Interstellar Marines

Interstellar Marines is a science fiction first-person shooter video game being developed by indie studio Zero Point Software. It was added to Steam Greenlight on 3 September 2012[3] and later released on Steam Early Access on July 2, 2013.[4]

Interstellar Marines
Interstellar Marines logo
Developer(s)Zero Point Software
Publisher(s)Zero Point Software
Director(s)Kim Haar Jørgensen
Producer(s)Tanner Baggett, Paul Allen (formerly)
Writer(s)Kim Haar Jørgensen, Jacob Smith (story)[1]
Composer(s)Nicolai Grønborg
EngineUnity 5
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux
ReleaseJuly 2, 2013 (Early Access)[2]
Genre(s)First-person shooter, Action role-playing, Tactical shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, Co-op, Multiplayer

Interstellar Marines is being developed in four acts, formerly planned as individual titles. The first act, code-named "Prologue", is currently in development and takes place in a future military training facility that will stage multiplayer, single-player, and cooperative training scenarios. Multiplayer was the first feature of Prologue to be built, doubling as both a tech foundation for future co-op missions and as a playable Early Access release on Steam. The first co-op mission, titled The NeuroGen Incident, was released on September 26 which built much of the technology needed for future co-op campaigns.

The three acts after Prologue, collectively titled the "Trilogy", will be narrative-driven campaigns spanning a continuous story arc set in "a realistic and unpredictable future where first contact with another sentient species is slowly becoming reality."[5] The campaigns will support single-player and up to four players in drop-in/drop-out co-op. Zero Point Software claims that their co-op campaign will feature tactical game-play, role-playing elements, open-ended level design, and a compelling sci-fi storyline.[6] It claims to pay homage to old-school tactical first person shooters like Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield and cites System Shock 2 and Deus Ex for their action RPG elements and open-ended levels, as well as Half-Life for its first person narrative-driven storytelling.[2]

Gameplay

The player controls an individual Marine from a first person perspective with functions for walking, running, jumping,[7] crouching, peeking over cover,[8] leaning,[9] sprinting, and sliding. The Marine suite has regenerative armor and the Marine will be disabled when the armor is fully damaged. The Marine's suit also measures oxygen saturation levels, which increase due to activity and affect weapon control at high levels.[10] The Marine has three weapons available, a pistol, submachine gun, and assault rifle. The SMG and AR can have a suppressor attached and have three fire modes, semi-auto, burst, and full-auto, while the pistol only fires in semi-auto mode. Each weapon features a tactical flashlight and a laser sight. Game modes feature PvE and PvP encounters. In PvE, players fight against several types of Combat Training Robots (CTRs), androids which can carry weapons or can charge at the player with a weaponless melee attack. All modes allow reviving fallen teammates, within a time limit, at the location where they fell.

The single-player and co-op content consists of campaign-style missions, Elimination challenges, and Survival challenges. Missions require following waypoints to objectives, which can include routing power or finding key cards to unlock sections of a map, while eliminating enemy CTRs. Elimination challenges require eliminating all CTRs on a map and Survival challenges require activating power nodes around a map while eliminating or avoiding spawning CTRs.[11] If a fallen teammate is not revived within a time limit, they will respawn at a checkpoint or will be locked out of a mission once available respawns have been depleted.

Some of the PvP modes offered are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Team Domination, and Deadlock. These modes all share the same map pool and players have infinite ammo allowing unlimited weapon reloads. In team-based modes, if a player is not revived, they will respawn at a spawn point automatically. Team Domination is a king of the hill mode with a moving capture zone. Each team starts with 1000 points. Teams deplete points from the opposing team by having more players than the opponent within the designated zone. The dominating team depletes points each second for each player within the zone more than the opponent. The losing team is the team that reaches 0 points first or the team with the least points after 10 minutes have elapsed.[12] Deadlock is a team-based territory capture mode. A Deadlock match consists of multiple rounds on one map. To win a map, a team must win the first 3 rounds or otherwise win 2 rounds in a row. The first team to eliminate all players or to capture all seven capture zones at once wins the round. Fallen players who are not revived in time will enter a respawn queue and will respawn automatically after 2 minutes, but will be respawned earlier if a teammate captures a capture zone.[13] The round ends after 10 minutes if no team has secured a win.

Wargames is a family of PvP game modes supporting up to 64 players and offering survival sandbox gameplay. It's mainly defined by 2 specific modes: Hell Week (battle royale), and Scavenge (with unlimited respawns). Wargames consists of 9 connected maps, each representing a different environment. Wargames is the only mode where players have limited ammo. Players start with only a loaded pistol and must scavenge weapons, ammo, and Combat Points from crates scattered across the maps.[14] Any player can revive any other player and a player drops everything they had collected when killed. CTRs patrol the maps and will also drop points and weapons when killed. Drop crates with a large amount of Combats Points are deployed to designated zones at regular intervals. Teams can be formed and disbanded at will over the course of the match, with up to 4 players per team all sharing Combat Points. The player or team with the most Combat Points at the end of a match (usually spanning 55 minutes) wins.

Demos

Prior to releasing on Steam's Early Access,[4] Zero Point Software released playable demos in order to demonstrate how development was progressing. Four demos were released on their website:

  • The Vault[15] which is an in-game showroom of some of the main characters and equipment that will be found in the game. The user is free to roam around the vault's rooms and find details on the game's factions and setting.
  • Bullseye[16] which is a shooting range minigame where the player is guided by an artificial intelligence in order to complete graded objectives. More powerful weapons are unlocked as the player progresses.[17]
  • Running Man[18] pits players against android training machines which attack in waves. Unlike the previous demos this allows players to move around and experience combat game-play.[19]
  • Deadlock[20] which was the last demo to be released and was the precursor to the version of Interstellar Marines released on Steam Early Access.

Development

Interstellar Marines had a working title of Project IM and development began in May 2005. It was announced in November 2005 and was described by the developers as "a AAA, FPS, sci-fi, action and adventure game.." It was initially planned for release on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with the game being built using Epic Games' Unreal Engine.[21] Interstellar Marines is now being developed using the Unity game engine. Initially the game was funded by players pre-ordering and an external investor, removing the need for publisher backing whilst attempting to produce a game of higher quality than is typically released by independent developers.[22]

Interstellar Marines was later greenlit on Steam Greenlight and released on Steam Early Access.[23] Microsoft Windows, macOS and Linux versions are available from Steam for digital download.

Zero Point Software called their early crowdfunding system "AAA Indie".[24][25] The strategy relied on fans of a game pre-ordering while the game is still deep in development. In exchange the gaming company (while not required to do anything) allows pre-ordering members to either play specific demos of the game or allows the community access to the current game build in its entirety.[26] This method of crowd funding was almost completely superseded by the launch of the game on Steam Early Access.

On October 2012, Zero Point Software attempted to do a Kickstarter campaign with a $600,000 pledge by November 28, 2012. Their campaign failed to meet its funding goal, with only $157,906 raised from 3,823 backers.[27][28]

The game was released on Steam Early Access on July 2, 2013 in pre-alpha form with content updates aimed for release every 3–6 weeks. The Spearhead Edition costs more than the base game and is designed for users who wish to further support the developers and, in exchange, have their name included in the credits and access digital downloads of artwork and music among other extras.[29] There will be several campaigns released as they are created and they will be made available at no extra cost to all existing owners.[29]

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References
  1. "Interstellar Marines: Secrets From the Past #3 - Narrative (2007) - YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved 2013-04-06.
  2. "Interstellar Marines on Steam". Steam. Valve. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  3. "Steam Greenlight page".
  4. "Interstellar Marines now on Steam". Archived from the original on 2017-09-29.
  5. "Interstellar Marines wanted". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  6. "The Gameplay of IM". Archived from the original on 2018-06-07. Retrieved 2014-09-07.
  7. "Interstellar Marines Official Tutorial - Basic Movement". Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  8. "Interstellar Marines Official Tutorial - Crouch and Cover". Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  9. "Update 28: Engine Upgrade". Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  10. "Movement and Stamina in Interstellar Marines". Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  11. "Update 14: Tactical Incursion". Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  12. "Game Update 6: Initiating Team Domination". Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  13. "Interstellar Marines Official Tutorial - Deadlock Gamemode". Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  14. "Wargames Tutorial (U27)". Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  15. "The Vault". Archived from the original on 2019-02-16. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  16. "Bullseye". Archived from the original on 2019-02-16. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  17. Thompson, Michael (2010-01-29). "Interstellar Marines: trite name, crowd-sourced budget". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2011-02-10.
  18. "Running Man". Archived from the original on 2018-11-18. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
  19. Usher, William (2010-07-07). "Interstellar Marines: Running Man Is Now Available To Play". Cinema Blend. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
  20. "Deadlock". Archived from the original on 2018-11-18. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  21. Thorsen, Tor (2005-11-30). "Project IM to shoot up next-gen machines". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
  22. Plunkett, Luke (2011-02-01). "The Game You're Paying For Before It's Even Out". Kotaku. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
  23. "Steam Early Access page". Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  24. Warmuth, Shelly (2011-04-20). "Gamasutra: Shelly Warmuth's Blog - AAA Indie: Crowdfunding Game Development". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2012-10-26.
  25. Tan, Maurice (2012-10-25). "Interstellar Marines: AAA Indie and the road ahead". Destructoid. Retrieved 2012-10-26.
  26. "AAA Indie". Archived from the original on 2018-11-20. Retrieved 2011-06-10.
  27. "Interstellar Marines: Prologue by Zero Point Software - Kickstarter".
  28. "Interstellar Marines: Is the Shooter That Won't Die Worth It?".
  29. "Interstellar Marines Store". Interstellar Marines. Zero Point Software. Archived from the original on 2018-11-22. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
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