(https://i.imgur.com/f83Maie.png)
Whether the dreams brought on the fever or the fever brought on the dreams Walter Gilman did not know. - H.P. Lovecraft, The Dreams in the Witch House
WISHLIST NOW!
STEAM: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1902850/Dreams_in_the_Witch_House/ (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1902850/Dreams_in_the_Witch_House/)
GOG: https://www.gog.com/en/game/dreams_in_the_witch_house (https://www.gog.com/en/game/dreams_in_the_witch_house)
Story :
Walter Gilman has just moved to Arkham and is starting his studies at the Miskatonic University. The Dombrowski's boarding house where he resides has a bad reputation, but Walter doesn't mind the old rumours.
Until the dreams start. Can Walter hang on for two months and suffer through the dreaded May-Eve when witches roam the earth and the slaves of Satan gather for nameless rites and deeds?
Description:
The Witch House is an urban survival adventure game, where the player has to survive for two months, and face the May-Eve night. The game combines RPG elements to classic adventure game genre.
The player can choose to explore the old rumours, read the forbidden books at Miskatonic University, or concentrate on studies and keeping Walter in a good physical and mental state.
Based on the short story "Dreams in the Witch House" by H.P. Lovecraft.
Features:
- Open world sandbox meets traditional point and click adventure game
- Set in the late 1920's Arkham city
- Advancing time and day/evening/night - cycles
- RPG elements: Money, health, sanity, hunger and several other character states
- Random events, city activities and encounters
- Several endings depending on player's actions
- 320 x 180 pixel graphics
- Two click-interface
- Music by Troy Sterling Nies (Call of Cthulhu, The Whisperer in the Darkness)
Release date: February 16th 2023
Developer: Atom Brain Games
Publisher: Bonus Stage Publishing (https://bonusstage.co/)
Teaser Trailer:
https://youtu.be/Z889XCE-Zq0
Screenshots:
(http://i.imgur.com/XDxM7eY.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/QLuhG8J.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/wvnXbmO.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/2VUQjlt.gif)
OH HELL YES!!!
A Lovecraft inspired adventure/resource-survival game with those beautiful graphics?!
Colour me riveted!
Really a good looking project :).
I'm stopping my life until this is done.
Waiting...
this is an awesome idea for a game. The mechanics sound really fun and the graphics look great already, yeah, best of luck with the project and post lots of updates please :)
That witch house looks great in that painting style but also almost too friendly. or maybe this is intentional to deceive the player :)
Thanks for the comments! I'll update the page now and then, there is quite a lot of things already done, but don't want to spoil the exciting stuff too much.
Selmiak, that's a interesting comment about the house looking too friendly. You are right that I don't want it to look too much like a "haunted house". Things will get grim, but at start it's just another old house. I think that Arkham is presented many times too ghastly, like it's almost a cemetary. But ofcourse the right balance is important, it can't be a fairytale house either.
Quote from: rongel on Mon 21/08/2017 16:53:34
I think that Arkham is presented many times too ghastly, like it's almost a cemetary. But ofcourse the right balance is important, it can't be a fairytale house either.
I think your balance of normality vs. disturbing is fine in relating to the Lovecraft genre.
His locations were rarely over-the-top gothic-horror edifaces in the way that Poe would have written them and he usually had his most terrifying characters living behind plain, if slightly affluent, doors.
I love this take on horror, which has carried over into Stephen King and Clive Barker, amongst others, in our modern time:
The feeling that the worst horror imaginable could be just behind the door of that house you pass by every day...
Much scarier than a huge gothic castle perched on a mountaintop...
Duuuude!
Looks really good. I don't know about this passing of time and survival stuff, though.
Looks fantastic! Interesting concept as well. Added to the wishlist!
This page needs some animation:
(http://i.imgur.com/yBWlnXb.gif) (http://i.imgur.com/xd1vsQd.gif) (http://i.imgur.com/u06dDoC.gif)
Walter Gilman, Landlord Mrs. Dombrowski, and a generic Arkham Citizen marching away.
Quote from: rongel on Wed 23/08/2017 09:46:52
This page needs some animation
Totally agree with that !
I'm in love with this project! I wish you luck!
Oh hell yeah...this looks awesome!!
Quote from: SarahLiz on Fri 25/08/2017 20:44:38
Oh hell yeah...this looks awesome!!
Quote from: xBRANEx on Wed 23/08/2017 13:11:27
I'm in love with this project! I wish you luck!
Thanks, nice to hear that!
Another screenie:
(http://i.imgur.com/U7WZinC.jpg)
Walter is attending a lecture at Miskatonic University. At this moment there are four lectures and exams that you can attend (but you don't have to!). If you have studied enough, you'll get better grades. There is also a little query in exams that checks if you remember what you have read, so that affects the grades too.
Currently working with the university library, and building a system how to borrow borrow specific books for the right course. The occult books are kept under lock and key, and you need a special permission from the Chief Librarian Dr. Armitage to use those.
I love Lovecraft & this gorgeous pixel-art is simply amazing. Good luck with this project :D
The lobby of the Dombrowski's lodging house:
(https://i.imgur.com/FDh34aR.jpg)
Walter is complaining about the scurrying of the rats.
Hey rongel! I like this game premise a lot! Re read the Cthulu mythos in a pretty book recently last week and I really like your screenshots. Your art reminds me of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks. You seem to be advancing fast, which is awesome! I really want to play your game! :-D
I agree, the artwork and graphics are really amazing! ;-D
I so need to play this game.
Lovecraft, gorgeous graphics, and what sound like deep gameplay mechanics.
Win, win, win!!!
Thanks all! :-D
It's my first time working on pixel graphics, so the art style formed quite naturally, it sort of just became that way. My background is in animation, so that helps too!
These screen caps are quite old, and there is more stuff in the storage. Miskatonic University is keeping me occupied currently, as it's a big block in the game.
Is this going to be a commercial release?
Quote from: ClickClickClick on Thu 07/09/2017 17:47:32
Is this going to be a commercial release?
Short answer is that I don't know yet! This started as a hobby project, but is much more serious work now. And I still want to continue without any limits or deadlines. Publishing the game is something that I have no experience on. I have some plans/hopes but nothing concrete yet. So the answer is maybe!
Quote from: rongel on Tue 29/08/2017 06:45:01
There is also a little query in exams that checks if you remember what you have read, so that affects the grades too.
Hopefully Walter will have a photographic memory or at least have that option. Maybe some sort of mechanic where Walter can do all the remembering for you and then he'll know what the correct answers are on the test?
Spoiler
Having read the original story am I correct in assuming that it is possible to get killed? Will there be a way to defeat the witch without getting killed by her familiar at the end?
Quote from: mkennedy on Thu 07/09/2017 22:47:37
Hopefully Walter will have a photographic memory or at least have that option. Maybe some sort of mechanic where Walter can do all the remembering for you and then he'll know what the correct answers are on the test?
Spoiler
Having read the original story am I correct in assuming that it is possible to get killed? Will there be a way to defeat the witch without getting killed by her familiar at the end?
When you study for a test, Walter will read aloud the answers. Then when you take a test, it's a multiple choice query, and if you have studied enough, the right answer (which Walter had read aloud before) will be available. But this system is not ready yet, so there might be some changes too. Main thing is that it requires some interaction, and is a small puzzle in itself.
Spoiler
Walter can die during the game. Like in survival games, you must eat and you can get sick or injured. So these deaths are unscripted events. There will be several endings, and unlike in the short story, you can survive and defeat Brown Jenkin. But ofcourse you could suffer the same fate as in the story too...
(https://i.imgur.com/OrYhMFq.jpg)
It's been a while since I posted last time, so here's an update! As you might have guessed, that is the main menu, the starting screen. I'll tweak it more later on, but it will do for now. Maybe the buttons need bit more polish/sparkle... Suggestions and other comments are very welcome! I played around with the Smooth Scroll module, and was able to do a nice parallax tilt to the Witch House. You'll see it a bit later, when I have time to do my first video.
As the Halloween approaches, I'll be posting more stuff, and this time it's the scary, evil stuff. You might get a glimpse of Brown Jenkin, or even Keziah! 8-0
The way "WITCH HOUSE" is written makes me think of old cartoons somehow. The rest is absolutely fine. Great background image.
Quote from: ClickClickClick on Sun 15/10/2017 13:22:53
The way "WITCH HOUSE" is written makes me think of old cartoons somehow.
Yes, I was thinking that the "house" is almost like "mouse", so it might remind of old Mickey Mouse posters (laugh). But really I was trying to get old, pulpy horror movie poster feeling to it.
I am seriously drooling over this. Looks amazing :D
Quote from: shaun9991 on Sun 15/10/2017 19:50:20
I am seriously drooling over this. Looks amazing :D
+1
I agree, the background is amazing! I like the Witch House font, maybe you can try toning down the red slightly, but other than that I think it looks great! ;-D
Thanks for the comments! Here's a new one:
(https://i.imgur.com/ZO9E4Sm.gif)
Something strange is happening in the Witch House. It must be a dream, right?
Ah, I'm sure that glowing pink portal in the wall is nothing to worry about, back to sleep...
Looks great, as have all your screenshots so far! I'm not familiar with Lovecraft but the game has intrigued me. The light RPG systems sound really novel.
Lovecraft inspires so many adventure games!
I dig your style. The animations look neat too.
awesome.
though that portal would make books, table, chair, bed and lamp throw some shadows...
Quote from: Pilchard on Fri 20/10/2017 09:40:16
Looks great, as have all your screenshots so far! I'm not familiar with Lovecraft but the game has intrigued me. The light RPG systems sound really novel.
Thanks! I hope that the game will be totally enjoyable to people who don't know anything about Lovecraft. This story is quite different than the usual "Cthulhu Mythos" stories. It's more concentrated on the main character, and you don't have to know anything about the Old Ones etc. Still Lovecraft fans will get an extra kick out of it, I hope.
The Lite RPG-system/open world mechanism was something I wanted to try and I feel it fits the story well. The problem is that it takes a lot of time to make it all work, and possibility of bugs goes way up. Also, I want that the game has a good replay value (Walter might die half-way through the game!), so the puzzles should have some variation each time. Good thing is that I have learned a lot scripting doing this. The code is a bit messy, but it's slowly getting better. Just learned about floating point numbers yesterday! (laugh)
Quote from: Creamy on Fri 20/10/2017 17:05:04
Lovecraft inspires so many adventure games!
I dig your style. The animations look neat too.
Quote from: selmiak on Fri 20/10/2017 18:48:01
awesome.
though that portal would make books, table, chair, bed and lamp throw some shadows...
Thank you! :-D
Maybe the community could advice me a bit... I'm thinking about changing the resolution of the game. It's currently 320 x 200, so if people will play it fullscreen with 16:9 monitors, there will be black borders, or an ugly stretch effect. I kind of just noticed that when I upgraded AGS to 3.4.0.16 version, I could use 320 x 180 resolution which would fill the screen nicely and pixel perfect.
Of course making that kind of change seems a bit daunting. But I feel it's easier to design rooms and graphics for 16:9 aspect ratio. The inventory is hidden normally so I have the full screen height to use anyway. Gui's have to be re-designed, but that's not that big of a problem, because I haven't really worked on those. Bigger problem is if I crop my backgrounds, I'll lose my hotspots, walkbehinds etc. But is there something else I should consider, something that might cause bigger problems? Currently I feel that the extra work would be worth it.
20 pixels doesn't seem like much but at this low res it's quite a lot going missing.
I can't speak for others but I play AGS games in a window, mostly 2x or 3x scale.
Here you go, input.
Quote from: ClickClickClick on Thu 26/10/2017 10:58:35
Here you go, input.
Thanks for the input! Yes, every pixel counts. Somehow I feel that playing the game on full screen feels more like playing "real" game. Those black borders might raise questions to casual gamer. I made some test with 320 x 180 px, the backgrounds didn't suffer that much, 10 pixels off from top and bottom. And those parts usually haven't got anything important going on. I enjoy that I can have full screen mode and there isn't any stretching going on. I still have to think about it, like you said, quite a lot pixels would be lost, and more work with the background tweaking.
The "casual gamer" won't go for low res games even if they come in the right aspect ratio. Wadjet Eye games have a small but dedicated player base who like the graphics as they are, and the Steam forums for said games get the occasional "this looks like crap" threads by people who wouldn't buy them anyway.
go for 16:9, it is so much smoother when playing in fullscreen on a 16:9 monitor, and a 16:9 monitor is pretty much a standard household item nowadays. keep the graphics pixely and oldschool but adapt bto modern screen resolution. :)
I too would say go for it!
After I drew a few backgrounds for a game I'm currently working on I decided to crop 20 pixels in heigth too. It's not that much of a difference, but really worth it I think. It's nice not to have black borders on the sides.
Your game looks really nice btw, keep it up!
Would it be possible to keep the back backgrounds as they are, but give the player the choice of whether they wish to see boxes on the borders or to crop the images? Though this would require having to figure some way to get the engine to crop the images for you you and I don't know how difficult that would be to code.
Yes, I think that I'm going with the 16:9 aspect. It's more work, but looks more professional in my opinion too. I think it's also easier to desing rooms to 16:9, I've had problems with the room heights, all the action happens in the middle part of the screen, and the top and bottom is usually just dead space.
Happy Halloween from Keziah Mason! Watch out or she'll get you! 8-0
(https://i.imgur.com/SBiVG0Q.gif)
This looks Excellent. Well done 8-)
Only issue will be if it is challenging for those of us who belong to the cult and thus have read the story (laugh)
The graphics look great :shocked: can't wait
Man, the game looks incredible! The character design, animation, the backgrounds, it all just oozes style and atmosphere. And those flickering reflections in the last image! :shocked:
Very good work. Keep up the good work, man :D
Quote from: KyriakosCH on Sat 04/11/2017 00:41:37
This looks Excellent. Well done 8-)
Only issue will be if it is challenging for those of us who belong to the cult and thus have read the story (laugh)
Thanks! I hope so, it might give you a slight upper hand, but thats only fair. The RPG-elements and other events require also bit of strategizing.
Quote from: Mini_Doom on Sat 04/11/2017 06:36:08
The graphics look great :shocked: can't wait
Quote from: Fitz on Sun 05/11/2017 07:47:16
Man, the game looks incredible! The character design, animation, the backgrounds, it all just oozes style and atmosphere. And those flickering reflections in the last image! :shocked:
Quote from: Surdy on Mon 06/11/2017 15:57:47
Very good work. Keep up the good work, man :D
Thanks everyone!
Been working a lot with the game recently, but progress is slow with these things. Still I think I've made more progress this autumn, than in the whole last year...
Wonder what would happen if you threw a bucket of water on Keziah Mason? It worked in the Wizard of Oz! :grin: Though I imagine in this game it would only annoy her and cause her to do something nasty to you.
Sorry it's been a while since the last update! Good news is that I've been busy working with the game and made some progress.
I wanted to show you something bit different this time. This background is still a bit work-in-progress, but I wanted to share it with you before the Christmas holidays. It's one of the dream scenes, a very alien place with a strange geometry and physics.
(https://i.imgur.com/2VUQjlt.gif)
Actually it's a mini-game with several stages and parallax scrolling, and this is the first part of it. It's been a lot of work figuring this out, and because there is a lot of animation going on, it will probably be the most resource-heavy scene in the whole game (I hope that it runs smoothly with older computers...). Anyway, I hope you like it, and happy holidays!
Let me say
Spoiler
wow
Spoiler
(laugh)
Very stylish. The colors and animations are great!
this is getting better and better. Is this an old vinyl record in the top right? ;-D
Quote from: selmiak on Wed 20/12/2017 23:34:54
Is this an old vinyl record in the top right? ;-D
You're not the first person saying that... But no, it's not, you will see it in the game when you scroll up to the next stage. I can say that it's more cosmic than a vinyl record. :-D
Another screenshot, this time we are inside the Miskatonic University. Still a bit under construction though!
(https://i.imgur.com/88n9Bki.jpg)
This is the reading room where you can study for your exams, or study maths and occult (the really powerful occult books are stored in the basement and you need a permission to examine them). You can also study in your own room, but there might be strange disturbances which can break your concentration... At the right edge is the card file, where you can check the location of the books in the library. After you know the book's location, you can go and find it, and borrow it from the librarian. And behind the door is professor Armitage's office. So this is a place you will be spending quite a lot of time.
And when it's a cold day, there's also a nice fire in the fireplace :-D
Hey, it's Groucho Marx!
I love everything about this project.
Quote from: rongel on Wed 10/01/2018 18:30:44
this is a place you will be spending quite a lot of time.
This can turn me on or off depending on the feel of the place.
In this case I look forward to spending time there so job well done!
Quote from: rongel on Wed 10/01/2018 18:30:44This is the reading room where you can study for your exams, or study maths and occult (the really powerful occult books are stored in the basement and you need a permission to examine them). You can also study in your own room, but there might be strange disturbances which can break your concentration... At the right edge is the card file, where you can check the location of the books in the library. After you know the book's location, you can go and find it, and borrow it from the librarian. And behind the door is professor Armitage's office. So this is a place you will be spending quite a lot of time.
What about a little side research off the main route?
_
Quote from: Cl... on Wed 10/01/2018 18:52:04
Hey, it's Groucho Marx!
If you mean the librarian lady, I didn't see it first, but now that you said it... We'll fix it!
Quote from: Mandle on Thu 11/01/2018 05:31:44
This can turn me on or off depending on the feel of the place.
In this case I look forward to spending time there so job well done!
Great to hear that! It was somehow quite difficult to design that room, because there needs to be a lot of functionality. I hope I have some time to add few extra decorations there.
Quote from: Bavolis on Thu 11/01/2018 02:18:52
I love everything about this project.
Thanks! I'm a fan of your work too!
Quote from: TheFrighther on Thu 11/01/2018 09:06:01
What about a little side research off the main route?
Well, actually I forgot to tell that Walter is working on a theory, which combines magic with science. So you can also work on that (your occult and math skills add to your theory), and if you manage to write a proper thesis, you can publish it in the University newspaper, and get some pocket money!
Will this game be taking place during the prohibition? It might be an interesting play through if Walter were to blow off his classes and spend all his time in speakeasies and pool halls, though I imagine if he gets arrested or expelled that would probably bring the game to an early end. :grin:
Quote from: mkennedy on Thu 11/01/2018 11:54:58
Will this game be taking place during the prohibition? It might be an interesting play through if Walter were to blow off his classes and spend all his time in speakeasies and pool halls, though I imagine if he gets arrested or expelled that would probably bring the game to an early end. :grin:
Yes, it's set in unspecified year in late 1920s or very early 1930s. There is a puzzle dealing with getting alcohol through shady methods. Maybe alcohol also restores sanity/warmth for a while, but I've not yet that far in the game. Probably no pool halls though...
Quote from: rongel on Thu 11/01/2018 14:38:32
Probably no pool halls though...
Awwww...But stereotyped purplely-written lowlife thugs is an awesome Lovecraft trope!!!
(While working on Chronicle Of Innsmouth I had so much fun writing the lines for the smugglers, making their slang piratey terms just ridiculous enough so that it might feel like something HPL himself had penned...He seriously had no idea how any real person below his own social level talked...)
Quote from: rongel on Tue 19/12/2017 17:29:28
Sorry it's been a while since the last update! Good news is that I've been busy working with the game and made some progress.
I wanted to show you something bit different this time. This background is still a bit work-in-progress, but I wanted to share it with you before the Christmas holidays. It's one of the dream scenes, a very alien place with a strange geometry and physics.
(https://i.imgur.com/2VUQjlt.gif)
Actually it's a mini-game with several stages and parallax scrolling, and this is the first part of it. It's been a lot of work figuring this out, and because there is a lot of animation going on, it will probably be the most resource-heavy scene in the whole game (I hope that it runs smoothly with older computers...). Anyway, I hope you like it, and happy holidays!
This will certainly be a very stylish game. Looks awesome :)
Btw, Platonic solids=Cthulhu.
Quote from: Mandle on Thu 11/01/2018 15:00:44
Awwww...But stereotyped purplely-written lowlife thugs is an awesome Lovecraft trope!!!
Agreed! But don't worry, there will be at least one tough street kid hanging around in Orne's Gangway, and hopefully also a band of muggers.
By the way, nice work on Chronicle of Innsmouth, I was naturally very interested to see how it turned out!
Can't wait Please, hurry up :D
Hello again, just realized it's been over a month since last udpate...
Anyways, now it's time for some announcements:
First of all, the game has a sound designer! Antti is a very talented sound designer, who's been working mostly on television and movies. We have also worked together earlier, and he's a great guy, so I'm very happy that he's onboard. Now I can focus more on the other aspects of the game, and don't have to worry about the audio that much.
Secondly, the game has a composer! Drum roll...
Troy Sterling Nies has agreed to compose the music for The Witch House!
I had the pleasure of meeting Troy at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival last year, and I'm thrilled that he was interested in The Witch House. Troy has worked on several H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society's projects, including the feature films The Whisperer in Darkness and The Call of Cthulhu. You can listen Troy's music on his Bandcamp-page: (https://troysterlingnies.bandcamp.com/)https://troysterlingnies.bandcamp.com/
I couldn't be happier about our little team! So no new screenshots this time, eventhough the game has progressed nicely lately. And also thanks for the people who have contacted me and offered their help in the audio department!
Any new eye-candy screens? ^^
Quote from: KyriakosCH on Sat 24/02/2018 05:00:41
Any new eye-candy screens? ^^
There are some new backgrounds, but most of them are missing final tweaks or characters, so I won't show them yet.
But okay, here's one, maybe not the most visual or exciting background, but it shows one section of the Miskatonic University's library:
(https://i.imgur.com/ZSECdmw.jpg)
Good luck finding your book! :-D
Very nice! 8-)
Nice, even if a library of an university have to be some sort of classification (numbers of books, order by author, order by argument etc.)
_
Quote from: TheFrighther on Tue 27/02/2018 13:42:55
Nice, even if a library of an university have to be some sort of classification (numbers of books, order by author, order by argument etc.)
Sure! The six(!) library rooms are separated by the genre (fiction, occult, biology, physics etc). Currently the system is that you can hover over the books with the mouse cursor, and it will automaticly give you the first letter of the author. So that way it's relatively easy to spot the book you want. But you need to know what you are seacrhing for the book to appear.
Quote from: rongel on Tue 13/02/2018 13:51:34
Troy has worked on several H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society's projects, including the feature films The Whisperer in Darkness and The Call of Cthulhu.
That is indeed amazing news because both of those movies were incredible but especially the all-important music in Call Of Cthulhu. Being a silent film and all the music was a main star instead of an extra and I remember it being awesome.
Release date?
Quote from: Dragatar on Wed 14/03/2018 17:00:45
Release date?
I wish I knew! Unfortunately I'm not able to work on the game full-time, so there will be gaps in the progress. For example right now I have some other projects to finish, but I think I can get back to the game in a couple of weeks.
Let's say that the release date is sometime in 2019!
Another screenshot!
(https://i.imgur.com/8Dnoxrv.jpg)
This is the Miskatonic University's basement, where the Special Collection is temporarily stored. Reading these special tomes will give Walter knowledge of the occult at the cost of sanity.
So the game is now progressing again, slowly but surely...
I'm so late to this thread but I gotta say - the dream sequence animations look FANTASTIC!
Great atmosphere in general too!
Good lights!
Maybe the Necronomicon book should look more mean...
_
Quote from: Pinback on Wed 18/04/2018 04:43:10
I'm so late to this thread but I gotta say - the dream sequence animations look FANTASTIC!
Thanks, nice to hear that!
Quote from: TheFrighther on Wed 18/04/2018 06:22:30
Maybe the Necronomicon book should look more mean...
Yes, I might tweak it a bit later. There are six special tomes that you can study, and they will have their own graphics. So when I do the other books, I might adjust the Necronomicon as well. But in this game it won't bound in human flesh and have a scary face, like in the Evil Dead-series. According to Lovecraft, the Miskatonic University's copy of the Necronomicon is the latin translation, printed in Spain in the 17th century. So it's appereance is much more like an regular, very old book. But I understand you point!
Looks like a nice game with some interesting features.
Armitage must trust Walter an awful lot to leave him alone with the necromicon. And He could unlock the window to sneak in later. Though I imagine that when Walter's done that Armitage will put the necromicon back behind the locked door at the left side of the screen with all the other forbidden books.
Quote from: FireFlower on Wed 18/04/2018 10:41:21
Looks like a nice game with some interesting features.
Thanks!
Quote from: mkennedy on Thu 19/04/2018 00:36:44
Armitage must trust Walter an awful lot to leave him alone with the necromicon. And He could unlock the window to sneak in later. Though I imagine that when Walter's done that Armitage will put the necromicon back behind the locked door at the left side of the screen with all the other forbidden books.
That's pretty close! I don't want to spoil too much, but you need to reserve a time to study the Special Collection, and Armitage gives that only if he is convinced your studies require access to the books. There's other stuff also happening in that room, but I won't go there now! :-D
And what about the other minor characters of the short story like Desrochers, Choynski, Mazurewicz & Elwood? :)
Quote from: Surdy on Mon 28/05/2018 09:16:19
And what about the other minor characters of the short story like Desrochers, Choynski, Mazurewicz & Elwood? :)
Good question! Joe Mazurewicz is in the game, and he has a quite big role in it, as he knows a lot of the lodging house's history. Also Elwood will be in the game, but I haven't yet added him. But Elwood will also have a big part in the later part of the game, sometimes you can stay at his room, if the disturbances get too rough. But no plans for Desrochers or Choynski... Maybe they will be added in DLC! :-D
By the way, sorry for the radio silence, but been busy with other (paid) work... But looks like I can make nice progress later in summer.
Good to hear, can't wait for this one.
How many other places will there be for Walter to sleep? Most places at Miskatonic university would likely be closed late at night.
Quote from: mkennedy on Wed 30/05/2018 07:50:44
How many other places will there be for Walter to sleep? Most places at Miskatonic university would likely be closed late at night.
Walter can sleep at his home, and later in game when Elwood moves in, he can stay at his place (if Elwood is around himself). But those are the only places right now where Walter can sleep. I have thought about having the possibility to sleep out in the city bench at night, if Walter is tired enough (and ofcourse all kinds of nasty things can happen then), but let's see if it ends up in the game. Not a priority!
Shops, universities and other facilities are closed at night, some of them are also closed on weekends.
Spanish adventure game site Indiefence has an article about The Witch House, check it out here:
http://indiefence.miguelrfervenza.com (http://indiefence.miguelrfervenza.com)
The article is in Spanish, but if you can't understand it, you can look at the pretty pictures it has!
Looks utterly awesome...
When will it be complete? ;-D
Quote from: KyriakosCH on Mon 02/07/2018 22:55:41
Looks utterly awesome...
When will it be complete? ;-D
Thanks! Hopefully in 2019, but no promises yet...
Hi again and sorry for the silence!
The summer was a busy time for me, and the game didn't progress that much, but now it's getting better. I've started to do the ending, but I won't spoil it with screenshots. Because the game isn't strictly linear, it takes a lot of time to make it work in every scenario, but it's starting to shape up. There are some parts missing from the middle of the game too, but now you can at least play it from start to end. Anyway, here is a older screenshot from Orne's Gangway. People who have read the short story know what's going on there.
(https://i.imgur.com/r8rUAom.jpg)
It's still bit work-in-progress, there will be some more residents hanging around. Currently Walter is trying to dig up some information from a tough street kid.
Nice background Rongel, so old-provincial! ;)
_
Obviously I need to read the story eventually. The Masters of Horror episode and rock opera haven't provided me with any information to have a clue about the new background.
Looks very nice.
I hope you wrote the street kid's dialog in the clueless and stereotypical way that Lovecraft wrote how the kind of people he had never talked to talked!
I really strived for that tone while writing the English version of Chronicle Of Innsmouth, especially with the way the Innsmouth smugglers talked as if every day in Innsmouth was "Talk Like A Pirate Day". And the voice-actors totally understood how to pull off their lines without any direction from me at all. It was almost scary how much their performances matched the voices I heard in my head while writing the lines.
Gonna be even more interesting in the sequel now where I'm writing lines spoken as if... REDACTED
this background looks very cool, I'm very excited for the full game :)
Quote from: TheFrighther on Fri 07/09/2018 11:37:09
Nice background Rongel, so old-provincial! ;)
Thanks! It depicts poorer part of the city where the Polish immigrants live. Online image search and research really comes in handy, when imagining late 1920's Arkham.
Quote from: VampireWombat on Fri 07/09/2018 12:55:47
Obviously I need to read the story eventually. The Masters of Horror episode and rock opera haven't provided me with any information to have a clue about the new background.
Looks very nice.
It think the location was mentioned only couple of times in the short story, but in the game it's importance is boosted a bit.
Quote from: Mandle on Sun 09/09/2018 14:07:03
I hope you wrote the street kid's dialog in the clueless and stereotypical way that Lovecraft wrote how the kind of people he had never talked to talked!
I really strived for that tone while writing the English version of Chronicle Of Innsmouth, especially with the way the Innsmouth smugglers talked as if every day in Innsmouth was "Talk Like A Pirate Day". And the voice-actors totally understood how to pull off their lines without any direction from me at all. It was almost scary how much their performances matched the voices I heard in my head while writing the lines.
Gonna be even more interesting in the sequel now where I'm writing lines spoken as if... REDACTED
Yes, the final, polished dialog is something I may need help with. Old accents and phrases are a bit difficult for a non-native English speaker. I haven't played the new version of Chronicle of Innsmouth with the voice actors, but it sounds interesting. And even more interesting is to hear about the sequel!
Quote from: selmiak on Sun 09/09/2018 14:42:05
this background looks very cool, I'm very excited for the full game :)
Thanks selmiak! Me too :-D
Looking forward to this!!!
Have you created the main sprites? :)
I recall the witch from a while back.
Quote from: KyriakosCH on Fri 14/09/2018 16:51:41
Looking forward to this!!!
Have you created the main sprites? :)
I recall the witch from a while back.
Nice to hear that!
If you mean the main characters, then yes. I think Walter's friend Elwood is the only main character that is still missing. There should also be quite a lot of Arkham citizens and students, so that takes some time.
Hi all!
I really like when people post making-of gifs from their upcoming games, so I wanted to make one too! Here you can see Miskatonic River waterfront, and the Unvisited Island with the mysterious standing stones. I probably still need to work on it a bit, but here's the background anyway:
(https://i.imgur.com/DvEa6b9.gif)
There will be some subtle background animations that you can see here in the almost finished version:
(https://i.imgur.com/6Vnsdaw.gif)
And like most of the locations, this too will have three different versions depending the time of the day, so a lot of work to be done... But last month has been very productive, and I've been able to concentrate fully on the game, which is a nice change!
Beautiful background, I'd love to see the other versions! Must indeed be a lot of work to have different day time in your game.
It's always a pleasure to see updates of your game :)
Look, the chimneys are smoking! 8-0
_
Do the day and night versions use different rooms, or is it just the graphics that are different? And how is the passage of time handled? If you go AFK and stay in the same room will time still progress? The screenshot looks awesome. Will Walter be able to get his hands on a fishing rod, (or a skiff) and if so, can he fish anywhere with a significant body of water or just at a few locations? Plus a fishing rod can always be useful for various puzzles. :grin:
Quote from: Matti on Tue 23/10/2018 17:23:09
Beautiful background, I'd love to see the other versions! Must indeed be a lot of work to have different day time in your game.
It's always a pleasure to see updates of your game :)
Thanks, very nice to hear that! Currently I have made a rough evening version of it, but the night version is still missing. I've finally realized that it's better to not try to finish them, if there's a chance that there will be still some changes coming. If I edit the day version, I have to fix the other ones too. So I can't yet show all the different variations. I might do it later, the evening version will be quite atmospheric because the city lights and the water reflections!
Quote from: TheFrighther on Tue 23/10/2018 17:56:35
Look, the chimneys are smoking! 8-0
They are! I would love to add also some background animations to the waterfront opposite side: trucks, people walking etc, but I there's tons of more critical stuff to do.
Quote from: mkennedy on Tue 23/10/2018 18:40:07
Do the day and night versions use different rooms, or is it just the graphics that are different? And how is the passage of time handled? If you go AFK and stay in the same room will time still progress? The screenshot looks awesome. Will Walter be able to get his hands on a fishing rod, (or a skiff) and if so, can he fish anywhere with a significant body of water or just at a few locations? Plus a fishing rod can always be useful for various puzzles. :grin:
Day and night versions use the same room. There is a clock ticking in the background all the time (1 real minute = 1 hour in game) and when it's time for change, the screen will fade in and out, and all the changes happen during the fade. So if you leave the keyboard, it's best to pause the game first. For the second question, no plans for fishing minigame yet! There will be a fisherman though, so you can watch him fish :-D. I had to look up what skiff meant, and yes, it's possible!
Quote from: rongel on Wed 24/10/2018 07:53:28
Day and night versions use the same room. There is a clock ticking in the background all the time (1 real minute = 1 hour in game) and when it's time for change, the screen will fade in and out, and all the changes happen during the fade.
Oh, it's like the old
Dark Seed!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bjjIdKU3-M
_
Quote from: TheFrighther on Wed 24/10/2018 09:46:05
Oh, it's like the old Dark Seed!
Hopefully not! I've never played Dark Seed, but it seems to have a quite infamous reputation because of the strict three day time limit. In The Witch House you have sixty days so there shouldn't be any rush.
this is beautiful. Only the paved path in the foreground could also be a stone wall. Maybe add some papers or other trash to make the path flat. or widen and flatten the individual stones, I think they are not in perspective. Maybe add a tree on the right that casts a shadow over the path, that should make easier to read.
Quote from: selmiak on Sat 27/10/2018 11:36:54
this is beautiful. Only the paved path in the foreground could also be a stone wall. Maybe add some papers or other trash to make the path flat. or widen and flatten the individual stones, I think they are not in perspective. Maybe add a tree on the right that casts a shadow over the path, that should make easier to read.
That's a valid criticism and a good point. I noticed that something was wrong with the pavement when I was drawing it, but kind of let it go, and moved on. But it shouldn't be that hard to fix, I think I'll add it to the to-do list. Thanks for the observation!
Really looking forward to this game! The inclusion of a day-night cycle adds a lot of manual labour but in a horror-game, it adds so much! I loved the "safe" moments in a game like Alan Wake where you explored the town during daylight. Then, when night fell, all bets were off.
Keep up the great work. Your pixel art looks amazing!
Quote from: Hobbes on Sun 28/10/2018 13:55:45
Really looking forward to this game! The inclusion of a day-night cycle adds a lot of manual labour but in a horror-game, it adds so much! I loved the "safe" moments in a game like Alan Wake where you explored the town during daylight. Then, when night fell, all bets were off.
Keep up the great work. Your pixel art looks amazing!
Thanks, really appreciate that! Now, back to drawing!
Yeah, that park is wonderful, it's really relaxing and detailed!
Hi all & happy 2019!
It's been way too long since my last update, sorry about that! Good news is that the game has progressed further in the silence. I don't want to reveal the new backgrounds now, so here's couple of new characters and their walk cycles.
(https://i.imgur.com/zIhxDhU.gif) (https://i.imgur.com/EZeCiP0.gif)
(https://i.imgur.com/U4LZgoh.png) (https://i.imgur.com/sNzVi9X.png)
The first one is an Arkham beat cop, possibly of Irish descent. There is some functionality with him, he can help you with the plot and if you get robbed (well the robbing is a planned feature, not yet in the game) The woman is Anastasia Wolejko, a Polish laundry worker that Walter might meet at some point.
Some time ago, I made an impulse purchase, and I bought Asesprite pixel art/animation software. Been using that with the characters and I've been quite happy about it. Seems to be bit faster to use that than my previous Photoshop / After Effects routine.
I'll try to make my next update sooner next time!
They looks fine, Rongel! ;)
Usually HPL's tales are short of female characters...
_
Non-spoilery screenshot:
(https://i.imgur.com/lBIIVQ2.jpg)
Walter can have a decent lunch or a refresing coffee at the local coffee house. Both options raise Sanity points, but as a poor student, Walter can't afford to go there all the time. The new location is probably more important if you choose the straight, non-occultistic (is that a word?) route.
Quote from: TheFrighter on Sat 23/02/2019 13:39:00
They looks fine, Rongel! ;)
Usually HPL's tales are short of female characters...
Thanks! Anastasia Wolejko was written very well in my opinion in The Dreams in the Witch House. Lovecraft mentions her only couple of times, but her fate feels very real. But you're right, luckily the game is an adaptation and not all things are exactly the same in it :-D
How have i not seen this!! Looks fantastic!!
Quote from: rongel on Fri 05/04/2019 15:47:53
Non-spoilery screenshot:
(https://i.imgur.com/lBIIVQ2.jpg)
Walter can have a decent lunch or a refresing coffee at the local coffee house. Both options raise Sanity points, but as a poor student, Walter can't afford to go there all the time. The new location is probably more important if you choose the straight, non-occultistic (is that a word?) route.
Quote from: TheFrighter on Sat 23/02/2019 13:39:00
They looks fine, Rongel! ;)
Usually HPL's tales are short of female characters...
Thanks! Anastasia Wolejko was written very well in my opinion in The Dreams in the Witch House. Lovecraft mentions her only couple of times, but her fate feels very real. But you're right, luckily the game is an adaptation and not all things are exactly the same in it :-D
Very much looking forward to this game when it comes out! The sign advertising tuna from Innsmouth is a nice touch. Anything nifty planned if Walter orders it?
Wow, this looks amazing. I wanted to do a day-night cycle, too, but right now, the sheer amount of work that would take made me shy away from it. Great work, here! I hope to see it soon.
Quote from: Dualnames on Fri 05/04/2019 20:33:57
How have i not seen this!! Looks fantastic!!
Thanks, nice to hear that! :-D
Quote from: mkennedy on Sat 06/04/2019 15:03:29
Very much looking forward to this game when it comes out! The sign advertising tuna from Innsmouth is a nice touch. Anything nifty planned if Walter orders it?
Well spotted! Walter can only order breakfast, dinner lunch, or have a coffee. So it's up to the imagination of the player did Walter have the tuna. Also now that I think of it, before the authorities raided the place, Innsmouth tuna was probably quite excellent.
Quote from: sofiaaq on Sat 06/04/2019 21:21:34
Wow, this looks amazing. I wanted to do a day-night cycle, too, but right now, the sheer amount of work that would take made me shy away from it. Great work, here! I hope to see it soon.
Thanks! Yes, it's a lot of "extra" work, but the game is progressing quite nicely now. Good luck to your project as well, looking good!
this looks very nice. Just wondering, do I have a dirty mind (I do) or does that sign really say Coffee anal? Must taste pretty shitty lol
Quote from: selmiak on Thu 11/04/2019 11:34:36
this looks very nice. Just wondering, do I have a dirty mind (I do) or does that sign really say Coffee anal? Must taste pretty shitty lol
8-0 You sure have! Well, there might be others who see it that way too, so I might add a few extra pixels there. Then we can all have a nice coffee AND a donut!
Hello there!
It's been ages since I last posted an update, so here's something new for you. I've been working a lot on the game recently, and it's starting to be actually fun to play! Still, a lot of work to be done, mostly because of the non-linear structure of the game, and balancing all the game mechanics and variables.
(https://i.imgur.com/Eaw8oMc.jpg)
This is a robbery! This encounter is a random event which may or may not happen. There are other encounters too, and I would love to add even more, but best to keep it simple for now. Walter can try to escape, even fight, and a planned feature is that he can file a report to police, and with some luck get back his money later on. So it's not Game Over when robbery happens. And no, there isn't a fight minigame!
(https://i.imgur.com/tt8qkPe.jpg)
What is going on here? Let's hope it's just a bad dream...
Loving everything about this so far! How much longer are you going to make us wait for it? ;)
Quote from: Laura Hunt on Thu 12/09/2019 11:04:40
Loving everything about this so far! How much longer are you going to make us wait for it? ;)
Thanks, nice to hear that! Maybe one year more...? :-D
Take your time! I'm gladly waiting if that means mor features/encounters and better balancing :)
Quote from: rongel on Thu 12/09/2019 11:16:13
Thanks, nice to hear that! Maybe one year more...? :-D
Quote from: Matti on Thu 12/09/2019 15:20:09
Take your time! I'm gladly waiting if that means mor features/encounters and better balancing :)
How dare you be logical and reasonable!
We want pretty game now. :-D
Quote from: rongel on Thu 12/09/2019 10:54:40
So it's not Game Over when robbery happens.
Game Over are possible in this game?
_
Quote from: TheFrighter on Thu 12/09/2019 17:44:54
Game Over are possible in this game?
Yes, if Walter's hitpoints drop to zero before the May-Eve. Ofcourse you gain hitpoints when resting, eating, using medicine or potions. So it's not that easy to die.
Can the robbery happen anywhere or is it more likely if Walter is in certain areas? For the fight and escape options is there a random number generated to determine success? The easiest option I would assume would be to hand over all your money, but would it be possible for Walter to store his money and other valuables in his room or Elwood's place and how would the robber react?
Quote from: mkennedy on Fri 13/09/2019 16:36:10
Can the robbery happen anywhere or is it more likely if Walter is in certain areas? For the fight and escape options is there a random number generated to determine success? The easiest option I would assume would be to hand over all your money, but would it be possible for Walter to store his money and other valuables in his room or Elwood's place and how would the robber react?
Right now the robbery can happen when travelling at night around Arkham. There is a fancy random room that is generated when the encounter happens. It's quite simple at the moment, the robber might leave you some money by mistake. And if you're broke, there is nothing to lose. Walter isn't a fighter, so that's a bad option unless you have somekind of advantage.
Quote from: rongel on Fri 13/09/2019 19:49:03
Right now the robbery can happen when travelling at night around Arkham. There is a fancy random room that is generated when the encounter happens. It's quite simple at the moment, they robber might leave you some money by mistake. And if you're broke, there is nothing to lose. Walter isn't a fighter, so that's a bad option unless you have somekind of advantage.
That makes sense about the fighting, even if Walter did have a knife or even a gun I imagine that he'd have to explain things to the police if he had to use it on some thug. But a
fake gun might be enough to scare the thug off, (unless he can tell it's a fake).
Happy New Year! :=
Here's a couple of GIFs to start the year: Alchemy and Chemistry GUIs.
Walter can make three different potions if he knows the recipes for them (or if he's very lucky). Basically the alchemy and chemistry are the same, so you can replace some of the required ingredients with synthetic substances. For example you could use Pyrite instead of Fool's Gold if you have basic alchemy / chemistry knowledge. The actual "minigame" is very simple, you just add the right amont of ingredients and the potion will be distilled automatically.
Chemistry:
(https://i.imgur.com/NfmLZEW.gif)
Alchemy:
(https://i.imgur.com/fjDyPNV.gif)
Beautiful gifs :)
Quote from: Matti on Thu 02/01/2020 11:15:29
Beautiful gifs :)
Thanks Matti! It's a pain to make a decent GIF, but I guess it's still the best format for a quick animation preview.
I agree, those animations look great. (nod)
And yes, gifs are a pain, but seems to still be the only option to display an animation short of using video...
oh man this looks brilliant, you had me at lovecraft lol but the graphics look amazing also :-D
Hello there!
Still alive and kicking! It's been ages since I last updated this thread, I'm sorry about that. First I had too much other work, and after that I started working on the game so furiously, that I had no patience to do updates. So the good news is that for the last 1.5 months I've been working on "The Witch House" full-time. Currently working on the ending, which is a big part of the game. There are several different endings and combinations of endings, depending on player's actions. So it's a lot of work, but finally it's starting to shape up.
And exciting news considering the music! Troy Sterling Nies (who composed The Whisperer in Darkness and The Call of Cthulhu films for example) has started composing music for the game, and it sounds great! Really exciting to see the game coming together.
I don't want to show too much of the ending (at least not yet), so here's a still from Elwood's room:
(https://i.imgur.com/q5sPEgi.jpg)
Elwood is Walter's neighbour, and a fellow university student. Walter can relax at his place, and even spend the night to avoid the nightly terrors at his own room.
Great news! I'm so hyped for this ;-D
Quote from: Laura Hunt on Wed 17/06/2020 09:01:41
Great news! I'm so hyped for this ;-D
Thanks! I'm hyped for Winter's Night!
So exciting.... Well done with awesome graphics and what will undoubtedly be great game-play... Once you finish it you will have something for the rest of your life you can be proud of and 'own'.... well done
Quote from: ToeKnee on Wed 17/06/2020 17:28:11
So exciting.... Well done with awesome graphics and what will undoubtedly be great game-play... Once you finish it you will have something for the rest of your life you can be proud of and 'own'.... well done
Thanks for the nice words! ;-D There is still a lot to do, so I need to keep my feet on the ground.
Whew! I’m so relieved that you’re still working on this gameâ€"I was getting worried!
Every update/new screenshot looks so, so good!!
Quote from: SarahLiz on Thu 25/06/2020 21:56:47
Whew! I’m so relieved that you’re still working on this gameâ€"I was getting worried!
Every update/new screenshot looks so, so good!!
Thanks, very nice to hear that!
The game is far beyond being abandoned, but real life and other work have a habit of delaying it. I'll try to post updates more often, so that I won't cause any unnecessary worries. :-D
Hi everybody!
I wanted to share something new, so here's a GIF of the Miskatonic river and the Unvisited Island. What are those mysterious lights on the island? Is someone there?
(https://i.imgur.com/JukeYvL.gif)
It's been about two years(!) since I shared the day version of the same location, so it was about time. Fortunately the evening and night versions have been completed long ago, but now there's little more activity on the island.
I've been working on the game now full-time for several months and this quote by Tom Cargill starts to make sense: The first 90 percent of the code accounts for the first 90 percent of the development time. The remaining 10 percent of the code accounts for the other 90 percent of the development time.
Because I started to make the game with relatively no experience in coding, I think I have redone it now several times. Nice thing is that when you condense a huge block of bad script into a nice, tight package, it's kind of purifying feeling, like you just cleaned your house. And the game is now much easier to work on and edit, when it's standing on a solid ground.
But a very daunting task is looming in the horizon... Deciding how to publish the game! It is something that I need to focus on quite soon, and make some tough decisions!
Looks great :)
By the way, this story is among those which I translated, for the new Greek edition of HPL's complete works ^_^
Quote from: KyriakosCH on Thu 10/09/2020 12:40:46
Looks great :)
Thanks! I haven't read the story in few years, and at this point I kind of dread it. Who knows what I have missed!
Quote from: rongel on Thu 10/09/2020 08:56:55
I wanted to share something new, so here's a GIF of the Miskatonic river and the Unvisited Island. What are those mysterious lights on the island? Is someone there?
But a very daunting task is looming in the horizon... Deciding how to publish the game! It is something that I need to focus on quite soon, and make some tough decisions!
Are you planning to make it commercial? Cool idea... but personally I don't like Steam...
_
Quote from: TheFrighter on Thu 10/09/2020 17:43:09
Are you planning to make it commercial? Cool idea... but personally I don't like Steam...
That is the idea currently, and it could make further development possible. There are many places where you can buy and sell games, so you could probably get it from somewhere else too.
I think the game looks marvelous <3, would definitely buy it!
Quote from: Dualnames on Wed 23/09/2020 16:58:14
I think the game looks marvelous <3, would definitely buy it!
Hey, thanks! Great to hear that from an acclaimed AGSer!
Very impressed at the idea that you are making an "open world" game! Coupled with the survivalist element, this is very innovative! Glad to see a game is coming that is actually different from the usual ones!
Quote from: FormosaFalanster on Mon 28/09/2020 09:30:37
Very impressed at the idea that you are making an "open world" game! Coupled with the survivalist element, this is very innovative! Glad to see a game is coming that is actually different from the usual ones!
Hey thanks, I like it too! :=
I think the short story fits well into an open world game. But I can see why people don't do these kinds of game more often, it's a horrible amount of work! And if you change one thing, it's probably going to break ten other things. Still, doing something a bit different is a big motivator for me.
Quote from: rongel on Thu 02/01/2020 10:43:02
Happy New Year! :=
Here's a couple of GIFs to start the year: Alchemy and Chemistry GUIs.
Walter can make three different potions if he knows the recipes for them (or if he's very lucky). Basically the alchemy and chemistry are the same, so you can replace some of the required ingredients with synthetic substances. For example you could use Pyrite instead of Fool's Gold if you have basic alchemy / chemistry knowledge. The actual "minigame" is very simple, you just add the right amont of ingredients and the potion will be distilled automatically.
Chemistry:
(https://i.imgur.com/NfmLZEW.gif)
Alchemy:
(https://i.imgur.com/fjDyPNV.gif)
this animation is looking so beautiful, can't wait to play that game!
Quote from: selmiak on Fri 02/10/2020 21:40:10
this animation is looking so beautiful, can't wait to play that game!
Thanks! Yes, the alchemy / chemistry animations work well as a GIFs. :-D
As a tester, and after many playthroughs, I just finally achieved what I'm guessing is one of the "best" endings.
SO satisfying to get that, but, this is Lovecraft, so I'm happy that it didn't let me rest completely at ease.
Quote from: Mandle on Sun 11/10/2020 04:09:06
As a tester, and after many playthroughs, I just finally achieved what I'm guessing is one of the "best" endings.
SO satisfying to get that, but, this is Lovecraft, so I'm happy that it didn't let me rest completely at ease.
Yes, the occult threat can be postponed, but never won completely. Enjoy your victory while it lasts! :-D
Oh, I have been very excited for this one. I’m sure it’s difficult to decide where/how/if to make it commercial, but I can tell you that I for one, would buy it no matter where you sell or or for what price. It looks AMAZING. Keep up the great work!!
Quote from: SarahLiz on Mon 12/10/2020 22:38:13
Oh, I have been very excited for this one. I’m sure it’s difficult to decide where/how/if to make it commercial, but I can tell you that I for one, would buy it no matter where you sell or or for what price. It looks AMAZING. Keep up the great work!!
Hey, thanks! Very nice to hear that! :-D
Here's something brand new, straight from the Photoshop:
(https://i.imgur.com/n1774ac.png)
I finally took the task of replacing some of the placeholder graphics (which I already had accustomed to). This shot is the general city graphic that shows in certain city events. Big part of it will be blocked by an ugly text box, so I decided to share the whole thing here. :-D
Now, back to drawing the evening and night versions.
Yeah, don't put the textbox in the middle of it. That's too much of a shame. Maybe put the text along the top or bottom of the screen?
Beautiful background!
If the screen will be covered by a textbox, at least make it a beautiful textbox, not an ugly one ;)
Quote from: Matti on Tue 13/10/2020 12:08:05
Beautiful background!
Indeed. That's a gorgeous piece of artwork. I can't stress that enough. 8-0
Quote from: Mandle on Tue 13/10/2020 11:41:45
Yeah, don't put the textbox in the middle of it. That's too much of a shame. Maybe put the text along the top or bottom of the screen?
Luckily some of the events and actions, like going to the coffee shop don't take so much space. Also, I might use the picture somewhere else too, now that I have it. It's a positive problem, much worse would be if I had to hide an ugly background with a big text box! :-D
Quote from: Matti on Tue 13/10/2020 12:08:05
Beautiful background!
If the screen will be covered by a textbox, at least make it a beautiful textbox, not an ugly one ;)
Thanks, I try!
Quote from: Danvzare on Tue 13/10/2020 15:15:31
Indeed. That's a gorgeous piece of artwork. I can't stress that enough. 8-0
Thank you. I'm happy how it turned out be too, although it took a over week to finish it (including the evening and night versions). The bad thing is that when I look at some of the early art, it pales in comparison. But fixing old art to match newer stuff is a doomed cycle, and I don't want to go there, at least yet!
Quote from: rongel on Wed 14/10/2020 07:25:58
Quote from: Mandle on Tue 13/10/2020 11:41:45
Yeah, don't put the textbox in the middle of it. That's too much of a shame. Maybe put the text along the top or bottom of the screen?
Luckily some of the events and actions, like going to the coffee shop don't take so much space. Also, I might use the picture somewhere else too, now that I have it. It's a positive problem, much worse would be if I had to hide an ugly background with a big text box! :-D
Quote from: Matti on Tue 13/10/2020 12:08:05
Beautiful background!
If the screen will be covered by a textbox, at least make it a beautiful textbox, not an ugly one ;)
Thanks, I try!
Maybe an option to have a bit of a pause before the text box pops up?
How about: After the player clicks to dismiss the textbox, they can view the full screen for as long as they like and there is a "CLICK TO RETURN TO THE MAP" message subtly at the bottom so they click again to return to the map? It's only one more click and these events don't happen so often that this will become annoying I feel.
OR!!! I have just had a further idea.
I was never quite sure when the game action was paused when I was testing, and the passage of time is quite vital in the game. If I went away to do something I would always superstitiously save the game and then reload when I came back to make sure no time had passed.
You could include a PAUSE feature in the game and, while it is paused, show this beautiful screen with the above mentioned "CLICK TO RETURN TO GAME" message unobtrusively at the bottom.
Quote from: mkennedy on Wed 14/10/2020 18:54:34
Maybe an option to have a bit of a pause before the text box pops up?
I think I'll make the fade a bit slower, and maybe add a very short pause. A suitable sound effect may also help, so that the pause feels justified.
Quote from: Mandle on Wed 14/10/2020 21:25:57
I was never quite sure when the game action was paused when I was testing, and the passage of time is quite vital in the game. If I went away to do something I would always superstitiously save the game and then reload when I came back to make sure no time had passed.
You could include a PAUSE feature in the game and, while it is paused, show this beautiful screen with the above mentioned "CLICK TO RETURN TO GAME" message unobtrusively at the bottom.
Yes, time management is important in the game, and a pause feature is a must have. Infact, there is already one (activated by pressing spacebar), but there's no indicators or hints of it yet. Opening the menu also pauses the game. I'll think about the pause-background suggestion!
This thread finally pushed me to register here to say two things:
1. I really enjoy the WIP stuff you are posting - it is really helpful to me.
2. There is not enough content about witches in the world.
All in all, good job so far. Will cheer on from afar. ;)
Quote from: arbi on Sat 17/10/2020 13:14:52
This thread finally pushed me to register here to say two things:
1. I really enjoy the WIP stuff you are posting - it is really helpful to me.
2. There is not enough content about witches in the world.
All in all, good job so far. Will cheer on from afar. ;)
Thanks! Really nice to hear you are enjoying the WIP stuff, and I'm glad you find it helpful!
I'll say super wow graphics!
If you ever need some play or beta testers, I'll more than glad to help out. I done few of them on free and commercial ags games
Quote from: splat44 on Sat 07/11/2020 20:06:03
I'll say super wow graphics!
If you ever need some play or beta testers, I'll more than glad to help out. I done few of them on free and commercial ags games
Hey, thanks! When the game is a bit further, I probably need more "fresh" testers. I'll try to keep you in mind!
Currently I have some other work, so the progress is a bit slower than in the last few months. The good thing is that the game progressed at super-speed during those last months!
I just finished proofreading through and correcting the MASSIVE TRS of this game and I sent out the following message to several YouTubers that I know who LOVE Lovecraft games. I thought it a good enough plug for the game to just post it here and also bump this thread back into public awareness:
Just thought I'd give you a heads-up here about a new Lovecraft game that is coming out soon.
It's been made by a lone developer who has done everything on the game on their own, graphics, animation, story, coding, puzzles, and so on, and has not been widely advertised, if at all. I've been onboard along the way as a play-tester and now, in the final stages, as proofreader, correcting the script for the past few weeks and now that's done and the game is almost complete.
The name of the game is "The Dreams In The Witch House" and follows the story of Walter Gilman, a new student at Miskatonic U., and also the plot of the original story to some degree.
It is a very unique game in that it's an open-world Lovecraft horror-survival game with a point-and-click adventure game interface.
By "open-world" I mean that you are free, at all times, to roam the world of Arkham as you please. The game doesn't push you down the corridor of the story that it wants you to follow. I replayed the game during many play-testings and always found something new which led me down a new path, sometimes much to my detriment.
Every action you make fluidly affects the direction of the game. There is no BS "She will remember this." text that turns out to mean nothing at the end like most games these days that just climax in the same scene no matter what choices you made.
In fact, the horror-survival aspect of the game guarantees that you will never play the same game twice. There are deadlines you can meet at Miskatonic for study and lectures and tests and get good grades OR you can concentrate on your thesis OR you can just work some jobs and earn some money OR you can go full-time investigating the central mystery OR you can do a combination of any of the above OR you can just sleep in bed all day if it's too rainy to go out OR go homeless and try to survive by dumpster-diving OR... just do whatever you want to. There is even a possibility of dating and romance if you are so inclined, and several friendships to be made along the way, or not, as you wish.
There IS some of the inevitability of Lovecraft stories in that the game DOES have an end to it after 2-3 months of in-game time, after which you get several cutscenes showing your eventual fate, and the fates of the people you have met along the way but, unlike most games that boast "branching stories", the endings always make sense based upon your actions and the reactions of the... ummmm... well I'll leave that for you to find out.
Thanks for the guerilla marketing, Mandle! Those were some nice words.
So a quick comment on the progress while we're here! I haven't posted anything in ages, but the game has progressed slowly, but steadily all the time. And now with Mandle's fixes, it's much more pleasent experience when the irritating typos and awkward grammar errors have been ironed out. My current work will end in a couple of weeks, and after that I can commit myself to the game full-time. So hopefully this will be the beginning of the big push, that will complete the game.
Also, here's a new promo pic!
(https://i.imgur.com/Ao9lkPx.png)
This game is looking outstanding! I'll be keeping any eye on your progress.
It's reminding me a little like Dark Seed, but I think that game was also based on Lovecraft.
Keep going! :) :) :) :) :) :)
The title screen looks really, really good. Creepy, but not TOO creepy. I'm glad you'll have more time coming up to devote to the game so we'll finally be able to play it soon(ish?)...I'm guessing your "early 2021" date no longer applies! :P
Anywho, I know you've said you can die mid-game or at technically any point if you're not keeping your character's needs met, but assuming you get to the end-end without dying, how long would you estimate that the gameplay is? I like that you have plenty of "time/days" to complete what you need to, and that you have the ability to pause the game (something I'd definitely require!). I can't wait to see more as you near the end of development!
Quote from: Matagot on Tue 27/04/2021 17:30:56
This game is looking outstanding! I'll be keeping any eye on your progress.
It's reminding me a little like Dark Seed, but I think that game was also based on Lovecraft.
Keep going! :) :) :) :) :) :)
Thanks, nice to hear that! I guess there is some similarity, in both games there's a building at the heart of the story. And an ordinary person who get sucked into cosmic horror.
Quote from: SarahLiz on Wed 28/04/2021 19:33:52
The title screen looks really, really good. Creepy, but not TOO creepy.
Thanks, I'm quite happy with that pic too, it kind of sets the mood and tone for the game nicely.
QuoteI'm glad you'll have more time coming up to devote to the game so we'll finally be able to play it soon(ish?)...I'm guessing your "early 2021" date no longer applies! :P
Oops, I forgot that I gave that deadline, need to fix it! So let's now say the game will be ready this year. :-D
QuoteAnywho, I know you've said you can die mid-game or at technically any point if you're not keeping your character's needs met, but assuming you get to the end-end without dying, how long would you estimate that the gameplay is? I like that you have plenty of "time/days" to complete what you need to, and that you have the ability to pause the game (something I'd definitely require!). I can't wait to see more as you near the end of development!
The gameplay duration varies depending on players actions, but it's surprisingly high. When I'm testing the game and breeze through it, skipping dialog etc, it will take me a couple of days. So I'd say the duration is around 10-20 hours, which is a lot more than I thought it would be, when starting the project. On the other hand, if you just sleep, rest and skip everything, you could probably do it in a few hours!
10-20 hours is awesome!! I can’t wait!
I've been waiting for this game sincer your first post (2017 wow!). I'm curious about the mechanics and I'm in love with the visuals. Good luck and best wishes for the final stretch of the development!
Quote from: Postmodern Adventures on Fri 30/04/2021 11:12:50
I've been waiting for this game sincer your first post (2017 wow!). I'm curious about the mechanics and I'm in love with the visuals. Good luck and best wishes for the final stretch of the development!
Very nice to hear that, thanks for the support! Yes, the first post might have been in 2017, but I started making the game at least a year before, maybe two! I defend myself by saying that I've done other stuff too, and in some years it wasn't possible for me to work on the game so much. And at first I knew nothing about coding...
With the latest news that development is going to speed up - good luck on the final hurdles. I've been following this game for a while now, super excited about this one!! Best of luck!
Quote from: Hobbes on Wed 26/05/2021 04:27:28
With the latest news that development is going to speed up - good luck on the final hurdles. I've been following this game for a while now, super excited about this one!! Best of luck!
Thanks! Yep, now I've been able to work on the game full-time. Currently I'm doing a bit of promotion (finally), I hope you will see the results soon!
Quote from: rongel on Thu 29/04/2021 17:13:21
On the other hand, if you just sleep, rest and skip everything, you could probably do it in a few hours!
Or even less if you never go shopping!
Dreams in the Witch House has now a Teaser Trailer!
https://youtu.be/Z889XCE-Zq0
And a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/thewitchhousegame (https://www.facebook.com/thewitchhousegame)
Go and like, follow, comment, subscribe, donate, worship etc!
Sweet! Nice trailer :)
That's some of the scariest music I've heard! 8-0
Quote from: Matti on Mon 07/06/2021 19:27:09
Sweet! Nice trailer :)
Thanks! There will be a longer trailer at some point, this is just to get the wheels slowly rolling.
Quote from: heltenjon on Mon 07/06/2021 20:34:50
That's some of the scariest music I've heard! 8-0
Yes, Troy Sterling Nies who is composing the music is a star! He is a frequent collaborator with the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society and composed the music for "Call of Cthulhu" and "The Whisperer in Darkness" feature films for example. I'm really lucky to have him onboard!
This looks really amazing, can't wait to try it. Any tentative release date/window?
Quote from: cacaro on Thu 10/06/2021 08:56:56
This looks really amazing, can't wait to try it. Any tentative release date/window?
Hey thanks, nice to hear that! I'm hoping that the game could be released at the end of the year, but I can't say nothing concrete yet. Of course, when I can, I will let everybody know it!
Yo this looks awesome!
Quote from: ThreeOhFour on Sat 19/06/2021 09:36:29
Yo this looks awesome!
Thanks! ;-D
Also, there's now 10.000 sprites in the game! :-D
(https://i.imgur.com/xJPMSf8.png)
That's amazing! I just passed the 1,000 mark so imagining ten times that number is astonishing to me as I can't imagine what that feels like since a thousand was a lot of work! Really looking forward to this.
Quote from: newwaveburritos on Sun 11/07/2021 16:18:10
That's amazing! I just passed the 1,000 mark so imagining ten times that number is astonishing to me as I can't imagine what that feels like since a thousand was a lot of work! Really looking forward to this.
It sure is a very nice looking number in the editor! But I've been working on the game from 2016, so it all just slowly adds up. Also some special effects use a lot of frames, so it's not all character animation. Keep at it!
IOAWN4T has over 15k, it was crazy seeing the number go up and up and up and wondering when it would stop!
Really happy to know that the finish line is getting closer ;-D This is literally the only Lovecraft-based/inspired game that has caught my interest in a very, very long time and I'm dying to get my hands on it.
Quote from: rongel on Mon 07/06/2021 12:14:16
And a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/thewitchhousegame (https://www.facebook.com/thewitchhousegame)
Wouldn't twitter be a better option? I thought Facebook was pretty much dead, and twitter is where it's "at" for indie game development right now (well, TikTok too, but that one's for the younger 'uns mostly :-D).
Quote from: Laura Hunt on Mon 12/07/2021 13:10:58
IOAWN4T has over 15k, it was crazy seeing the number go up and up and up and wondering when it would stop!
Wow! I played IOAWN4T (catchy abbreviation!) and really liked it. It's amazing how many sprites have been crammed into a relatively short game. I guess the amazing visuals require a lot of material!
QuoteReally happy to know that the finish line is getting closer ;-D This is literally the only Lovecraft-based/inspired game that has caught my interest in a very, very long time and I'm dying to get my hands on it.
Very nice to hear that! ;-D Currently working on the last missing "scenario", after that some polishing, gameplay balancing, bug fixing and sound work.
QuoteWouldn't twitter be a better option? I thought Facebook was pretty much dead, and twitter is where it's "at" for indie game development right now (well, TikTok too, but that one's for the younger 'uns mostly :-D).
Probably! I'm not great at social media, and actually just recently signed up to Facebook to do a bit of promoting, I didn't even have a personal account before that. So at this rate I'll probably join Twitter when it's starting to die down.
Quote from: rongel on Mon 12/07/2021 14:08:05
Quote from: Laura Hunt on Mon 12/07/2021 13:10:58
IOAWN4T has over 15k, it was crazy seeing the number go up and up and up and wondering when it would stop!
Wow! I played IOAWN4T (catchy abbreviation!) and really liked it. It's amazing how many sprites have been crammed into a relatively short game. I guess the amazing visuals require a lot of material!
SO MANY animations *has flashbacks*
Quote from: rongel on Mon 12/07/2021 14:08:05
QuoteWouldn't twitter be a better option? I thought Facebook was pretty much dead, and twitter is where it's "at" for indie game development right now (well, TikTok too, but that one's for the younger 'uns mostly :-D).
Probably! I'm not great at social media, and actually just recently signed up to Facebook to do a bit of promoting, I didn't even have a personal account before that. So at this rate I'll probably join Twitter when it's starting to die down.
Is it a commercial game? Because if it is, you can't afford to be "not great at social media" :-D It's one of those things that you simply need to get good at, or at least get a decent hang of, otherwise all those years you've spent working on your game will be for nothing. There are so many indie games coming out every month, it's crazy out there! And I see so many devs with fantastic-looking games just sitting on their social media accounts waiting to somehow be magically discovered by
someone but they don't follow almost anybody, they don't interact with anybody, they don't help others out, and it's really sad because some of those games deserve so much attention. Unfortunately, marketing/networking/promotion/whathaveyou is just as much an integral part of game development as coding or audio design or writing a good story.
As to Facebook, I think the main issue is that the whole weight of promotion rests solely on your shoulders because the share functionality doesn't get used that often (I might be wrong though, I deleted my account like 5 years ago and maybe things have changed!) whereas on twitter, sure, you have to do a lot of heavy lifting, but if a couple of accounts with thousands of followers decide to retweet something you've posted, you get a huge visibility boost. The way I see it, it's more community- and network-based, which encourages discoverability, whereas Facebook feels more like a place where you would create a "fan page" for people who
already know your work.
So yeah, I would definitely recommend getting on twitter! There is a very decent point-and-click community on there and a lot of us would be more than happy to give you a boost! ;-D
Quote from: Laura Hunt on Tue 13/07/2021 15:04:03
Is it a commercial game? Because if it is, you can't afford to be "not great at social media" :-D
Yep, that's the plan. And yes, social media is of course very important if I want people to find my game. If I throw stuff to the internet, without having an existing fan base, no one will ever find it. If I should get the perfect publisher, that would make the marketing easier on my part.
The best way to promote stuff, in my opinion, is to get other people to say good things about it. Preferably people who have a large audience. But I will definetely consider joining Twitter, when the time comes. Currently I've used all of my brain capacity to finish the game, and I don't want to disturb that process!
I just joined Twitter last night for Kola Queen and almost immediately got a much greater than expected reception. I did share probably the coolest piece of art that I have ready to go, though. I think Laura Hunt's advice is very good. Just engage with people with the vibe you want and they'll do the same for you. Like anything else, it's probably better to do five minutes a day on Twitter (or whatever) than four hours all at once at the last minute.
Quote from: newwaveburritos on Wed 14/07/2021 23:10:57
I just joined Twitter last night for Kola Queen and almost immediately got a much greater than expected reception. I did share probably the coolest piece of art that I have ready to go, though. I think Laura Hunt's advice is very good. Just engage with people with the vibe you want and they'll do the same for you.
Ok, good to know!
QuoteLike anything else, it's probably better to do five minutes a day on Twitter (or whatever) than four hours all at once at the last minute.
True! I misspoke earlier about finishing the game first, I meant that I need to focus on this last "scenario" I'm working on, and finish it first, before I do anything else. Still lots to tinker with after that!
Quote from: rongel on Wed 14/07/2021 22:10:13If I should get the perfect publisher, that would make the marketing easier on my part.
Oh, you're thinking about releasing it with a publisher? That would be amazing indeed! Best of luck with that and let us know how it goes ;-D
This looks absolutely magnificent!! Love the atmosphere and character design!! Really excited for this, great work mate!
Quote from: Laura Hunt on Fri 16/07/2021 07:47:05
Oh, you're thinking about releasing it with a publisher? That would be amazing indeed! Best of luck with that and let us know how it goes ;-D
Yes, I think that could be a viable option, I could concentrate on the things I like, instead of running a business. I'll definetely let you which route I'll take and how it goes! ;-D
Quote from: TheVolumeRemote on Sat 17/07/2021 04:21:28
This looks absolutely magnificent!! Love the atmosphere and character design!! Really excited for this, great work mate!
Thanks, great to hear that! ;-D
Actually, social media is irrelevant to sales. Unlike popular belief. You can check a study that concludes to that since last year. SM helps create a sense of community which supports your things, but in terms of it revolving into sales it's not.
Quote from: Dualnames on Sat 17/07/2021 20:03:33
Actually, social media is irrelevant to sales. Unlike popular belief. You can check a study that concludes to that since last year. SM helps create a sense of community which supports your things, but in terms of it revolving into sales it's not.
Interesting view! The line between promoting a game and doing social media seems fuzzy, but there's still a difference, I think. This could be a good topic on its own.
Hello!
Sorry for the silence, here's something new! I posted this on Facebook a while ago, so some might have seen it already. So it's not that new after all, now that I think about it. :~(
(https://i.imgur.com/eWhKvl6.png)
Can you guess where Walter is? This mystery location is a big one, consisting from several other rooms. It's also the last missing piece of the game, and it's slowly coming together now!
Is it a maze?
_
Quote from: TheFrighter on Fri 03/09/2021 18:10:34
Is it a maze?
I wouldn't call it a maze (nobody seems to like mazes), more like a complex of rooms connected together. Nothing too big or overwhelming. But there is some randomness how the place is built in each gameplay.
Hello everyone!
The last dream world is ready! All the locations and mechanics are now finished and the game is fully playable from beginning to end.
(https://i.imgur.com/PT0jitb.png)
Now all that's left to do is to finish the music and sound effects, play testing, bug fixing, general polishing, spell checking, finishing the animations, marketing, even more play testing and bug fixing etc. ...
Congratulations on this milestone! I'm really looking forward to the game. I assume it won't be released this year though?
Wonderful news, I've been looking forward to this game since you announced it. Should you need a tester, I'm available.
Quote from: The Last To Know on Wed 01/12/2021 12:31:50
Congratulations on this milestone! I'm really looking forward to the game. I assume it won't be released this year though?
Thanks! Yes, the release will be (early?) next year. And I know I've said that before, but this time I really mean it! Hopefully all the heavy lifting will be done before Christmas holidays.
Quote from: cacaro on Wed 01/12/2021 13:00:01
Wonderful news, I've been looking forward to this game since you announced it. Should you need a tester, I'm available.
Nice to hear that! And I keep you in mind if I need more testers!
Quote from: rongel on Wed 01/12/2021 14:50:27
Nice to hear that! And I keep you in mind if I need more testers!
[/quote]
Just ask! 8-)
_
Tell your friends, tell your family, the Steam page for Dreams in the Witch House is up!
WISHLIST ON STEAM: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1902850/Dreams_in_the_Witch_House/?beta=0 (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1902850/Dreams_in_the_Witch_House/?beta=0)
(https://i.imgur.com/Hkr5rAr.png)
And as you can see, the name of the game is now "Dreams in the Witch House" like it always should have been.
Wishlisted!
I wonder if it won't be too scaaaaaarrrryyy (I get frightened easily and have played a few horror games, but have never been able to watch a horror movie), but I love the graphics. Good old low-res pixel art - it is so much better than all this 3D...
Maybe you could also add a hint book file to the game? It's really complex, and I would like to see all the different endings...
Quote from: Postmodern Adventures on Mon 21/02/2022 12:44:50
Wishlisted!
Super, thanks! :-D
Quote from: Nowhere Girl on Mon 21/02/2022 14:35:34
I wonder if it won't be too scaaaaaarrrryyy (I get frightened easily and have played a few horror games, but have never been able to watch a horror movie), but I love the graphics. Good old low-res pixel art - it is so much better than all this 3D...
Maybe you could also add a hint book file to the game? It's really complex, and I would like to see all the different endings...
I don't think it's too scary, but that's of course a subjective thing... :-D I would say it's more atmospheric than scary.
Hopefully after its release there will be walkthroughs and guides. I do want that there's some challenge, so that players have motivation to try again to get a better ending. It's a delicate balance, and it's constantly changing.
Wishlisted!
I'm very much looking forward to this game :)
Anyway, this looks like a game with a huge replay value.
Quote from: Matti on Mon 21/02/2022 16:37:38
Wishlisted!
I'm very much looking forward to this game :)
Thanks, great to hear that!
Quote from: Nowhere Girl on Mon 21/02/2022 18:41:00
Anyway, this looks like a game with a huge replay value.
I hope so! It has definetely more replay value than a "classic", linear adventure game. I enjoy playing linear games, but wanted to try something a bit different here.
Quote from: rongel on Tue 22/02/2022 08:08:49
I hope so! It has definetely more replay value than a "classic", linear adventure game. I enjoy playing linear games, but wanted to try something a bit different here.
Well, I've been replaying the game for years now and yet still I'm waiting with bells on for the next test build to play all over again.
I NEED to play it again! I'm so addicted.
Are you Nyarlathotep infecting the world with this game to bring about the rise of the Great Old Ones?
I think you are.... Yes, you are.
But I'm fine with that.
Looks amazing rongel, instantly wishlisted :)
Quote from: Mandle on Tue 22/02/2022 08:54:31
Well, I've been replaying the game for years now and yet still I'm waiting with bells on for the next test build to play all over again.
I NEED to play it again! I'm so addicted.
Are you Nyarlathotep infecting the world with this game to bring about the rise of the Great Old Ones?
I think you are.... Yes, you are.
Yes, your enthusiasm has been a great motivation and a signal that there's still things to do and try after several playthroughs!
As for the latter comment, I'm not allowed to reveal it yet. :-D
Quote from: shaun9991 on Tue 22/02/2022 10:51:56
Looks amazing rongel, instantly wishlisted :)
Thanks Shaun, very nice to hear that! Also, Incantamentum has been on my wishlist for awhile now!
Ah, excellent. Following the development has ben quite exciting so obviously I wish-listed it as well. Good luck finishing up! That's the hardest part after all of the other hardest parts.
Quote from: newwaveburritos on Tue 22/02/2022 20:59:54
Ah, excellent. Following the development has ben quite exciting so obviously I wish-listed it as well. Good luck finishing up!
Thanks, really appreciate it!
QuoteThat's the hardest part after all of the other hardest parts.
Well put! :-D
Finally! ;-D Wishlisted, can't wait!
Quote from: Laura Hunt on Wed 23/02/2022 11:56:40
Finally! ;-D Wishlisted, can't wait!
Super, thanks! Yes, I kept postponing the all the publishing related stuff, so getting the Steam page up is a big mental victory already!
Quote from: rongel on Wed 23/02/2022 13:16:36
mental victory
Given the genre, I assume that's where the Great Old Ones win the victory, and the protagonist ends up mental? (laugh)
wonderful news!! wishlisted!!!!
Quote from: javixblack on Wed 23/02/2022 20:00:36
wonderful news!! wishlisted!!!!
Thank you very much! And a nice looking vest by the way :-D
Happy May Eve from Keziah Mason and the gang!
Walpurgisnacht is upon us and evil spirits roam the night. So watch out, lock your doors and keep your candles burning!
(https://i.imgur.com/0w7Bpkz.gif)
Also, I'm back making the game full-time after a long work assignment. And this time I won't stop until the game is released!
I've seen that you are posting updates on Twitter as well, but I can't find it. (I often check game Twitter accounts in private mode, because in Firefox the most commonly visited sites are under the URL bar - and I want some more useful sites there, such as news, online dictionary etc.) Could you post a link to your Twitter account here?
Quote from: Nowhere Girl on Sun 01/05/2022 17:06:42
I've seen that you are posting updates on Twitter as well, but I can't find it. (I often check game Twitter accounts in private mode, because in Firefox the most commonly visited sites are under the URL bar - and I want some more useful sites there, such as news, online dictionary etc.) Could you post a link to your Twitter account here?
Oops! I thought I had added it to my AGS profile, but had not. Fixed now! Here's also an old fashioned link to Atom Brain Games Twitter: https://twitter.com/atombraingames (https://twitter.com/atombraingames)
I'm making updates there more frequently, but I will (of course) keep this forum updated as well on all the important things.
QuoteAlso, I'm back making the game full-time after a long work assignment. And this time I won't stop until the game is released!
Cool. I can't wait to have nightmares in the witch house.
By the way, I wonder about one thing. There's a library in the game. Will we get to actually look inside some of the books? I really enjoy these in-book views in some games, especially because I'm an avid screenshot collector:
"Kathy Rain" (screenshot not by me, I have another one from that book and mine are shrunk to 320x240) (https://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/849184-kathy-rain-windows-screenshot-browsing-one-of-joseph-s-books.png)
"Book of Unwritten Tales 2" (while I generally dislike 3D, this book looks amazing) (https://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/978079-the-book-of-unwritten-tales-2-windows-screenshot-a-botany.png)
"Heaven's Hope" (https://www.mobygames.com/images/promo/l/219590-heaven-s-hope-screenshot.jpg)
"Foxtail" (Ukrainian version, but the game has English too. In fact I have already completed the available three chapters in all five language versions, because I know all of these languages at least a little) (https://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/935568-foxtail-windows-screenshot-chapter-1-the-herbarium-actually.png)
"Luna - The Shadow Dust" (despite these book views, it's a fully textless game, and as you can see, even the books are written in an imaginary alphabet) (https://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/1002654-luna-the-shadow-dust-windows-screenshot-but-it-also-stays.png)
Quote from: Creamy on Sun 01/05/2022 22:00:52
Cool. I can't wait to have nightmares in the witch house.
Yes, the dreams are not happy day dreams!
QuoteBy the way, I wonder about one thing. There's a library in the game. Will we get to actually look inside some of the books? I really enjoy these in-book views in some games, especially because I'm an avid screenshot collector:
Sorry for the wait, somehow I missed your question! Yes, the Miskatonic University library has a big role in the game. But no, there are no close-ups of these books. You can read them, and Walter will gain skill points (exams / math / occult) and sometimes he will give a summary of what he read. But the good news is that, later on, there is a very significant book that has a similar close up, and you can add it to your book close-up gallery!
Breaking news:
Dreams in the Witch House will be participating in the Steam Next Fest, starting June 13th. That means there will be a demo out in one month!
(https://i.imgur.com/PVuGlGE.png)
That's great to hear! Would love to see how the game plays and feels!
Just a little heads up, I'm looking for a few testers for the demo. If you are interested, check out the recruitment page: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=59997.0 (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=59997.0)
Quote from: Hobo on Fri 13/05/2022 14:35:46
That's great to hear! Would love to see how the game plays and feels!
Now's your chance! :-D
Too bad I haven't noticed it before...
Will you be looking for testers for the whole game too? Somewhere in the autumn, I think, when it's almost ready... I'd be happy to test the game then.
Quote from: Nowhere Girl on Thu 26/05/2022 16:21:00
Too bad I haven't noticed it before...
Will you be looking for testers for the whole game too? Somewhere in the autumn, I think, when it's almost ready... I'd be happy to test the game then.
Yes, I probably need more fresh testers for the full game. I try to remember to contact you when the time comes!
PS. Demo coming very soon! :-D
Dear AGS folks, it's happening:
DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE DEMO IS OUT NOW!
Get it in Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1902850/Dreams_in_the_Witch_House/ (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1902850/Dreams_in_the_Witch_House/)
So happy to finally share (a part of) the game with you! This is my first time releasing a game, so I'm equally excited and terrified right now. But let me know what you think, I'm really curious to hear your comments!
Here's also a new trailer for the demo:
Go and play!
It's so cute that you are terrified. The game is solid and awesome. So get over your fear and embrace the madness that lies beyond it.
Quote from: Mandle on Thu 02/06/2022 13:02:51
It's so cute that you are terrified. The game is solid and awesome. So get over your fear and embrace the madness that lies beyond it.
Thanks again Mandle for the last minute support. If releasing the full game is 10 x this, I'm not sure if I'm going to make it! :-D
Congrats on the demo release, well done for making it this far. I'm certain everyone who plays it will enjoy it as much as I did.
Quote from: rongel on Thu 02/06/2022 13:38:19
Quote from: Mandle on Thu 02/06/2022 13:02:51
It's so cute that you are terrified. The game is solid and awesome. So get over your fear and embrace the madness that lies beyond it.
Thanks again Mandle for the last minute support. If releasing the full game is 10 x this, I'm not sure if I'm going to make it! :-D
Failing your SAN check is the most fun ever in a game of The Call Of Cthulhu if you have the right GM.
Quote from: Pax Animo on Thu 02/06/2022 13:53:40
Congrats on the demo release, well done for making it this far. I'm certain everyone who plays it will enjoy it as much as I did.
Thanks, I hope so! Yes, I feel this is an important goal to reach. And great practice for the full release!
QuoteFailing your SAN check is the most fun ever in a game of The Call Of Cthulhu if you have the right GM.
Not sure who my GM is in the real life! :-D
Quote from: rongel on Thu 02/06/2022 15:55:05
Not sure who my GM is in the real life! :-D
The Black Man? Did you sign anything?
Hi, i've played little with your demo and i've noticed something a bit odd, i'll put it in a spoiler.
Spoiler
If Walter buys a flashlight, he get's a package from his aunt with another flashlight, looking in the inventory, logically now there should be two flashlights, but the one he bought seems to just have been replaced as by magic. Maybe Walter should say a comment so the player knows he drops the old one? "I'd might as well get rid of this flashlight, no idea in using it anymore now". That way the player knows. Just an idea, i'm not sure i would call it a bug, but yeah. Just wanted to let you know! A minor detail
Quote from: AndreasBlack on Fri 03/06/2022 09:54:37
Hi, i've played little with your demo and i've noticed something a bit odd, i'll put it in a spoiler.
Spoiler
If Walter buys a flashlight, he get's a package from his aunt with another flashlight, looking in the inventory, logically now there should be two flashlights, but the one he bought seems to just have been replaced as by magic. Maybe Walter should say a comment so the player knows he drops the old one? "I'd might as well get rid of this flashlight, no idea in using it anymore now". That way the player knows. Just an idea, i'm not sure i would call it a bug, but yeah. Just wanted to let you know! A minor detail
Good point, thanks for reporting it! The starting item is random, so I forgot that scenario might happen. Need to fix it, easiest solution would be to remove the flashlight from the starting items.
I tried the demo and was impressed by the great animations. However, the gameplay stressed me slightly, as I constantly felt like I was missing something. The atmosphere was very oppressive, you managed that very well!
Quote from: The Last To Know on Tue 07/06/2022 08:25:55
I tried the demo and was impressed by the great animations. However, the gameplay stressed me slightly, as I constantly felt like I was missing something. The atmosphere was very oppressive, you managed that very well!
Thanks for the comment, good to hear you noticed the animations, they take so much time to make!
I think if you got to the ending, you played it well enough! Also, Walter's To-Do List gives a general idea of things that you can do and advance (but not all of them are possible to complete in the demo). I'm now making slight adjustments to the gameplay, to try to make it more approachable to a new player. There is currently one clue in the demo that's too easy to miss, so will fix that as well.
Will there be dead ends in the final game? Maybe if I run out of money and get sick because I ran through the rain or something? ;)
Quote from: The Last To Know on Wed 08/06/2022 22:10:35
Will there be dead ends in the final game? Maybe if I run out of money and get sick because I ran through the rain or something? ;)
Because the time is advancing and days pass by even if you just hang around doing nothing, there won't be dead ends as such. Like if you have missed a puzzle, the game still progresses and new opportunites and dangers arise. I think the only dead end is that you die! :-D
If you run out of money, you just need to hang on until the next Monday when you get your weekly allowance in the mail. The odd jobs at the lodging house are also meant to act as a backup, if you run out of money. I try to balance the game so that it's ok to struggle a while, and then get back up again.
The demo got just updated to version 1.04!
Get it on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1902850/Dreams_in_the_Witch_House/ (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1902850/Dreams_in_the_Witch_House/)
(https://i.imgur.com/yZCbFUw.png)
There's a couple of really good changes and tweaks based on the early feedback:
- Support for Linux Proton / Wine
- Halved the time progression speed when in real-time. Now one real-time minute is 30 minutes in game
- Stopwatch symbol now shows all the paused situations
- Made a story object in Joe's room easier to spot
- Joe can now have planks for the rat hole
- Starting Math skill now 1.0
- Added 1 portion of food to starting items
- Edited Character Bar descriptions for Coldness and Wetness to be more informative
- Changed Coffee House button text from "Lunch" to "Meal"
- Added a couple of new comments for Walter when interacting with certain items
- New save game slot now empty (no need to delete the previous text)
+ some minor fixes / adjustments
And save games from previous version should work without noticeable problems!
Will your playthroughs be available for those who couldn't or, for some reason, didn't want to watch them live?
Quote from: Nowhere Girl on Mon 20/06/2022 12:53:24
Will your playthroughs be available for those who couldn't or, for some reason, didn't want to watch them live?
Probably not, I think I'll leave the streaming to professionals! It was kind of fun and exciting though. Always nice to try something completely new.
I played the demo today and I loved it.
The atmosphere is very good and I was impressed by the overall immersion. I really felt like I was there, being in a new city, a new home, getting to know people and places, and trying to study for the exams. The excellent art is really adding to this.
I also felt a bit stressed by the gameplay, but I guess that's exactly what the game tries to do. I really like that survival-horror-adventure mix. There was a constant pressure to study, eat, get money, but I always wanted to move on and progress. The last days in the demo didn't went too well, being hungry, tired and out of money, but I made it to the end ;-D
I replayed the demo once to do things a bit differently and I like the randomness (and dependencies) of many things. This sure has some replayability.
I found a small bug/glitch:
Spoiler
I bought some ear plugs on the first day. Then on the second day, my aunt sent me some earplugs, amongst other things. I still had only one pair of earplugs in the inventory, so at first I thought I just wasted money. Then at some point Walter said that the earplugs are wasted and that he needed new ones. But it turned out they have been replaced by the second pair I had. The weird thing though is that the earplug's sprite was the same of the one that was almost broken, but Walter called it "mint condition" :)
So the graphic should have changend to new, mint earplugs. But even better, two pairs of earplugs should have been in the inventory.
Thanks Matti for the comments, great to hear you like the demo! The full game will have a slightly calmer beginning, so it should be a little less stressful.
Also, thanks for the earplug bug report, I'll add it to my fix list (but not sure yet if / when I update the demo).
Hi all!
It's been a while since my last update, so to fix this and to celebrate the new, fancy looking site here's something new!
(https://i.imgur.com/SSr0XlO.png)
Can you guess what the machine does? And do you dare to use it?
Also, the development is still going steadily on, and if I just stop adding new stuff, the 2022 release is still possible!
Good to hear that development is going steadily, I can't wait! On the other hand I don't mind you adding more stuff to the game :)
To me it looks like some kind of resurrection machine. Let's see if I will dare to use it ;)
Quote from: Matti on Thu 29/09/2022 22:23:36Good to hear that development is going steadily, I can't wait! On the other hand I don't mind you adding more stuff to the game :)
Thanks! It's easy and fun to add stuff, but to make sure it works in all the possible scenarios can be a pain in the ***!
QuoteTo me it looks like some kind of resurrection machine. Let's see if I will dare to use it ;)
Maybe the hieroglyph reads from left to right, making it the opposite :P
Quote from: rongel on Sun 02/10/2022 16:13:25Maybe the hieroglyph reads from left to right, making it the opposite :P
Noitcerruser machine?
I'm wondering how will saving work in the game: will it be possible to save at any moment, or does it include some kind of autosaving? The former would be better, it would greatly simplify exploration of possible paths and outcomes.
Quote from: Nowhere Girl on Fri 14/10/2022 11:48:26I'm wondering how will saving work in the game: will it be possible to save at any moment, or does it include some kind of autosaving? The former would be better, it would greatly simplify exploration of possible paths and outcomes.
There's an autosave each morning, but you can also do manual saves. The saving is limited only in very specific situations / locations.
Quote from: rongel on Sat 15/10/2022 17:10:57The saving is limited only in very specific situations / locations.
At least one of which I have died in several times I think.
Big news! Dreams in the Witch House has a publisher!
Bonus Stage Publishing (https://bonusstage.co/) is helping me to finish the game and spread the word. Feels good to share the load!
This means the game will be delayed to early 2023, so that they have time to do their thing. The upside is that DITWH will be more polished and tested when it launches.
Link to the official announcement: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1902850/view/3376037401290307161
(https://i.imgur.com/MMAKog0.png)
Congratulations! Well deserved!
Hello, it's been a while!
Next month there will be some big announcements, but for now, happy Holidays and a good new year!
(https://i.imgur.com/hGkQ1TM.png)
Youtuber vicek83 has a tradition to ask adventure game developers their plans for the new year. The 2023 video was just released and I'm in it too!
There's a lot of talented developers talking about their work, so even if you are not interested in DITWH, you might find something else there :)
Happy New Year!
It's finally happening:
DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE will be RELEASED on FEBRUARY 16TH!The game will be available on Steam and on GOG. I've been developing DITWH for seven years now, so this is pretty exciting.
To celebrate the upcoming launch, here's a brand new Release Trailer. Take a look (and a listen, Troy's score is amazing)!
Quote from: rongel on Wed 01/02/2023 15:42:32It's finally happening:
DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE will be RELEASED on FEBRUARY 16TH!
The game will be available on Steam and on GOG. I've been developing DITWH for seven years now, so this is pretty exciting.
To celebrate the upcoming launch, here's a brand new Release Trailer. Take a look (and a listen, Troy's score is amazing)!
Wonderful news ;)
Loved the demo and can't wait to play the whole game.
Quote from: agentbauer on Wed 01/02/2023 16:18:41Wonderful news ;)
Loved the demo and can't wait to play the whole game.
Great to hear that! If the demo worked for you, I think you will enjoy the full game!
Congratulations rongel! Looks amazing. Wow, 7 years, I thought I'm a bit cuckoo spending a year for 3 and half hours gameplay, but here we go. Respect for putting so much into art of video game.
Great news! I'm looking forward to it.
Quote from: lapsking on Wed 01/02/2023 20:06:20Congratulations rongel! Looks amazing. Wow, 7 years, I thought I'm a bit cuckoo spending a year for 3 and half hours gameplay, but here we go. Respect for putting so much into art of video game.
Thanks! Yes, I know what you mean! But to be honest, I didn't know much about anything when I started the project. So I've redone the game several times now, and just kept adding more stuff in it. It's good that I have a publisher now, otherwise I might still just continue messing around with it!
Quote from: Matti on Thu 02/02/2023 09:23:21Great news! I'm looking forward to it.
Thanks! Only two weeks left for the release!
I have played the demo several times now. I'll admit I am always a bit skeptical towards games where events happen in a sort of real time and you may miss them if you are not in the right place. However, I've played focusing on solving different problems, and this makes the games played quite varied. It looks good, animates extremely well, and the mechanics are well-oiled and easy to get the hang of. Perhaps you'll get a role player out of me yet. The story is also very well told, and the dream sequences are...odd. And scary. I eagerly await the full version, and I guess this may well be a hit in 2023.
Too bad that the demo was never entered into the database. Now it's impossible to nominate it for best demo of 2022. Which it may well be.
Quote from: heltenjon on Sun 05/02/2023 00:42:01I have played the demo several times now. I'll admit I am always a bit skeptical towards games where events happen in a sort of real time and you may miss them if you are not in the right place. However, I've played focusing on solving different problems, and this makes the games played quite varied. It looks good, animates extremely well, and the mechanics are well-oiled and easy to get the hang of. Perhaps you'll get a role player out of me yet. The story is also very well told, and the dream sequences are...odd. And scary. I eagerly await the full version, and I guess this may well be a hit in 2023.
That's great to hear! I think the last year I've just tried it to make the game more approachable, and make the systems more clear to player (which is probably the hardest thing to do!). I'm very happy you liked the gameplay, with the roleplaying mechanisms and all.
QuoteToo bad that the demo was never entered into the database. Now it's impossible to nominate it for best demo of 2022. Which it may well be.
Well sh... shoot. I think I just totally forgot that you could apply for the best demo. Because the full game was delayed from 2022 to 2023, I was just thinking that I will miss this years competition altogether. I'll be sure add the full game to the database as soon as it's released!
(https://i.imgur.com/Ebdabag.png)
Only one day until the release!
And after that it's time to close this thread. It's been fun four and a half years here :-D
Now, back to panicking!
Dreams in the Witch House will be available on Steam (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1902850/Dreams_in_the_Witch_House/)and GOG (https://www.gog.com/en/game/dreams_in_the_witch_house)
I will try it out later today!
Somehow it's a great timing, because the game will help me get through my first (and hopefully last) covid infection ;-D
The game is completed and released, so this thread can be locked now. Thanks for following the development!
Congrats on the release!