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TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogsThe Dark Experiment - 2D Action Horror
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Author Topic: The Dark Experiment - 2D Action Horror  (Read 10339 times)
KevinTillman
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« on: June 30, 2016, 12:26:20 AM »

Update 8/31/16

New Devlog Video Series created







The Dark Experiment is a pixel art action platformer with an emphasis on horror.

The player must navigate through unique locations to discover the cause of
a virus outbreak that has plagued a local town on the outskirt's of the city.




You play as agent Delilah, who started as a new recruit at the M.C.A two months ago. She has been recently asked to investigate a case involving a young girls disappearance from a small town not too far from the inner city. Upon arriving at the town just before sundown Delilah feels a sense of uneasiness about her surroundings, everything is just simply too quiet and the town looks very unsettling.

The M.C.A has a history of investigating strange minute appearances and events involving individual attacks and random kidnappings. But no real clear evidence has come to exist on these strange activities.

The Dark Experiment incorporates detailed high-res pixel art graphics, with rich dynamic ambient lighting and particle effects to simulate explosions, blood and gore.




Use a variety of weapons to kill or even obliterate monsters from combat knifes, assault rifles, grenades, a flamethrower and even high powered weapons. Use a variety of different throw-able objects such as an M.C.A engineered tear gas to blind and confuse certain monsters who aren't immune to it.


Interact with a variety of unique and interesting NPCs who's lives have been effected by the virus outbreak. Some will offer information, have weapons for sale or even act hostile towards you because they may have something to hide.


There is a collection of very unique and versatile monster types: slow, fast, airborne, kamikaze, small, big and bigger. Each monster has a unique way of thinking and different attack patterns. You will need to have your wits about you and think quickly as some monsters will come running at you with no hesitation.


Bosses in the game are a force to be reckoned with and will not be easily defeated. You will need to be quick on your toes and use strategy to outwit them in a battle. Bosses have unique attacks and intelligent ways of thinking how to kill you.


Interact with items you may find in crates, barrels or simply laying around throughout the game world. There are many different items you can find such as keys to unlock doors, virus samples, healing items, ammo pickups and a lot more.


You will be able to explore multiple locations aside from the town in a true platforming experience.



Development on The Dark Experiment started about two months ago. So far the game is coming along at a really great pace.

I have not began level building yet, the interior and exteriors that you see are currently used to test out beginning stages of gameplay such as simple movement, firing weapons, setting the mood of lighting etc. I plan to have a major update showcasing platforming soon after I am done prototyping a little bit more gameplay functionality and animating a few more baddies.


There will be full game pad support. The control setup works well together allowing the player to run, roll, knife, duck, shoot, jump, climb ladders as well as talk to NPCs and open doors.

You are welcome to provide any ideas, feedback, questions and/or concerns you may have throughout the development process of this game.

Thank you for checking out The Dark Experiment!


« Last Edit: August 31, 2016, 11:07:16 AM by KevinTillman » Logged

TonyManfredonia
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« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2016, 04:36:32 AM »

The girl reminds me of Daphne from Scooby-Doo Tongue. Really neat work! I look forward to more. Great stuff on the animations so far, too Smiley
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KevinTillman
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« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2016, 12:22:52 PM »

The girl reminds me of Daphne from Scooby-Doo Tongue. Really neat work! I look forward to more. Great stuff on the animations so far, too Smiley

lol you mean Velma? the main character has those same thick glass and brown color palette so yea I can see that resemblance.

Thanks for the feedback as well, I want each enemy to have their own unique animation to help sell their individuality.

« Last Edit: August 31, 2016, 10:21:38 AM by KevinTillman » Logged

jordanchin
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« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2016, 12:50:42 PM »

Whoa! This thing looks great. Love those character designs.
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maruki
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« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2016, 01:11:16 PM »

Cool! This is a game I'd play. The character designs are nice too. I would just tweak the 1px legs a bit because I don't like 1px legs. But that's just my personal taste. Will be following. :D
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KevinTillman
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« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2016, 04:03:13 PM »

Whoa! This thing looks great. Love those character designs.

I appreciate your compliments about the game and character designs Jordan.
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KevinTillman
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« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2016, 04:07:59 PM »

Cool! This is a game I'd play. The character designs are nice too. I would just tweak the 1px legs a bit because I don't like 1px legs. But that's just my personal taste. Will be following. :D

Thanks maruki for your compliments and feedback. Yea the 1px legs I may change not too sure yet. Also thanks for following I will have some great updates soon.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2016, 01:13:12 AM by KevinTillman » Logged

TonyManfredonia
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« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2016, 04:59:01 PM »

The girl reminds me of Daphne from Scooby-Doo Tongue. Really neat work! I look forward to more. Great stuff on the animations so far, too Smiley

lol you mean Velma? the main character has those same thick glass and brown color palette so yea I can see that resemblance.

Thanks for the feedback as well, I want each enemy to have their own unique animation to help sell their individuality.

LOL Yes, I meant Velma. Goes to show how long it's been since I watched Scooby-Doo ^^;

I'm glad you got what I meant, though! Keep up the fantastic work :D
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« Reply #8 on: June 30, 2016, 05:00:17 PM »

Lol I love the characters and monsters, keep up the great work!
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KevinTillman
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« Reply #9 on: June 30, 2016, 09:51:24 PM »

The girl reminds me of Daphne from Scooby-Doo Tongue. Really neat work! I look forward to more. Great stuff on the animations so far, too Smiley

lol you mean Velma? the main character has those same thick glass and brown color palette so yea I can see that resemblance.

Thanks for the feedback as well, I want each enemy to have their own unique animation to help sell their individuality.

LOL Yes, I meant Velma. Goes to show how long it's been since I watched Scooby-Doo ^^;

I'm glad you got what I meant, though! Keep up the fantastic work :D

Lol yea same here, though the newest Scooby Doo does have a cool art style and thank you for the kind words.
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KevinTillman
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« Reply #10 on: June 30, 2016, 09:52:31 PM »

Lol I love the characters and monsters, keep up the great work!

Thank you for the compliment mzn528. Will show more soon.

« Last Edit: August 31, 2016, 10:33:49 AM by KevinTillman » Logged

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« Reply #11 on: July 01, 2016, 11:31:26 AM »

Here is a video I created about a month ago showing the basics of the item and weapons menu. The player can only hold so many items at a time as well as maybe 2-3 weapons at max. The UI's color palette may change to compliment the games logo.

The menu includes items, a map of the area, weapons, game options and a journal.

I plan to have the journal hold information the player has received from documents laying around, a monster log of enemies strengths and weakness. Info on npc's, weapons, items etc.

Currently no items are in slots but I will have an updated video showing how it all works. For example with an ammo case, its icon will be shown as well as text underneath displaying how much ammo is actually in the case.

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jordanchin
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« Reply #12 on: July 01, 2016, 11:49:20 AM »


The player can only hold so many items at a time as well as maybe 2-3 weapons at max.
I plan to have the journal hold information the player has received from documents laying around, a monster log of enemies strengths and weakness. Info on npc's, weapons, items etc.


Looking swanky! I like the idea of having really minimal inventory space and having to collect info in addition to weapons...taps into that survival horror mentality I've been missing ever since RE2.
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lobstersteve
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« Reply #13 on: July 02, 2016, 04:49:37 AM »

That looks cool Smiley
I'm always intrigued aboout pixel-art horror. I chicken out on higly detailed horror games, but pixel horror games are more about atmosphere and are still "pleasant" to play for me Smiley
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« Reply #14 on: July 02, 2016, 06:47:03 AM »

That's a lot to show for just 2 months of dev! It looks like combat will play a fairly significant role, based on all the weapons and enemy designs you've already got? So you're aiming for a more active horror, vs. a more isolated/atmospheric one?
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« Reply #15 on: July 02, 2016, 07:07:34 AM »

Thanks guys much appreciated. The older Resident Evil series such as 1 and 2 are one of the main inspirations for this games ideas and gameplay mechanics. I wanted to create my own spin on things with 2D pixel style graphics, dynamic lighting, particle effects and try to create something new and interesting.

I want to create a world inside this game where the environments tell a story of their own. Homes that have boarded from monsters entering. Interiors torn up from monsters looking for prey etc. Or even some monsters may be hiding inside abandoned homes that you can enter while in the town you never know.


Some homes in the town that you can access will have people who just seem plain weird and are acting like nothing is wrong at all. Once I begin level design and layout in Photoshop I will be taking these things into account.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2016, 07:42:08 AM by KevinTillman » Logged

KevinTillman
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« Reply #16 on: July 02, 2016, 07:11:47 AM »

That's a lot to show for just 2 months of dev! It looks like combat will play a fairly significant role, based on all the weapons and enemy designs you've already got? So you're aiming for a more active horror, vs. a more isolated/atmospheric one?

Hey Pixel Noise yes I went back and looked at my timeline the other day actually its more closer to 3 months. I spent the first 2 weeks to a month doing nothing but spriting stuff. Then I animated the main player and started prototyping the 2nd month and its been 3 months total so far. Minor timeline mistake on my end but yes I am aiming for a balance of action and horror.

There will be an even amount of action to balance out the atmospheric horror while exploring.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2016, 07:35:35 AM by KevinTillman » Logged

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« Reply #17 on: July 05, 2016, 06:12:12 AM »


Hi everyone I am back with a minor update. Yesterday I began putting together the tile sets I created for the town and I put a few houses and a warehouse together to get an idea of the look and feel of the town. Each exterior is complimented with an interior which may or may not have multiple rooms, stairway to an upper floor, kitchen and/or bathrooms. This will leave room for exploration in dimly lit areas for Intel regarding the virus, ammo, items etc.



I am also in the process of creating more npc's in the game which speak to the player regarding whatever it is they have to say. Here are just a couple of many.



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« Reply #18 on: July 05, 2016, 10:03:55 AM »

My main problem with most horror games nowadays is that they almost always look too realisticly disgusting/unpleasant to the eye. The fact that you are making a horror game with a more cartoony art style is appealing to me. Nice work!
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KevinTillman
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« Reply #19 on: July 05, 2016, 02:26:42 PM »

My main problem with most horror games nowadays is that they almost always look too realisticly disgusting/unpleasant to the eye. The fact that you are making a horror game with a more cartoony art style is appealing to me. Nice work!

Hey Davi Vasc, yes this is definitely an issue with me too. I think going 2D with a survival horror game that plays just like the 3D ones that many people loved of yesteryear is a great way of doing things.

And thank you for the compliment as well.
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