Messages

1

Early Dev / Re: Serial Killer Roguelike

« on: August 28, 2010, 01:53:31 PM »

Thanks again for the interest, as well as the content suggestions.

I've decided to cut back some of the features I was going to add to the alpha (mostly to do with the NPC's and their reactions) due to the overwhelming response that I've had. The game is a hot topic at the moment and it would be folly not to seize on that by getting it out there ASAP.

I'm going to fix the critical bugs, add a basic save system (so you can send me bugged characters) and finish coding the new interactions that I've started on. I'll spend this weekend and the next on it, at the most, then you'll have a playable version.

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Early Dev / Re: Serial Killer Roguelike

« on: August 26, 2010, 12:16:44 AM »

I posted another video, this time demonstrating the character generator. There are no stat limits yet.

Factions?

What kind of faction does serial murder join up with?

Partner serial murders are very rare. As our long distance serial murders.

Anyway.

How are you going to handle the defining characteristics of a serial murder?

Namely the; Ritual, Victim Type, Cool Off Period and Trophies?

Some of what posters have been suggesting would be closer to spree murders and mass murders, but they wouldn't be serial killers.

Also, how are you going to handle the psychology need to kill? And like most serial murders; how are you going to handle their self destructive spiral?

Factions won't be included for a long time, and they'll only be there for flavor if you want to play as different kinds of characters, and the missions themselves will be randomly generated. Most of the "extra" features won't be in there until the core game, which will always be about serial killers, is reasonably complete.

The video I just posted answers your second question. I hadn't thought about ritual though, that should most certainly be included down the line.

The cooling off aspect of serial killers will be in there, but not in the first release. It'll be one of the first things I work on after I get the alpha up to scratch. It will work like this : a kill, provided the victim suits the profile you create, will allow you to enter a cooling off period. The penalties and effects of the psychological conditions that you choose will lessen to a great degree. For example, a character that has the "Voices" psych trait will not hear them for some time after he kills.

As time passes, the need to kill will begin to return, and with it so will the increased psych effects and penalties, driving you to murder to retain the mask of sanity. Cooling off will most probably change with time, depending on the feedback I get when I add it.

3

Early Dev / Re: Serial Killer Roguelike

« on: August 25, 2010, 08:52:48 AM »

Thanks for the interest.  

Feature Bloat Request:  Just to complete the insanity, please add something of a Screw-Around Mode(Well, not really...you get the idea) where the player assumes the role of a proper Vampire/Werewolf/etc---proper as in not some Twilight nonsense.     The game's system just strikes me as SO ripe for such a mode...

I could eventually add a wizard mode with features like vampirism and lycanthropy, just for kicks, but they'd require a proper day & night cycle which won't be in there for some time.

I have a question. Do you plan on allowing players to have a semblance of a normal life (having a girlfriend/boyfriend/pet, a day job, etc) so we can have a cover story for our... unsavory deeds?

Another question: Will we ever be able to start our own gang, or if you're not evil, a band of vigilantes?

Automated day jobs (which you don't have to do, if you don't want to) will eventually be included, though I haven't decided the finer details of how they will be utilized. I have no plans to add relationships though.

There will be animals like cats and dogs roaming the streets and in people's back yards, and I'll probably have it so the dogs bark at you or attack if you trespass in their master's yard.

You won't be able to start your own gang, but you will be able to eventually join factions when they're implemented down the track.

What I hope to see is macintosh compatibility as I would not want to miss out on it.

It's coded in Java (probably should have mentioned that...) so there shouldn't be any problems.

Swat teams? They should only come if the criminal decided to hold someone hostage. Then the police officer calls for backup, backup arrives and surrounds the criminal.

What I'd like to do is booby trap homes to make them into death traps, maybe a little sleeping potion in the milk, or a time bomb in the utility closet right next to the gas heater. While watching it all from secretly placed spy cameras. But my day job will be a medical doctor for the criminal underground, healing gangsters.

Explosives and incendiary devices in general won't be available until I work out how to add fire that realistically spreads and destroys objects without wiping out entire districts. I'd need to add counter measures like firefighters that spawn after a certain amount of time so blazes can be extinguished.

Kulik, good suggestions and I already have plans for several of the things you mentioned.

4

Early Dev / Re: Serial Killer Roguelike

« on: August 23, 2010, 11:23:34 PM »

How long do you thing it be until we get that demo? If it's longer than a week or two could you let us try the current buggy test?

It'll probably take longer than that. A month, maybe two. I can't really give a solid estimate because I work on it sparingly, usually on the weekends. Sorry for being a tease by showing it off before release (probably should have waited) but I've spent a lot of time on it and I want it working decently before I let other people have at it.

In other news, I've got the frame work down for a thought log for your character, similar to that of Dwarf Fortress. "John is in an exuberant mood. He slaughtered someone recently." That's not what it'll say, but you get the idea.

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Early Dev / Re: Serial Killer Roguelike

« on: August 23, 2010, 08:06:24 PM »

I'm not entirely sure on the legal side of things on using real names like Dahmer/Dexter and whatnot though....might be better to keep things generic in that respect.

I would suppose an eventual goal is to add in sound, at least in the form of directional/environmental cues to a degree similar that DoomRL uses them?  Ambience would be pretty key for something like this, not to mention sound being a tactical thing to consider amidst the various roles you outline the player could choose from.

Very good point. I'll probably do away with the preset characters entirely. I also wouldn't disagree with anyone who thinks it's in bad taste to include real serial killers as player characters.

Sounds for the various actions are a distant goal. I'd spend more time looking for good samples than actually coding the game, and I have very little free time to spend working on it as it is. I also have a wife who glares disapprovingly at me whenever she catches me working on the game.  

This looks pretty damn cool, I must say.  I'm very impressed by the level of content and interaction, and in particular the depth of textual description.  It's all excellent, and I personally very much appreciate some of the dark humour there is to it  

I'd love to see a simple release some time.  It certainly looks to have a great deal of playability already.

Thanks! I basically followed the standard set by Adventure Mode in Dwarf Fortress, which is to deluge the player with an abundance of information about their surroundings and actions. Very effective at drawing players into the atmosphere of a game.

As for a release, I have to fix some of the glaring issues first. It took me a couple of attempts to record that video due to the various bugs and strange AI behaviors that I encountered and it's not unusual for the game to simply freeze, or AI characters to drop dead after receiving an attack that is as effective as a pin prick. Once those problems are out of the way I'll create a decently large neighborhood with a house for the player and release the first version.

6

Early Dev / Re: Serial Killer Roguelike

« on: August 23, 2010, 03:51:44 PM »

Thanks, though you shouldn't be put off by the premise. The gameplay will be as disturbing as you want it to be. You don't HAVE to go around slicing NPC's up for illogical reasons, but the option is there if you want to experiment with the different interactions.
In its release state, you will be able to play the game any way you want. You could join an organized crime faction and take on randomly generated contracts as a hitman, join the police force and take to using excessive force against criminals or simply burglarize homes and shops and sell the items at pawn shops. The end goal is to have an open world crime simulator with gory combat mechanics.

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Early Dev / Serial Killer Roguelike

« on: August 23, 2010, 02:08:34 PM »

Webmaster Edit: WARNING

This topic is being kept for historical reasons. It has been strongly suggested that the development of this game was just an hoax.

---------------

SERIAL KILLER

roguelike

This is my first attempt at creating a roguelike, and I've been working on it off and on for nearly five months now. It began as a Dexter roguelike, though I recently decided to generalize the game. As the title suggests, you play as a serial killer. The concept is grisly, though I wanted to try something unique when I started making it.

It's still early days though I have a video that demonstrates some of the core features that I've implemented thus far. It uses a graphical tileset that I scavenged them from various free sets. I'll add better tiles at a later point.

Current features :

* Basic material system and combat, heavily inspired by Dwarf Fortress. I've made skin, blood, oxygen and vital organ\artery layers, with more to come. You can remove any limb (eventually any vital organs as well), and characters can die from blood loss or suffocation. A limited number of bones can be broken at the present, but all it does is create pain which raises the chances of stunning and incapacitation. The system is considerably buggy at the moment. I recently bit someone and his entire body basically exploded into individual pieces.

* Character stats. Strength, agility, intelligence, charisma and attractiveness, health, sleep level, fatigue level and mental state are implemented. Mental states change depending on your actions and surroundings and will eventually be influenced by other factors like alcohol and drug use.

* Basic line of sight and stealth. Will be overhauled down the line.

* Crime tracking. Crimes in progress are tracked while you're committing them. These crimes will disappear if you go unnoticed. If a witness spots you committing a crime, they will call the police. If you commit a crime and leave the area before a cop or anyone else notices you, the crime disappears.

* Weapons. Only a limited number so far. Basic attacks are punch, kick and bite. Slashing weapons are implemented. Guns are there, though they are massively bugged at the moment.

* Targeted attacks. Attack specific body parts, with varying chances of success (and different effects) depending on your strength, agility, opponent and weapon. Characters can block your blows and can attempt to take your weapon from you.

* Basic AI. Civilian characters will either run, attack you or call for help when they spot you committing a crime. Victims scream at various volumes depending on what you're doing to them. Neighbors \ witnesses will call the police if they hear these, as demonstrated in the video. The current police are merely placeholders that spawn at the edge of the test district, moving to the scene of whatever crime you were seen or heard committing.

* Evidence. You can leave evidence at the scene of the crime, like bloody shoe prints, hand prints, bodily fluids, so on. There are no repercussions... yet.

The eventual goal is to create a large city with a day and night cycle, populated by NPC's who adhere to schedules. The NPC's will be clustered into factions (civilian, police, criminals, so on), so you can, if you wish, play like Dexter and find criminals to kill rather than civilians. I also plan to add day jobs that you can use to make money, as well as real estate to buy.
The police will eventually be overhauled, and they will investigate evidence you leave behind and try to establish a profile. The heat you receive will drastically increase if you kill people openly or fail to dispose of bodies before they are found. More heat will mean more police officers on the street, faster arrival time for police traveling to crime scenes and so on, which should provide a considerable degree of challenge.