Messages

Looks great, the background in the video is very atmospheric too. Good luck with the project!

Hopefully Walter will have a photographic memory or at least have that option. Maybe some sort of mechanic where Walter can do all the remembering for you and then he'll know what the correct answers are on the test?

Spoiler

Having read the original story am I correct in assuming that it is possible to get killed? Will there be a way to defeat the witch without getting killed by her familiar at the end?

[close]

When you study for a test, Walter will read aloud the answers. Then when you take a test, it's a multiple choice query, and if you have studied enough, the right answer (which Walter had read aloud before) will be available. But this system is not ready yet, so there might be some changes too. Main thing is that it requires some interaction, and is a small puzzle in itself.

Spoiler

Walter can die during the game. Like in survival games, you must eat and you can get sick or injured. So these deaths are unscripted events. There will be several endings, and unlike in the short story, you can survive and defeat Brown Jenkin. But ofcourse you could suffer the same fate as in the story too...

[close]

Is this going to be a commercial release?

Short answer is that I don't know yet! This started as a hobby project, but is much more serious work now. And I still want to continue without any limits or deadlines. Publishing the game is something that I have no experience on. I have some plans/hopes but nothing concrete yet. So the answer is maybe!

Thanks all!

It's my first time working on pixel graphics, so the art style formed quite naturally, it sort of just became that way. My background is in animation, so that helps too!

These screen caps are quite old, and there is more stuff in the storage. Miskatonic University is keeping me occupied currently, as it's a big block in the game.

The lobby of the Dombrowski's lodging house:



Walter is complaining about the scurrying of the rats.

Just played this, fun concept! I always thought it was Judas...

The start was a bit difficult, I used more the interrogate option in the beginning, didn't for some reason get the point of the soldiers. When I got the system (maybe after 10 mins?) it was fine, and could spot the betrayer every time. But I didn't think it was too easy even then.

One thing that could streamline the game more, would be that right-click would deactivate the interrogation mode. It was bit clumsy to switch it off. I really would like to see more detailed version of this, with the framings and gossips and so on. Anyway, a fun little game!

Oh hell yeah...this looks awesome!! 

I'm in love with this project! I wish you luck!

Thanks, nice to hear that!

Another screenie:



Walter is attending a lecture at Miskatonic University. At this moment there are four lectures and exams that you can attend (but you don't have to!). If you have studied enough, you'll get better grades. There is also a little query in exams that checks if you remember what you have read, so that affects the grades too.

Currently working with the university library, and building a system how to borrow borrow specific books for the right course. The occult books are kept under lock and key, and you need a special permission from the Chief Librarian Dr. Armitage to use those.

This page needs some animation:

 

Walter Gilman, Landlord Mrs. Dombrowski, and a generic Arkham Citizen marching away.

Thanks for the comments! I'll update the page now and then, there is quite a lot of things already done, but don't want to spoil the exciting stuff too much.

Selmiak, that's a interesting comment about the house looking too friendly. You are right that I don't want it to look too much like a "haunted house". Things will get grim, but at start it's just another old house. I think that Arkham is presented many times too ghastly, like it's almost a cemetary. But ofcourse the right balance is important, it can't be a fairytale house either.

[WISHLIST NOW!]

Whether the dreams brought on the fever or the fever brought on the dreams Walter Gilman did not know. - H.P. Lovecraft, The Dreams in the Witch House

WISHLIST NOW!

STEAM: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1902850/Dreams_in_the_Witch_House/
GOG: https://www.gog.com/en/game/dreams_in_the_witch_house

Story :

Walter Gilman has just moved to Arkham and is starting his studies at the Miskatonic University. The Dombrowski's boarding house where he resides has a bad reputation, but Walter doesn't mind the old rumours.
Until the dreams start. Can Walter hang on for two months and suffer through the dreaded May-Eve when witches roam the earth and the slaves of Satan gather for nameless rites and deeds?

Description:

The Witch House is an urban survival adventure game, where the player has to survive for two months, and face the May-Eve night. The game combines RPG elements to classic adventure game genre.
The player can choose to explore the old rumours, read the forbidden books at Miskatonic University, or concentrate on studies and keeping Walter in a good physical and mental state.

Based on the short story "Dreams in the Witch House" by H.P. Lovecraft.

Features:

- Open world sandbox meets traditional point and click adventure game
- Set in the late 1920's Arkham city
- Advancing time and day/evening/night - cycles
- RPG elements: Money, health, sanity, hunger and several other character states 
- Random events, city activities and encounters
- Several endings depending on player's actions
- 320 x 180 pixel graphics
- Two click-interface
- Music by Troy Sterling Nies (Call of Cthulhu, The Whisperer in the Darkness)

Release date: February 16th 2023

Developer: Atom Brain Games

Publisher: Bonus Stage Publishing

Teaser Trailer:

https://youtu.be/Z889XCE-Zq0

Screenshots:

Congratulations on the release, I haven't played the game, but it looks really unique, the art style is amazing. Maybe I'll pick it up on Steam when I have time!

I did few quick tests, but it seems that when using this new patch, the gamma changes when I restart the game (pressing F9 key). So the original problem is back again. When using the earlier gamma hack, everything seems to work fine. I can make more tests in the weekend, these are the quick results!

Thanks, I will try this soon, haven't yet updated to 3.3.5!

That sounds like a good idea, haven't really checked the new versions, I just hope everything is compatible.

Thanks for all the help, I'll wait for the 3.3.5. patch!

Quick answer for now, but I did some tests with that and it seemed to work, thanks Crimson Wizard!

Gamma/Contrast or what ever it is, stayed the same even after loading a new game. I'll test it more later, but it seems to be working.

Only downside is that I already use the mouse speed fix in acwin.exe (that you made!). So I would need a file that has both of the fixes.

I'm currently using a desktop computer, with a AMD Radeon R9 280x display driver, if it's any help. Saw this same thing happening when testing other peoples AGS games too, when I loaded a save, the screen changed a bit brighter compared to the starting situation.

Here is the link for the post I mentioned:

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=42271.0

Not sure if it's a gamma or display card related problem, but I have the same symptoms as uswin in his post. Basically I have no code that deals with gamma adjustments. Starting in fullscreen everything is fine, but after restart/load, it seems that contrast goes lower, and brightness increases. If I use code

Code: ags

  System.Gamma = 99;

in the game_start, I can see the lower contrast image from the start, and it stays the same after restarting. So the contrast/gamma settings now stay the same but there is still the same loss in contrast. I can change the gamma, but it seems that somekind of color correction is disabled then also.

I hope that my explanation is somewhat understandable!

Hi!

I'm suffering from gamma issues: when I test my game in fullscreen mode and I load/restart the game, gamma changes to more bright. This does not happen in windowed mode.

I have read previous posts about this issue, but didn't find a clear answer how to fix it. Apparently it has something to do with graphics card? And every game suffers from it???

I'm using AGS 3.3.4. and building a 320 x 200 resolution game with Direct3D. When using DirectDraw this problem seems to go away, but I need Direct3D.

I would really like to fix this, because basically it messes up the graphics of the game. One idea I read from old post was to make the game do a save when you start a new game, and instantly load it again. This way you would never use the "correct" starting gamma, but instead the lighter one. Then you would only use one gamma in the game. Is this the only way to fix this?

Any help & advice is more than welcome!   

Okay, I think I got the idea now. Of course the whole point was to make a custom walking command! So now instead of walk, I use Go. It looks like it's working, I will report if I stumble to problems. Really appreciate the help, thanks!

Ok, I hope you are patient with me! Almost got it working, my only problem seems to be that blocking actions are not showing up after the player has been put to STANDING view. For example, i click on a door, and the character just slides to it using STANDING view, my walk-animation (EGOWLK) doesn't play. Again, if the character is already walking when I click the door, the animation plays like it should. Otherwise the walking/turning is correct. I tested this also with an empty BASS template, and had the same effect. Here is my code, did I forgot something?

In GlobalScript.asc

Code: ags

bool was_moving;
//----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// repeatedly_execute
//----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function repeatedly_execute() 
{
  if (!player.Moving && was_moving) player.ChangeView(STANDING);
  was_moving = player.Moving;
}

In TwoClickHandler.ash

Code: ags

// change this to the y position the mouse most be at to make the inventory GUI visible
#define INVENTORY_POPUP_POSITION 7 
import void Go(this Character*, int x, int y, BlockingStyle blocking = eNoBlock, WalkWhere where = eWalkableAreas);

In TwoClickHandler.asc

Code: ags

void Go(this Character*, int x, int y, BlockingStyle blocking, WalkWhere where) {
  if (this.NormalView == STANDING) this.ChangeView(EGOWLK);
  this.Walk(x, y, blocking, where);
}
//----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// on_mouse_click()
//----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Code: ags

if (player.ActiveInventory == null) {
    //ProcessClick(mouse.x, mouse.y, eModeWalkto);
    player.Go(mouse.x + GetViewportX(), mouse.y + GetViewportY());
    }
    else
    {
      player.ActiveInventory = null;
      }