Hmm. Interstellar Marines is an indie-developed high-sheen FPS which is… well, I’m intrigued for a load of reasons. Partially because it looks novel (Talking about trying to do a realistic first-contact alien event) and partially because of its route to market. The short version – for more read the press coverage – is that in 2006 they used a high-end game engine to do a demo, which got attention, they turn away from major publishers in favour of indie-dev… which makes the engine too expensive, so they’re moving over to another one. Which they can’t show in game footage publicly. Yet. It’s also got an interesting development philosophy - interesting in that it manages to be both self-deprecating (in its insistence on the import of the community and attention) and self-aggrandizing (not least in calling it “AAA Indie”. As in, if they’re AAA indie, what are everyone else?). Do read. Those videos they can show are below…
They’re planning on a Beta later in the year. More later, I suspect, one way or another.
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@Diogo Ribeiro
“Everyone knows the only way to make a shark scarier is fusing it to an ICBM.”
Frickin’ laser beams are what’s needed.
First contact should be like it was in Enders game, a brutal misunderstanding that leads to the xenocide from which there is no return (or is there?! Muwahahaha)
Wow, this just looks intensely generic. We obviously need more FPSes about space marines.
And does the ending theme sound a lot like the Terminator 2 theme to anyone else?
If they pull it off, I’ll be happy. But…
The sharks are a kind of biological weapon chimera type thing. Made by humans. They haven’t posted any art on the aliens you will be contacting.
They aren’t space marines they’re interstellar marines ! Get with the program here chief! :P
I would personally like to see a space hulk remake with online co-op where each terminator is controlled by a player and you have to work together to clear the space hulk of xenos. Then it could keep track of the teams who’ve cleared each type of hulk or section of the hulk the fastest
Was that Duke Nukem narrating the trailer?
Also, the landsharks remind me of those in Blood.
You think horace is AAA? I would have assumed he was infinite A, of course its impossible to know.
“That was one impressive display of skill and courage!”
…I’m not sure that dialogue could have been more awful if they’d tried.
Re: instelestellar marines vs space marines.
Space marines are much like colonial marines. You could be tasked in a energy satelite in moon (earth), and you will be a space marine.
I say “space marine” for these guys that have a task inside the solar system. Good for then, only 8 minutes-light from the earthlike paradise, normal gravity, good food and human womens.
Interestelear marines is another league. Outside the solar system the radiation is stronger, theres not magnetic field to protect, and the distances are not minutes-light, but years lights, like something like 50 years light.
Also, theres only Humans, Dolphins and Europians races in the solar system. But on the interstellar space… theres …well.. .all the wild and the crazy civilization and stuff you can’t dream off. Anything could be anything, and kill you. You just don’t know if the next thing will say “hello”, or just make the nearest star implode and go nova.
Interestelar Marines is much more than Space Marines. Space Marines hare obsly the garden variety you guys have on safen Earth. But whos is protecting the solar system? the Interstelar Marines. Srsly guys. Doh!
I think they mean they are a triple A game (ie Gears clone) without a AAA budget, which means they aren’t really triple A :).
@tei – That’s right, show some respect! When that crazy planet eatting worm from outside the galatic disc comes into our solar systems and swallows up pluto see how well those space marines handle it. OH WAIT! that’s right, the interstellar marines already killed it.
Does anybody still care about Pluto? Maybe when it gets to Saturn…
Great trailers, some PR companies could learn from this. It’s campy of course but that was probably the intention.
Nice movie, nice animation, but sharks with legs? Come on.
I mean, yes, it’s nice that they avoid having Generic-Not-Quite-Copyright-Infringing-Alien 247A, but sharks with legs?
Are all the good ideas already taken?
It’s not obvious that the “Movie 3″ (one at the bottom) is called “First screenshot.” I saw this one some months ago, and it is as awesome today as then.
The other one is a little more meh and I blame that for the more negative responses here. Land sharks from space is a fucking awesome idea.
I dunno, the concept looks good and there isn’t enough sci-fi space shooters out there but…. Well I don’t know if I can really get into a game that’s trying to be serious if I’m shooting at four-legged shark dogs…
Also…WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING??? Talk about taking the mystery out of the game. Can’t believe they showed the antagonizer right off the bat. C’mon people show some suspense, build it up a little let the users first experience with the enemy be in your game. This is a problem the media community has been having a lot now, giving too much away before we even get our hands on the product.
I’m hoping these guys succeed. The big name publishers of games have really screwed the pooch time and time again, and if it’s established that Indies can pull off games like this without their interference, PC gaming might just make a comeback.
@mrMelons – Someone stated in previous comments the Sharkdogs are not the aliens, they are actually Sharks with legs genetically created by the humans as a bio-weapon. They said that there are not actually any pictures of the aliens in the game yet.
spoon said:
“The sharks are a kind of biological weapon chimera type thing. Made by humans. They haven’t posted any art on the aliens you will be contacting.”
Looks like COD 8: space combat. Not a bad things, i hope you can actually issue meaningful orders rather than your allies being things that are just talking heads on autopilot.
1. The faces look as bad as in fallout 1 videos.
2. Bipedal shark aliens.
3. Same voice for the transport ship coxswain as in Starcraft.
I’ve seen a lot of sounds from Starcraft used in other things, a vast number of them I’ve heard in Sci-Fi Channel movies O.o The sound of the human’s building units welders going I’ve heard a LOT in movies.
I don’t know about the community input philosophy. That’s the same sort of thinking that ruined Tribes 2.
There are something like sound librarys. It seems you buy that library, and use these sounds. People like videogame makers buy that library, and filmakers also buy these librarys. If a movie and a game have the same “NON NON NON!” this don’t mean automatically that one is a thief from the other.
I would pay $5 to never have to submit a fake age to watch a game commercial again.
And yeah, they lost me at landsharks.
I love the clean aesthetics, note the first video is REALLY old and its main drawbacks, the character faces and plasticky armor look, seems improved to the new video right below it.
As for people saying generic, meh, grow the fuck up. If done well, it will be fun, and that is what matters. What, Left 4 Dead is somehow enough for co-op shooter thrills? There’s a lot more to do with the “genre” whether you have a generic storyline or not.
This makes me think Alien Swarm in first-person and that’s a good thing, especially since Alien Swarm: Infested has disappeared…
If the game is something like a parody of Doom 3 (and any other melodramatic FPS you care to name), then I find the landsharks amusing. If the game is supposed to be one of those “visceral” affairs, then this game has jumped the landshark already.
Since there is no edit feature, I apologize for a terribly constructed sentence.
Apparently in the near future they have forgotten the technology of floodlights.
@ Helio: Horace subsumes all. Your unrepentance has been noted.
THE FUTURE OF TOMORROW IS NOW
I’ve been waiting for somebody to try making a “AAA” game with Unity. It’s an amazingly easy toolkit to use, but not many developers have picked up on it (probably because it was only available for Mac, up until recently). It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out.
Do the freakin sharks have freakin laser beams attached to their freakin heads?
I got into their beta thing called “Spearhead Unit” yay me :)
Plus I get access to any betas on games in the future
When the bear revolution comes i’ll be the first against the wall!
@A-Scale: They look as bad as the ones in Fallout 3, too.
“Now, the journey into a world beyond their imagination begins…just at the bottom of this cargo elevator.”
Candygram.
Sharkosaurus Erectus? Hope they Blue Oyster Cult into the soundtrack…
Otherwise I thought this looked kind of fun. At first I was thinking it was some kind of inter or intra earth civil war thing by various factions. My initial thought when they said “new commander” was well how’s he in on this then? Or maybe that’s just my desire for something a bit more Deus Ex than what I’ve seen in ages.