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Genre: FPS, Sci-fi, action and adventure game
Platforms(s): PC, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360
Release Date: Available 2009
Developer: Zero Point Software A/S
Publisher: it’s AAA Indie, baby!
Interstellar Marines is an AAA, FPS, Sci-fi, action and adventure game with an original and unpredictable storyline featuring single and cooperative gameplay, with heavy focus on realism. Planned as a trilogy and targeted at a 17+ audience, the game is currently being developed for PC. In time it's aimed at the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Set in a believable future, the player is a newly enlisted Special Forces soldier, equipped with the latest in weaponry, armour and gadgets that will embark on a breathtaking adventure. A world filled with challenging scenarios and heart pounding situations that in time draws you deeper into an ongoing plot.
Key features
- Heavy focus on creating a thick realistic feeling of immersion through graphics, sound and game play.
- Single player or up to four players cooperative game play.
- A number of different interactive environments, ranging from claustrophobic space stations to large outdoor levels.
- Persistent character development and skill system
- Non-linear game play and open ended level design
- Freely customizable weapons simulation
- Captivating epic storyline written with focus on the co-operative part of the game
The Gameplay of IM
Ok, so let's have a look at the game play of Interstellar Marines, what sets this game apart from all the other great games out there?
Well, Interstellar Marines is at the core a Sci-fi First Person Shooter (FPS).
Now that's not really anything special to say the least, however there is a bit more to it than that. When we as developers (and not to forget gamers) began to create a new FPS game, a main motivation was that even though lots of great games came out, we always seemed to miss something.
One game would have a great open ended world while another featured a cool skill system, one game offered intense combat while in yet another you got the chance to play cooperatively. However we wanted to bring all the features we as gamers enjoyed the most together in one great FPS game.
Ambitious? - hell yeah, but on the other hand you could also just look at it as evolution of the genre. Not really any point in (re-) creating what has already been successfully made by others, and as mentioned, we saw an empty space in the selection of available games still waiting to be filled.
So off we went starting filling that gap with what will eventually become Interstellar Marines, and here are some of the key features we have focused on:
RPG
Playing a pre-made character in a game can be great fun, but when designing Interstellar Marines it was pretty clear that we wanted more than that, we wanted to give players the freedom to shape and mold their character themselves.
In the game the characters will enter the solar system as rookies, but during the progression of the game all gradually become more and more experienced as the story unfolds. With experience comes new skills and abilities as well as access to new and better weaponry, and it is now all up to each player how they want to build and equip their Marine.
Create a stealthy medic with hacking skills, a heavy armored sniper with explosives or maybe an officer with excellent strategic abilities and a minigun?
It is all up to the player to decide.
Just like the character is growing and taking shape by gaining skills during the course of the game, so are the weapons of the marine. In a somewhat similar way to traditional RPG character progression we also wanted the players to be able to "personalize" their weaponry and equipment.
As an Interstellar Marine moves up in rank, he gets to choose more and more weapons and weapon utilities from the vast armory of the IM corps and is now able to freely customize his guns and items. If you pick an assault rifle you could choose to improve it with the shotgun extension and hollow point bullets or perhaps a silencer, piercing rounds and a scope?
The options are plentiful and it is all up to each player to freely make the decisions that suit his or hers preferred play style.
Co-op
What is more fun than playing through a stunning adrenaline-filled game that completely blows you away? Doing so with your friends!
In Interstellar Marines you will have the option of teaming up with up to three of your friends and play through the game in co-operative mode (co-op). From the very beginning of designing this game, we knew we wanted co-op to be a core element and because of that we have shaped all of the other features to enhance the co-operative game play.
The skill system will give players a vast number of options for all kinds of team play and all of the levels of IM has been designed with the clear focus of supporting co-op game play. Even the story line is written with multiple protagonists in focus so that all players in a group will have their unique place and doing in the upcoming epic saga.
Of course there is always the option of playing on your own, but should you choose to invite some friends to a game (or find some new ones on-line) a whole new challenge awaits you and your band of elite soldiers
Open Ended Level Design
When we were to create the world of the Interstellar Marines, plenty of ideas came up for great locations and places for the players to explore. However no matter where the story would take the marines, we were pretty sure about one thing; the places should all be open ended and not in any way force the players to just take a pre-chosen path through.
So we constructed the game in such a way that there are always several ways to achieve the main objectives/complete the levels and players will have the option of using brute force, stealth tactics and/or make use of the various skills as a mean to successfully clear a mission.
However not only should players be able to explore the areas of the game freely, we also wished for the levels to be as dynamic as possible, so that the game would stay fresh and exciting even when you came back for the fifth or sixth time. The cool thing about a dynamic environment is that it allows for tactical choices, and the player should consider the effects of shutting down the lights, turning on the sprinklers and how the enemy AI will react to such changes in the environment.
To add to the re-playability all levels are non-scripted and the various “inhabitants” of a location will have a life of their own (guards patrolling, scientists working, crew personnel cleaning, etc) until the players intervene one way or the other, so there are no monsters jumping out of the closet when players step on that exact trigger on the floor.
Behind the Photosession
For The Love of The Game
Zero Point Software goes to Gamespot UK
So what is this AAA Indie thing, why should you care, and what does it all have to do with Zero Point Software and INTERSTELLAR MARINES. Well the short version is that AAA is the highest stamp of quality and Indie is independant. Read on to get our take on the future of the games industry right here. Let us know what you think and stay tuned for more articles about it.
So why should you care about AAA Indie?
- Gamers get a say in what games get to the market
- Gamers can get behind the scenes of the development of games they fancy. No more closed doors development
- Games can be priced and distributed much more liberally
- It adds to the diversity of games available
- It breaks down barriers of entry, opening the games industry up to a new and independant generation of game developers
What is AAA Indie?
- AAA Indie is AAA games done independently from publishers
- AAA Indie is the gamer and the developer, no one else
- AAA Indie is development with open doors, so gamers can track games in development
- AAA Indie lets the gamers 'vote' for the games they want to play - simply by expressing their interest
- AAA Indie is open for anyone with a dream a the will to deliver on that dream
Why is Zero Point Software doing AAA Indie?
AAA Indie is how we got here, and you've been a part of it some time already.
When we launched the theatrical trailer for Interstellar Marines back in 2006, Zero Point Software was four guys in a basement with no track record, no tech, and no funding. The trailer, however changed all that. It has since gone on to download more than three million times, and it had been the main driver in our efforts to fund the development of the game.
It is in other words you, who've enabled us to be where we are today. Had you not shown the interest back in 2006, Zero Point Software most likely wouldn't have been around today.
Take a minute to think about that. The implications are huge. The lesson of the trailer is that gamers, through their interest, can leverage the development of a game. In principle a game of any size, if only the interest is big enough.
What can you do to support AAA Indie?
You can support our AAA Indie efforts on three levels:
You're doing it right now! By visiting the website you've just shown your interest in the project, so keep coming back, invite your friends, and spread the word, to generate traffic at InterstellarMarines.com
You can enlist as a Marine. By enlisting, you're showing a stronger commitment to Interstellar Marines, and the stronger your commitment is, the more value it adds to the project.
You can upgrade your Marine. We will give you loads of benefits, but really you're showing the ultimate commitment to Interstellar Marines. The dollarsthe community spends on Marine Upgrades go straight into the development of Interstellar Marines. And funding, of course, is the condition for independance.
What does the future hold for AAA Indie?
AAA Indie can go anywhere the community decides. The community is more powerful than any game publisher and through their support any crazy idea could take off. AAA projects simply depends on AAA interest.
AAA Indie is the dream that anyone with a great idea for game, and the ability and will to conceptualize it, can approach the community and find out if there's and interest (and a market) for his project.
There's an old fashion notion to it. Two guys in basement asking friends and fools for money to develop the game of their dreams. AAA Indie is no more than that. Only now, friends and family can be anyone in world who shares the vision to make a great game.
This could actually turn out to be a revolutionary step towards how future video games are designed!
If you are interested enlist at www.InterstellarMarines.com for more information.
Concept Art:
Interstellar Marines Level art
Interstellar Marines engaging the enemy
Weapon Concept Art
Shark Concept Art
Ship Concept Art
Ship
Interior of a ship
Landing
Meet the Interstellar Marines
Early Interstellar Marines Build:
Early Interstellar Marine Build
Present Day Interstellar Marines Build:
Heads Up Display
Ship Interior
Vacant Ship
Bloody Control Room
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