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This is the devlog for Lone Survivor, a 2D psychological-survival-horror-adventure.

I've been working on the tools for this pretty much since I finished Soundless Mountain II a couple of [edit: almost four] years ago and decided I wanted to build better software to make these kinds of games easily.

The game is about an 18 year old guy who believes he is the last survivor of a terrible zombie-like disease which has reduced the city to a pile of decrepit rubble.  He isn't totally sure he's alone, or whether the visions he sees of other people are hallucinations... But he has the instinctive feeling there is something out there to discover - that will somehow explain how he came to be in that situation... that perhaps there are even other survivors like himself...

He finds himself at the start of the game holed up in his ruined apartment, out of supplies, hungry and alone.  He'll have to maintain his health by rummaging for food, keep his gun stocked with ammo to defend himself, and fill up his torch with batteries as it consumes them.  He is suffering increasingly vivid hallucinations, causing him to question just how much of his predicament is real, or imagined.


I'll keep you posted with updates as they come.  You can get more information on my blog below.  I'm hoping to have it finished by New Year 2011.  We'll see how that goes!

Ooh this is looking tasty. I really loved the atmosphere in Psychic Prison Break and especially Soundless Mountain so I'll be keeping a beady eye on this one. ;D:handthumbsupR:

This is looking really crisp.  I really like the concept now that you have revealed a bit more.  Keep up the great work!

Glad you decided to keep at it. Would have been sad to see it die.

I'm digging the art. I'd love to see how it goes.

Why thankyou kind sirs (and madams, if any of you are).

Things progressing well - I plan to release my first trailer this weekend.  I hope it will excite!

I think I'm on course for my January launch.  I'm gonna put everything I can into this game, and if it works, I'll be using it to quit my job and launch an indie career.  I hope it turns out like the game in my head, because that game's quite a good game. 

:coffee:

Just a quick progress update [Version 0.71]

- Bunch of new locations.
- Intro sequence (pictured).
- Got new 'Function' system in HAL, the scripting language this uses.
- Tidied up room transitions.
- Removed all visual signs of interactivity except collectible objects and 'directional' doors (ones you must press a direction to go through).

The last one has really helped - it's made the whole thing more exploratory and mysterious... and definitely more immersive.

I'm getting close to being able to finish up the trailer now...

Necro-time!

I'm working on Lone Survivor again.

It's progressing steadily.  The adventure aspects are a bit deeper than a regular survival horror, or say, Soundless Mountain II.  I have item puzzles in there and I've made a lot more new locations.  I'd say about 1/4 or maybe 1/5 of the content is complete, and it won't be a quick job.  I'm guessing six months.

It may well be my first paid-for game, but with a large demo, shareware-style, as I have resigned from my job in order to make it.  I'll probably have to release some smaller Flash games to supplement the process though.

Love your colour/atmospheric effex.

Looking forward to it.

Are you encasing flash or coding it in something else?

What's with this HAL scripting language? Will it reject my every string of input, claiming that it is chock full of error and that a computer has to enter it in for accuracy?

According to his blog it looks like his own creation which is interpreted in flash.

That's right, it's a language I created that runs in either BlitzMax or Flash,  It's really basic, has only simple branches and integer math.  But the idea is it has pretty much every command you'd need to control the game objects and hotspots within your games, as well as things like graphical trickery and lighting.  It's all based around the concept of a Sprite which has a series of States, each with a script attached.  Sprites can change their own states, or have them changed by other Sprites or Hotspots (scripts attached to rectangular regions on the map.)  Hotspots can trigger when the player enters them, or after showing a prompt the player can interact with.  Besides that most of the functionality of, say, Flixel, is available in some form via HAL.

I'm planning on sharing it with the public in some form soon.  It's still fairly raw, but I can throw together new prototypes very quickly in it now.

Here's an example script in HAL - it's the update script for an enemy who simply homes in on the player:

Anyway, thought I'd share that I'm going all-out for the rest of this month on Lone Survivor, in a hope of entering it into Indiecade.  Wish me luck!

One question about HAL. Is it interpreted during the programs runtime like Lua or do you have some other means of implementing it?

It's interpreted but most of the compilation is done at startup, for scripts it knows it will be using regularly at least, so in practise it runs pretty fast... I can get it to generate particles for example, each with their own script, without slowdown.

Bit of news regarding the game - I've decide to enter a build into indiecade, which gives me about a week to sort out loads of key features.  Let's hope I can get it down without needing to pay the late fee!  I'll put a post up about it on my blog on Saturday.

Good luck with Indiecade Jasper. It's looking really nice so far from the screenshots posted.

Thanks man!  It's going well so far - I've just uploaded a new blog post (http://superflatgames.com/wordpress/?p=395) about it and XOR, the other title I'm working on.  I'm a bit concerned I won't make it to the early deadline, and my budget doesn't really stretch to the late entry fee - but we'll see... If I feel it has a chance, I might put in the extra time.

Edit: eye candy

(http://www.superflatgames.com/images/tinofpickles.png)

Also, as this is the most official devlog still standing since thegamescollective.org folded a while back, I will list out some specific progress!

- Finalised the title screen and save game system.
- Wrote and remixed a bunch of tunes / ambience tracks, including the big intro music which has about 48 tracks of guitars and pianos and so on.  Tried to do a Silent Hill-esque number (not in style, but in feeling.)  Dying to share this tune, but will have to show restraint!
- Re-did all the sound effects and added about 3x more, puzzles have special sounds and so on.
- Created a new enemy and bunch of new locations, have a final design for the puzzles / rooms in the apartment world (1 of 3 main ones).
- Started damage and exhaustion filters to show the player's condition.
- Added an intro (got rid of the old one.)
- Wrote new 'HQ' grain effect which requires a bit faster machine, but looks great in fullscreen.
- Improved a lot of the backend and general handling of scripts, hotspots and so on.

Still to do in the near future:

- Finish painting the rooms in the apartment and its final section.
- Lay out the rooms in the editor, add their hotspots.
- Script the events in the final sequence and ending.
- Add a couple more puzzles to break up the action.
- Add map system.
- Add flashlight battery system, food / sleep system & GUI / filters.
- Add a game over / retry screen.

Ok small progress update:

- Fixed some small bugs in the parser.
- Added a skip button to cutscenes.
- Added a couple of new puzzles (one of which is so nasty I think I might have to self-censor. >:D)*
- Added two or three new rooms.

Next I'm looking at:

- The survival aspects.
- Game over screen.
- Apartment 1F rooms / cutscenes.

Progress is slower than hoped, so I'm now not sure if I can get it in for Indiecade.

* I'm not going for gore with this game, although it has some.  I'm trying to make it psychological horror, rather than physical.  This is one of the reasons I prefer SHII & 4 to SH & SH3, and also applies to the horror movies I enjoy.  That said, when it comes, it should be shocking and brief, so I'm kinda on the fence here.

Not really on topic for this thread, but in case you didn't know: there was already a game called XOR (http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0005800) on the speccy/C64. (Not that this should stop you calling your game that too if you want to!)

Hey Ichigo Jam.  Definitely aware of the Speccy game, but I figure that's old enough to not really be an issue (if anything it kinda adds something!)

It's getting close, but I'm going to need the extra fortnight I reckon.  If I feel it's strong enough by then, I'll bite the bullet and pay the 75 clams for Indiecade entrance.

Here are some new screenshots for you guys...

all those filters applied to the pixel art look amazing

Thanks man - I think it's more exciting in motion because you get all the dither patterns overlapping with different colours, the moving fog and the noise and so on.

The way it's done is quite convoluted - it's probably a 8 pass process or something...  

- First comes the fog.  It's a simple Pixel Bender shader (so it runs on its own thread) which scrolls three copies of the same semi-transparent texture at different speeds  It always goes R-L, but nobody's noticed that so I'm fine with it!

- First lighting process is to prepare the virtual lights (the Pixel Bender shader I wrote supports three, one of which is used for the flashlight.)  The scene supports infinite virtual lights, but it wall only render the three nearest the camera, so this bit of code just assigns the properties of the two nearest virtual lights to their two spare shader brethren. This means setting up their colours and attenuation as well as the bitmap mask that's used to draw them, and nice things like glows, flickers and fades.  

- The light shader does its thing and is applied to the main buffer.

- Next is the warp shader, which is in use in the top screen, but probably not doing that much.  It's used to convey general fucked-up-ness.  This has four main parameters - the scratch texture in use (and its position) for old-movie type effects, a desaturation parameter, a blur parameter and TV+magnet-like sin-wave displacement thing.  A lot of the work is done code-side to get an interesting spread of parameters, and not have everything fuck up at once.

- That's then applied on top of the fog/light pass.

- In hi-fi mode (there's two modes, these shots are hi-fi,) two grain textures are applied, but updated at a slower framerate than the game (around 24fps which gives a nice filmy feel without sacrificing the smoothness of the game which is meant to go at 60fps.)  One grain texture runs at the same resolution as the background image, one runs in native resolution.  In this way you get both the individual 4x pixels flickering, as well as the more realistic per-pixel film grain.

- The very last process is to apply the vignette / special texture.  This texture took about two days to get right!  It has a very subtle set of four overlays which are more pronounced towards the edge...  First is a simulation of an RGB CRT, so each 4x pixel is split into a reg, green, blue and 'gap' pixel.  Then there's the scanlines, which are very subtle indeed in this one (don't want to hammer them in every game I make.)  The next step is a vignette, just a general darkening towards the edges, and finally my favourite, which is the weird 'outlined pixel' thing, which you can spot towards the edge- the pixels become more like individual spot of light, like a faulty CRT or something.  Didn't want it all over the image, as it's too strong and distracts from flat areas of colour such as the player's shirt, but I ike the way it breaks up towards the edge.

Just a quick progress update here:

- Got inventory tallies appearing.
- Got the downward (leg) shot working, it makes the enemies retreat a bit, but doesn't do much damage.  Very useful when in packs.
- Made the headshot easier.
- Got gun reloading, automatically and via the menu.  The menu's realtime ala Demon's Souls in this game, so you can't reload while paused as in most RE / SH games.
- Added the ability to turn on and off the flashlight via the inventory menu.
- Added three or four new rooms.
- Completely redid the 'Thin Man' sound set, about 16 zombie noises and footsteps in all.
- Reduced enemy damage, increased the player's recoil time.
- Begun the introduction of the new enemy!

Have already gone past the deadline for Indiecade, there's another one in about 12 days, so I may well enter it... It feels like it's coming together well.

Next up is:

- Flashlight batteries / fading, dot a few around the world.
- Map?
- Finish the apartments 1F and the next section (probably best not to say what that is yet.)

Progress update...

Here's my screenshot saturday:

(http://www.superflatgames.com/verydarkplaces.png)

Things progressing very fast, I'm on the final section of the Apartment building which makes up about 1/3 of the game.

- The flashlight and battery system is in and really helps the feeling of tension.
- I've reduced lighting across the board.  I think it helps!
- Done some new music for the nightmarish sections.
- There's a bunch more food items (and soda!)  Each has differing effects on your immediate health and the health you regain by sleeping.  Short and long-term energy I guess.  I'm not revealing any stats to the player (apart from flashlight battery and ammo counts.)
- I've done about ten new rooms, a couple of new cutscenes and puzzles.  There's now 45 locations, which are between 1 and 10 screens wide.
- Improved the heartbeat / visual pain indicators.
- The big finale is in the works.  Can't reveal too much about it though!  I hope to get it done in a week or so, then focus on bug-fixes and polish for the last couple of days.

This looks great. Looking forward to trying it out!

Thanks man, appreciate the response as was starting to wonder whether I was just talking to myself in this devlog hehe.  ;)

Yeah, the problem with devlogs is that sometimes I feel a bit funny responding... but rest assured, usually people are interested in your game.  :) I, for one, really love the aesthetics of this; it always lights me up whenever I see it.

Horror is one of my favourite genres ever so I really can't wait to try this. :-*

I just have to say that the palpable sense of atmosphere from just these still shots is delicious.

With the promise of hallucinations, I'm hoping for some good exploration of the protagonists damaged psyche, but I'm looking forward to this game in any event.

worry not; we are all here waiting to put our hands in this baby

Surprised I haven't commented yet. This is looking wonderful, really looking forward to trying this game out

Thanks everybody, I guess I shouldn't be worrying about it too much then...

I'm still feeling great about the project, it's just that having worked on it so long, it's hard to see if it's still something that others might be interested in.  I'm sorta putting all my indie eggs in this basket!

I'm dying to show and share with you guys, but realistically it's months away still, and I've already put about a year in.  There will be a video at some point, and I'll keep posting screens and things here.  It's getting harder to do without showing the many things I want to keep secret.  So much of this game depends on having no spoilers, y'know?

It's going to be a commercial game, but not over-priced.  About 1/2 the size of a PS2-style survival horror.  There will be a large free online demo, perhaps 1/3 of the game (but with greatly reduced sound as the game already has about 30mb of music in the first level at the heaviest .mp3 compression I'm happy with.)

I'm looking forward to this game. It's one of the few devlogs I view consistently. However, I never have anything worthwhile to say.

I too have been following this!  I just don't have much to say aside from what everyone else is saying... which can pretty much be summed up as "looks awesome, can't wait to play it" :P

Looks awesome, love the graphical style.

win! was already looking forward to this but now even more!

あなたは私の好きなタイプ。

@ShogunDusk ... ははは！どういう意味ですか？

Everyone else, thanks so much for the encouragement!  It really helps motivation on a long project like this.  I've just shared the latest build with a few friends, and the reaction's been surprisingly good.  I wish I could somehow clone myself and get all the art and level design done quicker, but it's gonna take months either way.

I remember Infinite Ammo's Alec saying something to the effect of how frustrating it is to do a story-based project which means you can't give away almost anything if you want to keep its impact.  I totally agree there!

What I can say about the story is I'm trying to take the path of Silent Hill 2, spinning a yarn which is about the character.  Psychological rather than body horror.  I'm writing elaborate back stories for all the characters and locations, even if they're never revealed, and making sure every interactive object in the world helps to reinforce this aspect.  I'm trying to tell a story with a lot left open for interpretation, and to have aspects which should read differently depending on how the player approaches things (your actions are all invisibly psychoanalysed.)

Although I have an intended meaning in my head, I don't want most people to discover it, or rather don't want to prescribe it, I'd rather let players get a sense of it, but also have their own interpretation.

Anyway, I'm rambling quite badly now, but I just wanted to try and get across the difficulty of getting a story like this right - making Soundless Mountain II I had my script laid out for me, here I must try and make something which elevates this game from being simple survival horror fanservice.  I hope not to let you all down!

@ スーパー  フラット

これは素晴らしく見えます

I'm sorry, I can't actually read Japanese  :( - I can speak it okish, but I had to get my wife to type my last reply!

Quick progress report:

- Added 8 new rooms in the apartment basement area.  Been painting in a much dirtier, darker style (using actual black, so the lighting system will never light it.)  At first I thought I should go back over the earlier work and ditry it up, but after sitting with it, it feels really nice to descend gradually into darkness and filth.
- Added new cutscene with the new antagonist.
- Added lots of animation for the new antagonist.
- Wrote some new music for the antagonist - lots of backwards chanting and silly things like that.
- Did the antagonist's sample set, bassy, frightening sounds.
- Made it so that you don't exit weapon mode when attacked (following lots of feedback on this from friends.)

Getting really close to finishing the first world now!  I'll post a screenie on sat.

Thanks man... So does your game (been meaning to comment for a while there.)  I'll try and make sure mine doesn't disappoint in the flesh!!

Also, for anyone who's interested, I wrote a little about LS on my blog (http://www.superflatgames.com/wordpress) yesterday.

Woah I've done it!  I've just finished the indiecade build!  Whew... :tired:

Here's a little teaser trailer I did for the Indiecade submission today.

Good news is it was all on time and finished!

Lone Survivor Indiecade Teaser (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI4drsfxdqE)

Those graphics effects are looking excellent in motion.
And good job reaching the Indiecade deadline. Hope that goes well for you.

 :o

Do want.

I'm really liking how this is turning out.

Let's make this happen!

Man I'm looking forward to playin' this.

The music is awesome, by the way.

Time to give this devlog some love.  For some reason I didn't log into TIGs for ages.

I'm now in full crunch for IGF, the game has been through a short hiatus, as well as a couple more big pushes.

I dunno if I put the trailer up here, so here is a link to it: Official Trailer (http://superflatgames.com/wordpress/?p=472)

I've done a lot of work on the mechanics and the overall look (lighting, effects and so on, as well as doing a second pass on all the art, with a lot more detail.)  Here's a current shot:

(http://www.superflatgames.com/byebyeyou.png)

Have decided to use TIGs as a motivating thing for IGF, and the finished product, so I'll be posting small updates here regularly, as well as more in-depth ones on my blog.  It's been a long, long process, getting this bastard in shape, but I just played it after a week off and I'm suddenly surprised at how far it's come!

I think it's on the verge of working mechanically... I don't want to give too much away, but the decision to make combat, or rather killing, optional but difficult to avoid has worked out well I think.  It requires a lot of careful balancing and planning, but I'm just now boiling it down to the essence, and I'll probably come away with two or three main mechanics for doing this.

I guess I'm trying to solve (or at least lessen) the age old problem in survival horror of either being too powerful and not scared, or limiting the power and opening up the design to dead-end scenarios (classic example being having no ammo!)  That and 'seeing the monster too much weakens it.'  I'm trying to use the lighting system to my advantage here, as well as the 1D nature of the game.  I'm being vague I know, but it's the kind of game where the less you know, the more you'll get out of it I think.

Leading up to IGF I'd love to get a couple of very, very private testers (would probably help if I know you as I'm pretty paranoid about my baby getting leaked at this late point.)  If you're interested, and would be prepared to give some fairly detailed feedback, PM me, and I'll let you know.  It's not time yet, I'm thinking in a couple of weeks or so...  but something to bear in mind.

Also, if you have any thoughts or suggestions about:

- foods you'd eat in a zombie apocalypse (can include combination foods, in-game example being 'rice pudding + fruit salad')
- ways of avoiding or disabling fleshy monstrosities
- classic adventure game puzzles in a world that's falling apart

I'd love to hear them!

Dog Food, Mad Max style.  Canned anything, really, after you find the Can Opener.

this, and maybe use a knife to open a can would be nice. or maybe some dried food(like biscuit or cookie), a pot of edible veggie(which can be pluck and eaten, which somehow people plant it), those pill that give energy(like people take in for diet purpose. give the needed nutrient, but still hungry(or maybe not? i don't know))

lock picking to get to the room?

This looks incredible!

Thanks guys.  I was considering the can opener, and you've convinced me it's necessary!

Dog & cat food is great too.  Biscuits too...  Do you get those Carr's Water Biscuits in the US? They last forever! (The game's not set in a particular country, or it is but isn't revealed)... but I'm basing the foods on those from USA.   That reminds me someone suggested Twinkies - we don't have them here in the UK, but I hear they would survive several apocalypses.

Vienna sausages are a well known canned food here. They're like mini hotdogs in water but have a very distinct taste. They're actually pretty tasty! Can't say I've heard of Carr's Water Biscuits...

Corned Beef Hash!

I'll see if I can squeeze it in - I already have spam on the cards.  As it stands, every food item is unique in the game, which is totally pointless, and that's why I'm doing it.  :handthumbsupL:

I've been trying to come up with ideas for this category but I just keep coming back to survival-horror cliches.

Basic, underpowered weapons with poor ammo supply like in Silent Hill (except in the Police Station, of course.)

Hiding anytime you hear something threatening like Clocktower (of which I've only played half an hour of a translated hack for the SNES sidescroller.)

How 'bout a camera?  I hear cameras are an excellent way to get rid of enemies.

You could take the Dead Rising route and simply focus on what's available in whatever environment you're in.  Hunting lodge?  The hunting rifle, of course.  Oh there's only seven rounds left in the whole place.  Well what about that bear trap?  You'd have to scale down the scope of weapons drastically, of course.  Maybe have one "common" weapon with with ammo being relatively common throughout the game, one "rare" weapon with only a few uses, and the super powerful "unique" weapon with one use and some kind of adventure game puzzle to unlock.  If you applied that, or something like it to each area, with each tier of weapons slightly harder to access, the player would have a small range of weapons and some extra reward for solving puzzles.

'Course that's assuming it'd all be easy to implement and well balanced but it's getting away from survival-horror cliches a little (sort of.)

I've always been a big fan of 2D horror games and their ability to scare people shitless if done right. So I'm really looking forward to this, I think it looks solid all in all. You've really nailed the pixel graphics to go with the genre and create a good mood, something other 2D horror games seem to fall flat on in many cases! 

Some nice ideas here, I'll see what I can use.  I'm experimenting with a lot of different things at the moment, and I'm on the way to having all the main mechanics all pieced together.  It's become a lot less linear, and longer because of certain changes to the gameplay.  There's much more of a daily routine to it, which I'm hoping helps get the player deeper into his head, because they can sort of choose how to do this routine...

Anyway, once the old content is updated to include the new mechanics and balancing, I'll be finally onto the last section content wise.  Actually feels like I could be over the hardest design issues now...

From there, lots of testing, and adding lots of silly extra things, whatever I can fit in before my money runs out!  

Really excited about the project again, I think I can see a point where it all comes together finally.  It's a very different game to how it was a month ago.  

(http://superflatgames.com/seatedfigure.png)

That screenshot reminds me of Twin Peaks.  It's the chairs and the curtains.  Oh, Twin Peaks.

What can I say: it looks beyond sweet, it is an interesting take on the zombie apocalypse theme, and the story seems well thought out. I can't think of anything negative to say. Is there a beta or anything that can be tested?

Just saw this, and it looks amazingly awesome! Can't wait to play. :)

This looks like a fantastic project, love the silent hill feel. Cant wait to see how this pans out :D

I can't help but see a super wide smile on the character's face in all his screenshots.

I get that a lot!

Just finished the new GUI - think it looks a bit cleaner, especially on a widescreen setup:


Have also added a couple of panic attacks which force the player to learn how to get un-stuck when they get stuck, which I think has really helped.

Definitely interested in seeing how this pans out. The art style is detailed yet coarse enough to only convey the salient visual details. Loving it so far, keep it up!

Finally added muzzle flash which lights up a dark room and glows, it's really made a difference!  (Better in motion, but here is a shot ... that was tricky to get!)


Also spent a good while reworking the combat, improving hitboxes, frame timings, invulnerability rules and so on.  It's much more fun, and much harder-but-fairer.  Maybe I've been re-inspired by DARK SOULS.

Sorry for spamming the log, but this is an official request for two or three testers of the IGF build which I've finished today.  I may still make small tweaks depending on any feedback you give, so it's a chance to help shape the game, and my chances in the compo!

I would ask that you keep the build totally secret, and we communicate by PM.  It'll probably help if I know you in some way too.  As this is my baby, and I've been working on it two years, I'm a bit over-protective!

Anyway, if you'd be interested in giving some feedback about bugs, difficulties and confusions, or even to say what's working and there should be more of, just hit me up by PM, or by email at <my first name in lower case> at superflatgames.com.

The deadline's next weekend so it would have to be in the next couple of days...

Thanks in advance!  :handthumbsupR:

Just to say: thanks, I have three testers now, so I'll have plenty of feedback to be getting on with.  There will be plenty more testing sessions in the coming months, so I'll let you know when I'm after any more.  It's probably a game that's better un-spoilt anyway, as it's so story-focussed.  For the rest of the week I'm gonna fix any remaining bugs I get from feedback, and work on a new trailer...  Will post ITT when it's done.  Then it's time to submit my first ever IGF entry... wish me luck!

You guys are in for an incredible, incredible treat.  I can tell you that much.

Aw yeh, time to much some pills while killing things!

I got the game into the IGF on time!  Yay!  :beer:

Awsum nice dude :D

Work continues apace after IGF entry...

Spent a good while working on food-crafting elements, and a new area, character and stealth mechanic which is really exciting, I think anyway!  Here's a clue:


There are also a few new puzzles related to the items needed for food.  I think there are around 70 items in the game now, with around another 20-30 planned.

Already have 83 locations, around 120 sprite types, 1000's of lines of dialogue.  When will it end!?

I guess looking ahead, for the rest of this month, I'll be finishing up the sidequest aspects, which I'll have to try and keep secret or it'll be no fun, and adding coffee-crafting.  Then onto the final areas for Nov & Dec, with a new enemy planned.  Then it's content complete!

That just leaves a long period of testing, balancing, and getting the endings right...

It's exciting to see you gather energy to add (what seems to me) a lot of content. This is looking great! Can't wait to make some coffee.

Thanks man! It is exhausting working on the same areas for months on end, so part of the reason I've put so much new stuff in is to keep it interesting to make!

Very tired today, a 16 hour session yesterday. Made real coffee, now it's time to add game coffees.

Another short update:

- Finished the coffee-crafting sidequests, kettle and espresso maker objects, coffee dialogue.
- Rebalanced the food in the game.
- Added more dialogue for the new character.
- Added a way to trade your ammo in for an alternative item.
- Added a water sidequest.
- Spent a fair while rebalancing the effects on mental health of all the actions in the game.
- Made more scenes / dialogue dependent on mental health.

Have sent the new build round to friends and previous testers, and uploaded to IGF.  I'm now starting work on the city area, which is great fun!  There are still a couple more sidequests I want to do, but I think I'll get to them once I have more content.  

One more enemy and two levels to go.  Hoping to have the content done by NYE.  Non-stop crunch continues until then!  For now, here's a rough mockup (not in-game) of how it may look:

I've said this before, but this is so dope. Great seeing you put the hours in the get it done, can't wait to play it!

Having so much fun making outdoor environments!

Short progress update.  Completed the location inside the building pictured above.  I have some really nice easter eggs in there... It's an arcade, so there are cabinets.  A friend of mine has kindly offered to do animated attract screens for them, but for now here's a sneak peak:

nice cab! will they be playable?

If I had Yu Suzuki's budget... :(

I love the way that the pictures remind me of cross stitched cloth or other type of embroidery. for that alone, I'll buy.

Cheers man.  I find it's more interesting in motion, as all the pixels dance, flicker and sparkle, and the various effects vary according to your condition.

The videos / screenshots never really pick that up, unfortunately!

The city area is finally making headway.  Here is my SSS, a deserted building you wake up in after one of your 'episodes':

(http://www.superflatgames.com/86.png)

I wanna have an episode AND eat all the pills!


This is gonna be way cooler than GTA V.

The pixel effects just blow the socks off anything I've seen (or tried to make (http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=22651.0)). Kudos! :coffee:

RCIX:  :o I hope it lives up to your expectations!

oyog: Cheers man.  I think somewhere earlier in this devlog I detailed some of the things I'm doing to achieve them.  You'd have to trawl back through it, though!

I've updated my blog (http://www.superflatgames.com/pizza.png) with new informations about the game.  I'm going to try and make the updates more frequent until it's done, as a way of maintaining momentum through this permanent crunch....  I don't think I can ever afford to make a game this big again, but I figure since I am, I might as well go all out!

Here is an obligatory screenshot:

(http://www.superflatgames.com/pizza.png)

Making a lot of progress through the city world, building up to the end set pieces now...

City almost done, I hope I never have to work this hard on anything again!  But I am really excited about it... Few days more and I'll be onto the final world... still on shedule for having it finished by NYE for beta early next year.

So excited to get it out there now, two and a half years is a long time... In fact some of the work goes back six years... I almost don't know what life is gonna be like without development of LS!

There's all kinds of cool new stuff in there, respawning areas, new characters, trading, more hallicinations, more stealth puzzles, random food drops, new sidequests, boss fights, more cooking and food crafting, the Gamejoy.  Really excited to show you all when it's finally done!

My screenshot saturday, one of the city interiors you can explore...

(http://www.superflatgames.com/metamorphosis.png)

Also note I now have text colours!  When you pick up an item, it's in green and so on.  Very nearly there with the city, before I share it with my friends who are helping test, it's been quite a while since anyone's seen it.  Quite nervous to see what people think!

Hope this comes out soon, I remember seeing this on Rock Paper Shotgun and can't wait to try it out!

I'm pretty excited about this concept and looking forward to a public beta coming out sometime. I hope development is still happening despite the lack of updates for this month.

I should try to find at these 7 pages some info about your graphics technique, I quite like that effect "pixels with holes" around main character, if it was mentioned, sure :)
Cheers!

Thanks for the encouragements, everyone.  I had to take a month out due to illness and stress (was pushing it too hard for too long, I think!)

Right now I'm taking it easy until NYE, then it's back for the final crunch which may only take a month / six weeks or so.  I am up to the endings now, and once they're in, it's polish and beta testing.  I'll try to keep this thread and my blog updated as I do it.

Really looking forward to sharing it finally... It's been a long, long journey from late 2009 when I first drew a mockup!  It's even partly based on a game I abandoned called Amnesia (before Frictional Games' game) which I started in about '04.  I'll be glad when it's out, that's for sure.

Tremendously excited to see the final version; you explore some emotional territory in this game that I'd like to see more games attempt. Good luck to you!

Lone survivor spotted here (http://www.indiegamemag.com/15-indie-games-that-will-surprise-you-in-2012/), good press!

This looks very promising! can't wait to see this when it comes out!

Good news!  Development is going fast!  Friend Lazrool (http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?action=profile;u=8823) is helping out with some of the final animations for the creatures and 'You'.  The awesome Bento Smile (http://bentosmile.com/) is doing the cat comics.  A gentleman named Rik Nichol (http://www.kongregate.com/accounts/rikfuzz) is doing the arcade attract screens.

It's great to have a little help at this point to push the game over the last hurdle.  I reckon I might have it out within a couple of months now!

Lots of progress on the mechanics, level design, endings etc.  Hopefully all the content will be in in about three weeks and I'll be looking for some detailed beta testing folk if anyone would be interested.   :handanykey:

It would require a bit of writing probably, notes on bugs, some questions to answer, your 'psychoevaluation report' sending back to me.

Also if you're interested I did a blog post on the 'prehistory' of the game, how it came about and so on, here (http://superflatgames.com/wordpress/?p=651).

(http://www.superflatgames.com/stories1.png)

Really interesting to go back and see how lone survivor came about. Love seeing the history of it all. All the different game looks and how you've come to the game you have now.

Cheers mate.  It's been a long journey, and I'm really enjoying the last stage, trying to make sure the endings don't disappoint, that there's a few more surprises people won't expect.

I'll actually probably be taking preorders soon as the game will be (hopefully) feature-complete in a couple more weeks.

Spent today making the last two locations (that are interactive.)  There are a few more used in the endings to do, but just the art, not the setup.  Can't really share any images of this area because I think it would be too spoilery.  Then to implement a few more mechanics, then it's in BETA!  (Edit: just changed the icon to 90%!  Yay!)

Yah seeing the history is really interesting... I would love you to go back and do a game with these visuals, they are damn tasty.

(http://bulk.destructoid.com/ul/104274-destructoid-intervierw-soundless-mountain-ii-s-jasper-byrne/Amnesia_SH2.png-468x.jpg)

Also totally stoked about hearing LS is almost done. :handthumbsupL::)

It's so nearly there now!

First ending is done, you can now play this path all the way through!  Next ending is in the works. Wanna share some pics but I'd rather not spoil it.

Left to do, in order of priority:

- Finish ending Y.
- New monster attack (have animation courtesy of Lazrool.)
- New opening dream (decided this is needed, shouldn't take too long.)
- Hotkey tutorials (decided '1' is for 'meat', '2' for flares, '3' for health tonic.  Preset, instead of equip option.  Just need onscreen text when you get the first of each.)

If I have time (or in v1.1):
- Cat sidequest.
- Area subtitles, eg leaving the apartment and entering the corridor, it would say "Wing Court, 2F", and entering next door it would go "Wing Court, Apt. 205" etc.
- Add endings "X2" / "Y2".

Then it's actually finished, and I'm onto:

- Website.
- Beta testing (if you'd like to be involved, drop me a PM.)
- Online DEMO.
- Promotion / sale.

Really interested to see what this sidequest means...

(http://www.jakobhaglof.com/items/lonesurvivor.jpg)

I love it, cheers for making it!  My second piece of fanart, I'm so happy!  :tearsofjoy:

This is exactly the kind of game that I love.

Also the atmospheric pixel work is incredible.

Just to say, I think LS is gonna reach beta status this week!  I'll be looking for some testers, a few at most, to fill out a feedback form etc, if anyone would be interested... Contact me via PM if you are.  Ideally I'll know your name from somewhere, and better yet you're more of a player than a designer (it's already had lots of designer feedback!)

Edit here is the new map, as the thread needs moar pics:

(http://www.superflatgames.com/WingCourt2F.png)

For me, this last part of the development is ridiculously hard and stressing... But keep it up! Your game is looking awesome, I can't wait to actually play it!

It is tough, going over everything, when you know it's the last time you can change it... so it always takes longer than you think until you're happy.

Really I've been polishing the game for several months now, it feels like there's not much more I can do at this point.  I have a few very small tasks left to do for the beta, so I'll be contacting anyone who's PM'd me very soon.  There's still space for one or two more if you'd be interested...  I do sort of need the commitment to try and play the game all the way through though (about 3-6 hours) and to answer a few questions based on the experience.  If you'd be interested, let me know, cheers!

It's very nearly there guys!!!

Whats the platform for this? I am up for testing it if I have the right device.

If i hadn't been flooded with work and school crap, I would have loved to help with the beta testing. It's going to be a guaranteed buy for me once it's released, pixel horror games are on the top of my guilty pleasure list!

CEDE, it's for Mac and PC and potentially Linux, although  I would need someone to do that build for me.  PM me if you're interested, though.

Everyone else, I have probably more than enough offers to reply to now, I'll pick the first three or four who most fit the player profile.  Thanks everyone for the offers!

Hey folks, just a quick heads-up... Sorry I've not replied to the people who PM'ed me about joining the beta test: I'll be letting you know very soon (the next day or two.). I'll pick the first five, so the places should already be filled, so thanks for all the offers!

Excited and nervous to share my baby with new people!

I've sent out the build to the first five or six who asked...  Good luck guys!  :coffee:

Finished it!  :tearsofjoy:

I'll be announcing the launch date in the next day or two.  Can't wait to share it with the world at last...

Congratulations on finishing, it's great to hear  :gentleman:

Woohoo - congratulations!

Oh congrats dude, really looking forward to giving it a whirl. :beer:

Congratulation! (I loved the IGF trailer)

:O there's even a release date date!

It might be sooner than you expect!  ;)

Thanks for the encouragement guys.  I'm actually really excited about it all over again, because it's come together and changed a lot in the six months since submitting to IGF. I was a bit disheartened with it at that time and somehow it feels like its been turned around.

Will be doing a new trailer in the next few days, got something in mind.

I hope it helps sell it as I've invested my life savings in this baby!

Wow, this looks amazing! I love those graphics and everything!

congrats! It's been fun following the development of this game, really hope it works out for you

YES! This has been on my wish list for a long time  :tearsofjoy:

Congratulations

Congratulations! Amazing visuals and atmosphere in this game it seems.

Too bad I don't like zombies or scary games... this looks like it will have a lot of both of those ingredients. I'm too chicken, I guess!

Congratulations!!! :beer:

Cheers guys!

I'm so hyper right now, so many things to do and get right for the launch.   I wrote a blog post announcing the launch date and price (http://superflatgames.com/wordpress/?p=708).  (Coming 27th of this month, in 11 days.)

I'm looking into something special I can include in the 'First Aid Edition', as a thankyou to patrons.

I'm working on the final tweaks to the new trailer, the music in it.

I'm finishing up the website mockup, and starting to assemble the website proper.

I'm making the final build with debug stuff removed and a bunch more small bugfixes.

I'm working out what's going to go in the demo and making on and offline versions of it.

I'm looking into other avenues of sales.

I'm getting the payment processing set up...

I'm sure there's more...

GOGOGOGOGOGO!

I bet it's a dog (http://youtu.be/kJlBN4fIBM0).  It's totally a dog (http://youtu.be/kJlBN4fIBM0).

 :durr:

How did you know!?

I've just been sending out the game to the press and blogs, it's really exciting and scary.  Let's see what happens, eh?

I'm so excited, and nervous!  :o  It's coming out in four days... Whew!

Could a mod move it to announcements around Tuesday?  Thanks guys.

Also:

http://www.lonesurvivor.co.uk (http://www.lonesurvivor.co.uk)

aww...no preorder...nevermind, will just wait for that.

It's 27.03.2012 here, but it's telling me to come back the 27.03.2012 :( "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY"  :handmoneyL: >:( :handmoneyR:

According to his twitter he's waiting on moneytaking to go live
https://twitter.com/#!/JasperByrne

As soon as the store is up, I'll be posting, don't worry! :tired:  :o

It's here! (http://superflatgames.com/wordpress/?p=737)

@mod: could we move to Announcements, please?

Best bet is to message one of them, or they might not notice and congratulations  :gentleman:

Yay! Congrats on the completion. Just played through the demo so I'll make sure to pick up the full game soon. It's really good! It's very polished indeed, I love the fact that you even included little details like the flash light affecting the visibility of the map screen.
I know that's not really a spoiler but just in case some people didn't want to know :)
Nice job!

Finally! Congratulations :D I'm gonna grab this as soon as possible <3

Purchased :)

Played the demo, got sold on it, bought the damn beast straight away.

Now, if you excuse me kind sir, I have some surviving to do  :gentleman:

Congrats! I'm picking it up later this afternoon.

EDIT: Bought.

You guys!  :eyebrows:

Btw, I'm really interested in hearing people's interpretations of the plot, the answers are all in there somewhere, despite how it looks!

Huzzah!

The Soul Brother soundtrack is a nice bonus.

Wish I had the funds for the First Aid edition.  Ah well, glad to support more games to come, however I can.
 ;D :toastR:

Congrats man. :) I'm going to save up for the first aid edition.

Buying it now!

Any possibility of a Steam version?

What's the diff between Soul Brother OST (first 1200 to buy standard version) and Lone Survivor OST (with the first aid)?

Soul brother is a game he made for Adult Swim.

oh

I've bought it, but when I start the game on my macbook pro it's just a black screen and the music :( maybe a bug or my machine? Luckily I've got windows installed on it too, so I'll try that later :D

I'm not sure how this slipped by my radar since now. I played through the demo twice now and absolutely love it. I'm thinking about buying it, but I've got a couple concerns (which I directed to your Twitter earlier and am still waiting to hear back)

Basically I'm not sure if I want to play it as a browser-based game, so I'm hoping it's a PC download that can be full-screened. I'm also hoping that you'll consider integrating gamepad controls at some point. If those two things are go, then I'll definitely buy it!

It is a download, you don't play the purchased version in a browser. I don't know about gamepad, but it's perfectly worth its price without it :)

its made in flash, so you'd have to use joy2key to get gamepad to work.

It is, and it can be.

Just bought the game, and I have played it a little bit. It was totally worth it, and it is a really well made game. I'm also happy that it included the Mac and Windows version wit the purchase.  ;D

Picked the game up yesterday but only had time to play 20 minutes or so. Loving the atmosphere so far :)

Thanks guys!  I'm so happy and relieved that people actually like it!!!

Congrats on finishing this.

I know how great it is to finally be finished with a game and no longer be obligated to keep working on it.

Likin' it so far. Question: do any of you have strategies for evading enemies when you don't have a hiding spot? Ammo is in short supply but enemies are not.

I will purchase as soon as possible. Looks amazing. I played sounless mountains and was a nice tribute.

this looks really cool. i just snagged a copy to give it a proper playthrough. kudos on the neo-SNES styling.   :coffee:

This game is just brilliant. Best spend 10 bucks ever :D

So I just finished my first play-through of Lone Survivor last night. It took me two play sessions and about three and a half hours to finish. Consider this post my review for the game.

Before I begin, I would like to say that Lone Survivor was probably one of the best indie games I've personally played. When it comes to modern games, I like to see stuff that has a retro vibe by emphasizing pixel art, but does some new things that games from that era couldn't, and Lone Survivor captures this perfectly. Another reason I really liked LS is because it's very much like a couple indie games that I've worked on but never finished; both being side-scrolling horror games and one being pretty much Lone Survivor but with Lovecraftian horrors instead of faceless zombies. Needless to say, this game struck a huge chord with what I'm interested in.

First off, the game's presentation is top-notch. The world just drips with atmosphere and ambiance. This is something you don't always find in games, but it's one of my favorite things to see. The UI is simple enough and the pixelated visuals with their accompanying effects are very strong, as demonstrated in both the screenshots and videos, but they look even better when you've got them full-screened on an HDTV. The controls were simple enough that you could easily map them to Joy2Key and interface with a gamepad, which is what I did since I was playing on a TV; it felt great.

As mentioned before, the game's most stunning feat is its atmosphere. This is achieved by the level of detail in the environments, the crisp and rich sounds effects, and the interesting choices of music. This game is what you'd get if you put Silent Hill, the original SNES Clock Tower, and some David Lynch into a blender. The result is nothing short of delicious. Snappy, toe-tapping lounge music springs up in some of the oddest places, you'll hear the scraping shuffle of faceless monsters coming down the halls; the audio in this game is just as important as the visuals when creating the experience.

As for the game's mechanics, they're simple but also effective. It's really nothing new in terms of your standard survival horror fare, but there's a nice extra measure of detail added in. For example, it's fun to cook food on your stove and then eat it. This might be a tedious task in real life, but in this game it's a reward. The game almost revolves around menial tasks from cooking your food to watering plants to feeding cats; it all enriches the experience in a way that's both familiar and rewarding.

The game falls short, however, in terms of level design and layout. The learning curve for establishing a good sense of direction in this game is very steep and it's often not clear which doors will lead where. Cross-referencing your position with the map happens frequently, and it takes the extra effort of translating your place in the 2D side-scrolling world to the top-down position on an X/Y map; it can often be tedious and still remain unclear. There was even the matter of passages themselves not being obvious enough; I went through at least 3/4ths of the game before I found a simple item (the can opener) that would have been essential to my survival from the start.

Speaking to the game's drawbacks, I would also say that the ending fell a little flat for me. Apparently this is a game with more than one ending, but the ending I received provided me with no clear resolution to any of the characters. This felt like a disappointing finale to an otherwise superb game. In many ways, the entire ending felt unfinished; when I got to the last area I was expecting one last zone to explore but it ended up being a linear point-A-to-point-B experience with almost nothing in between besides locked doors that felt like they were intended to hold more precious minutes of gameplay. I don't think I wasn't expecting the ending to come so soon because the climax of the game happened but then there was a marked lull between that climax and the actual end, which would have been even longer provided I had gone off to explore other areas.

All in all, Lone Survivor is a work of art, but is it worth the $10? While the game boasts a lot of detail in an insanely immersive and atmospheric world, it doesn't exactly bring anything new to the genre and fails to deliver in the end. Despite having multiple endings, there doesn't seem to be a lot of replay value; I would have much rather had more content near the end. Though I think for fans of the genre as well as the indie community, the price is acceptable and worth the experience. Overall, I'd rate this game 8.0 out of 10; I'd give it a 9 if it provided more content and resolution towards the end, but it was otherwise a great game.

Bought! Will come back with feedback after I play the game  :lol:

I really like the art style you have here, I'll try it when I can!  :coffee:

Congrats on getting your game finished, it's very inspiring! Hope to try the game out soon.

ITS ON STEAM YO (http://store.steampowered.com/app/209830/)

ITS PLAYED BY GIANTBOMB YO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbEuj3ewu68)

You, sir, are the David Lynch of video games. Don't ever stop.

P.S. are you still planning to release HAL?

Just finished the game today and I promised that I'll come back with feedback, and here I am!

!!!! MAY CONTAIN SPOILER !!!

I love this. I love how scary it is regardless of it being a pixel-art game. The atmosphere is terrific and it makes me paranoid on every move I make. The details you gave to this game is really impressive, from the choices of food you can eat and the effects of your actions. ( Using drugs, giving drugs, etc...) I'm really impressed and I find myself really enjoying this game.

The only part I don't like is the way the story is told. It is frustrating. It's the same 'You know the answer', 'You know me', etc. I know you want to keep it a mystery, but everything is so mysterious and surreal that it becomes quite annoying. And after all these mysteries have been built up, the ending was a let down and anticlimactic to me. I sat there watching the ending and I was like 'That's it?'

I share the same opinion on the level design as well as the top-view-to-side-view translation issue. I was stuck, not knowing what to do or where to go once, when I had no more ammo nor flares and I have to go through a bunch of thin men in order to get the generator key.

I've searched and found out that there are three endings so far, none offer any good explanation or any supporting evidences that are enough for player to interpret anything, so I'm a bit disappointed. I've heard you might add more endings, and I really hope you do and give us a finale that this great game deserve.

With that said, I'm a big fan of horror games and this really satisfied my hunger for a great horror game. I'm looking forward to your next game and if you need any support or donation, I'll be glad to help in anyway I can :)

Thanks for an awesome game!

Where can I get this it looks really cool and reminds me of a 16-bit silent hill.

http://www.lonesurvivor.co.uk/buy.html (http://www.lonesurvivor.co.uk/buy.html)

thanks!

Hey there, I haven't written in this thread for a while, and it feels nice.

That Lone Survivor game what I made is on sale today for 35% off for the next 10 days, or with Cave Story+ / EDGE and two more games for $10 for today only on Steam Sale.  Just thought I'd let you know in case you'd been planning to pick it up.  Cheers.

Hey Jasper, is Lone Survivor originally a .swf and if so, how did you wrap it for Steam?

Really nice screenies, good luck with it.

Hi seagaia, it is an Air build, so not a pure swf, it uses file system stuff and so on. On Linux it is a flash projector though... Wrapping it for Steam is just a case of using their in-house tools, which I think have changed recently - hopefully so 'cos they wre really arcane / hard for a non-hardcore coder like me, when I used them!

Got that bundle, haven't played it yet, but I probably will soon.  Only played Cave Story and Edge so far.

I got it as part of a Humble Indie Bundle... and I first realized it was your doing, Jasper, when I saw some old mockups of yours on the mockup thread and though "Gee, that lighting system seems familiar..." then noticed the link in your sig. ;D

Congratulations on a great game!


Only regret I have is that there are too many keys for me to use my NES replica gamepad :P

Cheers dude!  So glad you enjoyed it...  I also use a replica Famicom pad, but with shoulder buttons, X+Y ones etc.  Just enough to get all of them on there!

Did you design the game around your gamepad? Or was it an afterthought?

I ask mainly because I got my NES pad specifically to force myself to design for it.

Also, since I finally have an excuse to brag about it:

I definitely designed it around the keys, because that's what most people will use, but I always try to keep things to a minimum - of course this game's got quite a few modes of input, being an action-adventure kinda thing, so it was a struggle...

somehow I've been working on this for another year.

i really must finish it one of these days (that day is supposed to be today)

(see blog below!)