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Animal Survival Horror Game (some mature content) - Printable Version

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Animal Survival Horror Game (some mature content) - ChickenFetus - 09-06-2018

For the past couple years I had been working on two prototypes for game concepts I had. One was an ecosystem sim/world-building game in Unity, the other was an animal based survival horror (which I used "Cat Story" as a placeholder name) in RM VX Ace (however, I'll probably switch to Unity for the actual game)

I made these to get people's thoughts and opinions (e.g concepts, mechanics, art and etc.) before deciding what direction I want to go in with a more serious project. I've also been doing a lot of practice with pixel art and wanted people's opinions on that as well.



I didn't bother adding a download link to either since I assumed no one would be interested in actually playing either prototype. But if for some reason someone is interested in trying the Animal Survival one (the ecosystem sim is not really in a usable state) let me know.

*Warning: Some violent, morbid and creepy content in this one. This is not a child friendly game despite the cute kittens.
"Animal Survival Horror Prototype"

Although I probably will no longer work on the ecosystem sim for various reasons (but mostly because I assume animal survival would generate more interest), much of the code and concepts will likely be re-purposed for the animal survival game when/if I switch to Unity. Although the actual tools for modifying to ecosystem will no longer be utilized outside of debugging. But I figured I'd state what this was originally going to be nonetheless and see if people thought any of the concepts could still work in a survival game.
"Ecosystem Sim Prototype"

Sprites
Although the Animal Survival Prototype uses many placeholder assets, I added many of my own sprites (owl, deer, snake, humans and most monsters). Although I did not add any original environmental assets to that prototype, I have been practicing on making pixel buildings and foliage. I would appreciate your thoughts on the sprites I made.

"Original Creatures Sprites in Animal Survival Horror Prototype"
"Original Creature Concept Sprites not used in prototypes"
"Original Environment"

I would like input on which direction to go regarding playable animals in the survival game (please vote in the poll)
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RE: Animal Survival Horror Game (some mature content) - DerVVulfman - 09-06-2018

Insofar as choice #3, what if the 'fictional' creatures are just alterations of those in existence? Carnivorous deer for example? Flesh eating horses now that man has left them behind or worse? Mama Cat might have some issues with rats now that they're as big as dogs.

Raccoons are not exactly idiots, but problem solvers. THEY can be the hunters she truly fears, if not the large birds of prey and the like. Protecting her young against animals with problem-solving intelligence can be terrifying.


RE: Animal Survival Horror Game (some mature content) - ChickenFetus - 09-06-2018

(09-06-2018, 04:24 AM)DerVVulfman Wrote: Insofar as choice #3, what if the 'fictional' creatures are just alterations of those in existence?   Carnivorous deer for example?  Flesh eating horses now that man has left them behind or worse?  Mama Cat might have some issues with rats now that they're as big as dogs.  

Raccoons are not exactly idiots, but problem solvers.  THEY can be the hunters she truly fears, if not the large birds of prey and the like.  Protecting her young against animals with problem-solving intelligence can be terrifying.

This general direction of "mutated" animals I have considered (and in the prototype Mama Cat can actually gain special abilities by touching certain objects or eating some of the tiny monsters).

Although if I were to go with that, then I don't want mutated animals to be overly numerous (except maybe giant bugs) like how in The Isle mutated dinosaurs are much rarer than normal ones. Or I could have them so changed they no longer resemble the animal type they came from nor interact/breed with their ancestral species. Basically having become an entire new species all together.

There's several reasons for this, but the most important is because if I am going to include real animals then I don't want them to be overshadowed by the mutated ones.


By the way, what you said about problem solvers made me realize something. The player can't open or close doors, but there's no reason I couldn't make a monster that could...

 Also, regarding birds of prey, the prototype has owls. They only attack if the player gets too close, but since they sit in trees they're not always easy to spot.


RE: Animal Survival Horror Game (some mature content) - kyonides - 09-07-2018

You forgot about windows, cats love them! Just go ask Patches or Evil, they will confirm it! Laughing + Tongue sticking out

What about alien species being the root cause of humans vanishing from Earth?


RE: Animal Survival Horror Game (some mature content) - DerVVulfman - 09-07-2018

For there to be alternate 'mutated' species while MamaCat and her kin remain untouched might be related to a few things. One: cats might be naturally immune to whatever MIGHT have caused this sudden change in genetics. Two: these cats, the pets, might not only be domesticated but pure by design. That is to say, raised by humans that way. The Calico (which you now have ^_^) might have been a pet that has now become feral. Three: Whatever happened, MAN did it years ago ala THE MIST, but on a more subtle note to our own environment rather than bringing in another.

Could be a good backstory or something for filler.

Oh, you got other birds of prey out there. Hawks, falcons, eagles, evil Fanged VampireDucks that have speech impediments.


RE: Animal Survival Horror Game (some mature content) - ChickenFetus - 09-08-2018

(09-07-2018, 01:54 AM)kyonides Wrote: You forgot about windows, cats love them! Just go ask Patches or Evil, they will confirm it! Laughing + Tongue sticking out

What about alien species being the root cause of humans vanishing from Earth?

(09-07-2018, 03:25 AM)DerVVulfman Wrote: For there to be alternate 'mutated' species while MamaCat and her kin remain untouched might be related to a few things.   One: cats might be naturally immune to whatever MIGHT have caused this sudden change in genetics.  Two: these cats, the pets, might not only be domesticated but pure by design.  That is to say, raised by humans that way.  The Calico (which you now have ^_^) might have been a pet that has now become feral.  Three:  Whatever happened, MAN did it years ago ala THE MIST, but on a more subtle note to our own environment rather than bringing in another.

Could be a good backstory or something for filler.

Oh, you got other birds of prey out there.  Hawks, falcons, eagles, evil Fanged VampireDucks that have speech impediments.

As far as plot goes, I don't intend to add an actual answer for why people are gone and the world is different. Aside from adding to the mystery and leaving it open to interpretation, this emphasizes that the animals have no way of understanding what happened or why things suddenly changed. I also think it adds to the feeling that the player is only a minor and unimportant background element to a much bigger story that's beyond their control.

This obscurity will also apply to the origins of monsters or creatures that look like they're derived from animals.

However I can say that humans have only been gone for about a year (the litter in the game is mama's first) and humans still exist but are incredibly rare. Although I intend to leave ambiguous if that rarity is global (near extinction) or regional (e.g if they're only rare in the area due to it now being either dangerous or inaccessible.) It's also ambiguous if the change happened suddenly in the town she lives in, or if it started elsewhere awhile ago and eventually grew large enough to impact the town mama lived in.

My question and survey was more in regards to issues with design and gameplay. Real animals are very hard to design (especially with how detailed I want the sprites to be and how picky I am with sound effects matching what animal actually sounds like) and are more limited in gameplay. This would mean less variety which I imagine wouldn't be very popular. However people are already familiar with, and often attached to, real animals and would be more likely to consider this project if it had creatures they already had interest in. Plus not having real animals would lessen the impact of many of the themes I had set up.

So far, from what I've gathered from people's interest, real animals are probably going to be a certainty. But I still want to wait a bit before deciding about fictional animals.


Great Horned Owls are the only raptors in the prototype, but diurnal raptors such as eagles or hawks are likely to be added to the actual game (and thanks for the calico). Also interesting idea of using open or cracked windows to enter buildings, I'll keep it in mind.



Although these images are mostly not related game, they do give a general idea of how I draw fictional animals.

Altered Animals
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Unearthly
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Something Inbetween
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RE: Animal Survival Horror Game (some mature content) - ChickenFetus - 10-05-2018

So October is here, the best month for black cats, creepy places and monsters.

I'm starting work in moving on from the prototype to the actual game. I'm still working on a proper title. I'm considering Zerusohl's Creatures (exactly what "Zerusohl" is I don't want to say yet)

For this I've been working on the sprites. In the prototype all the environmental sprites were either RTP or purchased, while most of the animals were modified RTP. For the proper game I want to have my own sprites, including remaking the animals from the game. However I've also begun making new kinds of creatures.

[Image: dnBX7e3.png]

Some new prey I've been working on include grasshoppers and shrews (they'll function similar to mice but their vision and meat isn't as good). 
In the prototype the only birds were pigeons and mourning doves (since RM RTP had a white dove I could make into other kinds of pigeons). Now I've begun making passerines such as sparrows and starlings. I've also added variants to certain prey, such as for the rats (normal, infernal, abyssal and feral domestic).

I also have new enemies as well, such as freakish worm creatures (inspired heavily by silent hill). And what's a horror game without some giant crawliers, such as an oversized spider. They  comes in two variants: smaller males and much larger female. Males probably aren't too dangerous to the player, in fact they are prey to cats. The females however are deadly enemies to be feared.
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Along with this, I also now have some concept art
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