System Under Surveillance: cyberpunk story-driven stealth game, with no combat system

InkToPixels

SYSTEM UNDER SURVEILLANCE

Hello everyone =) , I would like to showcase our project. We have been working on this project first part-time as students, and now full time, for more than 2300 hours without accounting for external partners we collaborated with!

##ABOUT THE GAME Essentially, System Under Surveillance (SUS) stealth-adventure and puzzle elements inspired by classic retro games. In System Under Surveillance you takes control of Adam, a boy lost in a dystopian metropolis, and on the run from a governmental agency. While alone in this city, Adam meets a defective robot named TURBO, which will accompany him in his journey of finding out why he is being chased. ###THE STORY Adam's only memory is being in a car chase involving his mother, after which, he finds himself alone in the middle of a dystopian city, not knowing how he got there. He soon discovers that a mysterious governmental organization is after him, but he has no idea why. Together with TURBO on his side, Adam will slowly regain his memory and progressively uncover the mystery surrounding the car accident, as well as details about his true past. ###THE STORY TOLD AS A COMIC BOOK

One unique characteristic of SUS is the way the story is told, which is done through an interactive comic book. As you progress through the game and help Adam regain his memory about his past, you'll unlock the missing pages of the comic book. The comic itself is hand-drawn in pixel art for an added retro feel.

The panels on the left represent Adam's regained memories, while those on the right represent Adam's repressed memories.

###GAMEPLAY With System Under Surveillance we want to create a unique gaming experience. The enemies are invincible, and the only way to succeed is to be stealthy enough to avoid them.

Adam and TURBO exist on the map at the same time and in different location. The player is able to switch between each character at any time and use its unique abilities to help the other and together progress through the story. We like to call this mechanic a "buddy-cop experience " or a "singleplayer co-op mode". Here's an overview of the planned abilities of each characters: TURBO, as a rickety old cleaning robot, can: -> hover above holes to propel itself to new areas; -> transform into a metallic ball and roll up pipes and down narrow alleys; -> generate a powerful electric shock by spinning in place, temporarily disabling nearby electronics;

Adam, as a regular boy who is also uncommonly resourceful, can:

-> remotely take control of enemies, open doors and disable security systems; -> create diversions with everyday objects; -> make use of clever gadgets to solve the puzzles in minigames;

###NO ORDINARY HEALTH SYSTEM:

Another unique mechanics is the absence of a typical health bar, which is replaced with a threat level. It serves to immerse the player even further into the story, bringing you closer to Adam, the ordinary boy whose life depends on outsmarting his enemies. Here's how it works, you have to stay undetected to keep the threat level low, or get detected to make enemies follow you, only to trick them into letting you into restricted areas. The threat level goes back down when you hide.

If TURBO gets caught by an enemy, you have the chance to rescue the little robot and continue the game. If Adam gets caught instead, it is game over and you have to restart from a checkpoint!

###WHERE TO FIND US If you would like to see more of our game, you can follow us on

InkToPixels

Hey everyone!

We recently published our demo on Steam, which is really exciting!

The game is still deep in development, which is why we want to ask anyone interested in playtesting the demo and give us some feedback :3 There's a survey link right inside the game.

That would help us a lot going forward!

DEMO LINK

cybereality

I really like this game a lot.

InkToPixels

@cybereality said: I really like this game a lot.

Hey, that's awesome to hear, thank you!

Sorry for the late reply btw. We're deep in the development because we are committed to meet the March release ?

xyz

I finished the demo and filled up your questionnaire. The game is lovely. Here is couple of nitpicky remarks:

music is a bit too ominous for the introductory level, and default is too loud in respect to sound effects
make all typewriter text skippable in two phases; First press of a skip button should show the complete text immediately and the subsequent press would then go to the next block of text. Same can be done for the intro cinematic, so player can skip "boring" transitions but still get the actual content if they choose so. In general, the skipping control over animated transitions without losing information should be never taken away from the player.
data cube pickup needs a pleasant sound and perhaps a smoother animation.
if the game mechanics permit it, the robot should be able to continue to move when transforming from/to ball.
terminals and other interactive stuff could have a "hover" visual state (maybe even animated) when characters are close enough and able to interact. There is textual info, yes, but something on the actual interactive objects would be nice.

Looking forward to see other levels.

InkToPixels

@xyz said: I finished the demo and filled up your questionnaire. The game is lovely. Here is couple of nitpicky remarks:

music is a bit too ominous for the introductory level, and default is too loud in respect to sound effects

make all typewriter text skippable in two phases; First press of a skip button should show the complete text immediately and the subsequent press would then go to the next block of text. Same can be done for the intro cinematic, so player can skip "boring" transitions but still get the actual content if they choose so. In general, the skipping control over animated transitions without losing information should be never taken away from the player.

data cube pickup needs a pleasant sound and perhaps a smoother animation.

if the game mechanics permit it, the robot should be able to continue to move when transforming from/to ball.

terminals and other interactive stuff could have a "hover" visual state (maybe even animated) when characters are close enough and able to interact. There is textual info, yes, but something on the actual interactive objects would be nice.

Looking forward to see other levels.

Hey, thank you for playing the demo, much appreciated. I really like the idea about making the text skippable in two phases. Data cubes and terminal hover state are already planned, but it's nice to know that you noticed the details missing, it means there is demand for it.

And more sounds effects are coming soon as well! We are planning an Early Access release in February with four levels of increasing length and more focus on storytelling!

InkToPixels

So, a quick update, as we are creating the next levels of the game, we are also working of increasing the variety of the world environment,

Our goal is to make the environment feel dystopian and desolate. But it is not desolate because it's been abandoned forever. Instead, in the game world, the city is under a tight curfew at night, and therefore no other humans are allowed outside. As such, we don't want to add too many ruins; it is not a post apocalyptic city, but it is a city that is in poor economic and social conditions.

That's why we thought of creating statues like this one below. What do you think of them, does it meet the goal stated above? I should also mention that the statue flickers at irregular intervals. You can see it better in action here

cybereality

I love the statue. It think t does help explain the world visually.

InkToPixels

@cybereality said: I love the statue. It think t does help explain the world visually.

Nice, glad you like it. Would you change anything?

xyz

Holo trees and statues are great! Maybe it could look neat if every other glitch would be a scanline effect instead of full disappearance.

InkToPixels

@xyz said: Holo trees and statues are great! Maybe it could look neat if every other glitch would be a scanline effect instead of full disappearance.

What do you think about a chromatic aberration effect on the statue when it glitches?

xyz

@InkToPixels said: What do you think about a chromatic aberration effect on the statue when it glitches?

I didn't really notice it in that gif. Should be more prominent.

InkToPixels

So, we have a new update :D yey We recently started collaborating with a new artist, who's going to help us redesign the comic book panels for the in-game story. This also allows us more time to focus on actual development.

Now, for us the new version is clearly superior and better fits the overall style of the game. There's still some people who prefer the first, because it resembles retro games like Another World or Alone in the Dark (the ps1 one), but we don't think it would fit our game.

What do you think?

Megalomaniak

Each has it's charm but ultimately whatever is your artistic vision I'd say. I definitely like the improved contrast in the new tho, personally.

cybereality

Yeah, the new one is clearly technically better, but gives off a different vibe. The first version is a little darker and grittier. But I think the new version fits the actual game better, as the game is more cartoon like.