RetroSpace team makes no secret of the fact that certain games have had a strong influence on us, and at first glance, most people would say that is System Shock 2. There is truth in that (plenty of it), but there may be some other titles whose influence may be more surprising than that and need some further explanation (and exploration). [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/bf4e7e5b9a2165d0244775f7092be04b0390adb0.jpg[/img] But with RetroSpace, we want to deliver something with an impact, an experience you will never forget, so we've taken our biggest favorites as inspiration and added our wildest ideas to the mix. Meanwhile, we knew full well that making a soft-rpg immersive sim horror that includes stealth mechanics and slick gunplay is a gamedev hellhole, but we felt that if we were honest with ourselves, we had to do this and do it this way! [h3]The Thief series:[/h3] It probably doesn't need much explanation, but still... The Thief series (especially the first two games) has left an indelible mark on us and the gaming world. Our heroes were vulnerable and fragile as perhaps never before, but by developing our skills to control them to a master level, we became truly master thieves and in the meantime, the player became an integral part of the world. This is perhaps the most important lesson, both the sense of helplessness and the immersive nature of the world, with its meditative music, amazing (and sometimes insanely funny) voice lines, and noirishly dark but deeply developed lore, that simply absorbed the player into itself. Along with the manipulation of light and shadows, intricate level design, and environmental storytelling, these are the reasons why we decided to make this series one of our main guides. The key here is that as soon as the player enters the station (as the hero aka. the nameless janitor), they are instantly "hit in the face" by the mood of the environment and sucked into the game. And an important goal is to have a twist in RetroSpace as big and crazy as the one Garrett had when he delivered that particular artifact to those two particular clients... [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/e33943e4f3259bc50043a60dc53f004653b4bcc0.png[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/ac0a89f72a77094f4623b2f881e90b7fc1fa7ddc.jpg[/img] [h3]Half-Life:[/h3] While it's not an immersive sim, nor soft rpg, in many ways Half-Life made the deepest impression on us (especially the first game). The "workday gone wrong" plot, the enclosed space of chaos, the beautifully constructed tension and horror, the scripted cinematic scenes, the hazard suit, and the stunning design of the enemies all made a big impact on our team. We also drew a lot from it in terms of art style and the nature of the execution. So yes, you just can't mention Half-Life! In fact, it was because of the Half-Life's example that we decided to make our game show the day-to-day life of the station before the big disaster hits. We've always loved this kind of episode in games, but unfortunately, we see it less and less often. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/99b1e0c4ed5bd97f2d2cdef53cb119c7f6d83bd3.jpg[/img] [h3]The Shock games:[/h3] As we mentioned in the introduction, we were primarily influenced by System Shock 2, which most people will immediately notice from pictures or videos. We're proud of that because we really want to achieve a very similar feel in terms of atmosphere, narrative, and a deeply immersive and customizable player experience. The fact that the player could build completely different builds for themselves and be an action hero, tech guru, or psionic "mage" became a "lighthouse idea" for us that has guided us throughout the initial preparation phase of the game. And speaking of lighthouses... [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/8f8ffb86897879d3fc6499f87a3bddced2de120f.jpg[/img] We can't go without mentioning Bioshock (especially the first two games) because, although those games had moved away a bit from the immersive sim genre, it's undeniable that they created a world and atmosphere that very few games have been able to do since. The setting for our game, the floating station of Aurora 5, is dreamed up in a similar way to Rapture, with the difference that our game will have much more traversability, openness, and backtracking. But the spirit of Rapture and its dense, almost tangible atmosphere are clearly an important influence that cannot be denied. We want to create areas that the player will never forget once they've been through them, and that represent completely different atmospheres, while still forming a coherent whole. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/4342061d65c1c00c7f898d6317d5f27f2a38cd81.jpg[/img] [h3]Void Bastards:[/h3] Perhaps one of the most exciting, but unfortunately rather underrated games of recent years. While we weren't 100% sold on the roguelike aspect of the game, basically everything else about it completely enchanted us. The design of the opponents, the atmosphere, and most importantly, the captivating humor of the world, the weapons, abilities, and various debuffs that the player can get made a deep impression on us and we implemented some elements of this in our own design. We mainly drew on the system of death and rebirth and the negative effects (debuffs) coming from that, and of course, we mixed that with other influences and a lot of unique ideas to come up with something that (probably) hasn't been done before. We really hope it will work as well and be as surprising as we plan. But until then... play Void Bastards, folks, it is AWESOME!!! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/be58ae0734c787740722afa3cced6e1defc43f35.jpg[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/50bb5cf17fb910f324f701ba0b5bcbc7adf444b5.jpg[/img] [h3]Other mentions:[/h3] There are quite a few other games that have influenced us in one way or another, but this blog post would be endless if we went into detail. So just to list: [b]Deus Ex (2000), Prey (2017), Arx Fatalis, No One Lives Forever, Dishonored, Dead Space, Blood West, Gloomwood, I Am Not a Monster, Powerslave/Exhumed[/b], some Soulsborne and Metroidvania titles, [b]Alien Isolation, Gunman Chronicles, Ultima Underworld, Star Trek Elite Force, and CoC: Dark Corners of the Earth[/b], not to mention the many book and movie inspirations, but we'll cover those in a separate blog post! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/127c060ada081ffe37444f96f4e8d486873ba2c7.jpg[/img] [i]Blood West[/i] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/a1dbee90f8479d93079c85962cf12f7ed8b6b09e.jpg[/img] [i]Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force[/i] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/d886216470ff1c631e9e7dd4bce1fa90e33aae72.jpg[/img] [i]Gloomwood[/i] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/4cc5e41568fe21ade6468d6441b85b0ad315e028.jpg[/img] [i]I Am Not A Monster[/i] [h3]Concluding thoughts:[/h3] Reading through this blog post, it's easy to think that only something really chaotic could come out of all this clutter. On one hand, it's true, (controlled) chaos is part of the design, but on the other hand, much to our own surprise, elements from our favorite games start to come together in a fantastic way to create a real and totally unique mix, bound together and filled with soul by our own (often crazy) ideas. Of course, we don't want to promise too much and we also don't want to always compare ourselves to other games, because whatever you say, in the end, the most important thing is that everything we do should be FUN to play. That's how we've approached the process of drawing inspiration: what are the best, most memorable, and most recallable parts or mechanics in the games? Why are they so good? What makes them work? What makes them so unique? How can we achieve a similar experience but still make the end result completely unique? We hope that soon we will be able to introduce you to the crazy-ass disco-punk space-horror world we have created... If you haven't already done so, please, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2067820/RetroSpace/]Wishlist RetroSpace[/url]! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2067820/RetroSpace/ [i]The Wild Gentlemen[/i]