(Note: This game doesn't require rpg maker to run because it has it's own installer.)
Genre: Action Survival Horror Estimated Gametime: 1 hour 30 minutes Difficulty: Moderate or Hard Rating: Teen Status: Complete Hard Disc Size: 69MB
CONTROLS
Controls
Move Up: Up Cursor Move Down: Down Cursor Move Left: Left Cursor Move Right: Right Cursor Action/Interact: ENT Key Cancel/Menu: ESC Key Attack/Action: T Key Defend: D Run: R Map Display: M Enable/Disable HUD: Z Assemble Hotkeys: X F12: Reset Game.exe
Summary of the Game... "Project Viral" is a survival horror game that has been developed using Rpg Maker XP. Originally this game was planned to be called "School of the Dead" but with a lot of changes to the plot, it was renamed. The game originally focused mainly on scare factors to terrify the player but with the changes in hand there were more features added such as the use of a unique battlesystem which meant more gameplay action was provided. The player has a more diverse control when encountering enemies such as the common zombie. With all this, the game now fails to stay as one genre and could even be classified as a hybrid. The setting of the game is in a military school where a virus has spread through out the entire area turning most of the people there who don't have a strong immune system into flesh eating zombie like cannables. The player is a male high school student who has to survive the horrors ahead of them whilst uncovering the secrets behind the scenes.
THE STORY Professor Zen, a teacher and a scientist working on biological substances for the Kilos Military is given a task to create a serum capable of forming immortal soldiers. The Kilos Organisation thrive for power and after killing what appears to be a demon, hand over the corpse to Zen. Deep underground of the military school, he continues to experiment in old laboratories used by Kilos in the past. The professor is astonished with the capabilities of the substances created from his experiments but one night after nearly completing his task, there is an error. The labs are now shrouded in a mist which appears to have risen to the surface of the school. This outbreak causes most of the students living at the school that have come close to the mist to turn into zombie like freaks. The Kilos Military Police intervene...
Characters
Comrad Stillwell Age: 16 Gender: Male Occupation: Student A month before the outbreak, after experiencing a tough past, Comrad joins the Kilos Military with nothing else holding him back. Impressed by his combat skill, the Kilos Organisation sends him to a military school to be strongly educated, living there on campus for a year before receiving strict training. Unfortunately for Comrad, one night he wakes up whilst the school is infested with zombies. “What the fucks going on?” he says. It’s time for Comrad to find some answers and a way out of this havoc...
Etheelia Lightheart Age: 16 Gender: Female Occupation: Student Etheelia is the daughter of one of the Kilos Organisation’s Executives. She is also a friend of Comrad in the school and like him, she lives on campus too. Although her father forbids it, she decides to join Kilos to understand their secrets. One night, troubled by a strange fog or mist keeping her from sleeping, Etheelia leaves her room but is however attacked by a zombie. “AAAGHH!” she screams. “So this is part of what Kilos is hiding. Maybe coming here wasn’t a good idea after all...” Can Etheelia manage to survive this infestation?
Ramori Gans Age: 23 Gender: Male Occupation: Soldier Ramori Gans is a soldier of the Kilos Military. He had only recently completed his training and although at times he can be sloppy, he is an excellent soldier in frontal combat. Gans, also given the nickname “RamG” already knows about Project Viral. When the viral outbreak begins to infect the school, a mission begins and he is sent to assist. He enters the school to complete his objective with much doubt on his mind...
Some useful tips whilst playing Project Viral Here are some useful tips whilst playing Project Viral. This game is environmentally friendly so I advise you to examine objects such as shelves, cupboards and even corpses. You’ll find that there are Items and even money hidden in many different places. With the cash you find, use the vending machines to buy some Items that you can use to recover energy which is used to perform stances giving you an edge against enemies. Also, when you bump into zombies, try to avoid most of them because fighting a zombie is mainly a waste of ammunition if you are using guns or mainly a waste of health if you are using melee weapons. You’ll need to save your First Aid Kits and ammo because you’ll need them later on in the game so searching for Items will help you in the long run.
SCREENSHOTS
Screenshots
(Here are some gameplay screenies...)
School Uppper Floor
School Garden
School Entrance
Menu Screen
Basement
Outside School
Underground Labs
Escape Through The Sewers
Alternative Ending
FEAURES
Features
-Zombies -Action Battle system -Automatic Cutscenes -Comic style dialogue -10+ weapons -A Dark Atmosphere -A Sense of Realism -Shock Factors -Enviromentally Friendly -An Explorable School -A Mini Map -Vending Machines -Respawning Enemies -Character Stances -10 EXP Levels -Cheat Codes
CREDITS
Credits
Music and Sound Effects • Resident Evil • Silent Hill • Brainbread • Counter-Strike
The story sounds it's setup well for an action survival horror. You've already placed some mystery here. The tension and suspense with horror would be best built up with mystery of why supernatural events are occurring in the chosen environment.
From my understanding, a good way to present the story would be through mystery, bringing more questions to the player than answers along the game. Horror pacing can be hard to manage well for enjoyment. You want the story to start off being sudden and quick and get the player into the dark mood, but then you want the story pace to slow right down while the player to have some fun game time when they roaming around the environment.
An example. "7 kids get stranded on an island at night, zombies are about" is quick-pace. "The player now being able to control one of the kids and explore the island would be presented at a slower pace to build up mastery and suspense while the player explores the area.
Each map could lead the player with thoughts such as "What will happen next?" "Will there be a lot of zombies on this map?" "Will all the kids survive and get off the island?".
Another quick-pace cut-scene can now occur. The kids may see a new mystery character who is not a zombie, but he quickly runs out of sight. "Who was that?" would not roam in the player's mind placing mysteries around the story.
These questions need answers by the end of the game, you don't want to leave anything unanswered, but a horror game usually builds them up for a while before revealing one.
I'm not sure how Dark Giga does his horror style games but the difficulty of level design can't be like Legionwood's battle difficulty to deliver the most enjoyment to the player. In-case that point get interrupted wrongly, I'm using this as an example to make a point. I'm not suggesting anything of those games.
Main point, there is a huge difference between conflict with escaping an environment of supernatural events and conflict with war and politics and it's important the developer knows this.
Level Design
When the player roams around you want to use that time to make the environment seem ghastly and aim to get their imagination running.
The key to good gameplay with horror survival is usually level design. A lot of back-tracking usually happens as the player finds keys to unlock new rooms. Their rewards for hunting usually would be fresh information on the story that answers some of the mystery and suspense. When mapping, thinking of making each area memorable is therefore important. The player must be able to remember where reach room is if they are going to back-track.
Where you place the keys, switches, and zombies will all effect how fun the game will be. So the more clever and creative you can be with the puzzles the better. The player should not feel overwhelmed by the environment and get too confused where they must go, a good balance of difficulty needs to be placed here.
Be careful not to make the paths too narrow or to wide for players.
Interaction is another game element you can really do a lot with on horror. Having the player be able to interact with a lot of objects on screen can be really fun and finding items other than keys, like potions or currency if there's a point for currency, can increase the player's enjoyment.
Battles
Battle-wise, try and make use of everything the database has to offer you to create some interesting strategy in the battles. If you are using the active battle system, don't make it button mashing. Make the actor skillsets work well with the enemy, and try to have some co-op going on between actor's and enemies. Differentiate the enemies too, don't have one set of zombies but different types of them.
Even put different zombie-types in a troop together so the player has to think more carefully with their actor's on what to do.
I know horror is usually setup for fast action to show the actor's are in danger, but I'd recommend setting the active time battle system to WAIT on the player so they can choose skills before the next action. Otherwise some player's might find it too fast.
Giving the player's different agility speeds would be something that plays a more important role with active time battles too! So thinking about that carefully can all help.
Make use of the items, equipment, stats during fights too instead of have them hang there.
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PROJECT VIRAL, Full Game Version 1.5!
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May 9 2010, 09:38 AM
