Another RPG Horror Game [DEMO] --VERSION 2.0!--

[KoolGoldfinch]

Hey there, everyone! I have noticed that there are a lot of Horror RPGs out there and I thought I'd try my hand at making a half serious / half satirical Horror RPG that makes fun of other Horror RPGs​

NOTE: I get that a lot of the fun in a horror game is learning the story, so I have provided 2 versions of everything: 1 spoiler-free version, and 1 with the full story.  Be warned!​

I am open to name suggestions for the characters (except the main one) I will take any and all POLITE CREATIVE CRITICISM that you have to offer.​

Enjoy!​

 
GAME SYNOPSIS (No Spoilers):

Spoiler

You awake in your house in the middle of the night to demonic whispering.  You jolt awake only to see that there is nothing in your room and you no longer hear the whispering.  As you look around, you recognize it as your house, but something is... off.  There are items that are both yours and not strewn about.  There is dingy old furniture and the wooden floor is cracked and rotted.  It's not safe to walk on.  You must traverse this house that is both yours and not at the same time, all the while you feel as if you're never quite alone...

 
 
GAME SYNOPSIS (WARNING: SPOILERS!!!):

Spoiler

NOTE:
This game's story is not worked out 100% yet, but I have a good idea of what it will be.

You wake in the middle of the night only to find yourself trapped in a different dimension... or perhaps two dimensions at once.  You are in your house that is both yours and not at the same time.  As you walk around the house completing puzzle after puzzle, jump scare after jump scare, you continually find notes from a small child.  They appear to be pages of a child's diary.  They detail her happy life with her father, how she can't wait to start 2nd grade.  Then, her father gets married to a woman who makes the child cringe.  After the marriage, they move into the step-mother's house.  Over the next few months, the tone in the house goes from unsure to uneasy to unbearable.  The step-mother treats the child poorly and the girl's father is never home.  One day, he just disappears.  The girl is just about to begin sixth grade when her step-mother locks her in the basement basically making the child her prisoner.  She keeps her locked down there with nothing but her diary to comfort her for who knows how long.  She starves down there, she gets frost bite, and she even loses a few toes and fingers to the cold.  Then, one day, a man in a white coat comes into the cellar.  He looks like a kind man.  He notices the girl huddling in the corner.  She tries to ask him for help, but her throat is hoarse, and she can't call him in time.  The man is called back upstairs by the step-mother.  He regretfully goes.  More time goes by and eventually, the child succumbs to death.  Her spirit is angry.  Angry no only at the step-mother, but at the man who didn't help her.  She terrorizes and curses the step-mother.  The step-mother is tortured by the girl's spirit until she dies.  But the spirit of the girl is not finished.  She wants to get revenge on the man that would not help her, but she could not find him.  She waited and waited and waited, but never did she find the man in the white coat.  Then, one day the house is torn down and a new one with almost the exact same layout is built on top of it and put up for sale.  And who should by it but the direct descendant of the man in the white coat: you.

 
 
THE WORLD & CHARACTERS (No Spoilers):

Spoiler

The world goes no farther than the bounds of your house.  However, it doesn't feel like your house.  You can't quite put your finger on why...
CHARACTERS:
 
You:  The main character who is thrown into this whole mess that you never asked for.
Ghost Girl:  One of the spirits haunting your house.
??? Ghost:  A second spirit that haunts your house.  You aren't sure who or what it is and why it's there.

 
 
THE WORLD AND CHARACTERS (WARNING: SPOILERS!!!):

Spoiler

The world goes no farther than the bounds of your house.  Yes, it might be in a separate dimension... or something... but you will never leave the house.
CHARACTERS:
 
You:  The main character who is thrown into this whole mess that you never asked for.
Ghost Girl:  The spirit of the little girl who was abused and killed by her step mother.  She wants revenge on your great great grandfather for not helping her in her time of need by torturing you until the day you die... by her hand.
The Woman in White:  A second spirit that haunts your house.  She is the tortured spirit of the step-mother that cannot cross over into Heaven (or Hell, in her case).  This is her personal hell, bring trapped with the spirit of the person who hates her more than anything in the world.  This spirit only wants your help to ease her suffering.
The Woman in Red:  She is the spirit of the girl's mother.  She died when she was stabbed to death when the little girl was too young to remember.  She is there to protect you and calm the spirit of her daughter.
The Creature in the Black Robe:  He is behind all of this.  It all started when he was young.  He loved the little girl's mother and wanted to marry her.  He told his rich parents, and they tried to arrange a marriage when they were teenagers.  She, however, did not love him.  She instead married the little girl's father, and the man wanted revenge.  If he couldn't have her, then neither could anyone else.  He stabbed her to death and planned to kill the rest of her family, but he wasn't strong enough to kill the woman's husband.  When he realized he would be unable to finish the job, he found a woman who was rumored to abuse children to meet with the woman't husband.  All went according to his plan.  She killed his daughter out of her own will and the man caught the husband on his way home from work while he was too tired and weak to defend himself.  He is now here to finish the job he started by getting rid of each of their spirits.

 
 
FEATURES OF THE DEMO:
I plan to have a total of six parts (5 main parts that are medium to long in length and 1 shorter prologue stage).  You will get to play the complete prologue as of now.  I'd say that this is 60-80% of the prologue complete.  You don't get a lot of the story out of it, but hey.  You can interact with almost anything and it's really quite comical.
DEMO DOWNLOAD: CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD DEMO VERSION 2.0

SCREENSHOTS:

Spoiler

 
CREDITS:

Spoiler

To view the credits in-game, just interact with the letter on the table.
MUSIC & SFX:
Default RPGMaker Music & SFX
EpidemicSound.com
Evil Laughing (Woman) Sound Effect by Nino Scuderi on YouTube
London Bridge - Very Easy Piano Tutorial by YouCanPlayIt.com on YouTube
London Bridge is Falling Down by DitchxDaughter on YouTube
 
GRAPHICS:
Default RPGMakerVXAce Graphics & Tilesets
Tilesets altered by me in Photoshop

 
EDITS + VERSION UPDATES:
1/7/2015 --- Updated download link; buggy version.  It should be the correct version now.
1/17/2015 --- Massive overhaul to version 2.0; Prologue now completely playable

FAQ:
--- There could be more ways for you to die than there already are. Believe me.
--- The credits can be viewed by checking the envelope on the table. This is NOT permanent. This is only here just so I can have the credits somewhere in the demo game.
--- Almost everything can be checked and almost everything has a unique description / event linked to it. So go nuts!!!
--- The closet's layout will remain the same, but nothing in there really has a unique description yet. Will be changed later.
--- The basement's layout is only temporary; it will actually become the main hub of the game. The layout it does have is just a placeholder for now.
 
You all are awesome ~

 

[Ultim]

Looks promising.I will play it when I have the time to.Good luck on finishing it.

 

[KoolGoldfinch]

@Kartoffel. Thanks

The hardest (and possibly the most fun) part will be coming up with puzzles.  Thinking of ways to convey the story without it being jammed down the player's throat will be interesting, as well.

 

[Kes]

Just a quick feedback on the opening.

I'm not sure that having the credits where you have them is entirely a good idea.  The player has just begun, has gone through all the opening chit-chat, picked their name, watched the little opening cut scene and is now expecting to be able to start playing the game.  And instead has to sit through the scrolling credits.  This actively prevents any sense of involvement in what's going on, as the thread has been broken.  In itself, that might not be terminal but we then come to the real bummer.

Third item I clicked on I got instant death.  Not amusing.  I haven't invested anything in the game yet to care about this character, or the situation s/he is in.  All I know is that in a totally arbitrary way I'm dead.  I know you warn the player that they will die often and that clicking on some things will kill you - but opening map, box of clothes, practically the only thing in the room?????  No.  This isn't horror, this is irritating.  Horror requires the build up of atmosphere and your opening - partly because of the credits, partly because of your mapping and partly because the death comes too soon - lacks any atmosphere at all.  

EDIT

So I thought I'd give it a bit more of a chance.

I cannot leave the room by the south exit - blocked by cracked floors at this stage, so I try to leave the room by the other exit.  Doing so also results in instant death.  Twice.  I now couldn't care less about this character, and just shut the game down.

 

[Doobles]

So here's how I have died so far, with spoilers, and this is within 5 minutes of the game.

Spoiler

1.  Bat in someone else's clothes that are for some reason in my room.

2.  Random spikes in the floor in a bunch of places... really??

3.  Playing the piano that summons a little girl that somehow kills me.

4.  Pressing anything in one room I need a key for kills me with a crunching noise that makes no sense... except for the wood.

The mapping kinda doesn't make sense, as the room you wake up in is enormous and fairly empty too, with wooden floors and stone walls.  I'm not sure how many houses have stone walls.

The character is pretty generic and doesn't really have any story at all.  He just wakes up and starts dying...

This game lacks really any horror aspects to it.  There is no mystery, no story, no buildup, no atmosphere, no coherency, just random death and some notes.  I hate to be so harsh but I won't lie to you.

 

[KoolGoldfinch]

Thank you all so much for the feedback!  It might have been harsh, but hey, sometimes people need a kick in the pants to make them better, and I'm totally going to use all of your suggestions to make this game better, and if you'll keep being this harsh with every other update I put out (I assume that won't be too hard, lol) I think the end result will be a kick-butt horror RPG!  But I do have to listen and take the advice, not just ask for it.

@ksjp17 Thank you for this feedback!  It let me know that the version of the demo I put out didn't work right.  I have put up the real demo now and it should work alright.  I have also given you a choice at the clothes box to warn you, that way it doesn't feel so mean.

@Doobles This helps a lot!  Thank you!  I meant to only leave the deaths there next to the wood as a joke for myself in case I forgot what they did, lol.  I will be sure to change that.  I don't feel that the spikes are that mean (they are mean just not that mean) with exception of one in the maze.  Backing this up, you should be suspicious of why the carpet is draped around that one spot in the room.  And the problem is not me not explaining anything, it's me not making the deaths funny.  I'm stuck in a place trying to have a serious story with a satirical game.  It's not good.  I can totally revise the whole prologue so that you aren't annoyed with each death and so it will actually feel like you're playing a horror game.

Again, thank you everyone for the awesome feedback!  I will definitely take this and use it to the best of my ability!

 

[Kes]

I probably won't have any free time over the next week or so to do things like play a demo, so I shan't be able to give any feedback on the update.  However, I did want to say that I was pleased with the non-defensive way you have taken criticism and are prepared to work with it without dropping your original vision.  That is a hugely necessary quality in anyone who wants to produce a quality game.

 

[KoolGoldfinch]

I probably won't have any free time over the next week or so to do things like play a demo, so I shan't be able to give any feedback on the update.  However, I did want to say that I was pleased with the non-defensive way you have taken criticism and are prepared to work with it without dropping your original vision.  That is a hugely necessary quality in anyone who wants to produce a quality game.

Thank you

I have learned over the years it's better (for both me and whatever I'm working on) to just suck it up and use the feedback (because it's usually right) rather than give up and say no.  I'm actually really happy that you guys like this idea enough to tell me the truth rather than sugar coat it.  It lets me know you really want to see a great game come from this idea and I'm going to do my best to give it to you

 

[Doobles]

Great way to look at it!  We give you feedback because we care! 

 

[Ultim]

Ok.So I got frusterated then I quit the game.Luckily enough,no scrolling credits for me.I played this game for some minutes and here are my thoughts assembled in a fancy Pros-Cons list

PROS :

-Nice music

-Humor

-Puzzles

-Story kinda gave me some chills.I get scared easily.

CONS :

-Death is too frequent and too punishing

-Random stuff...Happens

-Mapping [The Room Too Empty]

-The main character

-Lacks atmosphere and excitement

[sorry if too harsh these are my truthful opinions.]

 

[CzarSquid]

No screenshots of your game? I like having screenshots before downloading.

As soon I got loaded into the game. The tutorial seems a bit outta place. It should of been an event to tell the player rather than have them guess which buttons do what. (But it's not really needed, most people know the arrow keys are to move). Then I died from the bat. Not sure why this needs to be in the game. I've gotten punished for checking a box.  I feel there could be a better way for this that didn't require an immediate game over.

Played the piano and game over. It would of been a perfect opertunity for a chase scene! Also, the hole to the left of the piano just looks a bit weird.

Pushed the bolders around. Got the note and the key. I like that scare, caught me off gaurd. I was glad I didn't just die randomly

The chest where the boulders is at, 'help' is mispelled. Green carpet square :/

Then it was over. It's good for a start. I recommend finding a differnt way to mess with the player than a cheap death (like with the desk next to the boulders). Horror games really thrive on atmosphere and dying to cheap tricks are not as fun for a horror game. I'm sure it'll improve as you make your game.

 

[Shelby]

NEVER too many horror games! Ok except that one guy that made the zombie horror game and ran away never to be seen again...THAT was too much but we all still like horror games! Just try and get it made, and released.

 

[KoolGoldfinch]

Hey everyone! I gave this game a COMPLETE overhaul and I really hope you'll enjoy it!


Thanks for the support and feedback! It really helps!

 

[Scott_C]

I will play anything with a punchline and this is looking pretty good so far.

One suggestion: Instead of having death traps result in a “Game Over – Back To Title” maybe you could make them rewind time to just before the player made his mistake. Maybe even keep a running counter of player deaths and let them know how they did at the end.

Since this is a comedy I think most players will actually want to find most of the death traps, but having to save and reload constantly gets annoying. Letting the player recover from death in-game would really streamline the experience and make it more fun.

I guess knowing that there is no consequence for death would make the game feel less dangerous, but I think you already accepted that tradeoff when you decided to make a horror comedy.

Then again... what if most of the “funny” death traps had an auto reset, but a few super-important plot deaths didn't?

Just imagine the look on the player's face when, after a couple hours of funny semi-deaths, he runs into the villain and gets his first actual game over?

I suppose to be fair you would want the perma-deaths to be obviously different from the safe gag deaths. Maybe only one key ghost can cause an actual game over. Then the player knows he can casually explore most of the game and see all the gag deaths but as soon as that ghost (or whatever) shows up it's a signal that the scene has gotten serious and that a real game over is a possibility.

 

[Beginner]

How did you stop the text in the game?

 

[shayoko]

if it plays automatically most likely theres no way to unless the developer changes it and reuploads.


but its getting close to 2 years since he was on so i wouldn't count on it or this being finished.

 

[eluukkanen]

It's really hard to make horror with rpg maker.