Bay 12 Games Forum

Adobe Flash? It's 2d only, but it can do most of what you need.

If you'd prefer 3d, I'd recommend just going all-out and learning how to use Maya or some similar program (Blender seems like a good alternative, and it's free). Be warned: you'd be approaching a task with a learning curve just as steep, if not steeper, than traditional art.

In all honesty, you're going to be facing some hefty limitations if you're approaching art with the mindset of 'I'm not good, but there must be some way to avoid problems with a new program'. The best thing is to choose a form of media you'd want to work in and just start learning and practicing. As they say, sucking at something is the first step to being kinda okay at something. We've all been there.

The majority of the last necessary monster was added yesterday. Today I've been working on sounds, which had been long-neglected. Unity has a really cool thing called animation events that allow developers to easily time scripted things (like sounds) to animations, which means I can easily sync footstep sounds up to the actual animated walking motion. So far I've got footsteps working well, with different sounds depending on what you're walking on (dirt, stone, wood, etc.) and changing volumes depending on whether you're walking, sneaking, or sprinting. After I go through and add various other sounds (ambient noise and other sounds associated with player actions) I'm going to start on an actual GUI, which has been nonexistent this entire time.

After that, we're on the final vital piece of the game: actually making it terrifying. That means adding more hallucinations and polishing monsters, along with whatever I can think of that might help the game be scarier.

That's where playtesting is really necessary, because I'm pretty sure I'm going to suck at that part of development.

By my best estimation, the island is roughly .23 square miles. It's almost entirely open, though the mountains on the northern half are only partially explorable (you can go all the way around them, but you can't get up to most of the peaks). There are still a couple empty areas which will be filled up over time, and there's a lot of clutter that still needs to be added, but this is the basic layout of it.

To keep things from getting boring (like if the monster got lost and couldn't find anybody to terrorize), the monster has an internal compass that directs them in the general direction of players along with a fast-travel form that can be used when the monster is at least a certain distance away from the other players.

Glad to hear it! I'll answer any questions I can.

Single player mode: no, sadly. I have no idea how to make AI work in a way that would actually be scary, so I'm just sticking to what I'm good at. ...Which is apparently multiplayer. I guess it's all relative.

If you lose, it means ur ded. This is true on both sides of the game: the protagonists die from sanity loss, the demon dies (is exorcised; they're basically the same in-game) if all of its altars are destroyed.

Protagonists can fight back. Except by fight back, I mean they can flee and hide. Each person has a regenerating shield ability, but that's the only direct interaction they can instigate (for the moment; I may add in a stunning blast thingy for balance reasons). Aside from that, incorporeal monsters can't approach light sources (which the players can light an huddle around to regain sanity) and physical monsters are stumped by that age-old video game enemy: closed doors (which players can open and close).

Hallucinations are definitely geared towards dread. There's an element of jump scares, but that's primarily to keep the players from getting complacent. The monsters are split about evenly (or they fit both). For example, the corner-of-your-eye-ghost-monster (I'm bad at names) is only visible when viewed from the corner of your eye... and it looks exactly like another player. But it can slowly drain your sanity, adding dark fog over your vision and inducing hallucinations. The Mannequin, similarly, can hide in plain sight by disguising as a prop, only to leap out with a scare chord and murder your face. Paranoia AND jump scares. Also, better get used to suspecting every slightly-out-of-place rock is a soul-eating demon.

What other actions has been proposed repeatedly we know are wrong?

But they might work this time!

[snip]

I concede the point; Pelagiad is probably a better destination of choice for Michael.

Also, I totally forgot about the alchemy weirdness.

Let's get some productive suggestions, then. Here's my best plan (so, probably not all that good of a plan on an absolute scale):

Get teleported back to Sadrith Mora. From there we'll be roughly equidistant from Tel Vos and Azura's shrine. I personally would like to hit up Azura's shrine first, but there's a boat that travels between Sadrith Mora and Vos, which would certainly be convenient to drop in and speak with Aryon.

Take the boat from Sadrith Mora to Vos and trek west to Tel Vos. Try and get an audience with Master Aryon. And, of course, repeatedly blow your magicka on your only destruction spell.

P2 taking a knee while P1 enjoys the dramatic lighting.

Animations are working in-game and over the internet! This is a screenshot of two instances of the game running, with player 1 on the left looking at player 2 and vice versa. In addition to walking and crouching animations (sprinting and the rest will be done soon), your head looks up and down with your camera, so other players can see you admiring the scenery. Everything syncs smoothly over the internet, although there's one major bug involving animations cutting off at the wrong times. I'll figure that out tomorrow, though.