Aliens: Crucible gameplay footage

[WorstUsernameEver]

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xxmb1s_ac_videogames

 

Courtesy of Unseen64.

 

It... doesn't look good. Also obviously still heavily WIP.

Edited February 19, 2013 by WorstUsernameEver

[Apatia]

Don't know from which build that video is but considering that it was, like you said, obviously heavily WIP and Sawyer I believe said that it was not even close to being finished when it was canned, I think that looked ok.

 

Of course I'm easy to please but the potential was there.

Edited February 19, 2013 by Apatia

[C2B]

At least some of the voice acting seems to be placeholder (Especially the Alien's screams)

[C2B]

I've talked about this game before...

 

There is a lot of could-ofs, should-ofs, and all that.

 

The problem with making successful horror games with the Aliens franchise is that the Aliens have been revealed... a lot. There is no mystery with them anymore. After 4 movies, countless comics and novels, countless video games - where the Alien and Alien variants have been killed multiple times, you have to tread new ground if you want to do something original. The horror with the Aliens no longer lies in the unknown, so we were going for the environment.

 

For example, the second or third time you watch Alien, it is no longer scary. My second playthrough of Amnesia was easy and scare-free.

 

NOT COUNTING JUMP SCARES! Jump scares are not true horror, though they can be used to effectively alter the tension temporarily.

 

Josh did have some ideas though on how to add horror and tension, and we had several scenarios into the game. Most of us were or had played SS2, Amnesia, and Call of Cthulu, but horror was not the goal of the game, survival was.

 

This was a game of limited resources and perma-death. If a party member got face-hugged, your choices were to mercy kill them, put them in a sleeper and wake them sparingly if you need them, or let them pop - but the bottom line was that once they got impregnated they had an expiration date.

 

As for the Alien variations, there are things that are simply expected by publishers and the fan base. The xenomporph variations also have a history in the aliens universe anyway. The first thing Josh and the concept artists did was to create the lifeforms the xenos would impregnate first. We also used some insect themes for the various xeno roles, from drones and scouts, to soldiers and queens. As covered in countless comics, novels, and films, the xenos take traits from their host, the idea being it would better enable them to survive in a dangerous habitat. One of the big mysteries Josh and the writers were exploring was what the caldera and how were the engineers (space

jockeys) doing with the xenos.

 

The goal was not to kill all the bugs, but to simply escape from the caldera where you were trapped. Don't get me wrong, there was still a lot of killing of both xenos and humans in the game. Combat was real time - but we had a companion wheel to context system so that you could issue commands to your squadmates. For example, you could highlight a door with your reticule, and then based on what your squard could do, it would show you your options, like weld door, open door, or if you had a bomb, plant bomb on door.

 

As far as tech goes, we were using an earlier version of Onyx - which would later be used to create DS3. Our tech was stable, but we had pipeline issues to resolve but by milestone 25 or so were in pretty good shape.

 

Anyway, it is what it is at this point.

Edited February 19, 2013 by C2B

[WorstUsernameEver]

Ehr, a link would be helpful?

[C2B]

Ehr, a link would be helpful?

 

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/animation-reel-from-cancelled-aliens-crucible-rpg-discovered-on-vimeo.80664/page-3#post-2503698

[Labadal]

Very interesting. It's always fun to read about projects that never came to be.

[WorstUsernameEver]

 

 

Ehr, a link would be helpful?

 

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/animation-reel-from-cancelled-aliens-crucible-rpg-discovered-on-vimeo.80664/page-3#post-2503698

 

 

Thanks. I mean, I understood it was some dev/ex-dev talking about it, but without context it was a tad difficult to parse.

[Malcador]

Could have been interesting

[Flouride]

Would have been awesome, instead we got Colonial Marines. SEGAAAAAAAAA.

 

And I think I've seen that footage before, it was from early alpha stage afaik.

[C2B]

Would have been awesome, instead we got Colonial Marines. SEGAAAAAAAAA.

 

And I think I've seen that footage before, it was from early alpha stage afaik.

 

No, thats other footage, but I know what you mean.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Would have been awesome, instead we got Colonial Marines. SEGAAAAAAAAA.

 

And I think I've seen that footage before, it was from early alpha stage afaik.

No, it's not the same footage.

[Zoma]

Looks pretty darn impressive for a product that's not yet in alpha stage.

 

I can't believe Sega jettisoned the project and focused on a 6 year Aliens project that never lived to people's expectations. This game is brimming with potential from Anthony's comments.

 

I thought this game could work very well in coop RPG mode too akin to L4D, but placing more focus on survival aspects.

[Zoma]

Could someone post this in neogaf? I would if I have an account.

[Hassat Hunter]

Hmmmmm, mixed. Obviously pretty unfinished, all the popup, area load issues, placeholder dialogue/sfx, AI issues, and the weak explosions (or that hilariously bad animation with the queen...) should make that pretty obvious.

 

All the movie showed pretty much was combat. Which didn't look too exiting to be thruthfully. But then again, very early footage.

Would have helped make me decide more if more RPG stuff was shown :/

[alanschu]

 

Looks pretty darn impressive for a product that's not yet in alpha stage.

 

Eh, "alpha" can often be somewhat irrelevant based on what is seen in a video.  For instance,

is some game footage shot of a game that was created prior to the game being in alpha.

 

That said, it's easy to see the potential (I think it almost always is when it's a game you want, by a dev you want, that isn't complete).

[Amentep]

I'd have played it.

 

Even with the understanding that some things don't fit the "film" lore (ie acid blood not being a big, big issue), I'd not have a problem with it as long as it made sense in the game, understanding that what works in one media doesn't always work in another.

[HoonDing]

Guy killing two xenos with pistol while shrugging off acid attacks looked particularly impressive.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Unless I'm getting my dates wrong, this build was after almost 2 years of development.

[Lysen]

I agree that combat doesn't look very impressive, but otherwise, the game did have a lot of potential.

Edited February 20, 2013 by Lysen

[C2B]

Unless I'm getting my dates wrong, this build was after almost 2 years of development.

 

More to 1, at least in full production. The build is still pre-alpha according to Davis.

 

Also, I think someone pointed out that there seems to be a good mode or something on in the video with the health jumping back to 100.

[alanschu]

I have no doubt that it was pre-alpha.  Time in development isn't really an accurate measure of when you're in alpha (alpha itself can be a somewhat nebulously applied term too)

[Pop]

Hmmmmm, mixed. Obviously pretty unfinished, all the popup, area load issues, placeholder dialogue/sfx, AI issues, and the weak explosions (or that hilariously bad animation with the queen...) should make that pretty obvious.

 

All the movie showed pretty much was combat. Which didn't look too exiting to be thruthfully. But then again, very early footage.

Would have helped make me decide more if more RPG stuff was shown :/

The skill tree stuff didn't look all that inspiring (a lot of stat boosts, the sort of thing Sawyer has publicly labeled  as suboptimal design, strangely enough) but there was this little bit:

 

From what I recall, you could be a marine or an engineer or a Company Man (fighter / caster / rogue, basically), and I imagine there would be a bit of unique content for each, or at least the NPCs would react to you differently. Given Obsidian's history I'm sure the Lifepath options would have at least some import beyond skill changes.

 

The benefit of a "bottle episode" RPG like Aliens is that, similarly to Alpha Protocol, there would be a very limited number of NPCs and CNCPs, and thus greater focus on things like characterization and choice / consequence (since you ostensibly need some of these people to survive, and not in an arbitrary GO-TO way). Especially choice / consequence, since you're in a desperate situation. There's little of the power fantasy so endemic to most RPGs, which is frankly the appeal of a horror RPG.

 

Speaking of which, time to play some SS2.

Edited February 20, 2013 by Pop

[Tale]

Undergraduate Liberal Arts Education

 

Oh man.

[WorstUsernameEver]

I have no doubt that it was pre-alpha.  Time in development isn't really an accurate measure of when you're in alpha (alpha itself can be a somewhat nebulously applied term too)

Sure. I have no real reason to doubt that, though it doesn't mean much to me after Bethesda used "pre-alpha" as a way to call their content-complete preview builds Would be interesting to know Obsidian's internal definitions.