The Design of Dead Space - Part 1 

GREAT JOB, MARK! Love EVERYTHING YOU DO!!!

dude you are awesome and it is really good to see you analyse one of my favorite games (deadspace 1 and 2) cant wait for next part :D

Mark Brown Mark I know that I am not a patreon but I really wish to know what do you think about Yooka Laylee.

Mark Brown well im gonna wait for your video of ds2, is in my birthday and ds2 was one of my favorites nice video on the first one!

Eh, not too keen on it. Worlds just feel so empty and sterile. And I don't find the core interaction (jumping, combat) too fun. Really holding me back from playing any more of it.

Hey jakey i tried calling you for a rematch 1v1 sesh on halo but you didnt answer my calls my mom is telling your mom!

Oosh

Hey I just started playing bioshock cuz I watched your video

Agreed, incredible video.

Nudey McJudy? I miss you bae. I thought you were trash until I realized trash is what I needed.

Good points! Except for those between chapter tram rides/loading screens. Unless those aren't on PC (which would be amazing), I played it on 360 myself.

Thank you! You're right about those "tram loads" but they managed to make even them feel seamless - camera zoom on a tram map, then loading, and then camera zoom out, no cuts! :) I'm glad they took this narrative approach in the second and third games and did even more impressive job with it.

half life had a similar philosophy for not taking control away from the player. I cant help but think the enemies were a little inspired by halflife too. Great games take great inspiration I suppose.

Both Half-Life and Dead Space enemies were highly inspired by the Alien movies. And that's perfectly fine as well :)

Yeah, no cuts except the loading screens, and camera pans, and the parts where you stop dead in your tracks to talk to someone who's face popped up in the middle of the screen so you can't see anything.

those are some magnetic boots that attract themselves into the floor while you stomp someone in the head that's great

When in doubt, stomp it out.

I may or may not have spammed the stomp button for a full minute after killing my first monster.

The fact that Isaac starts swearing after you've stomped for a bit means that the devs knew what the stomping was really for.

I'd agree were it not for Bayonetta

It's a different image from now

@@ZenoDLCYeah and the image is hidden in a lootbox in Star War Battlefront 2 or behind three microtransaction in some day one DLC.

@@Shadow-zf5uc Funnily enough, BF2 now has 0 paid loot crates now

@@RetroRadianceLight Only because people complained enough. EA doesn't get credit for that.

Shadow 2550 that and some countries were banning the game considering “surprise mechanics” as underage gambling

Sugary Salt At the same time, EA is the only reason dead space exists

Pretty sure EA and Visceral have said Dead Space isn't finished, their just really busy with Star Wars games right now and would like to return to the universe of DS in the future. Though its EA so I'll take it with a grain of salt, but EA haven't said Dead Space is shit canned for good to my knowledge which gives me hope.

I thought they considered DS4 but promptly said that they won't be doing any more after they saw the numbers on DS3? I really hope they DO make DS4.

DS3 did poorly, but it was still a best seller. EA has never said its not happening, in fact I remember hearing they said another one could happen, they just don't have an idea when yet. Visceral is making a new Star Wars game so their super busy, if EA are smart they'll realise DS3 did poorly because it cost more than there were fans of the series to make up for the costs.

It never got a proper anything. It's one great game and that's all.

JimKandol I played Dead Space 2 before I played the first, so when I finally did get to that part in Dead Space it caught me COMPLETELY by surprise. Not once had they pulled that shit on me so it was the last thing I expected. I literally jumped and made a nosie similar to "OIGUG-FUKIN SHIT".

I still remember that one work bench in that loud area. When you use it a Slasher comes from behind. I almost shat my floor

Kurt Yarish its a shame u played 2 first, the return to the ishimura brought a serious feeling of dread in 2 after surviving it in 1. i remember it being the objective and just thinking, oh fuxk this shit, and my stomach sinking.

JimKandol Yeah, it was really lost on me. Though it did a good job getting at me. That long, dark tunnel was a bitch to move through, and the flashback-jumpscares actually got me a few times.

- Me was high as fuck playing dead space.. - Finally found a 5/5 safe room with a armor service, store, save computer, upgrade table, bunch of ammo health and a power node. - Chill out in the room for a good while feeling relieved. - Necromorph jump attacks from behind. I leaped fucking one meter in the air yelling like madman. Yeah that shit was intense... I think it was in the middle of DS2 so it was completely random thing to happen i had gotten totally used to letting my guard down in rooms with shop. Damn DS was good!!! Such fond memories :)

Yeah... Pretty much this. It's the only weapon besides the bolt cannon in DS3 I've ever used. It's quick, strong, ammo efficient and versatile.

@@jonaskonrad It has its benefits too. In DS1 enemies drop ammo for weapons you use. Thats why the uploader had ammo problems at the second half of the game. If you use the pistol and nothing else you have too much ammo and even can sell some of it. It got "fixed" in the other games.

Yah. Or force gun. Force gun is easily the most overpowered weapon in the entire series. Single handedly carried me through hardcore mode in DS2.

Aside from Plasma cutter, the most necessary weapons that I will not part with: Plasma rifle and Detonator. Detonator so that if I feel anxious, I just pop one in front or behind me. (No.1 reason for my deaths, forgetting I placed one behind me in panic) and Plasma rifle due to it's "interrupt" saving my ass several times

algi glad I'm not the only one who thought that.

algi True. Every errand literally made sense and it was necessary to complete them because that was their way of survival.

I agree, I really enjoyed figuring out how the ship "worked" based on the errands and the places I had to visit.

I used to feel anxiety with being given a new errand because it meant having to be alone and isolated deep in the bowels of the ship looking for some switch or other in the dark while hordes of body-horror monstrosities were out to tear me to shreds.

Side missions? I love them. Errands are cool for me, I don't mind ignoring the main plot as long as there are side missions! :D

derLoki I love details like that. It makes the game feel ahead of it's time. Also adds to that sci-fi feel with all the advanced tech.

Mick Wrinkles Agreed. Sometimes I just stop walking and just listen to the sounds for a minute. The creaking and groaning of the ships interior. Screams of terror in the background that make you think someone on board is still alive somewhere. Whispers throughout the halls.

For me another cool thing in regard of DS1 sound was how heavy the suit felt and the changes in Issac breathing.

All thanks to EA.

REMAKE BABY!

I'm new the series and bought all 3 on a whim and I really enjoyed the series and was a great buy. Visercial games proved to be a very capable company making games more polished than most games out there. When I heard it got shut down, it made me really despise ea cuz I know they ruined the game. A 4th would be nice but I'm pretty sure all the workers moved on by now. Now if it was fan made, I bet it would be good.

@@magicmanscott40k Check out 'negative athmophere' it's in developing,but you can see the progress on their channel

Bruno Flores Too bad EA blew that chance. Visceral is dead... But I would've loved to see a VR Dead Space.

Dead space v.r sounds like the best thing ever

Scott Fillinger and simultaneously most terrifying

Bruno Flores wonder what they’re do with the healthbar you wouldn’t be able to see your health

SoulLight maybe the health bar would br on your forearm

Dark games generally look better when they age.

I would not say that, infact colourfull games like Zelda: Wind Waker or borderlans often age much better. What helped Dead Space is a verry distinct artstyle.

Those are because they are artistically styled, those games are timeless. You and I are talking about realistic graphical games.

nahhh, I got used to them after a while just know when they regen after you down them

+Zafran Orbian What really helped is Dead Space is not that old...

Djorgal I thought he ment those fans :)

"You ought to be wary of any fans you encounter" is good advice for any franchise indeed.

Gotem

I mean, look... If EA didn't make false promises, absorb all the decent indie developers and ruin them, or treat its entire client base like a bunch of idiot children, then I venture to suggest that perhaps their "fans" wouldn't appear as such vicious visages as they do now. Every time EA tries to play the victim card against fans, I simply have one thought: _"You brought this on yourself. Be better."_

People don't give dead space enough credit for its art direction, they went for a disgusting body horror vibe and absolutely nailed it, I love how all monsters are a creative spin on some human flesh, like the limbs that can detach themselves and crawl on the walls like spiders and the fucked up organic mold that coats the ship as you mentioned.

StEvEn420BrUlE The corruption itself is one of the scariest things to me. It grows fast, It's nasty, and it can assimilate people into it. Turning them into guardians. Another enemy that shook me.

There will come a point where you enter back into the Ishimura in Dead Space 2, and you will constantly hear Nicole's voice whisper "Isaaac" in a low, quiet, taunting voice. It's basically the Ishimura getting to his own head again. In fact, and this is a testament to the incredible level design, but the Ishimura basically feels like it's own entity by that point. All the people that died on that godforsaken ship are now a part of it, the walls, the floors, the ceilings, all the rooms - going back there feels like you're entering back into a horrifying and traumatic nightmare as an adult for the first time again after you stopped having it for years since you were a child. It really is no wonder Dead Space 3 is so mediocre compared to Dead Space 2.

@@endlessevanescence3502 DS3 actually made the same mistake as ResE6 they made it close to an action game rather than a horror game

Thanks!

You mean that's part 2.

Atleast the devs added a classic mode once you played trew it for the first time, wich brings back manny of the old elements.

DrearierSpider1 I can't wait for that shit!

algi nah, the story and some peripheral elements got worse in 2, but it became an even better shooter than the original.

algi nope the second game is great the 3 is horrible

(sheds a single tear)

Sadly it's Vsync on and 30fps or Vysnc off and 60fps.

You can disable vsync from the in-game options and enable it in the drivers menu. This will give you 60fps without tearing. I played both Dead Space 1 and 2 like this, it will surely work.

Yeah but turning vsync on adds a noticeable amount of latency, that on top of the shitty mouse and keyboard support doesnt make for good play. The way hes moving the aim looks like hes using controller which is actually easier for ds1. If he used OBS then the tearing would cease since it captures from the game's framebuffer and not the whole screen. I havent tried deadspace with obs but from my experience it works most of the time, provided the game uses the framebuffer properly. Some games even with good software refuse to not tear, like the Bethesda games as of late. Try forcing opengl triple buffered frames if nothing else since that does the same job as vsync with a much less noticeable hit to frame timings.

I found the hud made the game have much quicker combat. I also found it brilliant compared to other games that came out at that time. It also had way better graphics than most ps3 games put there which impressed me a lot.

Tried that and it never works.

Blade master yeah that's a good idea

Blade master I would like to see that

Now I wanna see a video on Xenoblade Chronicles' combat system.

Maybe! I've talked about this stuff before in various videos but a dedicated episode could be good.

"dark souls"

JustCallMeMrWest That caught me off guard. Some lure you into traps. You mean to tell me these "things" have some capability of thinking!?

I just thought you were pressing F5

Me too.

I care

Dude just leave, you're the very definition of shitposting.

Can we just love each other and live happy lives?

BigTmoose So did I.

What a game, right? Aged super well!

BigTmoose Agreed. It feels ahead of it's time despite the years that have passed. I'm even playing through it today. Headphones make it a whole new world. All the little bangs and creaks.

Vanquish is the best, but Dead Space isn't far behind.

RE4/5? Splatoon? Gears of War? Vanquish? Kid Icarus: Uprising? There are things to like about _Dead Space_, but I find the core shooting and enemy interactions to be pretty shallow.

For horror, I agree. I am definitely not a fan of 3rd person games, but Dead Space is my favorite! Have you played The Suffering (2004)? That and its sequel (The Suffering: Ties That Bind.) are a very close second to Dead Space.

That's because Dead Space isn't actually a first person shooter, but a survival horror with tps elements. As for RE5, Dead Space is just waaaaay better.

What bout 2nd person shooter?

The elevator scare was really good.

It's like saying Bloodborne is all similar, which I can't understand. How can you play such an immersive game with a consistent detailed setting and wonder, oh why aren't there beaches in this game? Maybe it's an ADD thing.

there was also a mobile game too that followed the story of a Unitologist engineer

I prefer the term action-adventure. The horror stuff is mostly just theme. _Dead Space_ shares more in common with _The Legend of Zelda_ or _Metroid_ with its mixing of action, puzzles, and adventure game elements than it shares with _F.E.A.R._

I mostly agree, but the horror elements are still more than present in Dead Space. It's actively trying to freak you the hell out, and the entire game's presentation is designed around unsettling you. Unlike Zelda, and most of the Metroids.

It depends on what criteria you use for genre. The atmosphere defining elements of _Dead Space_ are mostly tertiary to the gameplay, which is what I use for labeling.

...the end of the video is him saying that this a game about action and horror...

Hmm, how come you think that they're separate? While the atmosphere is just atmosphere it's still working together with the game mechanics. You have limited mobility and need to search for ammo and health. Being low on ammo adds to the tension and creeping around corners hoping for some loot is much more interesting because of the possibility of jump scares (as opposed to you knowing there will be x enemies in a room like in a game like Zelda)

yea plus in RE4 you could deflect projectiles/weapons thrown at you, and on top of located damage there was a combo system in play for melee moves + knife at all times

The level design in the first _Dead Space_ isn't any more open than the ones in 2 and 3. That most chapters featuring branching paths off of a single "safe" area with a store is trivial since the player has to go down all paths anyways. The gameplay is just as linear. I think the level design in all three _Dead Space_ games is rather weak, but 2 and 3 have larger spaces and arenas compared to 1.

I think you're underestimating the amount that a branching path, even if the player eventually has to exhaust all the branches, grants a game environment a sense of place. In Dead Space 2 I was always able to sense the corridor, even when I was in a lumpy bit.. (I stopped playing 3 on about the third time Isaac fell from a high thing because feel tension now this is exciing!) In Dead Space 1, the fact that levels had those branches, with visual differences between them that made them feel like different functional parts of an overall whole place, made the levels feel more like I was in a place not a level.

The illusion of how the environments in _Dead Space_ feel doesn't matter very much. I'm much more interested in what the level layouts actually are, how the player must move through and understand them to progress, and how they emphasize and drive combat and other gameplay challenges. In this sense, the level design across all the _Dead Space_ games in terms of linearity and progression are very similar.

They didn't develop brutal legend, rock band, or the saboteur either. But if a game doesn't get published, it doesn't get released.

As far as I know, EA pressures the video game devs to create games that EA think would sell better based of cold and heartless statistic rather than create good games, that is why EA is know to kill off so many awesome IP like mercenaries, dead space and more.

As far as I know, EA pressures the video game devs to create games that EA think would sell better based of cold and heartless statistic rather than create good games, that is why EA is know to kill off so many awesome IP like mercenaries, dead space and more.

If a game doesn't get published, it usually doesn't get made. The publisher and developer usually agree on approximately-monthly milestones (deliverables) and the development studio receives payment per milestone, payments that it relies upon because the money just about suffices to run the studio from one milestone to the next. Due to this arrangement, the publisher carries the financial risk and obtains a degree of creative oversight. When the developer comes up with the funds to develop the game on his own, the title is considered self-published. Then he just needs a distributor to get it into players' hands, not the publisher. But occasional nomenclature confusion happens. Due to lack of financial security otherwise, for a studio it's desirable to be bought and converted into internal studio by the publisher, because then they can just get expenses covered and salaries paid, they aren't always one month away from foreclosure. Theoretically this would provide them some creative freedom, but practically, cultural erosion happens as the companies are merged.

Siana Gearz Great insight man. Very illuminating.

The Mass Effect PC port (With the prior acquisition of BioWare by EA) can actually correct you on that. It does however not remedy Mark Brown's error of course.

TIL

Well... That explains why I loved Dead Space 1.. With 2 and 3 being huge steps down. Man, EA seems to destroy almost everything it touches.

metfan4l Remasters, Remasters, Remasters. Why remaster a game that is perfectly fine? Oh wait, because consoles don't have much backwards compatibility. Remasters on consoles are slowing the gaming industry.

If you got them on Xbox there all currently backwards compatible

That hit at home

lol I get what you mean but the implication isn’t that he’s stupid-he’s an experienced electrical engineer capable of working on high class interstellar ships-it’s that he isn’t a soldier, and if something needs to be fixed for them to move forward then of course he’s the one to do it.

There is one at least for the sound design

NanoSwarm I hate that area. I could have absolutely NO deaths until i reach that area.

And yet Doom 3 felt like it owed a huge debt to Alien Resurrection on the Playstation 1. That was quite a good game despite its general reception.

Hahahaha same thing man i wouldn't dare to even try nowadays. I guess it was just determination.

Ana Bang it's simple, you didn't have to deal with human's shooting at you more than necromorphs and fair enemy placement

Ana Bang "Epic Tier 3 Engineer" is the name of the achievement for besting dead space on the hardest difficulty. To this day, it is my most sought after achievement, and also the one I'll probably never unlock. Maybe on my deathbed

@Ana Bang: DeadSpace 1 is "simple" if you know it from a previous playthrough. Getting the right upgrades for example increases your chances of survival. Same with deciding on upgrading and carrying the right weapons and not waste a single node on a stored weapon.

@IntoxiKent My advice: - do a medium or hard playthrough first, and try to memorize enemy placements - keep moving, don't get surrounded, be as fast and precise as possible - use only the plasma cutter, keep it in horizontal configuration, cut off a leg, then an arm for an easy kill - upgrade weapon damage first, then suit health - this way you won't be wasting as much ammo and med packs or credits; buy nodes to speed this up ASAP - buy ammo, nodes, suit upgrades, med packs, in this order of priority; upgrade to level 2 or 3 suit ASAP, level 4 and 5 are less imperative, but helpful for their increased inventory - sell level three med packs, stasis packs, circuit boards, ammo for non-plasma-cutter guns - many people swear by stasis - I don't, but I'm a fairly decent shot, so YMMV; only exception is when fighting brutes, the regenerator and swarmers - your biggest enemies will be swarmers and exploders, as if they sneak up on you it's pretty much game over - offensive kinesis is garbage, rely on it only to buy time - during the first part of the game always try to have a minimum of 75 shots and 1 row of lvl 1 and 2 med packs; during the second, 100 or 150 shots and 1 and a half rows of lvl 1 and 2 med packs; if you go below that threshold, go to the store - don't open node rooms unless you have a surplus of nodes - maybe try to open them all during the medium playthrough so you know what's inside each of them, as their content should be more or less always the same - the game rewards exploration, and going out of your way usually nets resources without enemy encounters (usually) - during level 9 and 10 complete the shooting gallery and the zero g basketball minigames for free resources - never spend all of your credits, as accidents happen; however, remember that while the game may be stingy with ammo drops, it throws credits in your face, especially if you stick to my selling and exploring tips, so don't be scared to spend them Once you know enemy spawns and how to properly manage your resources, the game becomes pretty easy. Also, there's loads of checkpoints, even on impossible (unlike with hard core difficulty in DS 2) If you're REALLY in need of help, I think there are cheats which give you a few nodes and some credits at the start of the game. Another cheaty thing you can do if you're having trouble, is go through doors: enemies can't cross them, allowing you to get some easy pot-shots

Its what love does to us

Not Mass Effect 1, at least at release. Microsoft still owned Bioware at that time.

They published the PC port for Mass Effect, not before buying BioWare in October 2007, then subsequently published the PlayStation 3 port years later. They weren't involved in Mass Effect in it's initial & defining moments of success as it was published as an Xbox 360 exclusive by Microsoft Studios of course, but EA was not uninvolved entirely from Mass Effect, if only in a "If we can't make 'em, acquire them" way.

+Kevin J. Dildonik You forgot to mention the part where ME2 got rid of all the terrible mechanics and engine that made the first game an absolute chore to play through more than once. Seriously, ME2 is leagues better than its predecessor.

+Corvus Prudens Agree to disagree, friend. I find ME2 to be just as bad as 3 because the writing is terrible and after removing all of ME1's clunky mechanics we were left with a bland cover shooter. The writing is the main part though, I can't comprehend how a serious game that ends with "GIANT PURPLE SKELETON ROBOT WITH RED EYES" gets praised for having a deep story (the rest of the main quest sucks too, side characters are alright and the setting is generic). I'm all for stories that have massive tone shifts like Danganronpa but they have to do it consistently.

halbe null Don't forget that that GIANT PURPLE SKELETON ROBOT plays no purpose in the overarching story(the "Reapers reproduce by mashing an organic race with tech" revelation proposed by EDI is debunked by ME 3) as well as the final choice-destroying the Collector base or handing it to the Illusive Man-doesn't make a lick of difference in the next game. Then again, Saving the Council or abandoning them at the end of ME 1 in addition to the choice of who to make Councilor also doesn't matter much.

DrearierSpider1 that's you, some of us don't have problems with Nazi's being punched

Some folks seem to think that A)Nazi's are a real problem and not a defunct political group from the 1930's and B) inciting political violence will solve problems instead of destabilizing the country.

Nazis are the punching bag of western civilization, pun sort of intended.

I urge you to rethink. Unprovoked violence emboldens the enemy.

Ast vom Baum what's wrong with it? seems just as great as ever to me ...

it went from survival horror to action adventure.

Bologna Catfish oh I thought you meant game maker's toolkit lol. yeah dead space did kinda turn shit.

blah blah Haha, no I definitely meant the Dead Space series. I love Game Makers Toolkit.

No it didn't. Ds3 strayed too far to action but it was still good. And that was the last entry. The series never got tired or turned to shit.