System shock
| System shock | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Studio |
 Looking Glass Technologies
|
| Publisher |
Origin Systems Night Dive Studios |
| Senior Developer |
Warren Spector (Producer) Doug Church (Project Leader) |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
MS-DOS: September 22, 1994 Mac OS: December 23, 1994 Enhanced Edition: September 22, 2015 |
| platform | MS-DOS , Mac OS , PC-98 , Windows |
| genre | RPG , first person shooter |
| Subject | Cyberpunk |
| Game mode | Single player |
| control | Keyboard and mouse |
| medium | Floppy disks , CD-ROM , download (2015) |
| language | English , German |
| Current version | 1.2.7 ( unofficial patch ) |
System Shock is a first-person shooter with role-playing elements developed by Looking Glass Studios and distributed by Origin Systems . It was first published in 1994 for MS-DOS . An "Enhanced Edition" for MS-DOS also followed in 1994. This offered voice recordings, better graphics (SVGA) and was therefore more atmospheric. It was also available on CD. In 1995 the game was released for Mac OS and in 1996 for the PC-98 . It combines above-average player freedom with the immediacy of the first person perspective and contains many elements of the cyberpunk genre. It is considered, along with the Thief series, to be an important influence on the Deus Ex developed by Warren Spector . A successor followed in 1999 with System Shock 2 . In 2015 the development of another offshoot with the working title System Shock 3 was announced. Warren Spector leads the development of the third part.
action
In 2072, the player-controlled protagonist on the Citadel space station does a hacking job for "Edward Diego", the corrupt Vice President of the "TriOptimum Corporation". He receives Level-one access to the Artificial Intelligence SHODAN ( English : Sentient Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network ), controls the Citadel, and removed their ethical restrictions. As a reward, he receives amnesty and a military cyberspace interface. When he wakes up after his six months of artificial healing sleep, he finds that the station's crew are mostly dead or have mutated into monsters.
In the course of the further action, the player finds out that SHODAN has gone megalomaniac, killed all other people on the station or transformed them into cyborgs and now threatens humanity. The player has to fight his way through the different decks of the station, learns more and more about the SHODAN conspiracy and has to thwart various attacks on Earth. On the way to the bridge deck he defeats Diego, who has also been transformed into a cyborg, and faces the AI showdown in cyberspace.
Technology and game mechanics
The 3D graphics engine, which was powerful at the time, was partially superior to the well-known Doom engine in terms of its capabilities . For example, it allowed inclined planes, bridges and variable gravity. The control is like a first person shooter from the point of view of the character, but is comparatively more complicated due to a number of additional movement options (for example, crouching, crawling, peeking around corners and climbing). The rudimentary physics engine was revolutionary for the time; For example, objects thrown against the wall would fall to the floor by themselves. Cyberspace sequences were also revolutionary, in which the player had to flip switches in a virtual environment that removed obstacles or released doors in the real game environment.
A lot of emphasis was placed on a compelling story with many twists and turns rather than just pure action. In fact, you can specify in the settings whether you want the game to be an action game or an RPG. Another typical feature of role-playing games was the ability to develop one's character. In addition, implants and upgrade modules were hidden in the game, which gave the player additional or improved skills.
In the English CD-ROM version (Enhanced Version), SHODAN was spoken by Terri Brosius, keyboard player for the band Tribe , who then voiced her voice to other computer game characters, including those in the Thief series. The samplings were Eric Brosius, her husband and guitarist of Tribe , by continuously varying pitch and speed, multiple blending varying versions of the same samples and " stuttering " alienated so is that a distinctive voice revealed that of the fictional character of Max Headroom is similar.
The most famous quote from the voice output reads:
“Ll-look at you, hacker. A pp-pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you r-run through my corridors-s. Hh-how can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine? "
In the German version spoken by Marion von Stengel (also known as the German voice of Pamela Anderson):
"Look at you, hh-hacker. Egg-egg-a pitiful flesh-and-bone creature running through my corridors, panting and sweating. How can you challenge a p-perfect, immortal machine? "
The word "Hacker" is difficult to hear in the German language output.
Community patches have been developed in order to be able to play System Shock on current Windows versions .
Trademark situation and new edition
The rights to the brand were split. For a long time, the naming rights to System Shock were held by the publisher Electronic Arts , which after a renewal in 2006, however, expired in 2007. The development rights, however, fell to an insurance company after Looking Glass Studios was dissolved. Both rights would be necessary for another part of the series.
After Night Dive Studios re-released System Shock 2 in 2013, System Shock was also released as an enhanced edition via digital distributors on September 22, 2015 . In November 2015, Night Dive Studios acquired all rights to the System Shock brand and also announced a contemporary remake of System Shock . On February 10, 2016, Night Dive announced that the SS1 source code found would later be made available to the game community.
Funding for the remake, with a target of $ 900,000, was made through Kickstarter starting June 28, 2016, and $ 1,350,700 had been raised by the end of the July 28, 2016 deadline. The remake is to appear in accordance with the extended financing goals for several platforms (Windows, Linux, MacOS) and in different languages. A version for the Playstation 4 is also being planned. There are also new areas that are not included in the original. Donations can still be made via the project's website in order to achieve other goals, such as a soundtrack recorded by a symphony orchestra. In 2017 it was announced that the game would be developed on the Unreal Engine 4 and should appear in 2018. On February 16, 2018, Stephen Kick, CEO of Nightdive Studios, announced a break in development on Kickstarter.com (" We are taking a break, but NOT ending the project. ").
In April 2018, the Mac version of the source code was published by Night Dive Studios on Github under the GPL license, fulfilling a promise made in 2016.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ System Shock 3 - Big Comeback: Warren Spector takes over the management of GameStar.de , accessed on February 19, 2016
- ↑ Kolya: LGC SYSTEMSHOCK-Portable v1.2.3 . In: systemshock.org . June 18, 2006. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
- ↑ Brendan Sinclair: EA files System Shock trademark ( English ) In: GameSpot . January 9, 2006. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
- ↑ g4tv staff: The Lost History of System Shock ( English ) In: g4tv.com . May 30, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2012: “ Looking Glass Studios closed in 2000, a year after System Shock 2's release, and the copyright to the series went into the hands of an insurance company. That left EA with only the System Shock name, but no actual development rights. "
- ↑ System Shock Remake in Production, System Shock 3 Discussions Happening on GameSpot .com, accessed November 12, 2015
- ↑ System Shock remake is in development on Eurogamer.com , accessed November 12, 2015
- ↑ System Shock Remake Feedback Request - Night Dive Studios on systemshock.org "We've also tracked down the source code to the original game and will be releasing it to the community once it's ready." (February 10, 2016)
- ↑ System Shock. In: Kickstarter. Retrieved August 1, 2016 (American English).
- ↑ GamePro .de: System Shock - Pre-alpha trailer for switching to Unreal Engine 4 ; accessed on March 2, 2017
- ↑ Stephen Kick: Sometimes You Need To Take a Step Back In Order To Take Two Steps Forward on Kickstarter.com ; accessed on October 7, 2018
- ↑ shockmac on github.com/NightDiveStudios
- ↑ IamA Founder of Night Dive Studios, Stephen Kick - We track down and restore classic video games! AMA! by Stephen Kick on reddit.com "Lost source code is one of the things that genuinely depress me and we're currently evaluating the idea of releasing the code we've discovered and restored to anyone who wants to store it or modify it. [ ...] We have released the source to Strife: Veteran Edition and we are planning on releasing more code in the future. " (22 June 2016)
- ↑ System Shock Remake Feedback Request - Night Dive Studios on systemshock.org "We've also tracked down the source code to the original game and will be releasing it to the community once it's ready." (10 February 2016)