Mercury: Cascade into Madness

[Matseb2611]

​

Buy Links:

General Features:

• An urban sci-fi cyberpunk setting, taking place in a crime-ridden city where vigilante justice is a common occurrence.
• Choice and consequence. The choices you make will have an impact on the world around you.
• Similar skill progression system to City of Chains – gain skill points by completing tasks and making progress in the story.
• Use a variety of ways to tackle the challenges, be it stealth, charisma, lockpicking, or head-on combat.
• Weapon Charge combat system – no more worrying about ammo! Use basic weapon skills to charge it up, then unleash these charges with stronger attacks.
• 2 difficulty modes – Normal and Challenging.

Story overview:

Mercury is a quirky, unpredictable, and a violent vigilante who seeks to bring justice upon a variety of low-life scum in the city. However, she used to be a normal person with a normal life, a smart young woman with ambitions. One night changed it all. A traumatic experience sent her mind tumbling down into a spiral of madness. Haunted by nightmares and struggling to trust others, Mercury saw a new meaning in her life.

Driven by her newfound purpose, Mercury took to the streets to punish those who are responsible for what happened to her, so that an experience like this won’t happen to anyone else. However, before long, she finds herself entangled in something much bigger than her own sense of revenge. She soon discovers that petty criminals are only a tip of the iceberg and that the city contains individuals who are far worse. In order to bring down the enemy, she will have to find potential allies, make hard decisions, manipulate others when necessary, and use unhinged violence in order to keep herself safe through all this.

You are Mercury. Whether she becomes an agent of justice or a ruthless killer is in your hands.


Trailer:



Screenshots:

Spoiler

Credits:

Spoiler

DEVELOPED BY:
Matthew Ashworth (Matseb2611)
of Astronomic Games

PUBLISHED BY:
New Reality Games

SOFTWARE:
RPG Maker VX Ace

ART:
PVGames
Hyde Productions
Kadokawa
Enterbrain
Timmah
Palladinthug
Matthew Ashworth

MUSIC:
Joel Steudler
Benjamin 'Scythuz' Carr
JDB Artist
Soundbay (Audiojungle)
Plastic3_NE (Audiojungle)
Cleanmindsounds (Audiojungle)
Traincat (Audiojungle)
Max-Music (Audiojungle)
Sound-Ideas (Audiojungle)
Triple7Music (Audiojungle)
Thornscape
Jewelbeat.com
JCBrickston
Deceased Superior Technician

SOUND FX:
Joel Steudler
Benjamin 'Scythuz' Carr
BlinnAudio (Audiojungle)
TibaSFX (Audiojungle)
NoizFXed (Audiojungle)
Hazard Studio (Audiojungle)
Ghetty (Audiojungle)
FxProSound (Audiojungle)
Art-of-Sound (Audiojungle)
Sound-Ideas (Audiojungle)
Pheryan (Audiojungle)
Urbazon (Audiojungle)
Debsound (Audiojungle)
DCAudioDesign (Audiojungle)
FemAudio (Audiojungle)
Grach (Audiojungle)
Saqo-92 (Audiojungle)
TeploRec (Audiojungle)
OctoSound (Audiojungle)

SCRIPTS:
Yanfly
Dekita
Galv
Neon Black
Modern Algebra
Shaz
Syvkal
Todd
Bgillisp
Vlue
Wavelength
siChainlinks
Jet
Zeriab

STORY and CHARACTERS:
Matthew Ashworth

TESTERS:
The Stranger
Palladinthug
Cabfe
Sohrab Azar

 

[cabfe]

Will you make a crossover between City of Chains, and Outrage/Mercury?


By the way, are the screenshots enlarged or did you change the default resolution?

 

[Matseb2611]

You know, I have considered the idea of a crossover between the two, since they both take place in the same universe, just in different cities. I think I might in one of my future projects bring some of the characters from both of these series together. 


Regarding the screenshots, I also wondered about why they appear enlarged. I recently started using a new computer as my last one died, and this one uses a much higher resolution, so I think when I take screenshots it automatically makes them bigger or something. But otherwise, the game runs at 640 x 480 resolution as my previous few projects.


Thanks for the support btw.  

 

[Marquise*]

Woah.... How comes I missed THAT one?

 

[Matseb2611]

I only posted it very recently, so maybe that's why.   

 

[Marquise*]

I thought I was instantly informed when you posted things like that in my notifications. 

 

[Matseb2611]

Been almost a month since the last update. I've gotten another chapter done. I think I haven't yet mentioned, the game will consist of a number of chapters, each representing a sort of flashback that are all part of the same plot. I've planned for there to be 12 chapters in total, though they're all varying in length. 1st chapter is literally just a 10 min intro to the story, whereas some other chapters could be well over half an hour in length. Right now I have 5 chapters done. I am thinking once I finish the 6th chapter, I might send the game up to that point to some of my testers for early feedback, and then the next time only once the whole game is finished.


I have also finalized on the game's full title. It's been a difficult decision and I had to ask a number of my friends as well as some people here on the forum who regularly test my games. In the end, 'Cascade into Madness' got the most votes and best feedback, so I decided to go on ahead with that. So the full title of the game will be 'Mercury: Cascade into Madness'. Thanks to everyone who cast a vote for the game's title.


Without further ado, here are some screenshots from chapter 5 of the game.


Velinda Bar (where Spade likes to hang around; yes, the same one from Outrage)

The outside part of it

Mercury getting interrogated by one of the major villains and his gang

You will have to deal with police from time to time, and some of your decisions and playstyle will affect how they treat you. (Oh and for those who played Outrage, I hope you recognize who the lady cop is)

 

[BloodletterQ]

Gameplay seems interesting to me on top of those oh-so-lovely graphics.


Looking good so far but I have two critiques. 

• Change that font.
  
• Maps look a bit vast.
  

An idea I have is that Mercury's stats could be customizable and be used as a modifier to determine if certain actions such as stealth and persuasion work or not. Feels like you could draw from Planescape: Torment a bit.

 

[Matseb2611]

Thanks @BloodletterQ. At the moment I have a skill system in place (Yanfly's JP system with learn skills option), which I also used in City of Chains. In essence, the character gains skill points when progressing through the story and also completing sidequests. They can then use these skill points to unlock and upgrade in certain skills. Things such as stealth and charisma tend to come in multiple stages. Like for example you have Basic Stealth which only costs 1 skill point and lets you sneak up on some enemies from behind. Then Advanced Stealth which unlocks after you get Basic one, which costs additional 3 skills points and allows the player to sneak up on enemies on some of the noisier terrains, and finally Expert Stealth which requires further 4 skill points and lets the player to sneak up on robot enemies.


What do you mean by maps being too vast btw?


Regarding fonts, it's always been something I steered away from, given how convoluted their terms and conditions tend to be. Honestly don't know if it's worth the risk.

 

[BloodletterQ]

Thanks @BloodletterQ. At the moment I have a skill system in place (Yanfly's JP system with learn skills option), which I also used in City of Chains. In essence, the character gains skill points when progressing through the story and also completing sidequests. They can then use these skill points to unlock and upgrade in certain skills. Things such as stealth and charisma tend to come in multiple stages. Like for example you have Basic Stealth which only costs 1 skill point and lets you sneak up on some enemies from behind. Then Advanced Stealth which unlocks after you get Basic one, which costs additional 3 skills points and allows the player to sneak up on enemies on some of the noisier terrains, and finally Expert Stealth which requires further 4 skill points and lets the player to sneak up on robot enemies.


What do you mean by maps being too vast btw?


Regarding fonts, it's always been something I steered away from, given how convoluted their terms and conditions tend to be. Honestly don't know if it's worth the risk.

I'm thinking that you could shrink them down since they look to empty at times.

 

[Marquise*]

On the dance floor it is like the girl is about to be attacked by the guy. 

 

[Matseb2611]

Heya guys. Been making a lot of progress over the past 2-3 weeks and got chapters 6 and 7 finished, so decided I'll share some screens from those. I've also sent out a demo to a couple of people with the first 6 chapters and already gotten some feedback, so I've been also going back to the previous sections of the game and adding some new stuff. One of the things I've been adding are short nightmare scenes and hallucinations that Mercury sees from time to time. As someone who's had a traumatic experience, it makes sense for her to have these visions.


For now, here are are some screenshots (going to put them in the spoiler so not to make this post too huge)

Spoiler

Train chase mini-game

One of the nightmare scenes

One of the sidequest areas. You'll be getting some sidequests from a certain someone where you'll be finding some helpful gear and the like.

A new gang we've not fought before.

Nightclub, outside area

Nightclub, one of the inside rooms

A torture scene. As I might've mentioned before, this game can be quite unhinged with violence, language, and mature themes. However, with many scenes, violence is not always the answer, and even in this case, a player can extract the right information if they've completed a certain sidequest and have charisma very high. If not, they'll have to resort to torture methods, of which there are several choices. This is one of them.

Mercury will also see phantoms of herself from time to time, pursuading her to take one action or another, mostly when it comes to deciding whether to kill a major enemy character or not.

That's all for now. Thank you all for the support!  

 

[cabfe]

This looks like it's going to be your darkest game yet. I like it.

 

[Matseb2611]

Yeah, most definitely. I told myself I wouldn't hold back on it or censor anything and would make it as gruesome and mature as it needs to be.  

 

[Marquise*]

Not sure about this one.  Hope it ain't all cruel all for fun.  Still, it might do some major good story if well planned and story managed.  I mean, not just some gritty and gore fest!

 

[Matseb2611]

Don't worry, it doesn't try to be as gory as possible. It just has it where necessary, and in those moments it's unhinged and uncensored. Mercury's backstory is a dark one and full of pain and mental nightmares, though there are positive moments as well of course.   The language is strong for most of the game really since Mercury doesn't hold back. She just speaks whatever's on her mind, plus most individuals you come across in the game are usually gangsters and other criminals.

 

[Marquise*]

I see that kinda modern dark!  ^_^

 

[Matseb2611]

Got two more chapters done over the course of past few weeks. Uploading some screenshots in the spoilers.

Spoiler

One of the city areas

A tense situation.

Police station building

We get to ally with a familiar face from Outrage.

Boss battle.

 

[cabfe]

Looks like even the cops need to dial 999 this time!


*Nobody is safe*

 

[Matseb2611]

Yeah. Clearly they have spies working amongst their ranks that allowed this to happen.