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FPSC Classic Showcase / [X9] Into the... DARK (1-Level-Version for Scariest Game Compo)

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Ertlov
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Posted: 1st Mar 2011 19:29 Edited at: 18th Mar 2011 02:43
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Into the...
...DARK



Developer: Ivan Ertlov / Homegrown Games


STORYLINE:


(The Story is introduced and played as "Pete", but told by him AND Sam. You´ll see what I mean when you play it)

You`re Peter "Pete" O`Brannon, a Private Eye. Sounds faszinating? Well, it isn`t, trust me - unless you find it exciting to hunt down cheating husbands and lost dogs while living of cheap Chinese food in shabby motels aside the freeways. Exactely THAT would be what Petes job is all about - but luckily for him, he has a good customer paying his bills. It`s GlobalSecure Inc., one of the biggest insurance companies on the East Coast. More exactely, it`s Samantha "Sam" Miller who runs their investigation departement on insurance fraud. She`s tough, she`s intelligent, she`s better than Pete. By far better. But due to the companies Code of Conduct and some very nasty ethic rules, she`s prevented from taking, erm, "semi-legal" steps to gain essential information and proofs. That`s where Pete steps in - for 500 bucks per day (1000 on weekends) + expenses + a nice 20% share of the money the company saves with whatever Pete finds out.

These 20% could be the winning ticket for a major lottery in the latest case Pete has been assigned to: An old man has died, at the age of 85, heart attack. Seems like an everydays story? Well, it would be - unless the fact that he had an policy over 2.5 millions of dollar, and that the money would be divided up between a misterious "Center for Transhuman Progress" and some Anti-Communist groups, one of them even with ties to the KKK. Sam got suspicious on that one and checked his data. The result was negative. Literally! Because there were no previous plicies, insurances, drivers licences or even medical data before 1991. It seemed that the 85 years old started his recorded existence at the age of 65...

Sam picks up Pete for a Ride to New England, where the mysterious grandpa has spent the last 20 years in a shabby cabin, located in a remote valley. Because she actually has nothing like a search warrant at hand and not enough facts to call for the cops, it`s Pete`s turn to enter the cabin and do the dirty work. But, hell, for a chance to earn half a million of bucks, Pete would go to hell and back.

At least he thought so!




Screenshots chopped to ugly 1024*768:





TECH TALK:

IMPORTANT: XVID / DIVX Codec must be installed!


Screen Resolution:

is set to 1680*1050, as this turned out to run fluently on mid-range machines.
If your monitor doesn`t support that or you want to go higher, open the setup.ini here and look for

width=1680
height=1050

in the [Gamedebug] section.

Replace with

width=1024
height=768

OR

width=1280
height=800

or any other resolution supported by your system. Game has been tested from 800*600 to 1920*1080.

Minimum System requirements:

3GHZ CPU, 1.5GB RAM, Radeon X1900, WinXP with latest DirectX and Xvid / Divx Codec installed.

Recommended:

Dualcore / X2 2*2GHZ or better, 2.5GB RAM, Radeon 2600 PRO or better, latest DX and Xvid Codec installed.

Controls:

WASD - Player Movement
Mouse - Head Movement, Shooting (Leftclick), Aiming (Rightclick), Carrying Objects (Rightclick)
R - Reload (As in Real Life, you can "overload" any weapon by choking and restocking magazine, so you have a total of Mag capacity + 1 shots.
Q/E - Peek left / right
C - crouch
SPACE - jump
ENTER - Interaction (I know that F is better, however, I want to reserve that for Flashlight in future developement of the idea)


CREDITS:

Internal Credits:

Ivan Ertlov - Basic Idea, Editor work, GFX, SFX and scripting
Luna Riedler - Compass creation, Beta and focus testing
Forian Machl - Focus testing
Peter Kuhn - Focus testing

TGC & Community - Scripts, shaders, ideas, assets and inspiration came from:

TGC Store (various)
TGC Model Packs (various)
Errant AI
Bond1
Rolfy
Cosmic Prophet
Wolf
PWP
WXG
and most likely I forgot someone else...

External stuff partially taken from:

freesound project
CGtextures
Freepic Base
imagesource

DOWNLOAD LINK:



http://www.mediafire.com/?u436eghb4uad14s

Rar Password:




AND TWO IMPORTANT MESSAGES LAST:

1. PLAY IT DURING NIGHTTIME WITH LIGHTS OFF OR IN A 100% DARKENED ROOM.
2. PLAY IT LOUD!!!


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Gencheff
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Posted: 1st Mar 2011 20:06
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It doesn't want to load for me. Stops right in the end.


PC Specs:Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit,Intel Core i7 960 @ 3.20GHz,NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480,12GB RAM,2x Western Digital 997GB HDD
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Ertlov
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Posted: 1st Mar 2011 20:09 Edited at: 1st Mar 2011 20:15
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If present, delete the "imageblock" in the Files folder.

If not, restart your PC and try again.

That bug ocurrs on some PCs.

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Gencheff
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Posted: 1st Mar 2011 20:17
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After deleting texturebank,the game ran,however now everything is pitch black.

Shame,I was looking forward to playing it.


PC Specs:Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit,Intel Core i7 960 @ 3.20GHz,NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480,12GB RAM,2x Western Digital 997GB HDD
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Ertlov
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Posted: 1st Mar 2011 20:18
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restore the texturebank from BIN and try again.

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mgarand
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Posted: 1st Mar 2011 20:23
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going to try it

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Gencheff
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Posted: 1st Mar 2011 20:24
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After restoring the texturebank,the game doesn't load again.


PC Specs:Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit,Intel Core i7 960 @ 3.20GHz,NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480,12GB RAM,2x Western Digital 997GB HDD
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Ertlov
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Posted: 1st Mar 2011 20:25 Edited at: 1st Mar 2011 20:26
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I`m sorry, I can`t do anything for you in this case.

Try to move it to another partition / HDD.

Obviously some PCs have this issue. I will post a video, just like Wolf did.

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Gencheff
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Posted: 1st Mar 2011 20:27
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Well thank you for the help anyway.
I'll see if I can fix it with my own trickery.

Good luck in the competition.


PC Specs:Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit,Intel Core i7 960 @ 3.20GHz,NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480,12GB RAM,2x Western Digital 997GB HDD
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mgarand
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Posted: 1st Mar 2011 21:10
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HEYA! i just tried the game im not a review writer so i just say my experiences

The game was good, i really liked the objectives you had to do, not just shoot and run. Although when i like went to that vent i saw the enemy spawning on the floor (that zombies) so i knew to shoot it before it went ''alive''. the voice acting was sometimes a bit off, i mean the girl was hard to hear in the beginning. and really nice work of using shaders!

good job man! hope to see more of this

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Ertlov
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Posted: 1st Mar 2011 21:18
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Thanks for your feedback, but PLEASE do not spoiler!

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D0MINIK
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Posted: 1st Mar 2011 21:54 Edited at: 1st Mar 2011 21:55
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Hey,

here is a short review from my side


First Impression 9/10
The loading screen HUDs are really ugly Nevertheless, the video (although a it takes a little too much time in my view) is well done, the best example of story introduction I've seen so far in FPSC.

Gameplay 9/10
Whoa, congrats, the first time that I really got shocked in an FPSC game. However, although investigating the whole scenery is quite a good idea, you should at least mark ammo and gun positions in an obvious way. It's annoying to die because you simply haven't found all ammo clips.

Graphics 9/10
Excellent textures and graphical level layout. However, some corners could use a little more light, and the scifi windows and air duct just don't fit in

Sound 10/10
Very well done. Nothing to add.


My Personal Rating: 9,25/10

Superb game!

You obviously put plenty of time and heart into this thing. Good work man!

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Ertlov
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Posted: 1st Mar 2011 22:16 Edited at: 1st Mar 2011 22:51
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Quote: "here is a short review from my side "


And I thank you very much for that.

Quote: "The loading screen HUDs are really ugly"


No doubt about that!

Unfortunately my GF didn`t have the time to make some, and I suck on that

Quote: "the best example of story introduction I've seen so far in FPSC."


Really?
Take a look at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyiELPByhKA

Wolf may point out that the gameplay sucked (and yeah, it DID!), but the storytelling is still something I`m VERY proud of.

Quote: "you should at least mark ammo and gun positions in an obvious way. It's annoying to die because you simply haven't found all ammo clips."


No on that one, I´ll never ever ad glowing or floating ammo into one of my games again. Players shall search or die

Quote: "Excellent textures and graphical level layout."


Thanks a lot.

Quote: "the scifi windows and air duct just don't fit in"


I thought about that, especially after Wolf pointed that out in the WIP thread. Had them even replaced already. But then I stumbled upon pictures from a 70ies research facility that had almost the same windows (even with the biohazard logo in the glass) and the air duct looks pretty similar to the ones in the Metro in Prague that also originates from the 70ies / 80ies, so I put them in again.


Quote: "My Personal Rating: 9,25/10

Superb game!"


THANKS!


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Ertlov
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Posted: 1st Mar 2011 22:35 Edited at: 1st Mar 2011 22:38
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Allright, here now the Video for all of you who cannot play the game for one or another reason.

ATTENTION:

1. Although I have taken only a smaller investigation and some smaller fighting scenes, watching a Gameplay Video is ALWAYS a SPOILER.

2. The Youtube Video Processing has washed out ALMOST ALL of the Filmgrain / Scanline Effect and a huge share of the Sepia toning. The Game doesn`t look like that, it looks more like watching an old VHS horror flic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=_tOE40VeE_w&vq=hd720


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ASTECH
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Posted: 1st Mar 2011 23:57 Edited at: 1st Mar 2011 23:59
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I don't want to patronize you so I'm going to be straight forward.
I think the game would have done more justice without the sepia shader.
Also, when you make contact with the armed enemies, I got killed almost
instantly. They shouldn't be able to get you through a wall in my opinion.

I was also able to see where every monster was in the map if the lighting
was bright enough (through the segments). I don't know if this was a glitch with the shaders
but it sort of killed it for me. At times, the game was really dark and
I think that would be because of the full screen shader. I think the
concept was there, but I think it did have a bunch small flaws that overall
added to a big impact for me. I think you tried your best with
what FPSC can do and I respect that. I just personally had these issues with
the game.

AMD Phenom II X6 3.2Ghz, 8GB DDR3 Extreme RAM,
ASUS M4N98TD EVO Motherboard, Nvidia 560 Ti 1GB DDR5
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Ertlov
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2011 00:02
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No offense taken.

However,

Quote: "I was also able to see where every monster was in the map if the lighting
was bright enough (through the segments). I don't know if this was a glitch with the shaders
but it sort of killed it for me."


this is a bug that has not occurred before on any of the systems.

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The Storyteller 01
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2011 00:24 Edited at: 2nd Mar 2011 00:25
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1. I am not done yet with my review, because I got killed 4 times now before the end and it's allready 00:25 pm where I live. I'll finish tomorrow

2. I LOVE that sepia look.

3. I got a funny bug on my first run - after killing the creeps their planar shadow(?) remained on my screen and moved along with my char (like tiny huds)


In case you find my grammar and spelling weird ---> native German speaker ^^
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Daniel wright 2311
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2011 01:11
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Well, I must say its real hard to belive this is a fpsc game, On my pc This looks like a pro game all together.It ran fast with no problems, I do think you should make it to where you never die becouse most all games are now this way and to be honest it sucks to have to keep watching the movie and loading the game over and over just to play it with one life. Thanks for the game

my signature keeps being erased by a mod So this is my new signature.
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Ertlov
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2011 08:06 Edited at: 2nd Mar 2011 08:16
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Quote: "it sucks to have to keep watching the movie "


you can skip the movie anytime by clicking the mosue

Quote: "because I got killed 4 times now before the end"


You know that you don`t have to fight all enemies, right?

However, the solution is pretty easy:



Quote: " I got a funny bug on my first run - after killing the creeps their planar shadow(?) remained on my screen and moved along with my char (like tiny huds)"


Hehe, I know that bug ^^ It`s more funny than annoying and yes, it`s the planar shadow.

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Wolf
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2011 12:04 Edited at: 2nd Mar 2011 12:04
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Did I mention that the gameplay in Anderson ...

...no wait...wrong threat.

Ah yeah! Into the DARK. Well...you'll get my review on 5th march then (You already have 0,25 points more in D0MINIK's than me )



-Wolf

God Helps the Beast in Me!
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D0MINIK
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2011 12:42 Edited at: 2nd Mar 2011 12:51
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Well, first, it's just my personal oppinion I'm trying to express in a quite common way of reviewing games for giving feedback. Not more than that, nothing serious.

This being said, second, actually this is not true:

Quote: "You already have 0,25 points more in D0MINIK's than me"


I actually rated Thanatophobia 9.5, so it's the other way round

Once again, let's be fair, which doesn't mean anything at all.


(Maybe Wolf would need another cup of coffee for such difficult mathematics in the morning)

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Wolf
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2011 13:08
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Quote: "
(Maybe Wolf would need another cup of coffee for such difficult mathematics in the morning) "


Most excellent idea! Will do!

Yeah...math really IS my weakness... which is also why I never learned how to code.

Quote: "
I actually rated Thanatophobia 9.5, so it's the other way round "


Awesome!



-Wolf

God Helps the Beast in Me!
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Ertlov
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2011 13:17 Edited at: 2nd Mar 2011 13:19
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Hehe, fully understood, and I really appreciate the way you write your reviews.

I for myself have learnt in the past to be never offended or pissed because of reviews. Instead of simply being glad on receiving a nice one or going mad on reading a bad review, a take a look WHO wrote it, from different poitns of view.

1. Especially among developers, I take a look at the skills and references of the pople either throwing their verbals stones or offering me their verbal candy. If Wolf gives me a lecture on level layouts, Rolfy on surface designs or Storyteller on Scripting, I`m not mad if the words are hard, I rather am grateful for the input and take it serious.
On the other hand, when someone who has never came up with a finished project or some remarkable achievement starts to spell heavy critics, I can take that serious as a gamers opinion, but not as a dev opinion, and if the same person then tries to lecture me on gamedesign, I grin and turn away.
I know some editors of Gaming magaziens that became editors because they didn`t make it into game business itself - and you can read their jealousy and frustration often enough when they write their reviews and try to lecture Peter Molyneux or Sid Mayer on how they could be better designers

2. I also take a look on how the person is reviewing in general. If someone here cries "OMG! AWESOME!" on any new project even if its an empty room with no LM, I can`t be proud on my work if he praises it.
When I find out that someone writes almost negative stuff on every game he reviews, I don`t take critics that hard.
Thanks god the "review & feedback trolls" that cried either "OMG! AWESOME!" or "BAD! UGLY! I COULD DO BETTER IF I WANT!" (although they never want to do so...) are not as present here as some years ago. They got almsot extinct ^^

If someone makes very constructive, detailled, funded reviews where each statement is based on solid argumentation (Storytellers reviews are a very good exampel for that, but you, Dominik, also try to be detailled enough to give the developer a clue why you like or dislike something), I`m really glad and thankful about that, even if the review is not in my favor.

And yes, in your view Wolf has taken slightly the lead. In mine too. That`s the reason why I consider offering a bounty on his head.
Dead or Alive.
No, wait...
Alive only.
His skills can be usefull if I tie him to a PC in my basement

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mgarand
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2011 15:17
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make sure you give him some food and coffee!

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Ertlov
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2011 15:21
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My coffee is legendary...

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mgarand
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2011 15:24
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thats why your game is great, isnt it

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Ertlov
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2011 15:31
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Thank you very much, but it`s rather "good" (to a certain degree), not "great". However, I plan to turn this into a full game and have the basic storyline and level Settings rolled out for 9-12 levels. If I go on, I hope to have some from the community here joining me.

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OutdoorGamer
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Posted: 3rd Mar 2011 01:12
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I'll try it out soon.

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Wolf
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Posted: 4th Mar 2011 12:10
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Quote: "If I go on, I hope to have some from the community here joining me."


I would like to help out as long as there is no basement or austrian coffee involved



-Wolf

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mgarand
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Posted: 4th Mar 2011 13:50
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Quote: "
I would like to help out as long as there is no basement or austrian coffee involved "


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Ertlov
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Posted: 4th Mar 2011 15:01
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Quote: "I would like to help out as long as there is no basement or austrian coffee involved "


1. Austrian Coffee is FAMOUS!

2. No basement except the one ingame

Ok, I`d like to have you as the gameplay Guru. So basically I`d make the general Layout of the levels, placement of some static entities e.t.c. and you`d bring the "life" into it based upon a GDD we work out together. But let`s discuss that on Skype or via mail.

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Metal Devil123
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Posted: 4th Mar 2011 16:34
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Maby it's just becouse I suck, but I keep dying on the first shooting enemy... I will try to get through it, but the level so far was great!
I love the brown look of this game. And the design is very good, you have alot of logical puzzles going there. Weirdly the first puzzle is the same puzzle as in Wolf's game...? I too get the weird thing where hte shadows of the enemies are under my feet all the time, but they're tiny. Never seen that one before. I love the storytelling and all the texts you got going on in there and the voiceacting is good, but the sound quality isn't all that great, but it didn't bother me too much. It was good. I liked the part where the "grendel" thing came and there was this horrified voice going on! The huds were good, especially the compass, that one was very good looking!

There wasn't that much bads, except that I had some lag here and there and I could shoot some enemies before they get up and attack me, but that's only becouse I know what's gonna come. But for a fair game I did go up to the enemies acting like I didn't know anything. And I really didn't know where I was getting shot at the first time around, but then I tried again and it was still very hard. But that's propably becouse I'm not propably that great shooter in games that I pretend to be

I can't give a final verdict yet, until I go through, but just to be fair, I wanted to post a review on your thread too. You'll get the rest of it after I can get trough that part

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Ertlov
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Posted: 4th Mar 2011 17:58 Edited at: 12th Aug 2011 22:21
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Quote: "Maby it's just becouse I suck, but I keep dying on the first shooting enemy..."


My girlfriend (who is thanksgod a graduee from the Art college in Linz and made the compass, she will also make new Splashscreens, buttons and so on as she says my work there hurts her eyes) also complained about that, but then she realized that the message about "additional cover" that comes with that enemy is the key to success and if you find out what is meant, the enemy is quite easy to defeat.

Also you DO NOT HAVE TO FIGHT HIM. THere are three (!!!) other ways to finish the level and you get a hint for EACH of them.

Quote: "Weirdly the first puzzle is the same puzzle as in Wolf's game...? "


Yeah, when I tested Wolfs game I immediately wrote him a skype message: "Mod Edit" Please do not use such terms at these boards. A warning point has been set against your profile Did you read my thoughts?"
It`s interesting how designers find similar ideas.

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Metal Devil123
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Posted: 4th Mar 2011 18:40 Edited at: 4th Mar 2011 18:41
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Quote: "It`s interesting how designers find similar ideas."

And at the same time and a game thats submitted to a same compo... conspiracy is no longer theory!!!
Quote: "Also you DO NOT HAVE TO FIGHT HIM. THere are three (!!!) other ways to finish the level and you get a hint for EACH of them."

I think I know 2... but I will keep trying to get through him!

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The Storyteller 01
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Posted: 5th Mar 2011 01:57 Edited at: 5th Mar 2011 02:41
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Finally I found the time to play the game a couple of times (6 to be exact) to the end and here is my review.

The Good:

- Uniqueness
Most FPSC games (no matter what quality) look somehow alike. To create something unique is probably the hardest to achieve. But this game does. That Sepia shader(?) and the lighting give the game something special. Personally I've played most Horror games that do exist (but for PC only)and the graphics of Into...the Dark reminded me of none of those. Also the custom segments helped to seperate the whole level from the "usual" FPS Horror.

- Storytelling
For a 1-level game, a lot of effort has gone into this: A long intro, a custom menu, voiceovers throughout the whole game and 2 different endings displayed as end screens. And the story is even told through 2 people. Thats what earns the title "game" even if there's only 1 level to play. The balance of combat and puzzle was also just the right mix to make the game an adventure instead of a simple shootout.

- Fear Factor
There are few rooms but each one is carefully built and includes not only bloody&gruesome but also disturbing details. The custom (I guess) x-rays where a (weird) pleasure to study even on my 6th run. Unfortunately the monsters can't fully live up to this.

The Bad:

- Text Huds
A much as I appreciate a lot of text, the hud scripts had one big problem - they displayed the text over and over again, Which resulted that in the 3rd room I couldn't move an inch without havin the screen plasterd with text. The puzzle scripts where completely whacked because they displayed the "you have allready etc" immediately after the puzzle was solved so that always 2 lines of text overlapped. Also the text lines/huds varied in font and size. I know this is a rushed game for a contest but compared to all the other efforts, modifying the scripts wouldn't have been too hard.

- Enemy placing
2 times the monster was spawning out of thin air. Thats not necessary, it can't be so hard to put a door onto the wall, a trapdoor into the floor, or a vent opening into the ceiling. Even worse these 2 spawned "dormant" lying on the floor which makes there appearance completely illogical. The human enemy also had no visible entrance route (as well as the player had no visible exit btw)

- Health packs
Searching for small ammo clips is fun (although its VERY hard to miss them in such a small level) but stumbling over unseen health packs isn't. While fighting the human enemy I was wounded several times and suddenly while straving left and right, it went "sshhhhh" and I was healed. And again. And another time. Very annoying.

The Ugly:

- Consistency
As much as I loved the room details they didn't fit together. On one hand we have a secretly gouvernment-supported scientific research operation, and on the other hand some maniac hacks bodies apart with a fireaxe? The Intro also speaks about taking pictures with a digicam but no voiceover or text mentions that a foto has been taken.

- The Good Ending
So the former drunk gets a 250.000 $ prize and the smart girl is suddenly havin a crush on him? Please, don't.....

On my personal game scale it's a hard-earned 3 out of 5 and I'd call it "A game, where a lot of effort has been taken to succesfully create something unique, but a number of avoidable flaws thwart these efforts."

In case you find my grammar and spelling weird ---> native German speaker ^^
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The Storyteller 01
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Posted: 5th Mar 2011 02:04
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Sorry for the double post but I didn't want this to get unnoticed in my review:

I would gladly offer my help for a full version of the game. Not only in playtesting but also in creating text-involved scripts and working on the storyline.

In case you find my grammar and spelling weird ---> native German speaker ^^
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Ertlov
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Posted: 5th Mar 2011 10:58
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Thanks a lot for the detailled feedback. And your offer is of course highly appreciated.

Come to where the madness is:
http://www.homegrowngames.at
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Ertlov
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Posted: 5th Mar 2011 12:11 Edited at: 5th Mar 2011 12:14
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OK, now that I had my coffe, more detailled:

Quote: " Personally I've played most Horror games that do exist (but for PC only)and the graphics of Into...the Dark reminded me of none of those.
"


Thanks a lot. You have almost the same words on that as a befriended game magazine editor who was the first trying to push us to make a full commercial game out of that.

Quote: "
- The balance of combat and puzzle was also just the right mix to make the game an adventure instead of a simple shootout.
"


Thanks again. This was indeed the main idea behind it.

Quote: "
There are few rooms but each one is carefully built and includes not only bloody&gruesome but also disturbing details. The custom (I guess) x-rays where a (weird) pleasure to study even on my 6th run. "


Some are from medical databases, one was sponsored by a firend of mine who is a doctor.

Quote: "
A much as I appreciate a lot of text, the hud scripts had one big problem - they displayed the text over and over again, Which resulted that in the 3rd room I couldn't move an inch without havin the screen plasterd with text. The puzzle scripts where completely whacked because they displayed the "you have allready etc" immediately after the puzzle was solved so that always 2 lines of text overlapped.
"


Fully agree on that. I had an issue with the graw text function I couldn`t resolve. Even with timer and then destroying the displaying entity it didn`t work out via scripting. THis is something where I could indeed need your help, but I didn`t want to cry for help during the contest.

Quote: "
Also the text lines/huds varied in font and size. I know this is a rushed game for a contest but compared to all the other efforts, modifying the scripts wouldn't have been too hard.
"


The graw texts and the graphical huds "picked up an item" differ from each other heavily. My girlfriend has already started to unify this and make it look far more sexier, but it was pretty clear she wouldn`t have that ready before march 5th so my placeholders are still in there.

Quote: "
Even worse these 2 spawned "dormant" lying on the floor which makes there appearance completely illogical.
"


That`s the only thing where I disagree with you. Putting something (especially an enemy or corpse) in a place where the player / viewer / reader has been before and that he sees on the second or third route (feeling safe because he already has been there), the creation of the "Weird, where does THIS come from" is an essential part of many horror movies / games / books and I like this very much. But I accept the other opinion. In fact, during a workshop on game design, I have seen an EPIC GAMES designer taking my point of view and a former Lucasarts designer taking your point of view and they almost fought each other on that ^^


Quote: "
The human enemy also had no visible entrance route (as well as the player had no visible exit btw)"


This is a bug.
Spoiler:




Quote: "
Searching for small ammo clips is fun (although its VERY hard to miss them in such a small level)"


Did you read the other review stating they are TOO HARD to find?

Quote: "
but stumbling over unseen health packs isn't. While fighting the human enemy I was wounded several times and suddenly while straving left and right, it went "sshhhhh" and I was healed. And again. And another time. Very annoying.
"


100% agree on that. Will work out either a good visibility or a different solution for regaining health during the game.

Quote: "
As much as I loved the room details they didn't fit together. On one hand we have a secretly gouvernment-supported scientific research operation, and on the other hand some maniac hacks bodies apart with a fireaxe?
"


True on that. I really tried to get a medical bonesaw and some scalpells, but the time wasn`t enough to make some on my own.

Quote: "
The Intro also speaks about taking pictures with a digicam but no voiceover or text mentions that a foto has been taken.
"


The papernotes were placeholders I spitted out with whatever came to my mind, but the real ones won`t be drawn (really drawn) before next week - end of contest. The digicam sentence came to my mind to explain why Pete has no gun in the beginning, although I realized later that it would be illogical to the enter the cabin of a dead 85yrs old with a gun anyway.

Quote: "
So the former drunk gets a 250.000 $ prize and the smart girl is suddenly havin a crush on him? Please, don't.....
"


She already had a crush on him before. See the notes. And it`s 500.000 bucks.

Quote: "
On my personal game scale it's a hard-earned 3 out of 5 and I'd call it "A game, where a lot of effort has been taken to succesfully create something unique, but a number of avoidable flaws thwart these efforts.""


As I AM aware of many flaws myself and as I know your other reviews, guessing that even Penumbra or Amnesia wouldn`t get a 5/5 measured with the same judgement base from you, I`m more proud than frustrated about that

And I believe - regarding to a full scale production - if you lend some help in the scripting, Wolf in gameplay, and if I work out the flaws I see as flaws too, and of course with overworking the enemies (bonds models are great, but the textures need some work for sore), the game could compete with serious ones.

BTW -attached a pic of the new loading screen level 1. All backdrop screens will have a conistent look soon and the buttons and hud pictures will fit in, too.

Come to where the madness is:
http://www.homegrowngames.at

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The Storyteller 01
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Posted: 5th Mar 2011 12:27 Edited at: 5th Mar 2011 12:29
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@Ertlov:

You are right on my judgement. I played them all and even Penumbra didn't get over 4/5. The only 2 Horror games that would get a 5/5 from me are Stalker 1 & 3 and Silent Hill 3

In case you find my grammar and spelling weird ---> native German speaker ^^
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Ertlov
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Posted: 5th Mar 2011 13:48
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I`d agree on Silent Hill, Stalker was for me more a 4.5 / 5, just because I expected more RPG freedom.

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Wolf
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Posted: 12th Mar 2011 02:48 Edited at: 12th Mar 2011 22:43
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here it is however, the reviews I write from now on are adjusted to the level of quality FPSC Games nowadays have and are not related to the old ones I wrote a while ago.
Everything that follows is my personal opinion only and not supposed to bash you in any way. Spelling and grammatic errors might be within.

Quote: "The Story"


The story is...very basic and absolutely nothing new. Anyway! Its well presented and pretty good executed. And to hell with "basic and absolutely nothing new" this is a one level competition and I will rate it that way. I'll include a little bonus for the video and the voicetelling.

70 %

Quote: "Overall Presentation"


The menuegraphics look like a monkey made them
I guess the deadline approached?
Event though it looked abysmal (I mean dude! The best part of anderson was the loading screen ) Sam's diary parts seemed a nice touch. The Video and the game's flow got you out again though.

38%


Quote: " Game HUD's, Scripting etc. "


Scripting is pretty good...even though the suddenly appearing switch and the enemie spawning downed it a bit. Overall good work though

68%

Quote: " Gameplay "


The Gameplay was good! I enjoyed the mix of small puzzles and shooting. It was a bit rough but really good. Especially for an FPSC Game.

55%

Quote: " Level-Design "


Simple...I don't get any "I'm in a shack" feeling. It has the boxy FPSC'ness. The Wallimages seem a bit abstract aswell.

A few flaws here and there like using the same ceiling texture as floor texture. But its quiet alright

Excellent for a one level competition though.


57%

Quote: "Graphics"


I liked the sepia effect. Even though I have to say it doesn't fit a modernday setting. Lightmapping was used quiet alright and the Postprocessing was a nice touch.
The shaded environment was cool...even though it had an artificial look here and there.
Retextures of stock media and variety was a missing bit though. Read more in the addendum.

65%

Quote: " Sounds "


You, good sir, have a very cute accent =:0]
Yeah, someone had to point it out. Other than that: the voice acting was excellent. B-Movie Loading and Ambient Music was cool I like how stereotypical it was. The Heartbeat sound effects added a lot to the ambience and gave an overall feeling of tension.

Using stock gunsounds and creature sfx (and those...abysmal...stepsounds) make you lose a few points though.

An other thing that screwed was that uber dramatic scream of the Special Ops Guy

75%

Quote: " Notes/ Addendum"


- Don't get my critics wrong, it was an awesome FPSC Game.

- "I'm in" ... yeah, thats pretty much the first thing pete says, but..is he some kind of Ghost that can walk through walls? There is actually no door behind him



- Please note: I do not want to sound harsh or arrogant, its just that my english IS limited.

-

-

Okay, even though it looks pretty cool... nobody performs working medical experiments in creating a "Homo Novus" on a base of rough pencil sketches and with fireaxes, combatknifes on nonsterile wooden desks.
There is actually no medical equipment anywhere and it looks more like a carpenters workshop than a research lab.



Since you're a pro, I think I can be as picky and point out that this light is not really glowing =) You can beat me now



The flying couch...it doesn't touch ground anywhere
Yeah, FPSC's Object rotation function is a bit enervating...but still... it hovers over the floor



That thing looks like plastic...

- That McGyver Joke made me litterally lough out loud! Nice idea!

- If I move forward while the speech sounds play in the beginning, they overplay each other...since I don't know how to say that in english, here it goes in german: ( Wenn ich einfach weitergehe während die Sprachsounds abgespielt werden und sofort die Treppe hochgehe, überlagern diese sich.)

- Pete actually notices that the corpses are real while I walk up the stairs, not while examining them.

- Sam notices the gunshots way too late.

Trivia

- The first puzzle in this game is the same one as in my entry game ...somehow scary how our minds thought alike...

- In Thanatophobia and Euthanasia, the maincharacter notices the smell of dead bodys and blood in the beginning... so it is in you're game.

- So, does Pete get Sam laied or not in the end?

- Why did you spawn enemies that lie on the ground? That killed it for me... its not like some creature would sneak in behind me and take a nap on the floor before it gets up and attacks me. X)



Quote: " Overall Rating "


68 % Conclusion: A well executed one level FPSC Game... not scary at all but entertaining and humorous and wonderfully B-Movieish
Something I would like to see a whole bunch of in the future!



-Wolf

God Helps the Beast in Me!
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Ertlov
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Posted: 13th Mar 2011 13:51
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Thanks for the review. To cut it short, I second every single line except

Quote: "The best part of anderson was the loading screen "


because the best part were the video cutscenes. Did I ever tell the story how a german judge wanted me to remove the cut scene where Heinrich Himmler (and yeah, the Actor looked really similar) appears and sentences Anderson to Death?



And yeah, you got it, I went more for B-Movie than for AAA-Horror. In the beginning I wanted to make it more serious, but wduring taking the voice acting I felt it would fit better to meet pulp fiction, and after implementing the MacGyver joke, the decision was irreversible

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Seth Black
FPSC Reloaded TGC Backer
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Posted: 13th Mar 2011 18:28 Edited at: 13th Apr 2011 18:07
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:::::REDACTED BY SETH BLACK:::::

...forget about it.

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Ertlov
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Posted: 14th Mar 2011 20:26
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This version is right now being improved and glitch-fixed, I`ll then repost the link.

After that and some pre-production, we`ll start a new W.I.P. Thread for the full version.

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Vrize Games
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Posted: 16th Mar 2011 18:20
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chill

how do you get the segments and beatifull textures
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Ertlov
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Posted: 18th Mar 2011 02:38 Edited at: 18th Mar 2011 02:38
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The segments are retextured and shadered Stock, MP and Community segments. I use Gimp, Photoshop and Crazybump for the textures which are either based on cgtextures pics or pictures taken with my EOS.

Sorry for quite some delay, I was pretty sick last week, but now I`m back at work and, yippyeah, finally, here we go with the polished version:





Download Link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?u436eghb4uad14s

Rar Password:



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kamac
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Posted: 24th Mar 2011 11:36
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Cool graphics ! I'll Download

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Roger Wilco
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Posted: 24th Mar 2011 16:20
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I must admit that the main characters' voice actor really put me off the first time I tried this. Some of the surface textures looked way too bumpy and/or shiny, but kudos for making a graphically heavy FPSC-game while still retaining a steady framerate!

I will try this again, and hopefully finish it, soon.

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blue fire games
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Posted: 4th May 2011 22:06
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like to try it but i right now am borrowing a freinds netbook becuase my macs in repair right now

note to self:dont leave the macbook on the side railing of your balcony

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Metal Devil123
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Posted: 10th May 2011 10:29
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Quote: "blue fire games "

What's with people randomly attaching files to their posts?

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