Help Me Make A Game... For Real! (Now Accepting Alpha Testers)

[lacktheknack]

snip

I like these ideas.

My suggestion is trying to flip the game upside-down. First, you get stuck in the church and have to make your way to the exit. Turns out you can't use the exit for reason [x] and you have to backtrack all the way through the church to the lowest point. But it isn't backtracking. The previous floors have mysteriously changed...

At least, if the game engine can do that.

Changing the map layout is a mindscrew and a half. I like it!

religious horror?

both books of Solomon can be your best friends for demons and probably what the game is about. You could have the player be a modern day Solomon working his way to capturing all the demons in his modern time incarnation

snip

All noted.

Interface screws are hard to do right. Got examples of them working well (besides Eternal Darkness)?

I don't really know any really good examples besides Eternal Darkness. :/

The only other thing I can think of are the Data Bugs and the Phases off the .hack games, mainly because their HP is displayed as something like :£20^/-%21*.

Spoiler

M̶̱̲̮̱̞̦ͩͧͪ̅ͩ͊ͯ̐͒̍ͥͩ̄ͮ̂͘̕aͤͬ͋ͯͮ͌̔͐̅͏̵̨̖̹̪͖̯̗̪͞y̶̸͙͈͉͂̃͗͂̒ͨͬ̽̓ͨ̈͊ͯ͒͢͞͡ͅb́̆̓͗̈ͫ̈́͐̑҉̻͔̫̳̥͍̕̕e̫͙͖͉̲̺̳͈̖̲̯̠̺̩̳͇̐ͥͪ̉̿ͨͯ͛̾̃̔̂̀̆̈́̽͊̏͘͢ ̴̯̝͖̩̞̐̎ͣ͊̊͌ͭ̈ͬͮ̄̀̚͜l̵̙̝̲̼̖̤̟̗̘̜̤̞͕͓͚̲͔͌̂̉ͤ̽̎͊ͮ̚͘í̵̳̹̯̣̳̦͓̘̮͖̠̤̹̞̪̐̋ͮ͑̀̔͌̀͢k̻͓͎̼̖͙̗̟̼̹̹̘͔̜̞͕ͥͥͨ̈͊̋͆͛͒̐̇͗͜͠͞͡ͅͅe͓̣͍̬̟̖ͮͦͪ̇ͮ̌ͪͨͨ͆ͮ̇̍̾̑́́͝͞ ̶̶̭̫͎̯̱͔͓͔͔̝̖̲̤͙̰̯̺̮̰ͫ̈́̇̎͊̒̀͞t̷͔̣̘̟̀̍́́ͩ̾̀̎͑̍̀̅ͯ̂ͧ̄ͬͩͧ͟͝h̸̢̬̞̙̜̳̬͈͍̫̰͙̤͈̙̹̼ͤͩ̔ͪ̾ͤ͟ͅͅi̶͚̜͕̭͇̫͙͈̫̻͈̟͚͙͖͙͌̑͋̾ͫ͛͂̓̉́ͣ͌̀̕͜ͅs̷̰̳̖̰̝̬̗̻̻͓͚͂ͫͣ͂̀̿̑̚̕͡?̪̱̰̱̥͊̀̉̈ͣ̃̂ͥ́͢͢͟ͅ ͆̔͒̒ͤͤ̽̎̐ͣ̀ͧ͌ͭ͒̀̔͒̚͞͏̶̧̥̬̼̩̻̲̘̺̘̱͙͚ͅ

There is a random text function in here... maybe I can make something work...

It doesn't support the terror-text, tragically.

 

[SweetShark]

Can I ask a question?

Do you have the link for the program you use to create the game?

 

[SweetShark]

religious horror?

both books of Solomon can be your best friends for demons and probably what the game is about. You could have the player be a modern day Solomon working his way to capturing all the demons in his modern time incarnation

Mmmmmmm...that remind me a lot of Shin Megami Tensei games somehow.....

Maybe is better as I said to not know the player what kind of danger have to face in the whole game.
However, it would be a nice touch if a puzzle involve the heroes to search for pages of different demons.
This pages could be many things, like hints for a specific puzzle, a "key" for a puzzle, etc.

 

[lacktheknack]

Can I ask a question?

Do you have the link for the program you use to create the game?

Ask, and ye shall receive.

http://textadventures.co.uk/quest

 

[Hugh Wright]

Always willing to help a footrot flats fan.
Quick idea ( more to follow when bashed out in my brain)- have the puzzles change depending on how sane you are. e.g. puzzle question = Giver of all life. Answers when sane are 1) sun, 2) moon 3)star. Answers when not so sane 1)a yellow wreath with radial striations 2) a pale sickle 3) a 5 pointed symbol
The insane answers must use insane logic and descriptions
Captcha
Double dutch

 

[Wolf In A Bear Suit]

So, I've found a text adventure game maker, Quest. I've posted about it before and the game I've played on it. Overall, I was quite impressed with the engine, so I tried using the actual gamemaker part. It's really fun to use, intuitive, and rewarding to the inner part of me that's very sad I flunked out of programming in University (for math, no less, there's nothing wrong with my coding abilities).

So I've started up a small-ish mystery/horror project. Basically, the plot follows a cynical girl trapped by a rockslide in a bizarrely superstitious mountain village. They're more than friendly enough to her, but they all say the same thing: "Stay out of the church in the meadow."

For some reason or another, she ends up needing to go to said church, and the game sends her with a second playable character, the only one willing to go with her.

By the end of this, she's going to have been through all the various rooms in the church, solved its secrets, and have been in mortal danger a few times... and probably ticked off something supernatural at one point or another.

So where do you, the reader, fit into this?

Quite simply, I need ideas. I can wield text and cohesion pretty well, but I'm a bit low on in-game ideas for how things should look.

Basically, I welcome any suggestions on:
-puzzles
-supernatural monstrosities and how they act
-how the second playable character looks and acts
-what the balance should be on religious horror vs. mystery
-village/church layout
-dangerous situations
-the overall nature of the church

Note that I won't include all ideas. I just want this thread to be a sort of echoing chamber of ideas to help me put together a cohesive whole.

I can't get REALLY into it until next week (I'm supposed to be studying right now), but if this project actually gets its wings over the summer, I'll be sure to post a link to it for you guys, and maybe even include usernames in the credits!

Hmmm I like the route you're going down in terms of genre and setting. I think Alan Wake is a game to look at. OK it wasn't too scary but in terms of mystery and story it was brilliant. It would cleverly take you out of the action for a while with a flashback or a storyline progression. The monsters, well I think it's always good when the monsters appearance is threatened for a while before it appears. I think one major monster is a good idea. Perhaps a monster the townspeople worship. Also the townspeople should appear as masked enemy's. I'm taking some of my ideas for this from a certain Oblivion quest.
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:A_Shadow_Over_Hackdirt
For the layout I think it should be a nice idyllic looking place slightly in the past with all of the local services. A forest is a good idea cos it furthers the remoteness of the village. As for the church, it's gotta be catacombs under the village I think. I can't concievably think of how else you will have enough space for some action, maybe escpae into the forest. I'd recommend the ultimate goal be escape. As for your other character, a friend maybe? A partner? I can't really think of anyone in the village who would be friendly besides an outsider. I also think the discovery of many other dead outsiders who have ventured into the church a good idea.
Sorry man I have gone off on a real ramble and I'm sorry if it's beside the point. I just like the idea.

 

[Robetid]

I think one thing that would be cool is to add details to the church, like number of paintings in a room or statues in a room then make the math problems use that info to make the equation, like number of statues in lobby times the number of paintings in caffeteria as a basic example.

 

[You Can't Take the Sky From Me]

-how the second playable character looks and acts
-what the balance should be on religious horror vs. mystery
-the overall nature of the church

Okay, in order:
-Try to make the secondary character useful and as different from the primary as possible. Ideally he or she should act as a foil to the primary character without coming across as annoying or insolent.
-Try to make the religious angle as broad as possible. That way you can draw influence from many different sources instead of being stuck with only one.
-The nature of the church is a bit more complex. Personally I would be more interested if the darkness/evil of the place was more Lovecraftian in nature. Rather that demonic/satanic make the darkness an inherent aspect of the church, something about either the construction of the church or the location. Again try not to make it overtly connected to any one religion, that would only serve to limit what you can do with the place.

Just my two cents, feel free to disregard all I have to say if it doesn't fit your vision. I would be interested in seeing what you come up with in the end, by the way.

 

[lacktheknack]

Always willing to help a footrot flats fan.
Quick idea ( more to follow when bashed out in my brain)- have the puzzles change depending on how sane you are. e.g. puzzle question = Giver of all life. Answers when sane are 1) sun, 2) moon 3)star. Answers when not so sane 1)a yellow wreath with radial striations 2) a pale sickle 3) a 5 pointed symbol
The insane answers must use insane logic and descriptions
Captcha
Double dutch

I like this idea, although it's a bit extreme.

I think one thing that would be cool is to add details to the church, like number of paintings in a room or statues in a room then make the math problems use that info to make the equation, like number of statues in lobby times the number of paintings in caffeteria as a basic example.

Now, the key to a puzzle like that is in the delivery.

-how the second playable character looks and acts
-what the balance should be on religious horror vs. mystery
-the overall nature of the church

Okay, in order:
-Try to make the secondary character useful and as different from the primary as possible. Ideally he or she should act as a foil to the primary character without coming across as annoying or insolent.
-Try to make the religious angle as broad as possible. That way you can draw influence from many different sources instead of being stuck with only one.
-The nature of the church is a bit more complex. Personally I would be more interested if the darkness/evil of the place was more Lovecraftian in nature. Rather that demonic/satanic make the darkness an inherent aspect of the church, something about either the construction of the church or the location. Again try not to make it overtly connected to any one religion, that would only serve to limit what you can do with the place.

Just my two cents, feel free to disregard all I have to say if it doesn't fit your vision. I would be interested in seeing what you come up with in the end, by the way.

I'm going to try to focus it on Christian/Satanic specifically, because while it does limit a few things, its still something I know fairly well.

 

[SweetShark]

I am just create a list of the all the ideas I seen so far so I can help also lacktheknack:

Theme

-Christian/Satanic/? Horror.
-A small village.
-A Church.
-Secret rooms of the Church?
-Random layout of the church when you start a new game.
-Possession.
-Worshippers.
-Only known the "real danger" at the end of the game.
-Death/End gameplay.
-Two heroes.
-Spell/rituals.
-Book of Solomon.
-Five senses descriptions in details:See,Smell,Touch,Taste,Hear.
-Sanity gameplay: See different things base of heroes physiological condition.
-Sanity affect the way some puzzles works.
-Illusions gameplay: The Demon trying to confuse you with different kind of tricks.
-Traps: in different part of Church or other place have different kind of traps made by worshipers.
-Environmental Hazards: The Demon use his power to destroy different parts of the Church or other place.
-Lilith's Origin?


Puzzles

-Language puzzle: Trying to translate a stone tablet or an old scroll found in the Church.
-Math Puzzle: a secret number to unlock a door in the church or in other place maybe.
-Use-an-item puzzle: Steal a key from the priest's house is an idea. NO simple "one-way" puzzles like "use ONLY crowbar to the door to open it",etc.
-4th Wall puzzle: Maybe a VERY secret room in the game, where you can see all the people that helped with the game. Maybe even dialog from us. Ask us what kind of dialog we want to have in the game ^^
-Maze Puzzle: A trick of the demon to create an illusion to make a big room to look like a complicate maze.
-Leave-the-Room puzzle: A swarm or cockroaches cover the only door of the room you ar into. Find a way out.
-Research puzzle: collect different pages of different Solomon's Demons. Secret tips for different puzzles.
-Spell/ritual puzzle: Maybe even the angels use magic after all and not only the power of faith.
-Run-away/Hide from Danger puzzle: A Worshiper or "Something" trying to find you and kill you.
-Five senses puzzle: Hear an Workshiper's prayers or touch an a wall for a secret switch.
-Low Sanity Penalty: These puzzle are availiable if you have low sanity. Like seeing a room full of blood feeling slowly the whole room.
-Tricks of visions because of the "danger" near by: The Demon use tricks to get closer to you. The illusions will disappear if the Demon isn't close to the heores.
-Small-but-important details puzzles: Some paintings in the church have some interesting clues.


Hope I helped and still want to make this game.
I suggest to update frequently to keep us in touch and get new help from us if you need it.
Cheers!!!

 

[lacktheknack]

OK, guys, I've been thinking.

I want to make this game as comprehensive as possible (Lord knows I'm going to regret this). As such, I'm going to need alpha testers.

What you need to do to be a tester:

-Download <link=http://textadventures.co.uk/quest>Quest5
-Keep an eye on this space for new version uploads
-Provide feedback on: typos, situations where a natural command doesn't work properly (ie. >cross bridge - I cannot cross that), and whether new puzzles are too easy/difficult (I'm quite bad at this, as the Portal 2 Testing Initiative revealed)
-For the love of all that's holy: Use spoiler tags as needed!

On my part, I'll periodically put out incomplete versions of the game for you guys to mess around with. Each version will come with a changelog, with scares/puzzles/easter eggs in spoiler tags.

THE DISADVANTAGE OF BEING A TESTER: You won't get that wonderful feeling of playing a brand new game from start to end. Also, a few of the scares will be old hat by the end. If you choose not to be a tester, feel free to check back here anyways to follow the changelogs - just don't click the spoilers.

If you're interested, say so!

The first few versions won't be very interesting (they take place in the not-scare-rific village, and will be as bare-bones as hell), but it will pick up. The first version should be up within the next couple of days.

Guys... we might be making this actually happen...

 

[repeating integers]

Looking forward to this! I love the sanity idea.

I'll consider beta testing, but it would ruin many of the suspenseful surprises.

 

[lacktheknack]

Looking forward to this! I love the sanity idea.

I'll consider beta testing, but it would ruin many of the suspenseful surprises.

Oh, you'll get the suspenseful surprises... just in a slower and more typo-ridden form.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Snip

I've got Quest downloaded, as soon as you have something showable I'll gladly report any problems I see/run into. This should be fun!

 

[ResonanceSD]

Looking forward to this! I love the sanity idea.

I'll consider beta testing, but it would ruin many of the suspenseful surprises.

Oh, you'll get the suspenseful surprises... just in a slower and more typo-ridden form.

Just btw, you've played these, I hope?

http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/games.htm

horror adventure games featuring a certain cynical man who wears a hat.

Written by a certain cynical man who wears a hat.

Called Yahtzee.

 

[SweetShark]

Is there a possibility to have a limited, but suitable choices in the game like in the example I presented you [Corruption of Champions]? with this way it will be more easier for you and for us to be in the right way more often.

 

[lacktheknack]

Looking forward to this! I love the sanity idea.

I'll consider beta testing, but it would ruin many of the suspenseful surprises.

Oh, you'll get the suspenseful surprises... just in a slower and more typo-ridden form.

Just btw, you've played these, I hope?

http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/games.htm

horror adventure games featuring a certain cynical man who wears a hat.

Written by a certain cynical man who wears a hat.

Called Yahtzee.

Played from beginning to end, found the easter egg in the second one, crapped myself, etc. etc.

Is there a possibility to have a limited, but suitable choices in the game like in the example I presented you [Corruption of Champions]? with this way it will be more easier for you and for us to be in the right way more often.

Nope.

A. It's annoying to format that style properly in Quest.
B. It removes all challenge from the puzzles.
C. It removes all challenge from the making of the game. I have a notorious habit of dropping things that are too easy.
D. It removes the teeth from the scary encounters.
E. It deprives Infocom fans of a classic style of text adventure.
F. Because of your video, I'll never be able to look at a text adventure with that format again without bursting into tears.

 

[SweetShark]

snip

Ah, I see.
What do you mean "It removes the teeth from the scary encounters".
Finally come on, CoC isn't so bad if you play the game entirely as a Muscular Shark/Minotaur Paladin.

It just have HEAVILY the options for very obscure/weird things to do [you just don't want to know...].

 

[lacktheknack]

snip

Ah, I see.
What do you mean "It removes the teeth from the scary encounters".
Finally come on, CoC isn't so bad if you play the game entirely as a Muscular Shark/Minotaur Paladin.

It just have HEAVILY the options for very obscure/weird things to do [you just don't want to know...].

Remove the teeth: There's a big difference is scare factor between "How do I react!?" and "What button do I push!?"

Also, I think I'm OK on the CoC front. The video covered more than I cared to know about before shark-minotaur-paladin even became an option.

 

[Echopunk]

An acquaintance of mine brought CoC up when I mentioned game design. Apparently, the guy in charge of making CoC quit his job and supports himself on donations from the player base. It is almost like a pyramid scheme, the way I understand it. People contribute content for the game, and then other people donate based on what they want to see added. It is basically an ongoing kickstarter, or crowdfunded perpetual dlc set-up.

I tried the game out of curiosity, but couldn't force myself to keep playing it. For all the promised customization opportunities, the game pretty much revolves around one idea with a certain batch of fetishes at its core. Couldn't stay interested in it, and didn't really want to. Now, I guess you could play the game and avoid directly partaking in the squick, but that clearly doesn't seem to be the experience everyone is paying for. If nothing else, it serves as yet another object lesson for the theory of "sex sells."

Back on topic -

Snatcher also used the limited interaction approach to what is otherwise a straight forward text adventure set-up, aside from the shooting sections. OP is right though, that type of game is a lot more limiting than what old school text adventure purists are looking for.

A better inspiration point might be McMurphy's Mansion. It is a straight up text adventure, but it adds an in-game map.
Many text adventures I've played would have benefit greatly from that aspect alone, as some of them are rather abstract in their handling of location/place.

Also, I'm up for some testing!