If On A Winter's Night, Four Travelers

Started by Laura Hunt, Thu 03/10/2019 06:23:15

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Laura Hunt

IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT, FOUR TRAVELERS

or

A tale of dark and troubling things

(A free point-and-click adventure anthology in four acts.)


A train. A masked ball. Four strangers and their stories.



THE SILENT ROOM


(Progress: complete.)

In a luxurious hotel room in Rome, freshly arrived from Turin, Carlo awaits for his lover Patrick to arrive. Yet even in the wild and roaring 1920s, these rendezvous must be held in secret, and the tension of meeting in constant hiding is taking its toll.


(Main influences: The Talented Mr. Ripley, Inland Empire, and the unsolved mystery of Room 1046.)





THE SLOW VANISHING OF LADY WINTERBOURNE
(Progress: 40%)

Lady Winterbourne has lost her husband in a tragic accident. Now letters from pretenders to her title -- and her vast fortune -- keep arriving every day at her mansion, but the only thing she's interested in is the bottle of laudanum she keeps in her cabinet.



(Main influences: my own experiences with substance abuse, loss, grief, and suicidal ideation.)



THE NAMELESS RITUAL
(Progress: 20%)

Downtrodden by the racism of the American medical establishment, Dr. Jordan Samuels has resorted to the Dark Arts in an attempt to achieve the success denied to him by his peers. However, when the nightmares begin, he starts thinking he might have bitten off more than he can chew.


(Main influences: The Knick (TV show), Doctor Faustus, Twin Peaks, Aleister Crowley, any stories in which somebody finds Something Beyond Human Understanding that drives them to insanity such as The King in Yellow, Le Horla, etc.)



IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT
(Progress: 50%)

Laylah likes her job, but sometimes she yearns for a bit of variety. So any time the opportunity arises for her to experience something different from her daily routine, she will take it -- even if it means going against her very powerful bosses' orders.

(Main influences: Dr. Terror's House of Horrors.)


BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

[imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/6mhQav9.png[/imgzoom]

Laura Hunt: coding, writing, music & sound design, game design.

Thomas Möhring: art, animations, cutscenes, game design.



Additional music (so far!):

- Jack Stillman & Orchestra, At peace with the world (Irving Berlin, 1926). Restored mp3 transfer of original recording licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC 2.5 by the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.

- Walter Scanlan, Always (Irving Berlin, 1925). Restored mp3 transfer of original recording licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC 2.5 by the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.

- Gerluz, Serenade for Strings Op. 22 - II. Menuetto (Antonin Dvorak, 1875).  Licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.

- Emanuel Salvador, 3 Old Viennese Dances - I. Liebesleid (Fritz Kreisler, 1910). Licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 3.0.

- Gnossiene No. 1 (Erik Satie, ca. 1890). Piano performance by Edward Rosser, from public domain recording. Harp performance arranged by Laura Hunt from MIDI file by unknown sequencer.

- Lady Winterbourne's Theme by Laura Hunt, inspired by Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# Minor Op. 3, No. 2.


This post will be updated with new screenshots as we have more to show for the following acts!


Mandle

An anthology adventure game with strong horror elements?!

Where have you been all my life?!

Laura Hunt

Hahaha (laugh)

I feel that I should mention, in order to temper expectations and avoid future disappointments, that there is no inventory and the game is mostly task-based rather than puzzle-based, with a strong focus, like my previous games, on narrative and emotional impact rather than gameplay. Again, this doesn't mean that it'll be a passive "interactive experience" or a "visual novel" or anything of the sort, but at the same time, don't expect much in the way of riddles or brain teasers :)

cat

Is this in any way related to Italo Calvino's book, or only a pun on the title?

Laura Hunt

#4
Quote from: cat on Thu 03/10/2019 09:30:30
Is this in any way related to Italo Calvino's book, or only a pun on the title?

Only the title, the "stories-within-a-story" format, and maybepossiblylikely an in-game reference or two as a wink to anybody who has read the book ;)

TheFrighter


And it have a cool photography, also!

Quote from: Laura Hunt on Thu 03/10/2019 06:23:15

(Main influences: my own experiences with substance abuse, loss, grief, and suicidal ideation.)


What?!

_

Cassiebsg

Cool, nice to finally see a thread for this game!  :-D
I must admit. I had to zoom in the last picture to make sure the guy had clothes on!   (laugh)
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

Laura Hunt

Quote from: Cassiebsg on Thu 03/10/2019 11:57:01
Cool, nice to finally see a thread for this game!  :-D
I must admit. I had to zoom in the last picture to make sure the guy had clothes on!   (laugh)

Hahaha you're not the first :-D Hopefully nobody will play at 1x but you never know!

Kastchey

I love the concept which resembles a book of horror short stories made point&click, and the artwork is stunning. Looking forward to this!


eri0o

I really like the art and premises of this game. Can't wait for it.  8-0

I am cool with narrative and emotional impact :)


milkanannan


Creamy

Looks and sounds awesome.

QuoteThe Talented Mr. Ripley
That's a brillant nerve-wracking movie. My sister in law walked out of the screening.
 

imsomnia212

I really love the art, I don't know why but it reminds me of habbo (I don't know if you know what game is) and the premises of the game have a lot of potential, can't wait for it!
Are u a tuna?

Laura Hunt

#15
Quote from: imsomnia212 on Sun 06/10/2019 20:10:30
I really love the art, I don't know why but it reminds me of habbo

Ahahaha now, that's a comparison I wasn't expecting to hear (laugh)

Quote from: Creamy on Sat 05/10/2019 09:39:04
Looks and sounds awesome.

QuoteThe Talented Mr. Ripley
That's a brillant nerve-wracking movie. My sister in law walked out of the screening.

Yes! The artist went through a bit of an obsession with that movie. At the same time, I was watching Inland Empire for like the 6th time. I don't even know what's come out of this combination of influences in the end. I guess we'll know once people play it!



TheFrighter


I'm really curious about the italian part! Who helped you in that?

_

Deabriel

#18
Quote from: Laura Hunt on Mon 14/10/2019 22:00:21
We have a logo now! This is getting serious.

[imgzoom]https://s.put.re/DnoYqWm5.png[/imgzoom]

I really love your logo!
I hope this don't bother you but I wanted to "fix" some things (pixel clusters or perspective mistakes)
So here is:
[imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/6mhQav9.png[/imgzoom]
I hope you like it

Laura Hunt

Quote from: TheFrighter on Tue 15/10/2019 08:09:34

I'm really curious about the italian part! Who helped you in that?

_

I don't understand, help me with what?  :confused: The chapter simply takes place in a room in a fictional hotel in Rome sometime in the 1920s and there are a couple of words in Italian thrown in for colour, but the dialogue is in English :)

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