My TIGSource competition entry: This Cursed Rock

Okay, I think I've gotten this done enough to post something here, so here goes

The current competition theme is H.P. Lovecraft's Commonplace Book. For those of you unfamiliar with H.P. Lovecraft, he was a pulp horror writer back in the day, and is responsible for the Cthulhu mythos, among other things. His Commonplace Book was a notebook in which he jotted down scenes or ideas for stories, and some of them are rather strange.

I chose #186: Thing from sea�in dark house, man finds doorknobs etc. wet as from touch of something. He has been a sea-captain, and once found a strange temple on a volcanically risen island.

I have the whole story mapped out in my head and have the first level (almost) entirely done. Unlike the VGNG compo from way back when it looks like I might have a chance at finishing this one.

Sprites:

<img src="http://i37.tinypic.com/1115ffc.png">

Screenshot:

<img src="http://xs232.xs.to/xs232/08441/newscreen213.png">

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Final competition build:

http://willhostforfood.com/users/D/dead ... edRock.rar

No-sound version:

http://willhostforfood.com/users/D/dead ... ock_ns.zip

(This game was built with an earlier version of Construct so the sound version may crash on some machines. If that happens to you, try the no-sound version.)

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First Demo:

This Cursed Rock v0.5.5 (7MB, mainly because of the sound)

Use Z to select menu items and to jump. Press Up when the magnifying glass appears to inspect an item. ESC to quit.

The first level is very short (and ends very abruptly), the main part of the game will be played as a flashback. There will be jumping and shooting and... unimaginable horrors from the sea

(Don't mind the Ben Bernanke gorilla image there at the end, it was just an in-joke for the TIGS forum. It will be replaced by the real uninvited guest in the final version...)

Looks great so far! And I didn't run into any bugs, except maybe how if you try to read while moving and let go of the arrow key to late the message disappears, maybe make it disappear after going past a certain distance of the object?

I suppose I could make it so the trigger to inspect things doesn't disappear after you inspect them. That would probably be easier.

This is pretty well done, you didn't use the zoom function did you? You just resized all the sprites before implementation?

This is pretty well done, you didn't use the zoom function did you? You just resized all the sprites before implementation?

Yeah, I figured I'd save myself the headache of having to deal with zooming. Plus it allows for smoother sub-pixel movement. The sprites aren't as blurry as they would be if they were scaled up 2x at runtime with Linear turned on.

Wow O.O

Well done so far deadeye

Keep it up man, you are gonna need the momentum for the rest of the comp, plus the ideas I have had for Chamber

Lookin' sweet dude... that's a hell of a lot of graphics so far and they look really consistant and give that "murky/scary" feel quite nicely.

Remember, if you want any help spriting you know where I'm at

~Sol

Ah, thanks Sol

I think I'm going to go this one alone though. I want to see if I can finish a project

(Did you not get the PM I sent you about this a while ago? I wouldn't want you to think I'm ignoring you...)

Ah, thanks Sol

I think I'm going to go this one alone though. I want to see if I can finish a project

(Did you not get the PM I sent you about this a while ago? I wouldn't want you to think I'm ignoring you...)

Nah I got your PM

I was just reminding you just in case you run short of time or anything like that. It's cool that you want to tackle it yourself though, I have done things like in the past just to prove to myself that I can do it... if it becomes a case of not having enough time to get it submitted though my offer is still there. I have to say I played it again later on and just noticed all the little touches on things. This game is going to be very shiny when it's done... I'll be very surprised if you don't win or at least place in the top 3.

~Sol

This game is going to be very shiny when it's done... I'll be very surprised if you don't win or at least place in the top 3.

I'm trying

Right now my game is trouncing the competition as far thread views and number of posts, so I know there is at least some interest in it . There are a few pretty slick looking games being entered though, so I doubt I'll actually win. But yeah, I think it might do okay.

That looks great

Just... WTF was that at the ending?

LOL.

I did have a look at this, really nicely produced so far, good stuff

Aaaah please finish this . Great work so far.

Thanks for the kind words, guys I'll do my best to finish. I'm a bit hung-over today after last night's Halloween party, but I think I feel productive enough to get something done.

Just... WTF was that at the ending?

LOL.

That's Hideous' avatar on TIGSource (the same Hideous that posts here sometimes). H.P. Lovecraft used the word "hideous" a whole lot; it appears a total of 20 times in the Commonplace Book, so naturally it's been made a joke in the compo forum

Anyway, here's the real uninvited guest:

<img src="http://xs433.xs.to/xs433/08440/uninvitedguest454.png">

I'm not very happy with the dialogue box color for the creepy dead guy though. It's probably going to be changed.

Your art style is really great. I especially like the descriptions for certain items that you can read. It really gives it a classic feel. This might not make any sense, but it sort of feels like an old DOS game (I mean that in a good way).

this is sooo sick man.