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Definitely looking forward to this one.

Please note: I've taken your suggestions and nabbed a second job, so the going on this one might be a bit slow!

On with this thing, anyway:



It has been years to James. Thousands of years.

When we last left James, he was trapped in an endless nightmare that had taken place in his old home. Since then, he has been dragged through a never ending abyss of darkness by all kinds of tormentors, and was moved away from his home long ago.  

The experience for James has been hell. Yet, things have changed so much in the time that he has been held prisoner. At first he was terrified, and his tormentors enjoyed his fear. Then he became angry, and his tormentors provoked them in any way they could.

And now? Now James is simply broken. Finished. He still becomes scared, angry, and depressed...but it isn't the tormentor's doing anymore. When he can, he rests, but most of his time is spent in an unusual state of mind. He knows very little. He's been handed over to something. Something horrible. It isn't like the other tormentors, though. It keeps him locked away in a cell, occasionally picking on him for entertainment.

The never changing atmosphere, dripping ceilings, and filthy walls certainly don't help.

This constant state of unease keeps James on edge. His emotions are unstable. He finds himself unintentionally screaming during his periods of rest. He blacks out, something pummels him...and then he is chained up. Powerless, James accepts his situation and attempts to rest once more.  Upon hearing something unusual, James is momentarily filled with a feeling so old he nearly couldn't remember it: hope.

This is where the final chapter of this story begins.


Featuring an original soundtrack and (desperately needed) art assistance from Kelma, I present:

Living Nightmare: Freedom

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWsI3yFrKoo



***I will be fixing the text in these little cutscenes, don't worry!

From the Wretcher demo I played a while back, it looks like it will be *much* more intense than clock tower, which I am very much looking forward to.

Oh, sure! By no means is it impossible to work with symbolism, it's just tough, so be ready for that.

OOH! I want to play this game when you're done!

On the issue of game design, it's something I've struggled with a *lot* when considering the dream-world. You want it to be surreal, but if it's too surreal, the player will have a very hard time figuring out what the intended puzzle is. I'd like to *think* I've gotten better at game design since working on my games, so here's a few things I've learned and will implement into the final installment of those games Cat was mentioning:

1.)Symbolism is just about everything in a dream, and it looks like you've already gotten that down. STILL, make sure it is *absolutely clear* to the player what they should be looking out for. Many game producers like to add symbolism to enhance the story or atmosphere, but few include symbolism into puzzles because of how cryptic it can be. A player isn't used to interacting with symbolism.

2.)Doing more with this concept may take some tinkering. Don't always rely on "use x on y" puzzles. That's a no-no and I've been guilty of doing this in too many of my games.

3.) Being creative is very hard, but you're on the right track. The best concepts come from what you know. I think a good puzzle comes from very good story telling. If you can, base the nightmares in the game on nightmares you've actually had, then try to build gameplay around it.

4.) Play some horror AGS games. You don't need to steal ideas, but there's so much to be learned. Yahtzee's games are of course very good, and there was another (I can't recall the name right now, someone please help me out?) that pulled off a *very* creepy, scary atmosphere about a young woman stuck in a house with a murderer.

Best of luck, please keep us posted!

I suppose I should also release super duper alpha-hackjob screenies of the final nightmare whatchyamacallit.

(Don't worry - Kelma will be fixing up my artistic mess.)


Here James is trapped in a cell. Use your nifty text parser to figure out how to get him out of this situation. It should be noted that the "blue dots" are part of a water dripping animation.



This is a part of a cutscene.


This is the default text box. Ew.


This is just a still of a room that will be in the game.

Damn straig- er, what? Never!

Also mods- don't worry, it's being worked on.

Well, I would agree that there needs to be a middle-ground, but I was actually given an assignment to compare the extremes in 500 words or less. It was a test of sorts.

Yahoo!(tm)? What's that? An antiquated search engine and murderer of GeoCities? Oh yeah..


:

I'm glad you're so happy for me

You couldn't possibly offend us any more than that wifebeater game did...

Meh I wasn't offended one bit. It actually made me laugh cos it was so darn flippant. Now if I was the victim of marital abuse then I still wouldn't be offended as it's just a game. Games are not reality. Games are games are games.

This is my opinion but, unless you're some celibate pacifist monk who lives in a grotto but has access to video games, it doesn't make sense to be driven to the point of actual offense by a game.

And OP, your explanation is bordering on bizarre. The is the internet not some PEGI committee. Now I start thinking about it, what the fuck is going on?

A fair enough statement. If and when I decide I don't like the material of any given game, I simply choose not to play it. I think it would be wrong of me to not respect the game maker's choice in making whatever he or she wants to make.

I know this isn't exactly spectacular news, but recently I've become a featured contributor on Yahoo!, giving me a very nice boost that I very much needed. The article that did it for me is below, if you'd like to read it.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8153533/casual_gamers_vs_hardcore_gamers.html?cat=15

Didn't he also kill the passenger in his car? =/

I don't think you'll be judged on what you make no matter what it is.

I've been looking allllll over tonight but I have had no luck whatsoever.

I'm looking to trade in my old laptop for a portable device. I want something *like* an ipod touch, but not an ipod touch. I just really can't stand them.

Honestly the most important things to me are local radio and streaming video ability from youtube/netflix/etc. The zune would be perfect...only it doesn't support streaming. I've been looking at all sorts of things. I suppose even a small android "tablet" would work, but I'm having trouble finding something affordable that supports radio and streaming.

Any suggestions?

I have a question, actually. I'm pretty decent at programming, but pretty terrible at art. I have a few friends (and my girlfriend) that are good in the art department. We've started something...but it really lacks direction. I have to ask out of curiosity: Is WEG interested in writing/designing games? Or is that too much in the "building a game from scratch" category?

Any chance you're looking for someone to help with the game design/story writing aspects?

I am, actually

I'll show you what I have if you're interested.

This is an interesting topic, especially since this discussion has been exploding at my other home, shoryuken.com

Capcom has always been a big fan of releasing iterations of a game that already exists (Street Fighter 2, Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition, Street Fighter 2: Turbo then with Street Fighter 4, super street fighter 4, and most recently, super street fighter 4: arcade edition.) and very recently released the latest iteration of SSF4 as DLC. It was $15 and I happily bought it.

Here are some reasons why:

*Clearly the new characters and features and balance changes were not made overnight. Capcom has listened to the demand for a bigger variety and balanced some things that have been bugging us for the past year.

*I appreciate the DLC opposed to physical disc form. It's been much cheaper than having to buy a new disc. Arcade Edition in disc form will retail at $40.00 USD.

*None of the iterations have ever felt "gimmicky" to me. There has always been something new and exciting about each of them while we wait for the next engine to be developed. I think it gives us something to look forward to.

Kind of interesting so far

I'm really glad I thought "GOD that looks creepy" before reading that the game is supposed to be scary. At the very least, you've accomplished that much.

Muahahaah! Yeah. Here's some stuff.

Kelma did this for a project we're working on:



Pretty friggin sweet background, if you ask me.

I did this, I'm working on converting short stories I write (some were intended to be games, originally) to video form:

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

I'd say I've officially "owned" all this Wii U hype with hype of my own. Don't hate, Nintendo.

Second, minus the scanlines and crazy palette

I dunno, I like the second as well and for some reason both the scanlines and palette are appealing to me.