Backgrounds for Lost In The Nightmare- 2nd of August 2007

[Gord10]

Here a screenshot from the game which I am working on:



I've made it with Valve Hammer Editor, the 3D level editor of Half-Life.

And I couldn't decide which story is better for a horror game:
a) You're a dedective and searching for the campers who lost in a forest. The campers couldn't have been found for months by the police, so their families have rent you to find them. You must talk to the people who lives there and examine the environment.
b) You are the camper . You went camping with your friends from your university. Everything looks going on well. But some night; you find yourself unconscious in your tent, you have a headache, and you don't remember what you have done yesterday night. You start examing the campside, and find your friends killed. Then, you go to the nearest town for calling help.

Also you can check out this for more SS's:
http://www.agsforums.com/yabb/index.php?topic=13920.0

Edit 26.01.2005: I have already released a demo for the game. I think the game will be released till summer.

[pixelcat]

Sounds like a cool project.Ã,  The shots look good now, but I think you could add a lot more detail to them overall.Ã,  The good thing about making screens for an adventure game is you don't have to worry about framerates.

If you need any forest textures, I made around 50 than i've never used.

[poe]

concerning the story:

I'd think the first one is better and creates an even more disturbed atmosphere. It reminds me at BLAIR WITCH (also the second story) - just by coincidence or not?

[InCreator]

Light color is somewhat sick, but looks really like it's morning. but more like a bit rainy and very foggy morning. But the sky is crystal clear. Consider using some other - more morning-like sky texture.
Bad thing is that Valve Hammer Editor generates light and shadow maps when compiling scene, not during development, so you might want to get bg-s straightly out from half-life/cs game or try adding shadows by hand with some paint prog.

[Gord10]

and


Yes, this isn't morning But I've just discovered that this env. graphic will go with night scenes very well, and wanted to share it.
Yes, I admit I've been inspired. But I've not had a change to watch Blair Witch Project 1; just read the story in newspapers, magazines. And the second plot might be about "madness".

[juncmodule]

I would recommending setting your light entity to a yellow color (simulation of sunrise?). If you are going for a cloudy morning I would still recommend playing with the light entity a little more. Right now the lighting is just too bland.

As far as night shots I recommend making in almost black and using lots of street lights. You can get lots of really great effects out of the half life engine when it comes to lighting. Just learn more about it.

Also, the building in the pic looks a little bit too flat. I would recommend adding a roof of some sort. Also, just more details, broken drain, a barrel next to the building...??

I'm assuming you've checked out the one horror mod (can't for the life of me think of the name). It's a three part single player "horror movie" mod. Anyway, I imagine you could get really great textures from it.

I prefer plot "a" because it does not sound like Blair Witch. I think you could do something much more original with plot "a", especially when it comes to character development.

later,
-junc

[Rincewind]

My two cents as far as the plot goes:
The first one sounds more like a mystery/thriller/detective type of game to me, which I like very much, but if you want more plain horror, the second one is to prefer, I suppose...Ã, 

[Gord10]

I would recommending setting your light entity to a yellow color (simulation of sunrise?).

I amn't using an entity for lighting, actually. I compile the maps without RAD (compile tool which adds lighting effects), and add the morning effects with Adobe Photoshop with colour balance settings.

Also, just more details, broken drain, a barrel next to the building...??

They're good ideas. I'll use them. Thanks

I'm assuming you've checked out the one horror mod (can't for the life of me think of the name). It's a three part single player "horror movie" mod. Anyway, I imagine you could get really great textures from it.

I think you were talking about They Hunger. I've not had a change to play (?) the 2nd and the 3rd chapter of the mod. Most of the textures are from They Hunger 1.
BTW, IMO the following levels of TH1 weren't as horrible as the first levels, where we were unarmed and searching for help in the countryside. 

[Gord10]

Do you think it's a good idea to add nightmare levels to the game?
Two backgrounds for the nightmare scenes:


This is the hotel in the town where you will stay during your investigation to find the lost campers.


But it's different in the nightmare.

I'll have a chance to add game more symbolic puzzles and hints for the puzzles in the real life in the game. For instance; you will see an obvious sign below a rock in a nightmare which takes place in the campsite where the campers got lost. Then, you will go to the campsite again in the real life, and you will find a cursed book when you dig below the rock which you saw in the nightmare. 

[Isegrim]

I like the room being different in the nightmare very much!
I also like the idea of getting different information while awake/dreaming. Ever played "Soul Reaver"?
There's also some puzzles that can only be completed in one of the realities (alright, there it's Real World vs. Spirit World, but isn't the Realm of Nightmares even darker than the Realm of the Dead?)

If you have already played SR, why not let yourself be inspired by it?

[pixelcat]

I like the nightmare idea, reminds me of Silent Hill 3.  You could still use a lot more details in your backgrounds... looking good, though.

[LordHart]

I think you should use the textures from Unreal or Quake for the nightmare part of the game. They would suit it more, as they are dark and foreboding, not all bright and dull like the Half-Life ones.

[Mr_Frisby]

If you fused both stories it would be kick ass!!!
   - start off with an investigation for the campers
   - then at some point have interactive flash backs     
     that slowly let you know what happened to the 
     campers while your playing as them
  - Keep flipping backwards and forward until it gets abit 
    hairy and both the campers and the investigators are 
   fighting for their lives.

This also has the advantage of using the same backgrounds twice over - once for clues ect - the second for how the clues got there.

eg. In first scenario - Pick up bloody axe
      Second scenario  - you are attacked by hideous   
      monster and drop your axe . .  ect.

[Gord10]

Your ideas sound cool, Mr. Frisby. But I think it would be too hard for me to manage these. I will use the diary pages of the campers, which we will find in the following levels, to inform the player about what happened to the campers. By the way, here's a cutscene (yes, I'm aware of the red annoying lines):

[Chicky]

I would suggest putting your half-life res up

[Gord10]

No, there isn't a problem with the res. of Half-Life. I shrink the 640*480 screenshots that I took from HL to 320*240. Because the game's file size would have been too much to download if I would made it 640*480. (I hope I could tell it correct. English isn't my first language.)

[Mr_Frisby]

Looks very nice - can't wait to see more.

[Gord10]

Thanks

[stockade]

being a user of Hammer Editor 3.5 , you really mastered mastered some of the lightning effects, I take you as a advanced user, so i will be brief.

-change the amount of objs since u don't use 400 objs for a screenshot to make it higher quality

for example:



this looks a it better than one obj bed

and when u make the road, make it smoother:



so the road/ terrian looks more realistic

I hope this helps!

[Gord10]

Thank you stockade I will apply your advices.
BTW; I have uploaded a few more new screenshots to my new website:
www.geocities.com/akk13us/kktr.htm
I am currently working on a real demo which includes a nightmare level.