EiKON Games

We have some significant process…

See our blog on TorquePowered.com for the full details.

In summary, this test was done in less than idea conditions with only 2 (of the 4 available) cameras (hence the glitching) …but it’s definitely progress.

We’ve been investigating a motion capture solution recently and started testing a candidate product today.
Our experiences thus far with it are blogged at TorquePowered.com.

Rollercoaster of a day …and the ride continues.

We’ve added a couple of new galleries to the Epoch: Incursion Facebook Page showing some early combat chassis concept art and some WiP shots from the Combat Chassis build.
Both galleries are particularly note worthy as they show the underchassis of the droid without its armour in some detail, and also some examples of the fine texture detailing that Mark has been doing.

Enjoy!

Here’s the first proper look at what we’ve been squirrelling away on for such a long time, this screengrab was released onto our TorquePowered.com Blog late last week.

Epoch: Incursion - Gameplay

All very Work in Progress, take nothing as final …but it’s ours, we did that

We’ve had a number of discussions internally over the years about weaponry in Epoch: Incursion and what direction we take with it.

The most frequently asked question on the subject that I get from outside the team (usually as soon as the word “Scifi” escapes my lips) is something along the lines of “Will there be lasers and stuff?”.
There’s a simple answer to that …and a caveat.

The simple answer is “No, we’re going with ballistics and projectiles”
The Caveat is “…unless it suits gameplay and / or the fun factor to add energy weapons”
The next question that usual arrives shortly after that is “are they real world guns or stuff you’ve made up?”

The answer to that question is a little more complex  and still in a state of flux (and been on my mind this week somewhat) ~  The state of flux is solidifying though …let me explain.

One of the big driving “rules” of Epoch: Incursions design has always been to minimise barriers to entry.
A game shouldn’t be hard to get into and play. It can be complex to master and complex to get the most from, I’m fine with that, but in my humble opinion it shouldn’t bite you on the arse in the first 10 minutes and it shouldn’t be immediately confusing and overwhelming.

I’m sure people much cleverer and with more experience than me have written books and papers on such things but from my personal experience (as a gamer) I reckon you’ve got about 10 minutes at the most from the moment someone starts playing your game to get them to come back for more.

I play a lot of first person shooters. Some I play because I want to, some I play because I want to learn from them… learn what they did right and learn what they did wrong.
Designing my own game has made me look at games and game design in a way that I never had before throughout my 30 plus years of gaming. This week I’ve played 3 new shooters (new to me anyway).

Two Indie titles (stunned by the excellent quality, they’re getting better and better) and one mainstream, big studio title. All three titles used guns of the “made up” variety. All three titles used familiar archetypes (snipers, rocket launchers, assault rifles, sub-machine guns etc.)
Crucially all three titles were (Steampowered) digital downloads and, whilst they may have planted a manual of some sort somewhere on my hard-drive, I have no idea where it is and I’m not inclined to go looking for it (hey, I’m a gamer).

3 Games I’ve not played before, 3 lots of fictional weaponry, one game would’ve been enough to teach me the lesson however.

I’m in the thick of my first gunfight …I look at a HUD that I’m unfamiliar with, I look at the virtual weapon in my virtual hands and I’m none the wiser as to whether its an assault rifle, a sniper rifle or an SMG or some sort of heavy GPMG and I’ve no paper manual to refer to (like I would anyway!) so we’re into guessing territory.

Firing unleashes a flurry of rounds… experience would seem to indicate that the sniper rifle is now an increasingly unlikely option (plus the zoom on it doesn’t seem to zoom much at all) so I discount it ….leaving the other 3 options. Graphically it doesn’t give much more of a clue as to its designed purpose so… I’m stuck …firing a weapon in a gunfight …the specific purpose of which I’m unsure of.
That’s in the first 10 minutes and it’s an irritation, a barrier …albeit a small one.

With Epoch: Incursion we’re fortunate in that we’re not constrained by the technology of the day and age that we’re setting our game in ….we are in the future but we’re not 300 years in the future – so we’ve got options.
For me the equation is simple. If I pick up an M16 assault rifle in a game, years of experience have taught me what it does, how it fires and what situation its best suited for. That’s something I, as a player, don’t need to be taught and that’s a barrier out of the way. With an arsenal of recognisable weapons I can be in the thick of my first gunfight and not even think about weapon choices …I’ll just make them instinctively. You can’t buy that kind of advantage when trying to attract a new player to your property.

As an unknown developer making our first ever game we’d be foolish to try and force someone down another path and waste any of that first golden 10 minutes just teaching people (already familiar with the genre) what our gun looks like and what it does.
With that aside that’s still one less thing we have to design, re-design and then approve and build. There’s no good reason for us to have fictional weapons for our recognisable archetypes… it “costs” us lots to do (God, I wish we had a budget) and gives us nothing back in return – in fact we lose out by doing it and it cuts into the golden 10 minute period.

Barrier.

So …decision made then.

We’ve done some recruiting as well ….we now have a commercial director (someone to talk sensible stuff and pour over spreadsheets when required) and we’ve recruited the services of a commercial lawyer (both were so excited and inspired by what showed them that they practically bit my hand off ) ~ Exciting days ahead.

Right then…

Time for some cold hard facts (s’all good – fear not).

When we first mooted the idea of this project as a group we had no idea what we were doing.  None of us had worked in a game development gig before, none of us had even been involved in a mod project, we just wanted to make video games.

At the time we had no idea how difficult it would be and we had no clue where to start… everything we’ve done up til now, we had to learn pretty much from the ground up.

We started with a grand idea… called Epoch: Battlescape, an idea just a little too grand as it turns out. lesson learnt.

So Epoch: Battlescape was put on hold – however – we always envisioned Epoch as a franchise, a series of games, so we are still making an Epoch Universe game – just a slightly smaller one, to begin with.

So, for the last few months or so we’ve been focussed on (drum roll please) … “Epoch: Incursion”.
A multiplayer centric, squad based, tactical first person shooter set in the very near future, with a heavy emphasis on accessibility and ease of use whilst not ignoring the word “tactical” that is banded about so much in press releases relating to this genre and then paid no heed thereafter.

I’m hugely pleased to be able to announce that we’re now making actual quantifiable progress. We have a completely remodelled player character (100% in-house) and actual playable code.
We’re working on an in-house / non public, commercial demo level at the moment and off the back of that work we will have a promo video and screenshots to make public.

We’ve done some recruiting as well ….we now have a commercial director (someone to talk sensible stuff and pour over spreadsheets when required) and we’ve recruited the services of a commercial lawyer (both were so excited and inspired by what showed them that they practically bit my hand off ) ~ Exciting days ahead.Hoping to be able to post our first proper screenshot very soon…

I was heartened to see in the recent UK budget that the Video Games industry got a mention.
At last it does seem that true recognition and practical encouragement (gifv tax concessions, k,thx) is starting to look more likely.

Mr Darling stopped short of actually detailing what the government would do exactly, and they have yet to survive the imminent general election to make good on any promise …but hey, yet again, we got a mention by a bloke in a suit that didn’t involve random violence or the lethargy of the masses.

This is an encouraging sign that the industry may be being taken a little more seriously in the UK’s halls of power. Obviously there’s a big void between forming a commitee and actually doing something positive, but at the very least it’s a headline that mentions video games and the British government and doesn’t contain the words “youth crime” “couch potato” or “mow down a bus load of nuns with an AK”.

Anytime the industry gets recognised as an actual industry by “them” is a good thing right?

The always entertaining Rock, Paper, Shotgun posted a fascinating read this week (something they do habitually by the way if they’re not already on your list of “must read sites”) – an insight into the dark world of digital distribution. There’s lots of commentary and facts and figures which I won’t bother regurgitating here, suffice to say it’s worth 5 minutes of your time if you follow such things.

BBC NEWS Technology Australia seeks new army robots.

Needless to say anything involving the military use of robots gets my attention.

From the article:

“The winning design must help soldiers fight by remote control in urban combat zones”
“The aim is to reduce casualties in urban areas where fighting is unpredictable and treacherous.”
“The ultimate plan is for groups of these sophisticated machines to be sent into battle to help neutralise the enemy.”

We’ve got some ideas they may want to look at

Shame on me for not posting this stuff sooner to be honest… but better late etc.

For anyone that hasn’t seen it already, this is the kinda thing our engine of choice is now capable of.

Watch and salivate:

GDC 2009 – Torque 3D “South Pacific” Part I – GarageGames on Vimeo.

Worth checking out parts 2 and 3 also.