What you need to know about Gamedec, a cyberpunk detective RPG about crimes in virtual worlds

Polish studio Anshar Studios is working on an isometric role-playing game Gamedec, based on the cyberpunk book series of the same name. The project, in which the player will investigate crimes in virtual worlds, has already attracted $ 170 thousand on Kickstarter.

Anshar Studios spoke about the development of the game, as well as about the involvement of the author of the book universe in the project in an interview with Game World Observer.

What is Gamedec?

This is a classic isometric RPG, in which the main emphasis is on the plot and dialogues. The main character of the game is a “game detective” who investigates cybercrimes in virtual worlds.

The action of Gamedec takes place in Warsaw of the 22nd century, where people literally began to live in virtual reality. The game itself is based on the book universe of the same name by Polish science fiction writer Marcin Przybyłek, and its release is scheduled for 2021.

Collaboration with the author of original novels

Initially, the CEO of the company Lukasz Hacura contacted Przybylek. He offered the writer to make a game based on his universe, and he agreed.

Now Przybylek acts as a consultant and author of dialogues for the game. “If something wasn’t mentioned in his books, he comes up with ideas to solve our problems and constantly contacts designers if they need advice on the Gamedec universe,” is how the developers describe the writer’s role in the project.

Why did the developers come to Kickstarter?

The launch of the crowdfunding campaign had two goals. “Firstly, we wanted to collect feedback on our project and develop it in accordance with the opinion of the community. Secondly. the Kickstarter campaign has influenced how much content we will be able to add to the game before the release,” the developers say.

Initially, Anshar Studios planned to raise $50 thousand, but at the moment almost 5 thousand backers have already donated $171,163 to the studio.

Nonlinearity and consequences

Before adding quests to the game, the developers modeled them as a tabletop role-playing game. According to them, this allowed them to achieve a non-linearity that will surprise even hardcore veterans of the genre.

“Your decisions will have consequences. For example, killing a character you were supposed to help will turn his family against you or make his branches unavailable in other investigations. There are no right or wrong decisions in the game — only difficult ones from a moral point of view,” the developers say.

The scheme of branched solutions in Gamedec quests

Protection against savescamming

Currently, Gamedec only provides auto-saves, which does not allow players to load and make other decisions. Later, Anshar Studios promises to add additional checkpoints and manual saves to the game, and a “hardcore” mode will be available for backers.

“For gamers who want to make the passage more exciting, there will be a special mode that opens via Kickstarter and does not allow players to download in principle. The decision that you make one day will be with you until the end of the game, ” the developers promise.

References and postmodernism

In an interview with GWO, an unusual game situation is given as an example: a car blocks the character’s path, and as one of the ways to get out, you can simply kill the hero and be reborn in another place. Anshar Studios promises that Gamedec will have a lot of such interaction with the logicians of the virtual world.

There will also be a lot of Easter eggs and references to other games in the game. For example, in one of the worlds, players will be shown how fritupley projects could look like in the 22nd century.

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