Stephen Kick, CEO of Nightdive Studios has written up a post on the System Shock reboot Kickstarter, to state that development has been paused. Pretty strange, considering how positive their post was in January…
I won't quote all of it, just the parts that aren't rambling:
Maybe we were too successful. Maybe we lost our focus. The vision began to change. We moved from a Remaster to a completely new game. We shifted engines from Unity to Unreal, a choice that we don’t regret and one that has worked out for us. With the switch we began envisioning doing more, but straying from the core concepts of the original title.
[…]
The more that we worked on the game, the more that we wanted to do, and the further we got from the original concepts that made System Shock so great.
Changing engine wouldn't have been a quick thing to do, so they lost time with that. Then it just all reads like they kept wanting to add more and more and lost all real focus on what exactly they were making. Sounds like a classic case of feature-creep to me, too little focus.
He does say very clearly it's not cancelled, just that they're taking a break:
I have put the team on a hiatus while we reassess our path so that we can return to our vision. We are taking a break, but NOT ending the project. Please accept my personal assurance that we will be back and stronger than ever. System Shock is going to be completed and all of our promises fulfilled.
So it's going to take longer, let's just all be glad it's not another time I'm having to write about Linux specifically being delayed or cancelled.
This is probably going to sting a little for the people that pledged to it, having the CEO of a respected developer come along basically saying they all screwed up. Could this be the next Duke Nukem Forever? I joke of course, but there's a fair few unhappy backers making themselves known. They had some pretty high pledge levels too, it's going to be very interesting to see what happens here.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
“As our concept grew and as our team changed, so did the scope of what we were doing and with that the budget for the game,” Kick said. “As the budget grew, we began a long series of conversations with potential publishing partners. The more that we worked on the game, the more that we wanted to do, and the further we got from the original concepts that made System Shock so great.”
Unfortunately, an engine change is never a small thing and alot of stuff would of had to been thrown out in the process. They should of just stuck with what they had with the kickstarter demo, ie a remaster of System Shock. Basically what they did with the Turok games they remastered.
On a side note there is this: https://github.com/hankmorgan/UnderworldExporter
Which basically takes the original files from System Shock (Ultima Underworld 1/2 and Tera Nova) and allows you to view them in Unity. Would be a starting place at the very least, then could be detailed out. Of course other systems like AI/HUD/Gameplay Systems and would have to implemented.
Edit: Also a backer. Also, hope I am completely and utterly wrong and it gets released and is a decent game. :)
Last edited by on 18 February 2018 at 3:11 am UTC
First they ask for more money to keep up the project & now they decided to cancel it ???
Unbelievable...
The article is pretty clear that it's not cancelled, but maybe you should read the original comment to make up your own mind.
Before saying that kind of things maybe you should learn to build your own opinion instead of believing things of one person especially when this guy who was supposed to lead the project ended up by tooking the money of thousands people to play with it.
Sorry but I don't support this !
If we're just going to ignore what the project lead is telling us and make up our opinion based on whatever we want to believe, why even discuss the update at all?
Without any information contradicting what Stephen Kick has said (and he really should be the one to know, seeing as he's both the founder of Night Dive Studios and the project leader), I see no reason not to believe what he's saying. Also, there's nothing to be gained from throwing away the work and goodwill they've achieved so far, so even with my tinfoil hat on, I still see no reason not to trust the update.
If we're just going to ignore what the project lead is telling us and make up our opinion based on whatever we want to believe, why even discuss the update at all?
Without any information contradicting what Stephen Kick has said (and he really should be the one to know, seeing as he's both the founder of Night Dive Studios and the project leader), I see no reason not to believe what he's saying. Also, there's nothing to be gained from throwing away the work and goodwill they've achieved so far, so even with my tinfoil hat on, I still see no reason not to trust the update.
We shouldn't ignore it, but we could add some common sense and experience of life and also mind what he's written between the lines or what he didn't mention at all. If I'd be a backer I'd e. g. want to know how much of the money they got is left.
[...]
Without any information contradicting what Stephen Kick has said (and he really should be the one to know, seeing as he's both the founder of Night Dive Studios and the project leader), I see no reason not to believe what he's saying. Also, there's nothing to be gained from throwing away the work and goodwill they've achieved so far, so even with my tinfoil hat on, I still see no reason not to trust the update.
We shouldn't ignore it, but we could add some common sense and experience of life and also mind what he's written between the lines or what he didn't mention at all. If I'd be a backer I'd e. g. want to know how much of the money they got is left.
Absolutely. It would be nice to know how much they have left, if they need further funding to complete the project at all or if they need further funding the complete the redesign (which I would assume they don't know before the reassessment is done). In any case, I don't see any indication that the project is over. Night Dive Studios does not depend on this project to stay afloat, so even if they were out of the Kickstarter money (which I doubt; low, maybe, but not out), the company itself is still generating money from sales of other games.
It's still way too early for pitchforks, if you ask me.
First they ask for more money to keep up the project & now they decided to cancel it ???
Unbelievable...
The article is pretty clear that it's not cancelled, but maybe you should read the original comment to make up your own mind.
Before saying that kind of things maybe you should learn to build your own opinion instead of believing things of one person especially when this guy who was supposed to lead the project ended up by tooking the money of thousands people to play with it.
So... even though I didn't state an opinion, and simply referred you to the facts as presented in the article... let me get this straight... I need to "learn to build my own opinion". Presumably, instead of using facts.
Whoa, gotcha. Glad we cleared that up. Peachy.
At a guess, I suppose I'm only meant to this when my "opinion" (or the facts) don't align with your own. Amarite?
Doc Angelo Feb 18, 2018
Between those extremes lies the truth, which is up to debate.
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