The Curious Tale of Mr. Gray [Early Build]

[TheReboot]

First, let me state that this game does contain R18 content, most of which being the main theme behind the story (Murder)

The Curious Tale of Mr. Gray​

Hello! This is something I've been working on in my spare time recently, and I'd enjoy getting some feedback on it. As of right now ,the game has no real story or objective, other than gaining access to everything that will be available.

Story(WIP):

The story follows the life of Thomas Gray. The game opens with Thomas and his parents, Charles and Abigail, packing up and leaving their home to live with and care for his father's elderly parents. Years later, after the death of his grandmother, Abigail decides its best to not move back and to instead live in the now empty home.

The link below is to the outline I'm using while I work on the game's story, if you're curious feel free to take a look! But, beware the spoilers it will obviously contain. o3o

Spoiler

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JajTWeJoUl44zvUNqhERUUH0_jurAF5spc4UhLuS4kQ/edit?usp=sharing

Features:

-Interactable Environment (currently only some animals, logs, boulders, a bridge and the stream)

-Item and Gold Storage System (Thank's to Galv's Item/Bank Storage Script) *

-Limited Inventory (Thanks to TheoAllen's Limited Inventory Script) *

-Crafting! (Basic crafting at the moment)

-Injuries! (they don't do much yet, but hey its a start) *

Planned Features:

-Day/Night Cycle w/ Time System *

-Liftable and Takeable Objects! (Meaning you can carry them outside of your inventory)

-Weather/Seasons?

-Renewable Resources

-Construction! (Mainly a customizable and upgradable home) *

-Lighting System

-Reputation/Influence/Karma

What I have planned is a game where you live the life of Thomas Gray. There is no real combat currently in or planned for this game The player will be able to interact with most objects in some way: jumping down small cliffs, collecting water from a stream or lake, butchering animals, collecting various items/resources, etc. I also plan on having 2 - 3 towns for the player to live in, based on what career they choose, along with a few areas surrounding each town. I plan on having the story change over the course of the entire game, with choosing a career being the first major choice the player will make. After that there will periodically be major decisions (or actions) the player will decide on. I will say that the choices that drive the story will often revolve around crime, typically murder.

As I can't think of anything else, here's the link

Updated 12/11/14 (out of date / no story yet, just some of the features)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ecrgztk1hv57pkz/Project2.exe?dl=0

I greatly appreciate and value any and all input you can provide me with. If I was not able to clearly explain something, here or in-game, please let me know. Thank you.

* (May be removed as the game changes)

 

[Alkorri]

Hi there. I like the concept of interacting with the environment and gathering resources for crafting. I'm also intrigued by an Injuries and Reputation system.

Here are my thoughts after trying out your alpha.

• I think this game most needs an HUD to show you what resources you've gathered so far, or at least a command which you can key press to see this information. Is this on your list of TTD? 
• I couldn't tell if I had enough for a bridge and just hit Yes. I don't think I had all the materials and it built a bridge anyway, but I'm not sure.
• The fade-out of the mushroom disappearing, animal slaughter etc is slow, I feel. I think it should be faster, especially since you don't allow the player to move until it has finished fading. I like the icons you see when you harvest resources, however, like eggs and meat.
• Why can Wood, Mushrooms and Stone be harvested through Spacebar, but Water through the W key? Why not have them harvested through one key command?
• It seems I can harvest through the 'Enter' key, which is more intuitive. So I wonder why there is even the need for a Spacebar key press?
• You mention pressing Spacebar next to a "source" to harvest Wood, Mushrooms and Stone, but you don't clarify that this doesn't work on trees. Were you planning to allow the player to harvest from small trees? After all, you have the axe.
• I can keep harvesting from the same chunk of stone even though it has been harvested/invisible. I like that you can harvest logs and mushrooms and you can walk onto that tile, but I can't seem to walk on the tile that had the stone.
• Just wondering, do you think it's necessary to keep asking the player if they want to harvest so and so item? Wouldn't it be faster to just interact with a stone and immediately get stone?

Nice effort so far. Hope this doesn't come off as overly harsh. These are just my thoughts and I'm curious to see how you progress with your game.

 

[TheReboot]

Hi there. I like the concept of interacting with the environment and gathering resources for crafting. I'm also intrigued by an Injuries and Reputation system.

Here are my thoughts after trying out your alpha.

• I think this game most needs an HUD to show you what resources you've gathered so far, or at least a command which you can key press to see this information. Is this on your list of TTD? 
• I couldn't tell if I had enough for a bridge and just hit Yes. I don't think I had all the materials and it built a bridge anyway, but I'm not sure.
• The fade-out of the mushroom disappearing, animal slaughter etc is slow, I feel. I think it should be faster, especially since you don't allow the player to move until it has finished fading. I like the icons you see when you harvest resources, however, like eggs and meat.
• Why can Wood, Mushrooms and Stone be harvested through Spacebar, but Water through the W key? Why not have them harvested through one key command?
• It seems I can harvest through the 'Enter' key, which is more intuitive. So I wonder why there is even the need for a Spacebar key press?
• You mention pressing Spacebar next to a "source" to harvest Wood, Mushrooms and Stone, but you don't clarify that this doesn't work on trees. Were you planning to allow the player to harvest from small trees? After all, you have the axe.
• I can keep harvesting from the same chunk of stone even though it has been harvested/invisible. I like that you can harvest logs and mushrooms and you can walk onto that tile, but I can't seem to walk on the tile that had the stone.
• Just wondering, do you think it's necessary to keep asking the player if they want to harvest so and so item? Wouldn't it be faster to just interact with a stone and immediately get stone?

Nice effort so far. Hope this doesn't come off as overly harsh. These are just my thoughts and I'm curious to see how you progress with your game.

And here are my answers! ^ ^ Thank you for taking the time to try out the game, especially for taking the time to give me your opinions on it! I'll try to keep the answers in the same order as the questions.

• I am planning a HUD later on, but not for resources your carrying in your inventory, instead it will most likely display the resources you have in storage, to give you an idea of what you need without having to travel back to the crates. Otherwise, you can see what resources you have on you by looking in your inventory.
• I'll be sure to have fix the bridge interaction to display what you do have before asking if you'd like to build it. And, if yo uwere able to build it then you had what was needed, otherwise it sends back a message telling you how much it cosst and what you currently have.
• The harvesting fade-out is just a place hodler until I can find some appropriate sound effects to replace it. (Not for te animals though, that'd be kind of sad.)
• Bodies of water are marked with a specific region id, which the game checks for whenever you press W. This all takes place within one event, mainly to save me the trouble of having hundreds of events for one map.
• I am! I am just toying with easy ways to do that effectively and haven't found one that suits me quite yet.
• Its just the way I play it when I do my testing, so it comes more natural for me to use the spacebar. (I still forget occasionally that I can't move with wasd )
• I noticed that after I submitted this thread, I've already fixed it and added a fe other things along with it. I should have the new version uploaded very soon.
• Very much so. With injuries in the game the player loses some health, sometimes a large amount of health, and will need to patch themselves up in-order to restore. Asking the player to confirm their actions gives them a chance to weigh the risks of getting the resource now as opposed to waiting till they are healed.

Again, thank you  very much for your input. I hope I answered your questions clearly. ^ ^

 

[TheReboot]

*Bump/Update* With some recent inspiration, the game will now have a story and has a title! (Just for now anyway) More details in the main post ^ - ^

 

[TheReboot]

*Bump* Any feedback would be helpful, at this point I just want some motivation to get back to working on the game.

 

[Kes]

I've been waiting for the update with the story etc., as I don't have anything extra to add to what Alkorri has said.

 

[TheReboot]

I am working on an outline of the story for the moment, I can add it to the main post if it would help. Right now the outline is more for my sake, I'm terrible at keeping organized, and would only spoil the basic path that each story arc will take. It'll likely be a week or so before I finish the outline itself. I may be underestimating that, but eh.

 

[TheReboot]

*Update* I have updated the main post to include the changes that have been made, sadly the game itself is no longer in a state that can be linked for testing. I will leave the old link in the post for anyone who just wants to take a peak, the features in that will mostly still be in the game.