Dungeon Siege blasts off, becomes Space Siege
Posted Jul 6th 2007 1:00PM by Justin McElroy
Filed under: PC, Action, RPGs
Sega announced today that Chris Taylor and Gas Powered Games will follow up their Dungeon Siege series with Space Siege, an action RPG set for a Q1 2008 release for North America and Europe on the PC.
A far cry from leather and swords, you'll be playing an engineer who can sacrifice parts of his humanity for cybernetic upgrades. How much humanity you're willing to give up seems to be one of the game's central struggles, with NPCs reacting to you differently depending on how human you are.
You're on one of the last remaining ships carrying humans after an attack on Earth and, as you have probably have already guessed, you'll be attempting to save the human race from being eradicated. Also mentioned in the release: A co-op multiplayer mode for up to four players. More info on the game is due in PC Gamer's September issue and (we would bet) during E3.
Action role-playing games combine some of the best aspects of action games (like killing stuff) and role-playing games (like getting piles of loot and having a stronger character that gains experience levels). Washington-based developer Gas Powered Games is no stranger to action RPGs--it created the Dungeon Siege series for the PC and Play Station Portable, and is now working on an all-new game announced at the recent E3 event, Space Siege. Unlike Dungeon Siege, which was a fantasy-themed game in which you could play as a wizard who shot lightning bolts at skeletons, the new game will be a futuristic, sci-fi game that may or may not contain skeletons at all. We sat down with the studio's CEO, Chris Taylor, for more details.Okay.
GameSpot: After creating the successful and well-received real-time strategy game Supreme Commander, why did you decide to go in the direction of a new action role-playing game?
Chris Taylor: We have a lot of experience in this genre, and wanted to do something that utilized that experience but went in a fresh new direction. There were so many fantasy RPG games made, we felt that space was not only the final frontier, but a refreshingly different one.
GS: Why the decision to go with a sci-fi setting, rather than the fantasy setting of the Dungeon Siege series?
CT: We'll likely come back to the more traditional fantasy setting at some point in the future, but for now, we thought it would be good to take a break and change up the theme, give players a taste of something new.
GS: What specific lessons have you taken from the development of the Dungeon Siege games and applied to Space Siege?
CT: We learned that longer games aren't as good as games that have a strong focus on character and story, and that are really well crafted and polished. We have really learned to focus ourselves much more than in the past, and really pay attention to the little details. And we've quadrupled our effort to bring the characters in this world alive, and have focused on world-class dialogue and voice acting. These things were luxuries before. Now they are a necessity.
GS: Tell us about the game's story and main character, Seth. How did you come upon the idea of a character that pretty much trades his humanity directly for power by replacing his body parts with implants? What does that add to the game?Cool.
CT: The story is a collaborative effort with everyone on the team and has produced a result we are all very proud of. We have created a character that hopefully everyone who plays the game can identify with, and really become attached to. It was a big deal to move away from the standard, make-your-own character system and create a character to tell a story about, but we have confidence that this is more interesting than a generic character that doesn't speak. Seth has spirit, he has a history, he's a real guy, and he's the only guy who can really save humanity from extinction. And whether or not he gives up his humanity to save everyone is an open question...a question only the player can answer.
GS: The Dungeon Siege games seemed like they were mostly about hacking and slashing and less about telling a story. Will this new game emphasize story more strongly? If so, how will it keep players' attention even while they're busy blasting at aliens and picking up loot?Okay.
CT: Absolutely, this is our biggest game ever to focus on story. And we are doing it in a very different way than standard RPGs, where the story is told "in town," inserted into bits of dialogue from the shopkeeper. This game has the story evolving at every turn, behind every door, and it's carefully integrated into the gameplay. It's going to feel very different, from a story perspective, than previous games we have developed.
GS: What can you tell us about the loot and items in the game and what role they'll play? We understand that Seth can upgrade his own body with mechanical parts. What other kinds of loot will he acquire? Will there be some kind of crafting or item-set system that lets players construct better, more-powerful items?Cool -- he has a robot w/ him, too.
CT: Since it's a sci-fi game and Seth is an engineer, it's going to have a very different loot system than Dungeon Siege. It's not about finding stuff by the truckload and picking through it, it's much more selective and thoughtful. Seth will find bits and pieces of things and use them to upgrade himself and his robot companion, HR-V.
CT: I think we went a little too far with the crazy amounts of loot in Dungeon Siege, and we'll be dialing that back to be a lot less insane in Space Siege.I kinda' liked the crazy amounts of unique loot Dungeon Siege had...damn...
GS: What can you tell us about Space Siege's multiplayer at this point? Could you give us some more details as to how it will offer original adventures (not just the single-player game all over again), like the original Dungeon Siege did? How many players will it support?Interesting.
CT: It will support up to four players, and again, this number comes from our experience on Dungeon Siege. We allowed a lot more players but found that four was the sweet spot, so we are focusing ourselves on that goal. Like you suggest, multiplayer isn't simply single-player with a group, it is a carefully crafted series of regions that are designed to support a multiplayer experience and allows players to jump in and out a lot more fluidly, and for a select amount of time. We are very sensitive to the fact that players don't always have hours to play multiplayer, and that, say, 20 minutes is all they might have. We are responding to this request, and like all our games, listen to what our customers want... It's not always apparent, but we are listening.
GS: Finally, is there anything that you'd like to add about Space Siege?
CT: Space Siege poses an interesting question... Is losing one's own humanity a fair price to pay for saving the human race? I think so, but the question is, can you have your humanity and save it, too? I hope everyone tries!
GS: Thanks, Chris.
Fonzy.(click to show/hide)
28-Jul-2007 Martin Korda talks to games development legend Chris Taylor about his forthcoming space-based RPG epicAlien race coming after us....is this Crysis meets RPG? :P
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It's an impressive list. Total Annihilation. Dungeon Siege. Supreme Commander. So it's hardly surprising that, as the first tantalising titbits of information trickle into our inboxes on a rainy morning, proclaiming that games development legend Chris Taylor (the man behind these three PC gaming leviathans) is working on a brand-new space-based RPG called Space Siege, we're tripping over our shoelaces to speak to him.
Fast-forward eight hours. After a day of RSI-inducing thumb twiddling waiting for Seattle-based Taylor to speak to me, I finally get to chat to him in his private office, rumoured to be situated in a giant robot-shaped tower made entirely of diamonds.
Also joining us is lead designer Daniel Achterman, who doesn't have any kind of rumours circulating about his office, but does know enough about Space Siege to fill two and half encyclopaedias. Large ones. With reinforced spines.
Pepped up on a caffeine kick that would kill a bull-elephant, Taylor is eager to dive straight in. Staying true to the frenetic action-RPG formula that brought Gas Powered Games such success with the Dungeon Siege series, he informs me that Space Siege is an intergalactic action-romp that sees humanity battling for survival against a terrifying alien race that could peel a man like a monkey would a ripe banana.
WALK THE WALKCool.
Stepping into the gravity boots of human hero Seth Walker - a combat engineer onboard a city-sized space cruiser called The Armstrong - you'll be tasked with single-handedly fighting off hordes of aliens in an attempt to save the last dregs of humanity from annihilation. And there you were thinking that you'd just have to mend a couple of hover-tanks before taking an extended lunch break and knocking off early for a session down the boozer.
While Space Siege will be frenetic, pacing is also set to play a major role. "In Dungeon Siege, it was all about using melee and spells to push through tons of enemies," explains Taylor.
"Space Siege's combat is far more tactical. You'll go into situations where you encounter aliens and you won't just take out your biggest gun and start blasting them. There'll be combat that's as frenzied as you saw in Dungeon Siege, only there'll be far better pacing this time around. One minute you may be involved in a really intense battle, the next in one that requires strategy."
Aiding you in your critical mission will be a brand-new control system, which Taylor believes will trump even the legendary Dungeon Siege interface. "You won't recognise the interface from Dungeon Siege," he promises in a confident timbre.I dunno, but DS had a pretty good interface, if you ask me....
"We're very devoted to simplicity and ease of use so that people won't be overwhelmed. The interface will evolve as you gain abilities and will also allow you to give commands to your HR-V robot - an NPC buddy-character who'll back you up throughout the course of the game."Cool. I guess we got our own R2D2.
MAKING A MESSOkay.
Taylor would be the first to admit that in the past, plot and characters haven't been his main focus when approaching game design. However, all that's about to change. With the games industry slowly waking up to the power of storytelling and believable, deep characters, Taylor and Achterman believe that they and their team are ready to join the burgeoning number of developers intent on injecting their games with entertaining plots.
"Man has colonised space. The first colony ship to launch from Earth was the ISCS Chrysanthemum in 2056," chimes Achterman, as Taylor sips his 14th coffee of the interview. "Over the next 138 years, 18 other colony ships were sent out, but none of the ships were successful in establishing a terra-based colony. Instead, upon their arrival to their destination, the colony ships converted into permanent space-stations. Of all the planets initially targeted as colonies, only Elysium IV was capable of supporting human life."
With the humans settled, they waste no time doing what humans do best - stripping the planet of natural resources, pumping the air full of chemicals and filling every TV station with vacuous reality TV programs about housekeeping. Or at least something along those lines.
Point is, the colonists end up pissing off the locals - a race of giant alien killers called the Kerak, which bare more than a passing resemblance to the giant bugs from Starship Troopers - so much that they wipe out the colonists, then head to Earth to do the same to the rest of humanity. If you've ever seen Anthea Turner: Perfect Housewife, you'll no doubt sympathise.
STRONG OF ARMOkay.
With Earth on the brink of annihilation, only one human ship full of refugees - The Armstrong - escapes the blanket of Kerak warships pummelling Earth from orbit. "Earth ships are escaping like crazy trying to get off the planet, but the Kerak destroy them," explains Taylor. "Your ship barely escapes, but the aliens manage to send an invasion force onboard before you get away."
Flying aimlessly into the void commonly referred to as space and with his ship infested with enemies, Seth Walker only has one choice, and I don't mean curling up into a ball and shouting: "We're all gonna die, this is the end, we're all doomed. Whyyyyyy?!" No my friends, his and ultimately your only choice is to pick up a gun and start blasting some bugs.
"Although their appearance suggests otherwise, the Kerak are extremely intelligent, capable of adapting to any environment and are brilliant military strategists," explains Achterman as I press him about these alien killers.
"There are several types of Kerak warriors and each type fills a specific combat role. Drones swarm their enemies and explode on contact. There are also nimble, armoured skirmishers, bipedal Kerak warriors who can deploy advanced weapon systems and even an invulnerable monstrosity that barrels forward with alarming speed. There's no question that the Kerak are the greatest foe that humanity has ever faced."Cool.
But enough about the bugs for now, because I make it about time to talk more about Seth, a character who's a world away from the player-generated heroes that starred in the Dungeon Siege adventures.
WALKER SPACE RANGEROkie dokie.
"Instead of a generic male or female character, we decided that we wanted a character that you can go through a story with," explains Taylor. "Seth is like our Gordon Freeman, only he'll be able to speak. He has a look and a history and there's something loveable about him."
Being the kind of bloke who likes to moisturise his palms with engine grease, Seth will possess a profusion of technical skills with which to thwart the alien menace. Resisting the temptation to return to Dungeon Siege's use-skill-gain-experience mechanic, Taylor and his team have opted to create a completely new skill system for Space Siege.
At your disposal will be a collection of abilities that'll provide you with bonuses, including reduced cool-down time for power shots and an increased blast radius for your grenades. It's a system that hints at a far more tactical experience than the frenetic and often mindless mouse-clicking mayhem of its fantasy predecessors.
"The other way that Seth improves is by upgrading and customising his gear," expands Achterman. "He can find various materials in containers, or by defeating enemies, like scraps of metal, various chemicals and pieces of alien technology. He can use combinations of those materials to upgrade his weapons or armour. Upgrades to damage, armour or critical hit chance all use the same types of materials, so you'll have to choose which upgrades are most important to you."Sweet.
MORAL CODEAhhhh....that's kinda' interesting. Cool.
Now for the really exciting part. Bubbling beneath Space Siege's buffed surface, searing action and intergalactic conflict will be a moral vein that centres on morality and humanity. In a twist that would have an '80s perm feeling inadequate, it'll be up to you to decide whether or not you want to equip Seth with a collection of cybernetic upgrades that'll make him a more potent killer.
But here's the catch. With a Humanity meter tracking how far away you've strayed from your original soft-tissue self, you'll find that the closer you come to becoming a distant relative to RoboCop, the more estranged you'll become from other humans onboard The Armstrong.
"When you start playing, you'll think you're in a very traditional RPG where your job is to load up your character with armour and weapons, then blast your way through the game," explains Taylor, rejuvenated by caffeine injection no.19 of the morning.All about choices. Cool.
"We thought it'd be fun to bring in a moral choice question, to give the player a choice between going down the path of cybernetic upgrades and losing their humanity, or staying human. The more upgrades you install, the more your Humanity meter will go down. As you play through the game, you'll be romanced. You might find a large gun, but you can't carry it because you're not strong enough without cybernetic upgrades.
"You may need a powerful robotic arm, or a lung upgrade to get through a chamber because the air is too hard on human lungs. From a gameplay perspective, the game becomes easier as you lose your humanity. The downside is that the other characters in the game start alienating you. They start treating you like Frankenstein's monster."Interesting.
I'LL BE BACKCool.
Faced by this moral dilemma, which will feed seamlessly into the branching plot, you'll have to choose between compromising your humanity with these cybernetic implants, losing your mates and spending your evenings alone lubricating your joints with WD40 and making love to a Dyson, or opting for the harder but more morally rewarding route of maintaining your humanity. The latter choice will be akin to Arnold Schwarzenegger taking on the Predator, the former like Terminator vs Predator.
"We're not going down the Deus Ex road though," explains Taylor when asked if there'll be any similarities to Warren Spector's RPG classic. "Space Siege isn't as hardcore. It's a little more like World Of Warcraft. We've realised that the market is changing. Games are entertainment and people don't want to get stuck on games all the time.
"We want Space Siege to appeal to everyone. If you want to make it more difficult, you'll be able to go down the human path. If you're younger, the moral dilemma may not be so important and you may just want to become a cyborg. More hardcore players will no doubt want to get through the entire game with no augmentations, simply out of principle."
BILLY LOADSA-MATESCool beans.
As Taylor alluded to a few moments ago, a supporting cast of characters will aid you in your attempts to thwart the aliens from wiping out the last humans in the universe.
Among these will be Gina Reynolds, a foxy communications officer - aka the love interest - a fiercely anti-cybernetic communications officer (you can see the post-coital arguments already). There will also be Dr Edward DeSoto, a cybernetic surgeon; Jake Henderson, a hardened soldier who'd do anything for Seth with the possible exception of giving him his last Rolo; and Frank Murphy, a washed-up alcoholic with a penchant for mechanical repairs.
Despite attempts to siphon more info from Taylor and Achterman, I'm informed my time is up. However, I do manage to extract one last tantalising morsel from them before they leave. Apparently, there'll be another sinister force at work within The Armstrong, which will throw the moral dilemma mentioned earlier wide open. Hmmmm, interesting...Okay.
Satiated by enough information to make an android haemorrhage, I bid my farewell to Taylor and Achterman as they head off to one of Seattle's 423,007 coffee bars for a cheeky espresso before cracking on with the game.
While it's still too early to make any concrete calls on how Space Siege will turn out, it certainly appears to have the makings of another top-quality title. Given Gas Powered's already impressive collection of hits, Space Siege's strong moral themes and a solid role-playing core, Chris Taylor and his team may soon find themselves with another gem to slap onto their sparkling resumés.
Martin Korda PC Zone Magazine
Space Siege Progress ReportSweet.
We'll take the cybernetic brain, the robot eye, the metal arm, let's see, what else?
by Charles Onyett
US, June 25, 2008 - Earth is destroyed. You're Seth Walker, a survivor on the last ship fleeing the wreckage and guess what, so are the aliens that blew up your planet. Good thing you've got a host of cybernetic upgrades, a combat robot minion named HRV ("Harvey"), and a wide array of weapons to wipe out threats and save the human race.
It's Space Siege, a sort of extension of developer Gas Powered Games' Dungeon Siege series. This time around it's just a single character you'll be controlling, though Harvey can be ordered around to an extent. Like most action-RPGs out there you'll battle through rooms of enemies, click to attack, snag loot from the fallen, and upgrade your character as you progress through the story.
Instead of a more fantasy world, GPG is keeping things on board the ship with Space Siege. Arriving at certain points in the game will give you access to certain mechanical upgrades like a cybernetic eye, brain, arm, and torso which you can choose to permanently fuse to your body or disregard. Swapping out fleshy bits for cold metal will give you statistical bonuses and access to a wider range of special abilities, but GPG says there'll be benefits to maintaining your humanity.
For one thing, the game will feature different endings based which decisions you've made with the upgrades. NPCs in the main questing hub will react different depending on how many artificial bits you've grafted to yourself, and if you stay pure human you'll gain access to two special abilities otherwise locked out.That sounds good to be, for the game to be replayable and all if you want to give it another run-through and try a different direction.
Just from looking at the skill tree, however, it seems more beneficial to drop as many implants into Walker as possible as it unlocks nearly double the amount of skills in addition to giving you access to a wider range of weaponry. These upgrades are performed at special stations located around the ship, and have the bonus functionality of letting you upgrade your own and Harvey's statistics as well as whatever weaponry you're carrying around.Cool.
Doing most of this requires parts. It seems as though GPG is going for a streamlined sort of design with Space Siege, since these parts are pretty much the entirety to what enemies give out when defeated. They're not littering the ground with weaponry, armor, cash and various items or upgrades, just parts, which are added to a single total. And when you do get weapons, which happens very rarely according the producer we were talking to, you keep every one in a sort of permanent inventory, meaning you don't have to ditch or sell unused weaponry.
It's an interesting contrast to the droves of action-RPGs out there that seem to hinge on the "drop as much flashy crap as possible" formula and we look forward to seeing how it works once we get a build of the game in the office.
There's an online mode too, supporting up to four players working co-operative against enemies. It's an entirely separate mode from single-player and will have every skill unlocked from the beginning. Before setting out, you and those you're playing with will have to pick and choose which skills you want to bring with you. Those who finish the single-player will also apparently get to head into the multiplayer missions solo, treating it as sort of bonus endgame content.Okay.
Space Siege is getting ready to ship this August for the PC.
Space Siege Demo Nears? [July 23, 2008, 5:09 pm ET] - Viewing Comments
There's now one of those countdown timer dealies running on NVIDIA's nZone (http://nzone.com/page/home.html) that seems to herald the coming of an "exclusive nZone demo" for Space Siege, Gas Powered Games' upcoming science fiction action/RPG. The timer currently reads four days, a little under seven hours (and counting), so it should hit zero at the stroke of midnight Sunday night/Monday morning, which is an unusual time for such a release.
Pssh, I don't think the game could be anywhere near that good. I might actually play a new Crusader, but Space Siege looks like a giant yawn-fest.Yeah, it's pretty dull. Judging from the reviews they match up with my experience in the demo.
I generally expect more from Chris Taylor and Space Siege feels like a rushed/half-assed project.Maybe the game would've went over better if it was half-priced (Budget Priced at $20 US dollars).
Maybe the game would've went over better if it was half-priced (Budget Priced at $20 US dollars).As it stands the game really feels like a low budget production. I think anyone even mildly interested shouldn't consider it until it hits the bargain bins.
As it stands the game really feels like a low budget production. I think anyone even mildly interested shouldn't consider it until it hits the bargain bins.I liked the action in the demo, but yeah -- from the reviews, it doesn't sound like it has much to offer at $40-50.
I haven't tried it but I expect the Multiplayer to be the real prize (if any) from Space Siege. Sadly, there are no visual character customizations at all.No character customizations visually for MP?
No character customizations visually for MP?
Ummm....lazy...?
Nothing aside from choosing a character name. There were so many more options in Dungeon Siege, including server options.
As it stands the game really feels like a low budget production. I think anyone even mildly interested shouldn't consider it until it hits the bargain bins.My copy of this arrived Saturday. Been playing it, here and there since. Beat it tonight.
You can punch D through his monitor screen.I'd love to have that power! I'd never use it but just having it would be appreciated.
You would never punch D.I like D! He's like a human RSS feed.. or cyber paperboy.. As I mentioned in another thread: he's got his quirks but that's what makes him D.
If you were a post whore back then... I guess you are a meager post slut now? :PYeah, that sounds about right! :P
Actually, since I am not far behind, together we are post bitches...:o
or something.
I'll stop now.Stop posting so I can get further ahead of your posts! :P