A Night At Camp Ravenwood

Started by Secret Fawful, Wed 09/03/2011 03:29:20

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Secret Fawful


A Screen 7 Game



Tech Demo - August 2013 - (45 MBs)

Perilous Plot

Deep within Ravenwood Forest lies Camp Ravenwood, a dangerous, dirty camp for delinquents,
owned by vampires, and run by Switchblade and his cruel and unusual biker gang.

By day, the campers are left to activities such as fishing, football, and swimming, but by night,
the camp becomes a place where death is around every corner. A headless maniac with an
axe stalks the camp, there are aliens and monsters lurking in the woods, and jocks and bikers
riding around waiting for any chance they can get to beat you to a pulp.

Enter Smoky Bumblerose, Germy Bumblerose, Benny Berkybile, and Franky Flynnigan, four
ex-scouts accused of starting forest fires. Can they use all of their wits and survive-



Horrified Heroes

Smoky Bumblerose



A boy with an overactive imagination whose favorite pastimes are
daydreaming and telling a good yarn. Murphy's Law follows him
everywhere. He's not as smart as Benny or as brave as Frankie,
but he always gets pushed into situations requiring enormous wit
and bravery. His snarky and insulting sense of humor gets him and
his friends into constant trouble.


Germy Bumblerose



An amoral, mischievous lunkhead with no sense of danger. Keep him
away from anything flammable or sharp and in the name of all that is
good and decent don't let him near the candy and caffeinated drinks!
Or do. His brother has to keep a constant eye on him to keep him
from getting himself killed. :=

Franky Flynnigan



A tough Irish punk who fights first and never asks questions later, because
you're too busy swallowing your own teeth to answer any. He's brave to the
point of bring stupid, and would probably fight the devil himself head on and
win. He's the oldest member of his troupe, and he has a huge soft spot for girls.

Benny Berkybile



A stuttering coward with a runny nose that shrieks at the first sign of danger.
He screams. His nose shrieks. While not the best character for any adventurous
situations requiring bravery in the face of death, he is the smartest character.
He gets picked on daily in class for being the only person in his school to ever
faint at the sight of his own shadow. Ironically, due to his fast legs, he's
also the only character who is almost unkillable.

B.B. 'Bitchy Barbara' Carpenter



Bitchy Barbara lives up to her name in every way imaginable. She has a bad attitude,
a punk look, a mean streak, a short temper, and a cruel sense of humor. Barb is a
prickly character, and a boy-hater, but she knows more about what's going on at
Camp Ravenwood than any of the other main characters. Gaining her respect is
key to survival, but it won't be an easy task, especially since she has a mean grudge
against one Smoky Bumblerose. She'll happily break you if you get on her bad side.

Spooky Screenshots







-Elements shown may or may not change in the future-

Fearful Features

A video game that takes influences from classic adventure games by Lucasarts and Sierra.
Classic slapstick and routine based comedy inspired by things like Abbott and Costello and Monkey Island.
Spine-tingling horror inspired by monster movies of the 50s and slasher films of the 80s
A large, mostly non-linear area resembling classic Lucasfilm games like Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion
A cast of creepy and cool characters who may or may not want to rip your head off and eat your insides.
Danger at every turn and gory death awaits; can your tummies handle it, you big sissies?
Horrificly hard puzzles. I'm not taking it easy on anybody. My goal is to make all of you cry for your mommies.
Currently planned at around five playable characters- we'll see how that turns out.

Devilish Development

Story: 60%
Scripting: 6%
Graphics: 18%
Sound/Music: 0%

The game is in an early phase, but I figured I'd get it out there, get some feedback, and see
what people think of it so far. I'm working on it daily, so I expect progress to be pretty steady.

Expected completion date: What is this, a baby? Get out of here.

Demonic Development Diary

March 8th, 2011-
I've made public mention of my chronicling of the disturbing events surrounding the camp at
Ravenwood Forest. I hope HE doesn't find me before I've managed to tell the entire horrifying
tale. GASP! What was that!? I...I thought I heard a noise outside. It must have been the wind...

July 4th, 2011-
After hiding out in the woods for a few months I've managed to get a small meager message out.
Sometimes I wonder if the tale is too terrifying to tell to humanity, but I press on...

April 25, 2012
I've barely survived months by eating raw twigs and berries, but using the more poisonous ones, and a flipbook made from leaves, I've constructed a step by step video of the making of a scene in the game.

The Making of the Crossroads

A piece of music from the game is also showcased within. The game IS getting made.
(Music samples: http://soundcloud.com/mods1984/sets/a-night-at-camp-ravenwood-1/ )

ThreeOhFour

Looking at those screens brings back some very fond memories of being a kid discovering adventure games. Top work so far!

Ryan Timothy B

I definitely agree with Ben. I feel like a kid again just looking at these screenshots. You've turned the Monkey Island style into something of your own, which is great.

Dualnames

This looks amazing!! You got me hitched there as well.  ;)
Worked on Strangeland, Primordia, Hob's Barrow, The Cat Lady, Mage's Initiation, Until I Have You, Downfall, Hunie Pop, and every game in the Wadjet Eye Games catalogue (porting)

Armageddon

Absolutely amazing, reminds me of those old school horror games that I loved so much, I defiantly feel like a kid looking at these screens.

monkey0506

#5
Well Nicheal, you're causing people to defy reality in order to feel like children. Your purpose in life, I can therefore assume, is complete, yes?

Edit: Whatever Fawful is about to say in response to me is not true. That is all. I reserve the right to deny having made these statements.

Secret Fawful

Wow, thank you for the kind replies, everybody! I hope eventually when all is said and done I can deliver a really memorable experience.

Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Wed 09/03/2011 06:03:51
Well Nicheal, you're causing people to defy reality in order to feel like children. Your purpose in life, I can therefore assume, is complete, yes?

Oh, yeah, and this clown here is helping out too. He makes a really terrible sidekick, though. :=

cianty

Oh boy, oh boy! It's an awesome blend of MI and DOTT style graphics. This looks so very promising.  :o
ca. 70% completed

Cyrus

That's really cool! Will there be any variations in walkthrough, like in MM?

mode7

Amazing, I looked at the screen and thought this could be something  Lucasarts released between Loom and MI2

Monsieur OUXX

I just only realized the use of the name "Ravenwood". Makes it all even more perfect and delightfully familiar.
 

gameboy

I like the graphics and the plot! Looking forward to it.

m0ds

Very cool looking game, with nostalgia written all over it! Best of luck  :=

Matti


Igor Hardy

Visually a perfect nostalgia trip to the classic LucasArts days - those lovely pixels demand to be played!

btw Is that hairy head with burning red eyes inspired by the film Horror Express?

rainkaimaramon

Wow, is this going to be on disks or cd-ro- wait, wrong era. Looks great, just like games from the old days.

Peder 🚀


Secret Fawful

Again, thanks for the very nice comments, everyone. I'm delighted to hear that the game is making people nostalgic. Nostalgia can be beautiful thing.  :D

Quote from: Cyrus on Wed 09/03/2011 08:36:36
That's really cool! Will there be any variations in walkthrough, like in MM?

Of a form, yes, although whether or not it will be of a similar fashion to MM or not I can't say.

Quote from: Ascovel on Wed 09/03/2011 13:17:29
Visually a perfect nostalgia trip to the classic LucasArts days - those lovely pixels demand to be played!

btw Is that hairy head with burning red eyes inspired by the film Horror Express?

Although unintentional, I probably did subconsciously use that as a piece of reference. The title screen takes inspiration from many many different sources, one such inspiration being the Evil Dead 2 poster.

Armageddon

I looked at the shots again, did you do all this from scratch? It looks exactly like Monkey island everywhere.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens

This sounds delicious.  I will play it rather than eat it, though.

AGD2

Can't go wrong with a good horror/zombie/survival/adventure game. This looks like it's going to be rather excellent!

qptain Nemo

Love at first screenshot! Totally looking forward to it!

monkey0506

Quote from: AGD2 on Thu 10/03/2011 04:05:44
Can't go wrong with a good horror/zombie/survival/adventure game. This looks like it's going to be rather excellent!

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey..hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Nobody said anything about zombies. This game does not feature zombies. AT ALL. NO ZOMBIES. AT ALL. UNDERSTAND? :=

Secret Fawful

Quote from: Armageddon on Thu 10/03/2011 02:52:04
I looked at the shots again, did you do all this from scratch? It looks exactly like Monkey island everywhere.
It's all from scratch. Outside of following a really similar style, which is due to the fact that this game is part homage, there isn't anything in the game that is taken from or even intentionally referencing to Monkey Island. I really want this to be it's own game, and not bogged down by constant winks and nudges. There will be some winks and nudges, but very sparingly overall.

Also, because I know someone will bring this up eventually, the campfire scene isn't a reference to Monkey Island 2. I can't see a game about a camp without campfires and campfire stories, so I just decided to bite the bullet of unoriginality and go for it.  :D

Chicky

Lovely, looks like a winner! All the backgrounds are grade-A awesome  :=

Is that Amadeus in your new avatar fawful?

Ponch

Wow. Somebody set the nostalgia ray on full blast! This looks very, very cool. Hope to play this one by the time Halloween comes around.

cianty

God, I get so excited every time I see these screenshots - and I come back here A LOT! Seriously, this is amongst my top most awaited AGS games. Hurry up, man! :)
ca. 70% completed

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens

QuoteAlso, because I know someone will bring this up eventually, the campfire scene isn't a reference to Monkey Island 2. I can't see a game about a camp without campfires and campfire stories, so I just decided to bite the bullet of unoriginality and go for it.

Wow.  Guess I shouldn't mention how much like Wally that kid on the far right looks, then ^_^.

Dualnames

Worked on Strangeland, Primordia, Hob's Barrow, The Cat Lady, Mage's Initiation, Until I Have You, Downfall, Hunie Pop, and every game in the Wadjet Eye Games catalogue (porting)

Secret Fawful

#29
Quote from: Chicky on Thu 10/03/2011 17:49:22Is that Amadeus in your new avatar fawful?

Haha, yup! Nice catch.

Quote from: ProgZmax on Fri 11/03/2011 07:13:03
Wow.  Guess I shouldn't mention how much like Wally that kid on the far right looks, then ^_^.

He does? Let me compare them.....uh wow...you're right. He kind of does!

That's it, there's too much homaging going on in this game! The game is canceled!

Spoiler
Okay, the game isn't really canceled.
[close]

Quote from: Dualnames on Fri 11/03/2011 07:22:39
That's a woman.

Nope. Although he might as well be. In order to help clear this up, I updated the first post to talk about some of the characters.

arj0n

wow, Germy has extreme wide pants, he sure can carry enough inventory items in it ;)

ZapZap

"Loose ends have a way of strangling you"

theo

Nice! I really like the overall style, good job.

Best of luck!

monkey0506

Quote from: Secret Fawful on Fri 11/03/2011 09:36:32
Quote from: ProgZmax on Fri 11/03/2011 07:13:03
Wow.  Guess I shouldn't mention how much like Wally that kid on the far right looks, then ^_^.

He does? Let me compare them.....uh wow...you're right. He kind of does!

Yeah..a character with red-hair and below average vision. It could only be Wally. :P

Takyon

Is that Fred from Scooby Doo lol?

Looks like a great atmospheric game, good luck with this!
ghost.

Cyrus

#35
It actually reminds me a lot of Goosebumps, especially Give Yourself Goosebumps series. Will it have one ending or more?
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSpYyN7BUfrskoN38qwBQdhomnoUuchx7TMxC-sfXg8o0Xcq4PsHw
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTrIPyduuoRZFpGVsnz6qzMykw5Jbs7dwxScgcz7wDcNUJAZLv5Bw

edit by Darth - non-related images removed/changed to links


Secret Fawful

#37
Quote from: Cyrus on Sat 12/03/2011 17:05:55
Will it have one ending or more?

At this stage, I'm definitely planning multiple endings of a sort.

And again, I really do appreciate all the nice comments, guys! Anyway, back to work for me.

Cyrus

So it'll be Choose Your Own Adventure style?

Secret Fawful

#39
Aren't all adventure games Choose Your Own Adventures?

I'm a fan of not knowing everything before playing a game, and giving away how endings are handled and such is getting a little too deep into spoiling the game for others. I'm also going to fight walkthroughs on this game as much as possible. I won't mind if people help each other out in the hints forum, but I won't want walkthroughs written for the game. I think walkthroughs ruin the point of a game, and I'm going to stand pretty firm on that point.

Sephiroth

#40
Back from the grave to say this is looking pretty good, there's a real old school/scooby doo feel to it, I really want to play this one.

Now for the childish comment:

Am I the only one to be troubled by THIS in the screenshots?

Sorry but it made me laught so 'hard' I couldn't help but post...

monkey0506

Quote from: Secret Fawful on Sun 13/03/2011 21:37:10I won't want walkthroughs written for the game...I'm going to stand pretty firm on that point.

For the record..I will freely distribute a complete walkthrough of the game to any and everyone who requests it from me. 8)

mkennedy

Will you be able to switch characters at any time or will you just pick one at the beginning and keep that character for the whole game? If you just choose one then please make the game different for each of the playable characters. If you can switch freely then you can have different solutions for some of the puzzles depending on which character you are using. Multiple endings would be good to (Getting killed doesn't really count as an ending)!

Secret Fawful

#43
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Mon 14/03/2011 06:52:25
Quote from: Secret Fawful on Sun 13/03/2011 21:37:10I won't want walkthroughs written for the game...I'm going to stand pretty firm on that point.

For the record..I will freely distribute a complete walkthrough of the game to any and everyone who requests it from me. 8)

You're fired. I'll still expect you to program the game, especially if you want to be considered a scholar and a gentleman, but you're fired just the same.

Quote from: mkennedy on Fri 18/03/2011 01:29:21Will you be able to switch characters at any time or will you just pick one at the beginning and keep that character for the whole game?

You can switch characters during the game, but not at the beginning.

SuperDre

Oh please do not NOT finish this game.. This looks like classic Lucasarts beauty..

Digital Mosaic Games

Sooo beautiful. That really gives me shivers because the graphic is sooo retro like in the old days. I wish you so much luck with your game! I will definetely play it!

Sughly

Gah! This looks/sounds so good! So many good looking games in these threads...

CoffeeBob

This game is looking great! The artwork is simply amazing, you've captured the retro feel perfectly! Looking forward to (hopefully) surviving a night at Camp Ravenwood. ;D

Secret Fawful

#48
Hey! Thanks for the kind words. I probably owe you an update. I'll just say that the game is still going strong, and progress is steady as always. I have been slacking a bit, but not enough to slow things up too much. Have no worries. I'll still be making this at 65 if I have to. Here are some NPC sprites, just for the fun of it.



The girl on the left is around 6 and a half to 7 foot tall, just so you know she's not mis-pixeled. Yeah, blue jeans are a common thing among a lot of the younger characters, but not everybody in the game is wearing blue jeans. :D

Hopefully soon, I'll show off a couple new screenshots, but I don't want to show off too much.

mkennedy

With the title "A Night At Camp Ravenwood" does this mean the game takes place in a single night?

Secret Fawful

I don't want to give too much away, but I can definitely confirm that you spend A Night at Camp Ravenwood.  Whether or not your stay at Ravenwood or earth lasts an entire night will be entirely up to your skill as an adventurer.  :=


proximity

Interesting. I look forward to see which one will die first  ;D
Proximity Entertainment

Armageddon

I'm still awestruck at the amazing backgrounds you've done. :o

Secret Fawful

#53


Just giving an update. I should give updates more often. Progress is steady, although I do get lazy from time to time. The game's still being made, though. That's something that'll never change, and it'll definitely not take as long to make as Duke Nukem Forever. HELL NO. Anyway, this is a new scene to show off, just to show the project is far from dead.

m0ds

Great stuff, a wonderful screenshot. And what's more - an extremely logical puzzle to boot ;)

arj0n


Dualnames

Looks amazing, stop teasing us, you bastard!!
  :D
Worked on Strangeland, Primordia, Hob's Barrow, The Cat Lady, Mage's Initiation, Until I Have You, Downfall, Hunie Pop, and every game in the Wadjet Eye Games catalogue (porting)

monkey0506

#57
Hah, spelling fail! ;D ;D

By the way, I don't know if you're planning to have voice acting for this game, but you could generate a voice acting script and send that through a spell checker before releasing the game just to prevent this type of issue. :=

Secret Fawful

Teasing? Would I tease you guys about what could possibly be within those spooky buildings, or what a marshmallow could be used for? I wouldn't do that.

Quote from: monkE3y_05_06 on Mon 04/07/2011 17:48:47
Hah, spelling fail! ;D ;D

I don't know what you're talking about.  :=

cianty

What a gorgeous background! I <3 it. :)
ca. 70% completed

Secret Fawful

8/17/2011: Updated first post with the final main character and a character synopsis.

Tabata

I am pretty sure, that I will love this game!

Lovingly designed characters, a cool story with a mix of horror and humor topped with that Guybrush- feeling can't get me wrong  ;D

KiraHaraReturns

awesome work, I just feel like back in time in 1991 as I played Monkey Island 2 for the first time

fózi

This is awesome.

You haven't halted production, have you? What is the progress? I enjoyed pretty much the artwork, story, setting and mood. It seems an authentic 1990 classic. I hope you make it happen.

Darth Mandarb

#64
fozi - please read the forum rules before necro-posting any more threads.

secret fawful - when you want/are ready to post an updated let me know!

m0ds

Necro person! Thank you Darth. Some excellent news in the world of Camp Ravenwood, hopefully Micheal won't be too bothered about this :P He's kindly decided to write it under the alcoholic influence of Screen 7. Of course he keeps full creative control, he just gets a nifty forum and a bloody great Screen7 banner at the front of his game! So thanks Micheal. Great of you to go that way.

If you don't know, Mr Fawful is also making the background art for Kinky Island, and we will work together in the future on a new game comissioned to us by John Passfield (Amazon Queen). So watch this space, exciting times... Ravenwood was enjoyed at AdventureX where we saw a rolling demo of the intro with screaming people and Monkey Island campfires. And that, amongst all the other reasons you've read - is why this will be a teh fabulous game! Best of luck guys!

Armageddon

I don't know why anyone would want a Screen7 banner at the start of their game, but I still can't wait for it! And that commissioned game for John Passfield sounds very interesting indeed.

Secret Fawful

Mark and I were already collaborating, and since I have no company of my own, I decided to ask Mark to develop the game under his. I'm very happy for the game to have it's home at Screen7.

Surdy

Hi Secret Fawful,

Ahhh, good old memories from another times: Guybrush and his nice crew, Elaine Marley Lechuck and so on... from my Amiga 500 in 1990.  ;D

If you are interested in a free french translation, I am your man.

Thanks

delancie

Is there a particular pixel editor that you use to create your backgrounds?  I have always been amazed at people who can do this.  Are these drawn into the computer with a light-pen?  Looks great!

Secret Fawful

Some Deluxe Paint 4, some The Gimp....but mostly The Gimp.

Secret Fawful

First post updated with a click by click video showing off the production of a background from the game and some music from the game.

DutchMarco

Just finish the game, OK?it looks so mucch like MI1 & MI2 (plus it has a cool plot) that I want to play!

Fitz

#73
Quote from: Secret Fawful on Mon 02/01/2012 17:16:15
Some Deluxe Paint 4, some The Gimp....but mostly The Gimp.

THE Deluxe Paint? A.k.a. DPaint? My favorite pixel editor back in the 90's!

Aaanyway... A fun little clip - though I was hoping to see the background being drawn from start to finish. And the music - love the way it changes the mood as it goes.

fózi

Hey, everything is looking terrific, the music is awesome too! Keep pushing forward, good work!

m0ds

For your entertainment, I've uploaded the preview Micheal kindly sent to AdventureX in 2011 and he's allowing me to share it here. You can see for yourself the work in progress intro that was presented  8-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw943qoUljo

The music in the vid didn't quite sync up, and was written after AdventureX - but  thanks for the comments on that other track :)

fózi

Hey, just watched the video! Great work, very moody, also the sound work fits perfectly! I just think that it could have a bit more of animations like vegetation swaying the in wind.

Looking forward to this! YOU GOT THE TOUCH.... to make an adventure game!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYAAbbuEpnw

CosmoQueen

Awww why must you make a game I can die in? Everyone should know by now I'm scared of those! For the love of God plz put in an auto save!!! LOL
KPop and AGS....................that is my life.

m0ds

#78
Here's a piece of music from my concept score which is a test - the first time I've tried to emulate sounds of LucasArts days gone by, using the OPL-3 FM 128M soundfont. It was actually a way old AGS thread that led me to this soundfont. Woot!


LTGiants2000

Quote from: m0ds on Thu 24/05/2012 19:59:34
Here's a piece of music from my concept score which is a test - the first time I've tried to emulate sounds of LucasArts days gone by, using the OPL-3 FM 128M soundfont. It was actually a way old AGS thread that led me to this soundfont. Woot!

I like this piece a lot....it actually reminds me of one of my all-time favorite RPG's Earthbound (Mother 2) for SNES. Thanks for sharing!

Secret Fawful

It's funny you would mention that, because Earthbound and Mother 3 were both big influences on this game in tone and style.

LTGiants2000

Quote from: Secret Fawful on Fri 25/05/2012 04:24:16
It's funny you would mention that, because Earthbound and Mother 3 were both big influences on this game in tone and style.

That my friend is EPIC!!!!!

DBoyWheeler

The headless guy... for some weird reason, I can't help but think of the welder, aka John DeFoe, from 5 Days a Stranger.

I think it'd be funny (not to mention cool) if there were some subtle references to Chzo Mythos.  Like maybe Bitchy Barbara might have an autographed photo, and when a character looks at it, he'll mention that it's autographed by Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw (who of course created the Chzo Mythos).

Secret Fawful

He's an obvious and rather necessary play on Voorhees, Myers, the Welder, and all such invincible killers. References: the game is going to be full of them, but I'm not going to ruin the surprises.

DBoyWheeler

#84
Just a little side note... it'd be cool if someone did an AGS game based on the anime and manga "Death Note".

Secret Fawful, do you know death gods love apples?

Heck, maybe it'd be fun if this game had a reference to Death Note or some other horror-themed anime/manga.

edit by darth - posts combined.  do not double post.

Secret Fawful

While I find the story of the manga interesting, I have too many ideas of my own for games to want to adapt anything. Well, except maybe....for MacGyver, but I'd still put my own ideas first.

DBoyWheeler

Good point.

And sorry about the double-post, Darth.  I guess sometimes I forgot the edit button's there for a reason.

shedcore

This game looks incredible - a perfect fusion of genre and visuals. 

This could be my favourite adventure game ever if it plays as good as it looks.

Secret Fawful


Secret Fawful


fózi

Hey, this is looking great, loved the new trailer and screenshots. Keep up the good work!

Armageddon

I believe you're going to sell this? You may want to consider changing the font since LucasArts has some pretty strict lawyers.

Secret Fawful

#92
Caslon's not in the game. And even so, does LucasArts really own it? I guess I doubted that since I found it on basically any free font website.

Igor Hardy

Quote from: m0ds on Mon 30/07/2012 23:29:43
LEC already pissed off 5 million people over their choice to disregard the point & click spectrum, why bother pissing off another 5 mil?

Don't underestimate the power of The Dark Side!

Armageddon

Quote from: Ascovel on Mon 30/07/2012 23:58:00
Quote from: m0ds on Mon 30/07/2012 23:29:43
LEC already pissed off 5 million people over their choice to disregard the point & click spectrum, why bother pissing off another 5 mil?

Don't underestimate the power of The Dark Side!
This. Also what is Caslon?

Darth Mandarb

We're getting off-topic in here.  Please take the font discussion to PMs.

Secret Fawful

#96
I just want to make a note that I appreciate all critique of the website- I will definitely take all issues into account and continue to streamline it. I'm pretty new to html, css, and javascript, so please let me know (through PM) of any bugs and issues you find. I already have a list of a few, and I will work to make the site better and easier to use.

Eventually, I will also update it to add more information about some in-game mechanics to expect and such.

As far as selling the game...I'm still in consideration mode on that. Even if I do, it'll be very VERY cheap. I really want as many people to be able to play the game as I can get, but I'm also working on making it as professional of a game as I can for a first title, without going overboard.

m0ds

Just a quick one to say you can also "like", catch updates and screenshots at the new facebook page for the game - http://www.facebook.com/anightatcampravenwood


Armageddon

Could you post the pretty pictures here to for people that don't have a Facebook account?

arj0n


Darth Mandarb

#100
I'm getting confused here...

m0ds are you working on this game?  Or did you just dig up a 7 month old thread?

arjon are you working on this game or did you just link to the facebook images?

secret fawful are you still out there somewhere?


Thanks for the clarity!  All around good-i-ness.

m0ds

#101
Yep, composer and publisher sir and in frequent contact with Fawful, who is working on the game on a daily basis, but does not really frequent these boards at the moment. I can see how it's not very clear (the info is somewhere in the middle of this thread), so I've updated the first post a little!

Secret Fawful

Hey, I am still alive. I haven't been murdered by maniacs yet.

I haven't been updating the thread or the website because I have been working non-stop on the game, and I just don't take the time to do that. I literally work every day on it, so do know it's going to be finished. The game is under Screen 7 for the forseeable future, so Mark has my permission to post anything for it. I have a specific post in mind when the time comes to talk about the mechanics of the game, because I've been extremely silent about what the game really is. You guys haven't even begun to see what the game is to offer, but I'm not ready to talk about that yet.

Hopefully I'll have more information for you guys soon.

SarahLiz

Looking forward to hearing more...this is definitely on my top 5 most highly anticipated games of this year.  Very, very excited to see the final product!


Sarah

Secret Fawful

#104
From Screen 7 and moi: A Night At Camp Ravenwood: The Tech Demo




Link

Made in a month, it'll either be your dreams come true, or your worst nightmare.

Any issues with scenarios in the demo will be fixed in the full game. Scenarios may be rearranged in the full game.

I just want to apologize for the game taking so long. It's really down to my own ineptitude, and I appreciate any patience people have had. I'm trying really hard to make something good and memorable here, and I run into a problem at every step it seems. Bear with me. The game may not be out this year, but I'm trying really hard to make that happen.

Bonus points if you are able to pick out references to horror movies and games I've thrown in. Points that don't matter, but hey, FREE POINTS!

EDIT: Fixed.

arj0n

Quote from: Secret Fawful on Thu 01/08/2013 01:04:27
From Screen 7 and moi: A Night At Camp Ravenwood: The Tech Demo
This one never left my attention, glad to see there's a demo out now :)

cianty

#106
Oooh! Nice to see some progress here. *downloading*

Update: Played for a bit. I love the atmosphere. Very creepy. Especially inside inside the house later...
I know know this isn't the critique corner. Still here's some quick feedback:
- I find it confusing to have different wordings between the action buttons and the actual written text at the top. Like "Walk to" becomes "Go to". This is kind of confusing. Also it may just be me being use to LucasArts interfaces but clicking a verb at the bottom of the screen and then having to move the eyes to the very top of the screen to finish the full action (i.e. completing the "action sentence" by selecting an object) isn't really improving in terms of usability. It's much more relaxed to have the verb actions and the results close to each other.
- Is there a way to switch to "default" walk to? The LA interface is much easier and quicker to use as it allows right-clicking to "deslect" the current action so that I can walk around easily even if I just clicked "checked". Also the LA interface offers default right-click actions for frequent tasks such as openeing doors, using switches, etc or just looking at things. The absence of these convenience functions makes the overal experience feel less smooth that I would expect from the Graphics and other production values.
- The first time I used "Run to" had me run to the very right end of the room. From there I couldn't move away, though. Maybe the run speed/mode got me to reach a spot outside the walkable area?

This will probably sound much worse that it is. This still is one of the most highly anticipated AGS games I see. Keep it up!
ca. 70% completed

Secret Fawful

Nope, that's what the demo is for. I need to know how people need to/want to play, and any difficulties in the design. I appreciate the feedback!

Armageddon

I was also very disappointed in how the verbs work, it was confusing and frustrating and I couldn't finish the demo. It should be much easier and simpler.

Also fix the conflicting pixel resolutions. :)

m0ds

#109
^ Or YOU could just switch it to DirectDraw mode (admit I prefer it that way myself).

My playing preferences - I felt having to "close" the inventory rather than just move the mouse away from it and it closes was a bit cumbersome, and that it didn't revert back to "walk to" each time was an issue. That was all :)

I certainly spotted a reference to a couple of other games in there haha!

kaput

Quote from: Armageddon on Fri 02/08/2013 17:19:33
Also fix the conflicting pixel resolutions. :)

You and your conflicting pixel resolutions  (laugh). I can just see you one day in a padded cell screaming to the nurses "conflicting pixel resolutions! GAH!!!". It's going to drive you crazy, man.

As far as the game goes - I felt it had a really nice 'old school' atmosphere with great graphics to boot. My only criticisms are that yes, the verbs did take a bit getting used to and I found the swearing a little out place - it just seemed like something that didn't really need to be there.

Good game, though. I'll keep an eye out for it.

Trapezoid

#111
Seconding what's been said so far.
Also:
-The status bar font is kind of hard to read. Go with a pixel font designed for that resolution.
-A clickable/interactable player character always seems like a fun idea, but usually ends up being not worth it. It just gets in the way of more important hotspots.
-I feel like the normal walk speed is a little too slow-- people will just end up running everywhere.
-Use AGS's skippable cutscene features.

Awesome graphics and AMAZING ADLIB MUSIC omg

I'm already stuck at the axe murderer trying to bust the door down, but I'm not sure if I'm missing something, there's a bug, or if that's just where the demo ends.

selmiak

#112
1) add the demo link to the first post, I searched for it way too long :P
2) looking very good and promising
3) that's why some things just caught my attention:
having the inventory over the screen while the character speaks (to describe what he sees in that inventory item) is just annoying
some strange slipping effect (walk to canoe (over the wrapped one), also happening when running sometimes)
running looks cool, but the frames for running are obviously bigger (longer, higher) than the normal frames, so when switching from running to standing still it looks like something is cut off.
I want to use that damned hapoon!
the verbline changes only to 'run to' when using keyboard controls, not on clicking run to on the verb list
no keyboard shortcut for pick up?
clickable character can get annoying when he stands in front of a hotspot
the inventory items have no indication of where the click happens
rightclicking open inventory, so it should also close the inventory on rightclick
clicking outside of the inventory should also close it to make it easier for the player
and last but not least, from all the screens you already posted and how far the game is (supposed to be) completed, this demo is rather lame :P *MORE!* screw that, I also got stuck in the first scene already, and thought this is a demo to demonstrate the gamemechanics...


Secret Fawful

Quote from: Trapezoid on Fri 02/08/2013 20:17:44
Seconding what's been said so far.
Also:
-The status bar font is kind of hard to read. Go with a pixel font designed for that resolution.
-A clickable/interactable player character always seems like a fun idea, but usually ends up being not worth it. It just gets in the way of more important hotspots.
-I feel like the normal walk speed is a little too slow-- people will just end up running everywhere.
-Use AGS's skippable cutscene features.

Awesome graphics and AMAZING ADLIB MUSIC omg

I'm already stuck at the axe murderer trying to bust the door down, but I'm not sure if I'm missing something, there's a bug, or if that's just where the demo ends.

Spoiler
I need to add a hint somewhere for this probably, and whenever the puzzle shows up in the full game, there'll be one so it's not so cruel, but try opening the door while he's running.
[close]

Thanks, guys. I'm taking all of the feedback into account and I'm working on a more professional interface. Keep in mind, I don't want to go over eight verbs. I've streamlined it to six and I'm working on movement outside of the verb bar. I'm also working on getting an inventory put down in the bottom bar, or as a popup. Move is Push/Pull, and Check is Look at, in, under, behind, etc. Next time I put together a demo, I'll also put in a README for a short summary of controls and such.

Thing is, the demo was me taking a gamble on two puzzles that were pretty hard for me to code. I'll cut down the swearing, or at least use censors.

Armageddon

I couldn't even figure out how to open the inventory window... :( I'd just have no walk verbs, have him auto-walk when you click on empty non-hotspot space. And if you want sneaking and running stealth areas just have regions in the room automatically change that.

Secret Fawful

In this demo, the inventory was a right-click to open. I'm actually really surprised, but you aren't the only one to have trouble with that. Also, what specific verbs did you have the most trouble with? I'm guessing Check and Move.

Armageddon

Just all the verbs. I had the same problem with movement, I used run and the guy kept running to the right. Also I'd change Check to Look At, no need to be slightly different, better to do what people know. It is a very pretty game though. :-D

frenzykitty

Can't wait to give this a stab later!!!

Tabata

I like the graphics and animations very much but had a hard time to get used to the commands.
Always inventory showing up (because I tend to look at everything by right-click) and then it stays in front of the descriptions so that you need to close it first to be able to read.

Also the „mixed up verbs“ were strange because at last I used the mouse-wheel to scroll through and change them.
The prob is that if you are lazy like me and do it this way, the original verbs show up.
So I had 10 verbs and „go to“ makes him run, sneak is missing (well, it works if you click it directly at the faaaar away bottom of the window, of course) but you can check and look at … all in all a bit „confuddeling“

Since this was called a tech-demo I didn't expect it to be polished like it will be in the very end, but it seems to me that there was no testing before  :wink:

All in all I am sure, this will be all sorted at the end and hopefully my message doesn't come along too negative because I had fun, like it and I am still eager to play the game.  (nod)
(btw. I wasn't able to make it through the door until now  (roll) )

Now I want to wish you good luck for all the work that still needs to be done on that nice game to become complete.
I can't await it to be ready

Secret Fawful

Testing was me sending the 'demo' to three of my friends, and M0ds. :P I was rushing for the Release Something thread, so I decided not to worry too hard about it, but I was also continually tweaking it up until the very last second. I won't let the final game go through without some form of serious beta testing. I've been working on assets and areas mostly up til now, and now I'm working on puzzles and plugging them in.

I completely missed the mouse wheel problems because my mouse has had a broken middle wheel for months. Might be time to invest in a new one. Thanks, though. Positive feedback is great, but negative feedback helps me improve. I knew going into this tech demo that it would be faced with some problems, but that's just due to my own inexperience. I'm pretty happy with the feedback so far. I don't like making mistakes, but I like knowing they're there. Thanks for the well wishes. :)

Now I'm going to drink some booze and relax, while my brain processes my next steps.

miguel

Booze and relax always works for me.
Good:This demo sure has that "classic" feel and I enjoyed playing it. The music fits really well with the tone and graphics. Nice animations as well reminding me of Guybrush times. So, this is a potential good game. It has everything going for it.

Not so good: just refine the interface, remember to set walk-mode ON after an action, think twice about that inventory GUI, well just "listen" to what the players don't like and you'll be fine. Every minor quirk is easily fixed and I'm sure you know that.

Anyway, thanks for the love put into this game and for releasing the demo.
Working on a RON game!!!!!

Trapezoid

#121
My suggestions:
-Make the different walk modes a radio button or switch, separate from the verbs.
-Make the inventory accessed by a button on the GUI, maybe under the "new kid" button.
-Reset the current mode to walking/running/sneaking if you click on a non-hotspot or a right click.

I prefer having the inventory in a scrollable window on the GUI, visible at all times, but you probably don't have enough room for that in your current 32 pixel high GUI. But you could perhaps redesign the existing inventory box to fit in the lower portion of the screen, just so it doesn't obscure the whole playing field (and make it so it doesn't pause the game.) I don't think it's the worst thing in the world to have to scroll through inventory items, five or a six at a time.

I also think the keyboard controlled character option is possibly useless. Is that the source of the weird pathfinding-bouncing the character does sometimes when they reach their target? Might be worth scrapping that feature just so you can avoid that weird bouncing.

Khris

I really like the tech demo, except for the interface, which is horribly broken. It almost feels like it was deliberately designed to confuse and annoy the player. Literally every interface interaction does not what is expected but something different and made me exclaim in frustration.

Shadow1000

I'm up to the point where the guy is running around the room and ceiling. I can't interact with anything in the room or inventory items. Is this a puzzle or the end of the demo?

SHADOW

Secret Fawful

It's a puzzle.
Spoiler
Open the middle window.
[close]

Sorry for taking so long to respond. I've been incredibly busy.

Shadow1000

Quote from: Secret Fawful on Mon 19/08/2013 10:18:31
It's a puzzle.
Spoiler
Open the middle window.
[close]

Sorry for taking so long to respond. I've been incredibly busy.

Thank you. I finished the demo. The graphic style, music/sound, and humour were great. I don't think that the demo was enough to get an idea of the story so it's hard to comment on that. Verb Coin interface is not my preference. I'd rather fewer options (left click - interact, right click - look) than to have to select an action from a menu. The puzzles in this game were not very logical but I'm assuming that they are not indicative of the game overall.

SHADOW

Secret Fawful

Hey, just a small update.

I uh....I'm bad about doing updates. After the feedback I got on the SCUMM interface in the demo not working well due to the way I implemented it, I decided to try something a little different.



I changed it to an ICON-BASED interface, similar to one Brian Moriarty wanted to implement into the Dig. You click on an icon, the cursor changes to the icon, and then you can click on anything in the environment. Unlike, say, Sam and Max Hit the Road, there is still a description bar to tell you what you're clicking on, and this applies to the icons as well. It still needs some tweaks- the inventory still doesn't work quite right, but it's much better than it was, and much more streamlined. Also, there is a new icon- a Walkie Talkie - which serves as a New Kid icon, that will let you select a new scout- after a certain point in the story- from a list of portraits. The look of the interface is still subject to change, as I'm not happy with how the Walkie Talkie looks- and I may change how the Walkie Talkie works, but this should be the final thing, so get your howls of disappointment out of the way now, because I don't plan to go back to verbs.

Happy January!

Oh, and as far as the game itself, it's going, although I'm having trouble with puzzle design. Which is weird, because I have no shortage of creepy and weird ideas and concepts, my brain just struggles with putting them together into a solvable puzzle. So, who knows how that will go, but I'm going to keep going regardless.

Armageddon

Why not just go for something you know will work well and has been proven for the UI and controls?

Grim

That screenshot looks trippy as hell and I love it:)

I'm sure it can't be that hard to come up with a puzzle involving a blue devil bartender, a guy with an eyeball for a head and an angry chimp with a lizard's tail!;) The possibilities are endless!;)

Abisso

It's great news but... I want to sneak! I want to run! How am I supposed to do that now?!?! ;)
Welcome back to the age of the great guilds.

Daniel Eakins

Oh wow, I didn't know about this game and the graphics are amazing!
We all have our time machines, don't we?

Secret Fawful

Thanks, Daniel!

Quote from: Armageddon on Wed 15/01/2014 22:37:19
Why not just go for something you know will work well and has been proven for the UI and controls?

Blech. I like to experiment. Using something exactly how everyone else did just bores me. Either way, Hit the Road made icons work. I know I can too.

Quote from: Abisso on Wed 15/01/2014 23:32:42
It's great news but... I want to sneak! I want to run! How am I supposed to do that now?!?! ;)

I'm working on that. :P

...

[I completely forgot about it]

Quote from: Grim on Wed 15/01/2014 23:14:18
That screenshot looks trippy as hell and I love it:)

I'm sure it can't be that hard to come up with a puzzle involving a blue devil bartender, a guy with an eyeball for a head and an angry chimp with a lizard's tail!;) The possibilities are endless!;)

That's not even every creature or object of interest in the room.

ArgyBoi

I just found a bug. I accidently used the mouse wheel, and discovered that the %CURRENTHOTSPOT% label displays crazy things (like "open", "close", "switch to" and others) that there are not in the game :P




Secret Fawful

Whoa, thanks for pointing that out. I'll make sure that gets fixed.

When I put the demo together, I didn't have a functional middle mouse wheel.

Matti

I'm glad to know you're still working on this. I am so looking forward to it!

Tramponline

#135
Aside from some control issues that have already been sufficiently discussed & adapted, I enjoyed the tech-demo immensely - especially the second room!
Spoiler
More power to the bear! I could spend hours just conversing & listening to his banter. Very well written.
But also in general, the overall tongue-in-cheek-horror approach is hilarious.
[close]

One glitch I encountered:
Spoiler
In the boat house, you can repeatedly open the window, grab the fish with pocket knife, close window, go back, open window... and so on. This will provide you with a neverending supply of fish that would
even make Jesus blush! :tongue:
[close]

Also,
Spoiler
as mentioned before, I hate that darn harpoon - it shall burn in hell....that ****** **** ** ****! ;)
[close]

Secret Fawful

Wow, I'm glad someone liked the writing! I haven't had a lot of feedback on that, that I remember, so it's great to know that it works.

I'll give the harpoon a use in the full game. The demo is a demo-only scenario anyway. I probably said it before, but I wanted to use the demo as an experiment with doing a mostly audio cutscene, taking inspiration from old time radio, but sadly, I couldn't find great sound effects for everything I wanted to do, and I didn't know (at the time) how to do text for the sound effects either.

Spoiler
Oh, when you say The Bear, do you mean Teddy or Smoky?
[close]

Tramponline

#137
Quote from: Secret Fawful on Mon 20/01/2014 04:58:08
Spoiler
Oh, when you say The Bear, do you mean Teddy or Smoky?
[close]
I meant...
Spoiler
...that evil chucky-like 'Teddy Booger' - interesting, why did you assume I was refering to Smoky as a bear?
[close]

QuoteI'll give the harpoon a use in the full game. The demo is a demo-only scenario anyway.
Spoiler
I was totally kidding. I actually liked the teasing harpoon bit! Just in order for it to work properly (as a gag) it'd probably need a couple of varied & outrages excuses from Smoky not wanting to pick it up on each consecutive mouse click (i.e "splinter", "mommy told me not to play with sharp objects" or some such). For some reason I was expecting Smoky to finally agree on picking it up at some point, the harpoon crumbling away, and him only stating "Termites."
[close]

There's one single instance that I didn't like about the narrative/writing...
Spoiler
...and that's Smoky's scene with his dad. Purely judging on what I saw in the demo that's pushing it a little IMHO. Especially in connection with the visual representation of a fuzzy cloud framing that scene à  la "Pokemon". Having said that, obviously I don't know it's precise context in the final game. This scene could be viewed with irony, in which case you might've to push it even further, or not.
[close]


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