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Scivelation dev explains title, story motivations
Ever since we first picked up word about TopWare Interactive's upcoming shooter Scivelation, we've been puzzled on how to speak about the game. Sure, we didn't know a ton about Scivelation itself other than a scant few words on the game's premise and a vague release window of Q3 2010, but we were much more troubled by the fact that we couldn't actually pronounce the title. So we asked TopWare Interactive managing director James Seaman to clarify the title's pronunciation, as well as to tell us a bit more about the game itself. "Scivelation (Sigh-vuh-ley-shun) is a contraction of two words; Science and Revelation. Thus, Scivelation deals with a Scientific Revelation within the universe that we've created," Seaman told Joystiq. And while the setting (a "post-Apocalyptic" world) has been done a few times recently, he promised us a different take on the backdrop with Scivelation, and even cited Phillip K. Dick and Robert Heinlein as inspiration. "Though Scivelation deals with issues of societal breakdown and the world in chaos, humanity has reached the pinnacle of technological advancements. This combination of science fiction and dystopian society comes from our great love of many classic literary works." It remains to be seen whether or not TopWare Interactive's upcoming game will impress us, but at least now we know how to say its name correctly. Read Seaman's whole explanation of Scivelation after the break.
Scivelation's year old 'trailer' reveals name and engine change
Something we've been saying since TopWare Interactive and Black Wing Foundation first announced their upcoming third-person shooter, Scivelation – what's with the name?! At first we thought it might be a weird play on the word "civilization," but quickly realized it was missing a syllable. It was an odd surprise then when we spotted a trailer for the game (found after the break) on Russian gaming site Absolute Games 1.5, though rather than a "Scivelation" logo at the end, we noticed one for a game titled "Salvation." So we contacted TopWare Interactive to find out what was up and were told the video we found is actually not the "first official trailer" for Scivelation, but rather an "old trailer that Black Wing [Foundation] did under the name 'Salvation' that has very little to do with the game Scivelation." More accurately, Scivelation started life as Salvation – "a game from last year with a basic premise that we really enjoyed" – though at the time it was running on Source Engine rather than its current game engine, Unreal. If you're left feeling as hollow inside as we were after finding out that the accented, fairly confusing, and kinda goofy video isn't from the newest build of Scivelation, take refuge in the fact that the game's developers are completely rewriting the story "to give it a solid story arc with distinct and engaging characters that we feel are going to capture the gaming audience." So there's that, right? %Gallery-75291%
Scivelation officially announced for 360, coming Q3 2010
Good news, 360 owners: The hard-to-pronounce third-person shooter from TopWare Interactive and Black Wing Foundation, known as Scivelation, will be coming exclusively to the platform in the third quarter of next year. Hopefully, by that point, we'll have received some supplemental materials informing us how to properly speak the title of the game. We're considering changing our current position to "Skih-vee-lay-shun." The press release which divulged this information also revealed a bit more about the game's story. You'll be playing as a member of a rebel faction, fighting against the oppressive, theocratic "Regime." Joining you is a former Regime scientist who has created a "post-human supervirus," and a former Russian special operative who is also a cyborg. It's like three plots in one! What a bargain!
Scivelation announced (but hard to pronounce)
If you were listening to this post being read on the non-existent "Joystiq Posts on Cassette" series, you'd probably hear us have a bit of trouble. The press release which we recently received announcing the TopWare Interactive and Black Wing Foundation-developed third-person shooter Scivelation included a number of details about the title, but sadly, no audible pronunciation guide. For the record, we're going with "Siv-uh-lay-shun." The title features a generic-ish plot dealing with evil dictatorships and stalwart resistance movements in a dystopian future -- we've chosen to turn to the portfolios of the title's creators for more insight into its quality. Black Wing Foundation made Stalin vs. The Martians, which is completely magical. TopWare worked on X-Blades, which committed violent crimes against our intellegence. We expect Scivelation to fall somewhere in between. [Via Big Download] %Gallery-75291%
New Source engine shooter, Salvation
Apologies readers, but we must first preface this post by informing you that when we discovered this news we were a bit creeped out. We felt this way because the announced game's name, Salvation, sparked something strange in the dark recesses of our memory. As it turns out, we had recently reported on the news of another new shooter with the thematically similar name of Damnation. Creepy, no?Now the game itself is a third-person shooter from Black Wing Foundation, set in an apocalyptic future with heavy religious undertones. If you're easily offended this is not the game for you, and you should stop reading this now. The basic premise is that big government gained total control by staging judgment day via the cloning and subsequent killing of the Christ and Antichrist. Really, we did not make that up. To add to that the devs are hoping to graft stealth and light RPG elements onto their third-person shooter framework. Although it's still very early this has the potential to be interesting and unique, even though the idea for a mythology-inspired third-person action-RPG with shooting certainly sounds familiar.%Gallery-18112%
