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Powerslave EX Interview (Turok EX also in the making)

S

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
For those who do not know, retro publisher Night Dive Studios is currently undertaking in an updated release of the cult classic Powerslave with the console version being included in this package and the work is being done by Samuel ‘Kaiser’ Villarreal who brought Strife: Veterans Edition to life among other projects.

http://techraptor.net/content/interview-man-rebuilding-powerslave

TR:

TR: About how far are you into the development process of Powerslave EX?

Kaiser: I would say its 90% done. Just need to tweak the menu system, implement movie playback and some renderer optimizations here and there. I’ve been making crazy progress.


TR: Off the top of your head, can you give any examples of great FPS level design?

Kaiser: Level design is affected by the diction of the game’s narrative and general design. For action FPS games, Quake pretty much nails it. It has a great introductory level, great layouts that really compliments with the game design. Fighting Orgres is REALLY satisfying and the layout of Quake‘s levels is built very well around that. If Quake‘s levels were completely flat with little to no verticality, then that would of been a different story. Some people may roll their eyes when I say this, but the Call of Duty franchise also has some really good level design as well. They do a really good job at pacing and progression. Condemned is another personal favorite and it has a lot of really good moments that kept the tension factor way up and that works really well with the game’s design. The school and farm house levels are prime examples of what I am talking about.

TR: After Powerslave EX, are you going to try your hand at remaking other shooters?
Kaiser: I was originally working on remaking N64 Turok (called Turok EX) but it got put off to the side. Since now Night Dive Studios has picked up the rights to re-release it,
Turok EX will resume development later this year. By the way, I’ve also done work with Night Dive by re-releasing Strife, which was another reverse-engineering project that me and a friend worked on back in 2010.

Aside from that, I am not sure if there’s any other shooters I plan on remaking. I’ve been tempted to look into Blood but I am quite wary of the many toes that I could potentially be stepping on. Particularly Atari’s toes 😛
Click to expand...

There is more at the link above.
 
B

Blade30

Unconfirmed Member
SparkTR said:
They're a studio dedicated to rereleasing old PC games. They were the ones that got System Shock 2 and Strife on Steam/GoG. They're trying to get NOLF now.
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So will it be like a System Shock 2 remaster (?) or are they doing a remake, creating everything from scratch?
 
D

dock

Member
I really love this game, and it's probably my favourite FPS game of all time, but there are some things about this that make me doubt it will be an ideal experience. The original Sega Saturn version of Powerslave (AKA 'Exhumed' in Europe) was a powerhouse for coloured lighting. This was diminished in the Playstation version, and even moreso in the PC port.

oYqKriD.jpg

Here's a decent example of the coloured lighting, which has a lot in common with games like Quake 2.

I hope the second screen is showing some of the potential for lighting, but I'm unsure what to expect.

Also, it'd be nice to see Zdoom-esque widescreen support and reduced HUD support.
 
I

ichtyander

Member
PaulloDEC said:
Oh wow, this is awesome news! I really tried to get into Poweslave/Exhumed a few months back, but the messiness of emulation ended up killing it for me. I'll be all too happy to give it another go now.

Incidentally, if anyone's interested in the (fascinating) history of the game and its developer, there's a really cool documentary on Youtube about it.
Click to expand...

I watched this recently, never knew anything about the history of this game, really interesting stuff. Also, I've tried to play the PC version several times but the terrible control scheme always put me off, and I didn't really want to mess around with the console versions. I'm glad to finally get the chance to play a superior Powerslave.
 
D

dock

Member
PaulloDEC said:
Oh wow, this is awesome news! I really tried to get into Poweslave/Exhumed a few months back, but the messiness of emulation ended up killing it for me. I'll be all too happy to give it another go now.

Incidentally, if anyone's interested in the (fascinating) history of the game and its developer, there's a really cool documentary on Youtube about it.
Click to expand...
Wow, this is a great documentary! Watched a little bit of it, but I'll save it for later.

I had never considered the comparison between this and Metroid Prime before. It definitely has a lot in common.
 
G

gelf

Member
Including the superior console version makes this a must buy for me.

Anyone know if its based off the Saturn or the PS1 version? Or is it a bit of both?
 
P

PaRappa

Member
Back in the 90's Doom spawned a slew of corridor shooters. Most were forgetable but Duke Nukem stood out on the PC and on the Saturn Exhumed/Powerslave was the premiere first person shooting experience. It was one of the few games I remember that looked and played better on the humble Saturn that the PSone or even PC. It developed a bit of an underground following.

I personally loved it and I'm excited to see it return. It is a very old game though so it will be interesting to see how it turns out. The shooting, jumping and looking mechanics are very primitive. If they stay true to its roots it should prove to be an excellent retro corridor shooter. Oh and the music - i really hope there's an option to use the original CD sound track.
 
G

gelf

Member
PaRappa said:
Back in the 90's Doom spawned a slew of corridor shooters. Most were forgetable but Duke Nukem stood out on the PC and on the Saturn Exhumed/Powerslave was the premiere first person shooting experience. It was one of the few games I remember that looked and played better on the humble Saturn that the PSone or even PC. It developed a bit of an underground following.

I personally loved it and I'm excited to see it return. It is a very old game though so it will be interesting to see how it turns out. The shooting, jumping and looking mechanics are very primitive. If they stay true to its roots it should prove to be an excellent retro corridor shooter. Oh and the music - i really hope there's an option to she original CD sound track.
Click to expand...

The shooting is primitive but the appeal to me was entirely in the level design and adventure, with the use of the powerups to access new areas. On console it was a first person adventure game made before that term came into fashion when it was to describe Metroid Prime. The more basic shooter PC version on the other hand is possibly not worth going back to.

And yes the music is fantastic
 
A

Arkhanor

Member
This is GREAT! I grew up playing shooters on the 90's! Heretic, Hexen, Quake, Doom, Wolfenstein, Blood, and so on...! I've played a little bit of Powerslave (I was curious about this game because of the Iron Maiden song that have nothing to do with it haha) and it was great. Also love Turok games! It's great that they are working on it.
 
P

PaRappa

Member
When I say primitive, I mean that as truly classic. The music, the level design, mechanics (first time I mastered the rocket jump - wow!) the themes, everything was a total joy to play. I remember how crushed I was when it ended and the credits rolled. It was at least as good as Tomb Raider and deserved much more recognition than it got. I guess the fact it was one of the very few epic 3rd party titles for the Saturn meant it got overshadowed by everything else released between '96-99 which were truly a golden age for game.

The end of game boss music was awesome too.
 
I

Ithil

Member
Turok 1 holds up pretty well for being an N64 launch game. The controls are not great, and the levels are not terribly varied, but there's lots of fun guns and enemies.
 
K

Katori

Member
These are both classics (did I misread or are they including the console version of Powerslave too?). Can't wait.

The PC version of Turok actually would run okay on like Vista (and prob Windows 7/8). There may be some small bugs that these guys are working out though.

Doin God's work.
 
S

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
Katori said:
These are both classics (did I misread or are they including the console version of Powerslave too?). Can't wait.

The PC version of Turok actually would run okay on like Vista (and prob Windows 7/8). There may be some small bugs that these guys are working out though.

Doin God's work.
Click to expand...

Yes, the console version is coming in this package, I have heard conflicting reports on it being the Saturn or Playstation version.
 
G

gelf

Member
There's a nice interview with Brian McNeely who worked on the original game/s here:

http://www.unseen64.net/2015/03/09/interview-brian-mcneely-lobotomy-software/

But the reason I mention it is since we're on the topic of level design it includes this nice sketch of a level map for Magma Fields:
Exhumed-Powerslave-game-magma-fields-level-concept.jpg
Click to expand...

And this quote from Brian explains why it was a unique experience at the time:
Another area was the overall structure and progression of the game. I wanted to avoid a linear experience, and instead offer a feeling of exploration and accomplishment, so we designed the “artifact system” in which the player discovered artifact items to gain permanent new special abilities so that they could gain access to areas of the game previously impossible to reach. The world map was added to help reinforce the setting and game world and navigate the level structure. All of this was kind of a nod to Metroid and several other games, so it wasn’t a new concept by any means, but it was new to the FPS genre and seemed to fit well for console gamers.
Click to expand...
 
T

Tain

Member
I'm a little confused, what tech are these "remakes" using? Or are these patches to the originals?

Edit: ah, read the article, custom engine. Interesting.
 
J

jvm

Gamasutra.
Bastos said:
I'm so happy I could cry ;-;
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Agreed. This was a great FPS back in the day. Would love to replay with modern trappings.

From the quote above me...
Another area was the overall structure and progression of the game. I wanted to avoid a linear experience, and instead offer a feeling of exploration and accomplishment, so we designed the “artifact system” in which the player discovered artifact items to gain permanent new special abilities so that they could gain access to areas of the game previously impossible to reach.
Click to expand...
This is essential to the game's beauty. You could see things as you went through early levels and not be able to get to them. Then the abilities allowed you to get there.
 
F

finley83

Banned
Really looking forward to playing this, I heard the Saturn version was way better than what we got on PC but never got to try it.
 
B

batbeg

Member
Never heard of Powerslave but after watching that hour long youtube video I really want to give it a shot! Sounds very interesting.
 
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