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[bruce_stallion]

SeaSide Survival Horror

Get the prototype! http://www.indiedb.com/games/brighton-rot

Brighton Rot is top down survival horror shooter, set at the British Seaside. It is in equal parts inspired by Resident Evil, Left 4 Dead and Nuclear Throne. It is set in Brighton, obviously.
 
The local seagull population have become infected with a mutagenic virus (caused by eating contaminated chips) and have infected the local populace with a Zombie plague. This has wrought devastation and destruction upon the people of Brighton, most of whom are now undead. Some people react differently to the virus and develop bizarre and hideous traits.
As local Policeman Gavin Pritchard, you must find out what has happened and escape the city before you too become one of the shambling undead.

- Shoot zombies in the face with different weapons!
- Look at things!
- Solve puzzles in that survival horror style we all love ("will you take the lump of wax? Y/N ")
- Explore the local amenities



Oh god not another zombie TDS

I completely agree! However, as I mentioned above I'm more inspired by Resident Evil and Left 4 Dead than yer standard twin stick shooter.

Gameplay

I want the game to be a cross between Resident Evil and Nuclear Throne, basically. You will explore areas with your torch (which will run of juice). Ammo is limited, however by exploring you can find more ammo and more powerful weapons. There are a range of different enemies beyond the basic zombies which will require different tactics to overcome. The main thing is - you don't have to kill everything! Evading enemies is an important part of the game, luring them in one direction and then running away is definitely encouraged.

This game uses the Aura lighting engine module by Nocturne. I tried to write my own but his was soooo much better, so I gave up. Hey, that's allowed, right?

https://marketplace.yoyogames.com/assets/721/aura-surface-based-lighting

Enemies

ZOMBIES!


MORE ZOMBIES ON THE NUDEST BEACH



Boss Dude


The Plan

I have been working on this for a few months and its coming along nicely. I am at the stage where I am putting in the core game content and making 10000000 sprites and then dribbling and falling over.

I have not decided what the plan is - at the moment this will be a free game as I work full time and don't feel I would be able to dedicate the time to making something polished enough to sell for actual money dollars. BUT this may change! Watch this space.  

I use Gamemaker Studio. As someone who is primarily an artist / designer type and not a natural coder, it is a god send. Anyway, Hyperlight Drifter was made in GM so that makes me feel better about it. Still, I am making a TDS zombie game in Game Maker. I am the worst.

As mentioned above, there is a prototype.
http://www.indiedb.com/games/brighton-rot
It is a bit different to where the game is now, but I think the basic concept is clear.

I plan to post at least once a week, we shall see how that goes. If anyone wants to get in touch please PM me or get me on twitter @rabbitvsbear https://twitter.com/rabbitvsbear



Thanks!

Guy

[bruce_stallion]

A productive week! Got loads more done than I anticipated.

- Co-op is in and working. At the moment the camera follows player 1, with an arrow appearing on the edge of the screen to show where player 2 is. I might disable the enemy attacks when player 2 is off screen to avoid bullshit deaths.
- Friendly fire is on and it is pretty hilarious. When a player goes down the other player has 10 seconds to pick them up. If P1 dies then the camera switches to P2. Dead players are magically resurrected in the next area because games.
- I have added some new weapons, tweaked enemy ai (they are now much more fun and aggressive to fight against).
- altered the balance between the 'dark' and light sources, so its slightly more visible, but still a nuisance when the torch goes out.

The next plan is to get some very rough placeholder music written by the composer I'm working with (at the moment I'm using placeholder music that I dont have the rights too)and get a playable build together so I can get some feedback. I feel that it is important to do this before charging headfirst into making loads of new art / game content! I might do a proper gameplay video as well at some point.

Here's a preview of an enemy type - the Squirter. Don't let it get too near!



Here's a link to a more lengthy gameplay gif! Its a bit big to put here. Please excuse the embarrassing Gamemaker error message, duuh

https://gfycat.com/PiercingIdolizedEft

This week I will continue getting a build together and hope to have it ready soon!


Thanks

Guy 

[bruce_stallion]

I have an Indiedb page now and the prototype of Brighton Rot is now available to download!

http://www.indiedb.com/games/brighton-rot

Please feel free to send me any feedback,  even if it's critical! I need to know whats good and bad about the basic gameplay before I go any further and you guys know better than most.

Oh, I didn't mention in the readme, if your playing in co-op you can rescue your dying buddy if you get to them before the counter reaches 0. It's kinda important really.

The next step is to consider what to do next. I have had some thoughts about it.

- I think the game should be set in one location, like Resident Evil, with each room being a separate entity. This would allow more puzzles and unique encounters (and npcs).

- As much as I enjoy having the nudist beach in the game the inside sections seems tighter.

-I also want combat to be fraught but not your only way of engaging with the world.

- I need put more UI elements in. It's a bit too sparse atm


I will leave it a while before posting again, by then I should have finished a proper design document and have a better idea of where I am going with this.

ok, thanks guys! Hit me up at [email protected] or https://twitter.com/rabbitvsbear

cheers

Guy

[kythg]

I'm kind of hoping this game was inspired entirely as a pun on Brighton Rock and nothing else.

As for the game itself; it looks like it could be a fun little thing, but I feel like interesting level design and world building is where it has the potential to really stand out, but from what you've shown so far combat seems to be the primary interaction?

[Hephep]

Following! I love the arts, simple but efficient.

[bruce_stallion]

I'm kind of hoping this game was inspired entirely as a pun on Brighton Rock and nothing else.

As for the game itself; it looks like it could be a fun little thing, but I feel like interesting level design and world building is where it has the potential to really stand out, but from what you've shown so far combat seems to be the primary interaction?

I quite agree, at the moment its just a combat game, but the plan is to implement puzzles / exploration and focus on level design. I knew as I was whipping the prototype into shape that I'm not interested in making a straight forward TDS, I want to make a survival horror game. I'm now planning to make the game much more focused on one environment, much like the first Resident Evil (I'm not going to spoil it, but it really ties into the Brighton concept). While there will be plenty of fighting there will also be puzzles, story, traps and so on. The game on paper is much more interesting (I hope) than what I've made so far.

[bruce_stallion]

Hi, I've not updated for a while. I have been doing a lot of 'paper' work, trying to decide what to do with this project. I have also been putting in a proper inventory system (which works a treat but is currently dog ugly) and making the UI more efficient. This means that I can put in game interactions beyond 'shoot stuff', like puzzles, notes, more than one weapon held at once(!).

My main job has been deciding on the number and location of levels I am going to make - now I have to build them.

The game will visit:

The Pavilion



(I had thought about the idea of setting the whole game here, the idea was to make it a bit of a homage to the first Resident Evil. But then I decided this was bollocks).

The Royal Sussex County Hospital



has tons of hideous old wards to explore.

The Pier



Secret Death Labs



The secret Death Lab where the Zombie plague was developed....wait, what? That's not on the tour map

That's probably enough pictures of Brighton now, huh?

 So the game is going all over Brighton. It also has a plot. Simply put, Seagulls have been eating mutagenic chips (dumped in the sea by an ignorant Chemical company) and have mutated into Zombie Seagulls. They have been biting people on the seafront and unleashed the zombie plague which has caused Brighton to fall into chaos and ruin. You play Gavin, a depressed and over weight Policeman and Brighton's last hope.


 I have loads of art and design (and writing) to do before I can really show any more! 


Thanks to everyone who downloaded and played the prototype, that was nice of you.

Guy

[kythg]

The Pavilion is a great shout, the parks and gardens around it too!

[Hephep]

You play Gavin, a depressed and over weight Policeman and Brighton's last hope.

So hyped by the plot! keep going!

[bruce_stallion]

Hi! Apologies for the lack of updates over the last month and a bit. Working full time seriously impinges on my ability to work on my game for consistent chunks of time. I have not been lazy, however. I have been  making tilesets, new creatures, levels and loads of other stuff.

The game now has an overarching survival mechanic, where Gavin needs to keep his elderly parents alive while they wait for rescue. They will also talk to you and give you helpful parental advice. Gavin can then choose locations to raid, in any order he chooses, uncovering the story as he does so.

Other recent stuff :
- 7 new monster types, including this hideously mutated 'Mega Gull', most of which I will keep a little bit under wraps for a bit.
(right click and view in new tab if its not loading. Dunno whats wrong.)
- tilesets and backgrounds completed for Nudist beach, Pavilion gardens, Pier, Arcade, Pavilion interior
- streamlined weapons so you are limited to pistol, shotgun, rifle and SMG (each has their own strengths and weaknesses).
- made UI much more efficient

I'm going to be continuing to make art content, but I've started work on the level design as well. I hope to also get the survival aspects in there soon as well. Unfortunately (or fortunately I guess) the time I have to work on the game is limited by my job, but I have three weeks annual leave coming up, so  hope to make a dent in the LIST O DOOM. I will also update a bit more frequently!

[bruce_stallion]

I havn't posted for a good long while, but that's because I have been very busy making STUFF.

Significant progress has been made!

Since my last post I have :

- Finished the inventory system and got it working well in game.
- Made about 70 % of the total environment assets for the game (all of the Pavilion, pier, hospital and all of the  streets done and looking great.
- tweaked the various monsters to be be more interesting to fight
- changed the main player animations for running and shooting (you can only shoot/reload when standing still  - massively improves the tension)
- inserted and removed a mechanic where the zombies retreated from the light (wasn't fun in the end).
- sorted out 4 bosses and their location
- added fire.


I still have a couple of tilesets to make and I need to make loads more art assets, but I am now in a position to  start planning the levels properly as well as the ways that they link / are gated. RESI style puzzles are also required so I have been watching lets plays for 'research'.
The music is slowly being worked on, but Im still using Freesound SFX. I will need to come up with some sort of plan for this, as they are bit rubbish.

The biggest most horrible demon still to slay is the SAVE SYSTEM, which tbh is not something I have done before. The thought of it is making me a little sweaty. Also,  at some point (not just yet) I will need to put together a proper website and a video to show the game off. Still planning to be release for free, probably after christmas (HA), as to plan otherwise seems rather hubristic.




TOXO


Thanks! Will hopefully post next week as I'm off work and doing game dev full time for the next 2 weeks! WOO
Guy

[Hephep]

I want to see the video!! Keep the good work!