Stormystudios 'Dark Asylum' thread. (to showcase bits and get feedback)
StormyStudio
United KingdomMember Posts: 3,989
This is a new thread all about my game in the making 'Dark Asylum' Previously called 'Horror Box'.
Rather than making a new topic each time I want to show something and get feedback, I thought I'd start a main thread to post any info, screen shots, video clips about my new game. In the hope of getting helpful feedback to make the 'perfect horror game'.
Game Title: Horror Box
Expected Release: February 14th 2011, (failing that, some other cool release date)
Game Idea: Horror point and click puzzle game. You start of trapped in a lift and have to solve puzzles to escape. Which will lead on to being trapped in other box type situations, (psyche ward, train, coffin, phonebox etc). All done in a proper scary 'SAW' kinda way.
Interface: I've been working on creating a nice drag to change scene user interface, so it feels like the safari browser, or photo viewer does on the iphone. (just got it working perfectly this evening after 15 hours of rule/behaviour tinkering).
Expect a video post tomorrow afternoon (GMT).
Rather than making a new topic each time I want to show something and get feedback, I thought I'd start a main thread to post any info, screen shots, video clips about my new game. In the hope of getting helpful feedback to make the 'perfect horror game'.
Game Title: Horror Box
Expected Release: February 14th 2011, (failing that, some other cool release date)
Game Idea: Horror point and click puzzle game. You start of trapped in a lift and have to solve puzzles to escape. Which will lead on to being trapped in other box type situations, (psyche ward, train, coffin, phonebox etc). All done in a proper scary 'SAW' kinda way.
Interface: I've been working on creating a nice drag to change scene user interface, so it feels like the safari browser, or photo viewer does on the iphone. (just got it working perfectly this evening after 15 hours of rule/behaviour tinkering).
Expect a video post tomorrow afternoon (GMT).
Comments
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
Showing the improved swipe, with all the lift views based in one scene for zero loading times between change of view. Also changed the menu a bit, and added music.
Filmed quickly on my wifes 3GS.
The flickering light really messes with the auto focus of the iphone, I'll record one with my HD camera properly once the game is a bit further along.
@Beefy, at some point I'll try and put together a demo for the swipe. Taken so long to get it working, I might hold onto my rules until I release the game... (just so the game has something fairly unique about it.)
I showed the game to some people at work.
One suggested adding a compass at the bottom so your aware which way your facing. I guess it could be an animated 3d gyroscope type compass, like you get in a 3d package.
Any thoughts on the idea? do you think it is necessary or is just going to clutter up the screen unnecessarily?
Personally I think it'll be too much to have a compass. Maybe if/when you make this for the iPad...
:-)
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
Escape games are very popular as a free web-games or an amateur adventure games, because they are much easier and quicker to make (less number of graphcis, no NPCs, low amount of work etc.), than a real p&c adventure games.
So, you can get bad reviews if you write that this is p&c adventure game on App Store, and some adventure-maniac (like me) buy your game, and see that this is just an escaper.
You also have to be prepared for a hard competition, because the most part of adventure games for iPhone, are escapers, and the only famous and good-selling game of this kind for iDevices is "Antrim Escape".
I wish you good luck!
Only mildly put out by the free web game, amateur adventure game reference. I'll try my best to make sure it can't be easily cataloged with either of those. :-)
(Changed from my original game idea) as I say in the opening text in this topic. I'm calling it a point and click horror puzzle game. Not adventure.
I'll take a look at 'Antrim Escape', looks like a popular game. (over a million free downloads, and a lot of paid ones too).
Edit: Though having just played it, its still not the most polished of game experiences. So the bar hasn't been raised further than gamesalad will let you take it.
Just downloaded the free version of 'Antrim Escape', This is my rushed opinion on it, I'm sure the gameplay is probably alright, and the puzzles tricky but not too tricky. But some of the graphics are a bit shoddy, out of focus, the touch does not always work perfectly, clicking numerous times to have it select a key. There's not much atmosphere to the game. And the opening titles are too long and again the graphics not super top notch. Really makes you appreciate the good work Firemaple did with Grisly Manor. But I'll play through it and see what I can learn from it to improve my game.
You say that escape games are less work, I guess they are. But I am intending on a few different places to escape from, with a linking storyline, including extra areas, e.g. you escape from the lift through the hatch in the ceiling, and find yourself on top of the lift.
I do have some other niche ideas for my game, that I'm keeping zipped about until I get further on.
I'm very curious to see the puzzles!
After some work this evening, plus 40 mins at lunchtime, and some use of the mind driving on the way home
I've been working on the 'items collected menu'.
I'm building it as a separate project with the intention of loading it up on GameSalad as a demo. Whilst at the same time giving me a clean place to perfect how the menu will function, before making it look in keeping with my game design.
Basically, there will be a button to bring up the menu, any items selected have around 2 game.attributes related to them, and the slots in the menu each have 3.game attributes and 2 self.attributes. Plus a 'new item' attribute.
It works well with one key (nearly 2), and I'm now trying to tidy the code up so its not gonna take forever each time I want to add a new item to the collectables. Should be a fairly clean set of rules once its all working.
And any new item, should line up next to any current items, and not go to a particular slot.
Screen shot of the in the making demo below:
http://stormystudio.com/misc/items_menu.png
I will definitely buy this when it is out. Hope you share your swipe controls with us, as you really have got them off to a tee in this game.
Great work.
Right ok 2 days later and my practice run with the menu system seems to be working pretty well. One tiny problem that I'll remedy when I move it across to my actual game file.
Looking for ideas for what button to have to bring up the menu. On similar games they would have a bag/briefcase/backpack to bring it up, as if thats where you've got your items stored.
Any cool original ideas?
My current favourite is to have a bloody finger print you press.
something a little like this:
http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/52310/52310,1244835157,1/stock-photo-bloody-fingerprint-31921378.jpg
But then just have the items appearing either in little boxes (so if it relates to the horror box theme a bit), or sitting in a line of blood?
Any better ideas?
perhaps a lift button, and when its pressed the bloody finger print is on it, when the menu is hidden it looks normal?
The boxes could be rusty boxes? with a bit of depth drawn into them.... (thinking out loud now)...who said that?....
Edit: Sorry I'll give you a real answer. You could do a toolbox kind of like this:
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-9547694-toolbox.php
Any way, the below video
(You can't see the cursor, still working out which screen capture software is best, one which shows clicks and drags with a ripple effect or something without showing the mouse cursor would be ideal.
Feedback very welcome...
especially on:
how you think the pop up menu looks.
and your opinion on the text that appears when you click things.
Its text made within GameSalad using display text, so potentially it could look nicer with a drop shadow if I made the text as image files, but the final game size would increase too. Or perhaps a nicer backdrop to the text rather than a semi transparent grey box... Hmm
About the game idea and name...
They like the overall premise of making a horror game point and click puzzler. And the whole lift idea.
The gave lots of ideas on how to create the scariest game ever for the iphone (just a small goal :-)
Main thing that came up...was the ability to be killed.
I some how need to make it so you can die in the game, not normal for a point and click puzzle game. It makes sense for you to connect with the game character you need to be risking something to feel a bit of fear.
As a way of doing it I was thinking about using shadows. When in the game, shadows fly past with the sound of children laughing, singing, crying (whatever) and if you stay on any one screen for too long the shadows build up. If the whole screen builds up with a lot of shadows a ghost will appear and errr... Get you! and undo the last puzzle you solved so you have to solve it again...so there is a penalty for screwing up.
i could then vary the difficulty by how quickly the shadows appear...
Could be a little tricky to implement but quite a cool game dynamic...I hope...
What are you thoughts?
(Oh also thinking at some point you could use a torch light, or iphone camera flash (you may find the phone in the game) and that allows you to knock back some of the children's shadows.
Also going for psychological horror instead of blood thirsty slasher style... (thanks to the people at GS who filled in my POLL on the subject).
Now going to sit down with paper and pen and work out how to make the shadows setup work, with torch options too...
SPOILER ALERT...
.....
small victorian girl in the corner of the lift fades up, with blacked out eyes, only visible for less than second as a shadow runs over her position.
...
Just setup the 'cut to close up' function when you click on certain objects, again built into the same scene so still no extra loading times...I have it so the camera starts to zoom into where you pressed, and fades to black then fades back up on the closer graphic.
Game Salad is starting to struggle with a few things, but previews it fine and it plays smoothly on my iphone 4, need to test it on an older 3G model...
Showing style for the shadow that flies passed,
an on screen message for when you find an item (the tool box in this case)
How the transition works when moving to a close up of a clicked item (in this case the bloody puddle on the floor)
and the figure that appears when the shadow flies over them...
Feedback again very welcome...
This just seems pro and fun. And the music is great too..
It would be a shame for it to be another way
I'm kinda hoping that if I continue putting the same amount of effort into each aspect of the game it should be pretty good in the end. Still a long way to go, though it's coming along nicely. And really enjoying it too. Doing about 4 hours work a night on it now...
Still need to do a lot of graphics work, redo the doors in the wide lift frame s they look a bit rushed. Create some more in game elements. But the actual gameplay controls and dynamics are working pretty well.
I'll keep plodding along and post a new vid each time I've made 1 or 2 major updates to the game...
I'm thinking I could add some trippy bits to the game where the lift images fade away, and you find yourself in a field of corn (or something) and have children skipping round you singing....before they all fall down into the corn. Some how it would be good to turn the idea into a puzzle. Maybe you have to click the children to make them fall down, if you press one anoher one stands up. Get it in the right order, they sing Ring a ring a roses, when they reach the 'we all fall down' line, we cut back to inside the lift. And to a close up of the lift controls, and then the lift falls...
Just an idea...thinking out loud again.. :-)
Oh here's a video of the menu demo I was working on, it looks pretty simple but it works well enough...you only have to add a few attributes and copy and paste a rule and rework some of that rule to add a new item each time to the game.
filmed it side ways like an idiot...