Corpse Wyrm

Ah, I didn't know that. Sometimes it's hard to tell. They just looked like a bush to me. I suppose I'll have to hunt down a hedge to replace them with at some point.

Thank you! I'm glad that they look good so far. And New England plays a large part in the story.

I've spent the last few days working on my first maps. Took me a bit of time to get used to the quirks of the program, but I think I'm getting the basics down and would like critique on what I've got so far. 1. This is the outside of the first area, which I modeled vaguely after the Archaeological and Historical Services in Connecticut. 2. The first room inside, the receptionist area: 3. The north room, your office. What do you guys think so far? Included the credits at the bottom, and everything else are my own edits of the listed resources. Credit:

Wish granted! Your wish was indeed unarguably infallible, but is the one and only correct thing you will have said or written from hereon out. I wish I wasn't tone deaf.

Miatas are great little sportscars. Friend of mine had a convertible, and I've lusted after them since. And yes. x3 I fancy myself an honest man.

Sure, why not.

I'm certainly glad to help on that! (And yeah, I definitely write a lot. Glad it proved useful, though! Won't quote you either, though, for sake of space as well.) I think moving that save is the perfect option. At least for players like me, then we won't be so worried about poking every available surface.

Looks like the answer to my own question was "I was really impatient and downloaded the demo immediately." Didn't get a chance to play it until this morning, and just finished up. First off, just wanted to note a couple minor bugs really quick: you can walk through the tombstone in the first scene (I'm not sure if right away, I only noticed after having already collected two of the music boxes), and if you're moving diagonally, you clip through the top corner of the bookshelves in the library. That was all I noticed, though, aside from the one that SpookyMothman already pointed out. All right, with that out of the way, now onto the good stuff! First off, I gotta say, I'm wowed by the sound. The ambiance is really incredible, and the music and sound effects definitely creeped me out more than once. In every area, the music really set the tone, and man there's nothing creepier than little kids and their assorted belongings. (The rocking horse, man. The rocking horse.) I'm not as big of an aficionado when it comes to the visuals and what is and isn't impressive when it comes to RPG Maker games, but I have to say I feel what you have works really well. The transitions between areas (like the hall to the forested area) is both unsettling but also blends very nicely. Plus, all the custom art is a huge plus for me. Just personally speaking, I like your style. It's not as crisp and clean around the edges as your out-of-the-box faux-anime style, and I think that suits the grungier atmosphere. From what I've seen, too, I enjoy the writing and characterization. I really enjoy the bits of humor when it comes to both the item descriptions and the "yes/no" options for Liam; they definitely provide a nice voice to the whole piece. Also, I feel both Liam and Vincent have their own distinct voices, which would be really important since they're going to be our main duo throughout. I feel Liam is very much a broody teenage boy, and Vincent definitely has a fairly sarcastic tongue. I've liked their interactions a lot, and occasionally poke Vincent just to see what he'd say. Also, I get this strange sense of anachronism from Vincent's dialogue as well? I understand it's set in the modern era, but he's mentioned having been there for a while. (But also, that time doesn't move the same in the Daze.) I actually count this as a point in favor of the writing. It seems a bit disconcerting at times, and both dated and modern simultaneously. A bit about the puzzles now, spoiler'd so as to not ruin it for anyone else: I appreciate the continued callbacks to the Librarian. There's a definite persistence of story here; the monsters aren't just confined to one room as a set up jump scare. There's an established pattern that reoccurs, and I immensely enjoy that. In that, I also feel there are a few "shotguns on the wall" that are waiting to come back into play. As a fan of survival horror/adventure games, I personally didn't mind the insta-deaths. To me, they all seemed pretty obvious as dangerous. Plus, the save points were nicely placed that I didn't ever have to do much over again, even as I was poking just about everything to see what it did. I personally didn't feel like there needed to be a cut-scene to explain the save points, but I don't think adding one would be out of place, either. Definitely nicer to your players if you include one. I think it was only slightly annoying before coming to the first save point. Again, because I was poking everything, I got myself killed in the first area twice, and then had to go through the intro to Chapter One again. (And you can't fast-forward through the text. Which I don't really mind, but did in those 20 seconds.) Definitely not a game-ender for me, but in the spirit of fairness, that was the only place I would have foreseen liking another save point. I can definitely see your inspiration from Ib, but not in a bad way at all. I absolutely loved Ib, and I feel this is a great game in the spirit of the genre. (Also, Ib has a lot more than two endings, at least now!) I'm absolutely looking forward to seeing more.

I'm new to both the forums and program, but I figure this can't hurt too much to put myself out there too. Strengths -- Writing: My main trade. I've always been a writer, and I consider myself exceptional. I've been very inspired by Gothic Romanticism (my idol is Poe) along with some early science fiction/political commentary works (1984, Brave New World and Animal Farm are among some of my favorite books). I'm particularly good at characters and character interaction. I've had people be moved by side-characters who have gotten only one scene. Of course, being a fan of Poe, I'd be remiss if I couldn't say that atmosphere was another strength of mine. I take setting the stage very seriously, and this permeates every aspect of my writing. Nothing will take me out of a story more than misplaced descriptions or dialogue. (Modern slang in a historical setting that isn't parody? Kill me.) -- Design: Although I haven't applied it to RPG Maker quite yet, I actually have a classical education in digital design. I'm a big believer in simplicity and impact; you won't see designs from me that are highly intricate or complex, but I always seek to make them memorable and easy on the eyes. I myself am very easily visually overwhelmed, so I like a certain crispness to design. I have significant experience with all Adobe products, but I'm particularly comfortable with Adobe Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and Photoshop (in that order). I've done logo and layout work, and am particularly fond of working with typography. With that said, I also have some fairly significant experience with XHTML and CSS, as I functioned for a while as a web designer for a handful of non-profit organizations. No other programming language yet, but I'm always excited to learn and I pick things up quickly. -- Editing & Critique: Being both a writer and a designer, as well as being very strongly opinionated, I consider myself very good at giving all sorts of critique, and no job is too big or too small. I find copyediting a fun way to blow off steam, so if anyone wants their dialogue or writing proofread, I'm your man. On a bigger scale, I'm always really happy to help with content editing. I'm more than happy to look at the big picture in a story and say what is and isn't working. I focus very much on flow, themes, atmosphere, and general character consistency and psychology. In that, I like being a sounding board as well, I have been told I am particularly good at asking the right questions to get the kinks worked out of a story. For visual mediums, I am also happy to give critique. Even though I don't consider myself much of an artist, I have enough experience that I can usually try and point out issues and what can be done, even if I can't execute it myself. When it comes to other designs rather than artwork, I feel I can offer even more assistance. Being easily visually confused can sometimes be a benefit; I have a much easier time pointing out what does and doesn't work in a piece, and how it draws your eye. I'm a pretty good test subject for "is this design too busy." I also consider myself articulate and detail-oriented, so I can usually always find something to say about a given piece, both good and bad. Hate the feedback "looks great" or "I like it"? So do I! I will always give you the blow-by-blow of what exactly I like and dislike, and why I think things do or don't work. Weaknesses -- Human Figure: Although I feel like there are a few things I can draw pretty well, the human figure isn't one of them. Hands down. There are other things I can draw, but that's just... not one of them. -- Music: I don't have a musical ear. At all. -- Easily Overwhelmed: This extends past visually. Sometimes I just don't allow myself to research things or else I'll stress myself out. I'll go to try and find the answer to one thing, only to come across two more questions and no answers, and three hours later I'll be in the shower sobbing having an existential crisis. I'm getting better about it, and really simplified, "I am going to assume you know nothing, not even how to add or walk"-type tutorials are great. Untested -- Spriting / Mapping / General RPG Maker Functions: Like I said, I'm totally new to the program. I poked at it over the course of a few days, but went into "information overload" in trying to read every tutorial I could and getting only progressively more confused. I had to put it down and work on my game on graph paper first, and have been slowly easing myself back into the program. I feel like I have a general idea of what makes a good map, and some experience with other digital artistic endeavors and coding, so I think that once the initial feeling of being overwhelmed passes, I'll be okay. However, I haven't actually done anything with it, so I can't say if I'm good or bad yet. And there you go. Yeah, this definitely did feel like an interview! Once I get more comfortable with RPGM-VXA, I'll try and edit this as well. ... and oh man, this turned out a lot longer than I thought it would! Mark me down for "verbose" as well.

Ahhh, and switch-flipping. Is there anyone who doesn't just solve those by randomly hitting them until they work? Usually if there are only a couple of switches (and in my experience, there are), process of elimination takes less time than actually figuring it out. These have all been really fantastic answers, and a lot of things I agree with and also things I didn't consider. (This might be strange, but I've been so indoctrinated by video games I completely forgot block puzzles were puzzles! I just always looked at them as "necessary obstacle to get from point A to point B," rather than a puzzle.)

Not font presets, found them on DAFonts. (Pomerole and Lightfoot Shadowed, but I'm not sure ifava Lightfoot is available there anymore. I'm an obsessive font collector.) They're also modified as well, but I didn't hand-draw them. The filigree is also a modified preset of actually the Pomerole font, which is pretty snazzy.

Ah, I didn't even think of the Celtic connection! Thank you for pointing that out to me. #3 and #4 were just quick color tests, so I obviously wasn't thinking. So far, #1 has come out the unanimous victor, so it seems to be the way I'm going to lean. Definitely going to make sure it won't disappear in the final; will likely change around the transparency and color based on the title screen's background. I'll certainly keep an eye out for the balance in the final as well. Thank you very much for your critique! It's been very helpful.

I started some preliminary design work today on the title logo of my first game, "House of Virtue." I think I have the basic idea of what I want, at least when it comes to the general shape. 1. 2. 3. 4. The "of" seems to be giving me the most trouble; I'm not certain which iterationI like best, although I'm leaning towards #1. I haven't settled on a color pallet for the title screen yet, so I was just trying out a few combinations at the moment to give me an idea, but I'd be happy to hear thoughts on that as well. Just for some basic background, in case it is helpful: "House of Virtue" is going to be a gothic survival/puzzle horror game, with some heavy Puritan overtones. (Think Nathaniel Hawthorne.)

Oh man, I love horror puzzle games! Creepy ambiance is perhaps my all-time favorite. This sounds and looks absolutely amazing, and I definitely can't wait to see more as it's totally up my alley. Not sure if I'm going to jump at the first openly-available demo, or wait until a full release so I don't get spoiled. I guess I'll see how impatient I am when a demo becomes available!

Haha! Yes, my username is sort of hard to shorten, I've realized. But I've had it across most platforms, so it's what I now use. Most people stick with "Wyrm" (or my friends have oft dubbed me "Wyrmbeastie"), but Corpy is kind of endearing. I definitely don't mind either way. Crossed arms are hard! Lots of foreshortening, particularly at that angle. Another great defiant, moody go-to pose is hands shoved in pockets, which is a great excuse not to draw hands! (Not that I've done that, no siree.) I'll definitely be interested in seeing more of his broody self.