Track7 INTRODUCTION!

[track7]

Dear all,

My name is Demetris Papadopoulos (Nick:Track7), Product Manager for Theseis,
And My name is Teddy Triantafillis (Nick: thesniki5) , Marketing and Sales director of Track7games.


Together we will answer to all your questions regarding the game Theseis, to the best of our abilities and as much as we can reveal.

Let us begin by telling you a little of our developing company, Track7 games.

Track7games is a self funded independent game development team, based in Athens Greece, dedicated to creating innovative game play experiences. We serve a global community of enthusiastic gamers who appreciate our commitment to innovation, and above all else entertainment. Exploring the strengths and limitations of modern game creation tools both informs and inspires our unique sensibilities in game design.

Track 7 was established in 2003 and has been in process of putting out our first title ‘’Theseis’’ which will be coming out sometime in 2007. We have attended the past two E3s with great reviews on behalf of our efforts.

A little about Theseis.

A Journey of Heroes
Andonicos Kalogerou is a man devoted to science and the war against superstition. From his office in the historic centre of Athens, he has worked diligently for more than 5 years, traveling all over Greece and revealing the paranormal for what it truly is: drunken fantasies and uneducated hysteria.
But his intelligible, safe little world is going to come crushing down when a call from Pheve, his adopted sister and fervent advocate of the mythic, informs him that his step-father is not only missing, but presumed dead as well. With a heavy heart, Andronicos travels to the place of his childhood, high atop the Greek mountains, to bury an empty coffin and reunite with his quarrelsome sibling. Little does he know that each step irrevocably brings him and Pheve closer to what Destiny has in store for them. For the death of their parent heralds the beginning of the greatest struggle between good and evil with the prize being nothing less than the very future of this world.

From the hidden network of caves beneath the Greek metropolis, crawling with the remnants of a bygone age and the treasures of the past, to long lost places of legend all over Greece, Andronicos and Pheve struggle to uncover the pieces of an ancient conspiracy, kept secret through stealth and murder. But what they find could well be just the tip of the iceberg. For beneath the cover of shadows and time, a great power lay dormant, waiting for the time when it will once again come forth to the light of day, back amongst the people where it belongs.
Awe and dread, humor and split-second decisions, discovery and betrayal, the mythical and the mundane, are all intertwined in this fast paced crossing to the other side, where your only allies are the discarded rumors of ancient folklore, dubious medieval books and above all your wits!
features
A griping story that emerges and places you in a Greece full of marvel, danger and back-stage scheming just beneath the surface of everyday life.

- Play with both Andronicus and Pheve as you race against men and monsters to uncover the secret of Theseis.

- Multiple endings according to the decisions made in the game.

- A wide variety of puzzles based on both Greek Mythology and mind-boggling conundrums that captivate the player.

- Colorful characters and localities, ranging from neo-classical buildings to the grim depths of Hades.

- Being created first for PC platform and possibly for next gen consoles.(Xbox 360)

[Noone]

Hi!

I've seen a movie from your site and could see that a person is running and jumping... It seems the game may be positioned as action/adventure. How much of the action will be there in the game? Will we bi fighting with enemies? If yes, can you describe the process? How much of a Lara Croftish acrobatics will be in the game? Will there be time-limited puzzles?

[track7]

Hi there Alex,

Yes the game is action/adventure, Tomb Raider was an inspiration on the action part of our game and the action riddles we have. Our characters have full 3d movement and he is free to climb, jump, sneak and swim to overcome certain problems. We also have mind games and riddles, some of them are based on magic and some are realistic. we also have a very innovative inventory system!

[Noone]

Will the player need really good reflexes to path through action riddles? What save system will be - standart pc or a console checkpoint?

[track7]

Yes the character will be flexible regarding getting through some tough situations and puzzles, the game will have checkpoints in each level, as well as save at any point in the game, EXCEPT for any action levels. Which will be considered as sub levels.

[Noone]

Hope you'll not forget to implement autosave before the start of action level. :-)

You said, that there'll be magic in the game. How the magic will be used: Will we have to make conjurations (f.ex. as it was in "Deathgate"), or we'll be using scrolls or anything else?

[track7]

well let's just look at Prey's ability!. The game i'm sure you know it. Lets think that Pheve will have this 6th sense that will be able to see things others cannot. Regarding the riddles , their will be heiroglyphic type messages that with this special ability you will be able to again see things others cannot in order to solve it ect.

Hope this covers your question!

[Noone]

You told that the game will have innovative inventory. Can you tell a bit more about it?

[track7]

well it's all going to be 3d, where you will be able to put things together and work on it again in 3d...like for puzzles, sculpting, ect.

[Noone]

It seems I understand what you mean but aren't you afraid that f.e. sculpting will become a sort of... mmm... pixel-hunting?

[track7]

Nope we already got it covered. Let me remind you , the game graphics engine is built from scratch from our programmers. It is truly amazing what our programmers have created. A NEW GAME GRAPHICS ENGINE is very important, especially for us as a new Developer straight out of Greece. Believe me, we wouldn't be creating this, without worrying about the pixel-hunting as you call.

[Noone]

Any plans for a playable demo? Any plans for releasing your engine (maybe as commercial product)?

[track7]

Yes the demo will be completed soon, and a playable demo will be available for donwload from our site, www.theseisgame.com, however i cannot disclose the information on when it will be on. Just consider it one of those marketing schemes. :)

[Noone]

It seems I haven't ask you about soundtrack. What kind of music will be there in the game? Maybe you'll use some greece folk music? How long the soundtrack will be?

[PolloDiablo2]

Hmm Tomb Raider is too hard for me. I guess I'll skip this one. But I'm willing to try the demo first, so please make sure it represents the difficulty of the action sequences well. :)

[track7]

It seems I haven't ask you about soundtrack. What kind of music will be there in the game? Maybe you'll use some greece folk music? How long the soundtrack will be?


Once again, if you listened to Tomb Raider's soundtrack, then this will be the closest to that. We will be making our soundtrack with a full orchestra team, this means the music will be rich and it will vary with the current locations, or actions in the game. Once again something that Tomb Raider has done in the past.

[track7]

Hmm Tomb Raider is too hard for me. I guess I'll skip this one. But I'm willing to try the demo first, so please make sure it represents the difficulty of the action sequences well. :)


Tomb raider was hard? Well we will try and make it as normal as we can :). But let me remind you that when we talk about Tomb Raider we are talking about, environments and stuff. All other elements are very much original regarding Theseis.

[PolloDiablo2]

Yes, Tomb Raider is too hard. I just cannot run, jump, turn, grab my guns, aim and fire at the same time. Slightly exaggerated, yes, but I have tried and failed miserably to play this game for more than five minutes. I'm just terrible at pressing several different buttons in quick succession. Don't laugh. ;D

[Bad Sector]

Tomb raider was hard? Well we will try and make it as normal as we can :). But let me remind you that when we talk about Tomb Raider we are talking about, environments and stuff. All other elements are very much original regarding Theseis.

You compare the game a lot to Tomb Raider, which makes me think that the first thing one might think once (s)he sees the game is Tomb Raider. So, given that, why a gamer (who doesn't have $100 to spend in games... ::)) should buy Theseis and not Tomb Raider?

My comment is just this: you talk alot about Tomb Raider, which makes it look like your game isn't original at all. No matter how hard you try, you have two names in the same sentence with one being known by everyone and the other known by none. And yours is not the known one. So it isn't that effectful when you try to convince people that yours is original. This isn't even helped by the videos you have released: beyond having good graphics (and good graphics while make 12-yrs old to drool over the gamebox and go around in school shouting "OMG! My PC ROXZ, LOOK THESE COOL SHOTS!", they won't convince more mature players - especially adventure game players - because those need gameplay) there isn't anything else. Good graphics won't win you the game: Tomb Raider "Angel of Darkness" had much improved graphics when compared to other Tomb Raider games and other games out there. However, the gameplay sucked and made the publisher to drop the deal with Core design and go with another developer for Tomb Raider Legend.

When you talk about your game, just talk what your game offers and leave other games.

[track7]

Hi Bad Sector,

Just replying to your message regarding what you said about us saying it's like Tomb Raider. Well the only reason i'm mentioning Tomb Raider, is because Tomb Raider has been in the market for years now. And its a name that if you talk about it, people can get the clear picture on what our game kinda looks like. Regarding it being like tomb raider, basically we are not original? Well that's not true, the only thing I can see as being very comparable, are the vast and beautiful environments of different areas. The movements, and the actions are totally different. Once again, good thing you pointed it out, in order for us to explain that people should not consider it another Tomb Raider copy. Cause it's not. It's original in it's own making. I hope you understand now why i mentioned it in previous comments.

[Bad Sector]

And its a name that if you talk about it, people can get the clear picture on what our game kinda looks like. Regarding it being like tomb raider, basically we are not original?

Well, that's the problem you have when you try to give a clear picture on your game based on the fact that another very popular game can give to others that clear picture: it makes your game looks like a clone of that other popular game. It's so common in gaming industry to see small and unknown companies to copy (make clones of) big successful games that, like it or not, people will think that your game is a Tomb Raider clone. I don't say that it is a TR clone or not. What i'm trying to say is that by comparing it to TR, you're making people think that it is (or it may be - because the comparison can be done in the first place).

Think about comparing Quake 3 with Unreal Tournament, for example. One can say that these two games are the same because they're both multiplayer first person shooter games. However, the gameplay in both is very different and targeted towards different FPS gamers. Moreover, Quake 3's levels are very abstract and have a technogothic style, while Unreal Tournament's are a little more realistic and have a futuristic style.

They were different, but the people at Epic decided to avoid any comparison with Quake 3 both because their game was different than Quake 3, but more important, the Quake franchise and the id Software name was way much bigger and known than Epic (who before Unreal was making 2D pinball games for DOS) at the time they were developing it, and they didn't wanted people to believe that Unreal Tournament was just a Quake clone.

Which is logical if you think about it: if the games know that game A is a clone of game B, then why buy and play game A when there is that game B which is so great to make others invenst in making a clone of it? They will buy game A instead. The only reason to do so is that they already own game A and have played it many times, got bored of it and all it's possible extensions, expansions, sequels, prequels and whatever else game B's authorsmay think to produce in order to keep these gamers in their franchise.

This is why the PR people at big game companies are always saying that "our game is so innovative, you won't believe it - it just sets grounds for everything following" even if their game is as innovative as creating a new circular transportation facilitation device (wheel). They simply don't want gamers to think that "our game is a clone of XYZ". They don't want references to any game. They dislike it when people ask them to compare their game with someone else's game and they have a reason to do so: they want gamers to buy their game instead of that -usually known and successful- XYZ game.

And here goes another example: SPORE. Have you ever saw or read anywhere that any gamer compared SPORE to anything else saying that "this is like <something>"? I haven't, but even if you have i bet everything that the volume cannot be compared to the volume of people saying that Unreal Tournament is like Quake 3, or to the people saying that Worms is like Scorched Earth.

The reason is that SPORE is a truly innovative game that looks like nothing else and the people behind it didn't even tried to make others avoid comparing it with something else. However, UT look like Q3 and Worms look like SE and the gameplays are very similar.

Think that, even if the companies do not compare their games with others' and even if they try to avoid that comparison, the gamers will compare it and they will say that a game A is a clone of game B, even if there are differences, as long as both games have many similarities. Now think what would happen if the author of game A actually compared it with game B himself. People are very happy to make quick conclusions and the easiest of them is that game A is a clone of game B. By comparing it, you just help them to make that conclusion.

From what i've seen, your game no matter how innovative is, it is not as innovative as SPORE and it has elements that will drive people to not only compare it with Tomb Raider and similar games (you did it by yourself), but also to conclude that it is just a Tomb Raider clone. In fact, only by viewing the screenshots you game, someone in an IRC channel said that this looks a lot like Tomb Raider.

By having Tomb Raider as the only game that looks like yours in people's mind, will actually make them believe that if it looks a lot like Tomb Raider, it will be like Tomb Raider.

Again, giving another example, think that at mid-90s, all first person shooter games were called "Doom clones", even if they were very different than Doom itself (System Shock comes to my mind), only because they looked like Doom (http://www.ibiblio.org/GameBytes/issue21/flooks/dfss7.gif):

Doom clone is a term used to refer to a computer game with similar gameplay as the 1993 first-person shooter Doom. That is, the player explores a three-dimensional world seen through the eyes of the protagonist, and uses various weapons to kill usually monstrous enemies. Due to the widespread popularity of Doom, many games that featured a similar first-person gameplay style were compared to it, usually unfavorably. During the 1990s, most such games were generally considered to be merely clones of the original Doom.
(from the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_clone) on the term Doom clone - read the text in bold font)

I think i gave you enough material to think about comparing your game with Tomb Raider (or any other game) :-).

[track7]

Well Bad Sector,i'm sorry you got the impression that it's a clone when in fact it's not, i guess people will take it as they want to take it, and i'm sure your mind will change when you eventually get to play the demo and decide for yourself. :) Best Regards

[koyima]

it is common pratice in the game industry to borrow elements from other games
working on an idea and improving it is the way everything (everything in the world)
is made u don't invent the wheel again and again

i think that demanding a completely origianl idea from a company just starting out, is not
fair, ea makes sequels, upon sequels and they r the biggest company

(spore: i have heard and seen that spore is something betwween
sims and civilization, the idea is not new the concept of it being
from cellular organism to complete civilization is what is new,
which is an extention on an iexisting dea
basically it reminds u of an rpg, where u evolve ur character through gameplay
so don't bet ur life on spore's innovation (also an ea game))

theseis has elements of magic and fantasy tomb raider never had, it is
mentioned:

creatures from the greek mythos presented as never before (not tigerss and grunts),

u also have 2 playable characters with different abilities (magic plays an important role in the game),

a storyline (which means playable dialogue and plot twists, where tomb raider is: take me to the next level to shoot stuff),

a new inventory system where objects r manipulated in 3d (not present in any adventure i know of)

vast diverse cast of complex and evolving characters (which means emotions (complex) and emotion driven decisions)


the comparison to tomb raider is only to communicate visually what the camera and controls feel like
ur imagination didn't allow u to make a picture where graphics r changed by ancient magic,thousand year
old mechanisms r put to work and creatures appear to destroy or help u(some of them never seen before)


pretending u don't have common elements with other games isn't the way to go,
i prefer honesty, obviously u would like track7 to say:"our game is so innovative, you won't believe it - it just sets grounds for everything following".

he is modest in that respect, when u r new in the industry, u don't go around saying u r the best, u let others decide
(that's why they pulled down a video saying something about the future of adventure)