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Thaumaturge
12-08-2008, 01:06 AM
DLL archive 1 (http://www.gamedev.za.net/filecloset/download.php?id=544)
DLL archive 2 (http://www.gamedev.za.net/filecloset/download.php?id=545)

(Simply extract the dlls to the same directory as the game.)

Competition entry version:
Executable and miscellaneous files (http://www.gamedev.za.net/filecloset/download.php?id=575) (~7.3MB)
Models and images (http://www.gamedev.za.net/filecloset/download.php?id=576) (~5.6MB)

Once again, in separate files in order to meet the Filecloset 10MB limit, and my apologies for the download size. :/

Just unzip everything (including the dlls linked-to above) to the same directory.

~

Prototype 1 (http://www.gamedev.za.net/filecloset/download.php?id=554)

NB: I will probably release any subsequent versions without some of the files included here, for space reasons, and to limit upload size on my end and download size on yours, so perhaps hang on to these archives if you do download them, for the duration of the competition at least. That way I can just provide a new executable, additional content, and any subsequently-important dlls without already-uploaded files taking up space. I considered also uploading the content separately from the program, but decided that it was probably not worth it at this point.

I do apologise for the inconvenience of this system. :/

Note that the two dll downloads should be the same as the ones linked-to for Dead of Night, so if you downloaded them from that thread you should be able to use those instead of downloaded them here.

Of course, if you have the Panda engine, you should be able to get away with not downloading the dlls at all. ;)

~

Silence is intended to be a short horror-adventure piece. I'm not sure of how much more to say, since the story is intended to be told through the game, and both that and the controls are, according to the competition, supposed to be conveyed without text. ;)

I'm not sure of just how effective the horror elements are going to turn out, but we'll see - it's worth a shot, not so? ^_^

I hope to have a brief prototype up within the next few days.

Note: This is not the idea that I posted about in the competition thread, concerned about the horror elements. I became a little uncomfortable with an element of that idea (the player was a ghost who, as the primary gameplay, possessed and thus animated corpses; their fragmentary memories were intended to be used to solve puzzles, as well as relate story), and decided to discard that element rather than continue with something that I wasn't happy about. This idea does, however, take a lot from that idea, and is essentially an evolution of that idea in response to the changes that I made and my desire to keep certain elements (such as the control style).

Kensei
12-08-2008, 11:00 AM
Sounds interesting, Thaumaturge.

There is a fantastic opportunity to convey a story through the game. Thinking back to the demo of Clive Barker's Undying, when you use your character's 'second sight'. I remember looking at a picture of the family, from a distance and normally, they look like a normal family - but when you get closer (can't remember if you have to 'activate' the second sight), their images contort to reveal their demonic forms.

Might be an idea to do that, perhaps less complex. Like you are in a room and there is a picture on the desk, you pick up the picture and it shows an image of a man and his dog. Then the door closes behind you and you have to figure out how to get out of the room.
Ending up that you have to press the 'dog' shaped symbol, on a totem pole, next to the door

I am looking forward to this (as well as the other games :D )

Thaumaturge
12-08-2008, 06:05 PM
Thinking back to the demo of Clive Barker's Undying, when you use your character's 'second sight'. I remember looking at a picture of the family, from a distance and normally, they look like a normal family - but when you get closer (can't remember if you have to 'activate' the second sight), their images contort to reveal their demonic forms.

Hmm... That's a very good idea, actually; it may well help me with some minor story- and gameplay- related issues, and I was already planning on certain events that would fit in nicely with this, I believe...

I will think on how to go about implementing this, and how to explain it, I believe - it could be very valuable indeed. Thank you very much! ^_^

Of course, I want to get the already-decided on gameplay elements in place first, but thankfully things seem to be going fairly smoothly for the most part, thus far.

(the "Scrye" spell was indeed manually activated, as I recall. ;)

It's a pity that Undying didn't get its sequel... :/)


I am looking forward to this (as well as the other games :D )

Thank you very much again! ^_^

Thaumaturge
16-08-2008, 07:10 AM
At last, my first prototype of Silence! (Download links in the first post.) I would have preferred that I had reached this point earlier, but ah well, it is as it is.

Thus far I'm reasonably happy with what I've created at this point. There's next to no horror yet (this being, effectively, the introduction and tutorial level), and little to interact with, but it demonstrates the basics of the gameplay thus far implemented at least, I think, if not, I don't think, the full range of the system that I have in place.

Notes:

- There is nothing yet beyond the second door - that I intend to rectify soon enough, however. ;)
- There are very few sounds, and those that I have thus far are more or less place-fillers, created using Audacity and based on the sounds that it allows one to generate without recording, as a result of a (hopefully minor) issue regarding recording.

I haven't yet gotten around to implementing the "Scrye" ability, although I still hope to do so.

I'm a little worried now about finishing in time, but we'll see what happens...

dINGLE
16-08-2008, 11:23 AM
I downloaded it, but I can't seem to get it working.

I just downloaded the prototype, not DLLs,
then I copied the contents of the Panda3D 'bin' folder into the extracted game folder.

When I start up the silence exe, the dialog comes up, then the window,
but before anything displays on the window, both close.

Could it be an old version of Panda? Dead of night worked ...

EDIT: looks like I have an old version ...

here's my error:

"BAM file is version 6.15, this program can only load version 6.0 through 6.14 bams."

I'll have to download the DLLs after all

Thaumaturge
16-08-2008, 07:41 PM
Aaah, right, yes - I'm afraid that, according to the documentation that I've read, BAM files are specific to the version of Panda with which they were compiled, so they might well not work if you try to run them using another version of Panda - sorry about that! ^^;

You might have better luck using these egg versions of the models, and editing the file <Silence_install_directory>\etc\Confauto.prc so that the line that starts with "default-model-extension" (the last line, I think) has ".egg" instead of ".bam" (without inverted commas, of course).

Thank you for trying the game. ^_^

(Note to others: The game should, I think, still work if you use the dlls that I provided; the above applies to those attempting to use their own installation of Panda to run the game.)

dINGLE
16-08-2008, 11:41 PM
no luck I'm afraid.

I changed the confauto file like you suggested, after that didn't work I renamed all the .bam files to have no extension, which didn't work either :(

Thaumaturge
17-08-2008, 12:43 AM
Urk - I just realised that I didn't include part of the solution - the egg files. Sorry about that! >_<;

I was suggesting that you use the egg files instead of the bam files, rather than renaming the bam files.

You should be able to download the egg files here (http://www.gamedev.za.net/filecloset/download.php?id=556).

Once you have them, unzip them to the same location as the bam files, and set the line in the confauto file that I mentioned to have ".egg" instead of ".bam" - in other words, to look for egg files instead of bam files.

[edit] Again, note to others: The game should, I think, still work if you use the dlls that I provided; the above applies to those attempting to use their own installation of Panda to run the game.

dINGLE
17-08-2008, 10:17 AM
works :)

From what I can see the interface is quite good and intuitive,
the graphics are pretty good too.

But I don't quite get what is happening on that other computer ...
and it also seems slightly unlikely that a room full of computers would have one chair :D

otherwise seems good so far,
looking forward for some kind of mission/story/objective or something to do

EDIT: and the starting sequence, with the guy getting up and pushing in the chair, thought that was pretty good, didn't expect it :)

Thaumaturge
17-08-2008, 08:22 PM
works :)

Aah, excellent! ^_^


From what I can see the interface is quite good and intuitive,

Thank you - I'm glad to hear it. ^_^ I doubt that it will change overmuch (at the moment I'm hoping to stick to logic and sequence puzzles, and avoid including an inventory), so hopefully it should be so for the rest of the game. I do have one additional interface mechanism in mind to implement at the moment, but that should hopefully be similarly intuitive.


the graphics are pretty good too.

Thank you again. ^_^


But I don't quite get what is happening on that other computer ...

I presume that you interacted with the computer, and saw the second, black-and-white screen? If so, then you're not really supposed to get it at this point - it's essentially the first "weird" thing that occurs, a hint that something's happening. I also intend to add a cue shortly after it appears to prompt the player to leave the room and start exploring.


and it also seems slightly unlikely that a room full of computers would have one chair :D

Heh, yes, I know - that's just laziness on my part. ^^; I will hopefully add more chairs by the final version.


otherwise seems good so far,
looking forward for some kind of mission/story/objective or something to do

EDIT: and the starting sequence, with the guy getting up and pushing in the chair, thought that was pretty good, didn't expect it

Thank you very much!

Hopefully I'll have something slightly more interesting to do by the next version. ^_^

I very much appreciate the feedback. ^_^

Kensei
17-08-2008, 11:04 PM
Ok, I played through it briefly.

Very nice start, Thaum, I like it - always a fan of adventure type games.

A few gameplay issues, perhaps its the engine, I dunno, never used Panda.
Is there a way to control the camera with the arrow keys? I had a few hassles with the camera going crazy when I tried to pan around to look at the room.

Also thing to be wary of is the door closing (collision checking, is that possible?) at one point I accidently closed the door when I was walking halfway through - the man got stuck in an endless, 'eerie' (lulz, pun intended) loop of being eaten by the door :D

Um, are you meant to be able to exit via the elevator?

I think, to heighten the 'scary' factor, perhaps you need a 'sting' (short piece of music) when you press the button...

Otherwise, I. Want. MORE!!! :D

Thaumaturge
18-08-2008, 01:44 AM
Ok, I played through it briefly.

Admittedly there's only "briefly" in it at the moment. ^^;


Very nice start, Thaum, I like it - always a fan of adventure type games.

Thank you, Kensei - I appreciate that, and your comments, very much. ^_^


Is there a way to control the camera with the arrow keys?

Oh yes - I can include that without too much trouble, I believe. In fact, it should be very quick to implement.


I had a few hassles with the camera going crazy when I tried to pan around to look at the room.

What do you mean by "going crazy"? Did it move too fast, or jump unpredictably? Was your mouse still within the window when this happened, or did this happen when you let it stray outside? (If it is related to the mouse leaving the window, I might also make it fullscreen.) I'd like to try to replicate this myself, so that I can try to hunt down and exterminate the bug.


Also thing to be wary of is the door closing (collision checking, is that possible?) at one point I accidently closed the door when I was walking halfway through - the man got stuck in an endless, 'eerie' (lulz, pun intended) loop of being eaten by the door :D

XD

I'll try to remember to attempt to replicate that on my end - thanks for pointing it out. ^_^

Admittedly, being eaten by a door is in tune with the theme of the game... ;P


Um, are you meant to be able to exit via the elevator?

Not yet. ;)

(In fact, I implemented that, including a little elevator model, just yesterday (I think that it was), and am currently on break from working on the corridor to which it takes you.)


I think, to heighten the 'scary' factor, perhaps you need a 'sting' (short piece of music) when you press the button...

I do think that you're right - I'll hopefully have more sounds in general at a later stage. Better sounds too, for that matter. ^^;

Sound, admittedly, isn't my strong point, I don't think, but I'm loath to have someone else work on the sounds since I'm not sure of my progress.


Otherwise, I. Want. MORE!!!

*smiles and bows* As you command, m'lady. ;)

Kensei
18-08-2008, 10:32 AM
What do you mean by "going crazy"? Did it move too fast, or jump unpredictably? Was your mouse still within the window when this happened, or did this happen when you let it stray outside? (If it is related to the mouse leaving the window, I might also make it fullscreen.) I'd like to try to replicate this myself, so that I can try to hunt down and exterminate the bug.

It might have been when I went outside of the screen.
Methinks fullscreen will be better or, if its possible, a way to pause the game or something if the mouse leaves the window (once again, I am not sure how easy it is to do in Panda)



I do think that you're right - I'll hopefully have more sounds in general at a later stage. Better sounds too, for that matter. ^^;

Sound, admittedly, isn't my strong point, I don't think, but I'm loath to have someone else work on the sounds since I'm not sure of my progress.

Look at the Game.Dev resources thread, there are a few sites with free sound bites... You just need something like 'Dum dum DAAAAAA!!' to draw attention to the fact you have discovered something of importance.

In fact, if I remember correctly, a few adventure games have a sound that is made when the user clicks on the correct thing.

Thaumaturge
18-08-2008, 07:55 PM
Methinks fullscreen will be better or, if its possible, a way to pause the game or something if the mouse leaves the window (once again, I am not sure how easy it is to do in Panda)

I think that I'll look into one or both (fullscreen, at least, is just a matter of setting a config variable in one of the files that I distribute, if I'm not much mistaken) - thanks! ^_^


Look at the Game.Dev resources thread, there are a few sites with free sound bites...

That's a good point - thank you again. ^_^

I'll try to get some better sounds into the next version, but admittedly I'm prioritising sounds below models and gameplay at the moment.


In fact, if I remember correctly, a few adventure games have a sound that is made when the user clicks on the correct thing.

Hmm... I'll think about that, but I'm not sure that something that consistent would be a good idea - circumstance-appropriate sounds, however, might be a good idea, in some cases at least.

[edit]

'Dum dum DAAAAAA!!'

... But perhaps slightly less cheesy. ;P

Thaumaturge
01-09-2008, 12:13 AM
At last, after ten thous- well, the project has felt a little long, at least. :P

The final competition version is now linked-to in the first post. ^_^

Again, this version uses the same DLLs that I linked-to previously, so if you already have them you should be able to just use those, rather than downloading them again.

(It's a little over the deadline - am I too late? :/)

I didn't manage to implement everything that I wanted, the sounds are all self-made, explaining their (lack of) quality, and I'm not sure that the horror really works, but overall I'm reasonably happy with the results. I'm not sure that I provided enough clues to the puzzles, however.

There are still a few bugs left; offhand I recall that the left and right panels sometimes disappear until they are next told to reappear, and that there are some collision issues, especially at low frame-rates.

It's rather late to change anything, of course, but I'd nevertheless appreciate feedback. ^_^

[edit] Oh, dINGLE, I'm afraid that I didn't upload the egg versions, since I was already running late. I can still upload them for you if you want them, however, although they're not part of the entry as such.

Nandrew
02-09-2008, 07:18 PM
Hey! Great game, unfortunately I appear to be stuck: I've been wandering around the second major area, second sighting and what not, and have even seen a ghost activating a control panel, but for the life of me I can't seem to progress. :(

More importantly, the Panda OpenAL DLL failed to load on my computer. I can run the rest of the game fine, but no spooky music. :(

I'm going to play this some more and try give additional feedback. Some really creepy elements thrown in, which I quite enjoy.

Nandrew
02-09-2008, 07:21 PM
Another thing, actually: would it not have been preferable to centre the character on the screen, rather than placing them at the bottom? It would require far less re-rotation of the camera.

Nandrew
02-09-2008, 07:24 PM
Okay, ANOTHER post:

Me getting "stuck" earlier seems to have been caused by a bug which didn't let a couple of the game events trigger. I'm not sure what caused this, it appears to be pretty random. I restarted and I seem to be doing OK now, though.

Chippit
02-09-2008, 07:38 PM
I seem to have encountered an unfortunate bug. I became stuck in your level geometry in the second area, between (or, more accurately, inside) a computer terminal and a wall, and was unable to progress. The collision response seemed to have pushed the character in the wrong direction, placing me where I should have been able to get.

I also seem to be missing the audio library Nandrew mentioned above.

Thaumaturge
02-09-2008, 10:28 PM
Hey! Great game ...

Thank you very much. ^_^


Some really creepy elements thrown in, which I quite enjoy.

I'm glad to hear that - I was a little worried that they didn't work, but then I think that it's hard to judge that as the person that put them in, and knows that they're there. ^_^


More importantly, the Panda OpenAL DLL failed to load on my computer. I can run the rest of the game fine, but no spooky music.


I also seem to be missing the audio library Nandrew mentioned above.

Narg. It seems that I missed that one in my haste - presumably I have it on my machine, but not inthe DLL bundles or main download. I'll find it and upload it, I believe.

As to music, eheh, there isn't any actual music, as such - there are sounds, however. Music is not one of my strengths, I don't think (well, neither are sounds, come to that, but I find it easier to produce sounds that more or less work than music). ^^;


I seem to have encountered an unfortunate bug. I became stuck in your level geometry in the second area, between (or, more accurately, inside) a computer terminal and a wall, and was unable to progress. The collision response seemed to have pushed the character in the wrong direction, placing me where I should have been able to get.

Erp! That's one that I didn't see. o_o

I did find that there were collision problems at low frame rates (you should be able to see your frame rate in the top-right corner), admittedly, caused, I believe, by my movement system essentially "teleporting" the character too far in a given update. This is fixable, I believe, but I simply didn't get around to it in time.

I'll take a look at that computer, however - I presume that you mean the computer that you find after the elevator, not any of those in the first room?


Another thing, actually: would it not have been preferable to centre the character on the screen, rather than placing them at the bottom? It would require far less re-rotation of the camera.

Hmm... Possibly. I chose that point of view, as I recall, so that more was visible ahead of the player. Admittedly, this was chosen for an earlier game, I think. You might be right with regards to this game; it might be more valuable in such a game as this to see around the player character than ahead of him.


Me getting "stuck" earlier seems to have been caused by a bug which didn't let a couple of the game events trigger. I'm not sure what caused this, it appears to be pretty random. I restarted and I seem to be doing OK now, though.

That's odd...

Have you varied the order in which you perform actions? Sequence is important, and in at least one case activating a sighting not relevant to the current sequence intentionally "interferes" with completing that sequence. For the main corridor (in which you make your first sighting), there should be four sightings available after the first, of which two make up that first sequence.

If you're not sure of the appropriate sequence, watch the ghost's actions in the sightings for clues.

Kensei
02-09-2008, 10:41 PM
Here guys (http://www.gamedev.za.net/filecloset/download.php?id=590)

I quickly downloaded Panda and found the file :)

Thaumaturge
02-09-2008, 10:56 PM
Hey, thank you Kensei! I was just about to upload a zip file myself, but you seem to have done so already. I arrived at Filecloset and was pleasantly suprised to see a "pandaopenal32.zip" already present. ^_^

I appreciate it - thank you again. ^_^

You downloaded Panda? Might we be seeing Panda games from you in the future, then? ;)

[edit] Having just downloaded and taken a look at the contents of the file, I think that this file might also be called for, based on the results that my recent Dependency Walker run-through gave me: OpenAL wrapper (I think) (http://www.gamedev.za.net/filecloset/download.php?id=591)

Kensei
03-09-2008, 11:05 AM
You downloaded Panda? Might we be seeing Panda games from you in the future, then? ;)

I downloaded it because the people wanted that file.

I'll be honest, I am hopeless at Python (read I think I did one lesson in it at varsity) and I am happy with Game Maker :D

Thaumaturge
04-09-2008, 05:18 AM
Fair enough - although I wouldn't be surprised it Python and Game Maker's scripting language shared similarities. :P

Game Maker seems to serve you well, however. ^_^

Gazza_N
04-09-2008, 07:27 AM
Urgh... The game loads, and mostly works fine, other than vicious artifacting that I'm getting on 3D geometry. The level geometry mostly works, other than random polygons shooting out at bizarre angles here and there, but the player avatar looks like a jumbled, flickering polygonal mess in a man's shape. I suspect this is a driver issue, but just so that you're aware of it...

Otherwise, very cool. Stark atmosphere, intuitive interface, and nice puzzles (although I haven't played all the way through yet as a result of that annoying graphical glitch). My only gripe, which has already been voiced, is the camera rotation, which is a leeeetle bit too slow. Considering the frequency with which I found myself repositioning the camera, it got a bit laborious having to wait for the thing to rotate to a good angle.

Tonight I'll slap on a new set of graphics drivers and see if I can't finish the game. Watch this space!

Kensei
04-09-2008, 10:59 AM
Tonight I'll slap on a new set of graphics drivers and see if I can't finish the game. Watch this space!

::watches the space::


.
.
.
.
...

::watches the space more ::

.
.
.
.
.

There is nothing happening at this space, maybe one line down.

nope

Sorry, can you tell I don't want to work today :D
Gaz, it must be a graphic driver issue, mine works fine :)

Gazza_N
04-09-2008, 06:25 PM
New drivers helped, as expected. ;)

But, like Nandrew, I appear to be completely stuck. Four sightings down, in various orders, and I can't seem to do anything else but wander around and jiggle the handles of locked doors. Maybe I'm just thick, but the hint you gave Nandrew isn't working for me. :(

EDIT: Yes, I am thick. First sequence triggered. Go Gazza!

EDIT 2:

That was actually a lot of fun, although I must admit that the fact that triggering visions out of sequence doesn't accomplish anything led to a lot of confusion on my part. However, once I realised that reconstructing the chain of events was the whole point of the game, I rather liked it. :P

Once last thing though: I assume, from the fact that the credits are shown afterwards, that there's no way to escape the evil zombie thingy and that your death is the intended, and very ironic, ending to the game? My Gazzasense tells me that there's a way out, but I can't seem to find it...

Thaumaturge
06-09-2008, 12:56 AM
I'm glad to hear that it was indeed just a driver issue. ^^;


Otherwise, very cool. Stark atmosphere, intuitive interface, and nice puzzles

...

That was actually a lot of fun ...

Thank you very much - I really appreciate that. ^_^


My only gripe, which has already been voiced, is the camera rotation, which is a leeeetle bit too slow. Considering the frequency with which I found myself repositioning the camera, it got a bit laborious having to wait for the thing to rotate to a good angle.

*nods* Fair enough. To be honest, knowing where things were myself, I probably didn't rotate the camera as much as a new player might. Thank you for pointing this out. ^_^

As to the puzzles, I should, I now think, have led up to the concept a little better - throwing the player into a two-part sequence with two additional non-relevant visions might have been a little abrupt. I think that I should perhaps have instead started with just two visions, then moved up from there...


Once last thing though: I assume, from the fact that the credits are shown afterwards, that there's no way to escape the evil zombie thingy and that your death is the intended, and very ironic, ending to the game? My Gazzasense tells me that there's a way out, but I can't seem to find it...

Your Gazzasense is... well, sort of correct. You should have seen an ending image before the credits. There are two such images to be seen. If the zombie got you, then you presumably saw the "gravestone" image.

Hints:
1) You've gathered thus far that the goal is to reconstruct the sequence of events. Have you tried that in this room?
2) Does anything on the floor look familiar?
3) Did you look at the blackboard?
4) Did you take note of the book?
---> If you don't recall the book's contents, then look at the table in the zombie room.

Of course, if you've done this, and all seems to go well, but the zombie gets you anyway, it might just be reaching you before the final vision is complete. If so, try drawing it away - it should be rather slower than you, and rather less intelligent. Couches can make good places to slow it down if you're careful.

If you get another ending, and are still not sure that you found the best ending, then read the following spoiler:

No, your character doesn't get out alive. One death might be considered to not have been in vain, however.