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[Redneckerz]

Welcome to the first:

(Forgive me for the OT quality, this is my first OT.)

So, what is this about?
Since individual threads didn't really generate that much attention, perhaps an OT will. I can then always update this post and list all the games so far covered.

This thread is about covering the obscure, the unknown, and the forgotten shooters and other first person titles that are omnipresent on Steam. Many are still in development, but a lot are already released. This thread is your irregular wake up call to these new games, aswell as supporting these developers with their games by promoting them with a post. (Not sure how GAF and Google work together but hopefully they come up high in the Google searches.

What episodes have there been already?​

• Rekkr: A love letter to the 90's (And it comes from Doom)
• Goldfinger 64: The Nintendo 64 gains a reimagined classic
• After the Fall: A new (free) Sega Dreamcast FPS (Standalone Quake mod)
• Underlight: An MMO you never dreamed of playing, until now
• Spellfront: A magical companion to Lichdom or City of Brass
• The Spy Who Shot Me: A N64 Bond-em-up without James Bond
• Indie Watch #7: A little bit of this, and a little bit of that
• Indie Watch #8: When tech demos gave The Whole Exotic Experience
• Indie Watch #9: Brigand Oaxaca: Mexican love child of Fallout and Deus Ex
• Indie Watch #10: Fallen Earth, the post-apocalyptic MMO Bethesda never made
• Indie Watch #11: Icarus: Starship Command Simulator breathes Doom 3 in this FTL of indie games (Literally)

When can i expect a new post/episode?

When. It's. Done.

​

 

[Redneckerz]

Indie Watch #7: A little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Ratchet and Clank, Transformers, Hytale screenshots and more!​

The first Indie Watch in this new format starts off being an exceptional one. This time not a obscure title, but obscure tidbits, Did you knows.. and perhaps a game you didn't know of.

Did you know....​

• ... That Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, Up Your Arsenal and Deadlocked (Gladiator) had a fully functional FPS mode? Here they are:

• ... That Melbourne House's Transformers for the PlayStation 2, also known as Transformers Armada: Prelude to Energon and a visual tour de force, also could be played as an FPS? You know, that PS2 title with that huge dense forest shaming Far Cry.

Spoiler: Transformers screenshots

• ... That Minecraft Legacy Console Edition had its final update in December 2018, meaning that in the case of the Xbox 360 port, released in 2012, it was supported throughout most of the 8th generation of console hardware despite being a 7th generation console? (The other consoles discontinued were the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita and Wii U Editions.) The only live console edition is the PS4 Edition and the Bedrock Edition.

• ... Its old news, but one of Minecraft's most popular servers, Hypixel, has its own building game in development called Hytale and it looks amazeballs:

Spoiler: Hytale screenshots

• ... That Betterspades is a new source port of Ace of Spades, a voxelized FPS with Minecraft building elements that targets OpenGL and OpenGLES 1.1, will run on a PC from 2002, has an Android port and is the first native shooter for the Steam Link? Github.

 

[Redneckerz]

Indie Watch #8: When tech demo's gave The Whole Xotic Experience...

A closer look at two tech demo's lost to time by The Whole Experience or WXP, creators of the Greg Hastings Paintball titles, and a colorful surprise..​

The second Indie Watch in the new standardized format (Or well, i have yet to cover an actual indie title like the old threads did) and this time we are going back to the late 90's/early 2000's. The Whole Experience, or WXP, was working on their own game, originally called Experience. With their own game, as was more common in these days, was also their own engine they were designing along with it, also called Experience.

Experience effectively never came to be, and WXP went on to develop LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring and the Greg Hastings titles. But inbetween those timeframes, they created two technology demo's that were absolutely spectactular to behold, and made for Nvidia's then new Geforce 256/Geforce 2 and making use of the NSR (Nvidia Shading Rasterizer) tech that is effectively a bunch of texture combiners similar to how Wii had its TEV units.

Things used here:

• Hardware T&L
• Dot3 bumpmapping
• ''Pixel shaders'' (Basically texture combiners doing blending effects of textures and alpha.)
• Day and night cycle
• Bloom? effects

These were Dagoth Moor: Zoological Gardens and Isle of Morg.

Dagoth Moor:​

Dagoth Moor was the first to release, and placed you, the player, in this absolutely marvelous forest site that breathes a heavy Elder Scrolls Morrowind vibe - Despite being released in 1998-1999. These came bundled with Creative Labs's 3D Annihilator graphics cards. How it looks?

There is no goal in Dagoth Moor. You are just wandering off in first person (no models) through the scenery. This was made in Maya and directly imported to the Experience Engine. A benchmark is also provided.

Isle Of Morg:​

Isle of Morg was WXP's tech demo for the new Geforce 2 GTS cards. Unlike Dagoth Moor, IoM is much more of a game. You are given a gun as you drop on the isle, which features a day and night system, and you are able to wander around like DMZG. Along the way are critters you can shoot up, but make no mistakes - Isle Of Morg is a tech demo, not a full blown game.

Video's:





Downloads: (These run fine on Windows 7 at the very least. Since they are technology demonstrators, you can obviously try them out. Also run on later Geforce's and likely Radeon's too.)
Dagoth Moor: http://www.mediafire.com/file/zsce7iu6m8bcs09/Dagoth+moor.exe
Isle of Morg: ftp://78.46.141.148/demos/nvidia/Geforce2/isle_of_morg.7z (Alternatively, download the Geforce 2 Experience: ftp://78.46.141.148/demos/nvidia/Geforce2/experience/)

Further reading:
https://www.unseen64.net/2018/07/17/dagoth-tactics-moor-zoological-gardens-cancelled/
http://skykensok.blogspot.com/2010/12/blast-from-past.html
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/tom,184-12.html
https://www.nvidia.com/object/morg.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20141017052831/http://wxpgames.com:80/htdocs/games.htm
http://www.thg.ru/graphic/19991012/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Whole_Experience

Bonus: Xotic
​

We aren't done yet! Although DMZG and IOM always remained tech demo's, WXP did end up making one title that certainly looked at the colour schemes of these games. That game is called Xotic. This colorful shooter, in which you have chain your kills to get the highscore, is reminscent of bullet hellish titles and released on PC and Xbox 360 in 2011. It even has its own Steam page:

Trailer:




Screens:

Spoiler

 

[Redneckerz]

Indie Watch #9: Brigand Oaxaca: Mexican love child of Fallout and Deus Ex.

In this episode of Indie Watch: A look at Brigand Oaxaca, an RPG with a surprisingly deep footprint.
​

Introduction:

​

Developed by Brian Lancaster of Laughing Coyote Software, Brigand Oaxaca is a rough game, and i am not talking about the visuals. But underneath that roughness lies an RPG that can easily run as deep as Fallout or Deus Ex can. Technical wise Brigand Oaxaca runs a curious little engine: Darkbasic Pro, a DX7 based solution from the early 2000's. BO's build is a refined version of this since these days its a free product and thus moonshine programmers can make their own builds. It also means this game will run on literally anything - It ran well on my stoneage PC (Geforce 6150), so it wouldn't surprise me if a TNT 2 from 1998 could still run this. So forget next-gen visuals, but what does BO offer?

PR Blurb:

Brigand: Oaxaca is a highly difficult RPG/FPS set in post-apocalyptic Mexico. The story will take you from a banana plantation to dark toxic caverns, to the sprawling city of Pochutla, to the flooded coastline, to deadly demon-infested jungles, and more.

There are 14 unique skills to upgrade with skill points, ranging from agility to firearms, hacking, hardware, voodoo. Unlock up to 80 special abilities that allow you to do things such as throw your weapon, upgrade your guns, and control the weather.

Dangers include rival tribes fighting for fertile land, mutated ghouls that emerge from their caverns at night, vicious demons that hunger for your flesh, a flooded and irradiated coastline that eats away at civilization, disease, insanity, and hunger.

You will die often, and you will like it.

Key Features:

• Branching story with dynamic characters, dialogue trees, and multiple endings
• Total freedom of movement and action: jump from roof to roof, steal things, blow things up, or murder friendly characters (if that's your thing)
• Extensive character customization with 14 skills to upgrade and over 80 abilities to unlock, ranging from firearms to crafting, hacking, and voodoo
• Crafting system largely based on the Anarchist's Cookbook: make various grenades from empty beer cans and the proper chems, etc.
• Explore a vast region of Oaxaca, taking you from a banana plantation, into toxic caverns, bustling cities, disease-ridden jungles, and a flooded coastline
• Completely versatile world editor, allowing you to edit the story for fun, or make a completely new story with new skills, scripts, and imported assets

Screens:

Spoiler

Video:




More info:

There is also a demo you can download so you can try it out yourself, found here. Brian does very frequent updates on this title so if you spot anything buggy, chances are it will be fixed very soon.

 

[Redneckerz]

Indie Watch #10: Fallen Earth, the 2009 post-apocalyptic MMO Bethesda never made.

Indie Watch takes a look at Fallen Earth, a hugely ambitious first person MMORPG that released when a year after Fallout 3. But it shares less resemblance with its similarly themed brother than you may think.
​

Introduction:

Fallen Earth by Reloaded Productions (Formerly Icarus Studios) has had a rough patch. Like any MMO that is less successful than WoW or Guild Wars, Fallen Earth had to switch developers and survive buyouts, before the IP is now at ease at Little Orbit, a smallish publisher. Little Orbit plans on modernizing the game with a PBR pipeline and other stuff, but Fallen Earth is a curious little beast. However, this is a 2009 game. So those looking for photorealism need to readjust. Imagine a last-gen game's visual and picture Fallen Earth in it. Its basically that on an MMO scale. Which, at the time, was an impressive feat.

It runs on the Xscape Engine, a custom made engine built specifically for MMO's. Its part of a bigger package called the Icarus Platform, after its namesake Icarus Studios. In order to keep up with maintenance, Icarus also has a Unity Engine plugin that runs on top of the platform. But enough chit chat, what's the game about? Because it basically is a what if type of game: What would you get if Bethesda would ever make a Fallout MMO? Something like Fallen Earth, perhaps? Perhaps... but this is NOT Fallout. This is its own game. Its own identity. Its M-A-S-S-I-V-E. Give it a whirl, the game is free to play, after all...

PR Blurb:

It’s 2156, and the world has been destroyed by both nuclear and bio-chemical means. Your story takes place in one of the few habitable places left in the world, the Grand Canyon. As a clone with an uncertain past, your job is survival in a world now built on destruction, betrayal and fragile factional alliances.

Explore, harvest and stake your claim to over 1,000 square kilometers of harsh and mysterious terrain. The classless advancement and non-linear gameplay allows you to play the character you want. Join a random dynamic events to capture resources and invade towns, capture and hold a Progress Town, fight through instances, take part in the rich faction backstory, or make a living by selling what you scavenge and craft on the auction house. Fallen Earth gives you the freedom to do exactly as you want. The world may be a shadow of its former self, but there’s no limit to what’s possible for you to accomplish.

Key features:

• Scavenge, harvest and craft just about anything you can think of. Over 95% of the in-game items are player crafted.
• The hybrid real-time combat system gives you the perfect blend of first-person combat and role-playing
• Pledge allegiance to one of six factions and take part in the rich backstory that defines the world of Fallen Earth
• Completely classless, play the way you want to
• Over 1,000 square kilometers to explore
• Dynamically occurring events, including invasions and resource cache discoveries mean that there is always something happening

Extended information:

Spoiler

The game world of Fallen Earth is based on a real-world topographical map of the Grand Canyon. The world map covers more than 1000 square kilometres of usable terrain.[3] The environment is zoneless and set in sectors which continue the story-arc of the game, and which can be advanced through at the player's own pace. Parts of the map will be unreachable at release, but will be gradually opened as more content is developed.

The game includes first-person and third-person views, a classless system, Player-versus-Player combat, mounted combat, crafting, and a noise-based stealth system. Fallen Earth offers customizable features, including: clothing, facial features, skin tones, hairstyles and colors, age, body and facial hair, body art (tattoos and piercings), height, and makeup. Also after this process players can add points to their character to build strength and other skills. Fallen Earth does not have a fixed class system. It uses skill-based character development with a strong emphasis on flexibility and player preference. The game features active skills—trade-skills as well as mutation-based skills—which can be increased through Advancement Points (APs) or skill usage. Advancement Points are earned alongside level experience, and aside from increasing skill points, can also be used to boost Attributes. Players can undo and "re-spec" their skill point allocation.

Combat in Fallen Earth is generally in a first-person shooter format. The camera can be moved to alternate between third and first person modes. Players will need to manually keep their targets in a targeting reticle to actually hit them in combat. Skills can be used to influence combat in different ways, but again, enemies must still be manually targeted. There is no "target locking" as in other MMOs. There are three main methods of dealing damage in the game. These are broken down by a weapon's effective range. Rifles, pistols, and melee are the primary weapon types. Rifles specialize in long distance damage, but are capable of using some short distance weaponry. Pistols are considered the most balanced of the weapon types, able to do damage at medium to short range. Melee, with its short range, is for close-quarters combat.[4] Fallen Earth has thousands of items as well as equipment and accessories of varying strength for players to craft and equip in up to 22 separate equipment slots. Each piece of equipment varies in weight, and possesses different qualities. Heavier equipment, for example, will generally offer higher defense bonuses, but also increases noise while moving - making stealth more difficult. Fallen Earth allows its players to carry as many as six active weapons which alter the character's appearance. The game also has a variety of vehicles. Players start out neutral in Fallen Earth and can remain neutral or choose to align themselves with a particular faction. Aligning with a faction will give characters a head start in skills and specialized equipment. The game supports PhysX[5] and Vivox, Inc.'s in-game voice communication technology.[6]

Screens:

Spoiler

Video:




More info:

https://www.gamersfirst.com/fallenearth/
https://www.littleorbit.com/
The Fallen Earth forums: https://forums.gamersfirst.com/forum/35-fallen-earth/
State of the game, 2018 and roadmap for 2019: https://www.gamersfirst.com/fallenearth/news/2018/12/31/state-of-the-game-2018

 

[Ailynn]

I just want to thank you Redneckerz for all your work on this thread and for the heads-up on these games! As someone who once worked on independent games myself, I'm sure the developers and gamers alike surely appreciate it!

 

[Redneckerz]

Indie Watch #11: Icarus: Starship Command Simulator breathes Doom 3 in this FTL of indie games (Literally)

Jump into your starship and board the galaxy as Indie Watch takes a look at Icarus: Starship Command Simulator.
​

Introduction:

​

Icarus: Starship Command Simulator is the brainchild of a one man army called Midwest Video Games. Essentially a hobby project to learn how to program in c++, it became a full game shortly thereafter. If you, the reader, think ''This sure looks like FTL'' then you are right, it is very much inspired by it. Interestingly enough, it runs on a heavily modified Doom 3 GPL codebase, so it is nice to see this engine been given some more activity.

PR Blurb:

In the future, a large star is about to go supernova and destroy all life - unless someone can find a way to stop it. But in order to get to the star, they will have to traverse a large region of space full of hostile aliens and dangerous phenomenon.

Features:
Intense Strategic Gameplay - Command your ship and crew in real time to survive alien attacks and dangerous phenomenon. Manage power, sacrifice crew, board enemy ships - all and much more will be required in order to survive.

First Person Perspective - Unlike many other games in the genre - this one is about commanding a ship from a first person perspective. You can be killed by a hostile boarding party or if the ship you are aboard is destroyed.

Smart Enemies - Each hostile ship you face is controlled by another captain and crew just like your own. They will struggle to defeat you.

Randomized galaxy - Each play-through will feature different enemy ships, events and tough decisions. You will have to be adaptable and think on your feet to survive.

Many Different Ships - There are over 50 different ships and spacestations from 9 different species. Each can be boarded and explored.

Text Based Choices - There are over a hundred different text based encounters that will affect your crew, ship and resources.

Upgradeable Ships - You have limited resources and you will have to decide what are the most important parts of your vessel to upgrade or repair.

Screens:

Spoiler

Video:



More info:

http://www.midwestvideogames.com/presskits/differently/pages/IcarusSCS/

I just want to thank you Redneckerz for all your work on this thread and for the heads-up on these games! As someone who once worked on independent games myself, I'm sure the developers and gamers alike surely appreciate it!

It is appreciated.