Episode 9 - Subversion

Behind every great video game comes a plethora of ideas, missteps, dead ends and almost-made-its. Usually these embryonic prototypes get dumped in an archive and left to digitally rot, cursed to never see the light of day or feel the loving caress of a player's mouse. Until today....

Watch Mark and Chris dissect what it means to fail when trying to make a game, navigate the creative maze, meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same and remember; there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

If watching Mark and Chris isn't enough to get your rocks off then you can even play these — buggy, broken, well-conceived, but ultimately doomed pre-alpha builds below. We're asking for 5 bucks, but you can pay more if you want, in the virtuous knowledge that every penny we make will go to highly deserving charity, War Child.


PC only
Minimum donation $5 (War Child)
Episode 9 - Subversion8 September 2021
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Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to relieve the Imperial Bank of 151,000,000 USD worth of bullion from the safe in the branch on Main Street. The bank's security systems have been judged inadequate by HQ and should not pose a problem for a team of your calibre. Tools and transport have been deposited at the usual rendezvous. In the event of failure you will be disavowed…

In 2007 Introversion attempted to set a heist game in a procedurally generated city. Despite our best efforts over many years our skills were no match for our ambition and we admitted defeat. We called this project Subversion and for the first time you can play with the tech and try your hand at the missions that we did create.

Check out the video to learn more…

Release Notes

SUBVERSION

Warning : Extreme jank.

From the Main Menu, click on "Load Site" then choose from the available levels.

Hold RMB
Turn camera
Mouse wheel
Zoom in and out
WASD
Move camera
SPACE
Pause / Unpause time

Use the characters list on the top left to deploy agents.
Click on a unit to select them.
Right click to tell someone to move.


Episode 8 - Praxis12 July 2021
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A trillion molten shards explode from the impact zone, scintillating in the light of the amber gas giant as they cool. With the enemy battlecruiser neutralised, your attention turns to the evacuation of the scientists from the failing outpost before warping home. You won, but the mission hadn't gone as planned, the new gatling gun placement had obscured the docking sites and the laser array couldn't orientate to get a targeting solution. Time for a complete re-build, before accepting the next job.....

Build a ship, accept a mission, level up and improve your craft design in Praxis the arcade space-builder prototype.....

Release Notes

Praxis

Keyboard and Mouse Controls

WASD
Move ship (slow)
Shift
Main engines (fast)
QE
Up and Down
[ ]
Roll left & right
R Mouse
Turn ship (Pitch & Yaw)
Arrow Keys
Turn ship (Pitch & Yaw)
M Mouse
Look Around
Home
Reset view forward
Z
Zoom
NumPad
Cycle Cameras
Full Stop
Auto-orient Upwards
L
Lock thrust (toggle)
SPACE
Pause


Episode 7 - Wrong Wire11 June 2021
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Yo, back up now and give a brother room - the fuse is lit and it’s about to go.....

Welcome to Paradise City where the Midnight Toker is wrecking chaos with a series of highly charged devices configured to give Detective John McPhane a really bad day. Play on your desktop or strap on your VR headset, just don’t cut the wrong wire!

SPOILER ALERT

In this month’s fail master-class, Chris and Mark take a look at Wrong Wire - a puzzle based exploder. There are only three levels, so if you want to have a crack at them yourself make sure to download the build using the link that SendOwl sent you when you purchased access to this series, and give it a try before you watch this month’s vid.


Episode 6 - Deep Space Industrial5 May 2021
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The meteor orbits the gas giant, perilously close to the jump-portal. A lone astronaut bursts into existence, mining drill in hand and sets about extracting the valuable ore. Another appears and follows suit, then another….

Deep Space Industrial was an attempt to scratch a space-builder itch, learning from Spacebots and Order of Magnitude. Third time’s a charm? We’ll let you be the judge of that…..

Release Notes

Deep Space Industrial

Keyboard Controls

WASD
Move around
QE
Zoom in / out
Number Keys
Accelerate Time
SPACE
Pause
Alt-F4
Quit


Episode 5 - Voxel Factory1 April 2021
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Chris' 3D version of Factorio, set in a Darwinia-esque landscape you can mine ore, lay conveyor belts, create fabricators and craft objects - just watch out for those nasty ant swarms. Full nod to Wube for the inspiration behind this prototype, but cloning great work isn't really our style - hence the decision to add this one to our every growing list of might-have-beens....
Release Notes

VOXEL FACTORY

Camera Controls

Hold RMB
Look around
WASD
Move around
QE
Move up and down
Hold SHIFT
Move faster

BUILDING Menu

Number keys
Select building
0
Delete building
R
Rotate current building

Other Controls

F5
Save
F6
Load
Hold RMB and click LMB
Explode landscape
Shift-Click
Grab outputs from a building
L
Toggle spawning alien ants
Save Folder
C:\Users\YourUser\AppData\Local\Introversion\VoxelFactory


Episode 4 - Nanotech4 March 2021
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Less of a game and more of a toy, Nanotech is set in the microscopic world of a petri dish, exploring the idea of dragging molecules, virii and amino acids together to create tiny creatures that operate on a sub-celluar level to stich injuries in 22nd century super-soldiers.
Release Notes

Nanotech

Keyboard Controls

WASD
Move camera around
QE
Zoom in / Zoom out
Number keys
Select cell type
Left click
place cell
Right click
Lock cell in place
P
Screenshot
Esc
Quit


Episode 3 - Megaprocessor4 Feb 2021
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This month we take a look at Megaprocessor, a 3D electronics sim that lets you turn a NOR gate into 1 bit memory, wire those bits together to form bytes and plumb all that into a clock pulse to generate a 255 counter. Super-sexy, bang, bang, jump-out-your-skin it is not, but if you ever get a hunger to break out your old electronics kit…
Release Notes

Megaprocessor

Keyboard Controls

WASD / Arrow keys
Move camera around
SPACE
Jump
Alt-F4
Quit

Circuit Boards

  • Each circuit board has a set of available modules on the right. Click on them to select them.
  • Left Click : Place module or wire
  • Right Click : Delete


Episode 2 - Spacebots7 Jan 2021
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Seize control of a swarm of space-droids to harvest resources, create defences and secure your asteroid system against the evil invading force and some weird space-squid things…

Release Notes

SPACEBOTS

Main Menu Options

Scenarios
A set of tutorial style missions to introduce the core concepts of the game
New Game
You begin in the Solar System and must evacuate. If you select the mothership you can open a hyperspace bubble to the next star system. (Unfinished)
Sandbox
You have a randomly generated star system - make the best of it
Mega Sandbox
Experimental mode with a much larger star system and far more planets and moons

Keyboard Controls

WASD / Arrow keys
Move camera around
QE / Mouse wheel
Zoom in and out
HOME
Select Mothership
ESC
Main Menu
F1
Profiler
F4
Build Menu
F5
Sprite Sheet

Save Data

The game places all save data here:

C:\Users\******\AppData\Local\Introversion\SpaceBots

Preferences

There is a file called

preferences.txt
in the save data folder, which governs screen options. Use it to set windowed mode, fullscreen etc.


Episode 1 - Order of Magnitude3 Dec 2020
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To kick things off we look at Order of Magnitude, an epic attempt to re-create Factorio in Space starting with a small colony on the moon and ending in a Dyson sphere - now what could possible go wrong with that…

Release Notes

Order Of Magnitude

The first game to be released as part of Chris Delay's Failure Masterclass. Build a lunar colony and save humanity. Follow the tutorial to run through the basic concepts of the game. Nb. Additional buildings can be unlocked from the Research screen. (You can cheat and unlock them at any time)

System requirements

PC only

Controls

Move camera : WASD
Hold SHIFT to move faster
Move up and down : QE, or mouse wheel

Look around : Hold RMB
Zoom : Middle mouse button or Z

Take screenshot : P

If you find yourself upside down, press C to align with the nearest planet/moon


How it works

Roughly once a month, Mark and Chris will release a video on the Introversion YouTube channel discussing an Introversion Prototype — what worked, what didn’t and why we ultimately abandoned it.

When we release the video we will add the playable prototype to the failure bundle. By making a donation to War Child using the links on this page you can access the bundle and will automatically be granted access to the new prototypes as they are released.

There is a minimum donation of $5, but please give more if you are in a position to do so - all of of the proceeds will go to helping children directly affected by war. Any questions get in touch - support@introversion.co.uk.

War Child

Wherever children are caught up in wars — whether they’ve lost their homes, families, schools, or been forced to take part in atrocities — War Child make it their mission to do what they can to help them. The work has evolved from temporary food aid to ongoing, sustainable projects that improve the long-term outcomes for the most vulnerable and marginalised children in conflict areas and they are still the only charity dedicated to protecting and speaking up for children affected by war. With more than 25 years of experience, War Child are acknowledged as experts at what they do, and a leading voice in the sector.

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