some names that don't include the word "asylum": -Funhaus -Madhaus ("haus" means "house" in german. thought it would give an eerie feel to the word) -Dead End -Fin (meaning: end)
sounds great!!!! Everyone in this forum has pretty much got down what I was thinking about but what really scares me is those uncanny valley type looking people. Only 1/3 of the peeps here will probly know this but here is an example... well never mind.. i just searched creepy face on google and I seriously don't want to look at it again lol. But uncanny valley is when basicaley robots that are too humanoid creep people out because the more closer they get to looking human, the more we notice about them that is wrong and unfamiliar... ok I will build up my courage to show u what I mean... http://gynomite.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/the-uncanny-valley-hypothesis/ http://ivanreyes.tv/general/lets-visit-the-uncanny-valley/ you guys get what I mean?? its like those creepy disturbing images that kind of burn into yuor brain like really creepy eyes that really stare at you wierdly... hopefully u get my gist..
Although I agree with this, I also see the irony with the first sentence. The story should have a twist in the end . I'm gonna run my story idea off of the top of my head and see if anybody else likes it. You start at the beginning of the game as an individual without too much backstory. The individual's story and history is slowly hinted by small flashback cutscenes that slowly expand with each cutscene. The first one would be a blurry shaped person holding up something and then the flashback ends. The second flashback scene starts after you see the ghostly child. It continues from where the last cutscene ends and unblurries slightly and shows a man shaped person holding up another person. As you solve puzzles throughout the game, which impede you from finishing the game, you start seeing images of destruction and death. (Which will all make sense later on) The children in the game continuously try to derail you from completing your goal. Your goal isn't too clear to even yourself... all you know is that you have to get out. Everytime you seemingly die you white out with a small child staring down at you with a smile. The smile turns from menacing to peaceful with peaceful soothing music playing in the back. As you near the end you gain a good grasp of why you are here... but the puzzle pieces are not put together yet. A man holding up the child was obviously you. The child is still unclear who. Another cutscene where it reveals a house that doesn't seem too old and there is a happy family standing outside. Many cutscenes of love and caring pass by. Then the destruction cutscenes appear and the house is now on fire. You see a blurry figure on the ground kneeling with bloodsoaked hands. (The red being vivid) This part starts making you think that this person, you, killed everyone and burned down the house. The child ghost appears several time more subtlety throughout the game, seemingly trying to stop you from escaping the house, through misleading hints. More cutscenes are revealed further down the road. You see cannon fire... muskets going off and screams of anarchy. And then you see the blurry figure reveal itself to be a man shaped figure. ... His hands soaked with blood... A blurry figure appears laying on the ground in front of the kneeling man. ... then everything in the house starts collapsing and falls on top of the man. Your character and yourself starts realizing the situation. He looks up and around and sees portraits of a man with his family. He focuses on the child in the portraits and then the blurry figure in the flashback reveals to be that child. Now the mission and the final puzzle is for you to find this child as you scour the entire house. You search leads you to the front doors of the house. You walk towards the front doors and open them. A white blinding light appears and the ghostly child steps out of the light and presents herself as clear as day. A tear rolls down as the puzzle pieces fall into place. The complete flashback starts playing with the happy family... but then war breaks out in the region... You leave to fight in the war while promising that the family will be together safely on his return... but later... the town is set in flames including the house. Your character, fighting in the area sees his house in flames and runs into the house, but finds his family murdered in cold blood. He falls to his knees as he carries up his child as the house collapse down upon him. Through the destruction... you see their dead hands still holding each other under the rubble. The flashback ends and he looks back up to the girl. The girl whispers... please don't leave me daddy. ... and then you whisper back. No... never again. The 2 hug and the scene goes to white. The scene from outside of the house... a misty environment... shows the house disappear as the mist slowly clears. In its place it shows an old Victorian grave yard. ... and in the exact spot where the house was... there is a grave that reads "To never part again." ... I think I need to go grab myself a beer and watch some sports.
Story Thanks towerdefence, very cool story. Can picture it perfectly. I certainly might borrow some of the ideas in there. I particularly like twist from at one point thinking your the killer changing to being the caring father. Only thing is it would seem weird having a lift in home. But I'm sure the story could be reworked a little to fit in with what we have. On the name front: I did a poll on a developers website and two names came out on top. Dark asylum And Steel asylum. With someone adding 'The horror of the ' as a extra beginning to the title.
So new favourite title. For the app store and text below icon. Dark asylum Then on the main menu add some smaller font with 'The horror of the' above it. Creating 'the horror of the dark asylum'
I've played a lot of horror games so I will be blunt. Horror box is a stupid name and point and click games are rarely scary.
thanks...Nothing like Sleep Cheers for sharing...and being so upbeat... The name is being changed (see message before yours)... New name. 'The Horror of the Dark Asylum'. Point and Click games are normally just of the adventure game breed. But there are a couple out there which incorporate scary aspects. Grisly Manor, although not overly scary build a really good atmosphere, with the music, and the great visuals. Also I'm kinda hoping that as there not that many scary ones out there, it is a bit of a niche market in the app store...
iphone 3G test...tonight... Maybe its not very exciting... Bu tonight is the night we test out the current working demo of the game on an iphone 3G to see how it handles the demands of the game. We are actually putting the game engine through quite a lot...(compared to our previous work with it). Fingers crossed it works as smoothly as on an iphone 4...
successful test on a 3G phone. Well the results are in. And yes I'm aware its not as exciting as talking about whats scary.. I'll get back to that and other stuff later. The game works a treat. Takes a few seconds longer to load from the menu into the lift scene, and when you swipe to change the view in the lift you get the odd ever ever ever so slight stutter at times, but not enough to stop it being available for 3G owners. I'd probably advise in the description that it runs perfectly on a 3Gs and iphone 4...but works well on a 3G or equivalent device too. Oh... Do you think I should start a new thread with the new game title in, or just carry it on, on this one...?
So i'm assuming you are going to make the place an actual asylum correct? If so, I suggest having a back story being the place was once a medical facility for the sickly and disturbed children. Perhaps weird experiments happened there? Sort of a cliche horror theme, but I think having the children be the victims/antagonists rather than the usual adults would add a nice disturbing twist to the whole idea. "The Horror of a Child's Mind." Lol, I don't know, I think that would be a decent name if you went down that story path.
Nice idea, obviously twisted but nice. Been writing up the story fully this evening including each puzzle and how it links to the next, plus random extras that set the scene, plus the flashbacks, plus already planning the ending though not planned every puzzle and linking story arch to that point yet. Hopefully get it completed in the next day or two.whilst still working on graphics as well. I may post a txt file for those happy to ruin the game for themselves to read through and critique. Hoping for it to be at the very least equivalent to 1 hours gameplay.
