The Midnight Horror -Beta Testing

Hosted Games Works In Progress
21

Ditto :((

22

That is all on me. No more editing ‘just a little code’ in the dropbox. Especially not after midnight.

A fixed link. And now I know that I’ve got a lot to update in the days ahead that I somehow overlooked. That is the joy of having beta-testers. They see things that I can’t, especially when I get tired.

The core of the game itself should be playable even without the looming add ons, and I do hope it will be interesting as well; that said, I know well that not everything I write is gold, or silver, or even shiny copper.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89217689/web/mygame/index.html

23

I got a couple of bugs for you:

  1. When night descends and I enter the attic, there is suddenly this Henry characters whom I was never introduced to before.

  2. Attempting to run away twice causes a sentence describing a large black blob to repreat itself dozens of times. The game ends there.

Also, how do you get to the basement? Or has that not been written yet?

24

@AllenGies
I had fun with my playthroughs last night! The introduction and set up worked for me and I like all the investigative choices you provide. And I couldn’t help but notice the “law firm of Preston, Hartigan, and White” and think of Tin Star. :slight_smile:

Here are some initial things I found for your review:
~ The trapdoor is a simple thing a pace across with a recessed brass handle. The subtle warp of the floorboards helps delineate the edges of it as those have been sanded down and painted more recently that (*than) the rest.

~ You set a hand on the study door’s bolt. But then it jerks from your gasp (*grasp) and the door begins to open.

~ Hands worn near to claws click absently as it considers you with eyes fixed and jaw set to reveal sharp teeth. or he had been, (*something got messed up here)

~ The front door has three sliding bolts that secure it but not a single lock to be found. Furthermore, the bolts can it can readily be opened from either side. (*sentence issue)

~ Glance at money is allowed twice but the 2nd time results in this error: (p.s. I had actually left the money after looking at it the 1st time) Line 2363 invalid option conflicts with option take the money on line 2345

~ You eye your backpack in the back seat, and consider all the clothes it presently holds. There is a notebook in the glove compartment, along with a pen.
(* I had already taken out the backpack because I put the car battery in it.)

~ Able to fiddle with starter even after disconnecting car battery

~ You readily read the surprisingly basic techniques you will need to open the safe.
(*But I had already opened the safe with the combination.)

25

@hahaha01357 -Whoops. Forgot to add in the variable check to activate Henry if the criteria are met. Glad you noticed him, otherwise that’d just be disturbing. Also, the loop you found was a tricky thing. A lack of a _2 in one of the nineteen where_am_i positions. Autotest doesn’t catch those sorts of errors and Randomtest wasn’t terribly specific.

As for the basement, it can be accessed while in the Kitchen. I take it the description of the door leading down might need some punching up?

@piggleywinks - Great stuff there. Thank you. The grammar especially. Boy, did those sentences need help. I’m also glad you saw the nod to Tin Star. Little Easter eggs like that seemed appropriate for this game. :slight_smile:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89217689/web/mygame/index.html

26

Yes, please! :slight_smile:

27

The events surrounding just walking to the nearby town or getting a phone signal and the author reacting Stanley Parable style were very amusing! The author talk was also very interesting too. And I like the fact you can fulfil one of the classic horror cliche characters - I of course had to be a nerdy type. Sadly I have yet to defeat the Midnight Horror, or meet Henry.

28

“You have chosen wisely, defied the traditional narrative and lived; though not in a particularly exciting manner.”

Well… That’s new.

First time playing and I survive before reaching the house? Heheh

Edit: okay, okay, I went to the house.

First *real* playthrough went well! Honestly… I’m not a horror-y person, so the game didn’t really appeal to me at first glance. The subject matter still doesn’t - but that’s just a personal preference. I’d much rather be in a spaceship, or in the Wild West perhaps… *shrugs*

Anywho, despite my lack of enthusiasm, I went and played through the entire game. Why, you ask? Because first, the writing is incredible. That wasn’t a surprise. I knew that even before I clicked the link - it’s an AllenGies game.

And Second! The narrative had me cracking up at times, and really thinking about stuff at others. Needless to say, it kept me entertained.

So nice job! I’m sure it’s hard to write another game of the quality of your last *stunningly awesome* game - Tin Star - but it appears as if you might be doing it again! For that, I certainly commend you.

29

@hahaha01357 -Okay. The door should be more visible now. That is a good thing too since the basement plays a big role in things.

@derekmetaltron - Yeah, I realized while sketching things out on paper that the player could just do the smart thing and just leave. I mean, that is what I’d do. Moreover, I had to include that option or the whole game would feel forced and that is not the feeling I wanted to evoke in a game about choices.

Moreover, I had to assume the player was genre savvy if they chose the obvious solution. The only way to bring that back on track was either to have an entire half of the game set in Hollyhock that would somehow require the player to return to the house or else break the fourth wall. I chose the later.

I had never heard of the Stanley Parable before, but you can be sure I am going to play it fairly soon.

@FortunesFaded -I did want the game to be… experimental in some ways. Giving the player an easy out was one way. Mind you, there are several different ways to end without ever getting to the house. Four, I think. So replay value is at least five. :slight_smile:

I’m glad you liked the writing. It still needs work, but I am striving to improve the prose that covers the structure. It doesn’t help that I don’t generally write horror stories, and so I am going to need many different points of view to make this work. I understand if you bow out, if a story isn’t your thing then it just isn’t. I remember having to read a screenplay that was like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, or Sex and the City (Take your pick), and it just wasn’t engaging to me. I gave what feedback I could, but I doubt it was all that helpful.

The narrative aspect is… well, whenever you do something like a typical horror story character, there you go; narrative points. You can even cash those in during certain situations (for clues or special outcomes) while still retaining the credit for having received them (Two variables at work, one ;current_narrative’ the other ‘max_narrative’). In this way it is a little like the Fate role-playing system, wherein if you yield to your particular idiom in a detrimental way then you receive a fate point that can be used to improve your chance of later success.

So, larger questions: Has anyone finished the game? If so, what were your endings? Did it feel too difficult, too easy, or too confusing?

30

I just finished the game several times. And died in all of them. Henry still seems to pop into my game every so often even though I never actually met him. I know for sure trying to reach into the cage in the attic will make Henry say something. Actually, I was trying very hard to find him but I couldn’t for my life figure out how to do it. The cheats also seem to work only sometimes and the “longer time in the house before sundown” cheat didn’t work for me at all (or didn’t seem to have worked).

Overall though, this game felt more like a puzzle than a horror story. Perhaps a little more description of the atmosphere or some indication of the impending approach of the monster would give the player a better feeling of suspence. I think less but more deadly encounters with the monster will also help.

I have to say though, that for myself, I actually prefer a little more narrative in my games. I think Henry was supposed to provide that narrative but he seems a little bit too difficult to find. Reading about him through little tid bits around the house also takes up valuable time. I think adding something in the plot that requires the player to search through that information will aid in the storytelling.

31

I wonder if adding a friendly NPC or two you can interact with and attempt to keep alive would add to the horror aspect. I guess it’d make it more of a different genre of horror. It’d also probably be a huge pain in the ass to code. @hahaha01357 I agree about it feeling more like a puzzle than a horror story, but I hate games like Myst so maybe that’s just the problem.

32

I keep getting “Narrative very slightly increased.” What does that mean? Is that a trait increase, or just a placeholder for more story?

I like your writing style and the simple stats system. It seems perfect for a horror game.

33

@CitizenShawn From what I understand you get points for doing genre appropriate things. Kind of like how the obscure pencil and paper RPG Slasher Flick awards genre point for acting stupid or getting one of your characters killed off.

34

@AllenGies
To answer your questions -
* Has anyone finished the game? Yes, several times now
* If so, what were your endings? Death and more Death
* Did it feel too difficult, too easy, or too confusing? I wouldnt say too difficult right now because that makes it interesting to me and makes me want to replay. At this point for me It’s more like confusing which could possibly be due to coding problems. Big example of this is Henry. Every time I played he came out of nowhere…minding my own business and all of a sudden I’m on the phone with him. I have yet to experience a playthrough where the game introduces me to him.

There’s something about Henry:
~ I wasn’t introduced or talking to Henry yet so this was all very sudden and confusing:
*The study door slams shut with a solid thump of magnetized security."Despite the magnetics, we aren’t safe here"Henry warns warily through your phone. “The creature has many tricks it can try.”

“Great, just great.”

“No sanctuary then?”

“Tricks? What kind of tricks?”

Grunt in annoyance.

~ Options given don’t match point in story/dialogue:
*“Yes. Fascinating, isn’t it?” Henry says. “It slumbers, all but invisible to the world, when the sun is shining. Even on a cloudy day, it rarely stirs.” Now then, let us descend to the basement and configure the lattice there."

Rush into the front hall.

Grab my phone and talk to Henry. (*BTW I’m already talking to him so why am I grabbing phone?)

Swiftly examine the papers.

Mantle out the window to the front porch.

~ “Don’t bother with the wall. I tried a new ink and found it pitiful,” Henry says. “So I patched things up and moved on.”

Head into the dining room.

Grab my phone and talk to Henry. (*I’m already talking to him so why am I grabbing phone?)

Head through the swinging door.

Head into the front hall.

Examine the wallpaper.

~ You step back down the creaking stairs and return to the front hall.
Get to the parlor.
Get to the study.
Grab my phone and talk to Henry. (*who/what is Henry? This came out of nowhere - had not met or spoken to him)

~ In response to your thoughts, a surge of agony begins to thrum through you. The pain is like having a tooth pulled and the nerve drilled. Your thoughts scramble and you feel the weight of the Shadow Form’s own descend upon you.

Conjure a vision of Henry.(*Who is Henry? In this playthrough I never read any of the letters or anything referencing his name and never spoke to him on phone)

35

I won because I Noped really hard at that house. Game called me boring, but I’m still alive to eat my oalmeal and drink my non-fat milk so…there’s that.

36

FallingCups I just wanted to see my cute friends of hopefully a sex I am attracted to, and not die. Particularly the latter.

37

Okay. It turns out I didn’t reset the moves variable for sundown and this causes a big skip because Henry isn’t introduced and the game shortened by about a third. It should be fixed now.

@hahaha01357 -As above, I forgot to set the moves variable for the start of sundown. That is probably screwing things over pretty hard.

I’ll try to wrinkle out Henry’s sudden appearances. It happens whenever I forgot to add the variable that brings him in. If you could provide a snippet of his dialogue when he does so, even if it is just two uncommon words together, that would be extremely helpful. Thanks.

@Shoelip -Henry was supposed to be that NPC, but his introduction was botched by a failed variable reset as noted above. I think I’ve heard of the RPG Slasher Flick… did it use a Jenga tower? Each time you did something against the genre you had to take a piece or three out, and if the tower fell then everyone died?

@piggleywinks -Good notes. Things get kind of chaotic with the programming and I’ve evidently overlooked things. I really don’t think I’ll ever do a free-roamer like this again. Too much trouble, not enough of a pay off. This will be the only one of its kind for me.

@FallingCups -You lived. Well done. Now, if you were to have paid for the app, I expect you would eventually go into the house… :slight_smile:

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@AllenGies I think that sounds more like “Dread”. Slasher Flick by Spectrum Games has a slightly more complex system where conflicts are resolved by dice rolls based on a set of three primary character skills and applicable character traits that add bonuses or penalties. Each player tends to have a single more skilled Primary character, and one of more secondary characters under their control and gets genre points they can expend to get special bonuses and such. They get those points by having their characters die, or by having them take actions the Director deems particularly genre worthy… like hearing the approaching slasher as “Just the wind” and going back to having drunken premarital sex or something. Actually that would probably have given them more than one. The point of the game isn’t necessarily to “win” or even have one of your characters survive, since mechanically the killer generally can’t even be effectively taken down before they’ve gotten a pretty high body count. It’s obviously meant to be pretty tongue in cheek, and is pretty fun, although I don’t actually know anyone else who has/plays it.

Funny thing is, I don’t even actually like slasher flicks very much. I just find the idea of taking a plot like that and turning it slightly on it’s head really interesting though. I was working on a choice script game where you play a slasher flick victim in a typical slasher flick scenario of a bunch of friends going to a camp to get debauched, and then die in stupid ways, but with the catch that the Player has the choice of whether to act just like a typical slasher character, or act a bit more sensibly. You’d get awarded for acting in genre, but also for keeping as many NPCs as possible alive. A little similar to some aspects of Cabin in the Woods. Of course I’ve never made much progress on the coding side of that game idea.

39

@AllenGies Whatever did you get yourself into?! This sounds like a beast to code.
BTW here are some items for your further review. :-"

~ You raise your eyes back up and regard the study once more. The almost oppressive sunlight lifts from the study. A glance out the window finds the sun beginning to ease behind the bramble touched horizon. The study is still lit up by the setting sun. Indeed, from the way shadows have barely begun to trace the interior, it will stay illuminated nearly to the last. The almost oppressive sunlight lifts from the study. A glance out the window finds the sun has begun to dip down behind the bramble filled horizon. As you watch, the shadows of night follow.

Race out the door to the front hall.

Scurry out the window to the front porch.

Look amongst the books for something to read about how to open a safe. (*Had already opened it but choice stayed)

Take a look in the safe again.

~ From atop the house comes a terrible rattle and clank as a waterfall of things falls down the stove-pipe with a myriad of clanks. The world tilts and your vision *blurts*. Hackles rise on your neck. You turn and look up as tendrils of darkness swarm off of the roof and carry down with it a hundred and more bleached white bones. Before your very eyes those trice themselves together into the mocking visage of an ever laughing skeleton whose bony hands and limbs shift with every pull of ebony strings as it lands between you and the front door. (*I was upstairs though, not near front door.)

~ Though you speak the words, only silence leaves your lips.

“A maze? I’m in a maze? Wasn’t the house enough?” (*this option remains even after choosing it)

~ You plunge toward the seething surface and the harsh flames envelope you utterly. Then the burning retreats and you find yourself before a dozen or so pinpricks of light. As you watch, one vanishes from sight. (*Confusion begins here - what begins to form the figure?
The pinpricks of light?) They form a figure of lean proportions, a graceful tangle of limbs that unfurls before you. When it looks up, its features are a mirror to your own. All except the eyes which remain twin pools of liquid ebony. “Hello,” the creature offers over in your own tones.

~ ::I am in you,:: it notes. ::Do you not remember?::

::Why are we here?:: (*option remains even after choosing)

~ I was upstairs and had just figured out the combo to the big iron door. All of a sudden I am downstairs in the kitchen but there is no mention of me running or getting around the monster:
* The midnight ribbons suddenly slash against your forearm. For an instant all you can do is watch the blood spill out, but then the pain pours forth and you jerk back then lurch away from the creature. (Health decreased) When your sprint is over, you find yourself back in the kitchen, watching the twin doors swing shut.

Hurry outside to the back of the house.

Head through the swinging door.

Head down into the basement. (*Was already done earlier in game but it comes up again)

Read the index card. (*Was already done earlier in game but it comes up again)

Close the pipe-damper. (*Was already done earlier in game but it comes up again)

Snuff out the fire.

Open a cabinet door. (*Was already done earlier in game but it comes up again)

~ The wallpaper comes away in whole sections and removes a whole section of the ‘It hunts at night’ reminders.

Listen in dread.(*listen to what? There was no description here of a sound)

~ You step out into the main hall and leave the narrow corridor behind. A wail of wood arises from the stairs. You look up to find the black-string puppet, clad in its usual writhing midnight shroud. It raises those bony hands your direction as it descends.

Activate the magnetic seal on the door the puppet came through. (*What door? What magnetic seal? This was not yet discussed or researched in this particular playthrough)

~ You storm up the creaky stairs once again and find yourself on the landing.

Head through the iron plated door.

Step over to the puzzle door and continue trying to gain entry.(* I had already figured this out the first time I was upstairs but then it comes up again)

~ You return your attention back to the basement and the thing that keeps groping for you.

Head back up to the kitchen.

Investigate the lattice of iron. (*Was already done but choice remains)

~ You hurriedly scramble back up the stairs ahead of the foul creature and lurch back into the kitchen. Lit by a soft green glow, the kitchen is a contrast of white on black, a checkerboard from ice-box to oven. The rear door has been splashed with luminescent ink to spell out the words ‘close the bolts’. The door to the basement has a similar bold lettering ‘never open at night’. Glass shatters at the back of the house. Uneven footfalls follow.

Hurry outside to the back of the house.

Head through the swinging door.

Head down into the basement.

Read the index card. (*Was already done but choice remains)

Close the pipe-damper. (*Was already done but choice remains)

Snuff out the fire.

Open a cabinet door. (*Was already done but choice remains)

~ You slip around then twist and turn to keep from its further grasp. Soon enough, the thing is all tangled up and when it tries to walk toward you, its bones don’t co-operate.

Head inside the house

Glance at the garden. (*Was already done @ beginning of game)

Head around to the front of the house.

Climb up the drain spout to the second story window.

Examine the fallen timbers that lie away from the house. (*Was already done @ beginning of game but choice comes up again)

~ You pull the ice-pail out and close the ice-box back up. The fire in the stove burns vigorously but thankfully with little smoke thanks to the open draft of the damper. (*But I had closed it first thing before starting the fire)

Head outside to the back of the house.

Head through the swinging doors.

Step over to the thick door beside the ice-box. It looks like it leads downstairs.

Read the index card. (*Was already done but choice remains)

Open the pipe-damper back up.

~ Shaky black letters adorn a crisp white card and read ‘Buy more batteries’. The darkness thickens as the sunlight slowly fades. You turn back toward the kitchen to find that the sun is beginning to dip down and shadows advance in its wake. The dregs of sunlight spill faintly through the door and barely illuminates a narrow set of stairs heading down. Farther in you can see only darkness; the kind of midnight black found only in caves. A solitary index card lies beside a little shelf just inside. (*card Was already read) From somewhere down below you hear a soft scratch, as if a rat were clawing at stone.(*repeat dialogue begins now) The darkness ahead thickens as the sunlight slowly fades. You turn back toward the kitchen to find that the sun has begun to dip down and leaves shadows in its wake.

Return to the kitchen.

Read the index card. (*Was already done but choice remains)

Consider how best to strike up a light.

Grope your way down the stairs into the dark basement.

40

@AllenGies
Sorry about two posts - couldn’t fit it all in one. I hope these all help and I will keep up with testing.

Grammar/wording issues:
~ Finally, there is the notation over one hexagonal lattice structure entitled ‘This won’t kill it. Why not?’ You note a mathematical *errors* involved in the formula, but one fixed by simple algebra.

~ But that baritone soon ceases *and stone* somehow feels less weighty than before.

~ The door is a serious piece of machining. Steel plates, iron edging and a magnetized frame surrounding it. Unlike the door to the workshop, *only bolt can be seen This* shifts back to reveal a singular dark key-hole.

~ The writing on one *side the card* is bold, black, and edged by glowing green; ‘Never enter at night!’. The other side reads ‘Always lock up afterward’.

~ Each *can shifted* to one of those three positions and certainly there must be some combination of that which will open this portal.

~ You rapidly try about a hundred and fifty different combinations. Long moments pass. At last the heavy door *at* swings open.

~ Strangely, there isn’t a hint of dust in this room. Nor is there any on a short flight of stairs that leads *to up towards* a door even heavier than the one you just passed through;

~ A strange array of iron rebars and steel girders makes an industrial spider’s web *out of the an* otherwise concrete slab.

~ The interior is choked with *pieces of small pieces* of wood and slightly larger branches. One in particular seems fairly stout.

~ There is a place beyond the pain. A hole into which you tumble without being able to so much as see, let alone touch, the sides. The silence is deafening. Not even your breath *can heard* nor your heart felt.

~ Suddenly, that pale green fills your sight as you flip end over end and fall onto thick, dry grass. A deep breath fills you with all the heralds of spring and *it every* blade is a soft caress.

~ Warm, golden light shines forth from a sphere set atop a small pedestal at the center of the maze. Around the sphere lies slim *iron barns of iron*.

~ The golden light flickers once more and does not return. Darkness returns *and and* you find yourself before those pinpricks of light. As you watch, one vanishes from sight.

~ The harsh static gives *s* sudden roar and in the blink of an eye, you find yourself floating in the void before those pinpricks of light.

~ As the chocolate shell aspect aligns, you can feel the pressure increasing. Your ears keep popping *ever* time you work your jaw.

~ “Absolutely. It may take a while mind you, as the degaussing equipment *is has* certain practical requirements,” Henry explains. “But we shall have you free of here eventually, assuming you survive, of course.”

~ You *you* hurry back down the narrow corridor.

~ A small tome near the back reads ‘A Guide for Locksmiths’. Amongst its pages are the surprisingly basic techniques *could have used* to open the safe.

~ It stares at *your* with those dark, liquid eyes. A sharp pain flares in your forehead, an ache that rises toward agony until something pops and everything flows to the back.