House of Whispers: Prologue Now Released

[hieronymous]

House of Whispers, Release History:

24th Feb 2008: Version 1.0 of Prologue released

The latest version of House of Whispers can be downloaded by Right Clicking the link. SaveTargetAs, then unzip to a suitable location on your hard drive. If prompted, reply OverwriteFiles=YES

Current Work in Progress (as at 25th Feb 2008):
> Bug corrections to V1.0, with the possibility of a V1.1 being released
> Some enhancements to the interface to be incorporated into the general Game Template
> Storyboarding Act I




I have already completed two other games using AGS - the first a multi-part first person view adventure, the second a more conventional third person romp. Each time I've learned new techniques, and each time I've been astounded by the depth and quality of the game engine. V3 has taken it to another level, and AGS is certainly the equal of (and in many cases better than) many commercial games-writing packages

Like the previous two games, this new one will be an adult adventure, with the in-game graphics created using Daz Studio. The mood will be dark and gothic, along the lines of Silent Hill and Resident Evil, and may include both sexual and violent elements, so be warned

These are early screenshots. Top left will probably end up as the load screen. The other three shots are in-game scenes from the early part of the game. The main character, Jenni L'Amour, is already fully animated, but the game itself is still in the early phases of development, and in particular I've yet to decide what style of gameplay to aim for - whether it will simply be a "traditional" adventure or whether I'll try and add some form of combat into the mix

More to come as the game progresses

[Galen]

Wow, those screenshots look great.

[jimrh]

What were the other 2 games that you made? and can you post a link to them?

[Jack Sheehan]

Jesus that looks nice. Keep us posted.

[hieronymous]

What were the other 2 games that you made? and can you post a link to them?

regrettably they're unsuitable for this forum, due to high levels of sex and violence

the intention is that this latest offering be kept a little more subdued in that respect, whilst still retaining a distinctly noir-ish edge

[thebaddie]

toooooo dark, but also good 

this screenshots are from the AGS engine? i mean are they prerendered 3d backgrounds used as 2d bg ingame and that are in-game screenshots, or just 3d stuff you are working on but not in-game screenshots?

[jimrh]

I would like to have a look at those games is there any way we can?

[Ghost]

Conisdering the quality of DAZ I have little doubts that Jenni's animation will be great, and the backgrounds look quite tantalizing too. I think they're not ingame, mostly because of the lighting, but
heck, it sets and atmosphere that suits my taste.

You've just won a watcher.

Best of luck!

[LimpingFish]

regrettably they're unsuitable for this forum, due to high levels of sex and violence

As far as I know, there's isn't a rule regarding acceptable content (to a point) on this forum, as long as it comes with appropriate warnings. And doesn't break any laws.

It's your prerogative not to share them, of course.

Anyhow, the graphics look really nice. I presume that's Victoria 3 (or possibly 4) playing Jenni, so animating her shouldn't prove too tricky. Having said that, when exporting DazStudio/Poser animations as individual frames, it's very easy to end up with stitled machine-like walkcycles, and a lack of cohesion between character and backgrounds when the character doesn't reflect the changes in lighting from one scene to the next.

Still, very nice work so far. 

[Frodo]

Wow!  This looks amazing - very gothicy   
The broken windows are very realistic.  Excellent work.   

I vote you go for traditional adventure with NO combat.  If I wanted combat, I would play an action game or a fighting game.   

And I am another one who would like to see your other 2 games.   

[Darth Mandarb]

hieronymous - you are more than welcome to post them in the Completed Games board.  Just post the appropriate warnings as needed.  Please either post in there, or send PMs to those that have asked about them and don't post about them in this thread.

Also, If anybody is interested in the other games take the interest into PMs to hieronymous so we can leave this thread about this game.

Thanks.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Combat is fine as long as your approach has responsive controls.  FoA is a 'traditional' adventure game with some hand-to-hand fighting in it and nobody complained back then.  The bottom line is make the game the way you want to make it, and anyone who doesn't like it can suck their thumb and play something else.  The only thing I would suggest is that in future you wait until you actually have a solid game design before posting it in this thread, since it is for in-production games and not conceptual ones.  Good luck!

[Vlad]

Visually impressive.

re. combat: if it's there to add flavor and diversity rather than to be the focus of the game and isn't really much of a challenge (I don't mind getting stuck on puzzles, that's what adventure gaming is all about, but a tricky fighting sequence might put me off) I'd love to see it.

Have fun working on your game!

[hieronymous]

thanks for the replies all. to answer some questions:

1) i run a 3d adult art forum, and the first two games are available for download there for free. members have to be 18 or over to join the forum itself, and because of the nature of the games, also have to specifically request to join a sub-group in order to have access to the downloads (although this is mainly to prevent people from trying to hotlink to the games). i'll provide details by pm to anyone who would like to play them, but i really don't think the games themselves are suitable for posting on this forum particularly as members here could be as young as 13

2) of the screenshots i've posted for this game, only the top left one is a straightforward render. the other three are taken from what will eventually be the game itself, with the jenni character moving across pre-rendered backgrounds with walk regions defined (you'll notice that those three shots all have cursors in). one of the major things i learned from the 2nd game i created was to not use fancy camera angles for such scenes, otherwise the characters can look as if they're sliding drunkenly down the deck of a sinking ship

3) her animation consists of 8 frames in each movement direction (using all 8 directions), and 4 frames for the idle animation (again using all 8 directions). they're a compromise. they do sometimes look a little jerky (and especially when the figure is displayed at 100% size or more), but on the other hand i don't think i'd have the patience to sit and render any longer sequences. dialogue will also be animated for all the in-game characters, although not lip-synced or voiced

jenni herself is based on vicky4.2, with a custom morph which i created specifically for this game. i take no credit for creating any of the other sets or models that will be used in the game. they're all commercially available, mostly from daz or renderosity

4) i have a LOAD of ideas for this game, but as we all know, there's a big difference between having ideas and actually implementing them. what i'll probably do is what i did with the first game i produced, which was to release it in small self-contained chunks - in other words, the first release comprised both ACT01.exe and ACT02.exe. finishing ACTO1 triggered ACT02, but in the first release ACT02 was simply a "placeholder". the second release comprised ACT02.exe and ACT03.exe, ACT02.exe replaced the old "placeholder" version, and ACT03 then became the new placeholder. and so on and so forth. that game eventually comprised 5 acts, which could be played all the way through in sequence or each as stand-alone games

it lead to rather sequential gameplay, but it had the big advantage that i could work on, and release, each chunk separately, without really knowing exactly what was going to happen in the next one

i've already pretty much made the template for this particular game, and i'll be using that to create each individual act in the game

5) as to whether there will be combat or not, on balance i expect not. AGS is a great system, but not really suitable for implementing arcade style action. when i started off i had some vague plans for a kind of resident evil "inventory management" style game, where any combat just involved pointing a gun at some shuffling and groaning zombie type characters (shuffling so that they wouldn't have to move too fast across the screen) - but i rather think i'll end up going for more psychological horror

[ginanubismon]

It has been already been said but this game looks fantastic.

[Buckethead]

looks wonderfull! Good luck with this! Just make sure to have a gamma slider in the game. 

[CosmoQueen]

I think this game will give me nightmares! LOL

[robotsquid]

the visuals look impressive!  are they yr own 3d models or did you get them from somewhere?

[hieronymous]

looks wonderfull! Good luck with this! Just make sure to have a gamma slider in the game. 

it's an interesting idea, but there will be a mixture of different environments and lighting conditions in the game, and i'd really prefer it to be played with the graphics as intended. in the main it's specifically designed to be played at night in a darkened room for maximum atmospheric effect. on a properly adjusted monitor there should be sufficient detail in all the scenes

as a sidenote, i'm currently working on the prologue, which will be set in a diner, whose interior is brightly lit. however, at some point in this scene i'm planning on turning ALL the lights off...

the visuals look impressive!  are they yr own 3d models or did you get them from somewhere?

as i've said i don't take any credit for the models used in the game (although the character face morphs, animations, and lighting effects are all mine). the two environments you're seeing in the images above are the "victorian haunted house" exterior shot (slightly modified for some of the window textures) and "haunted house" interior, both available at the DAZ store

[Emerald]

the two environments you're seeing in the images above are the "victorian haunted house" exterior shot (slightly modified for some of the window textures) and "haunted house" interior, both available at the DAZ store

Huh. How much money have you spent on the art for this project? How much do you intend to spend? Does that mean it'll be released commercially?