HIM Game

[legoboss]

HIM

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Official Website;

http://himgame.webs.com/​

HIM is my first game created on the Rpg Maker system.

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It uses mostly RTP tiles and textures. CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is appreciated.

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Estimated Game Time: (30m - 3h)

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Story

Working as a Royal Guard in the Castle Of Helivitian, you were sent to escort the prince in his first hunting trip.

However, During the night, the prince vanished when you looked away.

You are now alone and lost. The only thoughts in your mind are finding the prince and getting out of the forest

before nightfall. Because rumor has it that a strange creature lurks in the shadows

of this forest during the night. Hidden around in the forest are 5 notes that prove that the creature exists, eliminating it.

You will need to find the five notes, put them together in the altar, before the creature finds you.

The only light source you have is a lantern, and a few lights coming from fires/lanterns/Torches/.

The creature is very fast. And you will see it more often the more notes you find. The only way to avoid

it is to find a place surrounded by water. The creature can float, but not over water. For reasons unknown.

The Altar is located in the lower right corner of the game. It is easy to spot, probably because its big and glowing.

Make sure you have all five notes when you go there. If you dont, then you will most likely be cornered by HIM.

When you get a note, go to your Notes, and press enter to read a note.Also, There is only one way to tell if the creature is near

by. You will see a faint red glow coming from his eyes. Unless, he's turned away. The bodies that you find are tortured in different

ways. The notes that they hold, that describe the creature, are similar to the ways they die. (Example: His face was dark, the only thing

I could see where his glowing eye's... The corpse's skull was ripped out of his skin)

As you get deeper in to the forest, find more and more notes, you notice that the night never seems to end.

One wrong move could kill you.

(Warning: Not recommended for people who get scared easily, or if your under 13.)

Characters

Name: ???

Age: 35

Occupation: Royal Guard

The Creature

Age: ???

Occupation: ???

(No pictures. It will spoil the surprise of seeing it HIM pop out of nowhere :evil: .)

Screenshots

The Title

No Thanks.

Dim lights to keep you on the edge of your seat

Four of the notes!

Altar Events

The Destroyed House in the Forest

Credits

-Created By Legoboss (Me)

-Graphics and Art by Enterbrain Rpg Maker VX Ace

-Blood Tiles by Rainbow Jello

-Awesome Light Effects By Khas

Download

V.0.1 http://www.sendspace.com/file/4jg236

V.1.1 http://www.sendspace.com/file/pbvs6u

 

[Archeia]

There is no download link so I moved it to the Project Dev forums for the meantime 'w')b

 

[legoboss]

There is no download link so I moved it to the Project Dev forums for the meantime 'w')b

Oh sorry. Download is up now.

 

[mystic0]

I think this is a great concept. I'm not quite to the end yet. I kinda wish there was a dash button and increase Him's speed. You might consider limiting the amount of saves on final version. It reminds of something like a Friday the 13th/Silent Hill in rpg maker. You could include "oil" as an item to have the player keep looking faster or possibly upgrade the light source because I really wanted to pick up those lamps.

Cons

Quiet music

loud cancel

Few graphical clipping issues

Pros

Great game over screen

Original concept

Nostalgic

I'm just wondering, do I ever get inside the hut?

 

[legoboss]

I think this is a great concept. I'm not quite to the end yet. I kinda wish there was a dash button and increase Him's speed. You might consider limiting the amount of saves on final version. It reminds of something like a Friday the 13th/Silent Hill in rpg maker. You could include "oil" as an item to have the player keep looking faster or possibly upgrade the light source because I really wanted to pick up those lamps.

Cons

Quiet music

loud cancel

Few graphical clipping issues

Pros

Great game over screen

Original concept

Nostalgic

I'm just wondering, do I ever get inside the hut?

ill make sure to make Him faster. For the music, I couldn't find any that fit the game, so I put a rain sound. If you have any links to silent hill/creepy music, I would definitely add it to the game. In order to dash, just hold down shift. Im new to coding so I wouldn't know how to add stamina though. I noticed the loud cancel after I posted the topic, sorry about that! Could you tell me where you found those graphic issues? The Game Over Screen Is "Infection" by RGangsta. Thanks for the review!

EDIT: No, Its just scenery. The only interior is a small underground home next to a dead thief. Should I add a key in an update?

 

[Gomi Boy]

I hate to say it, but this is very nearly unplayable. If your intention is to make a horror game, player vulnerability is important -- but here, I`m hobbled with a flashlight that only illuminates one tile directly ahead of me and placed in a forest with the screen tinted solid black. Oh, and there's an automatic Game Over with Follow Player set.

This isn`t scary. It`s just inconvenient. Horror comes from the anticipation of a threat. Playing growl.wav and then ending my game doesn`t build suspense since by that point it`s already over. Until that happened, actually, I wasn`t even aware there was something chasing me.

So I haven`t played further than that yet, but I have a few suggestions for this starting bit since I expect it`s going to be the quitting point for more than a few players:

• Give the player a larger field of vision. No flashlight on Earth only illuminates a space three feet directly in front of you, and navigating the forest like that is pointless and frustrating rather than scary.
  
• Don`t make the unlit areas pitch black. Play around with screen tints. Make things just light enough for the player to make out the environment at a basic level. While this goes toward making navigation less painful just like my first point, it also gives you the opportunity to play tricks with their vision.
  
• Hint at danger. If I`m not aware that something is after me until it`s already killed me, then I don`t have a chance to be frightened. Twigs snapping, shadows darting out of view, maybe a pair of glowing eyes if you think you can pull it off -- the point is to make the player feel like they`re being threatened without putting the threat up front and center. The instant Game Over is also very unattractive and I`d advise changing it.
  

Also, you might want to encrypt your projects when you release a demo. It prevents cheating. There are other things I could mention systemwise but I think they`ll come up soon enough. It`s pretty much impossible that it won`t, in fact.

e: It also isn't very scary when your monster gets stuck on the world geometry.

 

[legoboss]

I hate to say it, but this is very nearly unplayable. If your intention is to make a horror game, player vulnerability is important -- but here, I`m hobbled with a flashlight that only illuminates one tile directly ahead of me and placed in a forest with the screen tinted solid black. Oh, and there's an automatic Game Over with Follow Player set.

This isn`t scary. It`s just inconvenient. Horror comes from the anticipation of a threat. Playing growl.wav and then ending my game doesn`t build suspense since by that point it`s already over. Until that happened, actually, I wasn`t even aware there was something chasing me.

So I haven`t played further than that yet, but I have a few suggestions for this starting bit since I expect it`s going to be the quitting point for more than a few players:

• Give the player a larger field of vision. No flashlight on Earth only illuminates a space three feet directly in front of you, and navigating the forest like that is pointless and frustrating rather than scary.
  
• Don`t make the unlit areas pitch black. Play around with screen tints. Make things just light enough for the player to make out the environment at a basic level. While this goes toward making navigation less painful just like my first point, it also gives you the opportunity to play tricks with their vision.
  
• Hint at danger. If I`m not aware that something is after me until it`s already killed me, then I don`t have a chance to be frightened. Twigs snapping, shadows darting out of view, maybe a pair of glowing eyes if you think you can pull it off -- the point is to make the player feel like they`re being threatened without putting the threat up front and center. The instant Game Over is also very unattractive and I`d advise changing it.
  

Also, you might want to encrypt your projects when you release a demo. It prevents cheating. There are other things I could mention systemwise but I think they`ll come up soon enough. It`s pretty much impossible that it won`t, in fact.

e: It also isn't very scary when your monster gets stuck on the world geometry.

In order to make the light a bit brighter, im going to need to mess around with the code first. If you can, would you mind explaining how I could make the game play sounds if the creature comes near? And Also, it isn't a screen tint. It was an event in Khas Awesome Light Effects. When you say encrypt my project, what does that mean exactly?

 

[Kaiser]

*rant mode activate* To god damn dark, so much stuff blocks you instead of helping you. There are few landmarks or lighted areas that can help you if you decide to piss about instead of finding Sle- I mean HIM's notes. Plus freaking direction fix any events that you talk to. A soldier turned into a fat man, a cloaked man turned into a green haired man etc etc. Another thing, there is a spot in the forest that you can walk up into the walls therefore breaking the game even more! I don't get scared playing this I get rather annoyed and only try to find ways to break this game more than it already is! *rant over*

Brighten the game's darkness in specific areas and those dead leaves are good landmarks so you could leave a little small light animation to say "you are here". Please add in some creepy sound such as breathing, twigs snapping, and leave some events around that the monster suddenly appears behind you, or a creepy picture of the said monster (not sprite) flashes in front of you. Then it might be a bit scary. Maybe add in a few more areas other than a forest like another monster that requires to pick up notes. Try out a mine, a castle, a library, an art gallery. There are many choices were you could put the monster at.

Plus in order to encrypt the game go to compress game data in the editor and click create encrypted data. and possibly add in rtp data if you so choose to. There you go! :3

 

[Gomi Boy]

If you can, would you mind explaining how I could make the game play sounds if the creature comes near?

This isn't the solution. The entire premise of an automatic Game Over following the player around is fundamentally flawed as a horror tool. If it's all you can think of to establish horror, then you aren't ready to make a horror game. 's as simple as that.

Also, ignore Kaiserkami's advice about making things flash onscreen. It's a cheap shock that won't do your game any favours.

As for encrypting, go to "File" > "Compress Game Data..." and check "Create Encrypted Archive". This will hide your graphics and system data, and make the player unable to open your game as a project and cheat.

 

[legoboss]

UPDATE COMING SOON

I've been looking at the reviews. And one of the biggest things I see in them is...

LIGHT! Im currently working on a lantern upgrade system. You start with that basic

lantern, but the first hut you find, You will see a workbench. Gather oil from other lanterns,

get "3 oil" to upgrade your lantern, giving you about 8 squares of light! Thats the big update.

Small updates

-Fixing HIM getting stuck in walls.

-Strange sounds around the map

-Direction Fix

-Trying to find some creepy popups.

 

[Kaiser]

Don't ignore my advice, but take it into consideration for a cheap shot jumpscare.

 

[legoboss]

This isn't the solution. The entire premise of an automatic Game Over following the player around is fundamentally flawed as a horror tool. If it's all you can think of to establish horror, then you aren't ready to make a horror game. 's as simple as that.

Also, ignore Kaiserkami's advice about making things flash onscreen. It's a cheap shock that won't do your game any favours.

As for encrypting, go to "File" > "Compress Game Data..." and check "Create Encrypted Archive". This will hide your graphics and system data, and make the player unable to open your game as a project and cheat.

Ah okay, thanks.

Ive added a upgrade lantern system, so you can have more light. And the creature is no longer a instant game over. It slowly drains your health, and glows.

 

[Kaiser]

There you go! Also did you fix the spot where you can walk ontop of the trees? When you boot the game up it is at the right side of the house and around that area there is a patch of tree you can stand up on and walk around the forest and the monster.

 

[legoboss]

There you go! Also did you fix the spot where you can walk ontop of the trees? When you boot the game up it is at the right side of the house and around that area there is a patch of tree you can stand up on and walk around the forest and the monster.

Yeah, I fixed that. But the creature wont glow it seems. Only where it spawns. Which is slightly usefull.

Edit: Oh yeah, Im thinking of unlocking the house, and that is were you save.

*Edit: The part broke again. I have no idea why.

 

[legoboss]

Updates should be ready in the morning

EDIT: Updated!

*E: Created A website for HIM.

 

[mystic0]

great sources for music

http://us.audionetwork.com/ <low price for personal/student projects, but amazing quality.

http://www.jamendo.com/en/ <free for personal/student projects, but high priced for commercial use.

Theres a few different ways you could do dash. The lazy/easy way would be to just use the standard dash script, but subtract it from your mp. Or you could just make your own variable for it

I know I saw it on rpgmakervxace.net but it looks like it is down right now. And I can't find anything from the wayback machine.

http://save-point.org/thread-4180.html

If you wanted the oil concept just do the same thing, but have it as something in your inventory.

This is the best source of scripts that I have found.

http://rmvxace.wikia.com/wiki/RPG_Maker_VX_Ace_Master_Script_List

This is old scripts

http://xrpg2.clicdev.com/f/?CDCookie=xrpg2&showtopic=1204

You can look at old scripts and see the logic in it and just update them if necessary.

To make the most noises when it comes around you use the enemy position id as a reference in comparison to play position. Or you can do it when player steps on a certain position and Him appears. Just remember not to loop it too much or at least variate the sounds otherwise it will make a twig snap:twig snap:twig snap:twig snap over and over.

I think some of them might be right to add horror effects like flashing a full screen pic when you are doing a maze (



) Just dont overdo it or too early as it may reduce horror effect. It can be gimmicky, I will admit, but if used properly it can be entertaining. Its just like playing with cliches, its like playing with fire. Use with caution.I like the concept of less light, means losing health. Don't forget to tell the players this though.

I highly recommend The Philosophy of Horror: Or, Paradoxes of the Heart as a horror story reference, but perhaps horror film would be more appropriate. I can't think of any books for film off the top of my head.

Later if you feel creative, mess with the AI. Have him move in ways that the player doesn't expect or have him "teleport" in darkness. Let him be attracted to lights or destroy them.

For one of your first games this is an ambitious undertaking. Just remember the golden rule: Is it fun?

 

[mystic0]

I just found advanced dash script http://save-point.org/thread-4305.html

This is from enterbrains standard script found in ace. So you can just edit it that.