[VXA] Nightmare - GIAW 9

Now that I have your attention~


This here is the full, completed version of my GIAW 9 entry: Nightmare. It is the spiritual successor to one of my earliest game projects called Shadows, combining elements of a puzzle solver and a psychological horror game and making this perhaps my first successfully completed experimentation with the idea of a surreal "dream versus reality" setting. My aim with this game is twofold: to strike a sense of unease into the player, unnerving them if not outright causing them to jump, and to allow the player to try to unravel the strange story behind the game for themselves.

Nightmare was fortunate enough to snag the first place spot in the contest, and I've been busy adding to it and improving on it since then so that even the GIAW judges will enjoy going through the game once more. The puzzles range from being simple "find this item, use this item here", to being gruesome challenges that really make you stop and think. It's only about 40 minutes to an hour long, but every minute is jam packed with heart-pounding excitement and scares around every corner. Considering this was my first time using VXA, I'm really happy with how it came out. I put a lot of heart and spirit into making this, so I hope you enjoy it!

DOWNLOAD HERE

Notes and Tips:

• Choose wisely! There are three difficulties to the game: Timid (Easy Mode), Normal, and Brave (Hard Mode). Timid Mode gives the simplest forms of all of the puzzles while providing many hints, and slows the shadow down and making her appear less often. The best ending is easiest to acquire in this mode. The Normal Mode is the average playthrough, neither too difficult or too simple. It has the shadow at normal speeds and appearance rates, the original contest versions of the puzzles with little to no hints, and a slightly more difficult path to find the best ending. Brave Mode, however, ups the stakes considerably by providing more complicated versions of some of the puzzles, increasing the shadow's appearance rate, having the requirements for the best ending better hidden, and giving you a limited number of continues while disabling save files. Be sure to take on the difficulty best suited for you!
• Explore! As you may have guessed, there are two endings to the story based upon your actions in the game, one good ending and one bad ending. Getting one ending over the other can dramatically change the entire interpretation of the game, so pay close attention! It's not difficult to find the good one if you take your time a bit, examine the environment around you and follow every lead you're given. Even if you get the bad ending though, don't worry; there'll be hints provided in game for what may help you on the right path.
• Run! Holding down the shift key while moving will allow you to sprint and give you a decent speed boost. It's useful for making a quick getaway or dashing past dangers. But keep in mind that you are only human; running for too long will cause you to get winded and need to slow down again to catch your breath, and the last thing you need is to slow down right when there's something behind you...
• Listen! Can you hear the sound of your own beating heart? It means that the shadow is nearby, slowly closing in on you! You may not always be able to see her, but you can always listen carefully to determine if she's close by or not. So when you hear the sound of a heart, stop and look around to see where she's coming from before making a run for it!
• Think fast! The shadow will pursue you relentlessly and often block your path forward, but if you're smart there are ways to get around her. Try luring her to one side of the hall or to where you have more space before sprinting around her, or if the hall is too narrow you can try to duck into a nearby room until she's gone. Be careful though, she might be waiting for you when you re-emerge from the room and can be faster than she looks at times!
• Check your inventory! Every time you pick up an item or a key, pause for a moment to examine it in your inventory so that you can have a better idea of where to go next or how to use the item. Oftentimes the item's name alone will be enough for you to figure out what to do with the item.
• Use your map! After acquiring a map of the hotel, pull it up now and then to get an idea of the hotel's layout and where you're going. There won't be any direct "YOU ARE HERE" indicators, but it's usually not too difficult to discern where you on the map based on your surroundings. Just pay close attention and bring the map up when you need to know where a certain room is or what puzzle is where and what doors you've already tried.

If you get hopelessly stuck, you are more than welcome to ask for hints or help in this thread as long as you use spoilers for anything story related. And if you really enjoy playing this game, you can always check out some of my other projects too, such as the original Shadows or the new remake of Midnight. ^^

Scary ahhhhh ;o;

Also, no wonder this won 1st place looks downright awesome

This is scaring the shit out of me

Just playing through this. Taking my time with it though whilst making notes on it.

I did find a small issues/bugs, and as I find more I'll let you know about them. I'll give you actual feedback when I finish it.

#1: Entering the Gift Shop from the North Door puts you in the position between the mirror and the door you entered. I did this three times to make sure I wasn't just seeing things - what with this game flashing faces at me occasionally.

Also in the box puzzle if you try pushing the small box against the lower-left-hand corner (which I shouldn't be doing anyway ), the game freezes

Also in the box puzzle if you try pushing the small box against the lower-left-hand corner (which I shouldn't be doing anyway ), the game freezes

I even read this before I did it, but yeh, it freezes here. Good thing I save often.

Gift shop is mercifully an easy fix, I'm not sure how that one got missed after shifting the map. Even the judges and my playtester never commented on it. x.x

Looking into the box puzzle freezing, it sounds like a move route isn't being completed when it's set to check first if the space you're moving to is passable or not. Did it freeze for you moving it anywhere else, like against the pillars?

I only had it happen when trying to push it from it's start position, into the outer wall. I also tried this against other walls and couldn't get it to crash there.

I haven't come across any other things outside of these two issues, but I wasn't particularly trying to bug test it.

I think I'm gonna put off working a bit on my game this morning and give this a shot but the first time that it actually makes me jump, I may have to quit for a bit lol.  I'm extra jumpy today for some reason...I woke up this morning and was walking to the restroom and jumped when I saw my boxes out of the corner of my eye thinking I saw a face lol. 

It definitely has a good number of cases where jump moments are pushed onto you. It usually in places where you should expect them, but for some reason you don't.

Sounds like you scare/jump as easily as I do at times, especially for things that are in the corner of your eye.

It definitely has a good number of cases where jump moments are pushed onto you. It usually in places where you should expect them, but for some reason you don't.

Sounds like you scare/jump as easily as I do at times, especially for things that are in the corner of your eye.

Typically it is only during times of very little sleep.  I stayed up late last night re-working my GIAW entry so I could release it and then submitted a profile of it on RMN and changed the CSS on that page so I was up doing a lot of work...and then my sister woke me up this morning crying about wanting pancakes and not getting what she wanted lol.  I'm extremely tired right now lol.

Typically, I can play through survival horror games without getting too freaked out (except Kuon...That game is fucking scary no matter how you look at it) but with my current state of mind, even a 2-dimensional game will freak me out lol

It certainly did for the judges.


Anyways, found what I think was the problem. My event asks the game to check if the space where you're pushing to is passable or not, and for some reason it was returning positive because of the annoying fact that you can walk on the ceiling tiles if you happen to be on top of them. Luckily, it's easy enough to put something over top of them to make them TRUE impassible tiles, solving the annoying issue.

Reuploading in a sec. with V. 1.01, fixing the box puzzle glitch, the giftshop door glitch, and some minor tileset stuff where you could walk on a wall in certain spots.


Edit: There, updated. New link: http://www.sendspace.com/file/9xwovg

I've been busy adding to it and improving on it since then so that even the GIAW judges will enjoy going through the game once more.

If by 'enjoying' you mean that I'll piss myself instead of holding my bladder like last time, then I'm afraid I'm gonna have to give this a miss ;_;


But good job on winning the contest

Boo. :3

Well...I gotta say that I'm happy that face wasn't one of the faces I originally expected to pop out at me.

: O scariest RM game i've ever played.

If by 'enjoying' you mean that I'll piss myself instead of holding my bladder like last time, then I'm afraid I'm gonna have to give this a miss ;_;

I feel your pain, D&P3. I'm assuming you are like me and don't like horror games?

Either way I don't like being afraid, otherwise I would play this. (Sometimes its hard enough for me to get to sleep as it is).

Downloading, busy weekend ahead, but I am definitely going to give this some play time =o And then you can come and cuddle me to settle my nerves Zylos

1:15. The house is dark and quiet, and I decide this is a good time to try this game.


haha no

I'm going to bed before I have a heart attack >_<

1:15. The house is dark and quiet, and I decide this is a good time to try this game.


haha no

I'm going to bed before I have a heart attack >_<

I was playing it during the day and got freaked out a little.  The thing I notice about this game, though is that it's not the scares that scare me...it's the fact that there is a potentially harmful spirit walking toward me at times and I'm trying to do my best to avoid it...not to mention the atmosphere.  I mean, the scares are there, don't get me wrong, but what keeps me on edge is totally the atmosphere. 

That song playing on the radio at the beginning was a really nice touch.  I'm actually quite interested in finding out how you did some of the stuff that you did because it is all very cool.

Which stuff? Some was simple, others were a little more complicated.

Which stuff? Some was simple, others were a little more complicated.

I'll get you a list once I finish playing.   If any of it is picture/audio trickery I will be amazed because a lot of that was too smooth XD

Version 1.02 is almost done. Number of small stuff that add to a larger picture, like an improved player map to keep track of where you are and what you've done.

Edit: Tis almost ready. Sent to a tester to give one last go through.

And self-bump for version 1.03, adding in some bigger new features and a few fixes. Still waiting on one tester, but my other testers have gone through and given me the thumbs up for it.


The new stuff is as follows:

• Multiple Difficulties - Timid, Normal, and Brave. The Timid mode slows the shadow down and makes her appear less often, while offering the simplest forms of the puzzles and providing plenty of hints for each one. It provides the easiest path for the good ending, requiring only one missable item. The Normal mode has the shadow at normal speed and mostly the same puzzles as was in the original version, but it lacks the outright hints that the easy mode offers. It also offers a slightly more challenging path for acquiring the good ending, requiring three separate items found throughout the hotel, but it's still relatively simple if you take your time and explore since only one of the items is missable. The Brave mode has the shadow appear more frequently, has slightly more complicated versions of some of the puzzles with zero hints or forgiveness, and worst of all, completely disables saving while allowing you only a limited number of continues to get through the game with. The good ending is a bit more challenging to acquire than normal mode, requiring you to look just a little harder for the three necessary items and making two of them missable. The general story and flow of the game is the same no matter which difficulty setting you choose, so be sure to pick one that you feel is best suited for your level.
  
  
• Upgraded Map System - Instead of being just static, the map will now provide some useful information for you as you progress through the game. It'll highlight which room you're in to help you figure out where you are, note where you've found various keys with checkmarks, show you where some of the core puzzles are, and mark down each locked door that you've tried. Imagine a cross between the map system of Resident Evil and Silent Hill and you've got what this new map system looks like.
  
  
• New Spawn Locations - There's now a percent chance for where the shadow will appear on the map, depending on which difficulty you're on. It'll either randomly spawn in one of several select locations, spawn right outside the last door you entered if you were close enough to it when you ducked into the room, or else not show up at all. This means you'll have to be more careful when moving about; you might be very lucky and not come across her at all, or you might be very unlucky and find that she's waiting for you right outside of the door...
  
  
• Various Fixes and Overhauls - Several puzzles have been changed to reflect their new difficulties, the box puzzle has been redone to be less frustrating while still challenging enough, some tileset pieces have been fixed up a bit so that you're not walking on walls in the wrong places (oops), a few new rooms have been added depending on your difficulty level, and minor tweaks to fix a few things that felt out of place. Some are big things, others are tiny.

I think that's about it. Have fun, if you're brave enough to play it. :3

I would really love to know how you did the updated map system.  Would you mind if I picked your brain on that?  I'm still trying to learn different ways for doing it and my current map system is nice and all but it could use some added functionality and it still slightly suffers from the static image syndrome. 

I'm gonna give this a shot tonight probably after I've officially creeped myself out enough with watching MTV's Fear and was considering doing a let's play of it if that's okay with you?

Well, the original map system was just a common event that would pull up the map image whenever called upon. The new version required way too many images at once though, so I made a mini-script for it that does the same function but with an array of sprites. It draws up the basic map from the original, places a highlight over your current room based on map_id, and manually places down each notation after checking a long list of switches. Was simple enough but tedious due to the time it took to do each one manually. Still, the end effect was worth it.

And by all means, haha. I've been dying to hear someone have an "Oh shit!" moment playing through it. XD

Well, the original map system was just a common event that would pull up the map image whenever called upon. The new version required way too many images at once though, so I made a mini-script for it that does the same function but with an array of sprites. It draws up the basic map from the original, places a highlight over your current room based on map_id, and manually places down each notation after checking a long list of switches. Was simple enough but tedious due to the time it took to do each one manually. Still, the end effect was worth it.

And by all means, haha. I've been dying to hear someone have an "Oh shit!" moment playing through it. XD

Oh wow that sounds much simpler than it originally sounded.  I like that. 

And yeah, I will probably be saying "Oh shit" a few times if tonight is anything like my evening of watching horror movies...I walked out of my room at about 11 in the dark and saw my own shadow and freaked the hell out >.<

I've got an overactive imagination.

Haha. Just pass me a link if you actually do so, that'd be awesome. V1.03 has a few more scares/surprises than before, so hopefully it'll be an amusing video.

Hello!
I love your game but I would like to know how to use the map of places.

The... map of places? Do you mean the player's Hotel Map with the markings, or the actual VXA mapping?

I had a short playthrough.

Without going into too much detail (I'm too embarrassed to say it ), I think you deserved to win the Game In A Week contest.

Too embarrassed? It scared you, didn't it?

Yes... Yes it did :'(

Spoiler for:

Not the only thing it did either

Updated hopefully one last time to 1.04 for a minor bug fix. There was a rare glitch occurrence that the shadow would be closing in on the player immediately after exiting from an elevator if the odds were against the player, thus giving the player not enough time to even move before being caught. I thought I had fixed all instances of this in 1.03, but had forgotten to apply the fix to the elevators as well. 1.04 fixes this. x.x

Download for Version 1.04

I gotta say one thing, at least most of you guys are bright enough to figure out what's what in the game and not just wander around aimlessly for hours. On another forum, almost literally every other post in the project thread is me having to help someone figure out how to solve a puzzle because they're lost or don't know how to solve it themselves. Seriously, someone was stumped at the TV puzzle because they only had the four-digit access code and were trying to fit it into the three-digit channel selection, and for others I was sometimes having to help out different people for the same puzzle simply because they didn't realize I had already offered some hints for it. x.x

In other words: yay, we're smart!

I gotta say one thing, at least most of you guys are bright enough to figure out what's what in the game and not just wander around aimlessly for hours. On another forum, almost literally every other post in the project thread is me having to help someone figure out how to solve a puzzle because they're lost or don't know how to solve it themselves. Seriously, someone was stumped at the TV puzzle because they only had the four-digit access code and were trying to fit it into the three-digit channel selection, and for others I was sometimes having to help out different people for the same puzzle simply because they didn't realize I had already offered some hints for it. x.x

That's a little concerning. I know I had an issue on one puzzle, but with hindsight I actually see where the clue was - it just went completely over my head at the time. But this sounds like people not paying attention to things carefully. Now that I've gone through the game several times, I have to say there's clues and hints everywhere. Yes, they may be somewhat subtle at times, but they are there and even without existing knowledge, there are means of logical guesswork.

I'd like to hope there's just an age thing involved here, but somehow I feel like I know that's not the case.

I thought everything was rather straight-forward, though I did play on timid because....well, I'm timid. 
I don't know if that has anything to do with puzzle difficulty or not.

I did walk down the ending path for an incredibly long time before I realized that I was supposed to do something, but that's just derping on my part.

Loved the story, even though I was rather scared to do things.

Spoiler for:

It took me a good few minutes to work up the courage to open the fridge....and then I realized it didn't open. You push it. /durrrhurrr

I gotta say one thing, at least most of you guys are bright enough to figure out what's what in the game and not just wander around aimlessly for hours. On another forum, almost literally every other post in the project thread is me having to help someone figure out how to solve a puzzle because they're lost or don't know how to solve it themselves. Seriously, someone was stumped at the TV puzzle because they only had the four-digit access code and were trying to fit it into the three-digit channel selection, and for others I was sometimes having to help out different people for the same puzzle simply because they didn't realize I had already offered some hints for it. x.x

That's a little concerning. I know I had an issue on one puzzle, but with hindsight I actually see where the clue was - it just went completely over my head at the time. But this sounds like people not paying attention to things carefully. Now that I've gone through the game several times, I have to say there's clues and hints everywhere. Yes, they may be somewhat subtle at times, but they are there and even without existing knowledge, there are means of logical guesswork.

I'd like to hope there's just an age thing involved here, but somehow I feel like I know that's not the case.

I hope I'm not being offensive to anyone (or at least to anyone any of us know), but I think it's more just an age / intelligence thing here. Some of the puzzles did make you stop and think, yes, but some of the things that had people stumped... well, really shouldn't have stumped them, especially since I had already offered hints and solutions right there in the thread for some of the things that confused them. At the very least they should have tried an easier difficulty if they were struggling to figure out the puzzles, and if they WERE on the easiest difficulty, then I really don't know what to do. x.x


Also for Clopin/Acolyte: Boo.

The only puzzle I actually had some trouble on was the code you get from how many legs are on the creatures.

It took me a good while to figure out what the puzzle was.

The only puzzle I actually had some trouble on was the code you get from how many legs are on the creatures.

It took me a good while to figure out what the puzzle was.

That one took a while just because I kept counting the snake incorrectly. So the logic was escaping me for quite a while on that one. Other than that, all of the puzzles seemed... overall, pretty easy, actually.

The only puzzle I actually had some trouble on was the code you get from how many legs are on the creatures.

It took me a good while to figure out what the puzzle was.

I still have yet to play it all the way through.  Too creepy lol.  I haven't seen this puzzle but from the sound of it, was it inspired by a similar puzzle from the original Silent hill?  That puzzle took me years to finish simply because after a few days of trying to figure out what the deal was, I gave up and came back when I was older to finish the game lol

Actually, it's based on something far simpler: the Sphinx's riddle.

Actually, it's based on something far simpler: the Sphinx's riddle.

Ah gotcha.  I really need to get back to it lol. 

I haven't seen this puzzle but from the sound of it, was it inspired by a similar puzzle from the original Silent hill?

It is pretty similar, actually... but a lot easier than the Zodiac puzzle. That thing had me stumped for a while, too, back in the day.

Been two months now since the end of the GIAW, so figured I'll upload the entirety of the unencrypted project like I've done with my other finished projects. Lets people indulge their curiosity for how I did something or other and gives novices (or maybe intermediates if I'm deluding myself) an example project that they can explore and learn mechanics from.

Unencrypted Version Download

Only two things that I always ask are, of course, that you don't try to steal credit for something you didn't make (you'd look like a dumbass if you did and were caught) or go in to try and "borrow" any of the resources themselves. Simple matters of respect and courtesy. More likely than not, you won't be able to accurately determine which resources are original, which I made myself, which have been edited specifically to fit Nightmare's needs, or even where most of them actually came from and who to properly credit. Not to mention it's just plain rude to use someone else's specific game stuff for yours.

Other than that, have fun. Hopefully it helps you learn a thing or two or get an idea for your own game.

Just finished playing through now, with what I believe is the good ending. Seriously great game, awesome puzzle elements and bloody terrifying scare moments. I definitely jumped plenty of times throughout, (though I am a complete wimp when it comes to scary stuff x_x ) but it was worth it in the end!

I'm glad you liked it. :3

Well, I just played it for about 10 minutes and I'm scared like hell at this moment.
Really, did you ever play this with surround sound headphones on your head? You'll get goosebumps even before the game starts...

Anyway, I love how this game is full of puzzles and no fighting at all!!

I've downloaded the VXA trial because I'm interested in using it and also wanted to check out the inner workings of your game, but it's apparently Nightmare is encrypted. Not sure whether it's because I'm using the demo or not?

You sure you grabbed the right link? The one on the first post is the main one, which is still encrypted, while the one in the latter post is the unencrypted version. I'll repost the link just to be safe.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x6wn8tyz77l91f9/Nightmare%20%28Updated%20Version%20v1.04%29.rar

Must have looked at the wrong link. Thanks! It's always really interesting seeing how other people do their own stuff

I'm doing a self-bump after several months because I have a request for anyone interested:


I've been dying for some time now to see some videos of other people playing through the game, either as a video review thing or one of those "Let's Play" vids. I found Zeich's jump moment reactions while playing to be hilarious, and would love to actually hear someone else's reaction in a video clip of their playthrough.

If doing a review/LP is not your cup of tea, I'm also interested in fan trailers or similar stuff I can use to get more new people interested in giving the game a try. My own computer sucks for recording onscreen videos, so making a game trailer myself is unfortunately out of the question. So, I'd also love it if someone wanted to do a trailer instead (as long as I'm given forewarning before it's posted up on YouTube).

I kinda wish we had continued doing GIAW reviews ;_;

So do I. There was technical difficulties for those though, I'm told. ;-;

I'm not sure if it's something I could get done quickly, but I could always try to use the game to compose up some kind of video review, which might just help with what you're looking for. I can make use of the review I've already written (with some changes to make it more natural) along with parts of the game that are appropriate.

Definitely can't promise a time frame. I've never done any video editing of the sort, so it's going to be a learning experience. But it's something I can slowly work on.

I'd do a Let's Play, but seeing as I've played the game to death for reviewing purposes, and the little assistance I gave following GIAW, I don't think the effect will be the same.

Nah, YOU don't have to do that. You already helped plenty with all the feedback you left for me. <3

I'm not a fan of the horror-genre (I scare easily) but I played this on timid and thoroughly enjoyed it!

There was just enough fear-factor to keep me on my toes and jumping every now and then, without turning me off from the game-play. The story was bittersweet and I enjoyed the way it unraveled.

Wow this looks amazing Im gonna download it tommorow and try it out. I really like how you presented the game too, looks really professional!

I'm glad you really liked it, Tsuno. :3c

And I hope Dizturb3d liked it just the same way.

I'm glad you really liked it, Tsuno. :3c

And I hope Dizturb3d liked it just the same way.

Really enjoyd this! I like the atmosphere, and the story is very well written!

Also enjoyed,

Spoiler for Spirit puzzle:

The 'Spirit' puzzle! Took me awhile to get that right, and the input codes for the Television was really well done aswell!

I am kinda stuck at the moment, but I will pick it up again tommorow and try to figure it out! Great game for sure though!

What puzzle are you stuck on?

Really enjoyd this! I like the atmosphere, and the story is very well written!

Also enjoyed,

Spoiler for Spirit puzzle:

The 'Spirit' puzzle! Took me awhile to get that right, and the input codes for the Television was really well done aswell!

I am kinda stuck at the moment, but I will pick it up again tommorow and try to figure it out! Great game for sure though!

Don't worry, you weren't the only one to get stuck on the "spirit" puzzle.

What puzzle are you stuck on?

Spoiler for:

Im stuck at the puzzle thats inside the Office. There is a red arrow pointing at a newspaper on the wall. Further down on the table there is images with different numbers, presenting (what I think is how man limbs) that the person or animal has.. or something. I cant work it out.. but I will try and see if I might have missed something.. Im playing on normal difficulty aswell.

Here's a hint to that:

Spoiler for:

You're on the right track. The above pictures are referencing the Sphinx's Riddle, which asks "Which creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?". The answer was man, but the answer to OUR puzzle is referenced in the question itself and in the below pictures.

If you're still stuck, here's another clue:

Spoiler for:

The wolf walks on four legs, the kangaroo sits back on its tail and two legs, the snake rests on but a single body, and the spider crawls around with eight legs. The code to the safe is a four digit number, and you can find those numbers with some simple deduction after looking at the animals in the picture.

Spoiler for The Answer:

4 (four wolf legs), 3 (two kangaroo legs plus tail), 1 (snake's body), 8 (eight spider legs).

Also, was anyone at all (aside from Logan) interested in doing a video of Nightmare for me?

I played around with the idea of doing a playthrough/review, but knowing me I would say I'll have it done by the weekend and then I'll tell you I can't get around to it until the new year and then oh no I'm really busy right now and so on until it is postponed indefinitely :>
Also my computer's crap, so I'm not sure how it would go with recording gameplay with audio.

I played around with the idea of doing a playthrough/review, but knowing me I would say I'll have it done by the weekend and then I'll tell you I can't get around to it until the new year and then oh no I'm really busy right now and so on until it is postponed indefinitely :>
Also my computer's crap, so I'm not sure how it would go with recording gameplay with audio.

My idea was to do some videos of different parts, then put them together with the audio done over the top, rather than a Let's Play style video. Simply because I've played it through many times and doing a Let's Play won't do it justice; it'd be rushed through a little.

Could you not try something similar. It's a bit more work because it'll involve a lot of editing and you'd want a written script of the audio to read from. But it should be a little less taxing on the computer, unless you don't have much disk space to store the data whilst you compile it together. I could possibly help with it, it'd just take a fair while to do compared to a simple LP with audio.

O.M.G.

This is the first time I've played Nightmare. I'm not gonna sleep tonight. Well done Zylos!

I would, but as I've played it before and done everything, I know what to expect and that makes an LP shitty (since my reaction won't be real).

 

I would, but as I've played it before and done everything, I know what to expect and that makes an LP shitty (since my reaction won't be real).

In the olden days LP's were intended to be informative and you were intended to know the game like the back of your hand. Blind Let's Plays are great don't get me wrong but you're misunderstanding what they started out as before the youtube days. now every 14 year old says they're let's playing minecraft and it's embarassing.

Granted some of the best lets plays were blind and informative, which is usually accomplished by the player knowing a bit about the game having never played it and a second person who has played through it and knows loads about it. My personal Favorite being Proteus4994 and Suspicious' let's Play of Daikatana.


Zylos, I've never played it (as I had intended to do so when doing the GIAW 9 video reviews) and I wouldn't mind running through it but I don't think i'd do the silly screaming reactions like horrible playthroughs of amnesia that you might be wanting.

That'd be awesome anyways. :3

So I have a little surprise for you guys. I was approached yesterday by a girl named Nesfate, who wanted to do a "Let's Play" of Nightmare in German for her YouTube channel. My German is a little rusty, but from what I have seen so far, she did an awesome job with it. :3

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SquTuWcyOM" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SquTuWcyOM</a>

Go check her page out!

The remainder of the series!

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTFXMUXGVOw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTFXMUXGVOw</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFqrMCTtVNc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFqrMCTtVNc</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwRlJB2L1ig" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwRlJB2L1ig</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYBUvW-zoZ8" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYBUvW-zoZ8</a>

Today wrapped up the last of Nesfate's series of the German LP of Nightmare, as shown in my previous post. So if you're a native German speaker, go check out her stuff as she did an excellent job of it! Really captured a lot of how I imagined the game to play out for the normal difficulty. :3


If you prefer English stuff however (which I'm sure most people on an English forum obviously do), I have another surprise for you. Unbeknownst to me, someone took all of my stuff here and reposted it on another forum without my permission (which is a BIG no no, so if anyone wants to go over and berate/troll/whatever them for not asking first, please do). They did at least provide proper credit for it, thankfully, so I'm not too miffed about it aside from having to have found out by someone else telling me. In any event, apparently another person who does horror game LP's found it from there and started up another LP series in English. They're pretty amusing, as he did not take too well to accidentally sprinting into the shadow a few times. If you like, give them a watch and pester him to include links back to the project page here on his next addition to the series!

Spoiler for The LP Videos:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THDFxt-BDqE" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THDFxt-BDqE</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhc2hgIBedI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhc2hgIBedI</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=001BhI015hw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=001BhI015hw</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX57ABcVXm4" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX57ABcVXm4</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax9dzHkByEw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax9dzHkByEw</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3giGpMQhaxE" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3giGpMQhaxE</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjR2Mz8ZnGg" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjR2Mz8ZnGg</a>

Holy crap, now there's suddenly a random flood of Let's Play videos of Nightmare on Youtube, in all sorts of languages. ._.;

I'm greatly amused by some of them. Only half of them actually respectfully link back to this thread where people can download the game, and many of them also don't seem to realize that's it's an RPG Maker game, referring to it as a 2D pixelated horror game. A lot of the comments for such videos are "Hey this looks like Misao!" and similar things, sometimes trying to claim that I'm using resources from said games when I've never even heard of most of them before.

Congratulations on the exposure, Zylos.

Yeah congrats Zylos. It was kind of fun watching that guy's reactions when creepy things happened.

So, it's been almost a year now since this was released, and I have a new game in the works. But before I do that, there's some stuff I've seen people comment on in the various videos of Nightmare and things I wish I had added back then but left out. So I'm finishing up a quick version 1.05, with some minor tweaks here and there and an actual walkthrough included in the game folder (because apparently some people ran around in circles for over an hour because they couldn't figure out a bloody puzzle or two).

My question for anyone who has already played the game is, what would you like to see added while I'm working on it?

... an actual walkthrough included in the game folder (because apparently some people ran around in circles for over an hour because they couldn't figure out a bloody puzzle or two).

Having been stuck a time or two myself, I can understand why. Things aren't quite as apparent to some as they may be for others, and this is one of those issues that any game developer faces, especially for puzzle games. If the next project is based around a similar concept, it would be worth looking into why there were some struggles and how to improve upon that for next time.

On that note, if you'd find some feedback to be helpful (some time in the future when things are under way), I'd be more than happy to offer some. I quite enjoyed what help I did offer with Nightmare post-GIAW.

Either way, good luck with the new project.

Edit:

Watching through one of those LPs, I had noticed that you have a spelling error (at least one). Near the end, there's the row of newspapers which are reporting the accident, you have misspelled Trauma as "Truama". It's the first of the newspapers. Not sure how fussed you are about things like that before you close this up.

Fixed. No one else noticed. x.x

There could possibly be others. If it's an somewhat important thing, I could go through and look for (any) more of them.

It was an excellent game. Played it a few months back myself, and the only puzzle that threw me off was the one with the animal and human legs.

The only thing that was not fully clear to me was the priest's role in this; even at the end, he seemed to have a sort of unsolved mystery surrounding him. But perhaps playing it a second time I'd pick up more clues.

This looks pretty scary but I'll try to play it ASAP

Hey guys! I just finished this game (the first 2D horror game that I finished on my own, yay! although this game is really old) by getting a good ending.

May I know what is the key that decide whether we get a good or bad ending?

Major necro, but I wnated you to know, Z, that I thoroughly enjoyed your game. I'm going to try the others in the series, too...

...after I change my pants.

I got my girlfriend to play this while live-streaming lol.

This is the link to the video.  She finished both endings (with a little bit of creative searching for the good ending) lol.
http://www.twitch.tv/olaris/c/4147693