By Craig Pearson on January 14th, 2013 at 2:00 pm.
“Welcome to the Annual General Meeting of the Jurassic Park: Trespasser fan club. President, Secretary, Treasurer, Masseur, Taxidermist, Milliner, Doorman, and Shark Tank Cleaner Craig Pearson presiding. Raise your copy of Trespasser in its original packaging when I call your name. Craig Pearson? Yup. We’re all here. I called this AGM to discuss all the goings on in the Trespasser community… Well, thanks for coming. See you next year.”
*Sound of door slamming open, wind and rain whips into the room, Craig stumbles in*
“Craig! You came out and back in again to make a dramatic entrance! Sit down and tell yourself what’s up.”
“It’s alive…”
*Sound of cliffhanger*
So, Trespasser. The game that was supposed to be this, but ended up being this. It wasn’t very good [it was brilliant], and made people sad [with joyhappies]. It had its moments [it had all the moments], and it some people genuinely remember it with some fondness [I love it].
I have proof of that. I discovered a couple of mod projects this morning that made my heart tattoo pump with pride, via the Reddits. One-man efforts to bring that stupidly ambitious game into the now. These mods are also stupidly ambitious.
First up was a video of the opening of the game remade in the Cryengine. I soon discovered it was made in under four hours as a test by the developer, which means it’s not a full mod. That made me sad. Have a look, if you can see through your teared-up eyes.
Not bad for an evening’s effort. I was then overjoyed to hear that, despite this being a test, the developer is actually working on a full remake! He’s using the less-shiny Unity engine, but his progress there is somewhat laggily encouraging. Hear me, sir. I AM ENCOURAGING YOU!
He has a rival, though. The Cryengine 2-based Trespassing mod that also seeks to rebuild Isla Sorna. The raw power of the Cryengine 2 gives it a real edge in the polygon department, but there’s no moving footage. Only images that make my bottom-lip quiver. I should really be a bit more pessimistic, but today is a good day. I am alive, I am older and wiser (did I mention it was my birthday), and there’s a game out there that looks like this.
His Flickr stream a terrifying look into my brain.
Life found a way.
14/01/2013 at 14:09 Vivian says:
As a dinosaur researcher, obligatory ‘where the hell are the feathers on that coelurosaurian theropod’ bluster.
14/01/2013 at 14:16 felisc says:
For a moment I pictured you as an actual dinosaur wearing a labcoat and spectacles.
14/01/2013 at 14:22 Bhazor says:
I sort of want to meet a qualified female paleontologist just so I can say “…clever girl”
14/01/2013 at 14:43 stele says:
Why? It wasn’t the *girl* that was being clever…
15/01/2013 at 01:51 marshabilly5 says:
If you think Bradley`s story is astonishing,, 4 weaks-ago my girlfriends sister also broght in $5584 just sitting there a ninteen hour week from there apartment and their neighbor’s step-aunt`s neighbour was doing this for 3 months and got a cheque for more than $5584 parttime from there laptop. use the information on this link..Job Creation
14/01/2013 at 17:41 DaftPunk says:
Ross,is this you ?
14/01/2013 at 17:45 Vivian says:
snore. He worked on chelicerates anyway, AFAIK.
15/01/2013 at 01:55 weriabsbera says:
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14/01/2013 at 20:47 dethtoll says:
My first thought was “Viv is gonna cry” :)
14/01/2013 at 14:12 maninahat says:
Time to dig up the old ResearchIndicates lets plays. It’s long over due.
14/01/2013 at 14:28 sinister agent says:
Ha! Glad to see that one namedropped – I’m re-watching it just now. A really interesting video, easily one of the best let’s plays I’ve seen, not for comedy, but for presentation, excellent voice, and general interestingness. He makes a lousy game (one which I’d played, too, so I’d seen the first hour or two before) very interesting all the way through.
14/01/2013 at 16:49 Telzis says:
For anyone interested and too lazy to search:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0058A651EB882B48
This thing introduced me to LPs.
14/01/2013 at 17:22 Zanchito says:
Well, thank you, sirs!
14/01/2013 at 14:18 Tinus says:
Needs more hand waving.
14/01/2013 at 15:46 RedViv says:
Wave it
Shake it
Never grab it
Trespassing it
Trespassing it
15/01/2013 at 02:11 qlhbqvrm says:
Well, this has existed for ages, so it’s not like texturing whatever you wanted wasn’t always possible:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFdzA2wI6c0
15/01/2013 at 10:24 Shadowcat says:
^ not a youtube link
14/01/2013 at 14:19 Bhazor says:
Would like a spiritual successor set in the cenozoic period.
14/01/2013 at 14:27 Brun says:
Yet another dinosaur game/mod.
Still waiting on my Turok reboot dammit!
15/01/2013 at 10:20 Clavus says:
They made a reboot and it was terrible. Now we wait for the re-reboot.
14/01/2013 at 14:32 mrmalodor says:
Fucking sweet. I completed the original and it’s a great game by 1998 standards.
14/01/2013 at 14:38 sinister agent says:
It really isn’t. The technology is remarkable, but way too ambitious, even without the problematic and far too early release. Aside from that, it’s a bloody terrible game.
14/01/2013 at 14:44 stele says:
I’ve played much worse. I enjoyed it.
14/01/2013 at 16:19 mrmalodor says:
It really is, though.
14/01/2013 at 18:14 Bhazor says:
It isn’t the technology that ruins it. It’s the everything else, the arm is a terrible idea that breaks every interaction in the game, most levels are vast but almost completely empty and the fundamental physics are completely broken. Add to that miles of linear trenches, the reused enemies, the terrible weapons, the glitches and the crap key card puzzles where carrying a key means you can’t stash your gun so have to keep dropping it to open doors.
People keep forgetting how badly designed the game was at a fundamental level when they gush about how misunderstand the game is.
Theres a lot to talk about regarding Tresspasser but unfortunately talking about it is much more fun than playing it.
14/01/2013 at 14:36 GallonOfAlan says:
Will either of these have Jeff Goldblum playing Jeff Goldblum again?
14/01/2013 at 15:42 RedViv says:
It probably will, ah, not.
14/01/2013 at 19:41 SuperNashwanPower says:
Damn. I have vomited on a cup of sugar in disappointment.
14/01/2013 at 14:36 Pinky_Powers says:
I have had countless dreams over the years of playing Trespasser. Only, my dreams never reflect what the game is, but what my heart believes it is. Those dreams are always beautiful.
14/01/2013 at 14:42 Sunjammer says:
I really, really liked what Trespasser tried to do. But what it was was just kind of funny. It did manage to be somewhat awkwardly terrifying to play though, and the physics, for the time, were genuinely impressive. Until you single-handedly picked up an oil barrel and bashed a clumsily loping/stumbling velociraptor on the head with it. Bonk.
A modern trespasser will NOT be a trespasser without a system-shocky “free hand” control system though. That is what Tresspasser is, not the setting.
14/01/2013 at 15:04 guygodbois00 says:
More funny writing, less pictures, please. Otherwise, bang up job, Mr. Pearson.
14/01/2013 at 15:41 Davidsve says:
Installed the original version from 1998 a few weeks ago, for a proper flailing-arms session. Been thinking about this game on and off since it came out, can’t really say why… Broken, but somehow exciting, at the same time.
14/01/2013 at 15:54 Kasab says:
Trespasser is the best simulation of owning a pair of breasts and the worst simulation of owning a pair of arms in all of gaming.
14/01/2013 at 16:07 RedViv says:
One where both affect the game in a similar way, only that arms usually aren’t supposed to be only in the way and rather weird-looking from a first-person view.
14/01/2013 at 16:05 lowprices says:
Happy Birthday Mr. Pearson!
14/01/2013 at 17:22 ResonanceCascade says:
I found a big remake project that is still ongoing in the depths of the bloggernet one day a few months back. I’ll see if I can dig it up. It wasn’t posted on any of the usual sites, so it might take me a bit.
Also, I’d like to join the club of boxed copy owners. I even have one that’s never been opened. *high fives*
14/01/2013 at 18:21 jeanjoan421 says:
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14/01/2013 at 19:39 SuperNashwanPower says:
Your momma’s been LAID FOR 5 MONTHS
zing etc
14/01/2013 at 18:40 zeekthegeek says:
I am so god damn disappointed that this is the only article under the ‘Craig’s Trespasser Fanfiction’ tag. For shame RPS, this is not the journalism I want.
14/01/2013 at 23:36 Craig Pearson says:
Oh don’t worry, I’ll sort something out for you.
14/01/2013 at 19:38 SuperNashwanPower says:
Is that your bottom lip
Or your bottom-lip?
When faced with dinosaurs, personally I find it is the latter that does the quivering
15/01/2013 at 01:42 Donjo says:
Did Kotaku just steal this entire post?
Well anyway…. I really fell in love with Trespasser – I don’t know how but I actually managed to finished it. The physics were bungled, there was nothing to do, everything seemed a bit off but somehow the atmosphere was right. Struggling with the limb movement and extremely scare ammo (always wondering whether I should replace the gun I had with another that might have contained just one more bullet) added to the sheer dread I felt for these free roaming monsters. I hadn’t been confronted with anything like it at the time… the dinosaurs could sometimes be evaded for a while but they would always be there, sniffing around, ready to eviscerate. I’ve played a lot of more competent FPS’s since but I’ve always respected the (often absurd) sense of realism Trespasser attempted….. the lack of a HUD and the reliance on bodily awareness was really cool as well as the very large outdoor environment…. even though it was fairly broken, it made sense to me.
Edit: Just watching ResearchIndicates let’s play, I had totally forgotten about the voice overs explaining the history and lore…. awesome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1d6MQm4d-s&list=SP0058A651EB882B48&index=7
15/01/2013 at 07:34 Shadowcat says:
For all its many bugs and flaws, Trespasser was an amazing game. When I finally played it properly, it really blew me away. The developers reached for the skies and certainly fell short, but they achieved some amazing things in the process.
15/01/2013 at 02:41 Lord Custard Smingleigh says:
Deploy the Arm!
15/01/2013 at 02:45 Jackablade says:
Is a Trespasser where the physics aren’t completely broken still Trespasser though? Half of the gameplay in that game came from working out ways to circumvent the weirdness, like flinging your guns up to the top of any incline you were about to traverse to avoid the arm simply dropping them. This was all the more fun on larger slopes where you had to throw the gun half way up the slope then run up and grab it before it slid all the way to the bottom.
Also, if you can’t beat yourself to death with a baseball bat, it’s really not Trespasser.
15/01/2013 at 07:27 Shadowcat says:
One of my all-time favourites occurred when I tried to leap across a gap to the top of a slope which was too steep for me to climb, and the only part of me that ‘made it’ was the gun I was holding, which wedged itself into the ground at the top. My body then slid down the slope until I was standing at the bottom — with my rubber arm stretching all the way up to the top, still gripping the gun :)
15/01/2013 at 07:12 Shadowcat says:
These Trespasser-based mod projects for other games are neat, but of course the original game itself has been modded extensively and it’s a shame not to mention that in the original post. (I guess maybe it’s not “news”, but I still think it warrants a link?)
So if you’ve never checked out TresCom, you’ll have some surprises in store. ATX in particular is a wonderful piece of work.
15/01/2013 at 11:12 Inzimus says:
leaving trescom out of an article regarding Trespasser is considered a crime in most civilized countries
TF2 hat off to you for bringing it
there’s still potential in the original and there’s still a very active community, so I see no reason to just mention remakes, without giving any cred to the efforts that’s being made in trying to fix up the original