System Shock 1 redeveloped in Unreal Development Kit

[662c095cc9a3fSynaesthesia]

I was originally looking to make a project based on recreating as much of SS1 as possible a few years back. I started with some crappy barrels and whatnot. I decided to cut to the chase and grab some of my friends from art college to help out. At this point, I'm heading up the environmental design - which includes redesigning the original textures at a resolution of around 1024x, with full normals, specular, etc. I've also managed to pull in the entire game's levels from *.map format into OBJ, which I've imported into 3DS Max.

I've got the beginnings of a playable space here, but there's a lot more work left to do. I need to rebuild all of the textures as best I can, including damage, and turn texture tiles into 3D models where appropriate - things like chemical dispensers, barrels, lamps, etc.

A few of my other colleagues expressed interest in working on creatures and weapons. We'd like to at least build a proof-of-concept built from the Medical Level, not sure about turning it into an entire game or not. We'd need some serious programming help for that to happen.

Here's some examples of my work-in-progress thus far, shot inside UDK's editor.

http://www.3dholmes.com/images/UDK/Shock/Medical.jpg
http://www.3dholmes.com/images/UDK/Shock/Medical1.jpg
http://www.3dholmes.com/images/UDK/Shock/Medical2.jpg
http://www.3dholmes.com/images/UDK/Shock/Medical3.jpg

And the ubiquitous medical access door, which still needs a bit of work since I haven't put in all of the normal mapping details yet.

http://www.3dholmes.com/images/UDK/Shock/Medical-Door.jpg

[662c095cc9cb7Kolya]

Saw this over on TTLG. Good luck!

[662c095cc9dfcSynaesthesia]

I was thinking I'd get some actual responses here. ;-) Thanks Koyla.

[662c095cca1e7Marvin]

Nice work, although a lot of projects made it up to this stage and none of them got much further.

I like your work on the textures. High-res and very close to the original ones. 

[662c095cca37bKolya]

I actually like that blue light by the way, it's kinda eerie.

Apart from that I think that people should get away from trying to make 1:1 copies of System Shock. For one thing that game still exists, so if I want System Shock, I'll probably play that. For another there's just nothing to be won from trying to slavishly copy anything, people love even the low-res'ness and weird interface/control of SS1.
Instead I'd suggest you take elements like architecture or audio-logs and use them in a different context, be it just a shooter or to tell your own little space horror tale. It also wouldn't be such a large undertaking and might actually get finished one day.
Well that's my 2 cents.

[662c095cca4cfSynaesthesia]

True. I can't say I disagree, but I love the environment too much to see it languish in low-res forever. Besides, I enjoy this game too much to give up on it. It'll take time but I have nothing to do besides look for a job while polishing my environment art, and this is a project that I rather enjoy. :-)

[662c095cca62bKolya]

That is a way. You had a look at JukkaKevät's remade environment? If I remember correctly he was also waiting for a job. Pretty sure he got one swiftly.

[662c095cca7c6ZylonBane]

It's like Medical Deck is the Utah teapot of FPS maps these days.

[662c095cca90aSynaesthesia]

@Kolya: I do, but I hate how his looks. The art style is generally really... awful. That's the best way I can describe it. I'm glad to hear he got a job doing what he enjoys though.

@ZB: I'm attempting to move beyond the initial level, but I figured I might as well start where the character does.

[662c095ccad3aKolya]

It's like Medical Deck is the Utah teapot of FPS maps these days.

You're so full of weird and entertaining factoids. I like that.

[662c095ccae95ZylonBane]

Have I introduced you to Lenna?

[662c095ccb0beKolya]

No, but I actually knew that one, even have the uncropped image somewhere. Ah, they don't make 'em like that anymore.
When I first read about Lenna I thought, yeah, that is exactly what men would do: Take a pinup to brighten up your dull lab work, for scientific reasons. And the way that editor explains why it's such a good test image... It's so normal and human, you just gotta like it.

For the same reason I think that the chick.pcx adorning one of the lockers in SS2 is perfect. It's only a little thing, but it makes the place so much more believable, I think it's on the Rickenbacker. Splendidly updated in SHTUP by the way, even though it's not the same pic, but for the better as far as I can tell.
 
There's a very similar and funny scene in the film Die Hard (1988), where Bruce Willis passes a pinup in the Nakatomi tower. He's already pretty torn and it's actually a tense scene, but he still places a kisshand on the pic saying something like: Got no time for you, honey!

[662c095ccb4afgaspalorz]

uncropped image somewhere.

High-res scan may be found over here. Just follow the link from centered image.

[662c095ccb621Synaesthesia]

Going to be on hold for a bit, just got a new job assignment to model some objects and that will take priority over this project. I'm not giving up - don't worry. ;-)

Here's the door inside the level with some additional texture refinement, specifically on the random rust damage shader I've set up.

http://www.3dholmes.com/images/UDK/Shock/Medical4.jpg

[662c095ccb70aScorpion]

This is gonna be awesome, nice work!

[662c095ccb820Szynek]

Looks really great, good luck with that

BTW: I've also heard about something called "Citadel Conversion Project" some time ago... What happened to it?

[662c095ccb992voodoo47]

on hiatus. lack of time.

[662c095ccba95Quoll]

Hey Aircraftkiller, I have a bit of exprince working with the Unreal Engine 3 (Pre UDK days) if you guys need some help with Unreal Script/Mapping let me know as I would love to help out 

[662c095ccbc5dSub-Visser 24]

Looks pretty good. Can't say I'm not disappointed. I wanted System Shock 1 in System Shock 2's engine, not System Shock 1 in a completely different engine. If you've put that much work into it so far, I suggest you keep going though.

[662c095ccbd80Synaesthesia]

Why would you want it in SS2's dated, ugly engine? UDK is gorgeous, user-friendly, and runs on modern systems. SS2 requires silly compatibility settings for Windows 7.

[662c095ccbed4voodoo47]

exactly. and that could be a problem-it may be just too gorgeous. those old textures and 2d sprites may actually look better when rendered by some older and much simpler engine, to keep that nice oldschool feeling intact. and do not forget the system requirements-a potential remake/engine update of ss1 that uses the original datafiles should run on virtually any machine, not just a few hiend desktop systems.


unless you want to do a complete remake (not using any of the original data)-in that case, go for the newest and hottest, by all means.

[662c095ccbfefSynaesthesia]

Well, I'm making it with my specs, and I'm using a mid-to-high-end system from 2007 and it runs above 60 frames consistently. I don't see any reason why the art style can't be translated over. It's like saying the Mona Lisa is too old to be viewed today!

[662c095ccc4bbNameless Voice]

Why would you want it in SS2's dated, ugly engine? UDK is gorgeous, user-friendly, and runs on modern systems. SS2 requires silly compatibility settings for Windows 7.

Nonsense.  SS2 runs fine when fully patched up without compatibility settings (in fact, they tend to hinder it).

The problem with porting SS1 to any newer engine, be it Dark or Unreal, is that you quickly begin to see how little sense many of the designs make.  It worked at the low levels of detail that SS1 had, but if you really start to think about it . . .

[662c095ccc688Kolya]

The main problem for any remake project of System Shock is the original game's refusal to die. Instead the advent of larger resolutions and mouselook have raised the question what the added value of a remake would be. But this is never addressed. And so the implicit statement of every remake attempt is that the game would be better with modern graphics. Meanwhile the players are happy to put up with the dated graphics, because it's part of the deal of playing a pioneering game from 1994.
To cut this short: Anyone who's considering to create a remake of System Shock would likely be better off, creating a small spin off game with their own original storyline.
Advantages:
- less workload
- new game (yes, this is better, I've played the original, thank you)
- you're not going to completely recreate System Shock's quirky interface and movement features anyway so why bother?
- no potential hassle over IP issues
- might actually get done