Stranded! - The Side Project

Ignore the crappy image I made for this article.

As shown in the above text please try and avoid how horrible that image is, it's kind of rushed and made for this article. Either way, I've decided to create a little side-project while Faceless (Slender: Source) is in production, and gives me something mess around with and what-not in my free time. So, what is Stranded! you may be asking? It's an island survival simulator that you'll be able to play online with friends, and down below are some details for what you can expect in the alpha release which should be released in a couple of months for the public, and hopefully for the press.

• Four player co-op where you and three other friends can explore the vast island chain (three islands), look for supplies/food, and see how many days you can survive. Or, you can tackle the game solo and see how many days you'll be able to survive alone. 
• Hunt animals for food. Every animal in the game will drop meat that players can cook to combat starvation and gain energy.  Also, some of the animals may drop other items which can be used to aid your survival. For example, chickens will drop feathers for fishing and some poisonous snakes will drop venom so you can make antidotes, or poison your weapons.
• 2D top-down view, ensuring that even people with dated computers will be able to explore, and play this game. No insane hardware requirements here. Everyone will be able to enjoy Stranded!
• Everything can pose a threat/kill you. Eating certain meat uncooked will give you food poisoning, and drinking certain types of water can make you will. Not to mention the different animals scattered around the islands that will be able to kill you.
• 3 islands, each with their own benefits and risks. The first island will be the easiest to survive on, but yield the worst supplies, where as the other two islands are progressively better. With the third island being the hardest to survive on, but yield the best food and supplies.
• Ocean exploration so players can gather seafood, and other sea-life for food and supply purposes. Yes, you'll be able to encounter sharks!
• Achievements
• Leaderboard System showing who's survived the longest (number of days). Your solo play also counts towards the leaderboard, as does playing with your friends.
• Perma-death system where when your character dies you lose everything. Tools, weapons, food, gear, etc. You essentially start over as a new person on the first island. The co-operative game will work the same way.
• Players will also need to survive the elements, this includes massive rain-storms, hurricanes, and more. Hurricanes will actually toss around debris such as fallen logs, etc which will be able to kill or injure players.
• Free to play.
• And more!

So, that's essentially what I'm working on for this game. There's been some basic programming done, and I've designed some of the basic vegetation you'll come across such as palm trees, and ferns. Not enough to show off yet, but it's a start. I'm going to estimate having the Alpha out around November. Either, way thanks for all the support towards Faceless (Slender: Source) and my development team Ethereal Entertainment.

Standed! has nothing to do with Faceless, or Ethereal Entertainment and is simply a solo project that I'm doing on the side. 

So Long Sweet Prince: The Death Of Survival-Horror

Lord, those who die still live in Your presence,
their lives change but do not end.

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Alright, apologies for the "prayer" at the beginning of this post, but it coincides with the image. Survival-horror games are dying, and it's becoming quite the stale market. So, I've decided to write up a blog post about the matter, and provide quite a humorous image I made which is the tombstone showing the faces of "Leon Kenny", "Isaac Clarke" and "Heather Mason". Each reflecting their game franchises which have been steering a little bit away from their original premise, and not exactly being scary anymore (I still have hopes for Dead Space 3)!.

If you read my blog, and at-least follow it. You may have seen my impressions of the Resident Evil 6 demo that released to the public earlier today, and how it made me extremely upset with the direction the series has went. I don't want my "horror" games plagued with quick-time events, and horrible action sequences. What ever happened to the exploration in the classic RE games? I really miss that, and that formula was amazing. This new formula was brilliant in Resident Evil 4, but has just turned into complete dog-shit with the latest installment. If I could bet what my Most Disappointing game of this year would be, it may just be Resident Evil 6, but we'll see when the game releases. Hopefully, it's not dog-shit, but it's not looking too good.

It's quite true, Resident Evil. You've turned into dog-shit.

Our second head on the gravestone belongs to that of Isaac Clarke, everyone's favorite space-engineer from the Dead Space series. Dead Space brought a lot to the table, and provided a genuinely horrifying game in some instances, and some rather frustrating moments as well (that bullshit asteroid crap). Dead Space 2 wasn't as scary as the original, but it still had its moments and I may be one of the select few who actually enjoyed the multiplayer aspect of the game. Then, in early 2013 we'll be getting Dead Space 3, and lots of people are worried about that game, and that it may follow the same fate of Resident Evil and go completely action-oriented, which would sorta bum me out. However, I have high-hopes in Visceral Games and have a feeling they'll once again bring out a quality game with the latest Dead Space title. I for one think the co-op element will be fun, and besides. To all the people complaining, if you play it solo the "Carver" character won't follow you'll around. You'll just meet up once and a while, so calm yourselves.

Calm yourselves, and have faith. 

And we finally come to the last head on the gravestone, and it's the face of Heather Mason of Silent Hill fame. I found the Silent Hill series to be the most terrifying games I had ever played up until they started hitting the next generation of games, and we've been getting some quality dog-crap over the years. I don't what's wrong with the series as of right now, but there's just something missing from it. Maybe Silent Hill has out-lasted it's life, or as a concept it could be dated? There's a lot of issues with the new iterations of Silent Hill, and it's really hard to understand why. I had high hopes for both Homecoming, and Downpour which both turned out to be the worst games in the series, and for a massive fan of the series I don't count those games as existing. Even though Downpour was far superior to Homecoming, but still not good. It really hurts too, because back in the day Silent Hill was the master of all survival horror games.

Say goodbye to Pyramid-Head. This is shit-head.

However, the last good Silent Hill game I touched was on my PSP back before I sold it last year. This game was hard, spooky, and added something new to the series that actually made it exciting and interesting. If you have a PSP and haven't had the chance, please check out Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. Definitely one of the best Silent Hill games in recent years, with the last good title being that one in-fact.

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So, survival-horror is definitely a dying genre (in AAA standards) but it seems that the indie market is in full swing with bringing it back, and revitalizing some classical horror elements. Triple A horror may be dying, but indie horror is coming in full swings. It's definitely something I look forward to seeing more of.

Resident Evil 6 Demo - It's Just Awful

So, the Resident Evil 6 demo came out to the public today on XBL and PSN. Being a massive Resident Evil fan, I had to download the demo as soon as it came out, and immediately I was disappointed.

I'm going to clear something up first. The last Resident Evil game I truly enjoyed was Resident Evil 4, but possibly the remake of the first RE title more. I felt that the series took a huge nose-dive when Resident Evil 5 was release, and I found that game just to be utterly stupid, even though the co-op element redeemed it some-what, the smell of the shitty direction it was about to take was overwhelming all through-out the game.

Fast-forward to 2012 and we get Resident Evil 6 to be released on October 2nd for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows. The demo for this game was brought out today for the public, and people have been diving into one of the most iconic game franchises of all time. However, I feel that Resident Evil 6 may be the worst game of the series, and quite possibly be the last thing that kills the entire franchise for me (the films weakened it quite a bit though). Resident Evil 6 just feels like it's taken the franchise people have grown to love, and tossed it into a completely different direction that doesn't make any sense.

Remember back in the days of the old RE titles where us gamers actually were nervous, and frightened playing the games? Especially Resident Evil 2. That game was utterly terrifying, and would constantly have me on the edge of my seat, and the series seemed to keep it's "horror" elements up until about Resident Evil 4, and then we got RE 5 which totally swung the game into a new, and shitty direction.

Now, I can't judge the final product of what RE6 will be on release from this demo, because it's short, clunky and doesn't exactly give much on a game-play level (if you count mindless running around and shooting a game, I don't). Plus, you're given three campaigns which brings Chris Redfield, and Leon Kennedy back, where as in the third campaign you're playing as Albert Wesker's son, and Sherry Birkin (their fathers started the whole outbreak in Raccoon City), and let's be honest here. The campaigns, and story elements presented in the demo are plan boring, and completely not fun. However, where Chris and Jake's (I think that's his name) campaigns fail, Leon's totally picks up the slack and at-least provides a somewhat enjoyable experience.

If you hate the new style of enemies in the franchise since RE4, then Leon's campaign will probably be the one for you, as it seems to be focused on the enemies we all know too well from the classic RE games. The actual zombies, not the mindless/savage townsfolk. Actual undead, and as a classic RE fan this made me happy. Either way, check out the demo for yourself and don't let my over-critical opinion sway your decision.

You may enjoy the demo, I just thought it was dog-shit. Ah well, expect a review of the game when it releases in October. Who knows, my views might change, but it's doubtful.

Slender: Source Devs Take Suggestions Into Account, and rename mod Faceless

So, I recently changed the name of Slender: Source to the Operator, due to suggestions from the development team. Unknown to myself the name had actually been copyrighted by Marble Hornets and we've yet again been forced to change the name of the mod again, which frustrates me beyond no end and kind of makes me want to stab someone, with my Slendy tentacles.

Either way, the new name if "Faceless" and we aren't budging from that name. It describes Slenderman, and you know details the fact of him having no face. I do apologize for the name changes, as it really hurts me but the community didn't like the name "The Operator" and I want to provide for the community.

From here on in, Slender: Source will be named "Faceless".

Slender: Source being renamed to "The Operator"

Keep calm, the image above doesn't mean we're canceling Slender: Source, we're just renaming it to "The Operator" which is just another name for the Slenderman, and it ties in with the story we're doing for the game since in the ARG videos, that's what he is referenced as.

The main reason we're doing the name change is free any confusion people are having think we're partnered with Mark J. Hadley in creating Slender: The Eight Pages, or if he's helping us with "Slender: Source". Our games are completely different, and the name change should help free up the confusion.

Plus, with the Source title in the mod we could have a rough time getting Greenlit so hence the name change there as well. Plus, Slender: Source was a lazy, and boring name. I much prefer "The Operator" more. Keep a look out, as in the next few days we'll be changing the name, and images on ModDB, and the Steam Greenlight page to reflect the change.

Still though, please show your support and vote for us! It means a lot.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=92917473 - Slender: Source/ The Operator Greenlight

Horror Mod "Inquietude" Looks All Kinds of Amazing

I don't usually get all giddy when I see a horror mod on ModDB. You really need to capture my attention, and give me something that looks brilliant and feels brilliant all at the same time. Inquietude does just that. Now, the mod hasn't been released and won't be until Q2 in 2013, so it's still a ways away from getting into our grubby hands. But, I remain excited.

Sadly, I don't know too much about the mod other than the fact that it looks straight up horrifying, and from what's been shown I can probably say it'll be one of the best experiences we'll have next year.

It definitely feels like it's going to do things right, and I definitely feel like I'm gonna get scared playing this mod. As I've mentioned I don't usually get this excited about a mod, but this one just looks like the horror perfection I've wanted for such a long time. Especially since I was kinda disappointed with Grey, and Cry Of Fear. It seems like Inquietude is going to rectify all of that, and make me one happy horror fan.

Mod Of The Year material? I think so. It looks like mods will have a little competition next year over on MODDB. Inquietude looks like all kinds of fantastic. I eagerly away the release date.

Meet The Victims - The Characters Of Slender: Source

Making characters for a video game is probably my favorite part of the development process. Getting the entire team together and coming up with ideas of what the people/creatures you meet will look like. Definitely an interesting process, and even though some ideas get shot down, I still enjoy it.

So, as some of you may know we have a total of 4 characters planned for Slender: Source. Each with their own personality, looks, etc. The cool thing is that we have given them each a back-story and past, and it helps explain why Slenderman is following them, and killing them. He likes to track down the 'fucked-up' people so to speak, and each of our characters is fucked up in their own little way.

We've only finished the model for one of them, but here's the characters we'll be having in Slender: Source upon release. We may have more playable characters in the future, but who knows.

(This is Richard. Please ignore the silly moves he's doing. It was testing out his rigging)

Richard () - The all around, normal dude of the group. Richard is a pretty nice guy and doesn't
try getting in on anyone's issues. However, driving home one night he got into a car accident which
killed his younger sister, and he had to watch her pass on. So, sometimes he'll suffer from incidents/nightmares where he believes she still talks to him.

Adam () - Adam is the brains of the group, and the nervous guy. He suffers from a severe case of anxiety. He's the youngest of the group at the ripe age of 15. Adam is from the United Kingdom,but was transferred over to the United States for some special high-school program.

Nathan () - Nathan is the jock/asshole of the group. He treats most of the group like crap, and thinks of himself as a bad-ass. He was negelected from his parents, and was abandoned at the age of 6. However, he was adopted by a hardcore Christian family and rebeled. He swears a lot, and is just an all around jack-ass. He's 21 and still in school because he keeps being held back.

Amy () - Amy is pretty much the school's bicycle. She is called a "whore" and doesn't have the best reputation, and was a victim of rape which she became pregnant. She aborted the child, and now
constantly does cocaine to forget all of her woes, but has OD'd on multiple occasions to the point of almost dying.

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So, as you can see each character has their own share of woes and horrible events from their past. It's been a fun process writing their backgrounds, and developing each of them as a character. There's nothing like seeing one of your creations come to life.