Trap Me! - The Video Game - Developfur Diary of a New RPG

[ELKIN]

We started working on a Video Game based on our awesome published book "Trap Me!"


You can read our first Developfur Diary here.

As you may already know, the story takes place between Trap Me 1 and Trap Me 2 (the books). The game will follow Aidan and Zack–both as playable characters–as they solve some kind of mystery. It is so mysterious that not even we know what it is yet.

The players will be able to control both Aidan and Zack as they fight their way to solve puzzles.


Comment below what do you think or if you have any questions!

[JonasTheDude]

Sounds nice 
And it's awesome to witness progress of an indie game 


Few questions that I have for you.
- With what are you making it (game engine name or ??)
- How long will the gameplay last ? (approximately)
- Will there be monsters O.O ?

And one suggestion
- If it has an ending. It would be cool if it had many different endings based on what you choosed to do :3 (so that the players would have reason to play it again) 

[T-Yoshi45]

You got my attention, always was curious about the development process of a video game. 

[Shim]

Was the graphical style influenced at all by Lone Survivor? I love that aesthetic.

[ELKIN]

Wow, so many questions! Let's see...

Jonas, my project partner and I are using RPG Maker VX Ace to create the game. It is less code-heavy which allows us to focus more on the art and story of the experience.

Regarding gameplay, we are still debating if we should make it episodical or not. We are aiming at around 10-12 hours of exploration and fun... we just don't know yet if we should split those hours into more-polished separate episodes or not.

More episodes might also offer quick feedback which can help, in turn, making the following episodes better.

Monsters? Hmmm, not sure yet. Cooper wants zombie-furries in there, but I'd rather go with something spookier. We will definitely have SOME type of monsters, but maybe not as direct enemies.

Regarding multiple endings: Since the game acts like a "bridge" between our first book and the upcoming sequel (Trap Me 2), it might be tricky doing multiple endings. However, we'll take your suggestion into debate. Thanks!

T-Yoshi45 (brilliant name), hopefully we will satisfy your curiosity in due time, with concept art and gameplay elements in the upcoming Developfur Diaries.

Shim, Lone Survivor was heavily influenced by Silent Hill 2. We also love SH2, so... in a way, yes, the graphical style will resemble that - we have the same inspirational material.

Now let us ask YOU: What don't you want to see in it? What things annoy you most or make you not wanna play a game? We're all ears.

[JonasTheDude]

Now let us ask YOU: What don't you want to see in it? What things annoy you most or make you not wanna play a game? We're all ears.

I understood your question is about horror RPG games in general (correct me if I'm wrong )

What do I like in horror RPG games:
- Secret doors
- To be able to interact with useless object! (water tap, doors, lamps, etc.)(this gives the feeling of reality and illusion of freedom to the game)
- Flashlight/Something what gives light
- To be able to "chat" randomly with the other character (random "phrases"/comments)(cause it's funny ) (So anytime in the game you can go near the other character and press/click (activation key) and the other character says a random "phrase"/comment) (for example: "this place is old", "i can see light coming from that (window/doorway)", "are we there yet?")

What I hate in horror RPG games:
- That there are only ghosts in horror games. The game looks like (from the pic) as it's based around some sort of mansion, and if it has horror elements then usually the main villain/bad guy/etc is some sort of ghost which has become boring. So you should make it something weird (and dark ?!). so no to only ghosts theme
- Too happy endings. It can be slightly happy ending but id prefer it not as a normal happy ending (something dark and evil to it)(or something plot twisting  )

These are just my opinions

[Shim]

Shim, Lone Survivor was heavily influenced by Silent Hill 2. We also love SH2, so... in a way, yes, the graphical style will resemble that - we have the same inspirational material.

Oh believe me, I know a little something about Silent Hill 2

[redyoshi49q]

If you haven't watched it yet, this is an Extra Credits video on portraying the concept of Cthulhu in video games.  It may prove to be useful for ideas of how to depict horror in general, and if you have the time, there are other good videos in that channel on a wide variety of facets on the subject of game design, some of which you may find relevant (*edit: such as this one*).

You may also find the game Ib to be of interest.  While I haven't played it myself, I have watched some Youtube videos of it, and it seems to have the elements of horror and puzzle/mystery that you're looking for in your own game.

If you're not already doing so, I'd recommend using some form of version control.  If you're technically minded or willing to spend some time learning a new system, a VCS such as Git, Mercurial, Bazaar, or SVN should work nicely.  If you're not, saving your work often and copying your work folder every so often can crudely suffice (it's better than nothing should you do something like break the entirety of your code base).

[ELKIN]

Hello again! 

First things first:
Jonas, we have discussed thoroughly the things you like and dislike. You and us have similar tastes, so we're pretty sure that the game will be quite entertaining.

Here's a question for you - regarding the useless object interactions... Would lines of description (i.e. "Wow, such a rusty useless object!" or "It's a pink useless object.I don't need it.") be okay or do they HAVE to be interactive? (i.e. Turn on the light instead of just saying "It's a very old looking lightswitch, I don't want to risk shocking myself if I touch it!")

Shim, feel free to point out if we come TOO close to SH. The last thing we want is unintentional plagiarism.

Redyoshi, we took the time to (re)watch Extra Credits and we were already familiar with Ib.   Apart from that, we even spent time several nights downloading indie horror games and getting familiar with the current "market", so to speak.

We are aiming to make it fun, frightening and as good as possible.

That being said, here's our Second DevelopFUR Diary!

Enjoy and feel free to ask us anything or even suggest stuff! After all, you might end up our first beta-testers. 

[T-Yoshi45]

From what i'm reading this seems like a bit of a throwback to the old Resident Evil games at least in terms of the puzzles. (Trust me, the older entries had some good puzzles that made you think. Don't even get started on the scares they packed!) So yeah, from what i've read, looks to becoming something pretty good, keep it up!

On another note i'm quite happy to see traditional art used in games, it gives a certain...life to it. One thing you also avoid in having a shared inventory system is tedious inventory management, can't tell you the times i been in games spending the first fifteen or so minutes divvying up all the gear and whatnot and deciding what to keep and sell and all that wonderful stuff.

[JonasTheDude]

Hello again! 

First things first:
Jonas, we have discussed thoroughly the things you like and dislike. You and us have similar tastes, so we're pretty sure that the game will be quite entertaining.

Here's a question for you - regarding the useless object interactions... Would lines of description (i.e. "Wow, such a rusty useless object!" or "It's a pink useless object.I don't need it.") be okay or do they HAVE to be interactive? (i.e. Turn on the light instead of just saying "It's a very old looking lightswitch, I don't want to risk shocking myself if I touch it!")

I'd say:
Only description texts when:
- Object is broken
- you wouldn't touch it IRL (painting, window, mirror etc.)

Interactive actions when:
- Something you would normally click/use (lightswitchs, doors, some closets, some drawers(not all closets and drawers have to be openable))

Those are "about" 
I'm just going to bed in 10mins so I made this in rush :3