silent hill Request for help on Project

[Valtiel 0]

I have a Design for a game and want some feedback and/or help with it. I've been messing around with RPGmaker VX Ace and 2003 for a little more than a year now. I was hoping to make a sort of Horror game for my first official Project. I'm working on a Mechanic where the player has a limited inventory. Similar to Parasite Eve. You can collect Book bags In order to increase the amount you can carry. The Difficulty will be reminiscent of Dark Souls. The Enemies will be only hard if you don't the equipment for them. The Combat will be turn base however. Should there 1-4 characters in a party or 1-8? Or maybe just 1?

I was think of having the Aesthetic of Silent Hill but not actually copying off of it. I have no intention of making this a Silent Hill Clone. I was thinking of only having a 4 common enemies and 7 seven bosses. Each representing a form of Suicide.

The Broken Man - The Broken Man has the top part of his head missing. His bottom jaw is still there but the top part his head is missing. He wears a tuxedo and holds a Six-Shooting Revolver with only 5 bullets left. I was thinking of having metal wires protruding out of his throat. What is your opinion on that.

I can probably do the writing and event layout. Its just I'm a terrible Artist and Map designer. If anyone could help with that it'd be greatly appreciated.

Please give feedback. Whether Good or Bad.

[Tsarmina 2,612]

I think working on a good plot would also beneficial (unless you're planning on making one of those more slash-and-hack style games, in which case I guess focusing on mechanics is much more becoming).

 

 

The Combat will be turn base however. Should there 1-4 characters in a party or 1-8? Or maybe just 1? 

I would refrain from 8 party members in turn-based combat, because that seems to be arduous. 1 seems too small to really use the full potential of the turn-based combat, especially in a game where you're fighting a lot of monsters--having a compact party would be really nice

[Valtiel 0]

Thank you! I don't want to work on a plot just yet. I want to build my mechanics first. So i don't have to constantly configure in between the two. Building mechanics and levels around story would be a mess for me honestly. I'd honestly want to do a compact story. A sort of story where to the player everything seems all in important in the beginning but eventually goes all for naught. Like every thing the player did didn't matter. Of course there will be multiple endings. Each ending however will end badly however. Would surviving be the best ending only to go insane and never have anyone believe you.

[TheManlyFairy 51]

What you're going for is not simple, so let's dissect the two major ideas you're going for here:

 

On one hand, you want this to be a horror game. These types of games rely mostly on common fears such as darkness, grotesque monsters, and solitude amidst insanity. On the other hand you also want this to be a game with battle mechanics wherein you are able to vanquish said horrors along with other party members.

 

The ability to search and destroy the monsters that you are suppose to be scared of kinda take away their ability to scare you in the first place. It would be like playing amnesia and being able to kill the monsters, which would lead to their appearance, real or hallucination, not frightening at all because you know you can drive them back or kill them instead of having to run for your life. This fear is especially minimized if you are not alone but rather with other people who are also able to do the same.

 

In RPG Maker games especially, horror comes from the scenery, sound and ambient noises. Try searching youtube for let's plays of games like Mad Father and The Witch's House, both of which are amazing horror games absolutely without combat and yet just as terrifying as Silent Hill or Amnesia when played in the dark, I think it will really inspire you.

Edited November 5, 2015 by TheManlyFairy

[Valtiel 0]

I guess I have to go with say a particular environment I want the player go through. It could be a prison,or something similar. I sorta wanted to make a game taking place in the remnants of a Nazi Concentration camp. It was taken over by something and you have to traverse the halls and ruins in order find out what happened

[+ Takeo212 1,079]

For a horror-esque battle system, I think 2 characters would be ideal. The protag and maybe an ally (or many allies that switch throughout the game.

 

Maybe even have 

1 protag throughout.

Every so often, a new ally temporarily joins you to help take down some common enemies/bosses.

End boss, all allies team up with protag and take down main boss.

 

But yea, ideally in my opinion, 2 characters seems like a nice balance. Not to strong and overwhelming.

If you are making strong enemies though, then I dont recommend alot of encounters. Grinding is a bad thing in horror games since it gets tedious quickly. Maybe evented battles for story are best, and maybe a few on map encounters that are optional/escapable.