Secluded - WIP - Approx 25% Done

[EliasFrost]

Secluded (working title) Approx 25% Done

Indie Thriller/Light Horror

twitter: https://twitter.com/Secluded_Game
tumblr: http://eliasfrost.tumblr.com/

Premise:
Codename: 'Secluded' is a indie thriller/light horror game developed by Elias Frost. The game is about Vanessa Cardoso, an old friend to Zac White: a psychologically crippled murderer recently released after a long time in prison with psychological rehabilitation. One unfortunate evening Zac is kidnapped by Samuel and Kevin, a closely tied together duo with a dark secret. It is up to you (Vanessa) to uncover that secret and save your old friend. The game focuses heavily on blending puzzle and narration. As well as a bit of exploration.


Vision:
The game is viewed from an isometric perspective and the graphical style is pixelated with dark and washed out colors to provide the atmosphere envisioned by me. I have put a lot of my work to really squeeze my all into this project, especially the sound design and graphics, my vision is to create a relatively top-notch game both gameplay wise and presentation, to the best of my abilties of course, I am a one-man band after all. If something feels wrong, then it is wrong and I'm not afraid to revisit parts of my game to tweak it to keep the quality consistent throughout the game. This is in fact my very first 'real' game dev project and it is a great undertaking but I hope some encouragement and dedication will help me through this.


Screenshots:










Videos:
Since the game is in development, parts of the areas shown in the video is subject to change. That said, please enjoy!
[embed=640,390]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4spYVI88JIA[/embed]


Development Progress:
Overall:
    Prologue: 100%
    Chapter 1: 10%
    Chapter 2: 10%
    Chapter 3: 5%
    Epilogue: 5%
Story:
    Plot: 90%
    Narrative(actually completed): ~20%
Scripting:
    UI: 100%
    System: 60% (saving and additional options left)
    Gameplay: 100%
    Levels/Content: ~20%
Graphics:
    GUI: 90%
    Content: ~20%
Sounds:
    GUI: 100%
    Content: 20%

Expected release:
Since I'm working alone on this, I make all the graphics, writing, sounds and scripting. I honestly can't say. If I keep it up as much as I expect, perhaps late 2014/early-mid 2015.

Development Diary/Notes:

Early 2013: Brainstorming, writing ideas, tweaking story and general pre-dev stuff.

July 2013: Project started, decided to use AGS due to prior experience with the engine (It's top notch btw Chris, Thanks for providing such a great framework!)

Oktober 2013: Almost finished with the GUI, UI scripting, Systems (saving is not yet implemented), can at last put additional focus into content creation.

November 2013:
    - Updating graphics and controls for the keypad (no longer keyboard input, graphical keypad added)
    - Added additional animation to certain events and added frames where lacking
    - New Area added
    - Script (as in "movie-script") for prologue completely finished with dialogue and events
    - I'm working on the graphics for a new character

December 2013: I finished the prologue in early December and spent most of the month inviting testers, reviewing feedback and fixed bugs and improved the first part of the game based on the reports I've received. A big thanks to everyone who tested the game out and make Secluded a better game.

January 2014: Worked on Dialogue and improved the UI with new categories for notes: Notes, Diaries, Misc and Memos.

February - April 2014: Added areas and content to the game.





Thanks for checking my game out and if you like it, or if something concerns you, please feel free to comment! For additional information, some philosophical game design rants and general stuff, please check out my Tumblr page if it interests you: http://eliasfrost.tumblr.com/

// Elias Frost

[FlyingMandarine]

Great atmosphere you've got there! I hope you really do polish that game and make good use of ambient sounds, because I'd love to be deeply immersed in that game. The visual style is pretty good too.

I know there's still a long way to go, but I hope you manage to finish this one. Good luck!

[CaptainD]

Looks interesting!  Hope development goes well.

[Stupot]

Looks great.  Lots of nice little touches. Keep it up :-)

[EliasFrost]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I'm hoping to be able to upload a new screenshot in the next weeks when I'm done with the finishing touches for the prologue, as the area in the first screenshot is no longer in the game in it's current form (though it was representative of the overall atmosphere of the game).

[Lasca]

Looks really nice! Good luck and keep on keeping on!

[kaput]

Really liking the vibe going on here. The feel of the artwork puts me in mind of a sinister, Project Zomboid-esque world. But without the zombies, obviously. Interesting indeed. Keep truckin'. 

[EliasFrost]

Just to let people know, when I'm done with the prologue I will create a facebook page, a twitter account and perhaps a dev blog. I will also open up for playtesters (though I can't pay anyone) later this year or early 2014. Right now, my close friends and family do that for me, but when I have significant content that I need bigger number of testers to get covered, I will need volunteers to help me out. I will announce those things as they are finished, I want to focus most of my time on the game though but I just wanted to let you know.

[Ubel]

I love the sound of that premise and the visuals look nice and moody! Gonna try this out for sure when you're done!

[EliasFrost]

Here'a a new screenshot, things are going steadily forward now that I'm more comfortable with drawing backgrounds and animating, in the beginning it took some time to get used to the isometric angle and the color pallette, now I'm working at double speed and it feels good to be able to realize my ideas relatively quickly.

[CaptainD]

Wow... LOVE the lighting in that scene.

Haven't really played many isometric games since Head Over Heels on the 8 and 16-bits... your game is looking ever more interesting!

[cianty]

This looks extremely interesting! Good luck and I hope you pull through.

[Chicky]

Watched the video and it seems your design is coming along nicely, the heavy compression really doesn't do it justice though; The screenshots look lovely, very tidy style you've got there Frostfalk.

[EliasFrost]

Thanks for the comments, the game is coming along nicely

nvm

[DoorKnobHandle]

I'm pretty sure Chicky is talking about video compression, Frostfalk.

[EliasFrost]

I'm pretty sure Chicky is talking about video compression, Frostfalk.

OOOOoooooooooohhhhh That's right, my bad.

[Pinback]

Wonderful! You had me hooked at stormy suburban night.

[EliasFrost]

I've uploaded a new video with a bit better quality (still isn't optimal but it's good enough for now).

The new video features a new area, some rewritten texts, hints were added and I've made some minor changes to the streets.

[embed=640,390]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4spYVI88JIA[/embed]

[EliasFrost]

Hey, I just want to let everyone know what's going on since last update:

- Updating graphics and controls for the keypad (no longer keyboard input, graphical keypad added)
- Added additional animation to certain events and added frames where lacking
- New Area added
- Script (as in "movie-script") for prologue completely finished with dialogue and events
- I'm working on the graphics for a new character

And that's pretty much it, I will post a new screenshot when I'm ready. And later on during the winter I will accept play-testers, I will announce when the need arises.

And one last thing, what do you guys and gals think about pop-up hints, like the one in the video above, should I keep them like they are or should I display that information in one single screen when starting a new game?

[ArgyBoi]

Looks great!

[Matti]

This looks very nice! Good luck with the development!

[EliasFrost]

Thank you very much Matti and JuaniT.

I'd like to announce that the prologue is nearly finished and after some touch ups I'm going to start accepting volunteers to test the game out.

[EliasFrost]

Sorry for double post but I'm now ready to accept testers for the game. If you want to test the game, please leave a comment and you may receive a message with additional details.

Thank you!

[Stupot]

Hi Frost.  I'd be up for testing this

[Brainchild]

Had to post after seeing the gameplay on youtube. Really great atmosphere and art style!

[EliasFrost]

Thank you Alex, very kind words.

[arj0n]

Looking very good FFalk!

PM-ed.

[EliasFrost]

Got it

[EliasFrost]

I want to thank everyone who have tested the first part of Secluded and taken their own precious time to write and send me very elabrotate bug/feedback reports, the feedback I've received have been very helpful and helped me improve the first part of the game immensively, thanks again and happy new year!

During January, I will start working on content for Chapter 1, right now I only have an outline of the narrative, the characters, a few puzzles and the overall objective of the first chapter. I will still post regularly (once at the end of the month) unless I have something important to show or tell. I can't promise anything but I hope I will have a screenshot up by the end of the month or somtime in february.

Thanks!

[Takyon]

You've really perfected the atmosphere in that game play video. This looks excellent so far.

[EliasFrost]

Thank you J.H!

For everyone that is interested, I've created a twitter profile for the game and if you want to follow the development on a more closely, please follow https://twitter.com/Secluded_Game for the small stuff that isn't posted on forums and facebook. Thanks

[EliasFrost]

During January, I've worked very much on improving existing mechanics, such as dialogue and UI. The new changes to the UI is that I've split the notes into four categories: Notes, Diaries, Misc and Memos.

Notes are small scraps or single papers, Diaries are dated papers and Diary entries, Misc is anything that doesn't fit into the other two categories, like posters, photos etc. Memos are like tips, small notes that describe your current goals. Here's an image of the new UI:



Items are placed at the top left like usual. The main menu is the same functionaly, I just updated the graphic to reflect the other changes. I don't think I've posted about it here but I added Secluded to IndieDB a month ago and if you're interested, you can view the page here and if you want to follow the project, make sure you subscribe to the page for regular updates about the game.



Here's the newest relevant articles since December:
http://www.indiedb.com/games/secluded/news/new-ui-what-im-up-to
http://www.indiedb.com/games/secluded/news/dialogue-layout-and-significance

Thanks!

[EliasFrost]

Long time since I last posted here. But I can reassure you that the project is not dead! I'm currently working hard on content so there's little to say except things are going well. But I want to tell you about the new stuff since the last update:

- The first "hub" with explorables has been added
- I have added 6 areas to the game, all with things to interact with and several storypoints were added
- I have implemented the first character into the game, with his own dialogue which reacts to stuff you've done and things you've previously said
- Updated the graphics of an area in the prologue that lacked detail
- I'm now roughly 25% into the game

And the big news, two new screenshots!




Hope you like them!

And as always, thanks for checking out Secluded!

Elias

[Trapezoid]

This looks cool, love the idea of isometric adventure games. One thing I'd work on is the walking animation, make it a little faster and turn on anti-glide mode. Maybe implement a free floating camera too, locking the center of the frame to the character always looks strange.

[Myshkin]

This looks great, I love a good rainy atmosphere in a game. Looking forward to playing it!

[EliasFrost]

This looks cool, love the idea of isometric adventure games. One thing I'd work on is the walking animation, make it a little faster and turn on anti-glide mode. Maybe implement a free floating camera too, locking the center of the frame to the character always looks strange.

Thank you! Don't worry, I will be adding additional frames to the walking animations in the future to smooth them out, I'm not a fan of the anti-glide feature because it makes the movement choppy and almost lag-like, I hope that the new frames will compensate for the very apparent glide effect seen with the current number of frames.

@Emont: Thanks!

[EliasFrost]

Early this time is a new screenshot. I've been very productive for the last 2 weeks and I'd like to show you some of the progress:

I've worked hard on adding new areas, spice up old ones and I also added additional animation frames to the walking animations (it looks a lot better than it did before!). Please feel free to spread the word about Secluded and if you want, you can follow me on twitter: @Secluded_Game and check out the IndieDB page. No shameless advertising here... what?

I also want everyone to know that I'm about half-way through Chapter 1 and I want to remind you that I will have another testing period once I'm done with Chapter 1 sometimes this summer I predict.

[Grim]

I probably said it before, but if not: looks really nice, this one. Reminds me of Lone Survivor, which was a great game in its own rights.

One advice though- why not ditch that chapter structure and make a game that is a whole? Even if it ends on a cliffhanger of sorts, leaving an open path for a sequel- like Blackwell games? Every time I see some Game X: Chapter 1, I decide to pass. Half the time chapter 2 never gets made and I don't want to start something that I might never get closure on, or in case I get really into it would have to wait years for the next chapter to play.

The only exception here are TellTale games, since the chapters come out (or at least are supposed to come out) monthly.

That's my 2 cents... but I'm pretty sure I will play this one either way;)

[EliasFrost]

Thank you Grim! I've seen let's plays of Lone Survivor but I've never played it myself I might pick it up sometime when I have spare time to kill.

The game is not structured into different episodes like Telltale does, the chapters are merely chapters in the game, sort of like a book - so the game is going to be released as a whole, no worries there. If I released the game with only Chapter 1, it would be far too short anyway haha.

[shaun9991]

This game is the real deal, can't wait to play it.

[EliasFrost]

Thank you so much Shaun, I haven't played through all of Mudlarks just yet but so far it's amazing, can't wait to see what other projects you will release in the future!

Here's a new screenshot, I think it looks a bit empty on the left side so if anyone have any feedback on how to improve this area I will be very greatful!

[Darth Mandarb]

Here's a new screenshot, I think it looks a bit empty on the left side so if anyone have any feedback on how to improve this area I will be very greatful!

Nope!  Take that into the Critics Lounge if you want that kind of advice.

[EliasFrost]

Hey everyone, I'm going to have a new playtest session soon, and if you're interested you can leave a comment here on the thread and I will contact you with the information needed when the playtest version is ready and preparations done.

[Stupot]

Hey Elias. I'd be down for another playtest

[arj0n]

if you're interested you can leave a comment here

herewith
   

[EliasFrost]

Awesome

[EliasFrost]

Just want to be sure, I used the same e-mail addresses that I got from you before, did you get the mail I sent a few days ago?

[Stupot]

I got it, cheers mate. I'll get on it at the weekend.
And hope you had a nice bday :-)

[Intense Degree]

I'd be happy to playtest if you still need people?

[EliasFrost]

Good to hear Stu, and thanks, it was great

Intense Degree, pm me your e-mail address and I'll send you the details

[Sslaxx]

Saw this mentioned on CaptainD's Twitter feed. Didn't realise it was AGS! Nicely done.