SPYBOTICS THE NIGHTFALL INCIDENT NETMAP UPDATE

Stravant (author of the Java port) seems to have just gotten tired of the project (game developers call this ‘burnout’), or had to quit for personal reasons. An exact copy is never something you can pull off nowadays, and if you’re going to put work into a project then you’re best off making a spiritual successor so your work actually becomes your game. It seems like ApparentEtch wanted to make an exact copy of the game and port to iOS, which brings up legal issues and requires approving from Lego. I am unaware of the reasons behind both projects being dead.

SPYBOTICS THE NIGHTFALL INCIDENT NETMAP UPDATE

However, just like ApparentEtch’s port, the last update to the Java port is over 2 years ago, meaning the project is likely abandoned. A Google search pulls up a port of the game to Java, with added mechanics and a different story.

A quick YouTube search pulls up a work-in-progress of ApparentEtch’s port to iOS, which at this time of writing is over 2 years old, meaning it is likely vaporware (digitally nonexistent) by now. The idea of a spiritual successor to Spybot: The Nightfall Incident is something I have toyed with in my mind for quite some time, and I’m not the first to try to do this. BioShock being a spiritual successor to System Shock 2, and Assassins Creed being a spiritual successor to Prince of Persia are two good examples of this in mainstream gaming. These reimaginations are often called spiritual successors and include the general feel of the previous game but incorporate a different story/setting and add elements to make the game more modern. When searching for ideas on what to work on next (yes, ideas can be hard sometimes), we often look to the games we enjoyed, find a few flaws or aspects that could be improved, then start working on ‘reimagining’ the older game. Indie game developers get a lot of inspiration from older games they have played that they enjoyed. If you have never played it, I highly recommend downloading Shockwave and giving it a try. In fact, it is one of the highest rated Shockwave games on Jayisgames, an online arcade portal and is still fun to play today. The two main reasons why I decided to recreate Spybot: The Nightfall Incident (note, however, that this is not an exact recreation) are because of its popularity as a Shockwave game and because I liked playing it. In this post, I intend to expand on the last part, as well as provide some screenshots of the current progress so far. In my last post I discussed my experiences in LD26, gave a nudge to Walk Softly (a continuation of our Ludum Dare game), and introduced my latest project – creating a modern reimagination of the popular Shockwave game Spybot: The Nightfall Incident.

Spybotics the nightfall incident netmap