The year is 2043 and powerful Megacorporations run the show. A global epidemic hits the world, and along with it a renaissance of technological growth takes place, but it expands faster than the people can adjust to. The world is a tumultuous place, and in this chaos, corporate powers establish a new order offering corporate citizenship, which many gladly accept due to promises of job security, personal security and a comfortable day to day existence. Welcome to the cyberpunk world of Net Gain: Corporate Espionage.
Indie developer John Gosling from Level Zero Games, proposes a sci-fi strategy game where you play the role of a broker working for a megacorporation in this cyberpunk world. Your job is to spy the competition, assemble teams and sabotage their plans. And, you do this not in the streets as a field agent, but from the heights of a “penthouse view”.
The game’s objective is to acquire more power and wealth. And, you achieve this by gaining the advantage over your competitors by destroying their assets or by stealing them. Gameplay involves a series of “plots”, or mini challenges that need your input on the best course of action. You may decide to encourage your agents to befriend your rivals and invite them to defect, or use other non-lethal techniques like blackmailing or bribing.
John Gosling’s Net Gain: Corporate Espionage in a nutshell:
- Sci-fi strategy game
- Cyberpunk setting
- Gameplay: creating and completing missions, each offering a series of mini-challenges
- Single-player only
- Windows, Mac and Linux
- ETA: prototype in June 2013, v1.0 in Q1 2014
- $20 pledge to get game
- Why Kickstarter: To allow solo developer to work full-time on game until it reaches v1.0
John seems to be well on his way to make it with $7,500 from $16,000 already raised (~47%), with 27 days to go. There are also a bunch of rewards which allow you to leave your mark on the game by giving a name to a character of your choice, writing a news story of your own or customize a mission, just to name a few perks.
Here’s John’s pitch video. Don’t miss it, as the live action sequence is quite cool!
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Reminds me of Tycoon game version of Syndicate.
That thought also crossed my mind :)
That’s a pretty close assessment! Though your focus is more on running espionage operations than the management of the corporation itself.
…of course, a powerful broker always knows what strings to pull to influence the corporation’s decisions!
Sounds like a pretty “niche” kinda game. It isn’t going to win any awards for graphics, either. I think I’ll keep my money.
Looks like a ton of fun but I’d like to hear more about how gameplay actually plays out.
Definitely a niche game, sure, but so’s just about everything worth buying, and the graphics may not be pretty but I reckon as long as they convey the information that’s just fine. Not everything has to be about fancy graphics.
There’s more details about gameplay (missions and “plots”) in update #2.
I cant believe the Prototype in June 2013 statement.. It doesnt look like Pre-Alpha..
A Syndicate remake which is complex and well presented like XCom would be nice :)
A management sim with a cyberpunk setting does not make you a Syndicate.
We describe the state of development in more detail in Update #2. the prototype will only be the core features, to be built over the year.
Also, it’s not a tactics game, like Syndicate/X-Com. Update #2 has the details on how the game works.
The trailer looks really promising, I always wanted a game similiar to Net gain. Although it’s hard to imagine how to play a game by those few menus and screens that you see.
Sounds very interesting, with some refreshing, seldom used ideas. I really don’t care about the graphics as long as the game-play is deep enough. Reminds me a little of the Mech commander games where you play a controller directing battles from afar. Also, as previously mentioned, the Syndicate influence is unmistakeable too.
I think I’ll wait for a few reviews before parting with my money though. If there’s anything that games like Aliens Colonial Marines should have taught us, its that putting money down on games – sight unseen – can make you very sorry indeed, even if the game concept or demo looks awesome at first glance.
Gorgeous art direction on the UI. Reminds me of some really cool 90’s stuff. Kudos to the designer. It oozes character, something a lot of the modern 3D crapware of these days seriously lack.
Hi! Thanks for the press! Like you said, it’s been going really well. Hopefully your coverage will push us over the top!
Looks interesting (nevertheless the graphic could be improved a little bit).
BUT: would it be possible to use a READABLE font? I understand this belongs to the C64 cyberpunk feeling, but at least implement the possibility to switch between the default and a more readable font type.
The headers will be the same but yes, I’ll be sure to include an option for a easily legible font before 1.0
Sounds very promising. I love the music sample! Unity is an awesome.
The one big negative is probably the graphics. I showed it to my old Shadowrun group(also some other friends) and would have gotten half of them to pledge if it wasn’t for the graphics.
As you play a Broker/Mr. Johnson you are probably employed by and not the owner of a corporation. So what influence has your employing corporation on you? Will there be missions or goals set, like weaken corporation X or make CEO X resign from Company Y.
Can you lose Assets from missions run against you by rivaling corporations?
I wish every best but you most definitely gonna succeed.
The graphics shown are what I expect to have in prototype and for the majority of development. As we get closer to 1.0 I’ll be able to add more aesthetic touches but the overall style will be the same.
The corporation trusts you to use your best judgement, and as long as youre bringing in the money they don’t care how you did it.In fact, they’d rather *not* know! You set your own goals, though things that align with your companies interests (stealing assets they can use, for example) help the company the most, and thus increase your budget more.
You CAN lose assets from enemy runs! your security will notify you if they detect any plots against your corp, and you can take out the attackers however you see fit (using the same target/objective mission structure used to kill/bribe/etc in enemy territory).
Thanks!