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[JasonPickering]

Okay so basically I had an idea for a quick game. premise is this:

horror game based on "At the Mountains of Madness" by H.P. Lovecraft. you run around an abandoned temple Roguelike style trying not to get caught by a Shoggoth. the game is dark you cant see and you cant fight. the only thing you can do is not be heard. but almost every action creates some kind of sound. even walking. so how do I show sound. how do I show that walking on this surface makes you this loud, but this surfaces makes you this loud. the main reason for different levels of sound is that they travel different distances so walking isn't to bad, but giving a yell alerts every monster in the area. so how do I show that? the first idea I had was a circle that expands out each time you make a noise. small noises, its small. large ones it gets quite big. anything the circle hits is alerted to your presence. but this seems a little silly. it looks like sonar coming off you. I can post a Swf if it helps.

[dustin]

A circle coming of you is what I pictured when I first read it.  It could look a bit like sonar but I think since it won't be reflected back to you peoples minds won't jump to sonar (mine didn't).

If it's turn/grid based (you said roguelike so I assume it is) I could also see color working.  Like an overlay of blue with the blue fading out with each square.  Heres an example picture since I'm having trouble explaining...

xx0x
xx1x
xx2xxxx
xx32100
xx2xxxx
xxxxxxx

imagine the numbers represent different levels of a sound and sound can go from 0-4
0 has no sound so the opacity of the blue overlay is 0%
1 has a bit of sound so the opacity is 10%
2 is 20%
3 is 30%
4 is 40%
I think there would probably be a sweet spot with getting the opacity at the right level so you could tell how strong it was (how loud the noise was) and also see what the tile underneath the noise was.

[unsilentwill]

There was something like this 2 years ago, http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=9287.0

I'm excited to see the concept again. There's so much that could be done with it, a stealth horror could be very cool.

[JasonPickering]

here is a mockup. I am reusing a lot of older sprite stuff just to get this done as soon as possible. so you can see the sound coming out from the player



the only problem I have now is I don't have an end game. in most roguelikes the goal is to get to the bottom and kill a big monster. I just want you to stay alive as long as possible. I thought of maybe doing Journals. you are an explorer and by wandering around and investigating stuff. you increase your journal pages. maybe see how many you can get? so it would be more Rogue Survivor then Angband. what do you think?

Edit: also i am trying to make this as scary and tense as possible. you have a stamina and all skills use stamina. so running into a monster might cost you 20 stamina but even sneaking costs 1 stamina per step. I am trying to figure out a way for the player to build stamina back up though. I don't think Waiting will work. I will need some type of consumable.

[rek]

Your character has already reached the bottom, found it too much to deal with, and is now returning to the surface. That is your goal – escape alive. Subvert the trope!

[jeffrobot]

Hey Jason,

Sounds like a cool idea. One question - why make it a roguelike? It seems like it'd be tenser if it was done in real time.

[McMutton]

I used the sound ring method, myself, for Key of Ethios. Although it's coming off of the bit that shows you visible you are, rather than the player himself:

[letsap]

I like the sound of this. If you're looking for an end game, you could tie it in to the start. At the beginning, there could be a visual area with a drilling sound, signifying you are being dug out. It would help introduce the idea of sounds making things visible immediately, as well as giving the player something to check on now and then. Your end game could be survive for a certain amount of time, find ways to let people know you're okay so they keep drilling, etc etc.

[RCIX]

Edit: also i am trying to make this as scary and tense as possible. you have a stamina and all skills use stamina. so running into a monster might cost you 20 stamina but even sneaking costs 1 stamina per step. I am trying to figure out a way for the player to build stamina back up though. I don't think Waiting will work. I will need some type of consumable.

Here's an idea. Make that consumable "corrupt" your character progressively (maybe like monster remains or something?), so that if you want to survive you eventually become the thing you're trying to avoid. Each consumable refills your stamina but also slightly lowers it until all you can do is crawl from monster pile to monster pile eating the last few bits of remains that turn you into a monster!

I like the sound of this.

i c wut u did thar

[eyeliner]

Each consumable refills your stamina but also slightly lowers it until all you can do is crawl from monster pile to monster pile eating the last few bits of remains that turn you into a monster!

Or you could end up eating yourself...

[AaronLee]

Your character has already reached the bottom, found it too much to deal with, and is now returning to the surface. That is your goal – escape alive. Subvert the trope!

I love this, it's a great deconstruction of a standard dungeon crawler / roguelike trope. It also fits the lovecraftian tone. You could start by running from a final boss, something horrible and unexplainable, then exploring the dungeons above, finding a way to stop its advance.

[JasonPickering]

Your character has already reached the bottom, found it too much to deal with, and is now returning to the surface. That is your goal – escape alive. Subvert the trope!

Someone told me that could work like this. it was a reverse metroidvania. you were super powerful in the beginning, but as you went on you got weaker and weaker. can you imagine a similar principle. like the amulet you picked up is draining your lie force and only getting it into the sunlight will stop it. can you imagine the idea of deafeating dragons in a single blow, but by the time you get to the first floor you are crawling around and every single rat is terrifying.

[J. R. Hill]

This was already perfected in the 60's.