The Room horror RPG/VN

[soul_hacker]

[IMG]http://i.gjcdn.net/imgserver/game-header/950/43633_du3wpvx9.jpg[/IMG]
 
WARNING: This game contains references to Satanism and black magic, so player's discretion is advised.
 
Download:
The game can be downloaded from rpgmaker.net : http://rpgmaker.net/games/7249/
 
Story:
The story of 'The Room' follows our occult loving protagonist who gets an apartment for a very cheap price.  
For the first few days everything seemed fine, but then weird things start happening when some special conditions are met.
 
 
What are these conditions?

What exactly is happening in the apartment?
 
Notes:
 
It's a short game but contains multiple endings, so it'll take some time to find all endings.

Also, some endings are hard to get.

The game starts off as a Visual Novel then it becomes a RPG later on. Therefore, this game contains a lot of text.

Before playing, adjust the brightness so that it's neither too dark nor too bright.

Finally, play in a dark room with headphones on, and crank up the volume.

Most importantly, pay attention to everything, as you may be required to memorize certain information.
 
 
Credits:

Spoiler

 
Concept inspired from
Phenomeno Visual Novel

Story by
Soul_Hacker

Designed by
Soul_Hacker

Engine Used
RPG Maker VX Ace

Images
Google Images
Soul_Hacker

Character Sprite by
Famitsu
Lee Sang- Dead Sprites

Sound Editing
Soul_Hacker

Scripts Used
MOG Animated Title Screen
Footsteps by Soul_Hacker
Basic Enemy HP Bars Lite V 1.1b by V.M of D.T
Khas Awesome Light Effects by Khas Arcthunder

Tilesets Used
RPG Maker VX Ace Tilesets
Modern Tilesets by Painhurt
Google Images

Ending Theme
Silent Night Horror by Marq wan Mazijk
Thriller Background by M26

Music
Hotel Dusk The Long Night
Creepy Music Box by Shane Keen
Murder Mystery Music Background by Alex Cannon
Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod

Screenshots:

Spoiler

[IMG]http://i.gjcdn.net/imgserver/screenshot-thumbnail/898x1000/85640.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.gjcdn.net/imgserver/screenshot-thumbnail/898x1000/85639.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.gjcdn.net/imgserver/screenshot-thumbnail/898x1000/85635.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i.gjcdn.net/imgserver/screenshot-thumbnail/898x1000/85633.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i.gjcdn.net/imgserver/screenshot-thumbnail/898x1000/85637.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i.gjcdn.net/imgserver/screenshot-thumbnail/898x1000/85636.jpg[/IMG]

Trailer:

Spoiler

http://youtu.be/A7H02xeSFE4

Gameplay:

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=85114404&v=KZcBmz118pY&x-yt-ts=1422579428&feature=player_embedded

Updates:

Spoiler

Change in/Addition of SE to make the game more scary
Added the option to skip intro
Save added before crucial choices
Fixed grammar errors
Fixed some other errors
Reduced the time gap between some events
Improved the speed of the messages
Added descriptions to the skills
More detailed endings
Improved some scenes to increase the horror factor.
Reduced the difficulty level.

 

[_Shadow_]

The room.

A huge pack to download.

Let's see if I am gonna like it.

I like horror games.

Spoiler

Oh! You try to merge Renai and RPG gaming here.

It is a very challenging and risky thing to do that.

Some  of your pictures do the trick while others seem out of place.

I absolutely loved the dark city road with lights and the stairway pictures.

Fantastic takes.

Sound is a nice experience, you got great ideas really.

But some FX are getting you out of the mood (before sleeping for instance).

You should also try making sounds like barking coming from far away (lowering the volume level) to add some atmosphere to the game.

The effects should not be all at full volume level, that would work bad in some cases.  

 

Your mapping skills are really acceptable.

I can surely can see nice inner maps, not the best maps ever, but I can see that you put some effort making them right.

And they work fine with the rest of the game anyway.

Khas Awesome light effects is really a great script isn't it? Leaving auto shadows on a light effect environment though, looks ugly.

You should really fix that!

 

Dialogue with mom is not well written but I got the feeling.

It can be better directed and better and more clear unraveled what happened with the two telephones.

Great idea by the way.  

This thing with the mother while it was In Renai mode (pictures and text) had also a sound fx that was not really needed in my opinion.

 

Flashlight should be added in the gameplay with another way, than a light source on the floor.

for instance by opening a drawer, a wardrobe a closet, something... 

 

Music and special horror effects are correctly set in general.

I like your atmosphere.

 

Saving everywhere! Well done!

 

But when you lose sometimes (closet incident) the game music and game over music merge. Try using Wait for some seconds to make correct timing for such incidents. 

 

Narrator and hero should be also different. You use the text for both. Try not to.

 

 


Graphics: 80/100

Well made stuff, nice pictures, some pictures feel out of place when it comes to the sum of them, while others are incredible.

Mapping skills can become better.

Music: 80/100

Well selected music, sometimes merges wrongly with game over but despite that it is a nice selection, appropriate really.

Sound FX: 80/100

Correct sound FX, that sometimes need some Volume adjustments. In general the FX do the trick! Didn't heard an earthquake fx.

Gameplay: 70/100

Had no problem playing it, I would prefer getting an in game tutorial on controls, and in the living room, it seems I am stuck between two bad endings.

(got up when listened to the phone)

In any case, the game seems nice. 

Atmosphere: 80/100

It was horror indeed. Rare thing nowadays. 

Scenario: 70100

The game seems to deliver a solid occult scenario.

Not very innovative but not lame either! 

Nice choice.

Directed: 70/100

In general there were nice moments like the black shadow and the tv situation, the phone incidents... while there were things that were not so well directed.

Polished: 80/100

Yes it is. It just needs a few tweaks here and there.

Overall: 77/100

A nice game that can become perfect by just a LITTLE more effort.

Well done!   

 

 

[Dimitris]

I trust Dreadshadow's taste on these kinds of games so I gave it a try.

The first part is very well done, like a visual novel, it got me in the mood pretty quickly. That is my favorite part and I would love it if the whole game was like that.  It has a few problems, where the music stops abruptly and it breaks immersion. You could use fade outs or whatever so it has a smooth transition with silence or other songs. Other than that, first part did its job amazingly good.

The rpg part is nice, the lighting effects are great and the appartment mapping is exceptionally good. I envy it! I think that you could work on the story and give some info on what to do next maybe, because I would play a part and nothing would hint what to do next. For example,

Spoiler

when I read the internet page I immediately wanted to go into the bathroom but instead I had to find the liquid first. Then i used it on the door. As a riddle that didn't work for me

Also, in your writing process, sometimes the hero speaks in first person and sometimes he speaks in second person. I would suggest using only one, it helps the player not to be confused.

I got the secret ending

Spoiler

where you go in the wall to the right

, the true ending and some bad endings. I would like to know how to 

Spoiler

kill the bad guy in the last fight!!! 

It is a pretty nice short game that deserves to be played and it can get a lot better if you work on these things (I really hope you do). You have the skills to set the mood but check those problems with sound and writing, because they break immersion. Also thumbs up for the quote at the beginning, is it from Lovecraft or Poe?

 

[Kyuukon]

Here is my review/feedback thingy:

Coming from a Visual Novel maniac and a wannabe Satanist (no, not the ones who murder children or cats), I found the premise very interesting.

The introduction was very well done. It got me into the shoes of the protagonist right away. The background images and sound effects were really immersive up to the part when mom calls (should've probably used a more common cellphone tone) and before entering my house (why does the creepy music pops up?). After then, sorry to say so, everything went downfall...

I'll list a few issues I was uncomfortable with:

- Death out of nowhere for inspecting the locker. Seriously? I don't even know what killed me and how. It wasn't even a minute since I arrived.

- Having only one map in the game (the apartment) you should've put more work into it. It wasn't entirely bad but it felt very bland and didn't really gave me creeps while I was exploring it at night. Then again, it's only an apartment but I dunno, I think it could of been made a little bit better with more light and sound effects (like the TV actually emitting light and sound), or changing the tileset to something more dark and realistic but that's just me.

- Events happen way too fast. Out from nowhere, in one night, ghosts start appearing, opening Firefox and talking to you. In the next 10 min you will be, most likely, joining them. The game didn't give me enough time to immerse myself in it. I don't know how the character interest in the occult has anything to do with all this. I also didn't like how he jumps to the conclusion 'The apartment is haunted!' after reading that convinient article. Show, don't tell. Give hints of what's happening around and have the player investigate the events that took place in the apartment. Maybe you could prolong the story and not just limiting it to one day.

- In the number input, -having given up hope- I expected it to be a cliche '66'. You did your research with the '13' but then again, maybe you should look up what true Satanism is all about

Overall: It was a nice premise that could have been executed a lot better. Something along the lines of "The curiosity killed the cat" but everything happens so fast it doesn't really transmit the emotion of fear or w/e it intents to. It's just a: Save -> Inspect everything mindlessly -> Advance -> Repeat game. Like I stated above, the introduction gets you hooked right away but it sets up high expectations that are never met.

I got the secret ending by the way.

 

[soul_hacker]

Everyone, thanks for playing my game.

The room.

A huge pack to download.

Let's see if I am gonna like it.

I like horror games.

Dreadshadow, thanks for the wonderful review. I know there are a few minor problems here and there, but I hope you enjoyed the game to the fullest.

I've updated the game a few times already and I think I won't be able to do that anymore because I've become somewhat busy with the University studies and stuff.

I trust Dreadshadow's taste on these kinds of games so I gave it a try.

 I would like to know how to 

Spoiler

kill the bad guy in the last fight!!! 

Spoiler

 Also thumbs up for the quote at the beginning, is it from Lovecraft or Poe?

Dimitris, I'm happy that you checked my game out.

The outcome of the last fight is purely dependent on luck. Some are able to kill him in just 1 try, others require 30+ tries.

The quote is from Lovecraft. Btw, you're the only one who asked me about the quote. Thumbs up for you.

Here is my review/feedback thingy:

Coming from a Visual Novel maniac and a wannabe Satanist (no, not the ones who murder children or cats), I found the premise very interesting.

The introduction was very well done. It got me into the shoes of the protagonist right away. The background images and sound effects were really immersive up to the part when mom calls (should've probably used a more common cellphone tone) and before entering my house (why does the creepy music pops up?). After then, sorry to say so, everything went downfall...

I got the secret ending by the way.

Kyuukon, thanks for playing the game. You know most of the people who played the game said that this game contains too much text found the Rpg part better than the VN part. Kudos to you for liking the VN part.

I know there are some problems with the game, but I hope you enjoyed it. I may fix the problems some time in the future.

Congrats for the secret end.

 

[_Shadow_]

I've become somewhat busy with the University studies and stuff.

I can understand that, since I was also a student.

Do your best mate and when you will enhance it again and make it almost perfact, I would love to revisit it.

I liked your ideas!