Hi all, James Stone here, the designer and developer of Xenosis: Alien Infection. I will be posting regular devlogs up here on the progress of the game, but I thought the first few updates should be focused on the background of the game, and what we are trying to achieve.

So today, I would like to talk about inspirations.

So, if you are an old(er) guy like me, you may have grown up playing some of the most influential game experiences of the last few decades. I was born in 1977 so I grew up with gaming from the moment I was old enough to hold a controller, which means that my teenage years were spent playing games that left a lasting impression on me. I spent my days lost in the endless rooms and tight enclosed spaces of Alien Breed on the Amiga, hunting down cyborgs in Syndicate, exploring alien worlds in Hired Guns and of course, facing off against Shodan in System Shock.

Alien Breed on the Amiga, image copyright Team17

The thing about all of these games that stood out for me as a player, was the total sense of immersion they gave, with a finely tuned and crafted experience, designed to completely draw you into the role that you are playing. Even today, I can play any of these games now and still find myself delving into the worlds that they created, reliving the experience with as much joy and wonder as I did all those years ago.

My goal with Xenosis was always to create my own compelling and deeply immersive experience, designed to draw you, the player, into the world we are creating. For me, I think the top down perspective is vastly underused these days, as it forces you to think in a different way when playing. Its open enough for you to make tactical decisions as a player, but restrictive enough to not always know what lurks around the next hallway.

Exploring the Engineering deck in Xenosis

But its not just the perspective that adds to the experience, its the overall sensory approach that builds the layer that draws you in. For that my team and I turned to TV and Film, and thinking about the atmosphere in movies that really captivated our minds. Of course there are the obvious inspirations from the likes of the sci-fi classics such as the Alien and Aliens (I mean, what sci-fi creation isn’t influenced by these) But there are other films that really used lighting, audio and visual effects to create stunning pieces of art in motion. I for one remember the growing corruption and total change from exciting mission to hell in space in Sunshine and Event Horizon.

Ripley being a badass in Aliens, image copyright Twentieth Century Fox

It’s hard to create something new in this space and not be influenced by stories you have read or seen, but I believe that we are taking a fresh approach on a classic genre of gaming, built on a story I have had in my mind since I was a boy. I think that if those games back in the day had access to the advanced game engines that we can use today, you would see similar use of lighting and audio to create that tension and deep woven story lines with complex narratives and expanded worlds.

If you didn’t grow up with these games, or perhaps just never played them, I urge you to try out some of the sci-fi classics that forged the path to the games that we play now. Perhaps I missed out on some classics too, let me know in the comments if there is something I should be hunting down too, a classic from your childhood perhaps…

Kind Regards,

James.

Xenosis: Alien Infection is being crowdfunded on Fig, visit the campaign here: http://www.fig.co/Xenosis