Night Dive Twitch Streams

[664715eee8929icemann]

And for anything sgupta left out:

* This would have to be the final blockout video, as he had up to the CPU core room done. Very little left. According to Daniel 4 rooms left.
* Only Daniel present. A real shame considering the milestone moment that is being done for the project in this particular stream.
* Word from programmers that all of the items have been created and are ready for placement in the levels.
* All blockout finished on Medical at 0:23:00.
* Moves then onto the Bridge level for 1 section remaining to be done there.
* Daniel spots a few texturing errors on that level.
* Level fully finished off, which completes blockout for the game at 1:19:00. A major milestone for this remake right there.
* Daniel comments that its been a massive joy to get to share the blockout process via these streams. And that he far prefers this open free giving off info about the game style, compared to how things were prior.

[664715eee8d20sgupta]

08.09.18 Dev Stream w/ Jonathan Holmes

* Working on Level 4 - lots of new stuff to show as far as "classic" version textures being applied as temporary PBR textures.  Looks great - definitely worth checking out to see what he's doing for the Alpha (and possibly alternate game mode).

* He's made some lighting changes where he felt it makes more sense and looks better.  One example are the lighted floor tiles, which he's made look more cohesive with the room by doing them a bit differently. 

* A lot of textures have added life now - he's tried to add emissive light details where possible as well as reflections.

* Jonathan really loves the transparency of this project and being able to talk about this stuff with backers.

* He's also done some changes to room ambiance.  For example, in the original, there's a medical room that's pretty much all white.  He's switched this to the blue textures to look like the medical level, so it looks more cohesive overal.  (I have to say I think this is a definite improvement, personally - looks great!)

* He's a stickler for trying to keep spelling right and name everything uniformly and cohesively, which the original was pretty notorious for not doing.

* The reason he's working on Storage is he thought it might be the fastest to do, but he doesn't feel like that now - it's a ton of work. 

* He's hoping they will add bathrooms and living accommodations since the original station did not have much in the way of these things, challenging believability.

* Someone mentioned enemies in the original game look like they're having a dance party, and it's always bothered him since.  Other things that bother him are enemies where they couldn't actually get, catwalks that don't make sense, grating sounds that repeat constantly, etc.  So he'd like layout to be more sensible in some ways as well as some of these things fixed.

* He's not sure how much of his work will make it to Alpha initially as there's a LOT to do.

* He misses working on item creation, so he's looking forward to getting back to that at some point.

* Some really sweet new paneling, doors, TriOp logos, etc. are shown.  TONS of stuff to see in this stream.

* A new artist named Matilda has joined and is working on art/textures (some of the stuff Jonathan isn't doing since he's busy texturing out the Alpha build). 

[664715eee8e7cicemann]

My notes for the Jonathan stream:

* Work on level 4, which is our first look at that level I believe.
* This level looks great. The new lighting effects are excellent.
* Jonathan's another staffer who loves the free giving of info on the games development after the changes.
* Repulsor lifts should be usable in-game by next week.
* Loving the synth music present in all of Jonathan's stream. Great stuff.
* New elevator texture in place. Looks good.

[664715eee9247sgupta]

08.10.18 Dev Stream w/ Stephen Kick

* Source port should be done in the next few days, so Launch planning should be forthcoming.

* New KickStarter update planned for Monday (the 13th).

* Stephen's really happy Daniel's greybox is finished. 

* Adventure Alpha may have a pushed back date as it's a moving target - more details in the KickStarter Update.  This won't affect much in terms of development as it's not going to be very widely distributed.  It is still coming along well and quickly though. 

* Q. Asked if nobody liked the direction pre-hiatus.  A. He just felt it was way beyond the scope of what they were supposed to be doing.

* Facial work on the Virus Mutant, but technical issues making it very hard to stream as the program didn't want to work correctly while streaming.

* A bit more talk about their new artist onboard, Matilda, who's doing environment art (props, doors, tile sets, etc.).  Some of her art will be in the upcoming KickStarter updates.  They need a lot of art going forward.

* Matilda might end up streaming.  They hope so.

* Portraits in the games will probably be static, with effects playing around the outside.

* Stephen thinks it's cool some people (in a tier that quickly sold out) will have their faces featured in the game.

* There's a fairly lengthy discussion of music towards the last half, including listening to a lot of the music featured in the Unity demo and Jonathan's early work towards the project.  While many dig the music (I do too, but I also wanted more music akin to SS1 as well), Stephen reflects on how he gets why it doesn't really capture the original System Shock vibe. 

* There's some discussion of possibly making a System Shock comic with a partner at some point, possibly a companion story to the game instead of retelling the game plot.  One example could be how the hacker got caught hacking Tri-Op.  This could be part of the Big Box Collection, but it seems all fairly up in the air at this point.

* Q: What's going on with the Repair Bot figure - last we heard, it might be too fragile?  A: Nightdive did approach a few manufacturers about this model.  They liked the design, but all had concerns that it would be too easily breakable.  Having had experiences with this kind of breakage with a Big Daddy BioShock figure, Stephen didn't want to risk it, so they're still figuring out what to put in in place of this instead that won't have that problem.  (In the BioShock case, loads of the figures were broken, but were eventually replaced and people got a bonus art book to try to make up for it.)

* A pretty interesting discussion was had about older (early PlayStation, for example) games and polygon budget.  For example, in a lot of early games, all the detail had to go into the face, which is why hands were basically just triangles, etc.

[664715eee9442Synaesthesia]

>* Repulsor lifts should be usable in-game by next week.

This is a Star Trek joke.

https://youtu.be/4HG_Hx-0ulQ?t=9s

The code is already in the game, we just haven't implemented it in the levels yet.

[664715eee9750sgupta]

>* Repulsor lifts should be usable in-game by next week.

This is a Star Trek joke.

https://youtu.be/4HG_Hx-0ulQ?t=9s

The code is already in the game, we just haven't implemented it in the levels yet.

Wait, so the game will be done Tuesday!?  =oP

[664715eee9836icemann]

A Star Trek joke? Bah :p

[664715eee996dicemann]

My notes for Stephen's stream:

* Asked if ND acquired the game "Cybemage - Dark Light Awakening" - No, but there is a good chance of them releasing this in the future.  - I remember trying to play that game back in the 90s and hating it.
* Stephen's favorite SS2 level - Recreation. Specifically the "love rooms" there. He really enjoyed the level inside the Many.
* I do love that elevator music they put together for the earlier incarnation of the remake.

[664715eee9c22icemann]

Daniel - 14.08.18

* Interact-able item placement on level 6. Daniel, Stephen, Jonathan and Karlee present in stream.
* The way it works is Daniel goes through the level, checks with Jonathan if that item is ready for placement, which if so it gets placed. If not, skipped for now.
* Audio logs for now auto play when it is picked up
* Will there be a mod SDK on release - Not at launch. Most likely after, and only if ND gets help from EPIC.
* How far along are the FPS animations and weapons - Weapons modeled. No animations setup yet.
* Will there be night vision or flashlight - After level 6, yes. Flash light has already be enabled in-game. Shown at 0:32:00.
* How many enemy models have been done so far -
* Will you be taking artistic licence with the rooms to make them look more realistic - Yes
* Will there be hero / elite versions of standard enemies (like in Diablo) - Likely to be a no, but Stephen likes the idea as it would add more variance. Jonathan is against it.
* What does ND use for version control - Bit Bucket.
* The current dart gun model looks HUGE.
* Will soda's be drinkable like in SS2 (not drinkable in the original) - Not sure.    - I'd like for that to be enabled.
* Will the player say "Nah" at the end of the game - No
* If sales for this remake exceed expectations. Will ND consider a remake of SS2 - Definitely. 100% definitely.
* Will the source code for this remake be released - No
* Will you ever get to see the hacker in-game - No
* Jonathan gives props to the people who did the SS2 community patch, as he forgot that a vent added in (when Rebecca and Tommy escape) wasn't in the original version of SS2.
* Asked - Have you guys already looked into adding landmarks and changing the art direction a bit to make navigating the labyrinth of corridors and shafts a bit less obtuse - Yes
* Who on the ND hadn't played SS1 prior to the KS - Karlee
* Will the energy weapons actually use batteries as ammo or will they be limited to using hackers battery again - Same as in the original.
* Get to see more of the storage level in the final few minutes of the stream.

[664715eeea33dsgupta]

08.14.18 Dev Stream w/ Daniel (AND Karlee AND Stephen AND Jonathan Holmes =oP )

* Daniel begins placing items in the levels, fleshing out the world, starting with Level 6

* Daniel is doing some things Jonathan was previously doing, so Jonathan is helping Daniel figure all that stuff out.

* Some items that aren't done yet do have blueprints (almost like rough 3D stick figure items) that can be placed (for exampled, a Severed Arm).

* This all has to be done manually - there's no automated script or anything that can do it.

* Their human corpse blueprint is hilarious =oP  (~20 minutes in).

* Q: Will there be mod SDK?  A: It was an unmet stretch goal and likely won't be available at launch, but they'd like to eventually.  No firm plans yet.

* Q: How much is modeled as far as weapons, etc.  A: Most weapons are modeled, but not textured.  Jonathan would like to have an easter egg Type 2 Phaser he modeled somewhere.  They're hoping the Sparq Beam can still be Phaser-like (and like in the Unity demo).

* Q: Will there be a flashlight or night vision enhancement?  A: Yes, that's in the original game on Level 6.  They do show off an early flashlight effect already in.

* Q: Will item placement change to be more realistic?  A: It's mostly going to be the same, but when they discuss it, some things might change a bit.  Jonathan has made some artistic changes where it just makes sense, but they're not going crazy with changes either.

* Q: Will AI by tailored to particular enemies with unique behaviors, etc.?  A: He wants to do AI philosophy similar to the recent Doom...various enemies that telegraph what they're going to do and have weaknesses (like the Pinkie being vulnerable from the back), etc.  That with the different ammo types should be a pretty cool experience.  He'd like to have events like Serv-Bots clawing through enemy remains before they spot you, etc.  And Jonathan would like to see audio logs have info on enemy behavior. 

* Q: Will there be artistic license for additional props (ie. making a kitchen look like a kitchen)?  Yes, they have to.  And adding bathrooms.

* Q: Will there be hero-style monsters like the uniques in Diablo?  A: That was never the plan, but it's a thought and Stephen thinks could be a cool idea.  If not that, though, they're hoping to have variants that look slightly different, etc.

* Q: I thought someone said something a while back about Commanders that order monsters around?  A: That was before the hiatus and is no longer the plan.  (Probably an idea from a team member no longer with Nightdive).

* Q: Will there be VR?  A: Unmet stretch goal, so no plans now, but would be cool.  There WILL be VR for the source port eventually.

* Q: Will there be references to Nightdive staff hidden in the remake?  Maybe - everybody at least will get an Easter Egg in.  Possibly audio logs.  They thought about changing the letter references of the weapons to reflect them, but they also would feel bad taking out the original dev initials.

* Q: Will they consider remaking System Shock 2 if 1 is successful?  A: Yes, absolutely.

* Q: Will the source code be released for the Source Port as well (similar things were invaluable for Doom?)  A: Yes, they're planning to release their finished source code for the Source Port.  However, not for the Remake right away (though Jonathan says you can download the Unreal Engine and get into it from that).

* Q: Will there be any way to see the hacker (ie. a mirror)?  A: It'd be cool, but they want to keep it so the player can associate themselves with the Hacker.  It is a stretch goal to select gender, however.  Only difference might be hands and feet (if there are feet - not tested yet).  They'll have to handle reflections so as not to have vampires. 

* Q: Will the cutscenes be remastered/making a comeback?  A: They want to do the same kind of storytelling, but they'd love to make it playable.  They do realize the old cutscenes have charm tho'.  They still need to figure all of that out.  There was quite a bit of discussion about that beginning cutscene and how they could do it in game (you experiencing jail after getting caught ala Deus Ex, etc.).  Also the origin of the hacker is discussed (ie. is New Atlanta on Earth or Saturn).

* Q: Will there be landmarks and changes in design to make the levels less obtuse?  A: Definitely more points of interest.  They'll be sitting down playing the game and figuring out places they can expand or make better.  They want to stream that.  It should still remain intimidating, though.

* Q: Will Robb Waters be part of that playthrough dev stream?  A: They'd really like him to.  A lot of times they ask if he intended something with the original art, and it's different than he expected.

* Q: Have they considered differences from the original, like changing objective locations and such, so veteran players will be surprised?  A: Stephen feels more players haven't played System Shock than have, so not really, but if they do, it'll be decided during the playthrough where they go through everything with a fine tooth comb.  It could end up a mix.  There will definitely be surprises and each new introduction will have more context (ie. the Serv-Bots going through someone's guts or the Sparq Beam being by a panel where someone was working to fix something).

* Q: Karlee is the only one on the SHOCK team who hasn't played System Shock 1 (though she did play SS2).

* Q: Jonathan still remembers a lot of details of the PC he played the original System Shock on (CD edition on a Pentium 166 w/ 16 MB of RAM). =oP Stephen also remembers a lot about his early equipment - he wasn't allowed consoles when he was young, so computers were really his first experience.

* Some very funny childhood stories.  Completely unrelated to System Shock, but hilarious (mostly youth run-ins with law enforcement).  =oP

* There will probably be a Crow-T Bot and Tom Servo as an Easter Egg hidden in the game.

* There are some mini-games, but not many yet. 

* Corpses will only be named after backers, not modeled, unless a portrait is specifically specified.  Also, names must be lore-friendly - no Corpsy McCorpseFace.

* Q: How does power work on Citadel - individual batteries for tools?  The suit is charged and powers all their tools.

* Q: It takes about two hours to block out 10% of a level's lighting/textures.

[664715eeea42cicemann]

Those were some awesome childhood stories. Not at all Shock related, but still great to listen in to.

[664715eeea635JDoran]

A randomisation option would be very good to have, if it was done properly. Alongside the 'New Game' option could be the option 'New Game with Randomisation" that would attempt to make the object types and their placements, and perhaps incidental occurrences,  as random as possible whilst not breaking the game of course.

The original 'New Game' mode could be used by people new to the game, or by speed-runners who always want to find the same things in the same place every play-through.

[664715eeea97eunn_atropos]

Dev - System Shock - Daniel Grayshon - 07.23.2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WLZwqtL7gQ

Weekly Monday Dev stream w/ Daniel Grayshon.

[664715eeeaaa5unn_atropos]

Dev - System Shock - Jonathan Holmes - 07.26.2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOp7UfvfI4c

Thursday Dev Stream w/ Jonathan Holmes.

[664715eeeabb5unn_atropos]

Dev - System Shock - Stephen Kick - 07.27.2018

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

Friday Night Dev stream w/ Stephen Kick.

[664715eeeacc0unn_atropos]

Dev - System Shock - Daniel Grayshon - 07.30.2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hokscnS5U6g

Monday Dev stream w/ Daniel Grayshon

[664715eeeaddcunn_atropos]

Dev - System Shock - Daniel Grayshon - 08.06.2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDOZN76f5Z8

Monday dev stream w/ Daniel Grayshon.

[664715eeeb208unn_atropos]

Dev - System Shock - Daniel Grayshon - 08.09.2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p3fQtWQnb8

Daniel completes the blockout!

---
notes by sgupta
08.09.18 Dev Stream w/ Jonathan Holmes

* Working on Level 4 - lots of new stuff to show as far as "classic" version textures being applied as temporary PBR textures.  Looks great - definitely worth checking out to see what he's doing for the Alpha (and possibly alternate game mode).

* He's made some lighting changes where he felt it makes more sense and looks better.  One example are the lighted floor tiles, which he's made look more cohesive with the room by doing them a bit differently.

* A lot of textures have added life now - he's tried to add emissive light details where possible as well as reflections.

* Jonathan really loves the transparency of this project and being able to talk about this stuff with backers.

* He's also done some changes to room ambiance.  For example, in the original, there's a medical room that's pretty much all white.  He's switched this to the blue textures to look like the medical level, so it looks more cohesive overal.  (I have to say I think this is a definite improvement, personally - looks great!)

* He's a stickler for trying to keep spelling right and name everything uniformly and cohesively, which the original was pretty notorious for not doing.

* The reason he's working on Storage is he thought it might be the fastest to do, but he doesn't feel like that now - it's a ton of work.

* He's hoping they will add bathrooms and living accommodations since the original station did not have much in the way of these things, challenging believability.

* Someone mentioned enemies in the original game look like they're having a dance party, and it's always bothered him since.  Other things that bother him are enemies where they couldn't actually get, catwalks that don't make sense, grating sounds that repeat constantly, etc.  So he'd like layout to be more sensible in some ways as well as some of these things fixed.

* He's not sure how much of his work will make it to Alpha initially as there's a LOT to do.

* He misses working on item creation, so he's looking forward to getting back to that at some point.

* Some really sweet new paneling, doors, TriOp logos, etc. are shown.  TONS of stuff to see in this stream.

* A new artist named Matilda has joined and is working on art/textures (some of the stuff Jonathan isn't doing since he's busy texturing out the Alpha build). 

---
notes by iceman
* Work on level 4, which is our first look at that level I believe.
* This level looks great. The new lighting effects are excellent.
* Jonathan's another staffer who loves the free giving of info on the games development after the changes.
* Repulsor lifts should be usable in-game by next week.
* Loving the synth music present in all of Jonathan's stream. Great stuff.
* New elevator texture in place. Looks good.

[664715eeeb705sgupta]

08.16.18 Dev Stream w/ Chris (Karlee present with Stephen joining in the last hour or so)

* Blender modeling stream turning the proxy object for audio logs into the real deal.

* He plans to do the entire thing start to finish on stream, including texturing (though it might take multiple streams).

* He emphasized how they're using the pixellized art style for everything and making assets so that they're consistent accross the world.

* Most of this he's pretty focused as he needs to be moreso here than with fleshing out levels.  Some discussion of geometry and what you can and can't do (and what Blender can handle that other programs can't as well, like engons).

* Q: How many maps will this have?  A: This will be made of a base color map, normal map, material parameters, and a colored emissive.  The alpha in the emissive will be used to have different colors for different audio logs.

* Q: What's the most important thing he wishes he knew about game development before getting into it?  A: Sometimes it feels like you're getting nowhere, but keep working at it hard enough and you'll realize someday your stuff is professional level and you're getting noticed.

* Someone in chat wants SHODAN to be hot in the remake.  =oP

* Someone suggested the audio log display a waveform as something plays (either on it or on the HUD).  Chris is going to ask a programmer how hard that would be to implement.

* Q: Favorite engine to work with?  A: Engine doesn't matter as much as performance specs you're creating the objects for.  He likes both.  He likes the physics tools in Unreal.

* Q: Doesn't Unity make it harder to make anything look like anything?  A: No, actually Unity is more open pipeline-wise to do more things, but it takes more coding to do it.

* Q: Are the stages of item creation: Concept, Initial Art, Modeling, Shading, Animating?  A: Pretty close, but it depends on the team.  Sometimes there are early passes with animation earlier.

* Stephen is a fan of the waveform for when audio plays.  There was a version in Unity but it didn't reflect the actual sound.

* The asset he's working is a slimmed down version of a prop previously made, but this one fits better with the art style.

* After modeling, he began UV wrapping.

* Q: Who does user interface objects like buttons for doors, etc.?  A: It's a combined effort, but they try to use a universal language for the buttons - ie., the player always knows a door button when they see one and don't have to think too much about it (cohesiveness like color).

* Q: Do they have parties after work together or keep work and life separate?  A: They all prettymuch work remotely, so it's not really accurate.  But in Karlee and Stephen's last job, they had things like bars and snacks and meals and would stay there a lot. 

* He decided to keep on going and texture too since he was on a roll.

* Stephen had some discussion about IP's (expensive ones) and was floating the idea of doing crowdfunding to acquire those IP's.  They would release the source code if they did.

* Q: Could System Shock be adapted to a movie?  A: Stephen thinks it could be - he'd want to see it all first person like Hardcore Henry.  In the right hands, it could be amazing.

* Stream finishes up with it completely colored and textured and a shot in-world on the floor showcasing the pixellated style.  The top also glows and flashes, and it's slightly bigger than a Walkman.  Looks awesome!

There was also a stream from IndieGameBusiness that interviews Larry Kuperman about the company in general, including System Shock.  I won't summarize that here, but it's good stuff and worth a watch if you like the business end of things:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/298151905

[664715eeeb92dicemann]

My notes for Chris's stream:

* Chris's first stream in several months.
* Several sections of this stream got muted due to copyrighted music being present.
* Lots of long silences in this one. This is one to have running whilst your doing something else.
* Chris mentioned that they may have the audio logs in different colors.     - Not a fan of that.
* Stephen mentioned he'd like to try crowdfunding to acquire some Interplay IP's.
* Some nice coloring styles for the audio logs showed off by the end of the stream.

Jonathan - 17.08.18

* Work on texturing and lighting Medical
* Some nice lighting added already
* Low poly version of the surgical cart is now in
* He shows an example of him working with an original SS1 texture to get it to work in their game.
* A fair bit of attention to detail to match that of the original game going with with lighting levels. So say you had 4 lights and only 2 were still at full strength then that's the match they go for and so on.
* A work in progress model for the force bridges is now in-game
* Many changes made to the storage level where there was far too much overuse of lights in walls and floors
* Will the elevator doors close once you select a floor (like in the original) - Not sure at this point. Should be.

[664715eeebb69sgupta]

08.16.18 Dev Stream w/ Jonathan (no Karlee)

* Work on Medical & Storage, especially lighting & texturing
* The blood decals (Stay Away) aren't in yet, but should be relatively soon.
* Things are moving along a little bit faster than expected.  Hopefully a good bit done for Adventure Alpha.
* Jonathan is working on stuff Chris has also worked on, so there are sort of two versions.  In Jonathan's case, he's modernizing the original textures.
* He shows working on some of those old textures to get them reworked for the new build.
* Nightdive is committed to taking their time and making this the best game it can be, even if it takes a little extra time.
* As touched on by Daniel a few times, doors have zero width in the original.
* The remake will have the same texture size all throughout, something that isn't always true of the original.
* The blue stuff on medical he thinks is padded foam.  I never thought of it like that, but it sort of makes sense for medical.  =oP
* He likes the contrast between the blue and orange when heading down to storage. 
* The storage rooms insulation he's trying to make shinier. 
* He wants to add lightning to the force bridges to make them look a bit more believable.
* He continues to actively fix and change things he thought were designed oddly/didn't make sense.
* Q: Will elevators close when you select a floor?  He thinks so.

Overall a very cool stream showing a lot and talking a lot about art and design choices. 

[664715eeebde8icemann]

Daniel - 21.08.18

* This one starts off with a damn fine remix of the Reactor music, level 8 will be next.
* Work on item placement in the Reactor level. Daniel mentions having already fully finished work 4 levels within a week.   - So this phase of the project should be 100% done by next week I'd estimate.
* Quite a fair few of the items are now in-game or at the very least have placeholders.
* Daniel points out a secret CPU core that I definitely was never aware of. Sitting on a table and doesn't even look like one. But sure enough if you destroy it, the security level drops by 20%.
* Wow their game has the same shader compilation problems that many of the modern day emulators have. Causes a noticeable lag in the stream around 0:18:00. Becomes a complete slide show for a while around that mark. Goes on for 5 minutes.
* Repulsor lifts now show off some nice lighting effects.
* Turns out Jonathan has already been at work in the level placing stuff.
* Stephen joins the stream at 0:25:00.
* Jumps onto the security level at 0:28:00
* A team stream of the team going through the original SS1, for annotation purposes should be coming up soon.
* Will there be a QA team assigned to checking for anything missed in item placement - Yes
* Level 8 finished at 2:05:00
* Does ND have the rights to "Realms of the Haunting" - No. Owned by Interplay.
* Chris wants to add some stop motion animation style stuff for all of the enemies.
* Are lifts operation yet - Not yet
* After 2:05:00 Daniel takes a look through Medical and Storage, but they don't have Jonathan's latest work in the version on their repo.
* Will the final version of the game have random scratches on the walls in the storage level - Yes
* Will the remake have mantling and advanced movement -
* Daniel hates Bioshock Infinite with a passion    - I hear ya

[664715eeec362ZylonBane]

* Chris wants to add some stop motion animation style stuff for all of the enemies.

What does this even mean? Turning off keyframe interpolation in the animation system?

[664715eeec45ficemann]

I think they meant just for the robots. I'm not sure how that would work.