Beta for the battle system out now!: Click Here.

Hello! I'm excited to create this new amazing project. If you read the title, you'll know that this game takes inspiration from Buckshot Roulette and Undertale. 

The reason I want to make this game:

The reason I want to do this is because the problem with a lot of  "RPG Horror" is that it's either not really that scary or it DOESNT EVEN HAVE ACTUAL RPG ELEMENTS! (Or who knows, I haven't played a lot of RPG horror like "Parasite Eve" or "Koudelka." so maybe I shouldn't talk so negatively). Basically, I wanna create an RPG horror game that has a unique take on "Choose your own adventure stories" and "RPG battle systems." Which is why I chose Buckshot Roulette as my choice for the battle system and why I chose Undertale for the "Choose your own adventure" part of the game. I liked how in Undertale your choices mattered (for example a Pacifist or Genocide run), because a lot of the RPG's that I played don't even have "Role Playing", and that's one of the reasons why I'm motivated to make this game so I can create a unique experience for RPG's. It's come to the point that it feels like RPG's are only known for battle systems and leveling up, which kind of sucks, because I would really like an RPG that has your choice matter.

More Detailed talk, on what I want to take from "Buckshot Roulette":

If you read the paragraph above, you'll know that I'm taking the battle system of Buckshot roulette and applying it to my game. This also applies for the items in that game. However, I do plan to change some things to make the battle system more interesting, like different guns, new items, and new enemies with unique choices to kill you.

More Detailed talk, on what I want to take from "Undertale":

I plan to take the "Pacifism/Genocide" route system into the game. However, I don't want that to be the only way to get endings so I can give this game a different "Choose Your Own Adventure" style to the game. For example, lets say you can pacify everyone, but you chose not to eat the "legendary cookie" in the snow world, and lets say that if you didnt eat that cookie, a meteor would crash land on all the people you pacified, giving you the "Uno Reverse Card Ending." Not a "Pacifist ending", not a "Genocide ending", nor a "Neutral Ending"... just an "Uno Reverse Card Ending," congrats... You played yourself. I really do plan to make a unique "Choose Your Own Adventure" style to this game.

Not sure what else I would like to take from Undertale other than that, but I've been thinking if I should have a more linear style to map making like Undertale, or a more open world map. The reason being that linearity is easier for storytelling, while open world is easier for exploring. I'm leaning more on the open world idea because I want people to choose what they want to experience and it helps with my "Choose Your Own Adventure" style to story telling so I might pick that instead. But who knows, I might change my mind.

Conclusion:

I'm really excited about making this game. There's so many ideas flooding through my brain and I cant wait to put them out. Of course if you feel the need to ask questions about this project, by all means ask me :)

I plan to make an update about this topic everyday, detailing what I'm doing with the game or maybe other stuff I'm considering of adding.

Update on the battle system:

Ok so i got all the basic stuff done with the battle system, so I'm gonna work on items. I'll focus more on making the enemy AI better later. Well... calling it AI is kind of stretching it. it's just basic code that makes the Enemy act. Although I still have some ideas to make it harder >:)

IF you guys have any ideas to give me for what type of items should be in the game, please by all means reply to this post :)

EDIT: also when i get the battle system done, ill hopefully have a playable test demo of the battle system on my account.

Update on what I’m working on:

ok I finished the most important items. I plan to add more items, but right now I want to work a little bit on the characters in my game.

DONT WORRY. I’m still making that battle system and hopefully release a test demo on MARCH. It’s just that… my battle system is technically almost done for a test demo. I just plan to add one more gun and new art. Now my test demo won’t have everything right off the bat though, I want 2 other guns and more items in the full game. It’s so I can keep the full game a different experience.

Update on my characters:

The approach I want to write with my characters is in a serious approach. I want every character to be “flawed.” However, I also want every character to have some sympathetic traits to make you feel bad for them. I feel that would best fit my game :)

as of right now I already pre planned some major characters, so I don’t need to work too much. I have 10 major characters haha.

To help me, I plan to make them based off the Enneagram personality traits. If you don’t know what it is, it’s a psychology tool to help find your personality. Kind of like “Myers Briggs” or “the big 5”

 ( some people who are apart of the Enneagram community don’t like calling it a personality typing system because it’s technically a lot more than that)

Quick Update: 

I didnt really do anything today unfortunately. It's just that i had a lot to do. Also I said in the previous post that I was working on the characters, but to be honest I only worked a little on the characters, and went right back to working on the battle system. It's just so fun working on it.     :D

I'll see what I'll post tomorrow, but anyways as of writing this post I'm going back to working.

The battle system is going good :)

Ok, as of right now, I'm working more on the battle system and the AI for the enemy.

Specifically I'm creating a NEW item. The Swap Card.

if you use the swap card, you can swap one of your items with the enemy's items. But I'm not exactly sure if I should have that. I'm thinking I should just call it "steal card" and change it to where you don't need to swap one of your items so you can just take the enemy's item freely. Not sure if that idea makes it too OP, either way I'll let you guys know if I change my mind about it.

AI is going good. In the test build, he wont be the smartest thing on the planet, but that's not a bad thing, because in the full game, I want every enemy you encounter to have a different set of difficulty (so expect harder AI in the future.). So for now, the enemy's AI is kind of the same as Buckshot roulettes Dealer. I have a lot planned for the AI   :D

OK wow, the Ai took some time haha. I cant really say much today because I didnt get to do a lot. Unfortunately i had to help my Grandpa with his pickup truck, so not much i could do today. But I will list off some of the things i got to do. First of all I renamed the swap card. yep I've decided on calling it "steal card" now. also I did a little bit of AI work. Sorry, had a tough day today DX

But just to let you know I'm thinking about making a partner/party system. I mean, what's an RPG without a party member :D

However... don't count on it being in the game, because I'm not sure if I should implement it. Sorry if that sounds weird, I'll probably explain the hurdles of developing it when I upload the battle test demo.

SO KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED, because I'll see if I can add party members in the Battle test demo.

Update on the items and AI:

Hey guys, everything's going great right now. I'm still focusing on the AI and items, though. I'm actually almost done with the items, I just need to work on the steal card... Well, ok I actually have another item planned. THE TARP. 

The Tarp item is used to cover your items so the opponent cant see them, also the enemy has its own set of items so it can use the tarp too. The only problem with that, is the "steal card." If you cant see the enemies items, then how can you steal them? I've been thinking if the tarp should restrict the steal card (but I kind of hate restricting game mechanics -_-) or maybe the steal card can be used to see the enemies items even with the tarp (but I don't know if that's too OP). I'm trying to find a balance /:

Also I'm going to have to go back and help my Grandpa today. So I might as well make this update post right now before I get a call from him.

Update on the art style for the game:

I'm just testing out certain styles, that I want for my game. I've been thinking of doing pixel art, but I really wanna do a crayon art style. I know that doesn't scream horror but I took some examples from Walten Files.

The character art in my game probably wont be as uncanny as the images below, but i might take some inspiration.

(if the images don't appear let me know with a reply.)

But yeah, I was inspired by Yoshi's island's art style (weird, i know)

I'll get back into making the AI and Items, I just wanna do some art experiments. Oh yeah! also about the whole "Steal Card vs Tarp" fiasco in the update above. I've decide on just making the steal card able to see the items. After all, you have only a limited set of some.

Short Update: 

sorry for such a late post. not much I could add today, other than I've been really loving the crayon  art style for my game. I really want it in the game, I Hope everyone else likes it too.

Now that it is March, I'm sure a lot of you are wondering what day on March, as I did say I would probably release the battle test demo around that month. So when will it be released?  I'm hoping around March 22 - 31. But anyways I still wanna test out some art designs for my "dealer"... Yeah that's it, not much I could say ):

Don't worry I'm gonna get back into coding, I'm just still working on the art designs. I'll see if I can show some artwork tomorrow.    :3

Update on the artwork:

Hey guys, I'm still working on the art design for my "dealer." So I unfortunately wont show his design, but I will show 1 cut design.

So yeah this design wont appear in the final game. The reason being that I thought that it would be too cliché for an analog horror inspired design, so I chose to do something a little more original. Also I remember it was based of a analog horror series, but I cant remember what it was. STILL LOVING THAT CRAYON ART STYLE THOUGH.  Especially with the scribbly outline, I think it looks cool, so ill probably use that for every character :D

(If your wondering what art program I use, it's "Krita")

EDIT: I found the analog horror series that this image was based on. 

Items and Ai update:

Sorry guys, another mini update. I only got to do a little coding. I’ll see if I can do a little more. just taking a break.

I finished the “tarp” item. Just need to focus on some things in the enemy AI

I’ll see what I can post tomorrow.

Update on the AI:

IM ABOUT TO FINISH THE AI. I remember on one of the early post I said "all i need to do is add a new gun and some artwork and I'm finished". APARENTLY NOT LOL, the Ai and items made me realize I had a lot to do. But now... all I need to do, is add a new gun and some artwork. Unless I'm missing something or I find a bug, but I've been testing the AI out, its good enough for the beta test. 

for now on I'm going to call my "dealer" the "Opponent"

If you wanna know the differences between buckshot roulettes Dealer and the Opponent, then there's little to go over.

1. The Dealer uses items ASAP. The Opponent might do that but he sometimes doesn't.

2. considering the fact that i have more items in my game then buckshot roulette, the Opponent will see that you have a healing item, so if he has a "steal card", he might use that to help him heal.

3. continuing #2, this applies to knifes. if the Opponent uses the "magnifying glass" and sees a live round, then he'll use a "steal card" and take your "knife" so he can do double damage.

4. The Opponent has favorites compared to the Dealer. What do I mean by that? lets go back to steal cards for a moment. If the Opponents favorite item is a healing item and he has a steal card, he will most likely take the healing item than any other item.

But yeah anyways, I'm really close to finishing the AI. Still not exactly sure on the art design I wanna give him though. still testing that.

Edit: gonna take a break for right now.

Update on the bugs: 

So apparently the Opponent could use items he didnt even have... oops. 

Also when the Opponent used handcuffs, I would be cuffed for longer then usual due to a bug.

The only bug with the player is that he would do 19 damage when he shouldn't be able to. 

Update on AI:

The only thing I plan on doing is making the AI know what the last round will be in the gun (just like the Dealer from Buck shot roulette). Everything is finished with him unless you count his bugs.

 I'll see what I can do tomorrow, I have a plan for what i want to do with battle animations.

What about items?

I like where i am right now, i think all the items I have are where i should stop, so don't expect any more items unless anyone else has a good idea.

EDIT: I forgot to mention there will be two new items in the test build. But I'm not gonna talk about them >:3

Any news about art?

Im probably gonna do art tomorrow but i really wanna focus on the coding.

He's hiding in the Shadows.

Art Update:

I finished doing some art for the items.

Also i redid the the Opponents artwork (kind of).

It looks like the post I made above, but i did some slight features to make it look more like a crayon art style (also it wont have the black background so you can see his design). Basically,  I looked back at the opponents artwork and though it could use some tweaking to make it look better. Anyways cant wait for you guys to see all the artwork i did. I don't wanna show you a lot of the artwork until the battle test demo comes out.

ill probably do both art and coding tommorow, haha.

Update on bugs:

I almost forgot to make a post today. sorry i was trying to fix bugs all day lol. I wanted to do some more art but i was taking the longest time with bugs. I think everything is working now, im still gonna do some test to find some bugs though lol.

i hate to give you all another mini update, but hey, at least im getting closer to my march 22 deadline (i hope i make it)

Update on the story and full game:

since i didnt get to say a lot today, i thought maybe i can spill a bit of story. I'm not talking about the story in the battle test demo, i mean the FULL GAME.  

Basically, its a second person perspective story where you're trapped in a music box world (think of Wario land 3). Then you meet this guy whos body got fused to a mountain and now all you can see is his stone face (if that's confusing, think of Mount Rushmore) and he basically tells you go around and do whatever you want. since its an open world and a choose your own adventure game, there's many ways the story can unfold. However if you want a brief introduction to how the story is in this music box world... basically everyone is a bad person. Everyone seems to have an addiction problem, so they all do Russian Roulette to gain money, and its up to you to save everyone or join the world in their conquest for addiction... and of course many other different endings you could get, but that's besides the point.

Art Update:

I've been doing some battle animations. it was a little hard to get them working but i got some done. I'm very proud of them even if they're a bit simple. Gonna finish the rest in a little. 

Bug Update:

fixed some of the Opponent AI (so glad I got this done.) still need to make him a bit smarter though.

I'm honestly so glad to be almost done with the battle test demo, as theirs also other things i want to focus on... Like scorespace #29 jam, BUT DONT WORRY, I plan to still make some updates about ideas I plan on doing when I'm making a game for the jam. :3

I'll try to see if i can add a partner system in the battle test demo, but I'm not sure if it'll have time. by all means I'll let you guys know.

Ideas about the ACT system:

Yeah, just like Undertale i plan on making an ACT system so you can pacify people. However it's different from Undertale. You have to deploy certain strategies for each character, but anything you say can make them happy, scared, sad, or angry. Also a bit of randomization can dictate their attitude sometimes. 

A cool thing about the ACT system is that you can find about a persons life to make pacification easier. I didnt like how Deltarune used a lot of gimmicks for its ACT system, while it was fun, I wanted a more complex and interactive way to pacify people. 

don't expect the act system to be in the battle test demo though.

Miscellaneous Update: 

Ok so for right now my battle test demo will have some assets that don't fit crayon art style for the game. This is because I want to finish it for the march 22 deadline. Also i guess me calling it the "battle test demo" is kind of wrong. It's more like "beta battle test demo," because of course I want a more finished battle experience in the final game.

AND BY ALL MEANS, when the beta battle test releases, tell me if you ever find bugs (you can do a recording to find bugs if you want :3)

right now I'm gonna work on some more crayon art and building the game scene. 

Also i might have to lay off working on the video game from March 14-16. I have to baby sit some kids on all those three days, but ill see if i can still make some updates :3

FALSE ALARM

I dont have to take care of my nephews for 3 days. i just had to take care of them for today :)

so i can keep working on my game. I'm gonna go back to working on the game scene really quick. Thank you all for staying and reading the updates, sorry if this is another short update with nothing much of value to talk about, I just got done with needing to take care of my nephews and want to go back to working on the game haha.

Art Update:

I've been doing some animations for the weapons since I finished the items. However I'm having some problems with SFX. I'm trying to figure out what sounds good.

Game Scene Update:

Basically the game scene starts with you and the Opponent and then (Just like buckshot roulette) you get to make your name. However after that he tells you to pick the items you want. Yeah so unlike Buckshot roulette, you actually get to choose your items rather than be given random items each round. Now comes the important part... Picking your weapons. As I said in an earlier post, there is 3 weapons as of right now. Revolver, Shotgun, and Tranquilizer. After that the first match starts :D. 

Anyways I'll talk more about the game scene in another update if I have time tomorrow.

Art Update:

Ok I finished everything i need for item & battle animations. I'm very proud of them, even if they're simple. I was holding off from showing them to you guys, but i might as well show their design since i don't have much to show. 

Handcuffs

Tarp

Steal Card

Red Flag

Knife

Four Leaf Clover

Eye Card

Admittedly these kind of look... childish

They're poorly filled in and i didnt use a lot of art tools like the "line tool" which causes the items to have wonky lines instead of perfectly straight lines. However, (you can probably tell) I used a circle tool to make the handcuffs.

So why did i do this?

Well, it's because I want to give of the idea that a kid made it. So the whole idea of it being poorly filled in, is a design choice. Also, a kid with a piece of paper isn't going to make perfectly straight lines as well. This is something I realized with the Opponent. I used a straight line tool and also a mirror tool. I also didnt like that i colored him in too much, to the point that the crayon style... didn't really look like a crayon style.  I fixed him a bit by using some eraser tricks, but I'm wondering if i should totally redesign him again. 

Anyways, all I have to do is just some little finishing touches and making a walking sprite for the Opponent, so I can be done with art.

Art Update:

I took such a long time figuring some stuff out with the battle backgrounds. I realize I probably shouldn't have worried about it too much, because i spent HOURS on it. I'm sorry guys lol, i need to keep in mind that there's other important stuff I need to work on in my game.

GOOD NEWS:

I might not even need to publish it on march 22, because im getting a lot of stuff done. I know that might seem like its B.S. because i just talked about making backgrounds for hours, but really what matters is the battle system. I realize I don't need to make a literal beta perfect. I realize i can let some things chill down, so maybe I'll have an earlier download available.

Now there may be some problems. I can only port to windows, but later on I'll see if I can make a Mac and Linux version. Im sorry, ill try to make mac & Linux ports as soon as i can.

Sorry guys i tried to work on the game, but im sick today. i have a sore throat and i feel like my head cant think straight. ill try to see if i can do some work later but my head hurts. Hopefully my head will feel better tomorrow so i can work.

Game Scene Update:

Hey I'm feeling way better. Throat still a bit scratchy but it's getting better and better. 

Anyways, I'm basically finished with the game scene. it has 3 rounds for battle just like Buckshot roulette. However, there are some differences. For one, anytime you accidentally shoot yourself, you still get another turn to try to shoot your opponent unlike "Buckshot Roulette." On the first round the Opponent only uses the revolver so he'll only take away 2 HP. Also on the third round you and the Opponent get reduced health to make it a bit scarier.

There's some secrets in the beta, so I hope you can find them >:3

Game Scene Update:

I don't want to reveal a whole lot in the Game Scene. All I'm gonna say is that in the third round there's "something" I added into the mix to make the final battle scarier. 

Weapons Update:

Do you guys remember when I announced the tranquilizer gun? Well i nerfed it a bit. Basically if you shot the Opponent with the tranquilizer, then that would mean every time he shoots a blank at you, he would get 1 HP taken away. Now it still does that, but now its limited to three turns. So every action the Opponent does, will reduce the turn count and if it hits zero he's not poisoned anymore. This was done to make the tranquilizer less annoying when the Opponent shot you.

Art Update:

The Opponent has two Sprites now :3

Yeah that's it... I'll talk about why I did that when the beta battle test releases.

Conclusion on the Date of Release:

I wanted to see if I could release the beta earlier than March 22, but it looks like I'll be releasing it on that day. Also when the beta comes out, I'll officially put Finished 10%. I remember I was hyped that I got 28 views on my first post, and now as of creating this, it's 487. I'm really happy a lot of people saw my post (even if it may contain viewers coming back which gives an inaccurate number.) Thank you all for reading these post throughout the days. Heck, even if you're someone who just stumbled across this on the Itch.io Devlogs, thank you. I cant wait for March 22.

Items Update:

Do you guys remember the Four Leaf Clover? If you don't, it was an item that would change the chances to a 50/50 (basically it would put one blank round and one live round lol.) Unfortunately you could cheat by using handcuffs and four leaf clover combo to bypass that problem of having to guess. IT WOULD ALSO BE TOO "OP" WITH THE KNIFE ITEM. 

Conclusion

Erm... I would talk about more, but my game is coming out on march 22 so I don't really feel the need to. Also I didnt have time to implement a lot of secrets like I said :(

Right now there's only 2 secrets. But anyways... I'm so nervous and excited to put the project on my Itch page (even if it is just a beta). Please, whenever you can, notify me of any bugs you find so I can fix them. I'd also recommend you send me a video of you playing the game for the sake of bug reports. One more thing, if you guys could give me suggestions about what you would like to see later in the full game, that would be great. 

Expect there to be some stock assets in the game (Don't worry they wont be in the full game.).

I apologize for no Update yesterday. I had some family and friends come over haha.

Anyways, now that I'm done with the Beta... What now? We'll there's still some stuff I need to fix in the battle system, but I want to take a break from the battle system. I mainly wanna focus on art, ACT system, and map design to my open world. 

If you guys wanna know my main plan with the open world, well then basically the idea is that your trapped in a music box world and there's 4 main sections of the world that are divided. I would talk about those more about those sections in detail but... maybe for another time when i feel more confident about what i want to do with the open world. If you guys have any questions you would like to know about the open world then let me know and i will see if i can answer them.

And for the ACT system, I know that I've talked a little bit about how i wanted it to change NPC's moods to happy, sad, angry, and scared, however that's all I really said about the ACT system.  So i might as well tell you that there is some rng thrown in and also I'm taking the FF2 keyword system... Which I know sounds like a bad idea since everyone hated the FF2 Keyword system, but i want to use for ACT system in a cool and creative way to understand the NPC's better so you can pacify them.

Ideas About the Act System:

So with the ACT system, it is in some ways similar to Undertale, in which you pick different things to say in order to pacify someone. However you have to be careful, because what you say, can make some one take it in a bad way, which can be worse. If you read the post above you'll notice that I said "I'm taking the FF2 keyword system." The idea is that I want players to learn certain phrases that can pacify an NPC (also it can help with that NPC's lore). It's also a great way for players to pay more attention to an NPC talking to them because the phrases will be highlighted and you can pick the "learn" button. Also I guess me saying "phrases," isn't very accurate. While it can be phrases, other times it's names. It could be names of a character, a weapon, an item, etc. There's a lot to learn to pacify people, so i hope people enjoy the ACT system when it's fully finished. There's still some stuff I haven't quite figured out yet so expect another update of the ACT system. 

Ideas about the Act system:

Ok so I think i have a better idea of how i want the ACT system. So... Every NPC has a basic question you can ask them. Like "Where am I?", "Who are you?", "What are you doing?", etc. But then there's key words. Which I have explained before, are words you can learn through talking to NPC's or through secrets (Again like FF2). 

Here's an explanation of how it works. 

You pick ACT. Then you pick whether you want to ask questions or answer/tell (might just change it to "Tell"). Then you get to choose main words or key words. After that, you get a list of words to pick and then when you pick one word, it leads to specific sentences you can choose to say with that word within it (I hope this isn't confusing). Like if one of the keywords was "Apple" you can pick apple, then proceed to pick a variety of things you want to say about apple, like "where is apple?", "Why do you have an apple?", "Do you know what an apple is?"

Of course, this is really weird and I wouldn't use something as basic as "Apple", but I'm sure you get the point. If you want an example of how this would pacify someone, then lets say you met an important NPC with a name, and then that name got added as a key word. Now if you encountered another NPC that knows that name and if you used ACT to select that key word, they might be interested in knowing more about you.

Here's a little visual example of how it would work in RPG Makers conditional branch.

(I hope this doesn't confuse you lol)

EDIT: I hope this system can make NPC's more interesting rather than every other RPG. If there's any questions you have about the ACT system, then by all means let me know.

OK SO WOW APPARENTLY THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH THE BETA. You couldn't go through the final door because APPARENTLY RPG MAKER HAS A VERY SPECIFIC WAY THAT EVENTS ARE SET UP.

Please don't feel scared to tell me any bugs you happen to come across. But anyways, to anyone who didnt see beyond the door here's a screenshot.

You would basically go up some stairs and then end up here:

The sign is just a dev post saying thank you for playing the game and also to get excited for when the full game comes out. Also it says to replay the game again to test out new guns and items. anyways that's it sorry folks lol.

Stats Update:

I'm debating on whether I want a class system or custom stat system. I'm sure you guys are smart enough to know what those mean, but basically, at the start of the game you are given choices of what you want to be. If it's a class system its about choosing which class you want to be. If it's custom stats, then think of "S.P.E.C.I.A.L." attributes from Fallout.

I'm probably gonna do the custom stats, because i want a more roleplay experience, but who knows, i might change my mind. If anything i could use both, i might make the class system like FF3's or FF5's job system.

But any ways here are my ideas for the custom stat system.

Medical Knowledge: can help you understand how to use certain items that involve reviving, healing, or getting rid of negative states (like poison).

HP: increase HP (of course)

Charismatic Luck: Helps with the ACT system. In some situations when pacifying an NPC, it can be dictated by RNG. So this helps increase your chances of pacifying.

Hunger: This dictates how much time is needed to eat food. (I genuinely might consider getting rid of this)

Who knows what I'll add next. The reason i didnt add stuff like agility or strength is because it would break my games idea. Strength shouldn't add damage to a shotgun, a shotgun should do the same damage whether your a weak nerd or not (also its a horror game, i cant make the player too powerful.) And hey! by all means, tell me if you have any ideas you would like to see for the custom stat system.

Weapon Update:

I'm thinking of adding 2 new weapons, "the Taser" and "Double Barreled Shotgun". I plan for the taser to shock your opponent when you shoot a so called "blank." Of course keep this in mind that any opponent you do battle with can do the same to you if you use this item. And for the double barreled shotgun, it's technically the most powerful weapon in the game. It will take away 6HP from your opponent when you shoot them with a live round. I plan for the double barreled shotgun to be a rare item, that can only be achieved through your choices in the story, so I hope you can find it.

Anyways, because i felt like i didnt explain the original weapons that well, I might as well give a better description for what they are and what my plan was for them.

Any weapon you choose, the opponent can use, making every fight basically even. This is something to watch out for.

Revolver: It does +2 damage. This is for the player that wants to strategize with out any annoyances. The idea is that the player may not want to have the shotgun because the enemy does too much damage, making it too fast paced for them to strategize and also the player may not like how they get poisoned by the tranquilizer because the tranquilizer is literally meant to ruin strategy. In short, the revolver is a free strategic experience.

Shotgun: It does +4 damage. This is for the player that is confident they will get more hits on the opponent then themselves. This can make matches more fast paced and also make the player feel like they have to use less items when they can get rid of their opponent so quick (unless your talking about herbs).

Tranquilizer: It does +2 damage, and can poison the opponent (doing +1 damage) when they shoot you with a blank. This is for the player that likes messing up strategy. See, any opponent can use items or shoot you, but that contains a turn. When you shoot a live round at your opponent, they get poisoned and it lasts for 3 turns. So this can mess up your opponent when they're deciding on what to do when poisoned. Does your opponent shoot you, risking if it's a blank? Or just waste items to waste turns?

Anyways that's it for today. What a long post haha, I'm glad to make these after all the other short post I make.

ACT Update: 

So I'm thinking when you talk to an NPC, you can click the "Answer/Tell" button and then click the "Main" button to get a series of things you can say. 

You know when i said that depending on your choices in the ACT system, it can cause an NPC to be mad, happy, sad, or scared. Yeah this is what i mean. I think this will be great.

Ideas about Character Creation:

I'm gonna be honest, I REALLY WANT CUSTOM CHARACTER CREATION IN THE GAME. I just don't know if I will. Not only would it take some time, but the main problem is that RPG Maker technically wont allow players of your game to customize their own character. That really sucks because RPG Maker comes with a character customizer THAT ONLY GOES FOR THE DEVELOPER. However there is one way. 

First, I can instead make Actors into a character customizer. Actors in RPG Maker are basically your party members. So i can make you switch actors, which in reality is actually just you customizing yourself. 

I could use a ruby script that someone already made for character customization, but I don't really like the ones I found.

Don't expect character creation to be in the game, but I'll try my best to add it.

Map Update:

There's not much i can say, because i want to reveal the rest of the map in the 2nd beta, but what i will say, is that I plan to not use a lot of tiles for my map. Instead I plan to use a fully colored in backgrounds that pretends to be the map. The reason why is because tiles are limited to a 32x32 size. I could still make effectively good art with it, but i prefer to use colored in background because i have a bit of problems with size limits. Who knows if I change my mind, but i doubt i will haha.

I'm also really happy with some of the side quest I've been creating. Some of them feel like Twilight Zone stories or Goosebumps stories lololol. I'm sorry I wanna tell you more about them, but I don't want to reveal so much until beta 2.

Class System Update:

So you know how I'm adding a custom Stat system like Fallout right? Well I'm still gonna do it, but I'm adding classes too. Yep, I decided on doing both Stat and Class customization. However Classes are resorted to something like FF5. If you know FF5, you'll know it has a job system so you can play any way you want. I kind of want something like that.

I'll explain some of the ideas I have right now.

Soldier: Can take more hit's and has more knowledge of guns. (This is primarily for battling, so it's probably not the best choice if you want a Pacifist route)

Doctor: Has the ability to revive themselves or party members. Can also remove poison effects.

Spy: Can smooth talk to persuade NPC's and also has more knowledge about guns.

Dealer: You can make deals to make money and smooth talk to persuade NPC's. (This is more for the ACT system, also a funny thing is that you'll look like the "Opponent" in a suit from the 1st beta X3)

I'll try my best to do some more stuff with them, because I don't like how soldier isn't a good option for pacifist route. I want every class to be usable for any ending even if some classes might be better at getting certain endings.

I'll see what I'll be able to show tomorrow.

LOL I'm so dumb. I had to change some of the controls on the page for my beta because i said to use WASD controls for movement lololol. its all fixed now, it says use directional keys.

Map Update:

So I have an idea for how to get classes. There will be a "Job center" placed around the map. If you go into one, that's how you can become a certain class (its also how you change a class).

Other basic stuff you can find in the map:

-Shops and Inn's just like every other RPG. 

-tents that are empty or have NPC's living in them.

-Houses

-Locked Houses (that you can break into >:3)

-small Islands in the ocean.

I plan to have all this stuff in the 2nd beta, just keep in mind its only for the south part of the map. After all, I cant finish the rest of the map haha. I don't know when the 2nd beta will be released, but ill try to make it as fast as possible.

Horror Update:

I wanted to make this post to let you guys understand the type of horror i want to create. I want to have disturbing visuals and decidophobia. I understand this type of horror isn't for everyone, but i hope you stick around because im having some thoughts to add more horrific experiences. Also i would like to list off some types of 'horror' that I either wont be able to do or will be hard to implement.  Some of these include atmosphere, autophobia, eery soundtrack, and vulnerability. I know me saying 'vulnerability' may sound dumb considering horror games are about vulnerability in a way, but ill explain that later. For right now lets talk about atmosphere. This one will be hard to implement because of RPG Maker and the artstyle. First of all RPG maker is not the most technically impressive game. When you look at 'Ao Oni', it doesn't really have any lighting techniques. Although there is a script that someone made for lighting in the VX Ace version that even includes sections where you can use a flashlight, so I might check that out. Secondly the crayon art style might make some people not take it seriously. I'm thinking about making it look scribbly and rough to combat this problem. However i always get that feeling. Im not sure if any of you can relate, but do you get that feeling when your creating something and you say to yourself "will this work?" To me it's always "Is this scary?" I'm constantly second guessing my self. Well then why use the art style if it's such a problem? Because I want to make something unique. I don't really mind this, but it feels like every horror game dev is either doing a PS1 style or realistic style (unless its mascot horror). Again, I don't mind that, I actually think these art styles are great. But when have you seen a horror game with a crayon art style? In short I'm not saying i hate realistic or PS1 art styles, I actually like them ALOT, just the fact it feels like there's not enough variety.

You should check out Mathew Emmet's video on making an unsettling horror game. I recommend giving it a watch if your inspired to make horror games. he talks about atmosphere at 2:15.  But please do watch the whole video.

Eery soundtrack is another hard one. First of all I'm not a music composer but I could use some copyright free music or just use RPG Maker built in music. However I'm very specific with the styles I like.

Okay, now lets talk about vulnerability. The reason its hard is because... it's an RPG. You can just level up to make things easier. The only way i can think to fix this would be to add a leveling limit and making items more expensive. However its hard to find that balance. Balance in horror games is kind of hard, but Mathew Emmet made a video about horror game difficulty so i should probably check that out when im done with this post.

In another post I'll talk about why i chose to use Decidophobia and disturbing visuals.

Update on what im working on:

Its honestly amazing that we got 870 views. I know that its probably just people viewing the same post, but I don't care, I'm happy lol. I need to tell you guys, that you're amazing. I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling, gotta make you understand. I'm never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you. Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a lie, and hurt you. We known each other for so long, your hearts been aching but... you're too shy to say it. Inside we both know what's been going on, we know the game and we're gonna play it. Aaaaand, if you ask me how I'm feeling, don't tell me you're to blind to see. Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you. Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a lie, and hurt you. Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you. Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a lie, and hurt you. Ok ima make another post later lol.

Ok this time its not an April fools message lol.

Horror Update:

I want to talk about why my game relies on decidophobia. First of all it has Russian roulette battle system. That's all about decidophobia. Second it's one of my biggest fears. That's why I like choose your own adventures haha. I also feel like decidophobia isn't used a lot in games. Ok it technically is, like for example in Resident Evil you have to decide on what items or weapons to bring along. But it really does feel underused (kind of.)

Map Update: 

So I'm debating on what i should do for my open world. My original plan was to have 4 open worlds. Now I'm thinking I should decrease it. I have to realize that i cant be too ambitious and also i have to realize that having a big open world doesn't equal good game design. I also have to realize how long it will take to make the game. I mean i have to set a deadline someday. So maybe I should add backtracking. But I really don't like backtracking. I'll try my best to make backtracking fun (if I implement that), but I'm genuinely trying to consider how much i should add in my open world. I made this post because of another one of Mathew Emmet's videos. He talked about being too ambitious and he had this to say at 11:00 on this video

See yawl tomorrow, when I figure out what to do.

Map Update:

So I have an idea on what I should do for my map. I've put the map count to only 2. However the maps can have some changes depending on your choices. If you read my recent post, you'll know that I planned for a total of 4 maps that would be different from each other. I plan to put the ideas I had on those 2 other maps that I got rid of, inside the 2 maps I'm working on. However, that will only happen depending on your choices. To give an example the best I can, one of my maps had an evil ruler controlling it. However, now that I got rid of that map, he will only become ruler in one of the maps in the full game if you kill the original ruler of that specified map (I hope i explained that well lol). I'll see if I can make 2 maps, I'm confident I can, but who knows if I'll reduce it to 1.

Last thing I wanted to explain is how i will manage backtracking. Now I REALLY hate backtracking. However i have a way to make it fun (in my opinion.) Like I said at the beginning of this post, I'm going to change the map depending on your choices. This is to make the map more explorable without it being boring. So that's one point of backtracking. Another thing for backtracking is mystery. For example, games like Tunic and Chants of Sennaar. They revolve around trying to understand the world around you, which is great for making backtracking fun. 

Anyways I think this'll work out, compared to most games that involve backtracking.

Story Update:

Ok I've realized that I need to focus on my story. The reason why is because of this video.

You guys probably already know of this video because of the post I made 2 days ago. His first tip in the video was about winging it. It made me realize i needed a story. NOW i do have a story, but it wasn't quite finished in all areas and now that I changed my open world to only 2 maps (and added a lot of side quest), there some stuff i have to write. So for now on I'm going to make some post about my story. I hope that still interests you. I'm sorry if you're interested in more of game design updates but i really have to focus on my story. If it makes you feel better I'll probably be talking about the ACT system as it is important to my story. Speaking of ACT system.

ACT System Update:

Well this will be short. I have to beat the idea of "don't be too ambitious" in my head, because I want a lot of cool ideas in the act system, but i have to be reasonable and ask myself if I can do it. So I have a plan. The ACT system is mainly used for side quest, so I'm gonna prototype an NPC that can be used well for my ACT system to see how long it takes me. I really hope it goes well, because I like all that I planned for the ACT system. It would be a shame if I have to cut something out in order to meet what I can achieve. I'll see what I can do.

Story Recap:

I feel the need to recap a bit of the story (and some parts that I added to it). You wake up in an underground bunker with no idea of who you are. You meet "The Opponent" (A.K.A my dealer). He's basically your introduction to the game. He introduces you to the battle system and ACT system. He brings you to the surface where you see this huge mountain that has a face on it. The mountain introduces himself as Mt. Go. After that, the Opponent leaves you be, which leads you to talking to Mt. Go. 

Mt. Go is your introduction to understanding the world in a way. He can tell you a lot of stuff, like how this whole world is actually inside a music box... yep. THEN, when you're done talking to him, that's when you're free to explore. 

There's a lot of mystery to unfold, like why are you here? Why is there a lot of weird looking people. Why is this world in a music box? Answers you will find in the full game >:3

Lets talk a little bit about the Opponent:

I want to clarify that the Opponent is different from the Dealer in Buckshot Roulette. I cant talk too much about the Opponent as I want him to be a mystery to yall, but the only thing I will say is that the Dealer and Opponent fit the message about addiction. Which is really the only thing they have in common. If you know, the Dealer represents how addiction is harmful. The Opponent also represents that, but in a unique way. There's still some stuff I have to figure out with his character, but it's getting more clear on how I want to write him. See you all soon.

Story Update:

Ok so right now I have 6 endings that I'm sure I can create. I don't know if I'll ever increase it. 

I guess I should explain how you would even get endings. So for two of the endings are basically pacifist and genocide, which I totally took from Undertale lol. I'm sure it's pretty self explanatory on how you would get them. One is about killing everyone while the other is about pacifying as much people as possible. Admittedly it was a bit of a challenge thinking of how to achieve these endings since it is an open world compared to Undertale's more linear world, but I've got it figured out.

The other 4 are achieved through different means. If you're thinking about how Undertale neutral endings are achieved, that's not what these endings are about. They're achieved through interactive choices. Think of a traditional choose your own adventures.

Map Update:

I guess I should explain how the map works. Basically there's two places that are divided by a wall. The north part of the map and the south part of the map. The south part is basically your introduction and its also easier than the north part of the map. However you're not forced to be in the south part of the map, you can freely go to the north part if you really want to. 

Now that I explained my map, I guess I'll talk about some ideas I have planned. The south part starts out with some stuff to do, but not a lot of stuff. That's until your choices affect the world. For example, lets say you kill someone important to the story. That can affect their involvement around the world. Maybe it's some one evil, and now that he's gone, the world can become filled with more people who don't feel ruled under an evil tyrant. Also sometimes you need to circle around some areas in order to find something you want. For example, I have this vision mechanic in the game. I could've talked about this in the Story Update, but i felt it would be better to talk about it here. This vision mechanic is basically a cutscene where you get this supernatural vision of some one doing something.  This can reveal secrets you would have to backtrack to get. These are both things I plan for the open world.

ACT Update:

ACT system going good so far. I might be able to implement every feature i want. right now im just testing out some side quest ideas with the ACT system. I hope it works out.

Battle system Update:

*HOLY SHOOT, I JUST FOUND OUT MID-WRIGHTING THIS, THAT BUCKSHOT ROULETTE HAD A STEAM UPDATE, ILL DEFINITELY CHECK THAT OUT TO SEE IF THE AI CHANGES OR SOMETHING.*

I know i said i would mainly talk about story but for right now i want to talk about what I plan to fix later on in the battle system.

First of all, the AI cheats. He can use the Four Leaf Clover X Handcuff combo, which is meant to be prohibited. This is something ill finish later. Second lets talk about how the AI works in general

This video also kind of applies to "The Opponent." They're both pretty dumb. Technically, the only difference between them is that the Dealer AI uses Items right away (usually) while the Opponent doesn't. To explain how the Opponent AI works, it basically decides on weather it wants to use items or not. Then if it wants to use items, It is given a random number to pick an item. However it has to check if it has that item first. So if the Opponent doesn't have that item it checks for another item. It basically checks about 10 times before giving up and just deciding weather to shoot or not. I might change this a little bit in some areas.

Another embarrassing piece of so called "AI" is that the Tarp can be used if you're tired of losing you herbs. let me explain. The Opponent has "favorites," meaning he wants a specific item. So if he has a steal card, he'll always try to steal your herbs. Of course if he can see your items and you have no herbs, then he will pick handcuffs instead. But that's where the Tarp comes in. If he doesn't see your items, he will ALWAYS pick Herbs no matter what. Meaning if you don't have herbs, he'll lose a steal card. I plan to fix this bad AI later on.

And hey you can use this info to go against the Opponent if you have trouble, haha.

Thoughts on what i should take from Buckshot Roulette:

ok so i watched the trailer.

It's cool to see he had the same idea as me to add an item that steals other items (A.K.A Adrenaline.) The only difference between the adrenaline and the steal card, is that the steal card doesn't activate the item you stole right away. I'm not sure why he wanted to do that with the adrenaline but whatever...

I'm happy to know he didnt come up with my Four leaf Clover and Tarp Item.   ^w^

Now there is some other new items that I have not come up with. The inverter is a very unique item, I love it. The Burner Phone and Expired Medicine are just Echo fighters lolololol. Now... Will I take these items and put them in my game?... That's a good question. I love the inverter, but I don't know if I will have something like that because RPG Maker is too limited in how I can use the event system. The Burner Phone is kind of just a worse version of the magnifying glass and the Expired Medicine is pretty much luck based cigarettes. So not much variety I can use. I mean... I probably wont add the Burner Phone, but I'll think about it. Maybe I'll use the Expired Medicine, just maybe.

Also from the ending of the trailer, it looks like online is confirmed. Will I add Online? Well, no. RPG Maker doesn't support online functionality, also I don't have that big of a fanbase for this game. Will I make a sequel to this game on an engine that supports online? Well, no. While it would be cool to have this MMO RPG with a Russian roulette battle system and a bunch of people saying the the most horrendous stuff in chat, it's just... I'll never make a sequel to this game. It will stand on its own. Now I have had thoughts on making small games that exist in the same story of this game, but those aren't really that big.

Sorry if that's sad news, but who knows if I'll change my mind. Thanks for over 1000 views :3

Update on the MV version:

Do you guys remember when I said I'll make an upgraded version of the game on the RPG Maker MV game engine? Well... It's Cancelled. Using the MV version really made me miss the VX Ace version. The reason i got rid of it was because i tested out the event system that handles my battle system logic, AND IT DOESNT WORK! 

You can see every time i press the "yes" button, my character attacks. However when the bat dies, MY CHARACTER JUST ATTACKS THE AIR FOR NO REASON!!!!!!

I EVEN COPIED THE EVENT SYSTEM FROM VX ACE JUST TO GIVE ME AN ERROR ON MV! GGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

THERES ALOT MORE TO THIS STORY!! I COULD TELL YOU ABOUT THE HORROR STORY OF USING A VX ACE PLUGIN TO CONVERT TO MV DATA AND THEN ME HAVING TO RESIZE ALL THE GRAPHICS, BUT IM NOT IN THE MOOD RIGHT NOW. I'LL SEE IF I CAN MAKE ANOTHER POST TODAY ARRRGGGHHH!!!!!

Side Quest Update:

Ok so I realized when making some of the Side quest, that they would get kind of boring. Boring side quest seem to be a common thing in RPG's. I literally was thinking of having a side quest that was about simply giving an old man some money to buy food... that's it. Of course I cancelled that side quest for being too boring, but i would like to explain how I plan to intrigue people to side quest. 

I want to intrigue them with mystery. Oooooohh! Ok so let me give some examples. You hear a scream from a house, do you go and check it out? A little girl tells you that their dad poured them milk with a carton, but the carton showed his face as a "missing" poster. Do you confront the fake father? Last one. You see something shining brightly through the cracks of a house. Do you enter?

I think this is a great way of making side quest fun instead of an NPC saying "Go buy some potatoes and then carve them" or something like that. 

So I realized that making story updates is kind of hard considering that I don't have much to say other than "hey guys i completed another side quest story" or "hey guys, I'm thinking of adding this in the story." Its even harder knowing I cant really reveal these stories for the sake of spoilers.

On the bright side I have a topic I want to discuss.

Difficulty Update:

Id like to discuss difficulty in horror games, because when you think about it, difficulty in horror games is kind of hard to balance. If you make you're game too hard than you get used to the scares. If your game is too easy, then it's not that threatening. So what do I do for my game???

Well my games a wild card, due to it being pretty luck based. I mean its Russian roulette after all. So the difficulty can definitely shift a lot. However I think that works in my games favor, because that's what makes it scary. Of course there is ways to make the game easier, like for example equipping some items to get a bit rid of the luck.

Also i will have a difficulty setting... technically. Ok it's not something like, "Pick Easy, Medium, Hard." If you guys don't remember, I do have a custom stat system. Basically you can make your character have a lot of HP, or let them be really good at smooth talking, so that technically is a difficulty setting.

Of course I will also have level ups. This of of course another way to make the game easier. However, Level ups are more for the classes you pick rather than your normal basic self.

Now is there is some thing I want to add for the sake of making a good difficulty, and that's choosing your fights. What I mean is you can go up to an NPC and sign their waiver if you want to, but really, you just can relax and focus on doing some more safe side quest to get a breather. This is a great way to make the player take break from the horror and settle down instead of being pummeled by random enemy encounters 24/7 and I believe this can add to the horror, as they wont be so exhausted by enemy encounters. After all, choosing to do Russian roulette is a risk for the sake of a reward, not something to be forced. 

A neat idea I have for waivers, is that sometimes they will have different rules applied to them. For example you might have to sign a waiver saying "you cant use items" or "you aren't allowed to use steal cards."

I'll probably make another update about difficulty tommorow.

Im sorry for not posting yesterday, ill make a post today as soon as I can.

Possible Ideas for the ACT System:

So I might change some things in the act system. I'm NOT getting rid of any features, but instead I'm thinking of adding features. So here's the idea. I have two way to talk to NPC's. Advanced and Simple. If you pick simple, you get the basic way to talk to people, like I showed before. 

But then there's advanced.

Advanced is where you can be super specific. It's basically like forming a sentence. For example, you can start a sentence with the word like who, what when, where, why, and how. so if I pick where, then I get the options "are we?", "can I find _____?" "are my items?" So I can create,  "Where are we?", "Where can I find _____?" "Where are my items?" I don't know how complicated I'll make it, but it is something I want to do. However I'm mainly gonna focus on creating the Simple part of the ACT System first.

Story Update:

So as of right now I have created 7 major characters, I think that's a good enough number for my important characters. Then there's 5 side characters. No I'm not talking about NPC's. These characters will have their important roles in the main story it's just, not too much screen time. I want to reveal them, I'm still just figuring things out with their characters. 

Also I'm having too much fun with side quest. I'm having more fun with them then I do the main story lol. 

I also plan to have a way for the story to continue when you die. Yep you wont really be pushed back to your last save. The reason for this is because it helps make it easier to role play. I noticed in games that it's hard to roleplay as someone different instead of just roleplaying as yourself. For example, if I roleplay as a robber, then obviously I'm going to steal stuff, but if i keep dying because stealing stuff without getting caught is way too hard, then I kind of just give up. Sometimes I want a character that does dumb stuff, that makes mistakes, or does the wrong thing for their character arc but it often leads to death to the point i just try to play the best optimally. I don't want a game to tell me "oh you died, just forget everything that happened after your last save point." 

Even in my side quest, when you make mistakes, it doesn't just say "oh you failed do the side quest over again", no no no, the story continues when you make mistakes. I also plan for some cool stuff when you get a game over like getting captured or revived by a doctor in medical room.

Story Update:

Ok so I have an idea for my choose your own adventure part of the story. If you played games like the Tell Tale Walking Dead games, you would know that you are timed on your choices. Now in my game, not every choice will have you be timed, it kind of depends. If there's a choice you have to make in the story that's REALLY major or not that important, then you will not be timed. However for timed choices, we'll have to imagine a scenario to give an idea of how i want to use them. So lets say you're gonna get punched, well you obviously don't want that to happen so your options are to [kick him] or [headbutt him.] You have to make a choice quickly before he hits you. It's in the middle, where its not really a major choice nor a insignificant one.

I think this will be great to add to make choices interesting. I'll have another talk about narrative choices tomorrow as there's way more I want to explain. 

Sorry no devlog post today, I apologize. I'll try to make one tomorrow.

Story Update:

So I'm having a bit of a problem. In my game, you can have the choice to be evil or good. Obviously i have stated that i want pacifist, neutral, and genocide endings. However I don't want a genocide route to be the only way of getting an evil ending. 

This video inspired this feeling:

Also in the video he explains how some gamers always play the good guy because they generally roleplay as themselves and how some games reward good behavior than bad ones. While I think that's true, for me it's mainly because I kind of want to be cartoonishly evil, and a lot of games don't have that haha. 

Again, Ill try my best to implement evil routes, but I don't know if I can.

Anyways if anyone read this long, tell me your thoughts on evil playthroughs, and genuinely give me your suggestions if you have any.

Ok, so tomorrow will be score space jam. I will not be working on my game for 3 days. Don't be all sad, after all I'm still going to make post's on this devlog. Weather that be talking about my ideas, cut content, my progress, etc.

Story Update:

I think a cool idea to add, is the idea to be king of a land. There can be a lot of simple choices you can make, that are pretty big deal to the story. For example, certain NPC's will react differently if you are king, or if you are evil, you can do stuff like taxing people high numbers or have increase security. I don't think this will be too hard, as I can think of some really cool ideas without it requiring too much work to implement. 

Another cool Idea is joining groups. This could be any group that's good or evil. For example you can join a group of thief's, and steal from peoples homes. Or join a security squad, keeping people safe. Although, I will admit that using the term "good" for groups is kind of loose. The way I want to write the story is that everyone is either evil or flawed hero. So you can join a group that has good yet evil ideas.

Since I don't have much to talk about, here's some cut content of the Opponents  design:

This ones a bit messed up lol. It's also kind of different from the the one I used.

Ok, I'm back... well, ill make an actual post tomorrow. Right now I'm going to take a break and play some jam games, because it felt like i was in rush mode lol. You guys know pizza tower right? And you know stuff gets real when "Pizza Time" starts right? Well that was basically my life those three days working on the Score Space Game Jam. Not sure if some people care, but here's my game on the game jam in case anyone wants to play it. 

https://chillitch.itch.io/elevator-escape

Special thanks to Lemonz for some art and Music.

https://the-lemon-dude.itch.io/

Story Update:

Not sure if some people remember but I'm thinking of getting rid of the advanced ACT system. I felt like there's kind of no point to it for my story, but I want it for a more roleplay experience and in case people feel like the simple ACT is too simple.

The next side quest story I'm working on is going okay, just haven't had time to do it. After I finish that i might go back to working on some main story stuff. Anyways I'm thinking of adding more enneagram psychology in my game. Most of my characters are based of off enneagram numbers but i haven't really focused on side characters. I also want to see if I can use the enneagram as a game mechanic cuz I do think it'll be fun.

Another short update on my thoughts for storytelling. I'll see if I can reveal more of the main story tomorrow and also make a bigger update.

Now this wont be a big update, but I do want to reveal another part of the main story. (Also expect some terrible grammar cuz I'm tired) Specifically the main part of the story if you choose to go to the north part of the map. Basically there's a wall dividing the north and south. Not going to explain why, I want that to be a mystery. In the north part you see a bunch of people struggling with money and with food. Talking to some NPC's you can find out that there is a rule where if you buy a house here, you can NEVER leave. You find out it's heavy with cameras and guards. Then you find the golden stairs where a bunch of beggars sit and wait. These stairs have three gates guarding a mansion at the top. When the last gate at the bottom is opened, a man walks down the stairs. He's known as Python. Python is known as the ruler of the town, and the richest of course. That's why a bunch of beggars are right by the golden stairs. They always beg for money to have any sort of living.

I think this would be interesting not only for story but for narrative choice. Right now i have three choices in your adventure through the north side. You can kill python and become ruler, bring change in the town by helping people, or help people escape the north.

Act system update: 

This technically could be put in “Story Update.” But I should honestly just put this in the ACT update. Little bit ago, I talked about making enneagram psychology a game mechanic. Not sure if a lot of people are familiar with enneagram psychology, but one of the the things about the enneagram is that there’s a thing called “integration” and “disintegration.” “Integration” is the personality you’re assigned to when in health and “disintegration” is the personality you’re assigned to when unhealthy. (I heard disintegration can be healthy, but I don’t know too much info about that.) 

But anyways, I’m debating on if I truly want this to be a mechanic since I already have ways to change someone’s emotions. 

Story update

So I wanna start off by saying Buckshot roulette and my game have the same message about addiction. However there’s other messages I wanna teach. Like, fear, anger, avarice, sloth… basically the 9 deadly sins haha. I know that everyone thinks of the “7” deadly sins, but in enneagram psychology there’s 9 deadly sins. This is going to sound confusing to some people who don’t know much about the enneagram, but basically there’s 9 deadly sins that are something to really watch out as they are very unhealthy, for example mine was avarice. I think it would be interesting to talk about these in my game. 

also there will not be any post tomorrow because I have to go to a wedding. I’m sorry

Item Ideas:

I know I said I wasn't gonna talk about items and instead more about story. But these ideas popped into my head. 

Pad Lock: This is technically an Echo fighter for handcuffs lol. Or should I say, Echo Item? Can I coin that term? Basically its locks your items, but you can use your items after any opponent has shot you with 2 blanks.

Gift Box: Gives you a random item. Could be either good or AMAZING. I'll have to balance this item out with money cost haha.

Story Update: 

I would like to discuss some lore of my world that i have completed for the story, but not too much to where it would break. 

#1

Depending on your choices, You will find a thing called a wish stone. No one really know where it came from, but it's a stone that everyone wants. However, everyone is too scared to catch it. Why? Because it's being guarded in a castle by a...

Ķ̴̨̨̢̛̜̘̼̣̜̺͉̹̲̻̻͈̟̫̺͉̻̙̟͕͙͍̺̋͊̐̌̆̓̓̆̃́̌̈̽̿͐̈́̔̅̀̃͒̓͌̒͘͘͘͝͝i̸̛̛̫̙̥̪̱̫̭̠̳͓̮͉̹̻̻͔̳͈͈̺͚̩̖̇́͛̑͒͒̒̈́͛͊̀͆̈́͛̈́̎̆̔̔̍̉̓͛̽̂̎͑̊͗͋͊̀͌̈́͆̈́͐̉̒̒̄̿͐̚̚͘͘̕̚͝͝͝n̷̨̨̡̨̢̡̧̡͓̟̥̗̦͎̘͚͉̹͚̳̞͈͚̲̥͓̰̬͖̙̦͉͍̜͉̮̟͎̠̟̰̥̯̜̻̹̜͚̫̹̙̞͈̙̭̤̤̤̖̝̟͖̫͖̮̲̪̟̘̻͎̟̗͕̳͎͕̫̩̫͉̮̰̙͖̳͓͓͕̣̠̼̖͛͐͋͗̈́͂̑̂̉̀̾̽̀̉̄̈́̌̃̽͆̓̐̌̀̆̈͋̎́̀̃͗͌͑͊͂̉̈͊͗͗̔͋͆͆̾̀̎̐̽͛̇̅͋̽̀̋̍͆͒̽̉͗̈́̐̈̌̕͘̚͜͜͝͝͝͠ͅͅģ̵̧̡̡̢̧̡̧̛̛͚̣͉͎̼̫͚̬̦̜̤̺͉̲̲̭̹̝̺͉̹̭͖̼̳̙͈̭̮̻̻̩̬̫̟͍̖̦̜͈͇͈̣͚͍̻͎̹͉̲͍͓̪͕̠̇̈́̑̋̌͛͛̽̔̔͒̓̋͛͒̈́̉͑̄͂͊̒̅̏̊̇͑̅̓̂͗͆̐̃̃̆̂̈́͒̑̏̐̆̅͋͑̋͋̍̄͌̐̏̋̾̉̅̊̂͛̓̏̈́͛́̇̚̚̕͘̕͝͝͠͝

      ̷̡̨̨̜̮̱̜̰̯̘̻̯̠͙̰̙͈͈͈̪̖̼̤̰̪̤̦͎͎̟͇̮͍͉̰̠̹̫͍͎̻͓͙̍͗͌̄̄̃̃͛͆̉͊̂̏̏̎͗͋̉̈́̒́̇̈́̑́̑̒̓̑́͋̾͆̾̋͘͘͜͜͜͝  ̴̡̨̫͕͙̯̭̰̝͈̥̲͓̎͌͋̈́͆͛͗̇̌̎͂̿̂̎͐̈́̆͋̿͋͌͌̍̔̌̎͛̏̔͋͗̑̚͝

The wish stone used to be heavily guarded with a lot of people, but due to some unfortunate circumstances, everyone tried to get the wish stone. But their lives didn't last long. 

I t   w o u l d  h a v e  b e e n  b e t t e r  f o r  t h e m  t o  k i l l  t h e m s e l v e s  t h e n  t o  e x p e r i e n c e  t h e  h o r r o r   I n  t h e  c a s t l e. 

#2

A house owned by a man named Ruvy has been pretty much the talk of south side. It's been noted for the weird and creepy sounds that come from it. Someone even heard a scream from the house. If you choose to break in you can go down in the basement and find 4 cells and some deformed dead body strapped to a chair. These four cells have some interesting history. Three of the other cells have a bunch of deformed dead bodies as well, but the fourth is different. There's some thing in that cell. It has unintelligible speech, and constantly laughs. However what's scarier is the words "experiments failed" written with chalk on the wall and below it is a bunch tally marks counting up to 100.

Ok now to be honest, there's more stories I would like to talk about, but I wanna keep the rest hidden... for now.

sorry update will be tomorrow. I hate delaying devlog  post, as I’ve been doing that more frequently it seems like due to unfortunate circumstances 0_o

First scorespace, wedding, being sick, etc. WHAT ELSE. hate doing this to you guys but hopefully I’ll have one tommorow. :)

Story Update:

A recent talk about my main story made me think back to some of the stuff I wrote for it. I wonder, "should I have wrote this differently?" This is a very common thing with me. It's where I write something I think is cool, but then second thoughts come in. Basically I'm having a problem deciding on how long my main story is. As you know it has a lot of branching paths for being an interactive story. So all branching paths have different lengths, and that's throwing my mind for a loop, because I cant decide on if I should make some longer or shorter. I'm still planning to achieve 6 endings, but I've been thinking if I should reduce some branches of their length or increase it. Of course I'll keep in mind to not be too ambitious. 

I also rewrote some things on the pacifism route because I looked back on it to see that it was kind of boring and hard to get the ending. I fixed it now.

Item Update:

Sorry just felt the need to say i should change the gift box to "give and item or not." That'll make it way more tense and balanced. 

Story Update:

I plan to add some stealth mechanics into my game. This will be for both side and main stories. I'll be using the disguises mechanic from Hitman. Also I plan to use the ACT system for stealth in some way to smooth talk your way through something or to get someone to do something specific for you.  I think this can be great for building a characters story and roleplaying.

As of right now there is many places you can use stealth in. Like a Prison, Castle, Mansion, etc.

Now lets talk about Show don't Tell vs Tell don't Show.

A lot of people say "Show don't Tell" is always better than "Tell don't Show." However that's not true, in some ways "Tell don't Show" can be better. One advantage of "Tell don't Show", is Imagination. For my game that mainly uses visuals, this is really good for me. I wanna use Imagination so the player can fill in all the details themselves. It's also great for horror too. I can imagine a voice tape a player found and then the voice in the tape describes some horrors that happened in the area they're in. Or I can imagine a player talking to an NPC about the world around them and they might give some grave details about how the world works. 

Of course I will be using "Show don't Tell" in some areas. For example my vision mechanic (if anyone even remembers that) will be great with "Show don't Tell." 

Overall, it really bothers me when people think "Show don't Tell" is better. Really both of them have their advantages and disadvantages. 

Story Update:

I think it would be interesting to explain my cutscenes. I know this may sound like a weird thing to talk about but I feel like it would be important, so that people would get the mood that I want to give. 

I kind of want the cutscenes to be like how a lot of YT creators make analog horror. NOW, I'm going to try my best to avoid using analog horror clichés, as I know a lot of people find those annoying. However I do want to use S.A.M. voice for characters.

S.A.M. voice generator

Not only because I feel like its uncanny which gives it the creepyness factor to it, but because I feel like it fits the mood that this world is unnatural. It's also a great way for my poor peasant self to have some different voices without voice actors. T_T

Also I might do what some analog horror does where they have portraits of a character and then have some text to display what they're saying. However I don't want to do it like what every other analog horror does, where they just use it to convey info to the audience for the next part of the segment. I want to use it for imagination. Since there's not a lot of visuals with just showing portraits, I think this will be a great way for "Tell don't Show" where the characters will have to describe something for the audience to use their imagination. I want to remind everyone that I wont do this for every cutscene. After all I would like to use some cell animation for cutscenes.

To give a better example of how I want my cut scenes to be, would be this video.

Media Update:

Hey! didnt expect a weird update like this right? I've been thinking of using a YT channel for updates and also as a way to advertise my game. Of course this wont replace the devlogs I have on Itch.io. Also I shouldn't expect my game to be popular just by advertising it, it takes time to be popular or at least have some sort of following. Really I'm kind of hoping for 1000 downloads. But really, even if 1 person plays my game, I'm happy.

So basically, YT videos will be for more long, edited visually interesting updates while Itch.io updates will be about my daily thought or daily progress. This is what the developer of rain world said. He basically said post an update of your game to your audience everyday, even if it's little. 

Anyways, I'm just doing YT because that's what makes me feel more comfortable. I might do Instagram, but my Instagram channel is kind of miscellaneous content for anyone who randomly finds it and enjoys it. 

Story Update:

Ok, I rewritten some things again in my main story because some of narrative branches were kind of short, basic, and boring. I said I planned for a total of 6 endings, however technically there's more endings.

I getting more confident with the Main story since I rewrote some stuff to my liking. Still have to focus on some of the unfinished parts of the story though. 

Story Update:

Ok, I'm finished with the endings. Who knows if I rewrite the main story again which involves more endings though lol. That's honestly my experience with writing choose your own adventures. It's where I plan for a small amount of endings, but it always ends up being more due to some consequences. There's still technically 6 endings, its just that there's some endings that are similar to other endings, which basically means that there's more... Yeah.

Sorry very short update, but I'll see what I can produce tomorrow.

Update:

I not sure if I should call this a graphic update, visual update, or... Whatever else. Basically I'm thinking of using a visual novel way of displaying characters when you talk to them. So basically showing a full body with facial expressions. Don't expect this to be in the game, it's just something I've been thinking of having. One thing I'm planning on doing is adding light effects. There's a plugin that gives you a flashlight when in certain dark areas. It also has the ability to give light effects in other areas too. This is perfect for my game since its part of the horror genre.

Story Update:

I'm thinking of getting rid of the vision mechanic. Just in case no one remembers, the vision mechanic was basically the same as Daniel from Amnesia: the Dark Descent, when he would remember something from his past. The only difference being that my vision mechanic would be a cut scene. Also I guess calling it a "mechanic" is kind of dumb since its not really a mechanic. Anyways... I'm replacing it with cassette tapes. These are items that would reveal some history of the people who live in the music box. The reason for this change is because I want players to choose whether they want to listen or not. Rather than being forced to, like the vision mechanic. This also provides more imagination since there's no visuals, which helps with... "Tell don't Show." Sorry that this idea keeps getting brought up, haha. Also I want to clarify that there will still be animated cutscenes, (especially with some side quest) but there wont be too much cutscenes, that's it.