Forrest of Deceit demo is REALLY here!

[tjoris9]

I decided I'd take a stab at making a survival horror game using RPGM3. The result is Forrest of Deceit. So far I only have a small demo (Though it really has no end, and there is quite a bit to explore, just not much to find yet), the result of about 10 hours of work over the past couple of days.

If all goes well, it'll probably have a Halloween release date for the final product.

Feel free to let me know what you think, whether by PM or posting on this thread.

[Vonwert]

Re: Happy 6/6/06! (Forrest of Deceit demo is here!)

Wow, cool, I be defintally looking forward to playing this.

[Vonwert]

Re: Happy 6/6/06! (Forrest of Deceit demo is here!)

I am not sure if it is my Max drive or what. But I can't seem to get it to read on RPGM3. Could someone check to see if it works for them?

I am pretty sure I put in the right one. I can see it on the flash drive, and loaded the only viable rpgm3 data I saw, and uncrushed it. Yet I couldn't find the game.

Edit:

I think the problem is that you must have messed up the file format. I used the file changing program and it couldn't read the file. That might be why I can't seem to play it.

[tjoris9]

Re: Happy 6/6/06! (Forrest of Deceit demo is here!)

You think it might be the way I changed the name of the file? I know it wasn't my PSP, because when I put it on the memory stick I accidentally moved it, instead of copying it, then I copied it from the memory stick back to the card.

I'm looking into it as we speak to see if the same thing happens to me. I'll put a little more work into it and resubmit it in a day or two regardless.

Edit:
My luck with demos is pretty ******. Anyway, I downloaded it and it wouldn't read the file in the maxdrive software, so next time I'll avoid changing the name of the actual .max file. I think that'll fix the problem. With a little work I can offer a much better demo, anyway.

Play Fatal Insanity (RPGM3) and Omegablade Saga (RPGM1) while you wait. It'll make the wait easier. Really... It will!

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: Happy 6/6/06! (Forrest of Deceit demo is here!)

Is there a reason it's Forrest with two R's? Is Forrest Whitaker in it?

[tjoris9]

Re: Happy 6/6/06! (Forrest of Deceit demo is here!)

Is there a reason it's Forrest with two R's?

There are two reasons.

1) I can't spell forest.
2) Word can't either.

Anyway, within the next few minutes I'll be uploading a new file. This one should be playable, and I put a little more work into it.

Edit: On an interesting side note, my uploading of the new demo is also my 666th post.

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: Forrest of Deceit demo is REALLY here!

You sure? It tells you how many posts you have made in all your posts, not what post number of yours that post is.

[tjoris9]

Re: Forrest of Deceit demo is REALLY here!

The last post I made when I made the last edit on this thread was the resubmit of FoD (I double-posted, Valk can smite me later). I normally don't look at my post count, but I just happened to notice the number that time.

Anyway, back to the game.

[Pandable]

Re: Forrest of Deceit demo is REALLY here!

I always wanted to make a survival horror game with rpgm1, but always thought the idea would never work on that platform.
I wish I had rpgm3 so I could play this.

You are to be congratulated.

[Vonwert]

Re: Forrest of Deceit demo is REALLY here!

I made puzzle horror game

[Vonwert]

Re: Forrest of Deceit demo is REALLY here!

Ok, I just played it. Played it, I mean that I got to inside the cathedal and read the book and was stuck with no place else to go.

Now, I have to say that you have better have a better beginning than that. Give some backstory or at least graphically have the parents tell you, or make it the main character was camping, since he seems a little old to be living with his parents.

Give some direction or some road sign as where to go, instead of having to wander aimlessly in the woods.

Once you get to town, I would like to have some event occur. It just felt like nothing was going on. Is the place abandon? Or did you just not added the people yet?

I would add more detail to your town, logs, more grass, ect. I would have an event drive the player to a given direction or hint of direction.

Plus, reading the books was rather boring without any "survival, or horror" happening. I know it was a demo, but a demo should still show something along the lines of what is going to play like.

You might want to include info on looking out for chests or books, since you don't have any of the other stuff in the buildings clickable.

These are only suggestions. But I would try to work on getting a better intro, and using events at the beginning of maps, so it doesn't seem so empty.

[tjoris9]

Re: Forrest of Deceit demo is REALLY here!

Thanks for the input, Vonwert. It does bring up some questions I've been asking myself. Mostly I wanted the atmosphere to feel a little empty, with evidence scattered around the towns and forest about what happened to the people. There's only one NPC I have planned, and it'll most likely play a minimal role in the gameplay and most of the story.

Ok, I just played it. Played it, I mean that I got to inside the cathedal and read the book and was stuck with no place else to go.

Did you go to the other two towns? I know I hid one dungeon in one town pretty well (Any time I use the tall grass, I'm trying to hide something), and the other town had a couple dungeons as well. There's actually a road that connects all three towns. The village is kind of the weak link in the survival, horror, and "puzzle" elements. There's no true puzzles yet, but there's a couple parts that play a little like puzzles.

Give some backstory or at least graphically have the parents tell you, or make it the main character was camping, since he seems a little old to be living with his parents.

To be perfectly honest, I was trying to be a little ambiguous about the character's age and backstory, shooting for a feel like you ARE the protagonist. I don't remmeber specifying whether the character's family is his parents or his wife and kids, though I do hint that he can't be very old. One of the problems with RPGM3 is that the "civilian" character models are either children, full adults, or elderly. The portraits are a little more varied, and I think I did go for a full grown adult portrait for ???. This, like most other aspects of the game, will probably go through a massive transformation.

I'll admit this is a pretty poor demo (I shoulda' given myself more like a week or two to do this, rather than 2-3 days). I'm shooting for an open-ended feel to an extent, with events changing based on how you proceed through the game. There will be more spooky stuff, though RPGM3 is a dissappointment in that any time a touch event is activated, your character stops briefly, even if the event doesn't seem like it should be worth stopping the character. Otherwise I'd have creepy **** like walking (or more likely running) down a hallway, when you suddenly hear another set of footsteps. It's a little hard to evoke fear without the occasional bloody corpse, though, which is the biggest shame of them all.

The average dungeon size will also likely quadruple and there will be quite a few puzzles of varying levels of twistedness and complexity.

[Vonwert]

Re: Forrest of Deceit demo is REALLY here!

Have you played Whispers in the Woods yet?

I did the foot steps and howls. The small pauses aren't bad, and will spook the player. You can also do a decent job of making it look like someone is in the shadows of the fog then dissappear.

I didn't realize there were other villages. That just shows you need some road signs when you first get into the woods. Telling the player there are 3 towns and such. Other wise like I did, the player would have stumbled only into one of those towns and got frustrated when he had done all there was in that one town. It is hard to see stuff in the woods with the fog, when you don't know what your looking for.

Basically, I would just make sure to add roadsigns at the start, telling player about 3 towns, and then add more roadsigns pointing their direction.

I would add more decortive details in the towns, like logs, more grass, ect.

I would add events at doorways or near books or chests with spooky sounds.

And do a bit more with the beginning. You don't have to be descriptive about the people who tell you about the forest, but I do suggest you give a better reason or circumtance on why he was at the forest to begin with. Maybe he was chasing an animal, or camping, or was woken up in the middle of the night to sounds of screams coming from a distance in the woods, which make the main character get out of bed and enter the woods without thinking.

You have the makings of a good game, if you just make sure to give the player some hint as what to do next.

[tjoris9]

Re: Forrest of Deceit demo is REALLY here!

Yeah, I'm planning on adding a LOT to the forest itself, plus there'll be more town decorations. Probably at least put put a road sign in front of each town, plus there'll be other goodies for those who dare brave the horrors of the woods. I'm also probably going to use the visual effects they DO give you, in addition to events dependent on the order the player approaches each situation (You walked through the room a hundred times, but this time, you hear a bloodcurdling scream as you near the end of the corridor).