Epoch: Incursion - Sneak Peek Video
by Mike Large · 02/07/2012 (1:43 am) · 15 comments
I struggled to write this blog...
Not because the content was difficult or contentious in any way (quite the opposite actually) but because its not really a blog about words.
This blog is about showing stuff...
I could go on about how we started this little adventure 6-7 years ago and knew absolutely nothing about game dev.
I could go on about how we started using TGE then swtiched to TGEA when it became clear that that offered us a scale that was closer to our vision.
I could go on about how, ultimately, the move to T3D has been massively and hugely enabling for us and we're finally realising a gaming vision that began with a stupid idea in one mans head some 20 odd years ago.
...But I don't think you'll care about that stuff, you just wanna see what we're up to... right?
Honestly... that's all I'd care about as well :)
Some caveats first...
We're not showing gameplay yet.
We're very very pre-alpha right now.
Nothing you're about to see or hear is finished, final or optimised.
There's the odd bit of placeholder art in there currently.
It's a cooperative focused, story driven, tactical first person shooter with a heavy emphasis on the tactics bit.
Everything herein was done in our spare time and fitted in around real jobs, tolerant wives and young families and is entirely financed out of our own pockets.
This is the most we've ever shown of what we're doing. We hope you like it.
If you're interested in working with us then please drop us a line (mike@eikon-games.com).
We're currently in need of a rigging artist / character animator but we're happy to talk to anyone about anything if you think you have something to offer and the project appeals.
I'll shut up now and leave you with this:
Not because the content was difficult or contentious in any way (quite the opposite actually) but because its not really a blog about words.
This blog is about showing stuff...
I could go on about how we started this little adventure 6-7 years ago and knew absolutely nothing about game dev.
I could go on about how we started using TGE then swtiched to TGEA when it became clear that that offered us a scale that was closer to our vision.
I could go on about how, ultimately, the move to T3D has been massively and hugely enabling for us and we're finally realising a gaming vision that began with a stupid idea in one mans head some 20 odd years ago.
...But I don't think you'll care about that stuff, you just wanna see what we're up to... right?
Honestly... that's all I'd care about as well :)
Some caveats first...
We're not showing gameplay yet.
We're very very pre-alpha right now.
Nothing you're about to see or hear is finished, final or optimised.
There's the odd bit of placeholder art in there currently.
It's a cooperative focused, story driven, tactical first person shooter with a heavy emphasis on the tactics bit.
Everything herein was done in our spare time and fitted in around real jobs, tolerant wives and young families and is entirely financed out of our own pockets.
This is the most we've ever shown of what we're doing. We hope you like it.
If you're interested in working with us then please drop us a line (mike@eikon-games.com).
We're currently in need of a rigging artist / character animator but we're happy to talk to anyone about anything if you think you have something to offer and the project appeals.
I'll shut up now and leave you with this:
About the author
Formed in 2005, EiKON Games is an indie games development project based in the UK working on the tactical first person shooter "Epoch: Incursion". See the Join Us or Contact Us pages at http://www.eikon-games.com/
#2
Nice UAV.
And very nice tune.
:)
02/07/2012 (6:06 am)
Nice island, I do like seeing washing hanging out near a building, it's a little detail that makes a scene less sterile and look more naturalistic and lived-in.Nice UAV.
And very nice tune.
:)
#3
02/07/2012 (9:15 am)
Bit of coverage (yay!): feedthegamer.info/2012-02-07/meanwhile-at-eikon-games/ 
#4
02/07/2012 (3:45 pm)
Very nice environment art. You're probably already aware of this, but there's another game already released called Epoch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt3vcJmilqU 
#5
The artwork looks great!
The UAV looks awesome as well!
Quick questions:
What is the appeal to create a tactical shooter?
Are you going to push the paradigm? What are you going to do that has not been done?
The reason I ask is it seems like every shooter since Halo is starting to look the same to me. I am not sure if Halo qualifies as a tactical shooter or not, but since Halo I am kind of turned off by shooters in general. I start to play and think, "This isn't Halo." and go do something else. Except for the Star Wars Battlefront games.
02/07/2012 (4:11 pm)
@Mike,The artwork looks great!
The UAV looks awesome as well!
Quick questions:
What is the appeal to create a tactical shooter?
Are you going to push the paradigm? What are you going to do that has not been done?
The reason I ask is it seems like every shooter since Halo is starting to look the same to me. I am not sure if Halo qualifies as a tactical shooter or not, but since Halo I am kind of turned off by shooters in general. I start to play and think, "This isn't Halo." and go do something else. Except for the Star Wars Battlefront games.
#6
02/07/2012 (11:02 pm)
Nice job! Crytek would be proud ;)
#7
The initial appeal for us comes from a number of angles I think.
Primarily it was a frustration as a gamer to be honest with the direction that "tactical" shooters were going (and have now gone).
They seem these days (mostly) to be "tactical" in name only with very few tactics actually being required.
We're building the game to present the player with an objective - for example "retake the docklands area".
We give them all the tools and weapons available in the game right from the start, tell them the bare minimum they need to know to get started and leave it up to them to decide how they proceed.
It's up to the player to decide how they attack a target, where they attack it from what they attack it with or if indeed they attack it at all.
We also want people to use intelligence gathering and recon data to make those tactical decisions - that's part of the UAV's role.
In the level shown the player has landed on a quiet beach, away from the hub of activity but there is nothing to stop them jumping in their boat and attempting a full frontal assault on the dockyards on the far side of the island if that is what they want to do.
I personally don't think Halo or the Battlefront games qualify as tactical shooters and Epoch has almost nothing in common with something like Halo aside from some trees to be brutally honest.
If I had to compare it to a game then I think probably something like the original Operation Flashpoint or Arma games or perhaps the less well known Joint Operations would be a closer comparison.
If nothing else the cadence and rhythm of Epoch is entirely different to the titles you mention.
Those games are very action and constant gunfire oriented. Epoch is much more a game of Recon, Plan, Maneuver, Execute - with gun battles being short sharp and to the point (when done right)and each tactical engagement (that the player plans and initiates) is designed to bring the player closer to achieving their overall strategic objective.
@Tuomas: Epoch is set on some pacific islands but again (as with Halo) that's about where the similarity to something like Crysis ends.
If it helps to put this into any kind of perspective (before we start showing gameplay) Halo, Crysis etc. are about as far away from the kind of shooters I enjoy as its possible to get without pulling something like Serious Sam into the conversation :)
02/08/2012 (2:23 am)
@Frank The initial appeal for us comes from a number of angles I think.
Primarily it was a frustration as a gamer to be honest with the direction that "tactical" shooters were going (and have now gone).
They seem these days (mostly) to be "tactical" in name only with very few tactics actually being required.
We're building the game to present the player with an objective - for example "retake the docklands area".
We give them all the tools and weapons available in the game right from the start, tell them the bare minimum they need to know to get started and leave it up to them to decide how they proceed.
It's up to the player to decide how they attack a target, where they attack it from what they attack it with or if indeed they attack it at all.
We also want people to use intelligence gathering and recon data to make those tactical decisions - that's part of the UAV's role.
In the level shown the player has landed on a quiet beach, away from the hub of activity but there is nothing to stop them jumping in their boat and attempting a full frontal assault on the dockyards on the far side of the island if that is what they want to do.
I personally don't think Halo or the Battlefront games qualify as tactical shooters and Epoch has almost nothing in common with something like Halo aside from some trees to be brutally honest.
If I had to compare it to a game then I think probably something like the original Operation Flashpoint or Arma games or perhaps the less well known Joint Operations would be a closer comparison.
If nothing else the cadence and rhythm of Epoch is entirely different to the titles you mention.
Those games are very action and constant gunfire oriented. Epoch is much more a game of Recon, Plan, Maneuver, Execute - with gun battles being short sharp and to the point (when done right)and each tactical engagement (that the player plans and initiates) is designed to bring the player closer to achieving their overall strategic objective.
@Tuomas: Epoch is set on some pacific islands but again (as with Halo) that's about where the similarity to something like Crysis ends.
If it helps to put this into any kind of perspective (before we start showing gameplay) Halo, Crysis etc. are about as far away from the kind of shooters I enjoy as its possible to get without pulling something like Serious Sam into the conversation :)
#8
I think it's good to get more of these real tactical shooters instead of these tacticool ones for a while. I really did enjoy the first Ghost Recon games, that have more in common with Arma than the newer titles in the same series.
02/08/2012 (6:20 am)
About the Crytek comment, I was only commenting the environments.I think it's good to get more of these real tactical shooters instead of these tacticool ones for a while. I really did enjoy the first Ghost Recon games, that have more in common with Arma than the newer titles in the same series.
#9
LOL @ "Tacticool" :)
Couldn't agree more on the Ghost Recon thing. Loved the first one ...the latest ones leave me cold.
02/08/2012 (6:27 am)
@Tuomas LOL @ "Tacticool" :)
Couldn't agree more on the Ghost Recon thing. Loved the first one ...the latest ones leave me cold.
#10
02/08/2012 (6:23 pm)
Would like to see more gameplay for sure, a fly through/run through doesn't show much besides some background which at this point feels like it needs more life in it understandably. 
#11
02/08/2012 (9:00 pm)
Beautiful environment! Although I thought the song was noticeably repetitive, it was a beautiful song. I would love to see a gameplay trailer when you get the game to that point. 
#12
Also, the music was great. :)
02/11/2012 (7:41 am)
Nice work EiKon! I'm especially charmed by the great asset placement. Steve mentioned laundry on the line, and I noticed it as well. Not to mention the power lines. Looks like a backwater Carribbean island if you ask me. Need some kids kicking a ball around, but it still has that live village feel. Way to go!Also, the music was great. :)
#13
Is Epoch set in the future? What sort of tools will the player have at their disposal?
02/12/2012 (3:14 pm)
I like a game that gives you a task and leaves it up the player to decide how to do it. Planning an operation is all part of the fun and it's missing from games nowadays. Is Epoch set in the future? What sort of tools will the player have at their disposal?
#14
02/13/2012 (10:15 pm)
The environment is beautifully executed. I love your idea mentioned on allowing the player to get from point A to point B on their own with minimal info as well;, kind of like what Dues Ex was supposed to do, but I have a feeling you will take it a step further. I compare it to writing Science Fiction and putting too many details in -- often the reader will get the impression that the author assumes that the reader is stupid which takes away from the story. I think the same situation has happened in most of the mainstream shooter games that I have come across. Strangely the players have not complained yet (not to my knowledge), but when they get a taste of a truly free environment then they will realize what they have been missing all along. Thank you for the inspiration. 
Torque Owner Quinton Delpeche
Gobbo Games
Definitely going to be watching out for this one ... reminds me to get my butt in gear and get my vids finished. 8-)
Great job.