Return of the Rumbler	The first time we saw this beast, he was barley visible in the shadows. Now we get a full view of this ferocious behemoth!
Hacking Security Systems	Security systems and hacking will both be very elaborate in System Shock 2, even more so then they were in SS1.
Steam it up	Steam fills the air as the water in a flooded room comes into contact with some hot pipes. This is one of the simpler scripted events we can expect to see.

Design Document #1

Part of Shock’s unique appeal is the fact that it brought the vibe of the Underworld dungeon crawl into a science fiction setting. Primarily, Shock was at heart a real role-playing game, not an action shooter. However, certain members of the press and the gaming public mistook it for a Doom clone, somewhat limiting the product’s commercial success. With Junction Point, we are clearly setting out to make a role-playing game, not only embracing the sense of role-playing that Shock provided, but expanding on it. Hence, the major design precepts of Junction Point are:

Pacing: Slow it down, baby.
Junction Point is paced like an RPG, not a Quake deathmatch. The player will be rewarded for carefully exploring their surroundings, examining items and approaching combat with a plan of action.

Persistence of World: Like Underworld and Shock, the world of Junction Point is open ended and freely traversable.
Junction Point takes place on the cramped decks of the USN heavy cruiser "San Francisco" as it plies its way towards Earth. Citadel Station felt like a real place, with its own sights, sounds and smells. With the technological advances afforded by DromEd, Act/React and LG’s exceptional audio we intend to raise the ante on immersion. As Junction Point is not a mission-based game, he the player will never be pulled out of the environment. They can travel anywhere on the San Francisco that their wits and trigger finger allow them. Objects they leave behind will remain there for the course of the game (unless, of course, somebody else takes them!). Destroyed things remain destroyed and dead things stay dead. This adds powerfully to the notion of immersion, as the player has free run of the environment. Of course, as the player is inserted clandestinely into the San Francisco with no way to get off, they are conveniently confined to our small corner of the universe.

Character Growth: The player character grows, not just their gun collection.
The player character will, of course, obtain a wide array of new weapons, armor, and other goodies through the course of the game. However, she will also grow inside. As she is a burgeoning psionic (see psionics-, below) she will learn new mental techniques in the course of her explorations. She will need to, ummm, experience a certain amount of gameplay to advance her skills. The player will be allowed to focus (apply experience points to) their psionic efforts into various areas, such as suggestion, illusion, telekinesis, etc. The more they focus their efforts in a specific area, the more they improve their skills there.

Persistence of Storyline: Junction Point is not mission-based. It has an overarching storyline broken down into organic "chapters" that often overlap each other.
The game will have an overarching storyline, but sub-missions will organically appear throughout the game. Some threads will block other avenues of gameplay (for instance, a key to a door that must be passed to proceed further in the game) and some threads are presented simultaneously ("repair a shuttle" and "reboot the security network") with each thread leading to its own portion of gameplay. This allows us to allow a player who is stuck in one aspect of exploration to proceed in others (an analog version of multiple mission choices).

Techno-Horror Tone: Junction Point tells a dark tale set in a very dark place.
Shock provided players with a unique tension and suspense much more akin to Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil than Doom. Junction Point also is set in a suspenseful futuristic horror setting and introduces a number of themes and game mechanics that support this vibe. The storyline is a moody cross between System Shock and Apocalypse Now.

Desperate Gunplay: Like Shock, the combat in Junction Point will be quick and decisive.
Most PC shooters are essentially games of attrition. Players can take dozens of rounds of shotgun shells, grenades, and BFG fire before they even start feeling woozy. The gunplay in Shock was a much more decisive affair; it was crucial to get the drop on your foe and fire on him before he knew you were there. Junction Point will adhere to this style of gunplay. The player will be fairly vulnerable to gunfire and ammo will be difficult to come by. They will have to take their foes by surprise, make ample of use of cover and make every shot count. To reinforce this, the player will be rewarded for careful shooting by the fact that shots to critical body parts (head, heart, etc.) will do more damage than other hits. With non-human and robotic enemies, the player will have to find out the best places to hit!

Isolation: The protagonist of Shock was a vulnerable isolated character.
This leveraged the horror/suspense of the story and provided a number of useful design tools. JP will continue the theme that the player is alone in a hostile world and that their only contact with friendly forces is non-interactive in-game cut-scenes (see ghosts below) which play a similar role to the logs and emails of Shock.

Wield yea a Cannon	Enemy deconstruction sometimes require big tools, and this shocker's packin a hefty one!
Battle that Mutant!	A not so friendly familiar face gets up close and personal.
Big Badda-Boom!	Grenades are definitely making a comeback, a big bright pretty comeback!
Unlucky Victim	This does not look like a lab accident.
Remember...	Our favorite Screenshot!

Along with the screenshots, Gamecenter also had the following bits of detail on the 3 character classes.

System Shock 2 is an RPG with an in-game character generation system--your character develops as you make decisions along the way, rather than right at the beginning.

If you decide to specialize in Cyber-Tech skills, you can hack into systems, repair damaged computers, and research advanced technologies.

If you choose Psionic skills, you can gain the edge by Electro-dampening your cybernetic enemies, or using your Enrage power to turn them against each other.

Those who go for Weapons skills will be able to configure, modify, and repair all sorts of weapons and use a variety of ammo types, such as armor-piercing, dum dum, and incendiary.

You will need to master the Advanced Psionic Powers System...

While nothing is settled yet, we are currently looking at 4 players max. Saves should be allowed. -- Robert "Xemu" Fermier System Shock 2 Lead Programmer

... and Polito, a character you first encounter as a voice, will guide you on your way.

The complexity of the interface of Shock 1 was to some degree of barrier of entry to most players. One of our primary design goals on Shock 2 was to simplify the interface WITHOUT limiting its expressiveness. This was no easy task, believe you me. However, I can say without hesitation that the player can actually do MORE specific actions in Shock 2 in Shock 1. To that, I mean they may:

Walk, run, lean, crouch, manage inventory, drop items, load different types of ammo, install softs, configure cybernetic implants, configure weapons, hack computer, repair tech items, research technology, etc.

I think the primary change we've made is adding mouselook. We believe this is de rigeur in modern 3D fp gaming. However, because the last thing we want to do is alienate the fans of the first game, we have ALSO included a classic Shock mode which interfaces similarly the the first game. In other words, you can play the the game a la Shock 1, with the keyboard controlling movement and the mouse controlling aiming of weapons.

I understand your frustration, esp. given the current trend of PC games out there where the sequel only vaguely resembles the original. However, Shock 2 is not that kind of sequel. On our press tour last week, the most common response from the journalists who loved the first game was "Wow,it really feels like System Shock.". This was the best compliment the team could have received.

System Shock 1 is one of my favorite games of all time. Our design was made with incredible amounts of respect to that classic. In fact, I think we might be dinged for making the game too "deep", because we've re-introduced the character development and growth RPG aspects last seen in Underworld 2.

Although the game looks sufficiently complex to us, there are interface elements that demonstrate this ease-of-use philosophy. For instance, pass the cursor over certain objects and text pops up to explain how to use that item. Another ease-of-use feature is that your PDA will give you messages to help you navigate the environment.

The team also promises to include some advanced weapons beyond what you'd normally find in Quake. Your inventory will be limited, so you'll have to pick your weapons wisely. And your weapons come with the ability to be modified, repaired, and set to highest damage possible. One unique weapon is actually attached intravenously to your wrist.

A few problems though. This won't be the last preview that will compare SS2 to Half Life, which just shouldn't be done. Also, I'm curious as to why they chose to say,

In System Shock 2, an accident has occurred on your spaceship and most of the people around you are dead. Looking Glass promises that the story line will offer many surprises, but we know that you'll need to find out what happened, and Shodan (a master computer) will guide you on your way.

As far as news goes, I don't know what I can say -- I'm sure there'll be some new stuff soon with the press tour. We've been doing a lot of playing this week -- things look pretty good. I haven't yet tried coop, but from what I hear it's coming along.

We're tweaking [the controls & interface] alot -- we plan to get a bunch of people to play different configs and determine from that. But it's all configurable. Anything Thief is capable of, we are too, but Thief has different emphasis, so the gameplay is different (hiding is different). The [user interface] has come a long way, and I think we're coming closer and closer to something great. Hopefully some shots will be going out soon; there were a bunch taken today. You'll see a lot of different stuff. We've changed [the interface] even more -- We've been progressing more towards an aesthetic, so what you saw might have been a sort of "half way" thing.

I think the realistic head on SS2.com is a cool touch.

I've heard the new screenshots will show a new, cool enemy. . . But don't hold me to that. :) ... we have Mark Lizotte doing some stuff [on the enemies], and he worked on the original. . .

One of my favorite things about Thief was the cutscenes -- we're also very lucky to have Dan Thron working on Shock 2. (he did the in-between cutscenes)

To my knowledge, yes [Eric Brosius will be doing the music], and I think Josh Randall, our producer might be doing some, but I don't really know. I've heard that the music will be, "Shock-y." The sound effects are pretty darn cool, from what I've heard. . . I was really impressed with the way they were integrated into the gameplay. . .

It's really not so simple a question and perhaps its my fault for phrasing it how I did. We've put a lot of thought into this. Shock 2 has a number of methods for dealing with poly counts. One is the brain dead solution of having a very high poly monster in a sealed off area that you know you won't run into any other monsters in. The other solution is to populate areas of levels with mostly middle poly (numerous) foes and hope you dont' get too many. Then we have a bunch of both low poly and low AI overhead monsters who exhibit more animal behaviors that we can have tons of. Remember, because we have patrolling monsters and dynamically spawned monsters (behaviors few if any other games exhibhit) we never know where the player will be fighting whom.

Compare this to the linear half-life, et al. where everything is carefully stage managed. Because Shock 2 is the game it is, which is to say a very free wheeling, exploratory, you're on your own find the best way to solve the problems kind of game, we pay the price in never knowing WHAT the player is going to be seeing at once.

Which, as you might guess, can be limiting (watch those polys) and amazing (if you've played any other LG game, you know what I mean).

Congratulations from Irrational Games on the launch of SystemShock2.Com. We're looking forward to some great insight from the fans on this page. Look forward to a new feature on this page, called "From the Design Doc" where Irrational delivers an actual section of the real System Shock 2 design document to your web page."

... all the major print and net press sources: pc gamer, cgw, pc games, gamespot, etc.

[NPCs] are a tricky thing in Shock. The key is to make the player feel all alone.
Even if perhaps there are a few NPCs around.
Perhaps.
Press tour next week. Many questions will be answered soon.

Press tour next week? I can't wait!

Oh, that little security alert symbol. Well,there's these little things called security cameras that have four states of awareness. When the camera reaches the highest state, its sets off an alarm. This alarm not only calls bad guys to where you are, it also increases the patrols in the general area.

To counteract this, the savvy tech player can hack into security systems and shut them down for a period of time. However, a badly executed hack might bring down the security forces on the hapless hacker.

One of the many cool high tech sims in Shock 2.

It's a valid concern. In Thief: The Dark Project, the creature poly count was, while not terribly bad, definitely sub par, and the texture quality was debatable (I happen to think that it was very, very good). From this early glimpse, it looks as though SS2 will be going the same way... or will it? Thankfully we have Ken Levine, production leader, to quash our fears...

I certainly appreciate the posts. The assassin is not done yet, there are some crtical elements that I can't talk about yet that you 're not seeing. It will be cool.

Take our word for it: we're not deliberately holding back on the polygons.It's always a fine choice between performance and graphics and I think a bad framerate can kill a game. Our design allows combats between the player and quite a few enemies at one time. Would you rather have fewer enemies and better looking ones or more enemies? The trade off really is that simple. That question isn't rhetorical, I really want to know what people think.

In addition, remember, you're not seeing the cool motion captures working when you're looking at the foes, so keep that in mind. It's much less than half the pictures.

If I had my way, I wouldn't want to show ANY of the graphics until the game was ready to ship and everything is done, finished and final. You ever been to a rehearsal of a play months before it is performed? We're still in the "rehearsal stage". But I know people want to be intouch with the development of the game.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

-Ken

So what will set SS2 apart? Will SS2 be a *gasp* HL clone? Absolutely NOT!

First and foremost, HL is a shooter, and SS2 is a role playing game. That very distinction sets them worlds apart. To describe this further, we once again have Ken Levine, Lead Designer.

First off, I think Half Life is a brilliant product. I played it all the way through and loved it.

However, it is a very very different product from Shock 2. Half life is more like interactive Pirates of the Caribbean, a very stage managed, linear experience. That linear experience is incredible and entertaining. There is little room for experimentation. In order for you to see all those cool sequences, the designers had to have a pretty good idea of the player's position, loadout and state at any one time.

System Shock 2 is less focused on presentational elements (though we have quite a few Half life style in engine cinematic sequences)and much more centered on providing a world with incredible depth of simulation and interaction. We want to provide the player with a nearly endless variety of tools (both from a weapons/tech items perspective and a character skills perspective) and let them approach problems as they see fit.

I remember the first time I played Ultima Underworld. I was being pursued by a bunch of goblins. I was in bad shape, near death, fleeing down a hallway, slinging stones towards my tormentors. All of a sudden, I ran smack dab into a spider's lair, and there I was, locked in a pitched 3 way battle. The designer's never intended for this to happen. I created the event through my actions and it made that moment unforgettable. That vibe, that feeling of uniqueness is what Shock 2 (and all LG games) are about and that's what we are striving to provide the tools to make happen.

Half life is about expert presentation. Shock 2 is about ultimate improvisation.

Info Data.Node - If you have been keeping track of SS2 for the past months, then you should be familiar with TTLG's SS2FAQ. Well guess what. That's it. It's not even a mirror, it's the same site, exactly the same as before. Our esteemed maintainer, La0s, just got back from vacation, so there won't be any updates for a few more days.

Media Databank - Your one stop shop for all the released SS2 graphics, screenshots, and official artwork. Once again, exactly what we have at TTLG. Pretty empty at the moment, and we all hope that will change soon.

Columns / Press - Finally, something new! Well, not really. This is where we will post up all of our exclusive articles and interviews and whatnot, and links to online previews and such. At the moment we only have one interview, and, well, we are still waiting for a gaming mag site to post up a preview of this game. At the moment it just links to the TTLG Press page, but that will be chaning shortly, most likely. Stay tuned, of course.

Discussion - Perhaps our greatest claim to fame, the place where the SS2 designers and fans can meet to discuss this game. Ken Levine, the head honcho in charge of SS2 stuff, visits this forum, leaving comments and answering questions, at least once ever two days or so. You can see the obvious advantage to participating in this, I hope.

Fan Works - This is where you fans come in. We already have a few stories, and pieces of art, and we want more. You guys (yes, fans, I'm talking to you) need to submit them, so we can show 'em off for you. he world of System Shock has some incredible room for fictional creation, so do it! Right now the page is an exact replica of the SS2 FanStories Site from TTLG. It will get a total overhall shortly.

Chatroom - Off-line at the moment. Soon it will link you to the FGN Java chatroom (I know what you're thinking.. Java chat? They usually stink. Not this one.), as well as info on how to get to TTLG's SS2 chatroom (that's #system`shock`2 on Polaris.starchat.net), and a link to that channel's Log.

Down below we see links to SS2's Terrible Trio, the developers and Publisher. Further down is our neat little counter thing. (I confess, the fist 100 hits or so are me) Then we have... okay, this stuff is obvious....

Back up top, there are three well labeled lists. In case you disagree with me as to how well they are labeled, I shall explain them. (Some would argue that I just enjoy typing, but seeing as I haven't written any novels yet, I tend to disagree... where was I?) Top News is a list of links to the news post that we feel are extremely noteworthy. As you can see, the only one currently there is the news of our opening. Yes, this is indeed extremely noteworthy. Next is the Recent Articles. Just as our Columns / Press section provides a complete list of articles, this menu post the ones that are the most recent. Latest Updates lets us know the dates when the SS2 sites, like the official one, Data.Node, or the Media Databank, are updated.

Then, at E3, it became official. System Shock 2 was in development by Looking Glass Studios (LGS) and Irrational Games Inc. (IGI) (a company formed by ex-lglass people, may of which worked on System Shock 1 (SS1)), and will be published by Electronic Arts (EA) (who own Origin, the people who published SS1). Excitement and rejoicing abounded, and when the dust settled, TTLG was serving LGS's long time fans daily news (well, at least the days when there was news, the reported it) on SS2.

And well, SS2 is now under development. But just what is SS2 about anyway? Well, what better way to describe it then with the official press release.

* * *

Cambridge, MA, September 21, 1998 - Looking Glass Studios, a leading entertainment software developer, today announced preliminary details about System Shock 2, its forthcoming 3D science fiction role-playing game. System Shock 2 is the highly anticipated sequel to Looking Glass' System Shock(TM)™, a groundbreaking game which was ranked the sixth best game of all time in the October 1998 issue of PC Gamer. Co-developed by Looking Glass Studios and Irrational Games, a development studio comprised of former Looking Glass Studios employees and members of the original System Shock development team, System Shock 2 is being co-published by Looking Glass Studios and Electronic Arts(TM).

System Shock 2 utilizes an enhanced version of Looking Glass Studios' proprietary Dark Engine, which is first being used in Thief: The Dark Project™, to create an immersive role-playing world rendered in 16-bit color with colored and dynamic lighting models. The game will also contain advanced role playing features including character generation and growth, an elegant inventory system, a compelling science fiction world to explore and a unique multiplayer mode.

"Since its release in 1994, gamers have been clamoring for a sequel to System Shock," said Paul Neurath, managing director of Looking Glass Studios. "System Shock was ahead of its time in terms of both gameplay and technology. For System Shock 2, we're once again incorporating cutting-edge technologies and gameplay elements to create a role-playing game that maintains the integrity of the original while continuing the Looking Glass tradition of being ahead of the curve."

* * *

Sequel to the award-winning original System Shock, judged by PC Gamer this year as the Sixth Best PC Game of all time.

Incredibly Rich Science Fiction Role-Playing Game System- Detailed Character Generation and Growth, Inventory and Equipping, Traits. System Shock 2 proves that real RPGs can have incredible 3D technology.

Advanced Psionic Powers System- Distract and confound your foes with a dazzling variety of Psi-powers such as Cyber-Psi, Cryrokinesis and Force Wall.

The most detailed weapons simulation in any first person game: modify, repair and set your weapons to do the most damage possible. Choose your ammo wisely…your foes will.

Unique cooperative multiplayer mode for up to 4 players.

Hack security systems, ship's replicators and sensitive data access panels, but watch your step. One false move can drop you in a world of hurt.

Incredible 3D engine featuring 16 bit color, colored lighting, variable translucency objects, AI's that can patrol and alert each other to danger and stunning particle effects.

A groundbreaking, easy to use interface that compromises none of the depth of the System Shock experience.