New game from Yves Grolet

S

slamelov

Look, Ma! Two Heads!
Hi

Yves Grolet, the ex-CEO from Appeal (Creators of Outcast) who is now on 10 Tacle Studios Belgium, is developing a new game called TOTEMS. It's in the first stage of developing, but there is some info,artworks and 2 screenshots:

Totems%20screen%202.jpg

Totems%20screen%201.jpg


It will not Outcast 2, only an action game.

Totems%20Artwork%205.jpg


I would like to see Yves creating a Waste Land

Regards
 
slamelov said:
Yves Grolet, the ex-CEO from Appeal (Creators of Outcast) who is now on 10 Tacle Studios Belgium, is developing a new game called TOTEMS.
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hehe, I always intended to send them an application when I got off uni. never got around to it though. they kinda went out of sight.

just for clarity's sake: Appeal died (after Outcast) & became ElseWhere, then got eaten by 10tacle.

slamelov said:
It's in the first stage of developing, but there is some info,artworks and 2 screenshots:
Click to expand...
doesn't really show much. what kind of game is it? what's the subject?
 
From www.planet-adelpha.com :

Totems Introduction

Name: Totems
Genre: action/adventure
Developer: 10Tacle Studios Belgium (Elsewhere Entertainment)
Publisher: 10Tacle Studios
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, (Playstation 3)
Release Date: 2008

Elsewhere Entertainment’s current work is the action/adventure “Totems”. A unique game featuring a whole new universe of an urban fantasy enviroment. The epic game occurs in an alternate version of our present world mixing up fantasy with realism. Although the game is not yet officially announced by the young German publisher 10Tacle Studios, Elsewhere Entertainment has been working on “Totems” for quite some time. Yves Grolet, CEO of Elsewhere Entertainment, explained that the game will put an emphasis on spectacle and character relationships. Elsewhere Entertainment is very proud of the innovations they’re putting into this game. Even though “Totems” is far from being released it still has a strong presence in this early stage of development.

Totems Storyline

Ancient magic runs through the streets and alleys of Talon City.

Animal spirits, long asleep, rise again... and with them, the power of the evil and beautiful Insect Queen.

Inheritor of the magical abilities of your shaman ancestors, you alone can channel the animal powers of your Totem Spirits and stop the insects from conquering the city.

Such is the basic premise of Totems, Elsewhere Entertainment’s next generation of platform games. In a futuristic fantasy world similar to our own, the player finds himself battling a horde of evil forces invading Talon City. The city is transformed by the magic of the animal spirits, magic that can create both wonders and monsters. A variety of insect-like monsters and beasts has taken control and it is up to the player to defeat them and their Insect Queen.

The player however is more than an ordinary human. With magical abilities of your own, you battle the evil spirits in ways one can only imagine. Through your Totem spirits – the cheetah (speed), the hawk (flight), the bear (strength) and the monkey (agility) – you have become the only force capable of freeing Talon City.

This… is Totems.

Totems Gameplay

Design

Totems is a game that mixes realism with fantasy, with the goal to unleash the player’s own imagination. It is best described as a platform game, but Elsewhere Entertainment wishes to really drive Totems and the player behind that.

Influences
Totems signals the next generation of platform games. As such, it has drawn a lot of inspiration from other platform games and depends heavily on player movement. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and God of War, two excellent platform / action games of the current generation, served as examples of what it is Elsewhere Entertainment wishes to improve upon. Meanwhile, character movements take after a super-heroic version of the urban acrobat sport Le Parkour mixed with martial arts. A combination of combat and platform gameplay makes up Totems, with highly innovative features and qualities that should make it stand out as a true next-generation videogame.

Animal powers
Key to the player’s super-heroic moves are the four animal powers. The Cheetah gives the player improved speed, allowing faster moves and farther jumps than otherwise possible. The Monkey gives extreme agility, turning the environment into an interactive playground where-in the player climbs his way to wherever he wishes to go. The Hawk gives the player the ability to fly – or rather, to glide through the world, giving him the freedom only the open skies can offer. Last but not least, the Bear enhances the player’s strength, opening new ways to literally crash through the environment or crush the evil spirit monsters.


Gameplay

Movement and combat are two pillars of Totems, both heavily dependant on the animal powers and how the player wishes to use these. On the subject of movement and basic combat, Totems innovates by giving the player extreme agility while also ridding him of the arbitrary troubles often so distinctive of platform games. At the same time the animal powers give the player the ability to modify the world around him, creating all sorts of tactical advantages and new challenges.

Movement
In many platform games, gamers usually find themselves timing their jumps, running up to ledges, only to then tumble into the abyss below because they jumped half a second too soon. In Totems, this annoying, unrealistic gameplay aspect is eliminated because the game thinks alongside the player. When the player rushes to a ledge and jumps, the game looks ahead and understands that the player wishes to cross the gap. It then automatically adjusts the character animations so that this jump actually succeeds, rather than relying on the player to jump with great accuracy. Dying isn’t much of a living, and in Totems you can be sure that a mistimed jump is not always your death.

Also, the animal powers give the player the ability to move around with more freedom than ever before, letting only imagination dictate where the player goes. Of course the game is still in some ways a linear, story-driven experience, but within the world itself Totems abides to a rule that, for instance, made Outcast such a fantastic experience: “if you can see it, you can get there”. With increased speed, agility and strength, as well as the ability to glide like a hawk, the player moves with seemingly no physical limitations. Like a super-heroic acrobat you will find yourself running swiftly like a cheetah for a long jump, climbing up poles and obstacles like a monkey, flying from building rooftop to building rooftop, and head to the next area by literally breaking through a wall with your bear-like strength.

Combat
Much of the combat will be hand to hand, animated by motion-captured martial artists. Extending not only to movement, the interactive environment also plays a leading role in combat. Best explained by examples, the game will combine your animal powers with your combat moves, greatly enhancing your fight against the insect-like monsters.

For instance, imagine the player being backed to a wall by a strong opponent. Now imagine that the player attacks with the help of the Monkey Totem powers, for increased agility. The game will actively respond and the hero will leap over the opponent, slamming the monster into the wall and getting the player out of what could have been a nasty situation. Or, imagine the same situation with the Bear power, for extra strength. Rather than to jump out of the way, the player grabs the monster and violently smashes its head into the wall behind.

As you can surely imagine, these animal powers and interactivity give the Totems combat an extra dimension that should prove easy to control yet rewarding to experience.


Modifying the world

As a direct descendant of Native American shamans, your powers are closely reliant on mana, the supernatural, magical force that drives your very existence. With this power, the player can actually change the world around him. In the game, this gives the ability to create certain tactical advantages, but it also brings certain risks and challenges.

With the magical mana, the player can designate areas in the world around him and influence these at his own will. For instance, the player can use his Bear powers and choose to create a small part in the world where this Bear power will form a special presence. If the player then fights in this particular area, he will do so with extreme strength and force, allowing the player to set ambushes for the evil monsters.

At the same time, this tactical advantage could backfire and challenge the player in other ways. The Bear power could make the player stronger, but it could also affect the enemy, presenting even more powerful and deadly foes than in areas that have not been changed by the player.

Totems

This sums up how Elsewhere Entertainment presented us their thoughts and ideas on Totems. The player becomes a super-heroic acrobat and moves around a city with incredible freedom, while also extending his powers to combat and to literally changing the world around him.

Many of these interesting ideas have yet to be implemented in the game itself, and with a release date of 2007 a lot of things are subject to change. The examples and descriptions given here may in time no longer prove entirely accurate, but that does not diminish the fact that Totems is one innovative game. Imagine your abilities, imagine the combat – imagine Totems.

Totems Technology

Graphics

Totems’ graphics are rendered using Elsewhere Entertainment’s 100% proprietary NeoReality technology. In their own words, NeoReality enables Elsewhere Entertainment to:

* tremendously increase the quality of their games
* decrease development costs and generate substantial economies of scale by reusing code for multiple games
* foster creativity by removing technical constraints

NeoReality is compatible with the current generation consoles (Xbox, Playstation 3, Game Cube), the next generation consoles (Xbox 360, Playstation 3), and the personal computer (Windows XP, Windows Vista). In constant development, NeoReality is not an engine for one specific line of platforms or one specific time frame; it is a continuous effort that is constantly worked upon and brought to new levels.

Totems really looks like a next-generation game due to its NeoReality engine. High resolution textures, real-time lighting, bump mapping, real-time physics and extreme polygon counts create visuals that blow away anything you’ve seen in today’s high-end games.

Animations

Movements will be motion-captured from “Le Parkour” specialists (urban runners and acrobats) and martial artists. Special super-heroic moves will be designed by comic artists, giving a bigger-than-life feeling to the game.

Totems uses a proprietary interactive pattern technology that lets the player interact with numerous objects and architectural features in the environment and accomplish impressive stunts.

Level design & style

Totems will bring a never-seen-before level of realism to the genre of platform games. Its city is built like a real one, with its history and diverse districts, while each district has its own distinctive feel and look. The architectural styles are taken from real life, as are the building textures that reach a photographic quality.


There is not official web site. I liked Outcast, specially the world design (in 1999 was amazing). The Totem artworks are cool, let's see the game be cool also.

Regards
 
SuAside said:
just for clarity's sake: Appeal died (after Outcast) & became ElseWhere, then got eaten by 10tacle.
Click to expand...

slamelov said:
http://www.10tacle.be/#about
IT's the 10 Tacle Belgium site. If you don't care, remember that 10 Tacle Belgium is the studio formed by ex-appeal members, creators from Outcast.
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It seems that Totems will be presented at Leipzig:

10Tacle announced today that its lineup of titles presented at the Leipzig Games Convention 2007 will include six world premieres. Among its offerings will be Codename Panzers: Cold War, Reakktor's sci-fi MMO Black Prophecy, Ready2Rumble: Revolution (Wii), Boulder Dash: Rocks (NDS/PSP), Happy Hippos (NDS/PC), and a secret next-gen title in development at its Belgian studio.
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Yves Grolet is the Belgian Studio founder.
It says Next gen, but Totems will be released for PC.

Regards


PS: I hate the words "next gen"
 
Sorry, it was an old post, so...


Is not only "next gen", it will be released for PC, as you can see in the features in this post
 
By the way, the Planet Adelpha website has moved, it is at http://www.planet-adelpha.net/ now. I'm an old Outcast fan myself, so I've been semi-interested since the beginning. The problem has been that I have no real sense of what the game will be like.

It will nice to finally know something substantial about the game.
 
Finally, announced:

http://10tacle.be/games.htm
This third-person 3D action adventure offers non-linear gameplay in a highly interactive environment and is designed to be accessible to the widest audience while offering depth for the core gamers. The player character as well as the enemy is able to use the environment to full extent thanks to the innovative Semantic Environment Sensing System (SESS). Super-heroic movement and combat come alive in a never seen before manner. The Belgian developer’s proprietary NeoReality Engine sets new standards for next-gen platforms and provides an unparalleled atmosphere and experience.

Based on an elaborate and original mythology, TOTEMS offers an exciting new world to explore. The PC and Xbox 360 release is scheduled for 2008.
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