Gamescon 2012 teaser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9XrsWUO9swhttp://www.lunar-software.com/2013/03/status-update/• Q: Where is the gameplay trailer? you said it would be done weeks ago!
• A: We have had to change what we are actually showing, we feel there is a fine line that we don’t want to cross, showing too much of a certain thing could really spoil the surprise when playing it for the first time yourself and obviously we don’t want to show too little! The gameplay trailer just needs a few more tweaks and additions, hopefully it will be done shortly after GDC as our hands are a bit tied until then.
• Q: What will actually be shown in the gameplay trailer?
• A: The gameplay trailer will focus more on Atmosphere and exploration with a tiny bit of enemy interaction, most of the gameplay trailer will be based in the public sector as it is one of the more complete areas that we have.
• Q: Is the game really going to be released in April?!
• A: Most probably not, when we wrote that date it was based on a very cut down small project, but since then the game has really developed into something that resembles a more complete experience. Right now I don’t want to speculate on the release date but let’s just say that it is still set to release in 2013, Sorry guys!
• Q: Early Alpha Access on Steam?
• A: Short answer is no, having early beta/alpha access to Routine just doesn’t work in our opinion, first experience and play through is so important!
• Q: Oculus Rift compatible?!
• A: We absolutely hope so! it just completely depends on whether UDK supports it or not!
http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/12/12/routine/Routine is a first person horror game set on an abandoned (OR IS IT?) moon base. It’s as much about exploration as sudden scares. Lunar Software want to move away from the scripted frights of linear big-budget horror games like Dead Space and give players the opportunity to wander the base at their own discretion. An unknown AI-driven enemy will stalk the corridors, reacting to your movements to produce unpredictable encounters.
“Most horror games are extremely linear in their design because they need to set up these scenes for the player to get scared. There are a few exceptions, but the ones that are are very simple and streamlined, ” Said Aaron. He reckons that the anticipation that comes before the scare is as powerful as the moment of confrontation itself. “The scary thing about a horror movie or game is that not knowing, not knowing what’s going to happen, or who it is, or what it is and I really want to try and make sure that we don’t spoil too much.”
In space, no-one can help you if your visor fogs up.
For that reason, he sidesteps questions about exactly what we’ll be running away from in Routine. The trailer shows a humanoid robot marching through the base, but Aaron hints that there’s more to the tale than a race of out-of-control droids. Every confrontation with the beast/demon/ghost/dragon/space zombie will matter. Permadeath is an important part of Routine. If you’re killed, you’ll have to start anew.
That means we’ll spend a lot of time raiding the moon base in terrified silence, so it’s essential that the facility be interesting and deeply atmospheric. For the sake of immersion, there will be no HUD or health bar, and you won’t have many items to help you out. Aaron says there will be a risk reward element to every action. You have a tool that will make it easier to navigate the base’s complex layout, but you’ll lose access to your screen temporarily if you’re forced to use your weapon.
Foster’s greatest passion is in environmental art, an aspect of design that directly informs the mental state of the player in a horror game. You might be familiar with the uncanny valley. It’s a disturbing humanoid robotics phenomenon that describes the point at which the subtly warped features and movements of an android face incur more fear than empathy in human observers. There’s an uncanny valley to human living, too. In life, it can be seen in photos of the abandoned offices and schoolyards of Pripyat. In fiction, the spotless suburbia of the Stepford Wives has a similar effect.
Pripyat is rife with the filth and decrepitude of abandonment, The Stepford Wives keep their slice of civilization in a state of inhuman, shrink-wrapped perfection. It’s an opposition that runs throughout science fiction. It’s the grimy, cynical dystopia vs the glowing, wantless utopia. It’s Blade Runner vs. Star Trek. Aaron describes sci-fi films as “the most inspirational and influential things I had when growing up.” His family lived near a video store when he was younger. He describes how their friendship with the owner gave him access to a great range of sci-fi features and horror films well before his 18th birthday.
Mike’s powerpoint presentation has been cancelled due to horrorpocalypse.
“I was watching Alien, Aliens, The Thing, everything I could get my hands on,” he said, “but I rewatched Alien and Aliens. Those movies left such an impression that when I got a little bit older and a little bit more able to find things myself I went off and found all the other late 70s, early 80s sci-fi movies like Silent Running. Even Space 1999, it has a crap plot, but really interesting aesthetics. The design of the base was still really cool.”
Routine’s moon base will occupy a middle ground between the scummy warrens of an urban cyberpunk neo-pit and the shining idealism of the Federation. The moon base is a pragmatic construction. It’s a mix of cold boardrooms, futuristic hallways and ominous engine rooms. Imagine the gleaming white bulkheads of the U.S.S. Enterprise browned by age and sweat, scarred by overpopulation and thrown into disrepair by an unknown catastrophe.
“They’ve taken this really high-tech sci-fi design and then crammed a hundred people in a small, condensed area to live there for like, 20, 30 years. It’s dirty and horrible,” Aaron explained. “That’s the way I try to see things. There’s dirt stains everywhere, people lived in the corners of the floor, they’ve left lots of rubbish.”
“I like the old chunky, slightly dirty white design of all the interiors. Everything always had a haze, a musk, everything was always a bit lived in. I always felt that was so much more relatable."
