LimpingFish Presents...The Hallow.

LimpingFish · Wed 24/12/2008 01:09:42

LimpingFish Presents...

STORY:

Trent Wexler, host of local network TV program "Dead Secrets", yearns for nationwide syndication. The premise of his show is simple: find "haunted" locations, set up a number of remote cameras, and spend an evening waxing lyrical about psychic vibrations, while his crew monitor proceedings from a van outside.

His latest find is deep in the heart of the city: an abandoned minor seminary, believed to be part of a building once owned by the nearby St. Cecila's church.

What appears to be yet another in a long line of paranormal no-shows soon becomes a night of terror, as Trent finds himself unable to leave the building and unable to contact his crew outside. And behind the walls, things are beginning to move...

Features:

1024x768 resolution.
Pre-rendered graphics.
Full musical score and digital sfx.
Multiple locations.

The Hallow is a homage to, among other things, the films of John Carpenter (particularly Prince of Darkness), and is another game that pays homage to my favourite brand of spooky story; those which deal with inherently "evil" locations that slowly consume, figuratively or literally, their victims.

Development Progress:

Story: 75%
Scripting: 25%
Graphics: 50%
Sound/Music: 50%

Expected completion date: Q2-Q3 2009

Screenshots:

Development Diary:

December 24th 2008
Hello! First a bit of bad news. For those of you expecting the last "Wound" vignette, Mobius, I'm sorry to say that what I currently had finished (about 50% of the full game) just wasn't adding up to how I wanted to end the story. I take a risk when making a game, based on my method of creative process, and most of the time it pays off. This time it didn't. But I'm no quitter, and Mobius will hopefully come together sometime in the new year! Until then, I've decided to release information about a side project: The Hallow. And so I have! Whee! Merry Christmas!

LimpingFish

dirk delshire · Wed 24/12/2008 07:41:30

This looks cool, and the description reminds me of the movie 1408.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Wed 24/12/2008 07:52:40

You know how to sell me on a game, just say 'early John Carpenter' and I am there!

The closeups look cool, too.

Buckethead · Wed 24/12/2008 11:50:20

How can one resist a sweet 3d game like this?

IndieBoy · Wed 24/12/2008 13:32:52

JESUS CHRIST!
Amazing, I really can't wait for this

Gord10 · Wed 24/12/2008 16:33:23

Wow... I can't wait to see these in the game.

And about the camera records, are they only cutscenes or do we have control on them? I know we are not the cameraman, but I think it would be awesome if it is a bit the player's achievement to capture interesting things and the player gets awarded for good records.

LimpingFish · Wed 24/12/2008 21:39:49

Thanks for the comments.

Quote from: dirk delshire on Wed 24/12/2008 07:41:30
This looks cool, and the description reminds me of the movie 1408.

I'd be lying if I said 1408 (the original short story) wasn't an influence, as it's one of my favourite scary stories. Another influence is a story (for the life of me I can't remember it's title or who wrote it, at the moment!) from the 40s or 50s about a radio host who broadcasts from inside a supposed haunted house, and then succumbs to the malignant forces inside while live on air.

Quote from: ProgZmax on Wed 24/12/2008 07:52:40
You know how to sell me on a game, just say 'early John Carpenter' and I am there!

I love Carpenter's take on apocalyptic horror. Prince of Darkness is a film I can watch over and over again, despite it's flaws. It's narrative structure, with it's constantly increasing sense of impending doom, while hinting at almost cosmic horrors, is what I'm aiming to capture. Here's hoping!

Quote from: Gord10 on Wed 24/12/2008 16:33:23
And about the camera records, are they only cutscenes or do we have control on them? I know we are not the cameraman, but I think it would be awesome if it is a bit the player's achievement to capture interesting things and the player gets awarded for good records.

Technically you won't be in control of the cameras, but the story will move in different ways (some subtle, some not so subtle) depending on the player's ability to keep track of strange things that may appear on each camera. Since only a single feed can be viewed at a time, there will be other hints (again, some subtle, some not so subtle

) that should help the player decide which feed is worth watching. In certain sections, timing will play a part.

Keep watching this thread, and thanks again for the comments.

i k a r i · Thu 25/12/2008 08:52:10

Wooo crazy graphics, those screens look professional, I wonder how animations look, I'll make sure to give this game a try!

Amazing work sir.

Dualnames · Fri 26/12/2008 23:10:00

Don't know about the character art but the background art..is whooshing..

auriond · Sat 27/12/2008 02:17:36

This looks decidedly up my alley! Great work

m0ds · Wed 07/01/2009 19:28:55

Looks great, I really do like the look of all your first person games!

Jakerpot · Thu 08/01/2009 04:45:16

Wow, the last screen is so damn scaring, what modelling program do u use? 3D studio Max? I'm useless at 3D, so i went to the milennar Pixel Art!

Dataflashsabot · Thu 08/01/2009 10:58:20

your characters look a bit weird, but those backgronunds are awesome!! great lighting, looking forward to this!

LimpingFish · Thu 08/01/2009 19:27:25

Thanks for the comments.

Quote from: Dualnames on Fri 26/12/2008 23:10:00
Don't know about the character art but the background art..is whooshing..

Quote from: Dataflashsabot on Thu 08/01/2009 10:58:20
your characters look a bit weird, but those backgronunds are awesome!! great lighting, looking forward to this!

Quote from: jakerpot on Thu 08/01/2009 04:45:16
Wow, the last screen is so damn scaring, what modelling program doyou use? 3D studio Max? I'm useless at 3D, so i went to the milennar Pixel Art!

Because of the hi-res nature of the graphics, and the "pre-rendered" style, I'm currently using 3rd-party models (Daz Studio's Micheal 3 and 4, etc) as the basis for the on-screen characters. These will also contain some morphs and texture edits of my own. I simply don't have the time or the skill to consistently model a whole cast of characters. These "Poser" models aren't to everybody's taste, but they are a workable solution. In a perfect world, I would've liked to continue with the "hand-drawn" characters of my earlier games, but to do so would, again, mean a lot of extra work. It may still happen, but it's a long shot.

All the backgrounds (with the exception of the exterior shot; this is Stonemason's wonderful model "Tin Pan Alley" which was just to fitting a scene to pass up!) are my own work. Cinema 4D is still my weapon of choice, with the textures rendered in Photoshop. A few stock elements round out the package.

Quote from: auriond on Sat 27/12/2008 02:17:36
This looks decidedly up my alley! Great work

Quote from: Mods on Wed 07/01/2009 19:28:55
Looks great, I really do like the look of all your first person games!

Thank you very much.

More screens will be added over the next week or so, with a partial look at the GUI.

Fish.

EKM · Sat 10/01/2009 21:10:43

O.O

That looks amazing. It has a 'Dark Fall: The Journal' feel to it. Dark and eerie. The title screen shot looks like a movie.

Dualnames · Sat 10/01/2009 21:56:25

It doesn;t mean the character art sucks, that wasn't what I said. It just feels as weird, but it might not really be in-game. For a one man project this looks more pro than should.

LimpingFish · Sat 10/01/2009 22:16:22

Quote from: Dualnames on Sat 10/01/2009 21:56:25
It doesn;t mean the character art sucks, that wasn't what I said. It just feels as weird, but it might not really be in-game.

Ah, I see.

The onscreen characters will appear in a similar fashion to the lady who featured in my OROW entry "SEED", though a little more animated and with a larger range of "emotions".

The outline that you might have noticed around the character above is a visual style I was toying with; one that probably won't appear in the end product.

Plus, lighting the characters to reflect the changes in lighting between backgrounds is something that hasn't been introduced yet, as it means multiple versions of each character need to be rendered and included. At such a high resolution this will have an impact on the overall size of the game, though how much an impact is debatable. Once I finish the environment art (my largest concern at the moment), I'll probably address this.

Thanks again for all the comments.

Dualnames · Sat 10/01/2009 22:29:29

No trouble. With such background art you could use Ron sprites and we wouldn't notice. And yes making lightning models would be a total pain for you and for us whilst downloading. I'll make more comments on this after the demo. And I know this isn't the critic's lounge. Just overall, (I have a feeling I'm getting misinterpreted) game looks gorgeous, including character art.

Dataflashsabot · Sun 11/01/2009 12:23:52

i get the feeling this is going to have a huge filesize anyway. have you got filehosting worked out? oh, and is it 16-bit or 32-bit color? looks fantastic btw, really looking forward to it!

Galen · Sun 11/01/2009 12:44:05

32-bit judging by the screenshots. If it isn't I'll get an eye exam.

LimpingFish Presents...The Hallow.

m0ds