniel Grayshon - 06.29.2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnDqLSt7_r0

More progress with Daniel Grayshon.!

[664725a329123unn_atropos]

woops

[664725a32925aunn_atropos]

Dev - System Shock - Daniel Grayshon - 07.13.2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ4sUFbpxTU

Weekly Monday Dev stream with Daniel Grayshon!

[664725a3293feicemann]

I have to say that I commend Night Dive on these streams. Yes they are annoying in that they go for so many hours each, meaning that you have to find something to do whilst watching them. The information they provide on both the current state of development of the game + how Night Dive itself is going is quite thorough. In that respect we are getting details to a depth not done for a KS project before. And their on discord to answer questions as well. Most crowdfunded projects provide updates every few months. For this one we're getting updates every few days. That's unprecedented.

The sad part is that only a very small percentage of backers are even watching the streams at all. So much of it is lost to the rest. For the hardcore minority though, these streams are the exact thing needed which had been missing prior. I find the streams quite enjoyable by this stage, and look forward to see how development moves on once blockmapping is completed.

Prior to watching these streams I was mixed on whether I'd actually play it once it was done, but now I'll definitely give it a go. And I've gained respect for ND in the process, which I had none of prior.

[664725a3294ffJosiahJack]

Appreciating the tldr summaries  for those of us who don't have much time for the new format.