Alive, Rmxp - Survival Horror Options

[MiguHideki]

this looks great!!! i'll be waiting for this

love the characters, background, and ZOMBIES!!!

and i also love it because its black & white w/ch it makes it more EPIC!!!

[Vexus]

Thanks

Anyway while waiting for help from the message script creator here's 4 screens of the outside world:

Outside of the Hospital (Back Alley)

[Show/Hide] Back Alley

Near some crime scene

[Show/Hide] Crime Scene

Another back alley

[Show/Hide] Back Alley 2

In the streets

[Show/Hide] Streets

Outside maps are giving me some lag problems so I'll get some people in the future to see what could be the cause. (I was thinking it could be the lightning effects even tough removing the script and play testing still gave me lag :/ so dunno exactly)

Note: The hud is currently a place holder unless I get permission from it creator as I only edited it's colours to fit the black and white style.

This post has been edited by Vexus: Jul 14 2012, 04:57 AM

[thatgreenalien]

Pretty cool, I downloaded the demo and went through it, here's what I think could have been improved:

• Just change the text when it advances, no need for it to flash like that
• Sometimes you can't really tell who's talking, I would recommend adding a little picture of the character in the text box, sorta like in Custom Robo if you've ever played that game, maybe even make different expressions for them.
• Everything seemed pretty lifeless and bland, add some vocal expressions like giggles or sighs to the dialogue to make it more alive
• Have more moving in the cutscenes, don't just have one image the entire time

Otherwise, I really liked the whole B&W with Red tone look. I think you may need a gimmick of some sort because from what I've read it seems a bit cliche, though I do like that you're trying to escape the zombies and not kill them.

Good luck to you!

[Vexus]

Snip

- Flash?
- That is fixed with the new message script, now a v shape is showed under the text box and it gets aligned over the npc speaking.
- I added some tiny details like npcs rotating their heads when someone next to them speaks but like I said previously the dialogues could use some refinement but no one offered suggestions so...
- It's a short flashback of certain important memories your character had before falling in a coma, I want to have the focus on the scene not on what's happening around them.

Thanks for the feedback.

-----------------------------

Anyways people the updated prologue is almost complete and will place a new demo for play test this next week.

This post has been edited by Vexus: Jul 15 2012, 02:14 AM

[thatgreenalien]

- Flash?

What I mean is it disappears and fades back in every new dialogue, when just the text should just change (but that's just me)

[Vexus]

-Update-

New updated version of prologue is "finished" hopefully so if someone could check it out and let me know what they think it would be great

No RTP version
- http://www.mediafire.com/?a0uwpanau5ul25m

With RTP version
- http://www.mediafire.com/?dast6f9rr1grym8

[Vexus]

Bump

Some feedback please.

[Jens of Zanicuud]

I was almost blind as regards city maps (haven't seen them before, actually).

BTW, I can only give mapping feedback ATM since I'm too busy - I'll give you more precise feedback when I play the Demo...

As regards city maps... well, I think they are quite gloomy and dark. It looks like a city suburb, with all these police cars around - as regards this, I suppose not every human in the city was zombified, right? ALthough I can't explain myself those police cars with lights switched on...

Have you employed grey-scaled Zanyzora's city tilesets?

Back alley 2 map it's too dark, in my opinion.
It's hard to figure out anything with that thick black fog.
I suggest to put a marker on the main character by pressing a certain button, as in Final Fantasy 7, in order to help the player find their position while in such dark maps or, second option, give your character a torch (light effect which reduce darkness opacity... or anything similar), which could be found/received later in the game.

Anyway,great atmosphere; these maps have a great inner suspance.
I'm looking forward to play the first Demo.

Good luck,

Jens

This post has been edited by Jens of Zanicuud: Jul 26 2012, 07:40 AM

[Vexus]

To be honest I don't know why this site makes my maps so dark, on another site I posted my thread the darkness is not that pitch black as in here nor is ingame.

As for the police car lights I thought it looked good as a scenery but yes not every human is a zombie yet some still survive and in the future you'll also meet some bandits and maybe some wild animals in towns. (Not sure yet on the animals part.)

[Jens of Zanicuud]

To be honest I don't know why this site makes my maps so dark, on another site I posted my thread the darkness is not that pitch black as in here nor is ingame.

As for the police car lights I thought it looked good as a scenery but yes not every human is a zombie yet some still survive and in the future you'll also meet some bandits and maybe some wild animals in towns. (Not sure yet on the animals part.)

Uhm... animals are not likely to be there... if you really intend to make them appear, put just some cats or dogs, nothing more, maybe rats.
If there aren't any survived police agents, I thought you should at least switch the police cars lights off.
BTW, I like the general concept, it's darker enough to at least cause some inquietude in the player...

Jens

EDIT: What about soundtrack? SIlent Hill, original score, simply BGS without music or anything else?

This post has been edited by Jens of Zanicuud: Jul 27 2012, 01:06 PM

[amerk]

That's it for now I'll put a demo soon with the first part of the story where you'll meet your first infected. (Demo will only have you getting out of the hospital and into the back alley and some other part of the town nothing more.)

[Edit]
New demo on 2nd page.

No one?

C'mon guys it's the prologue only, takes less than 5 minutes I need feedback and suggestions.

I just noticed this. Your main post states a demo will be out soon, and you've posted a demo on the second page of this thread, but never updated your main post to include the download links. A lot of people tend to go straight to the first post, look for a demo, and then move on. If you're trying to get feedback, you may want to include the links in the first post with an invite for feedback after playing through the short demo.

[Vexus]

I guess.

Updated OP with the links, thanks amerk. (Tough I doubt it was this that made people not give feedback but worth a try.)

[hero501]

Good luck

[amerk]

Good luck

Comments like this is considered spam since it offers no value to the thread, and can result in a warn. If you are going to post, please provide feedback that is relevant to the OP.

[Vexus]

-Small Update-

I'm adding some tutorials ingame via pictures here's an example:

[Show/Hide] Tutorial

Pictures go away when you press enter, they are not timed based and you cannot move until you've seen them all. (I'll give an option to skip tutorials tough they are not long and really useful in some cases.)

Also with the help of the great jens I'm finally shaping up my status screen to something more akin this game.

Here's a screenie:

[Show/Hide] Status Screen

The heart has an animation and also sound and the less health you have the slower it will animate/sound.

The layout is almost complete now if I could get some sort of health monitor instead of the window skin as background it would make it look far more better but heh I need to find, get help or create myself a screen of said thing for it to happen...

-----------------------------------------------------

Anyway after trying to get some help for a very long amount of time but was ignored slowly slowly I've managed to sprite the main character in a patient dress that doesn't look that bad. (Tough for issues non regarding game you won't be going for long naked with a vest wandering but will find something to wear and then in the future get something better.)

I'm not working 24/7 on the project that's why updates/progress is not that frequent but slowly slowly I'm adding stuff. (Hint: Possibility on having hunger/thirst in game that make the game more about survival than exploring.)

That's it for now, I'd appreciate some feedback on the tutorial pics and status screen if anyone is kind enough to check them out, there's also the demo on the 2nd or first page of the prologue which still needs some feedback as I haven't got any apart of 1 which only said that it was a fantastic trailer heh.

Ciao

This post has been edited by Vexus: Aug 9 2012, 11:06 AM

[Jens of Zanicuud]

The tutorial is surely welcome, maybe, I just change the colour of the word Next and write something like the button you have to press to go to the next page (e.g. C: Next -- X: Close... or whatever)

I saw you slightly modifed the status window and I feel like it's better than the original design I thought.
That Condition word and the status instead of HP are really a good idea (It reminds me Resident Evil - Code Veronica X heartbeat - you aren't allowed to see how many HP left, just your status [Healthy, Good, Bad]).

I totally agree with your modifications.
Let me submit a suggestion... what if you use icons instead of words to show the current status?
I'm thinking to three icons, which are deep-grey-coloured and get coloured only if the associated status is actually inflicted.
It's another way to solve the scroll problem you mentioned before...

Jens

[Vexus]

Currently reading messages and selecting stuff uses enter so I thought I didn't need to show them "press enter" to close pictures.

I can put in brackets for the very first tutorial press enter to continue tough, I might do that.

Could be an idea but needs to be clear so people would get what that icon means which could be a little hard to explain. (Tough could always make a tutorial about it)

Or maybe have the text remains and under condition text icons show greyed and when you get a status effect they change colour or something. Only need to move the health and stamina a little lower to have the icons there, simple edit.

I prefer the 2nd one but up to you.

Thanks

This post has been edited by Vexus: Aug 10 2012, 02:25 AM

[Jens of Zanicuud]

Currently reading messages and selecting stuff uses enter so I thought I didn't need to show them "press enter" to close pictures.

I can put in brackets for the very first tutorial press enter to continue tough, I might do that.

Could be an idea but needs to be clear so people would get what that icon means which could be a little hard to explain. (Tough could always make a tutorial about it)

Or maybe have the text remains and under condition text icons show greyed and when you get a status effect they change colour or something. Only need to move the health and stamina a little lower to have the icons there, simple edit.

I prefer the 2nd one but up to you.

Thanks

As regards brackets on the first tutorial I think it's okay. I used to press Spacebar to confirm, so the fact I had to press Enter puzzled me for a while (a couple of seconds, to be honest)

As regards status window...
Do you mean icon + text?
Yeah, it could be a good idea.
I'll send you a sample layout of what I thought later.

Jens

This post has been edited by Jens of Zanicuud: Aug 10 2012, 03:17 AM

[Vexus]

Yea I forgot to put some text document or tutorial about the controls, will do one right away to not forget.

Thanks

[Jens of Zanicuud]

Okay, I've checked the prologue intro.

What to say? The marriage scene is really touching and well evented, same as the other ones.
Just one remark... the car tries avoiding a turtle, or were my eyes going to betray me?

In my opinion, the last scene is the one which needs some editing, the car isn't vey fluid... and the reason why they hit the lorry...

The baloon text is working well, I've found only a grammar mistake (your instead of you're in the doctor's dialogue - if I remember well), characters' sprites are well animated, with turning heads and closing eyes (the effect was really good!).

I will just give you a suggestion.

If I were you, I'd fragment this video and make these scenes appear little by little, maybe in flashbacks, and start directly with the main character waking in the hospital. I mean, when the main character visits the room where the doctor told him the sex of his child, he could remember that fragment, when visiting what rests of his house (if you're planning to insert it), the scene with the family in the dinner room and/or the scene when the wife tell him her pregnancy...

This is my personal preference, I feel using that cutscene as opening would be a waste...

Jens