UNDERTOW

• the current beneath the surface of a body of water, moving in a direction different from that of the surface current.
  an underlying current, force, or tendency that is in opposition to what is apparent

My "one-man game studio" Undertow Games is now an officially registered company, and a website+blog is also up! So if you want to hear what I've been up to lately and a little introduction to the new game project I've gradually been moving onto, check out the blog. And even though I don't talk about SCP-CB much in the blog posts I've made so far, I haven't abandoned it: there will still be updates every now and then, even though I'm putting more focus on Subsurface now.

Pretty cool, good luck on your new game!

I hope you enjoy making your new game, so you are using 2D this will be interesting I love 2D Games I don't know why I could say that more effort is put into it but that would be wrong.

Alright!!

This game sounds interesting. Maybe I'll get my hands on it to make mods.

Awesome that you got your own company! Good luck on the game, looking pretty good so far!

It's placeholder graphics though, have you decided on the art style it will have? Are you aiming for semi-realistic?

For one, I'd like to start off about how you're making non-horror games. I think it's a great step forward, I definitely understand if you don't want to work on a horror experience since you have worked on CB for quite a while. Giving the source code out means technically the game will never die as long as people are still tampering with it. As for pricing, I do think $5 is a decent price and $10 is something a lot of people would pay for. C# isn't quite the C++ a lot of people think you should go for, but it's a lot better than Blitz Basic IMO. Personally I don't know if making the game moddable or not is a good thing yet, but we haven't seen much of the game and it's your game. Being moddable itself isn't a bad thing, but just whether you could work on other areas of the game.

As for the game itself, that's one fucking original idea. Definitely will buy, but before you release you should look into getting into Steam-Greenlight. I bet that even if they aren't forum regulars a lot of people would vote for the game if you post you are the creator of CB, it's like an internet resume kindof. Hell, I think still that even CB would go on the steam market as a free game. Good luck, if you ever need anything there are still plenty of people here to help you out and give you encouragement!

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

Irontaco wrote:It's placeholder graphics though, have you decided on the art style it will have? Are you aiming for semi-realistic?

I'm not 100% sure yet, but I think I will be aiming for something semi-realistic with high-res sprites and dynamic lighting effects. There was a game project developed by the creator of Soldat called Link-Dead (now cancelled), which is pretty close to the kind of style I'd like to achieve.

mrpeanut188 wrote:For one, I'd like to start off about how you're making non-horror games. I think it's a great step forward, I definitely understand if you don't want to work on a horror experience since you have worked on CB for quite a while.

Yeah, it's been almost three years of making horror games (starting with SCP-087-B) and I really feel like trying something else for a change. I don't think I have that much new or interesting ideas for a horror game at the moment anyway, after pouring all of them into SCP-CB.

mrpeanut188 wrote:Giving the source code out means technically the game will never die as long as people are still tampering with it.

True. Although, since I'm putting most of the game content into moddable scripts, people will still be able to do quite extensive modifications even though the most important core features can't be changed. There's also the possibility that I'll make it open source some time after the initial release.

mrpeanut188 wrote:C# isn't quite the C++ a lot of people think you should go for, but it's a lot better than Blitz Basic IMO.

I'm pretty sure I can make a better game in C# than I could with C++. Most of the people who've spent time editing the code of SCP-CB have probably noticed how bad I am when it comes to memory management, and I'm afraid that doing a large project using a language with manual memory management and major differences to everything I've used so far, would very likely end up being a memory leak nightmare. Besides, I'm not so sure if there are any major advantages in using C++ over a language I'm more familiar in a project like this. I doubt the slightly better performance would even cause any noticeable difference in performance for example.

mrpeanut188 wrote:As for the game itself, that's one fucking original idea. Definitely will buy, but before you release you should look into getting into Steam-Greenlight. I bet that even if they aren't forum regulars a lot of people would vote for the game if you post you are the creator of CB, it's like an internet resume kindof. Hell, I think still that even CB would go on the steam market as a free game. Good luck, if you ever need anything there are still plenty of people here to help you out and give you encouragement!

Thanks for the compliments. :) Getting the game into Steam at some point is definitely one of my goals. And about this forum, I think I'll do a little restructuring in the near future and change it to the official forum of Undertow Games with separate sections for SCP-CB, Subsurface and the other games.

As for people helping me with the game, that's maybe a little more complicated now that I'm planning to sell the game. I'll be listening to ideas and other feedback just like with SCP-CB of course, but having people make graphics/sounds/code for the game is something I'm not yet quite sure how to go with. There would probably be some volunteers willing to do it for free just like for SCP-CB, but I don't feel comfortable with the idea of making money from someone elses work. Paying people for the work makes things a lot more complicated too, I'd have to start worrying about contracts and employer taxes and all this legal stuff. Then there's also the question of how I'll pay: it would probably have to be a share from the potential sales revenue when the game is released, as I can't pay for anyone now with my limited student budget, and crowdfunding is also a bit problematic because of a retarded Finnish law which forbids starting a fundraiser without a goverment-issued license which is practically impossible to get if you're not a charity organization or something. There will apparently be some changes to the law in the near future though (mostly because of the recent uprise of sites like Kickstarter), but it might still take years before that happens.

Regalis wrote:I'm pretty sure I can make a better game in C# than I could with C++. Most of the people who've spent time editing the code of SCP-CB have probably noticed how bad I am when it comes to memory management, and I'm afraid that doing a large project using a language with manual memory management and major differences to everything I've used so far, would very likely end up being a memory leak nightmare. Besides, I'm not so sure if there are any major advantages in using C++ over a language I'm more familiar in a project like this. I doubt the slightly better performance would even cause any noticeable difference in performance for example.

You're using the language you're more experienced in to make a game, that's the way it should be. I fully support your move as it's still a great language, especially since I have seen firsthand the pot of spaghetti that is CB.

Regalis wrote: Thanks for the compliments. Getting the game into Steam at some point is definitely one of my goals. And about this forum, I think I'll do a little restructuring in the near future and change it to the official forum of Undertow Games with separate sections for SCP-CB, Subsurface and the other games.

You're welcome, all deserved. That's also good, these forums have needed some fresh blood for a while and expanding the user-base would definitely help bring a lot of good. Hell, maybe even someone will come along and will design the next best mod for CB. Or a very talented existing user could remake it on something like the Irrlicht engine *cough cough*

Regalis wrote: As for people helping me with the game, that's maybe a little more complicated now that I'm planning to sell the game. I'll be listening to ideas and other feedback just like with SCP-CB of course, but having people make graphics/sounds/code for the game is something I'm not yet quite sure how to go with. There would probably be some volunteers willing to do it for free just like for SCP-CB, but I don't feel comfortable with the idea of making money from someone elses work. Paying people for the work makes things a lot more complicated too, I'd have to start worrying about contracts and employer taxes and all this legal stuff. Then there's also the question of how I'll pay: it would probably have to be a share from the potential sales revenue when the game is released, as I can't pay for anyone now with my limited student budget, and crowdfunding is also a bit problematic because of a retarded Finnish law which forbids starting a fundraiser without a goverment-issued license which is practically impossible to get if you're not a charity organization or something. There will apparently be some changes to the law in the near future though (mostly because of the recent uprise of sites like Kickstarter), but it might still take years before that happens.

I think that if someone wanted to help development of the game and volunteer their time that you should let them, however having a "team" is a whole different ballgame. I've never done something commerical, only extremely small scale hobbyist games, most are lying half-complete as I have commitment issues. *cough cough again* I'm like a jack-of-all-trades for the internet, I want to make atleast 1 of everything. Anyways, I think you would have enough volunteer work for a 2D game. As for the law, that really sucks. IMO I think government is a bad thing when it does more than just moderate crime and economy. Thinks like, healthcare *cough cough* should not be controlled by government. Socialized medicine is the first step of communism and that's what Obama is doing to the United States. #FirstWorldProblems

You know, in the state of Florida a politician tried to pass a bill that said that every resident had to purchase and own one firearm. Of course it was shot down because "You can't force people to buy something, that's against the Constitution." But healthcare is ok, especially when the population is paying for all the illegal mexicans jumping the border. If you try to enter the US legally you have to learn English, be taught American history, and earn a living. If you cross the border illegally you get free healthcare, education, and welfare.

I'm sorry I got off-topic, point being I agree the law is stupid but you should let people volunteer their time if they want too, don't be sheepish about this if it's commercial. People should understand that their work could be scrapped or changed at ANY moment in time.

This is all great news Regalis! Your new project sounds as ambitious as I expected. I have no doubt that tracking its progress will be just as exciting as keeping up with Containment Breach has been over the past few years. I wanted to write up a more formal compilation of my thoughts and ideas regarding Undertow Games, Subsurface, and the future of Containment Breach, but due to time constraints I am going to wait and see in what direction things move for now. As far as helping out with Subsurface goes, I completely understand your concern with accepting collaboration on a project that will eventually be monetized. That being said, whereas I was very limited in how much I could assist in the development of Containment Breach with blitzbasic, C# is a language that I have a great deal of experience working with, so if things ever work out in such a way that I can be of some assistance, I would be honored to lend a hand. Until then, I look forward to keeping up with the Undertow blog and seeing how Subsurface begins to shape out!