Manhunter: Toronto

[brushfe]

Manhunter: Toronto is an unofficial prequel to Sierra's cult classic Manhunter series.

The year is 2003. Earth is under the control of the Orbs: floating, eyeball-like alien invaders with an army of deadly robots. The surviving humans are implanted with tracking chips, forced into identical robes, and forbidden from communicating under penalty of death.

When an Orb ship is shot down over Toronto, you are recruited as a Manhunter: a human spy ordered to track down the culprits by infiltrating your fellow citizens and reporting them to your alien masters. The trail leads you deeper through strange cults, deranged survivors, and impossibly violent murders, and you begin to question your orders... and your allegiance. As certain death closes in, you must fight for your survival—and the survival of humanity—in a city that's becoming more alien every day.

In Manhunter: Toronto, you'll navigate the twisted remains of the city and its people, unravelling macabre mysteries that could threaten the Orb invasion itself, and ultimately setting off a chain of events that lead directly to Manhunter: New York and Manhunter: San Francisco.


Story 80%
Graphics 20%
Puzzles 20%
Scripting 15%
Music/sound 50%


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(Hi! I'm very excited to properly attempt this project, which began as a text file back in 2008. The amazing games you've all created, and the unending magic of the AGS developers, have kept this dream alive throughout the years. While it won't be my full-time job, I've made a lot of progress since starting this year, and I'm determined to complete it!)

[Nahuel]

Excellent! That's the spirit  good luck with your project! Looking really good!

[Creamy]

Interesting concept.

I love how you've kept the date of the first games (2003), even if it's now obsolete

[heltenjon]

That's really close to the original style of art. Cool! I had Manhunter: New York on my Atari ST back in the day, but never managed to beat the final arcade sequence. Best of luck with the production!

[brushfe]

Excellent! That's the spirit  good luck with your project! Looking really good!

Thanks a lot! I hope the spirit remains!

Interesting concept.

I love how you've kept the date of the first games (2003), even if it's now obsolete

Haha this made a lot more sense when I started planning back in 2008... But it's incredible to compare how different both the city and the culture here today vs 2003!

That's really close to the original style of art. Cool! I had Manhunter: New York on my Atari ST back in the day, but never managed to beat the final arcade sequence. Best of luck with the production!

It's a relief to hear the art feels close! Dee Dee Murry is a legend, and I have no idea how she created such a unique style with so many restrictions. The arcade sequences will definitely be easier in this game—I share your pain!

[agentbauer]

The art really looks a lot like Manhunter 1 or 2, great work.
Keep up the good work, will the controls work like in the original?

Hope you will finish it

[brushfe]

The art really looks a lot like Manhunter 1 or 2, great work.
Keep up the good work, will the controls work like in the original?

Hope you will finish it

Danke! So far it keeps the same keyboard controls. I'm eager to get into testing to see how much of the clunky/slow cursor movement should be retained. I really enjoy the slow pace of the original's cursor, but maybe that's nostalgia and not a positive user experience anymore. And I'd love to ask around the forum in the future to see if there's a way to translate that Manhunter input to phone/tablet inputs.

[mkennedy]

Will there be multiple endings?

[brushfe]

Will there be multiple endings?

In a sense, yes!

[mkennedy]

Will there be multiple endings?

In a sense, yes!

That's cool. Maybe for one of the endings you can have a 'bad' or 'evil' choice where you stay loyal to the orbs and help them squash the resistance for which they will properly 'reward' you

Spoiler

(possibly by killing you, or 'transfer you to that one city' like in the first Manhunter )

[close]

.

[soulstuff]

Very exited for this! looks amazing

[MIGGO]

I first thought that you must be using graphics of some official unreleased prequel! It looks so much like the original style. Best of luck in development!

[brushfe]

June update!

The goal is to make a meaningful update every month to keep the project on track. It's summer here, which means a lot of potential for breaks in momentum, so hopefully this will help.

Work continues on Day 1, mostly in the art department. The intro, credits, world map, and many locations have been completed (I think over 50 screens have been finished). Here are a few samples:

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A scene from the opening credits.


Union Station has a fresh new look.


Nobody said working for the Orbs would be easy.


Pick your poison - just not too much of it.

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The puzzles for Day 1 have been sketched out using Draw.io, a wonderful tool for building dependency charts. These charts are always so interesting — it really makes you appreciate how great games can make you forget you're in the middle of one.

Lastly, the bones of the engine have been built (cursor, rooms, inventory, and GUI), but I want to spend more time on it. Especially making the interface as scaleable as possible, so I don't have to repeat any code in each room. The Manhunter cursor system seems simple enough, but I'm not very experienced in AGS, and there's likely a few ways to tackle this. So June's goal is to build the first two locations entirely and test it to bits.

It's been so inspiring getting back to AGS after so long, both in the games you've all made and the incredible (and growing) capabilities of the engine. Good luck to you all on your work!

[heltenjon]

Still impressing! 50 locations? Whew! Sounds like this will be a long game. 

[brushfe]

Still impressing! 50 locations? Whew! Sounds like this will be a long game. 

Haha sorry I misspoke — I've drawn 50 rooms, but some locations have multiple rooms. However, Day 1 does have eleven locations, so maybe after all four days we'll be close to fifty! Eeek!

[agentbauer]

Nice, I like the update

[wilcoweb]

Heck yes.