Indestructible Death Suit

Indestructible Death Suit is an upcoming third-person shooter video game being developed by Swedish developer Blue Sleeve and released by Install Entertainment for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One video game consoles, and Microsoft Windows. A brand new IP, it is the first game to be released by Blue Sleeve. A release date has not yet been given.

Creative Vision
While the developers have not released specific details about the game on May 23, 2015 an e-mail written by director Jonathan Sutton regarding the game was leaked out to the public. It is unknown how this information was leaked.

So, I have had an idea stuck in my head since approximately July 14, 2008. That idea was for a game, almost appalling in its simplicity, but immense in its own way. I would call it a high concept game, although the tone will be very crude and in ways which shatter the limitations of good taste. My inspiration came in equal parts from exposure to games like Gears of War and Call of Duty (don't run away!). I want this game to create a statement against jingoism, against anti-intellectualism, and against the fundamental abdication of personal responsibility (google it!) all trends which have proven to be pervasive at every level of American society. This game is not meant as a criticism of the America I know, which is diverse, and has at least as much good as bad. It is meant as a criticism of the America which most vocally proclaims itself as such.

Video games, are horrible at conveying messages about choice. This is because the actions of the player tend to seem mandated by the game. The tone of this game is intended to overcome this limitation by using narrative to contextualize the player’s lack of choice (story wise) into an obvious, almost nauseating fiction, as it would be if it were a case of real life. While this is a cheap narrative trick, it still allows a story worth telling and the means to tell it.

Now about the gameplay.

Instead of just being a straight-ahead shooting game the Indestructible Death Suit will actually do something sort of new with the formula of a game where you watch a guy from over his shoulder as he shoots hundreds of other guys.

I've noticed that many Third Person Shooters try to be Gears of War.

I'm talking about American Football!

Gears of War is simultaneously a game of yards and a game about linebackers Going For The Touchdown. The "stop and pop" cover based game mechanic stresses defense over offense. The short term goal is usually to clear every enemy you can clear from your current position. Your current position is either the only place you can be without dying at this very moment or a place you've already been. Gears of War is practically about 'painting' the battlefield with safety. You stop, you pop, you earn a better, more strategic position, you move forward.

Indestructible Death Suit, on the other hand, is more soccer than football.

Soccer, like wearing skinny jeans, is a sport that is more or less about ball placement. A skilled player can put the ball anywhere on the field, from any time, from any position.

Well, the one place a typical player can't put the ball simply through a little application of will is, of course, the inside of the goal. That's the tricky part. Scoring a goal in soccer is a momentous occasion. In American football, you can score a goal by soldiering forward and not messing up. In soccer, you're always going to end up face-to-face with a goalkeeper essentially, a rival with a terrain advantage. You couldn't make it harder to score a goal in soccer if you put the goal on top of a hill.

So, ball placement... Soccer is about choosing where to put the ball at any given moment. When choosing where to put the ball, the player has to consider the position of his other teammates and their formation, and his rivals and their position. Soccer is about positioning the ball with a little preemptive thought about the path each play will take. As your rivals outthink and out maneuver you, play after play and plan after plan fall abandoned by the wayside, scrapped in favor of new tactics.

Indestructible Death Suit is like soccer in that the player controls both the athlete and the ball. At any time during any given firefight, the player can speedily go to and from any position on the battlefield from or to any other position.

In short, from anywhere on the battlefield, you can put the Hero anywhere.

So, now you ask me, how do you craft a challenging gun-battle in a shooting game if the position of the player character is always only temporary, where the player can zip to any position he desires? This is the tricky part. ''One important point is that the player has a wider selection of close-range attacks than the usual modern shooter's "hit a guy with your gun" animation. Enemies have a wide variety of melee attacks as well, turning close-range battles into a more interesting risk-reward gamble than even something like Gears of War's chainsaw battles.''

The trickier way to make interesting gun battles in a game where the player can put his character anywhere he wants at pretty much the touch of a button is to design amazingly interesting levels, and to place enemies in interesting places. This forces the player to think about more than "how do I kill all of these enemies?" Now the player is wondering "Which enemies do I kill first, and from where?" Defeating enemies in different locations from different locations results in freeing up and making safe different parts of battlefields — both high grounds and the areas most easily accessible to gun-bullets fired from those high grounds — as well as opening up different possibilities for clearing up the rest of the battlefield.

Where the most intense battles in a game like Gears of War or Call of Duty might be about as challenging and exciting as forcing a draw in Tic-Tac-Toe, interesting battles in Indestructible Death Suit can and will be as complex as solving a Rubik's Cube.

Anyway, thanks for reading this. Hope I convinced you this is a game worth playing

Development
Early stages

In February 2014, a site named "Food for Development" owned by Blue Sleeve’s founder Jonathan Sutton was uploaded promoting development for a new IP titled Indestructible, with the tag line "BRAND "NEW" ENTERTAINMENT". The site was recruiting staff for the 2014 GDC pavilion in March, and requested applications for several positions for the brand new IP targeted for "high-end consoles and PC" and "next-gen **** engine" which led some to speculate that the new startup was developing its own engine. As the year went on, it was revealed that the game would run using Blue Sleeve’s own in-house Mortified Engine, screenshots and videos of the newly announced Mortified Engine were unveiled by the development team. This media demonstrated many random settings and characters, although none related to the Indestructible IP. Certain screenshots, however, were noted to feature a character that resembled a Bionic Commando, sprinting towards a tank with the words “ENTERTAINMENT” emblazoned on it.

As Death Suit

The game was later announced on May 23, 2014 originally under the title of DEATH SUIT. It was revealed at a private function celebrating the twenty-eighth birthday of the CEO and Founder of Blue Sleeve Jonathan Sutton, and made its public debut later at the 2014 Penny Arcade Expo.

In an interview with VG247, Jonathan Sutton expressed concerns over whether or not Death Suit will be released. He claimed that his aim was to target taboos and mature themes, which he considered to be "quite risky", adding that he and Install Entertainment were in conflict with each other; as creator, Jonathan wanted to take the risk of exploring themes that might alienate audiences, but working with Install Entertainment, he had to be able to tone down the content in order to sell as many copies of the game as possible. Ultimately, the role of creator won out, and Jonathan described his approach as "prioritizing creativity over sales".

As Indestructible Death Suit

At the 2014 Spike Video Game Awards, a teaser trailer for the game renamed Indestructible Death Suit was shown, the trailer was described by Jonathan Sutton as "100% gameplay".

At E3 2015, a fourth trailer and a demo was shown at the Microsoft press conference, demonstrating the new play mechanics, as well as the cast of characters. The development of an Xbox One version was also announced at the conference. The standard version of the trailer was uploaded to Install Entertainment's official YouTube channel, along with an extended director's cut for mature audiences. The trailer confirmed the development of a PlayStation 4 version in addition to the previously announced Xbox One version.

Controversy
There has been considerable controversy regarding the portrayal of violence in the game. Many people were distrubed by the scenes of gore and brutality featured in the trailers.

Others were critical of the overall message the game appeared to send, with Fox news even reporting it as "anti-American." Blue Sleeve and Install Entertainment has yet to respond to these claims.

Related Media
A web series of Indestructible Death Suit, was produced shortly after the game's debut at E3 2015. 12 episodes have so far been aired. Blue Sleeve has planned a graphic novel to be released alongside the game, Ashley Wood has confirmed that he will be doing the artwork for the novel.

Tone
For this game, Indestructible Death Suit, I had originally intended a speaking role for the game’s protagonist. While I have, at least for the time being, moved towards a silent protagonist (for a number of reasons), I once harbored a very robust vision for how the character would play. This is intended to capture some of that vision through a mock interview with the character. (Note: the views expressed by the character 'John Doe' are not shared by me. They are meant as a statement against anti-intellecturalism and jingoism. Themes that this game would tackle.)

Me: Hi! First of all I’d like to thank you for your time.

Pfc. John Doe: You’re welcome

Me: You are the pilot of the Indestructible Death Suit, correct?

Pfc. John Doe: That’s right

Me: I’d like to ask you a few questions about your job. Don’t answer if it would mean betraying confidentiality, of course.

Pfc. John Doe: It’s cool

Me: First off, I’d like to ask you what it’s like piloting an indestructible death machine?

Pfc. John Doe: It’s pretty boss and literally the most straightforward thing in the world. All I do is run around looking for people to kill, I shoot them with guns. Sometimes there will be a really big boss that will get in my way. They’re always piloted by a really annoying dude who talks about boring shit on the radio to try and distract me.

Me: Like what?

Pfc. John Doe: Like how war is bad and stuff, and how human life is sacred and a whole bunch of that kind of fag talk, you know? Only they use really big words to try and sound smart. It’s just a bunch of pseudo-intellectual bullshit.

Me: So what is your position on war?

Pfc. John Doe: I dunno. I guess I just, like, figure that if it were so bad then people wouldn’t do it. But that’s obviously wrong because the whole planet is at war right now. I mean, right and wrong are just a matter of opinion really, and who can better enforce their position. Since literally everyone is fighting then obviously nobody actually has the opinion that war is wrong, and therefore it can’t be wrong.

Me: I see. So your position is that war is ok because it is a reality, correct?

Pfc. John Doe: Yeah bro, that’s exactly it. I’m a realist. I just don’t see a point in whining about the way things are. It’s just life, things just are what they are.

Me: Don’t you think that’s a bit fatalistic?

Pfc. John Doe: What do you mean? I mean, I kill a lot of people. I guess that makes me a fatalist, but only towards the other guy. Like I said though I like to think of myself more as a realist.

Me: oh…ok… moving on, how do you feel about your country and society?

Pfc. John Doe: Well I grew up in it, which means I’m an expert on it and can safely say it’s the best country and society in the world. It’s always been good to me. It’s a virtuous nation that knows what our enemies deserve and isn’t afraid to give it to them. Like most people I grew up in the bunkers. I got a good education and good training and grew up to be a good soldier. I like how military life starts at birth here. It really fosters discipline and organization. You always know your place, and know who to turn to when there’s a problem. It’s not like it used to be in the old days.

Me: Could you elaborate on that a bit?

Pfc. John Doe: You know, just back when people were all able to chose their own ways of interacting with people, and when they wanted to and how they wanted to and all that. It was total chaos.

Me: You mean when there was freedom of association.

Pfc. John Doe: Man I dunno, whatever. I just learned about it in history class. It’s really basic elementary school shit, it’s been a while.

Me: What makes Amseria better than, say, Venezueloreastan?

Pfc. John Doe: How can you even ask that? Because it is, that’s why!

Me: Can you be any more specific?

Pfc. John Doe: Because it’s the most virtuous, most God fearing, and most free nation ever to exist and anyone who says otherwise is a faggot. No other country offers its citizens the freedom of Amseria. I could have you lined up against a fucking wall for saying otherwise!

Me: ok, ok, I apologize for the question. It was inappropriate.

Pfc. John Doe: That’s right.

Me: I didn’t mean to slander your country. I would never do that. It’s a great country. The best.

Pfc. John Doe: That’s right.

Me: Ok. Good. So I have to ask though, you’ve been using some pretty homophobic speech. Does that reflect any deeper attitude towards gay people? Is anti-gay sentiment common in Amseria?

Pfc. John Doe: Man, I dunno man, it’s like… it’s a free country, you know? But we also don’t give special privileges to people, and it’s like that’s all they want. It’s like, if you act normal then you get treated normal. But if you’re not normal then other people shouldn’t have to pretend, because that means giving you special treatment, you know? But that’s exactly what all these queers are railing for, to the extent we don’t make them shut up, calling it a “rights issue” and such. That’s such fucking bullshit. Everyone has the equal right to be treated equally in exchange for equal behavior, and anything else is just an agenda someone is trying to pull over you so they can get something for free at your expense.

Me: Ok… you mentioned making them shut up?

Pfc. John Doe: Yeah. Crackdowns on gay clubs or gay friendly clubs.

Me: What kind of crackdowns?

Pfc. John Doe: Well mostly we just go in there and shoot them all.

Me: and that is indicative of freedom?

Pfc. John Doe: Yeah. Like I said, equal treatment for equal behavior. It’s ok to be gay, but only if you act like a normal person. It follows that if someone can tell you’re gay it’s because you’re not acting normal. So anyone that gets shot deserves it, whereas if you’re acting normal you won’t get shot. It’s got nothing to do with a lack of freedom, it’s just the law.

Me: ok…Well, that is certainly a fascinating perspective on the subject.

Pfc. John Doe: It’s just common sense. It’s reality.

Me: I suppose that’s just about it for me then. I suppose we should try to end on an upbeat note though, so I’d like to ask you; how did you become the pilot of the Indestructible Death Suit? I heard that you were hand selected by the premiere.

Pfc. John Doe: Yeah it was pretty boss

Me: You must have trained long and hard to gain a vote of confidence from the leader of your country!

Pfc. John Doe: Not really. I mean, mostly it was just a case of right place, right time.

Me: What do you mean?

Pfc. John Doe: Well, there was this guy. He was in the same class as me, you know? He was always a real genius. Read a lot. Talked a lot about shit I couldn’t even make sense of. They even gave him access to the off-limits portions of the databases because he was so outstanding at everything he did. Built too. Guy worked out every day. So anyway, he was in the gym one day and had a training accident.

Me: What kind of training accident?

Pfc. John Doe: A really bad accident with weights. He was going for a benchpress record. His arms gave out about a foot and a half away from his neck, or so I’m told, and that little bit of distance coupled from the weight was enough to crush his throat when the bar hit him there. Total freak accident. He choked to death on his own blood. It was a tragedy, but you have to admit that’s also a pretty sweet way to go. Anyways, the Premiere was going to meet with him that day, and apparently he was in a hurry or something because he walked into the gym right after it happened. And then, hey shit, you know, things have got to keep running on a schedule. So he looked me over and told me to come along.

Me: Were you second in line though? For the position? Did he check your qualifications first? Surely he didn’t just grab you because you were there.

Pfc. John Doe: Nah man, that’s totally what happened. I was just standing there, he looked at the dead guy, and looked and me, shrugged, and said “fuck it. You, come with me”. And that was it.

Me: That is certainly a very interesting backup candidate selection process you just described. If I may ask though, what were you doing in the gym in the first place?

Pfc. John Doe: Oh, I was supposed to be spotting the other guy.

Reception
Pre-release

The game demo of the Xbox One version of Indestructible Death Suit at E3 2015 was met with positive reception from critics following the press event, praising the game for its "next gen"-quality graphics and its unique gameplay.

The game received numerous Best of E3 2015 awards, including a Best of Show award from GamingExcellence.

IGN selected it as Best Xbox One Game of E3 2015, as well as Biggest Surprise and Best New Franchise.

The game also won GameSpot People's Choice Most Exciting Game of E3 2015.

A demo of the game was featured on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon during "Video Game Week".