Alyssa [ complete ]

[Vallar]

 

Thank you very much for the comments! I'll keep those in mind. And super thank you for finding those bugs! I'll have them fixed right away.

I'm glad you liked the voice acting, since my plan is to go back through and record a few more sounds after the dialogue has been polished. 

I'll do my best for the final release!

You are most welcome. That sounds like a very good plan, recording more sounds, should really make quite the difference. 

Also one suggestion, but it is completely up to you of course. Is it possible to have access to inventory? It would really help. I didn't have to check if I am able to access the main menu before until my 3rd play through. I didn't want to start from the beginning scene so I loaded a save. Unfortunately, I forgot what I did or didn't know. Which brings bug number 5 and the dilemma of the situation of not knowing what did you gather and what didn't you gather.

A few more bugs from my 4th play through:

Spoiler

1- The tiles next to the swimming pool with the green orb, the direction of walking is kind of messed up. Some of these tiles I can walk over them going to the right side, but I can't walk over them heading to the left side. Some of them do the same thing and block my passage when I try to move upwards or downwards.

 

2- The monsters that are running around the save picture. Sometimes they really run as fast as you run (when dashing) so it is like moving square by square as you do. For example, I press up, the move up... I press down, they go down and so on... sometimes they mimic movement to an unfair limit.

 

3- When you wake up William, if you go into your parents' room afterwards and exit... the screen remains "narrowed" and the screen doesn't reset. Which means, if you exit to the swimming pool, you still have the "narrow" vision rather than the full purple like vision.

 

4- I think I have messed up something. After waking William, I went outside with him. Suddenly Alyssa mentioned that she needed to fill a vase with water? What vase exactly I don't recall picking up any vases. When I walk to the swimming pool, using the pool nothing happens and pretty much using inside the scene other than the angels doesn't work. 

I can't also walk back into the kitchen... is that meant to be?

 

5- I kept running around using every object I can muster to get the lantern. Whenever I used it, it said someone needs to clean it... only by mere chance, I enter my room and boom! It turned out I do have the lantern (which means there was a bug that the lantern graphics stays even after taking it?).

 

[Berri]

Ah, yes! I've been wanting to make the menu so that it opens right to items... The problem being that when I accomplished this after some digging, I messed up somewhere so that the player was 100% invisible and could not be brought back. But if the inventory would be helpful then I'll try again.

Thanks so much for doing multiple playthroughs! You've been absolutely fantastic. I cannot thank you enough.

 

[Vallar]

I don't know much about scripting since I only started using RPG VX Ace recently... however, I found this:

http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/4431-inventory-only/

Not sure if you know about it (hope it helps).

You are most welcome, though you should thank yourself as you are the one that made the game fun

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

@Clord, you mustn't worry about being "harsh"... The worlds of Games, Art, Music and Acting are tough, sinister, cynical ones! People who wish to succeed MUST have thick skins or they WILL NOT MAKE IT.

@ Berri I can't give you an honest review because--with all due respect--I'm too busy with my own game to play anyone elses but I WILL play it after the contest!

(Well, as much as I can if nothing pops out and scares me silly, that is)

 

[Berri]

@ Valler: That was fantastic! I've got the menu working now~!

@Iron Croc: No problem! I can't wait to play your finished game! c:

 

[Vallar]

Well done, congratulations . Let's hope for a swooping final version of your game ^_^

 

[Alkorri]

Just played the demo. Very nice work, Berri! The art is lovely and the maps a joy to behold.

The atmosphere in the game is good thanks to the art and music, and you did give me some near jump scares

I think I abused the heck out of the Enter button, however, especially the areas in and around Alyssa's room when it takes three presses of the Enter key before I can proceed with the game. Is there any way to fix that?

Spoiler

I think if time permits, I too would not only like access to an inventory, but another save point. Twice I died in rooms too far from the painting, and it didn't help that I couldn't see very well.

You see, when I first left the parents' bedroom after the encounter with the demon, I could see the entire map just fine. On a whim I decided to visit the bedroom a second time, and when I left, all I could see was a narrow torchlight view. This made the game much harder. The second  time I died was because I couldn't see where I was going when running from that creature in the garden. And of course I lost considerable progress because I couldn't save.

It didn't occur to me to use the sacred fire on the tree. For some reason I thought the lantern should be used on those holy fires on the right of the house, boy did I regret that mistake.

I never saw the boulder puzzle used with chairs before! Live and learn

I hope you don't mind my pointing out some spelling mistakes:

William - maybe you should lay down (lie instead of lay)

There are half finined wine glasses on the table (Parents' bedroom - did you mean finished...?)

Sacred fire - I need to fine something to put it out with (fine = find)

A picture of a beautiful women (Gallery - woman)

statue of a gaurdian angel (Garden - guardian, left statue)

Keep up the good work. I can't wait to see more of your custom art

 

[Berri]

Thank you very much! The torchlight should now have followed you out of the room, so I'll fix that right away. I hope you enjoy the final game!

I agree on implementing another save location, though I'm at a loss as to where to put it. I'd chosen the grand hallway since it's nearly always accessible. Maybe I'll scatter a few secret save points throughout the game.

 

[Mimironi]

It looks fun, and the graphics are cute...i'll try it! I just hope it isn't that kind of scary in which I do something stupid while freaking out.

 

[Alkorri]

@Mirpono - I might have panicked once or twice and abused the dash button during the demo

 

[Berri]

Finally! I'm somewhat finished. Just checking this file for any last minute errors;

Test Game!

 

[Alkorri]

Does anyone else have trouble downloading the game?

 

[Berri]

Yeah, some other people had trouble.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/63cap30uhiu32bq/alyssa.exe

There's a better link.

 

[Vallar]

Yes, I tried to download but clicking "Download" does nothing in Box.

 

[Berri]

Sorry about the trouble there!

I have re-uploaded the entire game with a new link. Hopefully this works better;

https://www.mediafire.com/?ll6azramzgeh30t

My first beta tester is having difficulty with part of the game. I'm going to check it out with her tomorrow and fix it, then release a proper beta. If you decide to play this beta, please know that the ending scenes are accidentally locked!

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

Since I finished early, I decided I'd reward myself by playing! If I still can... *hunts for link*

 

[slimmmeiske2]

So I played through this and noticed some of the bugs mentioned above, had not been fixed. Namely the one where the torchlight follows you out of the parents's room. When I replayed it after dying, I did not encounter this anymore.

• The book titled Fighting Demons has cut off text
• I can walk atop the bookshelves in Alyssa's room
• William's and Alyssa's portraits stay after taking the key to the guestroom
• In the backroom of the study, you can walk through the right table with the blue potions
• There's a map error in the upper part of the puzzle map (after encountering the demon for the second time). The upperpart of the wall is missing there.
• On that same map, there's an invisible portrait
• Also, on the same map, there's no transfer event to go to the next room. I added it myself and well, after the initial dialogue there's no way to continue it yet, I guess. The door's also on the upperpart of the wall and you can walk on everything in that last map.
• Some typos:
  They never could have "like" you to begin with => liked
  We will not "abandoned" a child in need => abandon
  That's hardly going to help you "sav" your parents => save

 

[Berri]

Thank you so much for looking over the game! I've added a link to a Vr.3 download, but some of the bugs you found weren't addressed. So I guess I'll be doing a Vr.4. 

Sorry that you had so much trouble.

 

[Indrah]

Here's my very quick and sketchy take on the game (link for info on why it's so short and all that jazz)




[SIZE=10pt]+Some nice scare effects/sound effects. I liked the voiced lines especially.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]+Decent parallax mapping overall (with some issues).[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]+Has a good enough hook.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]+Writing is nice enough (with a few shaky lines, but nothing that bad).[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]-Too easy to die/no attention drawn to saving. I could not be assed to start over a new game after 10 minutes of play.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]-Taking damage has not enough visual impact/sound cue.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]-Some passability issues due to parallax mapping/mapping errors/mismatches.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]-Villain (I assume) is not threatening at all, and is downright cute.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]-Some scares just are not threatening at all (those rtp sprite demons…)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]-Gameplay has fuzzy rules and is overall not very engaging.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]-I’m not a fan of the portraits. They work for the little girl, but on the other characters they’re too cutesy and fail at conveying what’s needed for a horror game.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]To the developer: It seemed promised, but I simply could not bother to start over 10 minutes of game just because I touched some arbitrary furniture.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Presentation is overall promising, but I’d change some of the gameplay (or at least make saving available form the menu/call attention to it).[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Some of the scares fall flat due to the graphics used, and that really hurts in a horror game (those demon sprites…). On the other hand, the creepiness of the voiced, distorted lines was really nice.[/SIZE]

 

[Werebunny]

I played it... but I got to the point where you see the parents again, and could not proceed as the game froze for me. I even restarted it and tried it again only for it to freeze again. Before that point, I got into quite a number of situations where I couldn't proceed and had to restart (such as the statue reappeared after I left to search around the house some more).

Overall, I see potential, but the biggest issue to me here is that it doesn't seem to have a clear direction, and it gives far, far too much information just willy nilly. Withholding information is your biggest weapon in making a horror game. I should not have what I think is a good idea what is going on from the getgo. As for the direction... well, here, you started out creepy, but the moment the third character was introduced it went a big deal out the window. The atmosphere wasn't menacing anymore, the exposition from the character killed it. Then the things that appeared to follow you around and make an annoying sound... it just wasn't scary, and just served to be annoying. Until the faceless enemy appeared, that was a good one. I think if you focused much more on the horror aspect of the game instead of the others, it would improve it. Still enjoyable now though, I say.