The past few years, with the success of COD and other "realistic" military shooters (or "racist America blows stuff up, her der"), I've seen many people complaining about this kind of FPS. It's kind of frustrating to me b/c many people act irritated and wish the games would just go away like magic, but they haven't bothered to try to realistically counteract (instead opting for slapping the keyboard on internet forums) the marketplace with what a growing number of people want: an old-school, non-political, unrealistic FPS.

So I'm wondering if anybody has taken advantage of this desire and opening in the public's mind for something like Duke Nukem 3D, Serious Sam, Painkiller, etc., and has created a reliable Kickstarter project to fund an old-school FPS.

Links, please? (hopefully)

There's Wrack, which is available now as an alpha (five levels). I don't know if it's any good, though.

Oh yes, thanks. :)

There's also Sickbrick.

These projects are too few and far between. I think it's because of the perceived difficulty of making a FPS, with all the 3d modeling, asset creation and engine tweaking necessary to make it "look good". What I can't understand is why there aren't more projects that go for a 2.5D style like DOOM. Asset creation is much, much easier here, it works well with many visual styles (such as cartoon/anime), and it brings the nostalgia.

Only recent projects I'm aware of that go this route are Harmony and 8-bit Killer. If one appeared on Kickstarter I would fund it immediately.

I also wish more tactical shooters like Rainbow Six which also has a Band of Brothers esque story, but in a modern setting.

Seconding the recommendation for Wrack. Theres only 5 levels so far, but I've had fun with it. They have an editor already released too so you can mess around with it, or get levels other people have made.

Does anyone know when Wrack's full version will be released?

Hi all!

To my suprise i found these thread with people interested in Wrack.
And let it just be that im the lead artist working on the game.

To answer your question Austrobogulator, we are aiming to release our first episode in the first quarter of 2013. Purchasers of the Alpha version get a 33% discount on their purchase and evry update till the end of the completion of the first episode for free.

Mod tools are also included and a handfull of community maps have been released, for wich we have a custom map section in the games menu wich downloads and installs those maps automaticly for you.!

I can verify the words of Ecamber that a FPS isn't easy to start with as a small indie studio.
We have been working on Wrack for several years on a minimal budget, but it has been our passion and dedication for the oldschool fps genre that has brought us where we are today.

Almost all of us have a background int the genre. Our programmer and project manager is the founder of the popular doom 2 source port Skulltag. We also have Robert Prince on board wich is the original composer for the Doom games, Keen and several other projects.

We are planning to get on Good old Games as well, and we are currently depending on your support on greenlight. wich can be found here.! :)

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=95521749

If anyone has anymore questions about the game, feel free to ask them!

Best regards

Rulero


P.S here are some answers on FAQ

- Wrack uses its homemade game engine based on directx 9.
- Bobby Prince is doing all the music for the game.
- Harder difficulties make monsters faster, items scarcer and checkpoints fewer opposed to just givin monsters more HP and more damage output

-The full game will be split into three episodes wich off the last two episodes dependant of the succes of the first one.
-The alpha purchase does not include episode 2 and 3
-An Xbox live version is planned but not our main focus at the moment.
-Wrack has controller input.
-The editor is similiar to the likes of hammer and doombuilder
-Multiplayer will be available in wracks sequel with raised funds from the first game similiar to what Torchlight 1 ment to do for Torchlight 2
-Wrack has dynamic stat tracking
-Wrack has graphic novel styled cutscenes and dialog wich have not been implented just yet.

What about the oldschool "goofy" FPS games like Duke Nukem that basically took their cues from ridiculous action films and had pseudo-3d instead or real 3d? Wouldn't that be easier to do?

(especially since some of the nostalgia is clearly for sprite graphics)

Opposed to what a lot of people think. Sprites and 2.5 d is actually just as much work if not harder to do. Software has become a lot faster and user friendly, and the market is flooding with proper game engines.

What about cell shading? Maybe a more "comic book" look instead of a realistic one?

Our game uses that :)

The comic book look holds up better over time too. Wind Waker used cell shading and I still think that's the most beautiful game of the last 10 years.

I hope there will be destructible items in the environment. :)