Hood: Survival Horror, Adult Adventure

hieronymous · Fri 06/11/2009 17:10:44

Warning: if you were one of those delicate souls who didn't like having to kill the doggy in the last adventure I released here, then don't even THINK about playing this one. Other criticisms of that game I've taken to heart though - so in this game I've rendered the character sprites a lot larger, so that they don't pixellate so much in close-up; actions are deferred until the character arrives at a target area rather than giving an irritating "it's too far away" kind of message; and it's possible to "eyeball" the surrounding area to find potential exits, rather than having to blunder around until you stumble over them

Early days yet, but this will be a "Resident Evil" style game, mixing both action and puzzles. Violence, adult themes, some gore, a great deal of cussing

The game engine is pretty much written now. Everything is controlled from the core script, and there's no code attached anywhere else. That was an intellectual challenge as much as anything else, but I've found that at the end of the day it makes the development process a lot easier to control

Anyhoo, "Hood" is the working title, but that may well change as it develops

Grim · Fri 06/11/2009 18:16:42

Finally!

I'm intrigued, the "doggy killing" part got my attention.... and I have a good feeling about this. Definitely a game for me:)

PuNKKoMmANDO77 · Fri 06/11/2009 18:46:48

amazing , remember me resident evil 3 ,

hieronymous · Mon 09/11/2009 09:42:32

i guess mentioning the dead doggy was a mistake, huh? sheesh, good job i never posted the game where you have to kill an elephant in order to advance

and don't even ask about the blue whale...

anyhoo, a few more screenshots

the first level is pretty much written now. it establishes the premise, introduces the heroine and a few other characters. there's a dozen or so screens to explore, one main puzzle to solve, and quite a few things to find. there's music, and sound effects, but no combat as yet. that will be the next major stage of the project

anyway, once i've winkled out the last remaining bug (like THAT ever happens) from this stage of the game i'll pm a link to everyone who's expressed interest so far. well, at least that's not going to take long, is it?

S · Mon 09/11/2009 13:50:51

I know this isn't the critics lounge, but I just have to point it out: the background perspective does not align with the protagonist sprite. Is it a w-i-p thing?

hieronymous · Mon 09/11/2009 14:02:16

the alternative is to use boring straight on camera views for every single scene, which would obviously then match up with the straight on sprite views

personally i prefer to use dynamic camera angles, giving a variety of different scene perspectives and scales, and the player just has to suspend disbelief regarding how the animated sprites fit into the scenes

however, if you know a way of dynamically modding the in-game sprites to match background camera angles in AGS, then i'd be fascinated to hear it

Disco · Mon 09/11/2009 14:07:38

Wow, I was completely off there. From the title I immediately thought you meant "(Fort) Hood: Survival Horror" :S

Anyways looks good, good luck with this. The backgrounds are nice, I could totally see a TMNT mod of this

Grim · Mon 09/11/2009 20:28:08

Quote from: S on Mon 09/11/2009 13:50:51
I know this isn't the critics lounge, but I just have to point it out: the background perspective does not align with the protagonist sprite. Is it a w-i-p thing?

Now, of course it's a work-in-progress! Isn't 'AGS Games In Production' name kind of giving it away?

I do agree about the perspective though.... I love the theme, resident evil references and the graphics here, but you should maybe tweak scaling level here and there. Having said that, on some of the screens the characters and backgrounds are in perfect harmony!

Stupot · Mon 09/11/2009 21:31:58

Woah, looks great. Can I get a link, too when you dish them out?
Cheers bro.

hieronymous · Tue 10/11/2009 05:43:37

Quote from: Grim Reaper on Mon 09/11/2009 20:28:08I do agree about the perspective though.... I love the theme, resident evil references and the graphics here, but you should maybe tweak scaling level here and there. Having said that, on some of the screens the characters and backgrounds are in perfect harmony!

i'm not really sure i quite understand the criticism. i spend quite a bit of time on each screen ensuring that the max and min scaling levels of each room match the character's height to the surrounding environment. that's an inexact science, of course, but those are the only parameters (as far as i'm aware) that i have at my disposal to manipulate the sprite's shape, and looking at the screens i've posted i can't see any obvious discrepancies on that score

to illustrate the point, the other characters on the posted screens are "static" (although they do in fact have a few animation frames each) figures, actually rendered in the environments, and as can be seen, the heroine's height pretty much matches theirs when she's near to them

i'd agree that the perspective of the character doesn't always match up with the camera angles, but as i've said, using this software it's impossible to do that while also using an array of different camera angles. the only way it's possible is if you simply plonk the camera in front of each scene and get a head-on view of it, and my preference is to have the occasional skewed perspective but more interesting camera angles. that will become important when the combat phase starts too. a lot of the success of early resident evil was some of the claustrophobic angles it employed to put the player on edge

anyway, thanks for the comments. it's always useful to get feedback

as to the initial release, it's a day or so off. everything's in working order, but i just keep thinking "well, perhaps i should just add.. .so and so?"

(and to be honest, i HAVE been trying to come up with a way in which i can introduce a whale into the scenario. if you're gonna waste fluffy stuff, may as well think big...)

Khris · Tue 10/11/2009 10:16:21

I'm sorry to be an ass again, but I just can't get over it: why the ugly window border in the screen shots...?
There's a built-in screen shot function, and even without that, why not friggin' crop the shot first...?

I see this all the time in recent threads and I just don't get it. Sorry again.

Apart from my ranting, the screens looks really good for pre-rendered stuff (which usually isn't my cup of tea) and I'm looking forward to giving this a shot.

hieronymous · Tue 10/11/2009 10:27:32

Quote from: Khris on Tue 10/11/2009 10:16:21I'm sorry to be an ass again

it doesn't take much to yank your chain does it? war, famine, drought, pestilence, global warming, corruption in high places.... noooooo, it's none of those, it's the fact that the screen shots have got a frigging border round them

lighten up man. it is NOT IMPORTANT

ThreeOhFour · Tue 10/11/2009 10:41:47

Aww, actually, the borders ruin the screenshots totally for me as well. And the fact that she looks like she's floating above that box in the fourth one. And how she's always on her tiptoes.

But hey, awesome rendering man, you got some cool talent, and this ain't the critics lounge so it is me who is in the wrong

Good luck getting those bugs winkled out!

Gilbert · Tue 10/11/2009 12:34:28

Aw com'on. What's wrong with borders showing in the screenshots? Though you can take screenshots directly in AGS there is no rule to force you to use it. IMO the borders are somewhat a proof to the game indeed being made with AGS.

Get over with it. This is about upcoming games, not about whether the screenshots have borders.

Personally I think the games look nice and I'm looking forward to seeing it finished.

Galen · Tue 10/11/2009 16:15:18

Is "It is full of absolutely nothing." worded so intentionally or was the meaning that it is empty? If it is the former then thats a suprisingly lax reaction.

hieronymous · Tue 10/11/2009 16:20:06

it's the response of an affirmed nihilist

there's an episode of the simpsons where bart's being pursued by sideshow bob, intent on some gilbert and sullivan backed murder & mayhem

he (bart. not sideshow bob. and not gilbert. nor sullivan) runs to the front of the boat, and sees some killer... for the sake of argument, let's say... alligators

he runs to the back of the boat and seem some killer... for the sake of argument, let's say... electric eels

he runs back to the front of the boat and sees...

and says: "oh yeah"

i'd forgotten, when i started re-posting here, what this place is full of...

i've remembered now...

Darth Mandarb · Tue 10/11/2009 17:08:10

NOT THE CRITICS LOUNGE ... if he needs/wants critics on the graphics he'll post in there. Let's get back on target.

Grim · Tue 10/11/2009 18:12:57

Quote from: hieronymous on Tue 10/11/2009 16:20:06

i'd forgotten, when i started re-posting here, what this place is full of...

i've remembered now...

It's not usually! I'm surprised. I think your game deserves better. Haven't played the demo yet but hopefullly will tonight. Don't let it discourage you!

Frodo · Tue 10/11/2009 19:40:52

Quote from: hieronymous on Tue 10/11/2009 16:20:06
i'd forgotten, when i started re-posting here, what this place is full of...

For what it's worth, I think your game looks awesome. I love that dark, gothicy style.

Don't let the petty nitpicks get you down.

I'm looking forward to playing it.

Grim · Tue 10/11/2009 21:43:10

Good lord, I've played it and only now understod what " It's full of absolutely nothing"comment meant! It's a quote from this game! It's also proceeded with "shit" to spice things up. Very imaginative...

Hood looks pretty good. When it's still. Why did you decide to make your main character jump up and down, left and right? That's not idle animation- that's a woman attacked by a bee! If this is not a final version of chapter 1, please change it to something more subtle. I understand that people in game are under a lot of stress but the current idle animation ruins any sense of atmosphere you could possibly create.

And what's going on with the talking portraits? I'm sorry, but either there's something wrong with me or those doll-like sexy big-lipped faces of the all-female cast of the game keep moving rhytmically forwards and backwards, suddenly oblivious to unknown threat that bothers them and instead pretending to be a 5 looped frames out of a porn clip, and yet, denying it by saying all those very serious things...

I apologize if it sounds harsh... Maybe- and I mean maybe- you could use your talent to turn this story around and make it more believable?

There is something really sexual about Hood. All those women, the way they speak, those pink converse shoes... it's not a posh classy sexy but nevertheless it is intriguing. If you only dared to explore that area more you could a) achieve your signature style and do for horror games what larry did to comedy games, b) sex-up (safe playing) adventure games market c) be cool,
Yeah, I think that would be really really cool, and I don't even usually use that word.

What's troubling me is that with your graphic skills you really have the potential to create something great. But also, perhaps storytelling isn't your strongest skill? My advice is to either do full time graphics or coding or study and observe professional screenwriting. And once again, I'm sorry if some of my comments have offended you... I'm just being honest.