RMVXA Lost in the Darkness: A Jekyll and Hyde horror RPG (Playable teaser)

[GothicMonocle]

Download here (Mediafire) - Keep in mind this is not even in demo stage yet. There is not even a proper title screen.
This is a horror game that takes place in the Universe of my Webcomic: The strange Seperation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
(Fellow Jekyll and Hyde fan? Follow me at the Jekyll and Hyde amino)

Synopsis

Lost in the darkness : Utterson's story is an RPG survival horror/puzzle game dealing with heavy themes of mental illness and various forms of childhood trauma.
The game follows Mr. Gabriel John Utterson; Dr. Henry Jekyll's lawyer and closest friend who has been suffering with Bipolar disorder and by extent psychosis and depression for years.

The biggest portion of the game is set in the past (1848) in John's memories that play out in a standard RPG Horror style. However, whenever he snaps back into the present (1886) the gameplay takes the form of a visual novel as you make simple decisions in his everyday life or pick dialogue options in his therapy sessions with Dr. Jekyll.

The game contains multiple endings.
Whether you find all the clues needed to uncover the truth behind Utterson's trauma or let him die a horrible death is up to you. Pick your options wisely.

(Warning: Like most psychological horror. This game contains sensitive subjects such as abuse, murder, suicide, implied substance abuse and sexual assault. Proceed with caution and avoid playing if you are under 13, faint of heart or if you find the above subjects to be triggering.
You have been warned.)

Of course, this teaser is pretty bare bones. it has no title screen yet and the amount of plot is minimal. It is just a sandbox test to showcase features and graphics. That being said, there are many little secrets and tiny scares (Thankfully not of the jumpscare variety)

This game draws inspiration from games like Clock Tower 3, the Witch's house, Mad Father, Ib, Yume Nikki and even Misao.

Spoiler: Screenshots

A lot of progress has been made to the game since the Playable Teaser was created, however I have promised myself to not update the Teaser and just post all the improvements with either the Demo (if I decide to make one) or the complete game:

* There is finally a normal- looking title screen rather than the preset RPG maker default void of death that is in the Teaser build

* Title screen music is no longer Greensleeves, but instead something more fitting to a Jekyll and Hyde fangame

* Chase music has been changed as well

* Working on an intro cutscene...

* When entering Panic Mode, John's menu icon will change expression

* John can no longer consume the severed finger

* John's room no longer contains a random moat

* Mr. Automaton was removed from the game, his guidance no longer needed

* Fixed the glitch where John would enter a staring competition with the shadow ghost if he immediately stepped on the block he was before he was hit

* Recolored his bed so it is no longer bright pink

* John will no longer stumble randomly to the direction he was facing before being hit by a ghost, he shall now properly walk away from the threat rather than towards it.

* The ghosts do not disappear in a blinding flash of light when sprayed with holy water but rather gently fade away

* The layout of the house is now inspired by authentic victorian houses, not a series of random dungeons and corridors

* Stopped the sanity bar from clipping outside its frame when low on Sanity

 

[mylazyafternoon]

I played the teaser and I gotta say, I love the artwork! It gives me Tim Burton vibes, which I love!
I also love the sound effects for the walking animation. I don't know why, I just found it weirdly satisfying.
I read the list of things you've changed after the playable teaser, so I won't address those.

Since this is a payable teaser, here's my beta test experience and feedback:

Spoiler: yeet

Again, I love the art style of the portraits. It certainly sets the overall mood to the game.
And I seems you've changed the layout of the house to a Victorian style. Smart move!
I think it's very smart to have tiles that fit into the art style.

For the puzzles, they were simple to figure out but I really enjoyed them.
There were times where I was a little stuck, like when I was in the room under my bed.
It took me a while to figure out how to escape from there.
The puzzles are perfect the way they are but don't shy away from making them a bit more challenging too though.

I feel it's too easy for the ghost to spot you.
It makes sense though because the player has a lantern on. Which is why I think it would be pretty neat if the ghost will less likely spot you if you choose to turn the lantern off. It's a nice little game-play tactic you could implement.

Also, I don't know if you already fixed this but the ghost was behind me when I threw the holy water and I was still able to kill it.

For the ghost lady that asks for her pendant, what happens if you don't give it back to her?
I sort of panicked and just handed it back because it seems I couldn't run away.
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This last bit of feedback is purely my opinion, which you DO NOT have to consider. This is just from a player's perspective.
I think it's a bit unfair to die from reaching your hand into things. I was surprised when I died from reaching my hand into that hole in the wall of my room and when I died from checking under my bed.
In games like these, it's encouraged for the player to experiment with the objects in the room.
So I just find it unfair to instantly die from these things. And it is okay to have these monsters come in to attack you but I don't think the player should die from it. Because it's really out of our control since we would not know. Unless that's the game play experience you intended for this project, then by all means, go for it!
However, instead of instantly dying, maybe add a way to prevent yourself from being killed. Like lose some health instead or add a button mashing game. If the player does not press this button in time, they die. (Doesn't have to be exactly that, just throwing out some ideas.)
Again, this is purely my opinion, you don't have to listen to it if you don't want to.

Ending it off, I certainly enjoyed the playable teaser. There's a lot of potential with this project you are creating. You haven't shown much of the story line which is understandable since this is just a teaser but from that last cut-scene, I am very intrigued as to finding out what is going on. I love mystery horror games, especially when it involves mental illness and childhood trauma because it gives the story so much room to work with.

Keep it up!

 

[Akiyama]

I like it! I agree with most of criticism of Mylafter, except for the part on instant death. It reminds me of horror Adventure games like the Uninvited, Seventh Guest, and Alone in the Dark, the Witch's House, which also used instant death in the same way and it works for me.

 

[GothicMonocle]

I played the teaser and I gotta say, I love the artwork! It gives me Tim Burton vibes, which I love!
I also love the sound effects for the walking animation. I don't know why, I just found it weirdly satisfying.
I read the list of things you've changed after the playable teaser, so I won't address those.

Since this is a payable teaser, here's my beta test experience and feedback:

Spoiler: yeet

Again, I love the art style of the portraits. It certainly sets the overall mood to the game.
And I seems you've changed the layout of the house to a Victorian style. Smart move!
I think it's very smart to have tiles that fit into the art style.

For the puzzles, they were simple to figure out but I really enjoyed them.
There were times where I was a little stuck, like when I was in the room under my bed.
It took me a while to figure out how to escape from there.
The puzzles are perfect the way they are but don't shy away from making them a bit more challenging too though.

I feel it's too easy for the ghost to spot you.
It makes sense though because the player has a lantern on. Which is why I think it would be pretty neat if the ghost will less likely spot you if you choose to turn the lantern off. It's a nice little game-play tactic you could implement.

Also, I don't know if you already fixed this but the ghost was behind me when I threw the holy water and I was still able to kill it.

For the ghost lady that asks for her pendant, what happens if you don't give it back to her?
I sort of panicked and just handed it back because it seems I couldn't run away.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This last bit of feedback is purely my opinion, which you DO NOT have to consider. This is just from a player's perspective.
I think it's a bit unfair to die from reaching your hand into things. I was surprised when I died from reaching my hand into that hole in the wall of my room and when I died from checking under my bed.
In games like these, it's encouraged for the player to experiment with the objects in the room.
So I just find it unfair to instantly die from these things. And it is okay to have these monsters come in to attack you but I don't think the player should die from it. Because it's really out of our control since we would not know. Unless that's the game play experience you intended for this project, then by all means, go for it!
However, instead of instantly dying, maybe add a way to prevent yourself from being killed. Like lose some health instead or add a button mashing game. If the player does not press this button in time, they die. (Doesn't have to be exactly that, just throwing out some ideas.)
Again, this is purely my opinion, you don't have to listen to it if you don't want to.

Ending it off, I certainly enjoyed the playable teaser. There's a lot of potential with this project you are creating. You haven't shown much of the story line which is understandable since this is just a teaser but from that last cut-scene, I am very intrigued as to finding out what is going on. I love mystery horror games, especially when it involves mental illness and childhood trauma because it gives the story so much room to work with.

Keep it up!

Thank you kindly for taking the time to play through this early build as well as providing me with feedback.
I am very happy that you enjoy the artwork since I put a lot of love and effort in my illustrations.
Now on the subject of your criticism (Which are all valid by the way)

Spoiler: E y y

I will try and make the puzzles a tad more challenging in the future. There wasn't much to work with with so few maps and items available in the test build so the gameplay was pretty linear, because the main focus was testing if every script and whatnot worked just right. (Spoiler alert: Not every script works as intended)

About the ghost. She is a nightmare to program. Seriously, I fix one glitch on her and she suddenly two more take its place. She's like a glitch hydra! And to top it all, since I am pretty much a beginner in Ruby, I have to rely on other people's scripts (Found under plugins in the end credits btw)
So the MOG event sensor range script I use for the ghost detecting if the player is nearby is extremely limited. I can't change the range depending on if the lamp switch is on, sadly. I have tried to make it work but it's just not possible. I might try and find another script that changes the range depending on a variable. (I think I already have a script in mind)

But on the holy water part. I have no idea how to fix this. (I could have the player automatically turn towards the ghost when holy water is used to make it less jarring. But other than that I am not sure how to fix it.)

Also. To satisfy your curiosity: This is what happens when you give her back the wrong thing.



It's an insta game-over (The blood squirt animation is not really visible in this screenshot tho)

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As for the random one-kill gameovers: I apologize for those. They were just meant to be death animation tests. I think they are going to make a lot more sense in the actual game. (Basically you will get these insta game overs when failing some sort of puzzle.)

Again, thank you kindly for your feedback. I hope you enjoy the full game when it comes out!

I like it! I agree with most of criticism of Mylafter, except for the part on instant death. It reminds me of horror Adventure games like the Uninvited, Seventh Guest, and Alone in the Dark, the Witch's House, which also used instant death in the same way and it works for me.

I am very glad you like it so far. Please do stick around for the full release. And feel free to recommend it to your friends. It would really help me a bunch! Thank you.