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Old 12-13-2010, 09:38 AM   #21
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::GAMEDEV UPDATE::

I spent the weekend ripping out huge chunks of code that was placed to manage memory, but has ended up just being annoying. Ill be relooking at the memory management systems a little in the future.

Something that may be of interest to some people is a piece of sound design from the game. Im trying to make the game sound 'empty' and kinda freaky, so Im thinking of dropping a musical soundtrack, and just building up the soundtrack of the game with ambient sounds and noises.
This is a collection of the sounds from the Nursery sequence, with some other interface sounds layered over it. Just trying to get a feel for how layered to make the sounds, how loud the ambient sound will be, and to see if it will actually work. Tell me what you think? Freaky? Or just kinda stupid?

http://vimeo.com/17514306
I like it, but you might wanna dam the music casket volume so it sounds like it's playing in the background, not right beside you (in case it's an ambient soundtrack).

Also, I watched some of your other videos on vimeo: very impressive. The look of some locations and characters reminds me of Dead Space, is that what you're going for?
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Old 12-14-2010, 12:06 AM   #22
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I like it, but you might wanna dam the music casket volume so it sounds like it's playing in the background, not right beside you (in case it's an ambient soundtrack).

Also, I watched some of your other videos on vimeo: very impressive. The look of some locations and characters reminds me of Dead Space, is that what you're going for?
I'm looking at ways to have the sound be reactive, and actually get louder/softer depending on where the character stands, but the ambiance will definitely be more....ambient.

The main characters initial salvage suit was VERY Dead-Spacey (although it was completely unintentional, and I only noticed after I had done the sprites. ), but the new one is more based on a deep sea diving suit. Im going to be doing a redesign on it tho, refining it a little, and making it more unique.
While I'm not directly referencing Dead Space, I think that Im drawing inspiration from the same sources as that game. My more direct influences are the Aliens movies, and Event Horizon-plus a few other adventure games (The Dig, 7 days a skeptic, ). Sunshine, Pandorum, Lost In Space..hell, basically every movie/game/tv series/comic book with Sci Fi Ghost ships. The story is almost a conspiracy mystery, wrapped in a sci-fi setting.
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Old 12-19-2010, 08:40 AM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pyke View Post
::GAMEDEV UPDATE::

I spent the weekend ripping out huge chunks of code that was placed to manage memory, but has ended up just being annoying. Ill be relooking at the memory management systems a little in the future.

Something that may be of interest to some people is a piece of sound design from the game. Im trying to make the game sound 'empty' and kinda freaky, so Im thinking of dropping a musical soundtrack, and just building up the soundtrack of the game with ambient sounds and noises.
This is a collection of the sounds from the Nursery sequence, with some other interface sounds layered over it. Just trying to get a feel for how layered to make the sounds, how loud the ambient sound will be, and to see if it will actually work. Tell me what you think? Freaky? Or just kinda stupid?

http://vimeo.com/17514306
I just had to login and comment. Your project looks phenomenal, and I really hope you end up finishing it!

Sound-wise, I like that sample track on vimeo - it really does come across as quite eery and conveys a sense of the lonely vastness of space. I wonder if, instead of dumping music entirely, you could make use of it at opportune moments -to help build tension at appropriate times, and perhaps when one comes across a particularly impressive or interesting region on the ship.
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Old 12-21-2010, 04:28 AM   #24
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Hey guys,

Just a quick update. I am still hard at work on the game! Just nothing interesting visually to show you guys.
Im working on putting up a development blog, so stay tuned for the website address. The blog will have quite a few more screenshots, concept art, and some nice behind the scenes stuff.
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Old 12-21-2010, 04:35 AM   #25
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Spybreaka,

Thanks for taking the time to log in! I read a really interesting interview with the guys who made DEADSPACE, and their views on the music in the game. They didn't want a traditional soundtrack, for the same reasons that I've encountered...its very difficult to 'build tension' when a player can spend hours in a single spot...so the music has to be dynamic...well, as dynamic as possible!
They fixed this by using 'fear emitters', which were spheres of influence that would swell up certain music the closer you got to them. Im looking at something similar(ish) to that, and will definitely have music stings for certain parts.
Watching INCEPTION last night really cemented the importance of music to me. The last act of that film is almost entirely score-and it builds up the emotion in a way that just sound could never do. I think that the 'ambiance only' was me trying to be to clever for my own good!
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Old 12-21-2010, 04:36 AM   #26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pyke View Post
Hey guys,

Just a quick update. I am still hard at work on the game! Just nothing interesting visually to show you guys.
Im working on putting up a development blog, so stay tuned for the website address. The blog will have quite a few more screenshots, concept art, and some nice behind the scenes stuff.
Have you thought about pitching Stasis to a publisher? What we've seen so far certainly looks well above average, and I'm not talking about the indie average here.
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Old 12-22-2010, 05:05 AM   #27
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Right now, the game is small enough, and the market niche enough that I'm confident I can go the 'self publishing' route. Developing with a publisher would suddenly introduce deadlines, story changes, and a responsibility to fulfill someone else's vision for the game.

Keeping independent really has more pro's than con's with a project like this-and with digital distribution here, there really is no need to go through a publishers marketing and distribution teams.
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Old 12-22-2010, 05:39 PM   #28
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I've gotta say, the indie Adventure scene fascinates me. This especially, is one of the most ambitious I've seen to date. The story sounds intriguing, the screenshots look PHENOMENAL man, seriously...I'm incredibly impressed by what you've shown so far, and I won't lie; I've been waiting a long time for the isometric view to come back to gaming. I don't know much about the tech you're using, but saw you mentioned sprites -- looks fantastic, and I would love to see more games do it, especially in the adventure scene.

Off-topic on your game but I would do just about anything for a murder-mystery-private-detective-dark-Noir game with a camera angle and graphics as good as this. Keep up the great work, I seriously want to be playing this someday. I'm bookmarking this topic.

Also, you should look into Steam support, they usually like to work with Indie folks, and it's a perfect storefront and if intriguing enough could sell quite well.

**I too was going to suggest researching what the sound designers did for Dead Space, glad you managed to find some stuff. It's a great game to take inspiration from.

One more addition, if you ever need any kind of bug testing help, or just want someone to play it I would love to help it. I gotta say I just read through the whole thread and the videos of Vimeo have me beyond excited.

***I just thought of something that might help you get a decent idea for your approach to the music/ambient sound. There is this sound designer/musician named Lustmord, pretty obscure and not quite that known, but let me suggest taking a listen to some of his work. A lot of it has that eery, sound-in-space, hellish sound and would be a great inspiration I think.

Alright, I'm done adding my two cents, really really can't wait to read/see more man, keep it up!

Last edited by donatelli; 12-22-2010 at 05:57 PM.
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Old 12-23-2010, 02:06 PM   #29
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donatelli, thanks so much for taking the time to view the screens, and reply here.
I also have a love for isometric graphics, and have always wanted to be involved in a game that went back this style of 2D graphics. I'm just happy that software developers have created engines like Visionaire that give artists and laymen the tools to create something like this!

Ill keep the murder-mystery-noir idea down for my next game. Although I really have a soft spot for 'Wasteland Adventuring' in the vein of Fallout! Perhaps a combination could be quite fun....but let me not get ahead of myself!

Once the game is done, ill take a look at any distribution networks I can. As long as I can stay independent!

While playtesting is a while off, ill keep you in mind for that time.

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of Lustmord! Really enjoying some of their stuff!
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Old 12-23-2010, 02:07 PM   #30
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::GAMEDEV UPDATE::

STASIS has a website! Ill be uploading some cool blog things, and new screens in the coming days. Ill still keep this thread updated, but the website will have the latest stuff.

http://www.stasisgame.com/
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Old 12-23-2010, 02:16 PM   #31
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Hello Pyke

Really like the look of your game. Please forgive me if this has already been mentioned but I couldn't find it...is this a point & click interface or keyboard controlled.
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Old 12-23-2010, 02:23 PM   #32
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Hey Grey,

Its point and click. As of now, there are no keyboard commands.
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Old 12-23-2010, 02:45 PM   #33
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Excellent!
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Old 12-23-2010, 09:38 PM   #34
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Hey Pyke, glad to hear you decided to keep music in the game. The fear emitter idea sounds like a great way to implement it. It's funny that you mention Inception; I was actually thinking about that film while writing my last post. Music really is an integral part of story-telling in both games and films.

Similar to donatelli - I'd love to help out as a tester if/when you find you're in need of them. And do continue bouncing ideas around in here too, it's great to be able to provide some input in this way.

All the best!

-JJ

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pyke View Post
Spybreaka,

Thanks for taking the time to log in! I read a really interesting interview with the guys who made DEADSPACE, and their views on the music in the game. They didn't want a traditional soundtrack, for the same reasons that I've encountered...its very difficult to 'build tension' when a player can spend hours in a single spot...so the music has to be dynamic...well, as dynamic as possible!
They fixed this by using 'fear emitters', which were spheres of influence that would swell up certain music the closer you got to them. Im looking at something similar(ish) to that, and will definitely have music stings for certain parts.
Watching INCEPTION last night really cemented the importance of music to me. The last act of that film is almost entirely score-and it builds up the emotion in a way that just sound could never do. I think that the 'ambiance only' was me trying to be to clever for my own good!
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Old 12-24-2010, 03:36 PM   #35
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Thanks for the offer Spybreaka. While I'm still VERY far off from playtesting, its pretty cool to know that there are some people out there who will give their free time to help me out!

If anyone wants to take a look at how the scenes are created, Im doing a series of 'tutorials' at the website that shows how I put everything together.

http://www.stasisgame.com/blog/

Upcoming posts will focus on the animation, sound, music, and actual engine coding. Ill also be finishing up the 'series' with a video of that level, so you guys can see how it all looks in action!
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Old 12-24-2010, 05:05 PM   #36
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Thanks for the link. I'm quite enjoying the two articles you posted on scene construction. Good read. Bookmarked.
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Old 12-25-2010, 03:18 PM   #37
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Thanks Monolith! Ill be updating as often as I can, so keep coming back. 3rd part in that series is up.

Heres a video of the game 'in action'. Please excuse the sluggish nature of the movement, the cam software makes everything grind to a halt!

http://vimeo.com/18178146
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Old 12-25-2010, 04:32 PM   #38
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It looks amazing! I'll definitely check periodically to see the development of the project

I'm loving the references...

"Building Better Worlds"? Hmmm where have I heard that one before...?

"Welcome to the Groomlake Research Facility" that has a familiar ring to it too... I'm not quite sure, but just to be on the safe side I'll keep my limbs inside the train at all times...

And the name "groomlake" itself is interesting on its own... will the ship have a Hangar 18?
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Old 12-25-2010, 10:53 PM   #39
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Im glad all of the little references aren't going unnoticed! Hell, I may just have a crowbar lying around for good measure...

And as for Hangar 18....maybe it will....
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Old 12-26-2010, 07:57 AM   #40
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Hey Pyke, I've just had the chance to watch that vimeo short of yours. It's looking fantastic, I must say. Can't wait to see what else you have in store for us. I also posted a comment (as JJ) on your blog regarding that first scene..

The sound effects are great, and I liked the humorous touch of having the protagonist talk back to the speaker announcement. You'd have to have take the piss now and then to save yourself from going mad in deep space.

The engine also looks very polished for an alpha build - well done!

It's a rather cool coincidence that you started this thread shortly after I had a small sci-fi horror binge. I recently watched Event Horizon, Pandorum, Alien Resurrection and Dante 01. I think you capture the atmosphere of deep space horror quite well. Your style also reminds me of an old game series - Syndicate. Don't know if you ever played it, but it was set in a dystopian future, was extremely violent, and a lot of fun :p

Edit: Also, I'm probably going to slap myself, but what are "Building better worlds", and "groomlake" references to?
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