State Of the System Address

“Once upon a time there was a would-be designer who created the wildly popular mod for Shadowrun Returns called “Shadowrun Unlimited”. After hundreds of hours, the would-be designer grew frustrated with the limitations of the editing tools and decided to hand the mod off to the community and strive to create his own game. The ultimate goal was to create a modern homage to Shadowrun for the Sega Genesis. However the would-be designer knew that a game of that scope was beyond his current skills and resources. Instead he decided to start with a sub-strata of that game, the hacking aspect, and flesh an entire game out around it. The plan was to use the resources drummed up from that hacking game, along with the groundwork already in place, to build the more expansive game in the future.

The now indie-developer thought he had some pretty slick programming skills, and when the hacking game was released into Early Access, it was met with very positive reviews. But alas, the bugs were abounding. With every new feature that was added, existing frameworks had to be adjusted and tweaked to make it work, which generally lead to more bugs. The developer figured out that just because he could make something worked, didn't mean his skills were all that good. In the years that followed, the developer spent more of his time just fixing bugs than rolling out new content. And then one day the developer had a couple realizations.

Somewhere along the way his skills had increased significantly. One day he was tinkering and built a complex mechanic in a hour that once would have taken him days (and lot of trial and error) to build. Now he simply envisioned the mechanic and knew exactly how to make it work and how to build it efficiently. He felt like he had ascended to some new level as a game designer.

Secondly, armed with his ascended skills, he realized the foundation for his hacking game was rotten. It would never work as a basis for that dream game. It was built by some modder-turned-developer, fumbling around, just trying to make the next thing work. The features and functions were great on paper, but were built poorly and with little regard for other mechanics.

The designer stepped back and looked at his creation and saw it for what it really was: A rickety house, built on quicksand and held together with patches. Any attempt to expand or improve the house would require way more effort than it worth. So he decided to tear it down and built it back up from scratch, salvaging what he could, and throwing the rest in a nearby dumpster fire.”

I hope you enjoyed my short story. The first draft had a dragon, and a bunch of explosions, but it didn't really fit with the narrative, so here we are. As you may have surmised, I have decided to rebuild System.Hack, mostly. A lot of mechanics work good (mainly the stuff I've build in the last few major updates), and can be ported over with ease. All the assets are obviously still good to go, but all the other stuff has to be rebuilt.

As many of you know, I'm a team of just one guy, with a full-time job and a dream of building games for a living. A lot of the games I want to build are going to share a lot of the same features, so I figured “why re-invent the wheel every time”. With that in mind, I have built what you could call a universal Sim-RPG framework. And that's what the new System.Hack is being rebuilt on.

By now I'm sure some of you are concerned that this means the Early Access is starting over, or the release date has be catapulted farther into the future, but that's not true at all. Yes, there's a lot of work to do. But it also means the way forward is clear, and the work is flowing much, much faster. From my perspective, it feels like we were driving through a bog, but now we've backed up and are flying down the highway.

A basic feature-list for the new update (and what I've got so far) is below. Remember we are working off of a universal framework here so there may be some mechanics under-utilized for System.Hack (such as freezing or getting shot).

• A survival mechanic. Now you poor hackers will have to worry about getting enough to eat and drink, and making sure to keep warm... but not too warm. I'm not trying to create a proper survival game here, so food and drink will be plentiful, assuming you got the creds. The systems for freezing or overheating are in place, but are unlikely to have a real affect. Neural Stress has been replaced with a exhaustion mechanic, which accumulates not only from hacking, but any action that drains Stamina while in meatspace.
• Added real-world injuries. Now Black IC can genuinely mess you up.
• In addition to getting a brain bleed from Bio-Feedback, running against nasty IC can do some serious damage to your rig. You can always pay to get it repaired, or try to fix it yourself. Added the Hardware skill.
• Redesigned and rebuilt cyberspace combat mechanics. The cyberspace combat is very similar to the old style, with more action elements instead of jamming buttons. No longer will you be stuck in place, mindlessly hitting buttons. You can now maneuver around in combat, and even engage multiple IC at once. There are Hammer subroutines that will conjure a weapon into existence that you will attack with until you run another program (like drawing a digital sword). If you prefer to keep your distance, you can run programs loaded with Nuke and Virus subroutines. Killer IC will try and run you down, engaging with their own Hammer, Nuke, or Virus programs. Sentry IC will stay at their posts running their utility programs against you, attacking if you get too close. Barrier IC are just as passive as ever, but are now physical obstacles that appear in cyberspace, barring access or progress until smashed down. And Black IC. Well that just tries to melt your brain.
• Redesigned and rebuilt the way programs are handled. You won't notice on your end, but now it's simple, clean, and infinitely expandable, making it easy to roll out new subroutines in the future.
• I have decided to pivot away from mini-games. The problem was two-fold. The Passbreaker game was fun... but only the first hundred times you do it. I will re-purpose the mini-game elsewhere. Secondly, the workload required to create a reasonable number of quality mini-games, without getting too 'arcade-like' is fairly substantial. In the new version there are currently four different UVP's: Password, Code Gates, MAC Authentication, and Location Verification. Each requires their own program, while some may require additional hardware. I have made Brute Force Attack it's own subroutine now, which will work against all UVP's, but will immediately set off alerts.
• I have decided to change up the node UI. Nodes will no longer have a list of files and devices. Instead the nodes will be interacted with using the Root Access. I weighed the pros and cons and ultimately I felt that having the players looking at a list of files trying to find the right one wasn't exactly “fun”. Especially considering that in the real-world we have search functions, so why wouldn't a whiz hacker? Going forward, players will use the Search and Access commands to bring files and devices into 'focus', and then interact with them with additional Root Access commands.
• Redesigned and rebuilt the way Root Access functions. Now there are effectively ten commands; Install [Program]: Install followed by the program name. Edit [File]: Change details about any file type. Targets the current file in focus. Search [file name]: Find the file in a datastore and bring it into focus. Download: Copy the file in focus to your storage. Upload: Copy a file from your storage into the current datastore. Shutdown [Device]: Shut off the device in focus and immediately gain a tracking tag. Access [Device]: Bring the target device into focus. [Context Sensitive]: Manipulate the device in focus. These are generally a job-specific command, such as “Set Heat 100” when accessing the Boiler Device in an HVAC node. Reboot System: Crash the entire system, disconnecting all users and resetting all devices. Crash [Construct]: Destroys the target construct (after gaining proper access to it's code).
• Redesigned systems completely. I learned long ago as a Dungeon Master, having players roleplay wandering down hallways was boring. Why not just montage to the next place where something interesting happens? So I decided to apply that logic here. Systems will now have an overview map of nodes. To travel to a node, all you have to do is click on it (assuming you have already unlocked the adjacent node). Hackers will have to work their way through the system node by node. By shifting the focus to the 'rooms' instead of the 'hallways', I have made nodes much more interesting. A low-level datastore node may look like a simple white room filled with filing cabinets, while a Financials node could look like the inside of a bank, complete with guards (Blaster IC), and cameras (Sentry IC).
• Built new animations and new effects when executing programs. It really helps sell the idea you are an avatar running around in cyberspace.
• Laid the groundwork for players to purchase new 'avatar skins', effectively changing what you look like in cyberspace. I plan on having these be things you character can purchase for a small sum, or earn as rewards. Thanks to the new way of handling animation calls, I could slot it any model for the player character, dynamically and with ease.
• Built an inventory system so hackers can carry gear, supplies, and holster weapons in the real world. And there's guns now. Just to be safe. And katanas of course.
• Rebuilt the bunker and added the first draft of the city area. The bunker is a fair bit smaller, but you aren't locked in. It's more of a 'safehouse' than a proper bunker. The city area is a poor, semi-industrial part of town with a large criminal element and very little police presence. You can still order some junk to your door, but certain shady vendors won't deliver. You'll have to slap on your coat and head out into the real world.
• Built a whole new UI for both cyberspace and meatspace.
• We will be retaining most, if not all of the features of the first iteration, although I will probably re-introduce them as separate updates down the road.

There is still plenty to do to bring the new version to release. I don't have a clear time lines, what with the holidays. But I can tell you it seems to be going quickly. In the last month, I have done what feels like a year's worth of work. More importantly, it's being built clean with a unified structure and all features in mind every step of the way. On a personal note, it's exciting and fun to work on this project again. It's becoming a game I'm really looking forward to playing.