By Jim Rossignol on November 30th, 2010 at 11:49 am.
What a strange headline that is. What it means is this: Introversion’s forthcoming procedurally-generated espionage game, Subversion, was shown at London-based Indie convention World Of Love earlier this year. It was filmed, via the magic of wobblecam, and uploaded for the internet. That means you can watch Chris Delay play through one of the levels, and see polygonal Kieron Gillen and Eskil Steenberg rob a bank, using their charm and their tech. As in games, so in life…
Go, watch!
30/11/2010 at 11:55 Navagon says:
This either is the most anticipated indie game in development or at least it should be.
30/11/2010 at 12:37 Urael says:
Hear hear. I’m more excited by this than any other game in development.
30/11/2010 at 12:58 Navagon says:
I also hope they license out the engine. Not just because I want to see more games using procedurally generated cities. But also because it could be a good source of additional revenue for them. By the sound of things they could do with that.
30/11/2010 at 15:07 DefiantBadger says:
It’s close between this and Overgrowth for me.
30/11/2010 at 15:48 Sassenach says:
This is one of the most anticipated games that will never be released.
30/11/2010 at 22:40 Haggis says:
Ach, Sassenach – you’re just as your name implies, a sour old person.
30/11/2010 at 12:18 Karhax says:
This looks fantastic
30/11/2010 at 12:18 Longrat says:
This is why I want to become a games programmer.
30/11/2010 at 12:19 Jonathan says:
Ahh, Chris Delay is so charmingly nerdy. It makes me want to pinch his cheek and ruffle his hair.
I just wish he’d hurry up and finish Subversion so I can play it. I don’t even really know what it is for sure, but I know that I want it. While he’s at it he should release his procedural city tool too, and make it export in a format you can tool about with.
30/11/2010 at 14:12 Jez says:
Haha! :D
01/12/2010 at 05:17 DJ Phantoon says:
I’d say he’s too nerdy. The jock part of my brain kept telling me to take his lunch money, and it never does that.
30/11/2010 at 12:29 Diziet says:
This looks excellent.
30/11/2010 at 12:34 Memphis-Ahn says:
If games were sex, this one would be the climax.
30/11/2010 at 15:07 LimEJET says:
Just out of curiosity, what would Minecraft be?
30/11/2010 at 15:33 Memphis-Ahn says:
Minecraft would be Infiniminer’s better looking, younger sister.
Every time you ride her (and every week that passes) she gets better and better.
30/11/2010 at 12:36 Miked says:
This looks amazing; just wonder how it will compare with Monaco? I know both Subversion and Monaco are approaching a similar topic so it will be very interesting to see how they compare.
30/11/2010 at 14:26 msarge says:
Monaco looks like it will be more fun, where Subversion looks like it might be more of a thoughtful, deep experience. I’ll probably end up getting both, but Monaco really does look like a blast.
30/11/2010 at 12:36 WiPa says:
I WANT DAT SUBVERSION
30/11/2010 at 12:41 Auspex says:
This does look like it’s going to be really great.
How can any game which can have Kieron smart-talk and threaten his way through to a bank vault before dropping the safe-cracking device and kicking it across the room not be the best thing ever?
01/12/2010 at 05:18 Spacewalk says:
I think we’ve found the sequel premise to Octodad.
30/11/2010 at 12:46 kyrieee says:
So, did they have someone walking through the crowd with a collection bag or are they going to start making games that sell now?
30/11/2010 at 12:48 Optimaximal says:
Uplink, Darwinia & Defcon all sold well enough to allow them to expand and grow. They just took their eye of the ball when making Darwinia+/Multiwinia and it hit them hard.
30/11/2010 at 20:12 Kadayi says:
@Optimaximal
Chris would be better off going solo like Cliffski or Eskil and losing the other two chumps who have demonstrated time and again that they have zero business acumen. Albeit I’m looking forward to this and will certainly buy it on release, I resent the fact that those two hangers on will be getting a cut of the cake as well. I’d rather Chris got all the cash.
30/11/2010 at 12:46 Optimaximal says:
Chris Delay is clearly from the John Carmack school of game designers.
The glasses..! The voice.!! The enthusiasm about things that nobody else *really* understands!!!
30/11/2010 at 12:50 ed says:
Looking fantastic. Insta-buy. I can’t see this game getting anything but good press, so hopefully it gets the sales to match.
30/11/2010 at 12:51 Crane says:
I’ve been looking forward to this for ages, and now I think I’m drooling.
It has that feel of a game in which everything was designed by creating all the systems BEHIND the gameplay mechanics they wanted, allowing what looks like a potentially absurd amount if interaction between mechanics…
30/11/2010 at 12:56 Spatula says:
wow. another great game by those very thin chaps.
awesomness.
30/11/2010 at 13:05 jackflash says:
It looks interesting – but at this point I’m far more excited by the city generation videos than the actual gameplay video. Here’s hoping the game itself is engaging to play.
30/11/2010 at 13:07 kaljtgg says:
Do want.
30/11/2010 at 13:11 Lilliput King says:
Looks fun, yeah.
30/11/2010 at 13:20 duke of chutney says:
i remember mission impossible
30/11/2010 at 13:50 The Sombrero Kid says:
is it only me embedded vimeo doesn’t work for?
30/11/2010 at 15:08 Loopy says:
It’s not working for me either, you’re not alone.
Right-click the Vimeo logo in the bottom right-hand corner and go watch it on the Vimeo site instead.
30/11/2010 at 13:51 Stompywitch says:
That was absolutely amazing. I’m sold as soon as pre-orders are available.
30/11/2010 at 14:10 Gargantou says:
Looking forward to this, shame I don’t want to visit the Introversion forums(They are in my opinion filled with quite a few elitists who feel it’s their right to be condescending assholes to new members simply because they have been around for a long time and participated in beta’s and shit.)
Now, imagine if they made a program or something interlinking Uplink with this game, that’d be fucking sweet.
30/11/2010 at 14:18 Grazzled says:
This reminds me a little of a CBM64 game called They Stole A Million. You had various people performing different roles, like an electronics guy disabling alarms, a lock guy opening locked doors. You would plan and then execute a robbery against 5 locations ranging in difficulty.
The idea behind this, and from what they were showing off in that video, mean this is yet another game that I really want to watch closely.
30/11/2010 at 14:20 The Sombrero Kid says:
looks like a must have
30/11/2010 at 14:31 nabeel says:
Gosh, I ache for this game. It would make for an awesome Inception game, or part of one.
30/11/2010 at 14:42 ivsounds says:
Fuck yes.
30/11/2010 at 15:13 MadTinkerer says:
Portal 2 was my #1 most wanted game, followed very closely by this. After this video, Subversion is threatening the #1 spot…
Portal 2 does have a concrete release date, though. Just saying.
30/11/2010 at 15:20 Jonathan says:
It has a Valve release date…
30/11/2010 at 15:38 Lack_26 says:
It’s a concrete release in the same way as concrete shoes. It doesn’t matter what it’s attached to, it’s going to sink out of sight pretty quickly.
30/11/2010 at 15:58 Pani says:
That…. looks…. phenomenal!
30/11/2010 at 17:04 Oak says:
Yes. Yes it does.
30/11/2010 at 16:29 olemars says:
I get a sudden urge to play Cholo again.
30/11/2010 at 16:32 MKharris says:
This looks very cool. In many ways a physical version of uplink.
And the fact it is all procedurally generated including all the realistic IT and security systems is very impressive.
Although it did seem a little easy. I think in real life if van parked right outside a bank and three guys with backpacks jumped out security might not like it. Once it turned into an armed robbery I would have expected someone to have hit an alarm somewhere, or a passerby on the street to notice.
Granted this is in development so hopefully they’ll tighten things up a bit and there will be lots and lots of interesting ways for plans to go horribly wrong.
30/11/2010 at 16:45 Dominic White says:
Keep in mind that this is supposed to be VERY early in the game, before you even have an organization going – you’ve just got a couple of guys-with-guns and a van. From the sounds of it, you build up your own espionage agency over the course of the game.
30/11/2010 at 16:33 Monchberter says:
Well done chaps. Now get it out.
30/11/2010 at 16:47 roryok says:
Will someone please feed that man
30/11/2010 at 16:53 SnallTrippin says:
So cant wait for this game.
30/11/2010 at 16:55 LeFronk says:
http://www.introversion.co.uk/blog/
lots of interesting stuff there about subversion development, mainly in the older posts.
30/11/2010 at 17:09 The Innocent says:
The indie scene has been very kind to us lately. SMB comes out today, and when I was just thinking about Subversion and Monaco, here this is! I’m stoked for this one. To celebrate how good it looks, I think I’ll go play some DEFCON and Multiwinia…
30/11/2010 at 17:26 Berm says:
My God… it’s full of stars…
30/11/2010 at 17:38 Loz says:
When they make the movie of Introversion’s rise, fall, rise again, and eventual creation of the Matrix rendered entirely in black/blue wireframe, i’m certain Chris Addison is a shoe-in for the Chris Delay lead role.
Introversion really are a fascinating company that produce some great pieces of work. Their battle with no longer being the fresh-faced indie-newkids (as documented in their blog) is really interesting, and shows how the game development world has changed since the old Uplink days.
Subversion looks like it’s shaping up to be another quality Introversion game – it wil probably be very thoughtful, innovative, geeky, and time consuming ;) I hope it piques the indie (and wider) gaming audience’s interest to a deeper degree their their previous game…
30/11/2010 at 17:48 terry says:
Please, everyone, give generously. Just ten bucks could feed Chris Delay for a year.
30/11/2010 at 23:48 Kadayi says:
He is disturbingly thin it has to be said….
30/11/2010 at 17:49 terry says:
Double post = post x 2
30/11/2010 at 18:01 Shadrach says:
Looks really cool, love the artstyle and the sneaky tech bits. Just wish there actually was a way to rob the bank without taking out the AKs :)
Definitely one of the games I’m most looking forward to!
30/11/2010 at 18:11 Bassism says:
Oh man, this is looking incredible.
I love these guys.
30/11/2010 at 18:22 Cronstintein says:
I was actually just thinking about how an in-depth robbery simulator would be awesome and here this comes!
Color me excited ! (neon-pink)
I will be purchasing this AS SOON as it’s available.
I agree with the difficulty thing, but I have confidence that will come with further dev time.
30/11/2010 at 19:04 strange headache says:
This looks increasingly awesome.
I’m starting to wonder, how the procedurally generated Cityscape will play into this. Will Banks, Vaults and other points of interest be generated randomly making each robbery attempt a new challenge? How many players will be able to play together?
Also it would be cool if other players could play the bank employees and the police. Ah, I dunno, I’d play the game like it is in the video already. How much more awesome can it become, that’s the essential question here.
30/11/2010 at 19:54 dogsolitude_uk says:
This looks amazing, and is on my list with Witcher 2 and a few others :)
Funny, it puts me in mind of Max Headroom on the Spectrum :)
30/11/2010 at 20:35 Lambchops says:
Oh boy, I am looking forward to this one.
30/11/2010 at 23:44 Mut says:
Sadly, the moment my jaw hit the floor, I accidentally kicked it across the room. Just one of those days, I guess.
01/12/2010 at 05:38 FRIENDLYUNIT says:
WANT
“using their charm and their tech” … and their shooting holes in people who look at them funny.
01/12/2010 at 10:30 Tuco says:
I’m almost aroused.
So old school in its complexity.
01/12/2010 at 11:46 Nameless1 says:
Oh God, I so want this game.
To hear they’re still far from release it’s like having someone gently torturing you.
01/12/2010 at 12:02 SAM-site says:
Please to be having co-op. Co-op would make me very very very very happy. Thank you.
01/12/2010 at 15:05 Hodge says:
If they like they can leave out the game altogether – just release the city generator and I’d be happy.
That said, the game does look pretty damn amazing…
02/12/2010 at 10:34 Cataphract says:
Loadsa wonga.
04/12/2010 at 12:53 wonkavision says:
I didn’t imagine there’d be armed bank robbery in this game; it looked like all abstract hacking. Considering the human interaction and fact involved, it’s quite a lot more ambitious than I’d thought. I wonder if they can pull off the research.
Since the graphics are intentionally simplistic and abstract, they can get away with a lot more complexity than most games can manage. No FMV cutscenes for dragging the guy into the bathroom. No voice actors. No complicated animations. It goes back to how great games used to be–like super-complex choose-your-own adventures, or spreadsheets. You can have hostage situations that are influenced by many factors without a million dollar budget, but there’s a research cost. The whole thing would be ruined for me if the police came in shooting rather than opening negotiations and preparing for a long standoff. And if a police negotiator did make contact, I would want them to launch a tactical assault only when real police would do so–when/if you start shooting hostages, for example.
Will they have burning bars and breaking through drywall to bypass security?
I heard about this guy, walked into
a federal bank with a portable
phone, handed the phone to the
teller, the guy on the other end of
the phone said: “We got this guy’s
little girl, and if you don’t give
him all your money, we’re gonna
kill ‘er.
Can they work that into the game?
There are just so many possibilities, and there’s so much documentation on what has and hasn’t worked, that a–I won’t even say realistic–a truthlike game would be extremely difficult, even with abstract graphics and gameplay.
The best game I can think of that’s anything like this is Shadowrun for the Sega Genesis, so they don’t have a long way to go to be the best–but it’s going to take a lot of work to make it anything but deeply flawed.
17/12/2010 at 13:34 adonf says:
The embedded video is not working anymore for me. Here’s a link to the original:
http://vimeo.com/17297917