Introversion

[Chris]

Our fourth game is going to be called Subversion.

Now I don’t mind admitting that I’m a little apprehensive about this developer diary. Part of me would love to openly discuss our next game with the world, to shout from the rooftops about this grand idea that has been waiting in line since Darwinia took its place in 2003. But another less reckless part of me knows that bad things can happen when developers disappoint gamers, and gamers need few excuses to feel disappointed. This comes directly from my bitter firsthand experience on both sides of the fence. Several games developers who are far more experienced than us have fallen into the trap of enthusiastically promising the world during production, and ending up with a mob of pitch-fork wielding hardcore outside their offices threatening to burn the building to the ground unless their demands are immediately satisfied. We wish to avoid this.

Yes there will be screenshots, and even short videos. However the timing of this blog is no coincidence – work is only just beginning, and hence everything is in pre-production. Even the term “pre-production” is misleading, implying as it does that we actually know what we will be producing and are preparing for it. The reality is that we are experimenting, and we think there is merit in publishing the results of our experiments as we go along.

What there will be none of are promises, of any kind. We are not going to tell you what features will be in the final game, nor will we be telling you how the final game will play. We ourselves do not yet know. In fact we will not even be telling you what we are aiming for, as our direct experience with Darwinia taught us how often those aims can change and how different the final game can be to its inspiration.

Nevertheless, despite our best efforts, some readers or journalists may be tempted to view these screenshots as some kind of visual indication of the final game. Some may even go so far as to infer suggested gameplay from said media. Worst of all, websites that should know better may decide to publish these images as the “first screenshots of Introversion’s new game”.

If you feel any of the above happening to you, please listen very carefully. You are mistaken.

[Slinken]

woho first . The game looks relly nice even if you are not doing anything near something like that that pictures made me long even more for updef.... ooops Subversion

[martin]

ooh, looks like another cool game from introversion

although to be fair I'd buy it even if it looked crap

[KingAl]

Chris wrote:

Several games developers who are far more experienced than us have fallen into the trap of enthusiastically promising the world during production, and ending up with a mob of pitch-fork wielding hardcore outside their offices threatening to burn the building to the ground unless their demands are immediately satisfied.

Daikatana, anyone?

Chris wrote:

Hah! I always knew you where making a competitor to Professional Home Design Platinum™.
Oh, and I love the dead frog. That feature'd better make it the whole way.

Chris wrote:

Our fourth game is going to be called Subversion.

So... the Forth game is on hold?

[elDiablo]

Yay for teasing us about the next game ya bum!

Still, saying that, I can't wait!

[Darksun]

Chris wrote:

Several games developers who are far more experienced than us have fallen into the trap of enthusiastically promising the world during production, and ending up with a mob of pitch-fork wielding hardcore outside their offices threatening to burn the building to the ground unless their demands are immediately satisfied.

You cleverly get around this by not having offices, of course

[mibias]

ok... blueprints... i did not expect that we would get any info already...

ok, its not a lot info. just 3 screenshots of an idea in progress

[Lastof]

There is also email, a browser, a forum and contacts. Come on guys, we need more wild unsupportable speculation.

[xander]

Chris, if Updefwinia^wSubversion is not everything that you promise and more, I will be the first in front of your offices with a pitch-fork. I just want you to know that :)

In all seriousness, most of the rabid fan community is very aware of the way in which you guys work. We have faith that anything that you publish will be great. We also know that features are often taken out very late in development (tanks in Darwinia, Multwinia, battleships that shoot down nukes in Defcon, &c.), and that we should let the final product speak for itself. I am not going to claim to speak for everyone here, but I am simply interested to see what the process looks like, in more detail, as it is happening.

Good luck with Subversion! I'm sure it will be great!

xander

[Montyphy]

xander wrote:

I am not going to claim to speak for everyone here, but I am simply interested to see what the process looks like, in more detail, as it is happening.

Failing that, perhaps you could write a more detailed journal on the side and release it along with the game i.e. including it as a supplement to the manual.

[prophile]

Ahem.

[xander]

None of those are red :(

xander

[jelco]

Where did the redherring joke come from again?

Jelco

PS: Haven't slept in a while, that's why I'm tired and too lazy to search.

[Spacemonkey]

Based on the "screenshot" it's clear subversion will be IV's answer to "The Sims 2™", except based in an office environment, where you can direct the employees to fulfill the mindless work of programming video games day in and day out, interceded by exciting conversations around the water coolers about what they did in the weekend.

And the frog is the supreme overlord of the company, and he exploits his workers in his evil schemes of world domination, as all frogs do.


AWESOME!

Last edited by Spacemonkey on Tue Dec 19, 2006 8:00 pm; edited 1 time in total

[mibias]

we know that you get new ideas and remove old ideas doing programming and all that, but its ok... we want to hear what ideas you have right now...