Stasis - an isometric, sci-fi point-and-click adventure (Kickstarter Campaign)

Information links:
Stasis page on Kickstarter - ( KS link )
Official Stasis Page - ( Official web-page )
Stasis Demo - ( Download page )
Blog developer on the official Official blog-page website
Tig-Source Tig-Source blog

Video links:
Debut KS video on Youtube Video-link
The first trailer Stasis Video-link
The second trailer Stasis Video-link
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This publication will discuss the isometric horror adventure game STASIS, which has been under development for three years and which has just now come out on Kickstarter. Unlike the heroes of the previous two publications, Stasis is not only well prepared, but also has a demo version that is freely available. Before making any movements, I strongly recommend her to try.

The game goes back to the era of isometric games. Moreover, unlike a number of modern projects, this is a two-dimensional classical isometric with a fixed camera, pre-rendered backgrounds and two-dimensional characters. To release such a game in 2014 is quite risky, however, taking into account the general trend of moving back to the future, the start of which was brilliantly laid by Obsidian Entertainment with the well-known Eternity project, it can be assumed that in the near future old-fashioned methods will again become mainstream.

If anyone had asked about the first associations when watching the debut video, I would not hesitate to say - Ridley Scott, Aliens, Blizzard and Westwood Studios. All this is here. In one bottle. And you can see this before you proceed for the next shovel. Down there, after we compare our feelings and talk a lot about another potentially good game. In addition to thoughts, old games and everything related to isometry, you will have a blitz-interview with Christopher Bischoff.


Unfortunately, at the moment there is no official pitch video from Kickstarter on the Youtube channel, so I had to insert it. From the channel Adventure Treff .

If the words "adventure" and "isometry" sound like strings for you, if old games do not scare you, welcome. Before the start of this immersion, I would like to note that all you see is a one-man show. This is not about the surviving man, our alter ego John, but about the author of the game. All that you see in the game is the work of one person. Work with quality and development "as then", but today.






In the previous article, I was reproached for lack of specifics, more than once exclamations were heard - but what exactly did he really want to say with this? Well, let's be straight as a shot from the "rails". There is a game that in all respects strongly resembles a good one (I myself, of course, consider that it is amazing), and there is the fact that it is still very poorly covered in the national press. Brief lines of press releases do not reveal the depth of the game, reporting on its arrival only statistically, for show. There is a fact that this is a development of several years, by one person at a very high technical and artistic level. This is not about voice acting, but I think the Kickstarter campaign will help Christopher to collect the necessary funds in order to hire a professional musician and sound director. By the way, the first surprise, they already became well-known Mark Morgan, and the line in his blog says about his attitude to the game:

"... At my first glimpse of STASIS, I was completely blown away by its Deep Beauty. This is destined to be EPIC! ..."


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I want to fill a small gap in the information vacuum around the Stasis project. This is of course the domestic information resources. I also want to find among those of Habrchan who are close to this topic, so that together, with combined blows, we helped Christopher not only to reach the desired ceiling, but also to move on. If only because such games are not released every year, and frankly, not every decade. Eighteen years have passed since “The Dig”, “Crusader: No Remorse” (the masterminds of this game).



The hero of the game, John Marchek (John Maracheck), wakes up from cryosna in the depths of the giant reusable spacecraft Groomlake. The ship has long been abandoned as clearly indicated by desolation, disorder and damaged life support systems. Living at first glance, no. The rest of the cryo-capsules store only the corpses of the team. The miner's ship is far beyond Earth jurisdiction, orbiting the gas giant Neptune, and even more sadly in a falling orbit.

This ship is the property of the transnational company Kane Corporation, which played a key role in the technological development of mankind. The areas of primary development are technology, science and medicine. But it would be much more important for John to find out as soon as possible that the mining ship “Gromleyk” is only a platform for horrific and illegal research.

Pain. Fear. You barely breathe and move with difficulty. You are alone. You do not know what is happening with your family, only that it is not around. And time is running out. The ship, probably due to damage, descends below and below to the surface of Neptune, which is already drawn to it by blue methane tentacles.


The source of this thumbnail ( image-link )



According to the dry lines of press releases - this is an isometric adventure. The combination of these times is quite rare. In the past, one could find more than a dozen adventure of such a plan, among which Crusader , Alien Earth and Albion can be distinguished. However, now, in our time, this niche is empty. The author of the project, Christopher Bischoff, does not agree with this formulation of the question. And in my opinion, he is very convincingly trying to prove to us that this subgenre is alive and will live.

Taking the protagonist John under his wing, the player will be able to interact with the objects of the environment and solve puzzles in the process of exploring the surrounding world, which is represented by a giant mining spaceship "Gromleyk".

The visual picture of the game is created on the basis of a detailed two-dimensional graphics, made in an isometric projection. Inspired by the Sanitarium adventure game and the Crusader: No Remorse artwork, Stasis creates your own unique visual style for you and turns this eerie tale into reality.

For Christopher, Stasis is a source of inexhaustible passion, so strong that the development of the game has been going on for three years now. Chris spent a year searching for an artistic solution for the game and preliminary research on the style and design, then to spend another two years creating the scenery. All this can be gleaned on the net, without being armed with a spatula, as they say on its surface. But in my opinion, the theme, the game, and the person deserve much more attention. Starting from at least three years of development alone and the quality of the product being developed.



It seems to me that I have to be very careful about my emotions. Not at all, but in relation to this project. Any analogy, any word can create the wrong or false impression in the reader. And I would not want this. Therefore, the publication will be much shorter and drier than usual. Images, videos, brief interviews - they will be enough to choose or to awaken a sense of curiosity.

From myself I can say that this is a special game. They are not doing it now. It seems that Christopher is from there. From our past. It seems that he uses old tools too. As if unaware of the fact that the year 2013. In his web-overgrown 2155, games are still done by loners. Stuck in his strange stasis, he works, still paying attention to trifles, and still thinking through every inch of the created world, as it was done a long time ago, and since it has not been done for a long time now. He is not familiar with the "high standards" of the modern world, he does not focus on fashion, and sets the scenery for his world so carefully that it is fitting to recall stories from the set of the film " Alien ." There, for each decoration had to fight with money-givers. You probably remember the scene with the "Space Jockey"? The one that has become one of the many business cards of this cult film (in addition to the dirty scenes of the “birth scene”)? The one that in the distant 1979th caused a fright and a feeling of impossibility of what is happening on the screen?


That same scene. The film crew often had disagreements with investors, but their persistence and unwillingness to compromise gave the world the very “Alien” we know him and did not let him slip into a cheap and second-rate horror movie. When you understand what thin threads hang the fate of projects that, after years, proudly bear the name of the classics of cinema, it becomes creepy. An amazing series of events, successful and unsuccessful circumstances and strange luck - this is what surrounds many of the cult films. Curious people can find out a little more information about the filming of “Alien” in the documentary from StopGames “ The Story Series. Alien and Predator. Part 1: The Birth of the Beast ”. Curious and very good educational material.

If Riddle Scott and his team had not defended Jockey, the film would have been completely different. If they had not fought for the size of the scenery and their elaboration, everything would have been different. Christopher knows nothing about this. He does not let himself go down in creating the scenery for the game, doing everything that is needed for a good project. There is no one who would prevent him from doing everything exactly as he wants. All he lacks is time. Paid time that he could give Stasis. Give so that no one was left out. I can hardly imagine a three-year development of such a scale so that close people and family would not “suffer”. The press release of the game, by the way, speaks about the lost family. About the time that goes faster than necessary. There is an opinion that many developers, like any other creative people, project themselves on their heroes. And the first thing I assumed was exactly that.

All this is of course speculation, reasoning, and they may be erroneous. To find more reliable information, we will begin to move into the depths of the “Glamer”, step by step, trying to understand what is true and what is just words that do not deserve any attention.



You can track Christopher’s project on several web resources at once. Of course, he was not missed by the British RPS , marked by Kotaku , IndiStic and many others ( note by the author - at the time of collecting information on these publications was slightly less ). The promotion turned out to be wonderful (albeit not as stunning as the winning march of yet another successful debutant this year from KS - Hyper Light Drifter ), not to mention that the game was noticed and commented on by the giants of the gaming industry. On the front page of the project you can see a quote from Bryan Fargo:

"... Raspley Scott Film's movie

And then Mark Morgan, who, by the way, as I said earlier, quite officially joined the project as a musician. This is more than a good help for maximum promotion ( author's comment - at the time of the interview Mark Morgan had not yet officially announced his agreement ). It remains only to wait for reinforcements from Obsidian Entertainment, and then the attacks from the isometric front will cease to be crushing, turning into an invulnerable squall that will sweep away from the market everything that does not bear the imprint of "manual isometry."


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However, I would recommend to pay attention not only to the above-mentioned sources, but also to the Tig Source resource, which is well-known in narrow circles. The fact is that all the more or less well-known developers are published on Tiga. We can say that the threads dedicated to the games are the real diaries of the developers. They publish news about progress, new screenshots, art, thoughts of developers, there is a conversation with those interested. And it often happens that in these threads information appears much faster than on the official pages of projects. It is understandable - working notes. I dropped the information and went to work further. In that case, if you are interested in the world of the gaming industry, especially the stages of the origin of projects and the game development process, you should definitely visit this resource. Not one interesting project was found there, and not one news spread around the world thanks to fishermen from the largest news sites that regularly throw gear in search of bigger fish.


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Each “diary” on Tigay has an indicator of the project’s readiness, which the author places at his discretion. We can see that in the case of Stizis, this mark reached a milestone of 50%. In conjunction with other data, we can assume that the funds raised at Kickstarter are needed rather to bring the game to the mind than to develop it from scratch on the basis of any concepts. To invest in it all that is necessary to invest on top. What smoothly leads us to the list of features (or how else they are called to call features) of the game.



- Isometric perspective
- Two-dimensional and detailed graphics
- Science fiction campaign framed with horror story
- The visual style and the world, inspired by the films "Alien", "Hell" and "Through the horizon"
- The game is focused exclusively on PC

Note: In my humble opinion, this is enough to carefully study the person Stasis, because visually the words no longer diverge from the case. As I mentioned, the presence of Ridley Scott is felt from the very first seconds of exploring the game. And the rest of the “chips” add nothing but joy. However, we will try to free this text from annoying enthusiasm.


The rushing train as a location for research, residential sectors, giant hangars, in a word, places that bear the imprint of the “right” fiction. The same. Without a fashionable gloss, without unnatural and contrived parts, do not understand what, a video series that immediately brings to itself (full versions of thumbnails - first , second , third and fourth ). The more I study this game, the harder it is to believe that all this is the work of a loner.

Every person is multifaceted. Especially well in the sun of attention play the brink of creative people. What else can we learn about the hero of today's publication by continuing to walk on network resources? This part of the story is especially close to me. I met a number of these images in the network, but did not guess that their "dad" Christopher. Admit it is not often meet a person so passionate about his work. In the thread from the above-mentioned Tig-Source, this can be traced better than in the dry and official lines of official resources.



He likes isometry like no other. In his own words, if he had the strength and the time, he would have turned everything he could into isometry. And this statement is confirmed by a number of his works. It turns out a number of fan-art to Wasteland 2, Blade Runner and Bioshock: Infinity flashed on the net - his handiwork. Screenshots in some places are equipped with small vignettes. Some Youtube-dioramas, when the author, having made the scenery, animates them in the engine, showing how well this or that scene will look in dynamics. After that, you wonder what kind of Wasteland 2 would be if Christopher were engaged in visual stylistics, and not anyone else. After his demo project looks much less atmospheric.


Such a Chris sees a post apocalyptic. This could be the Wasteland 2 project. The appearance of this work is caused by a two-week rest from Stasis (which Christopher practices as a discharge) and is inspired by games such as Wasteland 2, The Last of US, and I'm Alive! I will refrain from making any comments in order to avoid repeated accusations of anything.

According to him, when he gets tired of Stasis (three years of hard work as he does) does something else. To free your head from thoughts and just unwind. I wish I could relax like this, damn it! Take and make a piece of your favorite game, or something like that, instead of relaxing with another order. Probably Chris is able to properly distribute their time. What we, by the way, will surely ask him.

Comments to his sketches are full of phrases like “where to put it ?!”, “I think that I have found a developer who I’ll support all my life”, “please-ah, let Blade Runner be your next game”. Such a success and recognition of a creative person can only dream. What I will do and after writing this publication. Although before that I would like to settle one question that interests me (and possibly you). On which software does Christopher work, with the help of what does he create his world, and in what does he collect his decorations?



As a tool for creating scenes environment (environment scenes) Christopher uses the package 3D Studio Max. You can verify this by reading the numerous posts on his production blog. Preparation for the development of any scene goes in several passes. As a real engineer, Bishof first creates a concept, and often sheets of paper or notebook pages become the receptacle of his future ideas.


It all starts with sketches. And this is the law. Before embodying any thought it is necessary to foster. Cook. To draw and think over.

There is no place for what our industry is rich with. Come up with something beautiful, and then try to fit into it with something game play. The story is built around the scenery of a real ship and real buildings. There is no place for what we call “baldness”, just sober calculation.


The first overall boxes, the location of rooms and cabins.

After the stage of schemes and sketches, Bischoff proceeds to the stage of creating “cubes”. The very approach that is needed in the development of any project. Sketch of dimensions. The study of visual plans, consideration of the concept at the level of geometric outline. And only then this sketch goes into production. Also a good illustration of this approach can be seen here in his blog where he illustrates the process of working on the small Hawking shuttle.





Having fluently familiarized with the accompanying information, let's move on to the dessert. Blitz interview. Blitz, because fast. Christopher is currently very busy and it's not very easy to get through to his reception. Just kidding However, workload, Kickstarter campaign, and Stasis in itself - eat it up without a trace. By the way, he responded to this blitz during his lunch.

W: Introduce yourself, please tell us where you're from, tell how and when your career in the gaming industry began?
Christopher:My name is Christopher Bischoff. I am a 3D artist by profession, born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. Being a professional 3D artist for twelve (12) years, I still have no real practice in the gaming industry. And even if I do not have this practice, then there is an all-consuming passion for telling stories!

W: Looking at your work, frankly, this can not be said. The content you are cooking is, frankly, the highest quality. Please tell us how you decided to do Stasis How do you have the courage to touch such a dangerous genre in our time as an isometric adventure? In my opinion, either a desperately brave person or a person who is selflessly in love with an object can decide on this.
Christopher: In my opinion, the isometric view always looked natural. Naturally.Self-sufficient. I have always loved isometric games - Diablo, Crusader: No Remorse ... even StarCraft! (laughs) I never had a question "Well, well ... mm ... I'm going to do an isometric adventure game," rather, it looked like "I love isometry, I love adventure ... and adventure at that angle ... it will be cool! ”

W: Please tell me who the hell is responsible for this amazing art within the game, for these backgrounds? Who creates all this magnificence? Tell us about your role in this game and about your team.
Christopher:Mmmm ... Stasis is entirely a product of the creativity of one person. I did everything for him - starting with graphics, modeling, texturing and ending with animation, sound, design of buildings, equipment and other parts of the world Stasis. In general, I programmed where I needed too. By profession I am a 3D artist. The twelve-year experience mentioned earlier is the experience of an architectural artist. Therefore, the creation of attractive and comfortable living conditions is my second self, my usual working day. Well, everything related to Stasis is the result of hard work and self-education!





Of course, much of what would be worth including in a publication is left overs. Any of the directions of development could be developed into a separate publication, such as isometry, production of content for isometry, stage lighting, etc. For me as a developer, such topics are of primary interest, but for the player they are unnecessary. As noted earlier, the publication already has enough information. Goes on the verge of ordinary interest with attempts to fall into the technical aspects. And the task was different. To interest the reader with another good game in the genre of adventure games. To acquaint with the author of the project, to tell about him so that everyone can decide for themselves whether the game deserves attention or not.

I don’t want to do that, but I’ll have to finish this little story, make a number of marginal notes to complement what was not said or not obvious.

Mark # 01 Interviews and information about the phased preparation of scenes used in the game is placed under spoilers in order to reduce the main information block of the publication.
Mark # 02 This publication as any other are not customized. The result of their appearance is a consequence of the extreme interest of the author of the publication in the success of various game projects. The authors of the projects are not responsible for the presentation of the facts, the conjecture and the wishful thinking.
Mark # 03 In contrast to previous publications, the images presented in the text are divided into icons and source codes. The icon (thumbnail) of the image does not exceed 800 pixels wide, while maintaining the proportions. This is done so that people with limited traffic can still see the visuals of the game without downloading screenshots of the original sizes. Sources are attached as links, below the thumbnail image.
Mark # 04 The publication did not touch the game The Dig for the reason that the game itself deserves a separate publication. In short, The Dig is a sci-fi adventure game rightfully included in the golden pantheon. But still it is one of the most serious games of Lucas Art's, still it is a drama, a fantastic canvas from the point of view of art, etc. No wonder the game so touched Christopher. A treasure for any adventure fan who deserves at least a few hours of play.
Mark # 05 The publication does not address the issue of gameplay, plot information (excluding baseline), and other details of the game world. Regarding adventure, the presentation of such information, in my understanding, is blasphemy. In my understanding, adventure can not be considered as other genres, because in many ways the game is like a book. What is the point of discussing a book without reading it - I do not understand. Advise - yes, you can. But to discuss? The mechanics and controller in adventure games are also simple and rarely when a game can “boast” of serious errors in control. Usually this happens in the case of porting, or occurred at the dawn of the adventures of the adventure as a genre.
Mark # 06 - (11/20/2013 - Time: 15:07) I did not mention the fact that Mark Morgan will join the project only if more than 20.ooo dollars are collected above the specified amount. Such are stretch goals. In the case of only 5 thousand on top of the declared 100. ooo, a mode will be added, when certain interactions of John with the environment can be fatal. Such elements of gameplay were actively used in old adventure games. For example, in the notorious Space Quest , where death awaited the player literally everywhere. Once upon a time such things were the fun norm ...