Satellite Reign Kickstarter (Syndicate/Syndicate Wars reborn)

[Obscurity]

EDIT: Satellite Reign has been funded as of 1:11am Brisbane time on July 24th 2013!

 

I have been a devoted listener of the podcast for years now, but I rarely venture into the forums here. I decided to make an exception to share this cool (potential) game. It seems like something the Thumbs would dig considering it is all about emergent gameplay and living systems.

 

Satellite Reign had me at "spiritual successor to Syndicate." I have fond memories of playing Syndicate and Syndicate Wars on my old IBM Aptiva.

 

This new game will be a real-time strategy game in which, like Syndicate, you control four agents in your pursuit to take control from your enemies in a dynamic open city, using whatever means are at your disposal.

 

 

A really nice interview with Mike Diskett at Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Support Agent

 

The Hacker Agent

 

The Soldier Agent

 

The Assassin Agent

Steam Greenlight page:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil...s/?id=157080530

Kickstarter site:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...satellite-reign

 

Here's the full pitch:

 

"Satellite Reign is a real-time, class-based strategy game. You control a team of four agents, each with distinct and unique abilities, collectively battling for control of a fully simulated, living cyberpunk city.

 

The game world is designed to facilitate emergent gameplay, giving you the tools and freedom to play how you want to play, so you can create strategies and scenarios that not even we had anticipated!

 

Customize your team with the strength to destroy your enemies head-on, or hack into their facilities to manipulate their infrastructure without them ever knowing you were even there.

 

Will you take down your enemies with brute-force? Covert espionage and infiltration? Or will you use propaganda to influence the citizens of the city and overthrow the controlling powers?

 

 

 

 

The city is huge and you can move around and tackle objectives however you want to. You won't be spoon-fed one mission after another, you'll be able to use whatever means you can to get to your final goal. Bribe scientists to advance your technologies, and kidnap doctors to augment your agents. Steal money from the banks to fund your war against the corporations, and exploit neural implants to bend the will of others. Or, try to take your objectives through good old-fashioned brute-force."

 

Sounds good, right? I certainly think so. I really hope they succeed.

 

In the meantime, what do you guys think? Have any great memories to share of Syndicate or Syndicate Wars? Hopes for the "remake?"

[Obscurity]

Wow, nothing? I thought it would at least get some nibbles from "emergent gameplay" or at least nostalgia for a game type that has yet to be remade in this century.

[feelthedarkness]

I'm reaching a point where I've got a fair amount of money in Kickstarters that have yet to yield anything, excepting the various betas from SPORTSFRIENDS and the Doublefine Documentary.

 

I'm definitely happy that KS has got a bunch of Cyberpunk projects moving. 

[Nachimir]

Syndicate was probably my favourite thing on the Amiga, but I too have a load of money in Kickstarters and feel like taking a break from it. What they have so far is looking good though. I'm surprised more indie developers haven't done projects inspired by the original Syndicate games before now.

[Obscurity]

Ah, I see. I guess I am in a different place than you guys. This is the first Kickstarter I was really interested in enough to back, but I can see how Kickstarter fatigue may have set in on many people.

[Salacious Snake]

I'm backing it. I love Syndicate (which I played primarily on the Jaguar), and Wars is cool if a bit too fiddly.

 

That RPS interview is what really pushed me over the edge. I'm very happy to see that they're embracing the "living city" aspect, as that was by far one of the most interesting elements of the old games.

 

[sELECTED]

[Cigol]

If I hadn't already been sold by the concept then the RPS interview would have have been the tipping point. I remember randomnly borrowing a copy of syndicate from a friend at school not knowing what the hell it was and getting sucked in immediately. Syndicate Wars less so in practice, but if you read the interview you can see they understand why, so I'm not too worried.

[Cigol]

 

  Quote

"You do realise this guy made Urban Chaos and Startopia, right? Here’s the Kickstarter." - Rock, Paper, Shotgun

 

Still not met its target

[Gormongous]

There's some interesting discussion in the RPS comment thread about Kickstarters kneecapping themselves by asking for pounds instead of dollars. I wouldn't know from experience, but apparently the process for the majority of American backers is a much greater hassle than just logging into their Amazon account and clicking okay, if the former is the case. Thoughts?

[TychoCelchuuu]

  On 7/21/2013 at 10:28 PM, Gormongous said:

There's some interesting discussion in the RPS comment thread about Kickstarters kneecapping themselves by asking for pounds instead of dollars. I wouldn't know from experience, but apparently the process for the majority of American backers is a much greater hassle than just logging into their Amazon account and clicking okay, if the former is the case. Thoughts?

It's actually just as easy as backing a game in dollars but people are xenophobic or some shit so there you go. I've seen a ton of people saying "I'd pledge if it were in dollars," either for this game or for a lot of other Kickstartes that are in lbs, and frankly it's mystifying to me.

Personally I haven't backed it because it's expensive. I wish it the best of luck though.

[feelthedarkness]

I went back on my weak vow, because it looks like it might not make it, and I felt bad, because it deserves to exist. Pledged the lowest amount to get the game. 

[SiN]

  On 7/21/2013 at 10:41 PM, TychoCelchuuu said:

It's actually just as easy as backing a game in dollars but people are xenophobic or some shit so there you go.

 

It's not though. If I'm backing something in dollars I sign in through Amazon. If it's in pounds, I need to type out my CC details. Password, I remember. CC details, I do not. (I suppose you could save your CC details on Kickstarter, but I'd rather not)

 

It isn't *that* inconvenient, but it has definitely led to me to procrastinate backing a few projects. I backed this KS a week into it, as opposed to day one or two.

[Obscurity]

They're almost to the goal and still 4 days left to go! Whew, I was getting worried.

 

Here's a funny little TwitchTV stream they did yesterday wherein Mike Diskett plays Syndicate Wars and gets his agents killed multiple ways. They also discuss beards, Satellite Reign and even show a quick peak behind the curtain of a white box level which he's using to develop his AI.

http://www.twitch.tv/5livesstudios/b/434914769

[Obscurity]

Wow, they are just about to the goal. As of this moment they only need 1k more to hit it. This is cool.

[Obscurity]

All right! The Kickstarter has been a success! As of 1:11am Brisbane time on July 24th 2013 Satellite Reign has been funded!

[Murdoc]

I'm not a syndicate fan or anything, but I read this article the other day by one of the devs for this and it was really interesting, a lot of good Kickstarter tips that I wasn't aware of.

 

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/MikeDiskett/20130722/196705/A_Letter_from_the_trenches_of_a_Kickstarter.php

Glad to see he got funding.

[Obscurity]

  On 7/24/2013 at 3:40 PM, Murdoc said:

I'm not a syndicate fan or anything, but I read this article the other day by one of the devs for this and it was really interesting, a lot of good Kickstarter tips that I wasn't aware of.

 

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/MikeDiskett/20130722/196705/A_Letter_from_the_trenches_of_a_Kickstarter.php

Glad to see he got funding.

 

Yeah, I meant to add that to the OP after I read it. Good insight into the potential pitfalls of first-time Kickstarters.

[Dewar]

For someone who's never played Syndicate or Syndicate Wars, can you recommend an article or two that talk about what this game is trying to be without using too many refrences to the older stuff?

[TychoCelchuuu]

There aren't a lot of games like Syndicate - Fallout Tactics in real time mode is the closest, I think, and even that isn't very close. Basically you control four agents and you go around a city doing missions which require you to shoot people and hack stuff and so on. The city is living and breathing - civilians walk around, cars drive around, and so on. You can harness these available resources in a variety of ways, by, for instance, brainwashing the civilians so they serve as meat shields in your firefights against the enemy. Your agents are cyborgs with various implants that change how effective they are, various items that let them do things like find enemies on the radar or brainwash civilians, and all kinds of guns.

[Dewar]

Ah, real time, so that's what seperates it from XCom then? Does it all take place on one map the entire time, or are there management phases and fight phases of some sort?

[Nachimir]

I didn't play Wars, but the original had that split: Management phases with research, agent upgrades, weapon procurement, loadouts, etc., then a world map that led to different missions. In mission, your agents had three different drugs you could tweak to alter their performance. I don't remember what any of them did except adrenaline, but they all had thresholds and recovery periods, so you had to plan pretty well as you went.

 

Some of the missions were living city type things, others were quite orchestrated, with events such as parades going on (the laser would vaporise entire lines of people all the way down a road) or really specifically laid out goals. The AI was pretty dumb; one of the most effective ways to take out enemy agents was to provoke them, run away, then hide just around a corner with a flamethrower and toast them all as they ran past.

[davemonkey]

I kicked in for this one based on a bit of nostalgia, I did love the original Syndicate, and the fact that they are based in my home city and I want to support local. As a gamer that's not something I get to do often beyond Halfbrick these days.

[TychoCelchuuu]

  On 7/24/2013 at 10:57 PM, Dewar said:

Ah, real time, so that's what seperates it from XCom then? Does it all take place on one map the entire time, or are there management phases and fight phases of some sort?

Yes, real time is what separates it from X-COM. That plus a smaller squad. There are separate management/fight parts, at least in the original (I haven't played Syndicate Wars).

[Apelsin]

Looks cool, not sure if I want to spend more money on Kickstarters though  

[Obscurity]

  On 7/24/2013 at 9:29 PM, Dewar said:

For someone who's never played Syndicate or Syndicate Wars, can you recommend an article or two that talk about what this game is trying to be without using too many refrences to the older stuff?

 

TychoCelchuuu covered it pretty well. There really isn't another modern game to compare it to, which is the primary point of the Kickstarter. It's like this awesome genre was just left behind in the nineties, along with grunge and dial-up internet.

 

The interview I linked in the OP covers what they want to do pretty well. It's mostly about having a cool set of systems that allow for emergent gameplay as you use your agents to try to take over the city. Even though Satellite Reign will have one big open city, as opposed to the separate maps in Syndicate/Syndicate Wars, they have said that you'll definitely have some management time set aside for research and upgrades.