Platforms
PC [In time it's aimed at the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3]
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Uitgever
AAA Indie
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Developer
Zero Point Software
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Genre
Sci-fi FPS RPG
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Release datum
TBA
[gb] Informatie:[/gb]
The Game
Interstellar Marines is an AAA, FPS, Sci-fi, action and adventure game with an original and unpredictable storyline featuring single and cooperative gameplay, with heavy focus on realism. Planned as a trilogy and targeted at a 17+ audience, the game is currently being developed for PC. In time it's aimed at the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Set in a believable future, the player is a newly enlisted Special Forces soldier, equipped with the latest in weaponry, armour and gadgets that will embark on a breathtaking adventure. A world filled with challenging scenarios and heart pounding situations that in time draws you deeper into an ongoing plot.
Key features
- Heavy focus on creating a thick realistic feeling of immersion through graphics, sound and game play.
- Single player or up to four players cooperative game play.
- A number of different interactive environments, ranging from claustrophobic space stations to large outdoor levels.
- Persistent character development and skill system
- Non-linear game play and open ended level design
- Freely customizable weapons simulation
- Captivating epic storyline written with focus on the co-operative part of the game
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The Gameplay of IM
Ok, so let's have a look at the game play of Interstellar Marines, what sets this game apart from all the other great games out there?
Well, Interstellar Marines is at the core a Sci-fi First Person Shooter (FPS).
Now that's not really anything special to say the least, however there is a bit more to it than that. When we as developers (and not to forget gamers) began to create a new FPS game, a main motivation was that even though lots of great games came out, we always seemed to miss something.
One game would have a great open ended world while another featured a cool skill system, one game offered intense combat while in yet another you got the chance to play cooperatively. However we wanted to bring all the features we as gamers enjoyed the most together in one great FPS game.
Ambitious? - hell yeah, but on the other hand you could also just look at it as evolution of the genre. Not really any point in (re-) creating what has already been successfully made by others, and as mentioned, we saw an empty space in the selection of available games still waiting to be filled.
So off we went starting filling that gap with what will eventually become Interstellar Marines, and here are some of the key features we have focused on:
RPG
Playing a pre-made character in a game can be great fun, but when designing Interstellar Marines it was pretty clear that we wanted more than that, we wanted to give players the freedom to shape and mold their character themselves.
In the game the characters will enter the solar system as rookies, but during the progression of the game all gradually become more and more experienced as the story unfolds. With experience comes new skills and abilities as well as access to new and better weaponry, and it is now all up to each player how they want to build and equip their Marine.
Create a stealthy medic with hacking skills, a heavy armored sniper with explosives or maybe an officer with excellent strategic abilities and a minigun?
It is all up to the player to decide.
Just like the character is growing and taking shape by gaining skills during the course of the game, so are the weapons of the marine. In a somewhat similar way to traditional RPG character progression we also wanted the players to be able to "personalize" their weaponry and equipment.
As an Interstellar Marine moves up in rank, he gets to choose more and more weapons and weapon utilities from the vast armory of the IM corps and is now able to freely customize his guns and items. If you pick an assault rifle you could choose to improve it with the shotgun extension and hollow point bullets or perhaps a silencer, piercing rounds and a scope?
The options are plentiful and it is all up to each player to freely make the decisions that suit his or hers preferred play style.
Co-op
What is more fun than playing through a stunning adrenaline-filled game that completely blows you away? Doing so with your friends!
In Interstellar Marines you will have the option of teaming up with up to three of your friends and play through the game in co-operative mode (co-op). From the very beginning of designing this game, we knew we wanted co-op to be a core element and because of that we have shaped all of the other features to enhance the co-operative game play.
The skill system will give players a vast number of options for all kinds of team play and all of the levels of IM has been designed with the clear focus of supporting co-op game play. Even the story line is written with multiple protagonists in focus so that all players in a group will have their unique place and doing in the upcoming epic saga.
Of course there is always the option of playing on your own, but should you choose to invite some friends to a game (or find some new ones on-line) a whole new challenge awaits you and your band of elite soldiers
Open Ended Level Design
When we were to create the world of the Interstellar Marines, plenty of ideas came up for great locations and places for the players to explore. However no matter where the story would take the marines, we were pretty sure about one thing; the places should all be open ended and not in any way force the players to just take a pre-chosen path through.
So we constructed the game in such a way that there are always several ways to achieve the main objectives/complete the levels and players will have the option of using brute force, stealth tactics and/or make use of the various skills as a mean to successfully clear a mission.
However not only should players be able to explore the areas of the game freely, we also wished for the levels to be as dynamic as possible, so that the game would stay fresh and exciting even when you came back for the fifth or sixth time. The cool thing about a dynamic environment is that it allows for tactical choices, and the player should consider the effects of shutting down the lights, turning on the sprinklers and how the enemy AI will react to such changes in the environment.
To add to the re-playability all levels are non-scripted and the various “inhabitants” of a location will have a life of their own (guards patrolling, scientists working, crew personnel cleaning, etc) until the players intervene one way or the other, so there are no monsters jumping out of the closet when players step on that exact trigger on the floor.
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[gb] Screenshots:[/gb]
Near final concept of one of our Assault Rifles. Shown here with extensions; Light, G-Launcher, ER-Scope.
Concept / Interface / Heads Up Display
Early iteration Marine helmet HUD. Configured here to display Sentry unit camera feed and facility blue print!
Concept / Vehicles / AIV Kitty Hawk Space Carrier
Attack Insertion Vessel class capable of deploying two Special Forces units anywhere in the solar system!
Concept / Environments / ITO Training Facility
When Special Forces are tried out for the Interstellar Marines program, not even the best is good enough!
Real time / Teaser / Photo Session
First in-game screenshot created to tribute our old 2005 teaser and show the AAA quality we strive for the game!
Real time / Teaser / Photo Session
A beautiful photo opportunity turned war zone. All we have now is two dead civilians and four dead creatures!
Concept / Vehicles / Megalodon Space Shuttle
The third generation Megalodon OPD-3A from Starcrown Aerospace, is military space technology at its finest!
Concept / Characters / Shark Creature
Development stage of this "Carcharodon Polemos" factors very bad eye sight with fantastic motion detection!
Poster / GDC 2008 / Back to Back
In space your friends can hear you scream!
Concept / Environments / X
Will Interstellar Marines only feature interior Space Stations?
Concept / Environments / Martian Colony (EU Sector)
Big perimeter Atmosphere Processors enables zones of habitable land; EU colony twice the size of New York!
Concept / Environment / ITO Headquarters on the Moon
And the destiny of four Interstellar Marines is changed forever!
Concept / Environment / ITO Military Base on the Moon
Four Marines are dropped off to participate in the ITO Special Forces "Hell Week"!
Pre-rendered / Trailer 2006 / Megalodon approach to the Moon
A quick thrust vectoring and the computer can take this baby into Moon orbit. Technology at is finest!
[gb] Trailers:[/gb]
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[gb] Achievements:[/gb]
Pff, voorlopig niet.
[gb] Boxart:[/gb]
Misschien. Ooit
[gb] Officiële website:[/gb]
http://www.interstellarmarines.com/
[gb] Opmerkingen:[/gb]
Dit soort indie projecten moeten we natuurlijk steunen. \o/
En:
Moet ik nog meer zeggen? Kan het nog awesomerder?
Wilde er al eerder een topic voor aanmaken, maar toen maar niet gedaan aangezien het niet 100% zeker is of ie voor de 360 komt (het is wel hun bedoeling). En even later gingen ze ook nog eens failliet (ofzoiets)... Maar gezien de laatste trailer lijken ze weer tot leven te zijn gekomen, dus dan is dit dus het perfecte moment om IM aan mijn mede XBW-ers te laten zien!
Het is niet veel, maar alle kleine beetjes qua aandacht helpen. Toch?
Nu dan hopen dat ze hun project afkrijgen, én dat ie op de 360 komt. (en dat ie goed wordt natuurlijk )
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