Temple of The Roguelike Forums
Game Discussion => Early Dev => Topic started by: Alex E on July 03, 2012, 09:45:54 AM
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Introduction
Hey all!
For some time now, I've been creating a new roguelike named "Left Field Hotel".
(Out of Left Field - An idiom meaning "suddenly; from an unexpected source or direction; not expected or prepared for")
Anyway, the game is a survival horror roguelike set in a hotel. The game currently starts off with you waking up from bed in your hotel room to find that everyone else has disappeared. The hotel is empty...mostly.
I'm removing the download. The game has been completed and no longer needs any kind of testing. I'll continue to fix things up until the ARRL this September.
Gameplay
There is only one enemy right now. This enemy cannot be hurt and you are forced to hide and run from it. If it finds you, it will follow you around and even break down doors over time if they are in the way.
What's Else Is There?
The game includes a fairly complex damage system (at least in my opinion). There are 4 areas of damage. Head, Torso, Arms, and Legs. Each of these categories have many subcategories. Heads have eyes, nose, ears, mouth, forehead, temples, and other parts. Arms and Legs can be severed as well as other features. You are able to hold your breath (and faint if you hold it for too long), become paralyzed, and much more.
There is an option to hurt and/or kill yourself with whatever is in your hands. The most damaging items right now are the Knife and the Hammer.
Unlike usual roguelikes where the player is able to see around them, in Left Field Hotel you are able to see any tile that has light on it. Light is able to combine and become more bright if there are multiple light sources around.
All of the tiles in the game were created by me. The "?" Enemy is inspired from other artwork however. (If you know a bit about SCP's I think you'll guess what it is ;) ).
Things To Add
The world outside the hotel mostly right now. It will mainly be part of the storyline that will make sense once I add certain items and events into the game.
Photo
Here's an example of a lamp lighting the area around it. You can see a balcony and an open window as well as some objects in the room.
(http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/ZeroG3651/leftfieldhotel1.png)
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very reminiscent of amnesia in terms of the lighting mechanic. Looks fine, but obviously I can't really give meaningful feedback without a playable build ;)
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All of the tiles in the game were created by me. The "?" Enemy is inspired from other artwork however. (If you know a bit about SCP's I think you'll guess what it is ;) ).
I haven't the foggiest what it is, but I'm glad we're finally going to have SCPRL ;)
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I haven't the foggiest what it is, but I'm glad we're finally going to have SCPRL ;)
Well at least you've heard of them!
I've added the first playable build with a link up in the first post. Tell me what you think about it!
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All of the tiles in the game were created by me. The "?" Enemy is inspired from other artwork however. (If you know a bit about SCP's I think you'll guess what it is ;) ).
I'm happy to see that we now [DATA EXPUNGED]. I wish you all the [REDACTED] you can get.
Your fellow researcher ███████
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I'm happy to see that we now [DATA EXPUNGED]. I wish you all the [REDACTED] you can get.
Your fellow researcher ███████
SCP-████ was recovered from site ███ █████ on █/██/19██. Attempts to contain it were met with [DATA EXPUNGED].
I am trying to add elements of SCP's into the game as I work on it ;).
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Here's a news update:
In the past two days I've added new sound effects to cabinets, doors, and lamps. Sometimes you will see a blood trail. Following it will lead you to a surprise.
There was a big update to the "?" Enemy. You can now hide from the it. If the enemy loses you it will search around for a while until it either finds you or leaves. Hiding in shadows will decrease the chances of it finding you. If you are found you can still try to outrun it or lock yourself in a room and hide.
Next I want to add fire and possibly a small tutorial for the controls. I'll be updating the playable build once I get at least the tutorial done.
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News Update:
After spending a few days working on the fire system, I felt that it just didn't "work" with the game. Too bad too, I already had the player able to catch fire, have the fire spread, have the fire travel across gasoline trails, and have fire burn down tiles. I had to get rid of all of that.
After getting rid of the fire and the fire items (Gasoline, ect) I started on the stairwell room. Stairwells will be the third type of room you may encounter. They will bring you up and down floors, creating a new environment each time. I also limited the amount of bathrooms you can have per floor to 1, as well as the stairwells.
As well as all that, I added a new item. A Flashlight. Using (u) it will turn it off and on. By default, the flashlight is in your hands as soon as you start the game. It's brighter than the match, so I probably should add a charger to the flashlight later on. This will not be the case in the future.
I added an updated build for windows in the first post. I still haven't fixed item transparency though, something I'm saving for once I get all of the item images done for the game (And I still have to think of many of those items).
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News Update:
I finished staircases and elevators. Up to one of each can appear per floor. Later, elevators will be much rarer as they lead you out of the hotel.
I added note items, which will later be used to tell a story.
I made it so that you start the game with a single match as your only source of lighting. Your first goal will primarily be to find a flashlight as a more permanent solution for light. Flashlights are far less common than other items, however. I'm not going to update the playable build yet. There's still a few things I want to add.
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Some remarks from me:
1. When I pressed "u", it took me a long while before I figured out what to press then to select a flashlight. Expected [enter] or [space].
2. Player is unable to control movement with arrow keys, only numpad arrows seem to work.
3. No 'Look' command or something that would allow to learn what certain objects are.
4. No way to comfortably pick up several items in a row.
Besides, it was fun to explore the building, at least until that Pacman-like characted jumped out and ate me. Looking forward to see a more playable version soon :).
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Some remarks from me:
1. When I pressed "u", it took me a long while before I figured out what to press then to select a flashlight. Expected [enter] or [space].
2. Player is unable to control movement with arrow keys, only numpad arrows seem to work.
3. No 'Look' command or something that would allow to learn what certain objects are.
4. No way to comfortably pick up several items in a row.
Besides, it was fun to explore the building, at least until that Pacman-like characted jumped out and ate me. Looking forward to see a more playable version soon :).
I'll be adding a tutorial and a better control scheme later on, but I probably should have made it more clear on how to select things (I just think it's easier to always keep your hand on the numpad).
As for the enemy, did you figure out how to hide from it? Since this playable version, I've made it a bit easier.
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As for the enemy, did you figure out how to hide from it? Since this playable version, I've made it a bit easier.
No. I like horrors where only one thing is worse than the hordes of monsters that can be encountered: me. Running and hiding makes me feel pathetic. I hope this is not the only planned way to play this game :).
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No. I like horrors where only one thing is worse than the hordes of monsters that can be encountered: me. Running and hiding makes me feel pathetic. I hope this is not the only planned way to play this game :).
At the moment it kind of is. Feeling weak and pathetic makes a game scary. If you can just kill all of the monsters than it loses the scary feel of it. But I'll take your feedback into consideration :).
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At the moment it kind of is. Feeling weak and pathetic makes a game scary. If you can just kill all of the monsters than it loses the scary feel of it.
Not at all! I've played a lot of games with horror feel where you were able to slay monsters and they were still scary. If a game is balanced properly, even killing a monster doesn't give you a sense of ultimate power. You rather think: "Damn, I've barely killed it, if I didn't have so much luck I'd already be dead!".
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Not at all! I've played a lot of games with horror feel where you were able to slay monsters and they were still scary. If a game is balanced properly, even killing a monster doesn't give you a sense of ultimate power. You rather think: "Damn, I've barely killed it, if I didn't have so much luck I'd already be dead!".
There definately are ways to make combat scary, especially if every fight can be worth your life. But either way, you need to feel weak and pathetic. I should probably consider having some sort of enemies that tie into the story (which the current build won't show, so don't look yet!). However, I'll still include "?" enemy, since I think it's a change of pace and tension :).
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I think we're seeing a clash of "Kratos versus the Titan" and "Lovecraft versus the Kythquilguyth'olk" here.
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News Update:
Police "Do Not Cross" Lines have been added, as well as chalk body outlines. Multiple story-based items have been added, such as the portrait, news articles, notes, and other things. Some Apartment rooms will not have side rooms anymore, so apartments are a bit more varied now. A Guilt Meter has been added at the bottom right corner, that will go up and down according to things you've done. It's still being re-worked for story purposes, and a negative impact is also being developed. Being in the darkness for too long will slowly increase the guilt meter, but going back into the light will decrease it back to where it used to be.
Here's an example of a room will Police "Do Not Cross" Lines.
(http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/ZeroG3651/leftfieldhotelpl.png)
I'm still not going to release this as a playable build yet, even though many things have been added. I don't want to release another until I make a few more much needed tweaks and changes.
Also, a Linux and Mac Port may actually be possible in the future, though I recently said otherwise. Not sure when, it depends on a lot of technical issues.
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News Update:
I uploaded a new version of the game which you can find on the first post of this thread.
Some of the controls have been changed a bit, and you can find all of the controls by pressing Escape and going to Controls.
Oh ya, and an escape menu was also added.
I need to add guilt penalties and a proper tutorial next. There also needs to be a way to beat the game.
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The game is about done. I just need to add some sound effects and graphics before it's finished.
You can now complete the game and escape the hotel.
Having your guilt be too high will cause you to begin to harm yourself with weapons. If you don't lower your guilt right away you will commit suicide.
There is now tutorial (a sort) in the game. Depending on what you're doing, different hints will pop up on screen, such as "Press <d> to drop objects". The hints will also attempt to help you if you're stuck trying doing something to progress the adventure. You can disable the hints in the main menu if you want to.
I also got rid of a some of the controls that were just plain annoying and unneeded.
Other stuff was added, but I forgot what.
I'm not updating the link for the game on the first post (and I don't recommend playing it unless you just want to test it out due to problems and errors I did not notice before releasing it). I will continue to do minor changes and fixes until the ARRL this September where I release the game.
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is there an ascii mode?
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is there an ascii mode?
Not at the moment. Do you prefer ascii over graphical tiles? I can make an ascii mode for those who prefer it.
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is there an ascii mode?
Not at the moment. Do you prefer ascii over graphical tiles? I can make an ascii mode for those who prefer it.
Personally, yeah. I prefer ascii instead of graphics tiles most of the time.
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If I can make it "work" I'll do it. But I can't promise anything.
By "work", I mean redoing the items to work with the ascii tileset. I should have planned out having it be ascii when I started, but oh well.
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1. When I pressed "u", it took me a long while before I figured out what to press then to select a flashlight. Expected [enter] or [space].
2. Player is unable to control movement with arrow keys, only numpad arrows seem to work.
3. No 'Look' command or something that would allow to learn what certain objects are.
4. No way to comfortably pick up several items in a row.
This.
And these,
1. - Breaking out of windows, need some kind of z-level warning that your about to jump out of the side of the building x-stories down.
2. - Stairs? Bugged? I kept trying to go down the stairs but never got to the bottom.
3. - Health system needs more use.
4. - I don't really like how you slowly kill yourself when in darkness. I suggest some other type of negative effect. (smaller FoV, paranoia, slower movement, etc.)
Other than that, it looks promising! ;D The scary sound effects go with it pretty well.
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1. When I pressed "u", it took me a long while before I figured out what to press then to select a flashlight. Expected [enter] or [space].
2. Player is unable to control movement with arrow keys, only numpad arrows seem to work.
3. No 'Look' command or something that would allow to learn what certain objects are.
4. No way to comfortably pick up several items in a row.
This.
And these,
1. - Breaking out of windows, need some kind of z-level warning that your about to jump out of the side of the building x-stories down.
2. - Stairs? Bugged? I kept trying to go down the stairs but never got to the bottom.
3. - Health system needs more use.
4. - I don't really like how you slowly kill yourself when in darkness. I suggest some other type of negative effect. (smaller FoV, paranoia, slower movement, etc.)
Other than that, it looks promising! ;D The scary sound effects go with it pretty well.
Actually, the stairs are meant to go on forever. The only way to escape is to encounter certain things in the world first. Other than that, yes, it has some problems, but I stopped working on this game a while ago and I'm onto new projects :(