Saturday 30 May 2020

A Small Update



Abscission is coming along nicely. I have started to add new features, such as:


Comic style portraits for all characters (including changing emotions, blinking, etc)...
 





A map for navigation (with locations opening up when clues or connections are found)...





Cutscenes...



And a few other elements, such as classic late 80's cell phone to call up other characters, a computer parser system to use for searching for clues, a journal system to keep track of story points, and also some surrounding lore and immersive elements (such as TV news, etc) that will make the world richer.


 
It's great fun to do something new!

Sunday 17 May 2020

A New Venture - Abscission

After a while of moving between different writing projects (including some scenarios and campaigns for Call of Cthulhu, which may or may not see some form of publication) I have found myself doing something that I always wanted to do...



I'm making a point and click adventure game!

The first game I can remember playing as a kid was Monkey Island 2, on 14 or so floppy disks, on an Amiga at some weird kid's house (I can't remember him, but I can remember the game). It gave me the adventure game bug and I have played them all my life.

I'm using Adventure Game Studio to create it, a fantastic piece of FREE software (available here) that (unknown to me until a couple of weeks ago) sits behind some fantastic games (such as Technobabylon - available here at Steam). It has a pretty steep learning curve, especially since I have never really created any pixel art or done any programming, but I'm enjoying the challenge.


Abscission is a horror mystery at heart, telling the story of Detective Bill Stanhope, as he investigates the murder of Serina Challinor.


It's a relatively mature affair, so will probably be 16+ or 18+ in the end.


As it stands, the plot is fully outlined (though subject to change as I add more creepiness) and I have some rather ambitious ideas for story progression and a journal system, which may or may not happen depending on my ability to work out coding.


Anyway,  will post more as it develops. I have no idea how I will release it in the future, but it will be released, somehow, like an odd pixelated kraken.