Alive, Rmxp - Survival Horror Options

[Vexus]

Hehe thanks

In the new demo there's an added cutscene *cough* nightmare *cough*, hopefully it's good as much as the others.

I added an option to skip the prologue for people that have already seen it or don't want to waste time. (Tough you will start in the last scene before entering the game regardless)

I also added a tutorial when you press new game with pictures for the controls.

I'm currently placing events with text on almost anything in the map just in case people want to click on everything, it's time consuming but adds to realism.

I decided that the first demo will only take place in the hospital but don't worry, the hospital has 3 floors and you start on top. (95% of the maps I have "finished" are the inside of the hospital and then there's 3 outside maps.)

[Vexus]

Just want to point out that I'm still working slowly on it but guild wars 2 is eating all my time so it will take longer than expected.

[Clord]

Just want to point out that I'm still working slowly on it but guild wars 2 is eating all my time so it will take longer than expected.

Sorry to hear that, I'm still waiting to have some actual gameplay to test. I just hope this not end up to be yet another abandoned project.

P.S. We both seem to have that "problem".

This post has been edited by Clord: Sep 4 2012, 12:29 AM

[Vexus]

Hopefully it doesn't heh I can't predict the future.

Anyway while I'm posting I need suggestions on how to do the saving.

To give an explanation, in alive you can't save anywhere you want (It's not in the menu) and at first I was thinking on placing some well lit table which shows an icon over your head when you go near it. This table would give you the option on recording your journey on the diary with a yes and no option.

Now I made it so you don't choose on what slot to save but instead you instantly save in slot 1 so you can't have multiple saves. (Some people might not like this but I don't see the point in multiple save files in a story driven game)

So what I need suggestions on is:

Tell me what would you prefer as a method for saving apart of having it in a menu, say a popup save window after every chapter?, the table idea I'm currently trying out? or maybe something else you have in mind?

Just to be clear, save points will be scarce not shoved everywhere so take that into consideration.

Thanks for the help

[Vexus]

-Update-

2 more maps needs to get events on 90% of the things in the room then I'll start adding small cutscenes for the story's progress and a play through before uploading a demo.

I have thought about adding some small stuff in the cutscenes I'll see how they pan out when I play test.

And since I got no actual suggestions on ideas on how to do the save system I'll keep the save on table method I already had tested.

This post has been edited by Vexus: Sep 17 2012, 02:00 PM

[Vexus]

-Update-

It's actually a small update but I've finished placing events into the hospital and I'm adding some small "cutscenes" and will play test it just incase to see if everything is working ok.

Now I got 2 questions I really would love a response.

1] Would you people like if I leave the option of seeing my town maps even tough they don't have any events? (They have lights and small effects but nothing else)

2] Again about the save option I'm going to implement.

Since I didn't get any response I was probably going to make it by having to go near a table (Identified by the light and maybe I'll put an animated small light on the table) and when you press on it a message will be promptly shown, if you choose yes the diary will be shown on the table and when you're done the table goes back to normal.

The table where you are able to save has a special icon when you get near it and there will be a tutorial when you start that explains these kind of stuff.

Any questions/suggestions?

Thanks

This post has been edited by Vexus: Sep 21 2012, 06:09 PM

[Jens of Zanicuud]

Hey Vex,

1] I'd like to see them, though I suggest you put some limitations, just to give a taste of the atmosphere you're planning to set;
2]About save option... I'd use a system like this: you have a diary, haven't you? Well, anytime you can find a PEN item, you can save (i.e. writing on the diary) ONCE, in the best Resident Evil tradition. Or you can take the pen in order to use it later (you could retain a pen at a time or something like that). This would lead the player to act wisely before deciding if they could save or not.
Anyway, you could add a save at the end of each "chapter" (i.e. after certain events - even if your story isn't subdivided into chapters)

Jens

[Vexus]

- Outside maps, there are in reality only 3 but maybe I could leave the first one the one outside the hospital to give an example of what it's like outside even tough they are not exactly complete yet. (Eventwise and I was thinking on putting more rubbish and whatever in the streets).

- While it could be interesting I can't go that approach because the diary is also used to "record" your story progression and/or notes.
- I could make an option to save after every chapter but I thought people hate that so I scraped it and tried in finding something different while still fitting the game's story.

Thanks jens for the response, I seem to get responses only from you heh.

This post has been edited by Vexus: Sep 22 2012, 02:02 AM

[Jens of Zanicuud]

Uhm... okay, then I've got another idea.
You could find a blank piece of paper and then saving "writing" on it (each save would result in the save #, save hour and location change on the paper) or, another chance, everytime you find a new report for the diary, the game does an autosave (I've scripted already the autosave, you can find it in the Script Request section...) or give the player the option to save the game...

These are only suggestions, but seem to fit your game quite well

Jens

[Vexus]

What about this:

Having a sort of pda but since the electricity is scarce you can't save every where you want or maybe having pre charged batteries that last x saves then you need to find/buy more.

The screen would look something like this:

[Show/Hide]

What do you think?

(If I go that route I'll need to figure out a way to make the continue screen from the title neater tough I had to change it anyways)

This post has been edited by Vexus: Sep 22 2012, 09:52 AM

[Dark Kyu]

What about this:

Having a sort of pda but since the electricity is scarce you can't save every where you want or maybe having pre charged batteries that last x saves then you need to find/buy more.

The screen would look something like this:

[Show/Hide]

What do you think?

(If I go that route I'll need to figure out a way to make the continue screen from the title neater tough I had to change it anyways)

Whew, that's actually a pretty good idea.
I like it, I'd say go for it.

[Jens of Zanicuud]

I agree with Dark Kyu. It's more original than the one I suggested.
It was surely a good idea
You'll need some script to do that properly, but in my opinion it shouldn't require too much time.

Anyway, I suggest to show a "battery" indicator with the remaining charge (i.e. number of remaining saves).
As regards the title screen load scene... in a game like yours, maybe a single save file would work better than multiple files. As a result, the player has so to act wisely before saving. If you use a single save file, then when you open Load screen, you should show the PDA with the information on the last saved datas. If you are for multiple files, you can also display the PDA but by presing L or R changing the datas displayed...

Jens

[Vexus]

There will only be 1 save file it's already like this

Yea I will need to edit window save but it looks so confusing from the other windows I tried to edit myself, don't even know where to start :/

[Jens of Zanicuud]

Yea I will need to edit window save but it looks so confusing from the other windows I tried to edit myself, don't even know where to start :/

Leave it to me
After my degree I'll succeed in modifying it in no time...
By 3rd, 4th October your request should be fulfilled.

Jens

[Vexus]

How about this as battery level?

[Show/Hide]

Now there's the thing if it's going to be based around pre charged batteries or able to be charged at some random places to be used for saving again.

I'm thinking about the possibility of having the limitation of resident evil but instead of confined areas you can save anywhere but for a set amount of times only.

This post has been edited by Vexus: Sep 25 2012, 01:33 AM

[Jens of Zanicuud]

I'm for rechargeable batteries.
That phone you introduced has surely a Li-ion battery inside and replacing it would be painful...
Anyway, this is a game, so everything is well received.

I suggest every battery charge lasts fora maximum of three saves, and you can use it everywhere...
You could also insert areas in which there's no signal, so you can't save there

You could make the player find some battery charger here and there, in places where electricity is still present.

Jens

[Vexus]

That could be nice I guess the no signal thing.

Just to be clear items like these still take a slot from your inventory space even the diary does I wanted them to be visible in the inventory so there could be a small problem on how to disable the item from being usable when there is no signal from the inventory too.

-----

I'm almost done on the cut scenes and was wondering what is your opinion people regarding cut scenes text.

Should the text close itself alone or press enter to close/see new text?

Let me know as currently they are all press to see new text.

Thanks

[Jens of Zanicuud]

I'm almost done on the cut scenes and was wondering what is your opinion people regarding cut scenes text.
Should the text close itself alone or press enter to close/see new text?

If the messages are synchronized with music, events or BGSs (i.e. the car crash scene), well, you shouldn't let the player skip'em with enter.
If not, that could be a good idea, since you prevent players from skipping text. Remember that not anyone has the same reading speed... a button-command-flow is reccomended for non-synchronized cutscenes, in my opinion.

Jens

[Albino Parakeet]

Hey Vexus I was just wondering what happened to Somnium?

[Vexus]

It has been paused as it had too much hassle to make the daily events work well day after day so I gave up and started alive.

[Edit]

-Update-

Cutscenes are ready gonna do a play test to see if everything it working fine, have to add some dialogue for the diary, try to reduce the game size because it's currently 25 mb (Mostly from sounds but I can't really make them very small so I'll see what to do.) then either try to make a neater screen for inventory or release it like this for now.

Just want to remind people this is a story driven game and currently I placed some small talks in every few maps so that people know what the player is thinking and/or how he is feeling.

If after trying the demo many find it annoying or something like that I'll see on lessening the amount of times you lose control of your character for these speeches.

This post has been edited by Vexus: Oct 1 2012, 02:59 AM