Night Dive Twitch Streams

[665af71953e77Synaesthesia]

>* The radioactive portions of the game will have a new purpose to recharge the plug portions of recharge station (if I'm understanding this right; I was a bit confused).

So essentially what I was trying to say here is that the radioactive trench on the Medical Level is being turned into a power cell recharging facility. All the power stations have cells which require periodic recharge. When they're spent, they're brought back to the recharge facility - formerly the weird "radioactive trench" zone. This actually plays in better with the game's story because it's hard to imagine how survivors of an AI massacre could conceivably set up a radioactive death zone while barely being able to defend themselves from attack.

Thanks for tuning in. Really glad to see you guys enjoy these streams.

[665af71954024sgupta]

Oh awesome!  Thanks so much for clarifying!  (You probably explained it fine to begin with - I don't remember that area of the station quite as well as some)   Really enjoying your streams!

[665af71954161icemann]

If I remember right there was 1 audio log talking about the radioactive trench. So that would need changing.

[665af71954319Gawain]

That place is actually subject of many of the logs found in medical.
Logs say there were over 20 survivors there at one time, plenty of people to set up that. And they were there at least from 17.OCT to 02.NOV.

I thought that radioactive area was mostly like that because of SHODAN's modifications to the whole station.
Why there is so much radioactivity is not explained, but as it is part of the medical station, maybe it is used for some kind of research. Or perhaps there are some kind of conduits coming from reactor. There are some logs about SHODAN causing reactor to emit radiation.

Battery charging station would more likely be in storage, engineering, maintenance or reactor level than in medical.

[665af7195442csgupta]

I could see battery charging for medical making at least some sense.  In a power outage, hospital equipment has to have plenty of access to battery backups to run life-saving equipment, so having batteries close in an emergency could be crucial, especially if elevators aren't working.

[665af719547c6sgupta]

06.29.18 Dev Stream w/ Daniel

* Stephen was very busy with other stuff, so Daniel & Karlee took over with another greyboxing stream.

* Took a vote and continued working on Level 8.

* He'd like to do a pre-SHODAN station walkthrough.  He'd also like to stack the levels to see if they line up.  But he's not sure that's possible or if the editor can load it all.  He would like to try it.

* When asked if they're sticking to the same scale, they said they're aiming for a 1:1 recreation of Citadel as much as possible, BUT, they are considering it a rough outline and will do improvement in areas where they see a lot of room to improve, so scale could adjust a little bit.  He said the Groves might get the most TLC because the original isn't very Grove-y because of the technology, so there's room to make those more interesting.

* When asked if there would be more Groves, he said that's not something they can answer yet, but they will at some point when they can.

* Some ramps in the game may become stairs, because stairs make more sense (plus, ramps don't scale easily that way in Unreal).  Use of ramps is thought to be because of an engine limitation at the time.

* Asked if there are other areas besides the Groves that might be added to/changed/revamped, he said they were considering it, but he didn't want to comment right now as plans like that can change.

* Asked if the Ion Rifle would cause copyright infringement with Star Trek, they seemed puzzled.  No comment since they're not lawyers, though Karlee offered she thought that type of weapon was generic enough it shouldn't be an issue. 

* Asked about what they thought about System Shock 3 being developed by OtherSide Entertainment, Daniel said as a fan he's excited, and it's where he would have wanted it in the hands of some of the original people.  He also confirmed Stephen and OtherSide do occasionally talk.  They couldn't say too much more about SS3 for contract reasons.

* OtherSide's Community Manager is sometimes on Nightdive's Discord with OSE in his name, and he's friendly if anyone has questions about what they're doign.

* When asked, Daniel said that since they're a small team, there are many hats people wear when working on this project.  He's in charge of level blockout, but also Producer for the game where he manages people's schedules and what they work on, etc.  Karlee is Community Manager but also does Marketing, etc.  And different people take over different functions for things like time off when an individual takes some.  They've gotten really good at working together, covering each other, etc.

* Once the greybox is done, they plan to play the game while looking at the greybox, and that's where they'll decide what changes to make, if things in certain areas need improved or modified, etc.

* Tools devs are using included Z-Brush and Blender.

* Daniel also talked more about the two different teams, one managing their rereleases and then the System Shock Remake team.

* Flyover at the very end showing progress so far Level 8.  It all fit together fairly well this stream first try.

[665af71954eb9icemann]

* Some ramps in the game may become stairs, because stairs make more sense (plus, ramps don't scale easily that way in Unreal).  Use of ramps is thought to be because of an engine limitation at the time.

Ramps from a usability standpoint are far more universal and allow for people of all walks of life to use them. Particular enemy types in the game would (realistically speaking) have problems getting up or down them. How would a hopper or cortex reaver get up a flight of stairs?

You'd run into this problem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRDl5_-wJ0Y

SHODAN loved to create cyborg style creatures. If you had nothing but stairs everywhere, they'd all be falling down left, right and center. Plus how would the crew members of the space station that have disabilities possibly get around if that were the case? From a game design stand point they fucked up on this one when you think it through logically.

[665af719551e5Gawain]

I could see battery charging for medical making at least some sense.  In a power outage, hospital equipment has to have plenty of access to battery backups to run life-saving equipment, so having batteries close in an emergency could be crucial, especially if elevators aren't working.

There are plenty of batteries around for sure. But this was about power stations (there are two in medical) cells. I would just plug the power stations into wall socket and not carry cells around. Station has a reactor for powering power stations..

Recharging area in medical is a stupid idea.

Just leave it as it is in the original and stop trying to explain everything and steering away again from the remake to reimagining.

[665af7195570bJDoran]

SHODAN loved to create cyborg style creatures. If you had nothing but stairs everywhere, they'd all be falling down left, right and center. Plus how would the crew members of the space station that have disabilities possibly get around if that were the case? From a game design stand point they fucked up on this one when you think it through logically.

It reminds me of Bioshock, where you can find wheelchairs in the medical centre. The same medical centre that has a woeful lack of wheelchair access, just staircases. Still, Rapture does have lifts ("elevators" to you Americans!) too. Except that the lifts are probably too small to hold a wheelchair (they are certainly too small to hold two people at once, even if both people are standing). Oh, and the lifts are pretty rare, most of Rapture just has staircases.

That inconsistency did harm Bioshock's feeling of immersion, I thought.




Edit: When you think about it, what advantages does a staircase have over a ramp? I mean, a ramp is much easier to make than a staircase, safer (it's much easier to have a mis-step and a fall on a staircase than a ramp), and a ramp can be used by a wheelchair or anything else that has wheels. Why would anyone (in real life, or in a video game) want a staircase instead of a ramp?

[665af71955be2ZylonBane]

Ramps from a usability standpoint are far more universal and allow for people of all walks of life to use them.

Groan.

[665af71955d5eGawain]

And actually collision shape for stairs is usually just a ramp in video games, because of movement physics. There are at least two reasons for that. When you go up you dont' want the player to jerk. Same goes for going down plus you don't want gravity to start pulling you down but instead calculate position based on the plane. There are no leg muscles in player physics to actually pull you down.

[665af71955f49JosiahJack]

Ya, some games such as Quake or Half-Life 2 have intricate mechanisms to smooth out the jerkiness of steps, even having a step height above which the player is no longer jerked up but must jump. Of course, those games use a hideously horrendous unrotatable box for player collision.  System Shock used spheres, something that while slows doewn when bumping a step, still allows for the player to flow up steps in a smoother and somewhat more natural fashion.  Other modern game engines have similar features such as Unity or Unreal's capsule colliders.

But ya, ramps.

[665af71956511sgupta]

07.02.18 Dev Stream w/ Daniel

* No Karlee today, but Stephen is here!

* More work on the Security level.

* With System Shock 2, EA held the trademark, but Star Insurance held the leftover assets from Looking Glass.  They had to wait until the EA trademark lapsed to approach Star Insurance about it.  System Shock belongs to Nightdive, but they licensed it to OtherSide Entertainment for System Shock 3.

* For some of their releases, they buy an old physical copy first (as a business expense) so they can scan in box art, manuals, etc. for their own digital release.

* Regarding the level editor that was found on a disk, the people who found it had approached Nightdive about giving it to them, but when Stephen reached out to them, they never wrote back.  He plans to try to follow up with them again.

* System Shock 1 had a development cycle of ~18 months.

* Asked more about the System Shock license, EA was actually planning a sequel around 2008-2009 that fell through.  That cancellation ended up resulting in Dead Space.

* The System Shock sourceport is nearing completion and could be finished this month (end of July/early August)!  They plan to coordinate release of it with the source code.  It'll just be PC for now, but someone will be tasked with Mac/Linux porting.

* When asked about porting the System Shock remake to consoles (XBOX, PS4...possibly Switch), this is their first Unreal game, but they think it should be fairly easy as the software supports that kind of thing.  (Though they tried to look for it in the menus and didn't see it.)

* Stephen's favorite moment in the System Shock series is finding Polito.  Daniel's is when you can access the Shuttle Bay and can disobey SHODAN to explore an area and get cyber modules, but she takes them away after.

* Regarding the System Shock sourceport, it was asked if they might include an option for a SC-55 music mode.  Stephen said he asked the developer about this, but he doesn't know yet.  A bit later on, the developer got back to him about this and said they currently rely on the system MIDI output, so users can install custom soundfonts to make it sound closer to Sound Canvas or another audio card.  They are considering an update to give further audio options in the future like OPL emulation or a custom soundfont.

* Someone asked if they have the source code for System Shock 2, and Stephen said they will be answering that in the future...to quite a bit of laughter between them, but he also said that means nothing.  =oP

* The System Shock remake will have both standard and dynamic lighting.

* A KickStarter update is planned for about two weeks from now.

* Jonathan Holmes apparently found a way to convert original System Shock textures to use PBR (Physically Based Rendering).  Originally, the Alpha they want by September was going to have a lot of greybox, but they might be able to use these for textures not redone yet.

* They were asked about mod support for the remake.  Mod support was a stretch goal not reached unfortunately, and he's not quite sure how Unreal handles modding at this point.  He'd love to encourage it if he can, though. 

* They're really happy the first fan mission for System Shock is released after 24 years.  They're hoping after the sourceport release, they can add Workshop to Steam.

* If they could pick anyone to redo System Shock 2, it would be Ken Levine since he did the original, and Stephen thinks he'd have all kinds of cool ideas that ended up being cut from the initial version.

* They're happy/excited that Warren Spector is back making games - they just hope he's stayed frosty.  =oP

* Some of the challenge of finding source code for projects is they often find them on an old magnetic medium that can't be read easily, and the person who has it isn't willing to do a lot to either get it copied to something else or get it to them (even if they pay for it).

* Devs aren't supposed to keep their source code as technically the company they work for owns it, but they often do (which has been good in some senses even though it's not legal). 

* They're cleaning up the System Shock soundtrack (for the sourceport release, I believe) so it will be more listenable on its own.

* Daniel's Steam Controller map for System Shock 2 was apparently used by Gabe Newell to show it at some showcase event (which he just learned on-stream).

* Updates (they were talking about Turok, but it makes sense that this might apply to the System Shock Enhanced beta and other projects) usually go out to Steam first as they make it super easy to update builds.  It's quite a bit more involved with GOG, so that's why you don't see it as quickly, but it still should happen when complete.

* OtherSide has complete control over System Shock 3 since they're the original devs.  Nightdive couldn't do a SS3 project unless the contract was terminated.  There's also not necessarily the obligation to turn over the source code for SS3 once it's done, but he thinks they'd be amicable to that since they're the ones who got them the System Shock 1 source code in the first place.

* They only know about as much about System Shock 3 as the rest of us do, though they do occasionally talk with OtherSide and have gotten their thoughts on the System Shock remake.

* They were hoping some of the System Shock remake work could possibly be used by OtherSide to help them get a jump start on 3, but alas, Otherside is not using Unreal 4, so that seems unlikely.

* When asked about the Tri-Op mugs, merchandise is on-hold until closer to release.  Stephen's still looking into the possibility of a physical or collector edition of the sourceport release, but that seems to be on the back burner as well for now.

* When asked about Jonathan doing another audio stream, they're not sure if that's happening yet - right now, not a lot is being done with audio until more core mechanics are in. 

[665af7195665dicemann]

For someone whose supposed to be off on holiday, you've been watching a lot of streams :p.

And if Otherside went with Unity then that would be very ironic. All things considered.

[665af719567b2icemann]

And some missing stuff from Shaun's post above about the recent stream:

* Games that Night Dive owns entirely - Forsaken, Machines Wired For War, System Shock 1 & 2
* The first System Shock was originally going to be on the Sega Megadrive but due to the size of the game this port was later cancelled.   - I recall reading about this over on TTLG ages ago. I'd have played that.

[665af71956980sgupta]

I was only gone for a long weekend =oP  Though towards the end of the month I might be gone for about a week.  I do try to catch up as quickly as possible.  =)

Thanks again for the additions I miss.  Sometimes I take notes while watching - other times I try to remember everything after if I'm doing something else and can't take notes, so I'm bound to forget a few things. 

[665af71956aa0icemann]

What I've started doing (since your posts are quite extensive), is just running the videos in the background whilst I do other stuff and look back occasionally. If I hear something important that you didn't mention then I note that down for later posting.

[665af71956bd5icemann]

Video A (of 2) - 07.07.18

* A quick 10 minute video.
* Stephen appears to be having buffering issues on his end throughout the quick video. Nothing of interest in video, unless you like watching Stephen knock over his drink and spend several minutes cleaning it up. Then talk about sports.
* Source port will be released at the end of the month.
* The following video will have a run through of maintenance in it's current form.

[665af71956e57icemann]

Video B (of 2) - 07.07.18

* Maintenance for now appears to be using the SS1 textures with that extra property added in. I do have to say that they look really good as is. Very much how like the SHTUP textures look in SS2. Elevator textures look identical to that of the original game.
* Confirmed on re-use of original textures for now. The plan is to mostly re-use the SS1 textures with the added in element with some new versions of textures as well.
* Some nice fog effects and blinking lights. For the first time you see an enemy (a mutant in it's standby stance) in one of the levels. It appears that no AI has been scripted for the enemies at this stage.
* For the first time ever, you get to hear an audio log. Which is just one of the original logs from that level. Very cool hearing this. For now audio logs play immediately on pickup.
* Doors in the level not working at this stage. I assume they just need activation links (or in DromEd terminology switchlinks) to be added in for them to function properly.
* The props and items that have created so far are in the level. So you see power stations for example.
* Stephen feels that the lighting of the level should be changed to be more bright, whilst Daniel disagrees and says that the darkness throughout corresponds to how it was in the original.
* In ND's level editor to active the "lightbright" command you just need to press "alt+3".
* All textures appear to be in place in the level. Just needs a heap of items, props and enemies.
* Besides the above issues, the level looks to be 1 to 1 recreation. Nice.
* Get to see how Medical looks for the first time in ages. 0:07:00.
* Crates are now in the game, but not interact-able.
* Placeholders for med beds now in. No model in place as of yet. Not useable.
* QUITE a lot of showcasing of the current state of the game going on in this video. If your only to watch 1 video of recent, and are curious on how the game looks currently - I'd recommend watching this video from the start to about 12 minutes in.
* Medical still is not 100% blocked out, but has a fair amount of items and props added in since our last look at it.
* More work on virus mutant for the remainder of the video.

I'll edit this post as I watch the video.

[665af71957260sgupta]

07.06.18 Dev Stream w/ Stephen (Daniel Sitting In)

* Source port still releasing toward the end of the month.

* There's a walk around Maintenance with the old SS1 textures (placed by Jonathan Holmes) as temporary placeholders.  He's also placed certain proxy items like audio logs.  Showcases PBR reflections, fog, doors (not yet functional).

* Pre-Alpha coming will look much like this with a mix of some new assets and some placeholder (original SS1) assets until the new art pieces are in.

* Shows medical off with some new assets and such in (medbed placeholder tofu, hand sanitizer, test tubes).

* The heavy work now is foundational.  Medical is more complete to get the look down they were going for; they're waiting to get the foundational stuff done before churning out more art assets, which is why we haven't seen more of the station getting the same treatment as medical yet.

* Medical isn't actually fully greyboxed yet; it's what Daniel will be doing last, as they have to plan for integrating it with the current work.

* Pickup animations will be present, but not obtrusive (ie. one-time things).

* More Virus Mutant Z-Brush work; he had had to do some mouth work to fix a hole.

* They still have the freezing/shatter tech from the previous development work and were asked if it might be used.  They said it'd be a shame not to use it, but they don't know for sure yet.  Sounded like they were thinking more of an environmental issue on the station or limited use (ie. a room with frozen people) than a new weapon, but they left it a bit up in the air.

* A bit of talk about getting into the industry, acquiring various licenses, what they should do next, etc. 

* Interestingly, GOG was trying to get the rights to System Shock prior to Nightdive.  When Stephen was able to get them, they actually assumed he had a relative who worked for Star Insurance company (he didn't.). 

* The virus mutant is basically done as far as how he looks, but he needs some more retopologizing and UV work before texturing.  Before too much of that is done though, he needs approved by Robb Waters.  He currently clocks in at around 8,000 polygons (I think that's what was said), whereas something like Kratos from the latest God of War clocks in at around 50,000.  But because of the retro look, that works, and it'll also mean running well.  Stephen may discuss with Chris whether they should see how it would look if they double the pixel count OR allow more pixels for enemies than other objects, but they're still pretty happy with how it's looking now. 

* We get to see video of going around medical with the mutants in-game (but not yet AI-driven).

* All the original implants, including SensAround, will make a return.  He feels it's unique and nobody's done it since, so it belongs.  Daniel's curious how it will be able to be done within a modern game engine, as SS1 was all done in software.

* Weapons will still have different ammo types, and enemies will still have different resistances to them.  (IE, tranquelizer darts won't work on robots).

* They were asked about camera height as a viewer thought the player character felt too short.  Stephen said it's still being determined but he thought it looked pretty good - the mutants are just large to be intimidating.

* Release date is still tentatively Q1 2020.  With how fast they're moving, they're hoping possibly in 2019, but it's too early to know for sure.

[665af71957832fox]

* QUITE a lot of showcasing of the current state of the game going on in this video. If your only to watch 1 video of recent, and are curious on how the game looks currently - I'd recommend watching this video from the start to about 12 minutes in.

Thanks! Can I get a link please? I can't seem to find a video. Probably not uploaded yet.

[665af71957c90sgupta]

Thanks! Can I get a link please? I can't seem to find a video. Probably not uploaded yet.

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

[665af7195834bunn_atropos]

Dev - System Shock - Daniel Grayshon - 06.18.2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6qIkbt1MVk

Weekly Monday Dev stream with Daniel Grayshon!

---
Notes by sgupta
06.18.18 Dev Stream w/ Daniel

* Starts with a pretty cool System Shock remix track (not part of the game - just fun)

* Daniel & Karlee today to start; Stephen joins at around 47 minutes in.

* Daniel's done a lot of work on the maze portion of Level 7 (Systems Engineering).  It's not going to be quite 1:1 since it can't be due to paper thin floors.  He had to lower some, etc., but he managed to get the tough part figured out and pretty close.  A bit later there's a discussion of whether geometry could have been imported in, but floors/walls would have been a problem, so Daniel prefers doing it this way.,

* Nightdive doesn't have the source code for Terra Nova.

* Often companies allow Nightdive (either by approaching them or being approached by them) to rerelease games (or tell them to go away), but sometimes afterwards, they're not given the rights to modify/fix them.  It's really up to the Intellectual Property holder.

* Pickups, interactable objects, and audio logs are almost ready to be placed into the greybox.  Also, the audio log files from the original game have been imported in (to be replaced later by the new voiceovers that will replace them).

* They were asked about having a no-texture mode for people who want it.  Stephen said you could just turn all graphics options down to low.  He talked about a greybox-only mode possibility, but also that that seemed unnecessary.

* Daniel is the only one doing greybox for this particular title, but (after being asked) other people do greybox fairly similarly to how he's doing it.  It's always best to have a rough foundation like greybox before refining something.  It's like sculpting - rough shapes first, then medium details, and finally fine detail to finish it off.

* Some discussion about how lasier rapiers (light sabers =oP) work as well as rubber bullets for the riot gun.

* Daniel finishes Level 7 during the stream!

* There was a vote between Level 1 and Level 8 for the next stream, and 8 won (but 1 will probably be worked on off-stream). 

[665af719584c0unn_atropos]

Dev - System Shock - Daniel Grayshon - 06.25.2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnFtmkqo-9g

More level block out w/ Daniel Grayshon.