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Salvaged available NOW on Steam Early Access

Mon, 07 Nov 2016 14:34:42 +0000

We at Opposable Games are incredibly excited to announce that as of today Salvaged is officially available on Steam Early Access!

After the huge wave of support we received upon our approval on Steam Greenlight, we’ve been taking the time to ensure the game is everything it can possibly be. We’re now fully confident in the game and looking forward to hearing your responses.

For those who’ve not been following our game from the beginning, Salvaged is a unique sci-fi strategy game with an emphasis on its weaving narrative and customisable gameplay. Cast as Alex Pieterson, and given one of the toughest jobs in the known universe, players must lead their crew of hardened agents through alien-infested wrecks in search of valuable salvage and - as the story unfolds - something much more dangerous.

Designed for both virtual reality and standard play, Salvaged takes place from the command room of the Thaddeus with players literally viewing events through the eyes of Alex Pieteson. Salvage contracts (and the ensuing battles) are viewed through the headcam of each agent, with a Hollywood-inspired command center allowing the player to see all of the action at once.

Details on Early Access period

Despite being released to early access, Salvaged features a fully playable story-driven campaign mode that includes between 8 and 15 hours of gameplay (depending on player skill), as well as a raft of agent customisation options and innumerable strategies.

The early access period is designed to allow us to include additional features such as a post-campaign ‘endless’ mode and full HTC Vive support. This is on top of gameplay tweaks and general performance enhancements.

You can view all of the details on Salvaged and its early access period on Steam, where you can purchase the game right now for just $12.99/£9.99.

We want to put out a huge thankyou to those who have supported Salvaged along the way - in particular those who Greenlit the game back in 2015. We’re incredibly proud to finally be able to release the game, and that’s possible due to your support. We hope you enjoy the game and continue to support us by providing feedback!

Salvaged is back in action: new trailer and lots of new info!

Mon, 11 Jul 2016 15:26:42 +0100

It’s been a while - that much we have to admit.

Don’t, however, take our absence from the spotlight to mean we haven’t been busy working on Salvaged. Our community team may have been super-busy with other ventures, but the dev team has been plugging away all the while, making sure Salvaged is everything it can possibly be.

You’ll be happy to hear that we’re now in the final stretch: building the final levels, making subtle changes to AI behaviour, finishing the sound design and other small but important changes (more on these in future blogs). Plus, we’ve been testing and optimising the game for both VR and non-VR players. Long story short - Salvaged is nearing release.

In fact, we’re happy to announce that Salvaged will soon be released to Steam Early Access. We’ll have a more exact date as the final pieces fall into place.

For those who need a reminder (or find themselves on this page for the first time - welcome!), in Salvaged you play as Alex Pieterson, commander of the Salvage ship Thaddeus. You must command your team of agents through alien-infested wrecks in search of valuable salvage - and, as the story unfolds, something much more unusual.

The game takes place from Alex’s command room, from which you’ll build up your elite team of agents, manage their equipment and send them out on daring contracts across the galaxy. Salvaged features an original story penned by Daniel Hunter-Dowsing, a twisting narrative that integrates seamlessly with the game’s crew and combat management systems.

Of course, the game has been built from the ground up with virtual reality in mind, but we’ve made sure Salvaged also plays just as well for those playing on a normal 2D screen.

We'll have more info on the continued development of Salvaged in the near future.

Below is our brand new teaser trailer; a sneak peek into the excellent narrative of Salvaged.

Follow Salvaged on Twitter.

Like Salvaged on Facebook.

Salvaged Tilt Brush VR art

Tue, 24 Nov 2015 10:20:48 +0000

Look, we're a busy bunch here at Opposable - we're spending as much time as possible getting everything into Salvaged, and making it the best experience possible.

Still, that doesn't mean we won't take a few moments to explore our creativity and try something a little new. That's why we recently posted the video below, in which Salvaged 2D artist Alix Briskham creates one of the game's meanest bad dudes - the Cutter - in Tilt Brush.

Tilt Brush is a fantastic art tool designed for the HTC Vive, allowing our artists to create beautiful drawings in a virtual 3D space. We've posted a couple of videos over the past couple of months, but this is the first that involves a character from Salvaged.

It's also well worth listening to the video if you're at all interested in VR art, Tilt Brush and the HTC Vive (we also sneak a bit about Salvaged in there too!). Ryan and Alix discuss the topics in-depth during the course of the vid.

Salvaged will be at VR World Congress

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 11:16:24 +0000

We're happy to say that Salvaged will be present at VR World Congress, a new Virtual Reality conference taking place in Bristol on the 12th of April, 2016. The event is organised by Opposable VR and will see the world's top VR developers (including us, of course) showing off their stuff.

Salvaged is still in development so in what form it will be present isn't known right now, but we'll be sure to update you all with more info as we get closer to the event. Opposable will have an exhibit on the show floor, so grabbing an expo-only ticket will be enough to see the game in action.

The Congress itself is shaping up to be a huge event for Virtual Reality in the UK. SouthWest VR, which preceded VR World Congress, was the biggest VR conference in the UK, but Opposable is aiming for greater heights in 2016 with a venue that can support up to 600 attendees.

There'll be speakers from folks at AMD, nDreams, Frontier Developments, Lloyd Digital and Opposable VR across two separate talk tracks: a headline track focusing on the bigger picture of VR, sharing experiences and insights. The alternative tech track will consist of in-depth tech talks, ideal for developers looking to expand their skillset.

The expo hall, where you'll find Salvaged, is where the world’s best VR developers will be showing off their latest and most impressive experiences.

As an opportunity for VR developers and enthusiasts to network, learn, and build partnerships, VR World Congress will be unmatched, so we're happy to show Salvaged at the event.

You can buy tickets for the event, and find more information, on the VR World Congress website.

U + I = Communication: lessons learnt creating Salvaged’s UI

Wed, 14 Oct 2015 14:45:21 +0100

Whilst building Salvaged (you’ve heard of it, right?), we’ve added some new features which we’ve discussed in previous posts, but there’s another element of the Salvaged experience we’ve been fixing: the User Interface (UI). What I love about UI is that for something that appears so simple, it actually belies a complex system of interaction and game flow. Let's take a closer look…

You may be wondering, 'didn’t Salvaged already have a pretty swanky UI before all this?' Yes, yes it did. Our chunky and awesome orange/blue UI came about when we took Salvaged back to the drawing board. Just to recap, following player feedback we re-designed Salvaged to be a more tactical, squad-based shooter rather than a run-n-gun style shooter in order to better compliment our various input mechanics. We decided to rework the UI from the original cold, Minority Report blue and grey to something bolder and slightly retro, something reminiscent of the thick UI used in '70s and '80s horror films like Alien and The Thing.

Designing a UI is a strange thing. Like I said at the outset, UI looks deceptively simple but is actually a complicated beast. Try looking at UI academically: what is its purpose? The purpose of UI is to deliver information to the player in order to help them play the game. From how much health they have to how much a set of armour costs and where they are in the world, UI acts as both an anchor for immersion in the fiction of the game and navigator through it. Poor information delivery causes stress for the player and means they’ll drop your game for something ‘they get’.

But, I feel, there’s something else that UI does which is harder to describe but instantly identifiable the moment a player encounters it. It’s the flow from switching the game on to actually getting into the meat and bones of the game itself. Not just the flow of necessary information but the actual physical movement of the player into the game space. Good UI effortlessly moves the player into the game with a guiding, but invisible, UI. Perhaps it’s worth suggesting that bad UI is UI the player is aware of?

How does this gum flapping relate to Salvaged? Well hold on and I’ll tell you.

When we first began creating our splendid orange/blue UI, we did this at the same time as Salvaged’s gameplay re-design. Whilst I think this was an excellent time for our mega-talented artists to work on the overall look and direction of the UI, it wasn’t the best time to let them loose on creating the actual UI for gameplay mechanics only just being implemented. As such, a series of creative vacuums began to form in the studio in which artists and designers were aware of one another’s intentions and plans but neither were in sync. Ironically, for a system designed to aid communication our first attempt didn’t work because of a lack of communication.

Therefore, post-Greenlight and after implementing our gameplay we found the UI either didn’t link up correctly with the gameplay or didn’t exist. The flow of UI was also rather cumbersome and confusing due to being based on theoretical game designs rather than playable prototypes. Part of our recent series of updates to Salvaged has been to rectify the UI now that we know how the game is going to play.

Key to this remedy was to focus on the flow of the UI between screens and within each screen. For example, the build up to a contract in the game should be ‘fun’ (it is a game after all) but also professional – the ‘experience’ of the game is partly the managerial role of a starship commander. The new UI creates the sense of a professional salvaging business whilst also streamlining what a player needs to do pre-contract to prepare their agents. This can include selecting which agents to send, equipping them and selecting the point of entry. Our artist followed the philosophy that there should always be a sense of progression with this UI – a forward flow – to build the excitement up to starting a contract. Where the previous UI sent the player in and out of various screens like someone trying to park a car, the new UI follows a line of forwardness and cleanliness.

This was certainly the most major revamp to our already revamped UI but other tweaks and fixes which have honed the Salvaged experience further include: clearer information spread in the various stores in the game and a highly readable upgrade system. Communication is priority but so too is the pleasure that comes from naturally interacting with the game. Our UI now makes it a big deal when your agent has mastered a skill, it now screams with giddy glee when you upgrade your little pellet gun into a five-gauge bazooka. The UI celebrates the player’s actions, ultimately bringing the player deeper into the game experience.

And there you have it. What lessons did we learn form this? Primarily that the game design should dictate the UI. It is a waste of resources and artist's time to say ‘the game will have such-and-such mechanic and it’ll work sort of like this – build the UI!’ only to find the mechanic doesn’t work either as planned, or at all. By all means, concept the look of the UI early, but until you’ve locked down your game mechanics use placeholder UI to show what might be needed. At this point the designer and art team should play and work together to create the right balance of flow and communication.

Remember to recycle. x

'People in my head' - Creating quality characters for Salvaged

Thu, 08 Oct 2015 13:13:13 +0100

I’ve been reading Reaper Man by the incredible Terry Pratchett recently. For my shame I haven’t read much of his work and was quite late coming to the Discworld party (rather aptly for a game dev my first encounter with Terry Pratchett’s fantasy world was through the PlayStation 1 game, Discworld Noir), but this is something I’m eager to remedy.

Though my foray into his stories has been fleeting so far, I’ve come to recognise some very defined points in Pratchett’s writing style; namely, his use of voice to create a world so alive it’s kind of scary. In recognising this I have begun reflecting on the characters of Salvaged (Alex, Thaddeus and Figaro) and the decisions made in their development from page to game

What makes a good character? Well that’s a HUGE question; too big for little ol’ me to dissect and analyse in this here blog maybe. Oh what the heck, my schedule is pretty clear today.

Characterisation

One facet of creating a character is characterisation. It's what turns a flat character into a three dimensional one. It justifies their behaviour. It’s their good side and bad side being fully developed to create a living, breathing soul on the page, on film or in your game. Chances are you might have heard of a ‘character arc’. In my opinion, Character arcs and characterisation go hand-in-hand in storytelling.

If a character is developed they’ll naturally grow through their story and, likewise, if their story changes them the character becomes deeper because of it. Characterisation is the embodiment of where a character has come from, how they survived the coming there of, where they’re going and what drives them to go there. If a fictional character were literally being made perhaps, it's worth thinking of characterisation as the clay body they’re made of.

When creating Alex I wanted to break her out of the tired and boring ‘Strong Female Character’ (SFC) trope that has become the go-to for game storytellers when creating female characters. Strong characters don’t just come from being physically impeccable and emotionally withdrawn. Strong characters can achieve anything despite any physical limitations they might have, and aren’t afraid of the spectrum of emotions inherent within them.

The problem I have with the SFC trope is that it’s a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to the poor realisation of female characters in games previously. Rather than taking the measured time to create believeable characters that do justice to female characters (and diverse male/female casts in general), they have been thrown head long into the barrel with the flat male characters that linger in the pantheon of gaming heroes. 'Tis a place where square-jawed meatheads are developed by their ability to throw a punch and be as emotionally detached as possible.

We learn about Alex through audio logs revealed throughout the game. She comes from a recognisable background of poverty and struggle. Her being a starship commander is a result of an overwhelming desire to break away from this life and become something more, and whilst we learn Alex has achieved this goal, it comes with a sad price – she can’t bear to return to the slums she grew up in. Alex’s exceptional skill and ambition effectively act as a mask for a personal shame or embarrassment she can’t quite face. I believe Alex doesn’t want to be defined by where she came from but where she’s going, but the emotional price of that is something that even someone as emotionally assured as Alex might not be able to handle.

Thaddeus develops through dialogue with the player herself. As the AI for a starship he has grown into the role of protector and watcher. Whilst he can be everywhere and anywhere within the starship as a disembodied voice, Thad (I can call him that) is still physically detached from the crew. His sense of parental duty has grown during his time working with Alex – in the world of Salvaged, AIs learn through observation – and admiring the way in which she treats her crew as family. Desiring complexity to his own binary emotions, Thad embraces the idea that he is keeping the crew alive as they drift through space to the point he considers himself parent, protector and gatekeeper all at once. I think as a character – and an AI one in the Salvaged universe – he desires purpose and definition from that purpose. AIs strive for recognition as a species; Thaddeus believes having a purpose will give him the fulfilment he seeks.

Finally, Figaro appears as a character through the mission orders he gives the player. Through these small interactions it was possible to develop a character driven by scientific curiosity of the human body and Humanity’s place in a growing universe. Whilst in a position of power within the mega oligarchy called Panopticon, it’s hard to tell whether Figaro is using them for his own ambitions or they are using his ambitions for themselves. Figaro is a corrupt character born from the limitless freedom of being an enemy to Humanity, given licence to unleash every curious idea he might have. Once, I believe, this came from a genuine scientific curiosity but the line between explorer of knowledge and tyrant has become blurred. In some ways, Alex rekindles a respect for Humanity within Figaro but it’s too little too late.

Motivation

Returning to our clay model analogy, the body needs to move, it needs a reason to be. This is a character’s motivation. It’s what drives them through the story (or what drives the story itself?) and gives them a purpose. If we, the audience, believe or empathise with the character’s motivation for what they’re doing it bonds us. Every writer should be able to answer the following question about their characters: what do they want?

For Alex this is two-fold. On the one hand she wants to do the job she’s been hired to do – reach the space station called Roulette, but on the other she wants to find out what happened whilst on Roulette. She is a character seeking clarity for events only partially remembered and how they affect her in the present; being a person used to being in control, this absence of knowledge is an affront to her sensibilities.

Similarly, Thaddeus is also seeking understanding of the events concerning Roulette. The difference between himself and Alex, however, is that where Alex is searching for what she can’t remember, Thad is searching for why he can’t remember. Thaddeus has spent his life seeking definition for his purpose, his reason to exist. If there’s a risk the information he has lost could jeopardise his purpose then he needs to understand it.

Figaro’s motivation isn’t as prominent in the story as either Alex or Thaddeus, but it is present. Being the main driver of the story overall, Figaro’s goal is to push the human body (and therefore Humanity) to it’s full potential. This desire comes from a combination of scientific curiosity and conditioning by the Panopticon oligarchy and it’s this desire that cause ripples through the lives of the other characters.

Voice

Our character has flesh and it’s moving onwards towards its destiny but when it speaks only the dry rasping of a dehydrated badger can be heard. Our character needs to find its voice (see, we’ve come full circle back to Terry Pratchett).

Voice, for me, is one of the strongest indicators of personality for a character until they get a chance to develop through characterisation. The first time we meet a character we hear how they speak and the indicators we pick up on in their speech can help to set the initial groundwork for our relationship to a character: are they stoic? Are they eccentric? Are they dour? Optimistic? Pessimistic? Cunning? Cold? Open? It also goes beyond being what a voice actor might bring to the character. A good voice writer should assume their dialogue will never be read aloud, meaning the writing should be strong and clear enough to be heard internally by a reader. If you can’t hear the voice in your head then the writing isn’t doing its job properly.

With this in mind it was very important to get the voices for Alex, Thaddeus and Figaro right from the start and I believe this comes from understanding the characters i.e. their characterisation. In saying that, I knew that Alex is a person who speaks with confidence and clarity as becomes her driven and efficient personality. There is an element of weakness to her voice, however, which shows itself in private. Alex has been hurt before and the affects of that incident are long lasting. Amongst the crew and other salvagers she speaks with strength, but whilst she’s capable of command under pressure she’s given to internalising her emotions until given the chance to dispel them. I believe through Alex’s audio logs the audience will meet a fearless leader who, under the armour she wears, is as fragile as any other human.

Thaddeus was great fun to write. If he were a human he’d be a retired geography teacher. I’ve mentioned how Thad has assumed a form of paternal position within the starship; as such his mannerisms and voice can seem fussy and overbearing at times. I want the player to get a bit tired of his fussing over their wellbeing, but should Thaddeus stop doing it have them miss the attention he gives; a bit like the first time you move out and miss having your mum or dad to talk to or tell you to tidy up. There is, however, a bit more to Thaddeus’ voice than being a stuffed shirt. Similarly to how the relationship between a parent and child evolves at the point a child recognises that their parents are actually adults with deep, complicated and powerful emotions, I hope the same happens with Thaddeus. His overbearing and cautious nature belies the depths of his emotional bond with Alex that elevates him from parent to protector.

Figaro is about authority. As a part of the Panopticon oligarchy he is used to exerting his control and power on others. When he first meets Alex he talks down to her – he even refuses to use her name. She is just ‘salvager’ to him, an ends to a means. What I like about Figaro is that, despite his darkness, he’s capable of respect for others without becoming emotionally involved with them. Figaro comes to respect Alex and whilst his tone softens towards her there’s still something empty or hollow about the way he talks. To me, his voice suggests that you want to connect with him but you won’t like what you find.

Phew. Still with us? Have a cookie.

I’ll wrap this up now. There’s probably much more to discuss about how a character is formed in fiction but the trifecta of characterisation, motivation and voice is a good place to start. When creating characters for any fiction it is important to give them reason, depth and personality and I feel this is doubly important in games. As an industry and art form we’re still finding our language and learning to use the language we already have. Cardboard cut out characters served their purpose once upon a time when they existed purely to justify the gameplay experience, but as games evolve and the world becomes more and more aware of them it is important to push our art to be the best it can be at telling good stories with good characters.

Here’s to Salvaged! x

Expanding Ideas

Fri, 02 Oct 2015 11:56:34 +0100

As the old adage goes: writing is re-writing, meaning a good piece of writing comes through iteration. The same logic can, naturally, be applied to game design. Through iteration, playing, testing and rebuilding we can create a fully refined gaming experience. They say a film is truly made in the editing room; a game is truly made through the lens of each and every prototype.

As you’ll be aware from our previous update on Salvaged, we’ve added a couple of new features to the gameplay, namely: crafting and ranks & mastery. Let’s take a juicy closer look at these latest additions to the Salvaged gameplay family and analyse where they’ve come from and why we feel they’re the right direction for Salvaged.

Crafting. It’s cool to build things with your own [virtual] hands. I believe, as a designer, that the interaction between a player and their equipment helps to form a bond with the tools of the trade and, therefore, immerse them further into the gaming experience. It’s like peeling the cellophane cover off of a smartphone – the moment you do, the device feels like it truly belongs to you as though it somehow acquired a dash of your DNA or soul.

In the world [universe?] of Salvaged, people scrape their lives together through rusting and derelict environments. They are a gazillion miles from other humans so can’t just nip to the shops to buy the latest and sexiest piece of kit. It wouldn’t be practical, economical or logical. These are hardy folk pushed back into a resource scrounging and manufacturing way of life due to the social death grip exerted by mega-corporation, Panopticon. These people are handy with their hands; these people are builders.

A key element of Salvaged’s gameplay is picking up our own variation of loot (aptly/confusingly called ‘salvage’) once each room of a wrecked starship has been cleared of ungodly beasties. From Diablo to Dark Souls, the mechanic at hand is instant rewards following an intense and deadly bout of gameplay involving hostiles. Salvage, however, lacked any function beyond being a series of images proffered to the player upon clearing a room. As a designer I could assign as high a fictional value as I wanted to each piece of salvage but their true value would still be squat. Value of items in games, I believe, is governed by how useful the item is to the game experience – does it make me stronger? Quicker? Or grant access to something else? Crafting gives our loot true value.

It was always a part of Salvaged’s design to have stronger variations of all of the weapons and armour available in the game. Originally the plan was for each iteration of a weapon to unlock after a certain amount of progress through the story missions. Progress equals reward - a standard game design principle. The weapon iterations, however, naturally lend themselves to the concept of crafting.

The paradigm now shifts from progress equals reward to choice equals reward, the player now chooses which salvage items to sell and which to keep to build a stronger weapon or piece of armour. Through their own savvy – or lack thereof – the Salvaged experience becomes tailored and more personal to the player’s interaction with it, rather than being passively rewarded by the whims of a game designer. Rewards earned are sweeter than rewards simply handed out.

Speaking of rewards earned, the agents the player hires to send out into the field are going to kill a lot of baddies - a LOT of baddies. This has always been the design plan for Salvaged but just like our salvage loot, it lacked any depth or meaning beyond the act of survival. Salvaged isn’t one of those ‘ludonarrative dissonance’ games wherein characters preach about despising the act of killing only to have the gameplay wilfully indulge in it – no siree. Salvagers kill things. Salvagers go into dangerous places to make a living. Salvagers are survivors.

The purpose of our new rank and mastery system is to show how defeating enemies and surviving missions changes an agent. In the life of a salvager the number of kills and successful jobs under your belt dictates your worth, your skill and the respect they command. In this case once an agent has killed a certain number of hostiles their ‘rank’ will increase from Novice to Adept and finally to Veteran. The principle behind this mechanic was inspired by the likes of Pokémon and FTL – your creature/crew battles, gets stronger and eventually evolves. It’s a form of game progression and reward through input rolled into one.

Beyond being an immersive gameplay mechanic I believe that evolution systems such as these help to form an emotional bond between the player and the characters they interact with. It sucks when your beloved Pokémon gets its ass handed to it in a fight, but a euphoric sensory overload after the two of you work hard, train hard, evolve and overcome your challenges. Given the permanent nature of any mistakes made by the player in Salvaged, it makes sense to design a mechanic that’ll enhance their emotional focus. When they succeed they’ll cheer, when they fail they’ll cry.

Gaining a new rank will allow an agent to then ‘master’ one of their attributes. In Salvaged, agents level up by spending currency earned from salvage loot to buy skill points for each agent’s attributes. These attributes range from the internal (health, accuracy etc) to the external (proficiency with each weapon type). The player decides which attributes to focus to tailor and grow their agents as they see fit.

The mastery system provides a permanent boost to a chosen attribute once an agent’s rank has increased. Doing this provides further customisation for the player concerning their agents but also, thematically, alludes to the idea that an experienced salvager would naturally become more capable within their own physiology. For example, if the player masters an agent’s health attribute they’ll receive a permanent 50% boost to their health. Master an agent's proficiency with shotguns and they’ll become more deadly – ‘I’m a damn surgeon with a shotgun’ etc etc. The agents at the player’s command are living, breathing people, not mindless cannon fodder. I hope rank and mastery goes someway to embracing that quality of Salvaged.

The great steps toward bringing Salvaged to life march on and on. As we create, we reflect and we respond to the feel of the game. Ultimately we want Salvaged to be a fun, satisfying and memorable experience. By being bold and brave enough to ‘write through re-writing’ I believe we’ll do just that.

Praise doge x

It's alive! - A mega update on Salvaged

Wed, 23 Sep 2015 12:44:09 +0100

Phew. Well that was fun wasn’t it? Salvaged swooped onto Greenlight like some ironclad eagle of balls-out gaming ambition. For seven days our sweet chick of sci-fi awesomeness laid waste to Greenlight like Mothra by way of Tony Montana. Did it pay off? Of course it did! Seven days and lots of lovely positive votes later Valve sent us the good news and Salvaged officially became eligible for Steam. To quote Ric Flair: Woooo!

But what on earth have we been doing since? I hear you clamouring to ask whilst pulling the very hairs from your speckled scalp. Fear not! Let’s get you up to speed…

Firstly, a HUGE thank you to everyone who voted for Salvaged on Greenlight and left lots of messages of support. It genuinely means a lot to everyone in the studio. Once again: thank you.

So what’s been happening since? Well, to the blunt, we’ve been building the damn thing! Salvaged existed as a pretty comprehensive design document and prototype prior to Greenlight and now our job is to turn our budding zygote into a living, breathing, all-dancing (that’s not confirmation of a rhythm-action mode – Ed.) game-sapien.

First things first, we started building the opening sequence of the game – robustly known as ‘Intro Level 1’. This portion of the game encompasses the opening story beats, the first contract (‘mission’) and the game’s tutorial. There’s a lot going on here. There’s no foreplay from Salvaged – she takes control from the off whether you like it or not – and for us focusing on Intro Level 1 was a chance to lay all our gameplay cards on the table and build, test, respond, rebuild and so forth. It’s effectively a petri dish or microcosm of the entire Salvaged experience. We wanted to see our initial gameplay designs in action, see whether they work or not and analyse what’s missing or needs to be taken out to create the best Salvaged experience possible.

To that end, players can now hire new agents (all with exceedingly cool names pulled from our very own sci-fi name generator – watch out for a few cheeky cameos), buy equipment and weapons for them (wait till you see some of the beastly weapons tucked away in the Market), accept contracts – now titled by the wreck you’ll be salvaging from (they too have exceedingly bitchin’ names) and fight your way through a complete level. Oh my!

‘But Salvaged peeps,’ I hear you cry. ‘If it’s taken you three months to build one level will we EVER see the game in this solar cycle?!’ Calm yourself - there’s a plan. Salvaged features twenty story contracts. The nineteen contracts after Intro Level 1 use our very own level generator to build each level according to our design specifications. Contract 12 - 13 rooms, difficulty level 5, enemy batch: aliens and BOOM! You have a level. All we have to do afterwards is play through and tidy up any irregularities, make sure the story beats are correctly hooked up and then sign that bad boy off. Because we’ve refined the gameplay through creating Intro Level 1 the process of creating the remaining levels should be a lot, lot faster.

Intro Level 1 is 90% finished, but what of the last 10%? We recently did a hefty review of the game’s UI (user interface) and found a) it wasn’t up to a standard we were happy with and b) much of it had been made redundant by our work on Intro Level 1. Right now, with the new UI looking sexy and fresh, we’re in the process of re-wiring it into the game. Once this is complete, Intro Level 1 can actually be finished by the player (you’ll be able to get your reward and upgrade your agents! Huzzah!) and thus close the game loop for Salvaged.

Our progress was also slightly delayed by us upgrading the game from Unity 4 to – durm, durm durm – Unity 5! Yay! Why did we do this? Well obviously system enhancements and better performance aside (plus we simply have to be seen in the latest threads, we’re not barbarians after all), Oculus revealed that software for the Oculus Rift headset will need to be Unity 5 to run. Guess what’s an Oculus Rift launch title? Oh, that’s right, Salvaged! Yay! Thanks to the cool lighting performance of U5 creating the right visual tone for the game will be much, much easier. Our 3D guys are working on making the game look better and much more atmospheric – did I mention gun-mounted torches? I think I just did.

Whilst building Intro Level 1 and reworking its UI three new mechanics have been designed and implemented into the game, namely: crafting, skill mastery and agent ranks.

Crafting came about when we realised that the salvage items agents acquire across a level had very little purpose beyond being a pseudo-currency. We decided to revive an idea from way-back-when about being able to use the salvage items to craft new goodies – in this case we’re using salvage to build modified weapons and armour. Players will now have to pick and choose between selling or saving salvage – selling salvage means more funds to buy new stuff but saving it could mean building more powerful equipment – all the better for killing with, my dear. What ever will they do?

Killing lots and lots of enemies now offers some feedback beyond satiating your bloodlust. Once an agent has slain a certain amount of enemies their rank will rise from Novice to Adept to Veteran. I like this mechanic because I believe it’ll forge a stronger bond between the player and their agents – remember, Salvaged is all about the perma-death. Ranking is like the evolution of a pokémon; you fight hard and well and they grow into something stronger. That is the principle behind our ranking system. It also comes with its own rewards. Which leads me nicely onto …

Mastery! All agents have 12 skills that can be upgraded through the game. These skills range from passive skills (health, defence etc) to more aggressive skills relating to different weapon types. With the mastery system, once an agent reaches a new rank they are offered the chance to ‘master’ one of their skills. In doing so they will unlock a permanent boost to said skill. For example, mastering an agent's health skill means they’ll receive a permanent 50% bonus to their total health at every level. Groovy!

Aaaaaand that’s about it with where we’re at. Game development isn’t a fast process – even more so when we’re juggling multiple projects in the studio. But fear not! Salvaged is very much alive and kicking, in fact we plan to let it loose to kick down your front door before the end of the year! We’re still making a final decision about whether to release through Early Access or directly to Steam but once we’ve decided we’ll be sure to shout it from the rooftops. But not after 11pm, that’s just plain bad etiquette.

Don’t stop believing, and remember to check out our amazing audio log series if you haven't already. You can now listen to the whole series in one lovely package.

Audio Log - The Transcript

Mon, 07 Sep 2015 09:55:42 +0100

Our audio log series delved into the life of Commander Alex Pieterson, and followed the exploits of the team aboard starship Thaddeus; a fantastic series written by Salvaged designer/writer Daniel Dowsing and performed by the brilliant Kate Davies.

The journey is over for now, but all of those audio logs have been stored on the data banks of starship Thadeus. You can listen to the complete series, but for the first time we have now made available the transcripts for Commander Alex Pieterson's audio diary.

Many thanks to Salvaged fan Thomas for requesting the transcripts; we're more than happy to oblige!

Enjoy:

The Last Job

Audio Log #1 – The Job

Woke up with a sick hangover this morning. The payment for the Lombardi job came through so I gave the crew some shore leave. Orbital Tower Ivanta never fails to entertain. The neon glow of the Satin Lanes never sleeps; crowds and crowds of Workers mingle and drink and forget their dire lives for a few brief hours.

It’s tough being the bottom of the ladder in an O.T., tougher still if you can’t blow off steam once in a while. But I guess if it lets the Lifers sleep a little better, and there isn’t a riot coming their way, then it’s all good.

Thaddeus, if you’re checking this – and I hope you’re not - that’s not me inciting civil unrest so cool your CPU, buddy.

Figaro has been in touch again – the guy’s quite persistent for a fence. Usually they pass along a contract, you turn it down and they offer it to another salvager - end of story. To be honest the job is far out from my usual territory but he’s upped his offer for this new job and I’d be fool to say no. Can’t imagine why he’s so keen on my crew taking the job mind you. It’s a long way out in the Ocean System so need to start packing.

Briggs is back to her usual self again. Girl cuts up a dance floor like a hurricane. Thaddeus might be the voice of the ship but she’s the soul of the crew; it affects morale when she’s in one of her dark states. Glad to see her crack a smile again. Oh and she bumped into Krystuslast night so I gave her the morning off. He’s a nice guy but the bald head/ponytail combo is just not my thing. ‘Each to their own’ as they say.

We depart this evening.

Alex Pieterson out.

Audio Log #2 - Panopticon

We’re two days into the journey to the Ocean System. Figaro has been in touch with more info on the job. We’re heading to an abandoned space station called Roulette to pick up some research data. Can’t say I’ve heard of it but the Known Universe is littered with lost stations and starships. I’ve asked Thaddeus to search for any more information but at the moment he’s drawing a blank.

Might be time for a ship AI upgrade – that was a joke, Thaddeus. (I’m serious – you shouldn’t be checking these).

For all the info Figaro is spilling I can’t help sense he’s holding something back. The guy works for Panopticon and any salvager worth her salt knows they play everything close to the chest, but something isn’t sitting well with me. He’s being very precise about our entry point and route in. Can’t say I’m keen on this; I prefer working out the attack plan myself.

It’s odd being attached to a Panopticon job. They pay well for sure but working for them makes you feel like a cog in a much, much bigger machine. There’re stories amongst the salvagers about them. Give someone enough incentive, believe me vices are something we don’t lack, and soon even the most sensitive information begins to flow. ‘Sensitive’ being key here: starships vanishing, crews being silenced and not your usual salvage to pick up. Dealing with their DNA Memory requests are particularly difficult but lucrative. Organic material is worth its weight in sals. If rumours are true then Panopticon have cornered the market in ‘death trading’. Seems a life has more value in this universe once its been snuffed out. Tall tales always make for interesting banter in the Orbital Towers; but I can’t say I’ve experienced anything out of the ordinary.

Briggs came to see me today - I think her hangover from Ivanta has finally cleared. We caught up on things including her dad’s health but being Briggs she quickly changes the subject. Can’t say I blame her, we all have dark corners we don’t like shining a light on.

Alex Pieterson out.

Audio Log #3 – What is Roulette?

I’m feeling uncomfortable with the lack of recon for Roulette. Figaro keeps stonewalling me at every turn. What can we expect to encounter inside? Nothing. How deep are we heading in? Nothing. What is the salvage? Nothing. Information is the key to a successful job and I sure as hell won’t send my crew in blind. I’ve seen it before with other crews and all you get is blood on your hands.

I threatened to drop the job – we’re still two weeks out, if we quit now we won’t make much of a loss on our fuel cells. Seems I have an ace in the hole and Figaro is desperate to keep me on. I finally got something out of him: Roulette is an old science station from the Monkton-Drez Expedition. Can’t believe there’d be much left of it after all this time; a space station is a prime target for a salvaging crew.

If Panopticon are attached to it I guess they’ve managed to keep it secure. Makes you wonder why? Could be one of their mythical DNA stores… Anyway, according to Figaro, Roulette was set up as a research outpost that soon became redundant but some sensitive material was left behind. There’s that word again: sensitive.

I know Figaro well enough to know he’s not telling me everything and to be honest I don’t care. All I need is the right info for my crew; I’ve demanded a plan of Roulette and I’m sure he’ll give it to me. He can be a soft touch when he wants to be.

The crew are getting a bit restless. It’s just a bit of cabin fever but thankfully Briggs is keeping spirits up. We make a good team balancing discipline and free time. The cabin fever’ll pass soon enough.

I noticed the stars today. Been a starship commander for five years and only today was I struck by them; brilliant pin pricks of light in the ever-dark. Colossal in size yet dwarfed by the universe.

Alex Pieterson out.

Audio Log #4 – Trouble on the Thaddeus

Today we had an incident on board. A fight broke out between Briggs and a new guy called Jasper. He’s young but he’s got a good record with another commander I know. Not sure what went down but the two of them had to be separated. I had Jasper confined to the sleeping quarters and gave Briggs room to breathe – sounds mad but I know how she works. She’ll find her own place to cool off. If it happens again I’ll put them in stasis until we reach Roulette.

What I can glean from the others Jasper wasn’t taking well to our long-haul routine. Words were said, Briggs stepped in to confront him and, well, something happened because Briggs floored him. I know the guy is new but most salvagers can handle a long-haul job. Surprised Briggs was provoked into a fight though; known her for years and never seen her goaded into something so trivial.

I’ve taken everyone off duty; hopefully any lingering tension’ll dissipate soon. Got to nip this in the bud quickly. Tension is like a virus on a starship: contagious, deadly. I once worked a job on the Nova Hecate in the Genesis System. She had a good rep but we got caught in a gravity drift for six weeks. The Commander tried everything to keep tension down but in the end something had to give.

I don’t know how I survived. People you called friend found something dark and nasty deep inside and it sure as hell came spewing out. We became animals: nothing more, nothing less. The term ‘fight for survival’ never seemed more appropriate than during that job.

It’s why I sleep with a light on.

If this job is to be successful I need the crew relaxed and ready to go. I’ll be damned if I let the Thaddeus end up like the Hecate.

Alex out.

Audio Log #5 – Life of the Salvager

Briggs came to my cabin to apologise about the incident yesterday. She’s calmer but her body seemed taut. I asked her why she let herself be goaded into a fight and her reply was quite simple: I was angry. News from home says her father’s condition is worsening and when you’re a fighter like Briggs not being able to do anything must be hell. I know we’re friends and all but her dad is the only family she has. He raised her and only her: just the two of them in the slums of Mars. I can’t imagine that kind of existence; at least I have my parents and a brother. Well, had.

We do this job for different reasons. Briggs does it for the money to keep her dad comfortable. Jasper’s in it for the glory – some salvagers become heroes amongst the Workers. Me? I wanted to get out of the dirt and grime of the Worker slums. Life at the bottom of a Tower is like living in a great metal coffin. The air and sunlight is so artificial it makes your skin feel like plastic. On the rare chances we got to step outside I’d look up at the sky and wish for one thing: to grow wings and fly up past the clouds. I think at that age I didn’t know what was past the clouds but it didn’t matter to me. My lungs felt open and my skin could breathe.

Now don’t get me wrong it’s not an easy life. A starship is still pretty cramped (no offence, Thaddeus) but at least it has windows. The pay can be crap but the things we see are incredible. There’s danger in every corner of the universe waiting to rip you apart and push you to breaking point. Death is our commodity – wrecked ships, lost souls and things the universe has forgotten. It takes guts but you have to want to see what’s out there and dive right in. That’s who I am.

Briggs’ll relax soon enough. I’ve offered her stasis if she wants it but, between you and me, I think this’ll be her last gig.

Alex Pieterson out.

Audio Log #6 – The Kingdom & The Cavalry

Close call today, we had a run in with some Kingdom of Jupiter Cavalrymen. Why on earth they were this far out from the Kingdom is anyone’s guess. You usually get plenty of Kingdom traders in this part of the universe but Kingdom muscle is a different matter entirely.

Now usually I wouldn’t have a problem dealing with Cavalrymen. If you respect the Jovian territories and pay their taxes you don’t have anything to worry about. What you should worry about, however, is causing an ‘affront to the Kingdom’ as they’ll pompously tell you. Jovians dress like peacocks and talk like the 19^th century.

We are undertaking a Panopticon-backed job and everyone knows where their allegiances lie. The Kingdom and the True Earth Council; they don’t call it the Awkward Peace for nothing. Those scars run deep and anyone carrying a Panopticon banner is in for a tough time.

They hailed us, demanding our purpose. Try as I might to explain that we weren’t in Jovian territory, I couldn’t get them to back down and the more I tried to palm them off the more hostile they got. I thought I could handle it until The Thaddeus sensed they were locking onto us. Cavalrymen pride themselves on rushing a suspect ship with random teleports. It’s terrifying to behold, causes confusion to sweep through a ship. Terror and confusion: a deadly combination. All the Jovians have to do is mop up the chaos.

I spotted a way out: the Europa System. Cavalrymen might be tough bastards but even they won’t risk running into Panopticon’s Defence Force. If we could break the territory line we’d be safe.

Breaking away from the Jovian’s we hurtled through an asteroid belt. Twisting, turning between the rocks. Hold on! I bellowed to the crew as the ship took knock after knock. Shields holding. The Jovians fired shots at us. Banking hard the mighty boulders exploded around us. Shields holding! The control stick was fighting me, Thaddeus was screaming in my ears. More shots from the Jovians. I barrelled up deeper into the field. Shields holding! A shockwave hit us, rammed us hard, as one of the Jovian ships collided with an asteroid. They might be faster but the Thaddeus is a way better mover.

Breaking through the asteroid field the remaining Jovian ship showed no sign of following as we crossed the territory line. Going to lie low in this Orbital Tower for a day or two and figure out our next move. If this job is as sensitive as Figaro is making out the last thing I want is the Kingdom breathing down my neck.

Alex Pieterson out.

Audio Log #7 – Lost in the Stars

I’ve never really spoken about my brother James. To be honest I don’t know how to talk about him. I’ve noticed how quickly we start using the past tense when we talk about the ones we’ve lost. Suddenly the one we love no longer ‘is’, they become ‘was’. But with James I don’t know whether he’s dead or alive.

He was already a man when I was a young girl, working his way up the crew of a salvage ship. From what I’ve been told he was one of the best salvagers around. Even the other commanders that tell stories of him don’t know which tense to use. Deep down it’s nice to think he’s keeping some of us bonded.

Naturally he rose to become a commander himself, taking the Hearthfire as his ship. Some people say he won it in a game of Iron Core. To be honest that might not be far from the truth; before he left he taught me a few card tricks though I think winning a starship is beyond my skill. I still have his playing cards in my locker.

When the call came from the True Earth Council for the Wide Sweep Expedition hundreds of commanders signed up. Who wouldn’t, right? Fame, glory, money – just keep dangling carrots and they’ll come. Humanity was about to step beyond the boundaries of the Known Universe into the Ultraverse and the darkness beyond. James jumped at the chance.

Behind the grandeur of it all there are countless theories. The Wide Sweep – for the glory of Humanity? Or to satiate Panopticon’s genetic stores? The human body no longer has value for what it can do but rather what it contains.

What happened no one truly knows. The first two years were a constant stream of contact and discovery. At least it felt like a constant stream, perhaps I’m choosing to remember it like that because suddenly the noise stopped. No reports, no stories, nothing. The True Earth Council kept pushing expedition updates via Panopticon’s news corps but we didn’t buy their fabrication. That was over ten years ago.

Perhaps this is what limbo feels like? A constant knot of doubt and weightlessness, like I’m caught between two realities where James is dead in one and alive in the other.

Being a salvager keeps me connected to him and maybe, just maybe, he’s still out here amongst the stars.

Alex out.

Audio Log #8 – A Ride Home

We have a new face on board: a Muraki called Yura. He’s one of the La’ban– a sword commando. Tough guy but he’s pleasant enough. OT Kristiana proved a good place to lie low following our encounter with the Cavalrymen. Gave the crew a chance to rest and purchase a fake ID for the Thaddeus. It cost a pretty penny but when this job is finally done it’ll be covered.

Anyway we spotted Yura in the docking port of the Kristiana. Muraki aren’t exactly a rare sight in this part of the universe but they’re still impressive to behold with their coloured manes and three eyes. We weren’t the only ones to spot him – some Mortalists did too. ‘Defenders of Humanity’ or so they claim. Hatemongers and nothing more if you ask me. Get a pack of them together and any poor alien sap caught on their own is in for a tough time. What a shame, however, Mortalists don’t know a La’ban when they see one. Better yet they don’t know not to pick a fight with one. Needless to say they didn’t last long.

Muraki have free travel under the True Earth Council but its not easy travel. The philosophy of the human divinity has grown in strength, its believers follow the dogma that humanity is the divine species in the Known Universe and all others are beneath them. Sad fools. As far as I’m concerned we aren’t defined by what we are but by who we are.

Yura has bartered passage with us back to the Pangea System, or Le’he System if you know the Murak dialect. He kept himself to himself for the first part of the journey until one night he joined me in the mess hall. We made small talk at first, I think the encounter with the Mortalists made him wary of any human, but soon enough he relaxed and I found a jovial soul under the stern exterior. It wasn’t until the conversation turned to our job that the atmosphere suddenly cooled.

Roulette. The Muraki have their own name for it: Ho’ba– the Pit.

Alex Pieterson out.

Audio Log #9 – Rumours

Ho’ba - The Pit. That’s what Yura called Roulette. It was hard getting information out of him but in the end he let something slip: ‘When you go to the Pit only the body dies.’ I didn’t understand his meaning and soon it came for him to leave us. Muraki are difficult to read at the best of times but when we parted ways something lingered in his farewell. An uncertain tone hung in the air.

I’ve pushed Figaro for more information but he’s refusing to budge. We’re too far into the job to quit now. He just keeps repeating over and over that it’s an old science outpost: nothing more, nothing less. Studying the plans of the station doesn’t help either. There’s nothing odd about its structure, no discrepancies in its design. Thaddeus is searching for any reference to Ho’ba or the Pit but so far coming up blank.

Yura is a La’ban, a Muraki commando. A common trait amongst the La’ban is their dedication to Muraki culture and they’re especially sensitive to Humanity’s encroachment on it. Could it be that Ho’ba is just a hang up from the first contact days and our aggressive expansion across the universe?

Briggs made an interesting point. When Yura said that ‘the body dies’ I thought he was confusing his words but what if he was being literal? When the body dies what’s left behind?

Alex Pieterson out.

Audio Log #10 – Arrival

We sighted Roulette today. It’s an unassuming structure far away from the main channel of the Ocean System. A flat disc designed to remain unseen and boring should any passer-by happen upon it. It offers no grandeur in its appearance and hints at nothing inside. It’s like one of those wild designs by Junji Amano come to life – apparently he only slept six hours a week…

Figaro explained that the station’s research was deemed top secret hence the drab design. They wanted this place off the map at all costs.

Figaro. He seemed almost giddy that we’d arrived. I can’t put my finger on it; like a child fit to burst with excitement.

The Thaddeus has locked into Roulette’s orbit and we’ll begin salvaging tomorrow. The plan is set and the crew are ready to breach but there’s something in the air – a nervousness I guess, and Briggs…she’s fallen into one of her dark moods.

I’ve allowed two days for salvaging. If we’re the first on this station it’ll be ripe for the taking. Panopticon get the pick up but we sell anything else we find. There’s the question: what will we find?

Until tomorrow then.

Alex out.

Audio Log #11 – Day One

Damn it. Damn it to hell. Briggs is dead. Fuck this. Fuck it all…

The job started fine. Entered through the upper airlocks as planned and began a descent into the station. Day one for me is about safe passage. All kinds of nasty things infest these old stations; one misstep and you lose your head – literally. But here’s the thing – the damn station was empty. No Crawlers, no nothing. Not even a defence AI to greet us.

… Should have got out then…

There might have been no threats but the interior was a mess. Collapsed corridors, blocked doorways you name it. In order to clear a path to the pick up I split the crew: a main route and an emergency route. Pretty standard really.

I put Briggs in charge of the second team. About two hours in Jasper radioed us. Briggs had vanished. Just dropped her weapons and … ‘poof’ … gone. It’s dark in there. Thick dark. Seems to suck the torchlight right into it.

We got to them as quick as we could and started searching. Couldn’t have been more than five minutes when he heard the first scream. Fuck it cut right through me. All the time I’ve worked with Briggs I’ve never heard that … that fear … in her voice.

Another scream. Louder. So sharp, so scared.

… Tracked her to a room off the main corridor. Well, what was left of her … Looked like a fucking automatic had riddled her body but we sure as shit didn’t hear any gunfire.

Her body’s in the cargo bay now.

Briggs… I just want to go home.

Out.

Audio Log #12 – Day Two

The show must go on. Unless the job is going to annihilate your crew the job has to be completed. That’s the way it is. That’s our living.

Morale has taken a beating but the crew pulled together. They know the life.

We broke through to the pick up after about four hours. I was expecting a DNA memory vial of the highest order. Panopticon love to hide their secrets genetically but I was wrong. It’s something else; a metal canister about two feet tall, six inches across. Nothing exciting except … it’s cold. Really cold. There’s a layer of frost forming over it yet the rest of the station is clean.

I checked on the room we found Briggs in before leaving. I had to. What the fuck happened in there? Her blood was still pooling on the floor but there was something else: crystal shards. They were … growing … out of her blood.

Figaro … the hell were you creating here?

It’s time to go home.

[SFX: Muffled sounds of a struggle outside the room]

Hmm?

[SFX: Sound of Alex walking away. A door opens and closes]

Audio Log #13 – [Untitled]

[SFX: Sounds of gunfire, screaming]

This is Alex Pieterson, commander of the salvage ship Thaddeus… If you’re hearing this…don’t go to Roulette. I repeat: do NOT go to Roulette.

[SFX: The sound of a door opening and closing]

There’s something on the ship… It’s a fucking Shard! A weapon! … The crew … they’re dead … all dead.

[SFX: The sound of pummelling against the door, something big and nasty, something screeching]

I’m opening all the airlocks. I’m going to suffocate it.

[SFX: Pummelling intensifies]

Thaddeus … override … 50-21 … open the airlocks!

[SFX: Alarms sound]

Figaro! … I know what you did you monster. I know what you created … If I survive this…

[SFX: The sound of doors opening, the sound of something dangerous approaching]

Shit … Briggs! NO!!!

Audio Log - The Whole Series

Thu, 03 Sep 2015 16:46:03 +0100

Travelling through perilous sectors of space, dealing with in-crew fighting and finally coming face-to-face with the mystery of Roulette, Commander Alex Pieterson has been through a hell of a lot. Her audio diaries have been posted here for weeks now, but with the final dramatic entry going up yesterday, we've now reached the end of her journey - for now.

So there's no better time to listen to the whole collection! If you've already listened to them all, then it's well worth enjoying them again - maybe you'll hear something you missed the first time around. If you've yet to give them a listen, then this really is the perfect time to catch up on the Salvaged back story.

Audio log #13 'untitled'

Thu, 03 Sep 2015 10:44:49 +0100

Throughout the last few months we've been on a long and treacherous adventure with Salvaged protagonist Alex Pieterson in our audio log prequel series 'The Last Job'.

This week, it's time to draw the series to a close with the final tense episode. You might be interested to know that this week's log is featured in the Salvaged intro - right at the very beginning of the game as a prelude to your first chance to get hands-on in the control room.

We hope you've been following you've been following but if not - make sure to catch up with the story and check back through our previous posts.

This final audio log was, as always, penned by Salvaged writer-designer Daniel Dowsing and performed by the brilliant Kate Davies. We hope you've enjoyed the journey.

One last warning ... Don't. Go. To. Roulette!

Control and Mind Games in Salvaged

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 14:45:13 +0100

A dark, frightening sense of loneliness. Creepy little alien bugs. A rather unusual, but stimulating, lack of control. These were the elements that stuck in my mind after my first playthrough of the current Salvaged build. I’ve just started working at Opposable Games, and while I could see a lot of folks around the office creating awesome things for the game, I had to have a go.

That lack of control is something I want to focus on, because I found it to be the most fascinating element of the game so far. While most titles try everything to encourage player agency, Salvaged is much more refined, and pleasantly willing to take the reins away from the player. Sure, laying out orders to your troops using the node system is a crucial part of the gameplay experience, but seeing those plans unfold invokes a rather different and unique feeling.

It’s the feeling of maternal/paternal care; you’re sending these soldiers into the abyss, so it’s your responsibility that they get out alive. Anyone who’s played any of the XCOM games will know that feeling, but Salvaged is wonderfully unique purely because once you hit ‘breach’, you can only hope that your troops survive the encounter. Your tactics matter just as much as they do in the aforementioned Firaxis title, but you’re a commander this time, not some existential being. To me, that’s hugely exciting.

There’s a thrill to losing control; it’s the same reason we (or some of us, at least) love roller coasters, or horror films, or… football, even. Sacrificing agency and allowing yourself to experience events as an observer can be just as exciting, perhaps even more so, than enjoying them first-hand. Watching my trusty troopers perform my own deviously plotted plans was simply fantastic, but the fact that I was observing rather than directly controlling made it so much more tense, and so much more thrilling.

Another element of the current build that I loved, as something of an extension of that hands-off system, was the true ‘be a commander’ presentation. The operations room, with its multiple glowing screens and industrial feel, is a wonderful hub for a game like Salvaged. It really helps to develop that sense of command, a feeling that AI assistant Thaddeus only furthers with his silky, but ever-so-slightly haunting, tones.

I only played Salvaged for around half an hour, but the potential is clear to see. For those who’ve long wished to partake in the action movie motif that is a solo commander instructing and observing a team of crack troopers, this is going to be a must-have. It’s unique in its combination of deep strategy, yet hands-off combat. I’m excited to show you more and more of the development process of Salvaged over the coming months.

Be sure to keep an eye on this site, as well as our social media (Twitter, Facebook) feeds, for more news and details on the game.

Audio log #12 'Day Two'

Fri, 21 Aug 2015 10:08:57 +0100

As we build up to the launch of our early access program, we're going to be releasing a series of audio logs as part of a prequel story titled 'The Last Job'. Penned by Salvaged writer-designer Daniel Dowsing and performed by the brilliant Kate Davies, they're a great insight into the mind of Salvaged protagonist Alex Pieterson; her relationship with the crew of the starship Thaddeus and the events that precede Salvaged.

The show must go on. Despite morale being low Alex and the crew reach the pick up. Wanting to avoid another tragedy, Alex decides it's time to return home.

Audio log #11 'Day One'

Fri, 31 Jul 2015 10:08:57 +0100

This week's episode follows the first day of salvaging on Roulette. Alex realises that something isn't right about the lost space station floating in the dark.

Parental Advisory: Explicit Content.

Audio log #10 'Arrival'

Thu, 16 Jul 2015 10:54:40 +0100

Following Yura's revelation about Roulette, Alex begins to question the nature of the job. Do Yura's words have any substance or are they a hang up from years of cultural genocide?

Audio Log #9 - 'Rumours'

Tue, 30 Jun 2015 12:02:49 +0100

Following Yura's revelation about Roulette, Alex begins to question the nature of the job. Do Yura's words have any substance or are they a hang up from years of cultural genocide?

Salvaged live on Greenlight now!

Mon, 22 Jun 2015 14:31:45 +0100

So then Salvagers, we're there! We are live on Steam Greenlight! It's been a wild ride and a lot of fun getting here but we've got to say - we're super happy with the current state of Salvaged.

The ever-expanding Salvaged universe being crafted by the talented Daniel Dowsing is really shaping to be something very special. We have so many stories and characters to share with you, so a big thanks for sticking with us.

New trailer

We have a brand new trailer for you! Check it out over on the Greenlight page!

Share the love

If you wouldn't mind sharing this page and sending a tweet for us we'd be super happy!

Greenlight.salvagedgame.com will take you to our Greenlight page. So do please vote for us, tell your friends and spread the word with #SalvagedGL .

Audio Log 8 'A Ride Home'

Tue, 16 Jun 2015 16:06:50 +0100

In the latest instalment, a Muraki commando called Yura barters passage with the crew of the Thaddeus. Initially withdrawn, he soon opens up to Alex after learning of her mission to Roulette.

Audio Log #7 'Lost in the Stars'

Thu, 11 Jun 2015 10:38:30 +0100

Following the close encounter with the Kingdom of Jupiter, the crew of the Thaddeus decide to lie low on an orbital tower. Alex finds herself thinking more and more of her old brother, James, who went missing a decade ago.

Salvaged Audio Log #6 'The Kingdom & The Cavalry'

Wed, 03 Jun 2015 10:02:25 +0100

In this week's audio log Alex and the crew encounter The Cavalrymen - the Kingdom of Jupiter's private army. Jovian's don't care for those working for Panopticon; just how will Alex get out of this sticky situation?