The Vampire Lazireth

[Josh R]

This will be my first game with AGS.

You play a newly created vampire on a quest for knowledge, as you attempt to understand the origins of your kind, and the meaning of your existance. Along the way you will have to take victims to maintain your strength, meet and learn from elder vampires, fend off covens who intend to have you destroyed, etc. I'm attempting to make the puzzle system quite complex. No keys laying on the ground for opening doors, etc.

The game is very story driven. A lengthy 4 minute opening sequence explains your natural death and your rebirth. And the game seems to be divided into chapters, which take you to different places. Each place has multiple puzzles that tie in to the plot, rather than just having you searching 10 scenes to find a way to open a door. There will be multiple things happening. For example, at the beginning of the game, you are parched, and are in search of a victim, yet you are also in a search for knowledge. However, both quests will tie in to allow you to progress.

Being that you are a vampire, your traveling is done by night, which allows for some very nice lighting effects. The scenes are dark and sort of washy, although it is hard to tell from the screens below, since they are not full screen. There is also a custom interface, although I haven't finished it yet.

This game is somewhat based on the view of vampires, as portrayed by anne rice, although it is not neccesarily related, nor does it tie in. Basically, think interview with the vampire, rather than dracula.

Also, it plays most similarly to the KQ series, although it is darker.

I haven't fully decided how much dialoge will be recorded, but at least a portion of it will. I own a recording studio, and have plenty of tools at my disposal to do it.

Also, the music will be entirely original, as I am a musician by trade. I will spend a lot of time on composing the score.

The first chapter of the game is about 50%, but I expect there to be 5 or 6 chapters. I still have much to do.

[Gord10]

Looks nice Good luck.

[Mordalles]

looks like a great game. will you be releasing chapters individually, or all in one game?

[scourge]

Nice. Cool idea. Goodluck 

[Ubel]

I like the atmosphere in those screenshots. I also trust this is gonna have some very suitable musics, since you are a musician.

The graphics don't look extremely professional (not that it's a bad thing at all!), but that's what I prefer. Too wonderful graphics can draw the attention from the plot itself. At least for me.

I'm really waiting for this game.
Good luck!

[Josh R]

Yes, I am working hard at maintaining a good atmosphere with all my scenes, and making sure they all work cohesively.

I don't plan on releasing individual chapters. I would like to release the whole game together. I'm trying to make it as immersing as possible, so I think it will work best played straight through.

[Nine Toes]

Cool.  Keep it up. 

[2ma2]

Smells like White Wolf

..which ripped Rice off..

..which isn't a bad thing.

But I feel your information text are trying to sell me this adventure. I don't think you have to, we all enjoy new games and will play them even if you don't want us to..

[Josh R]

What is white wolf? I searched the games on the site and didn't see anything.

Also, it's not directly related to Anne Rice's work, but I feel like there are 2 very different portrayals of Vampires in our society. There are the dracula based vampires, which wear big cloaks with red collars, and slick their hair back, and talk very slowly. Then there is the Anne Rice vampire, which is more human like, with heightened physical abilities, pale skin, and sharp teeth.

I just want people to understand which stlye I have chosen, because personally, I am not a big fan of the Bramstoker style vampire. I find the Anne Rice style far more interesting.

[AlbinoPanther]

Can you draw your own cursors cause default pointers don't fit your graphic(which is great)

[Josh R]

Yeah. I actually have a couple of them done already.

[Ashen]

White Wolf isn't an AGS game, they're publishers of a series of vampire/werewolf/supernatural Role-Playing games. I find the back-story & the world they've developed quite interesting, but actually trying to play the games is quite tedious. Also, it could be argued that the slicked-back-hair, opera-cape-wearing vampire you're talking about owes more to Bela Lugosi (and later actors copying his style), than it does to Stoker & the original text.

Anyway, it looks & sounds very promising so far, although the screenies just look to be photos with a few filters thrown on them - not necessarily a bad thing, and a definite 'style' - and I'm not sure about the name - it's a little too close to 'The Vampire Lestat' to my ear. I just hope this doesn't sink without a trace, like a lot of ambitious first projects.

[Flop]

Well, this certainly looks promising. As I'm a big fan of both vampires and story driven games, this sounds like it is right down my alley. I hope you will feed us progress reports once in a while (maybe with a screenshot thrown in here and there ).

Do you have any idea of when it will be finished? I know it's difficult to answer that, and you may not want to, which is perfectly alright, but I felt that I had to ask.

[Josh R]

I certainly will keep you updated with new info and screens as development continues. And it would be really really difficuly to project a time at this point, because I have a lot of uncertainties in my future. I might be moving to another state, getting a new job, etc, so it's really hard to say at this point. But once I get to a point where I can project a date, I will give you one.