Phantasmagoric

Phantasmagoric

"A surreal game where the choices effect the outcome..."

Phantasmagoric is more of an Idea then a game, but it's supposed to be my darkest and most surreal game yet. The game is about a series of tests, you being the tester. The tests each consist of making moral choices - Examples will be given later. Anyways, here is how the game starts out:

You wake up one day in a dark test chamber room, with a observation deck in the wall around the middle of the room. We walk around for a little bit, then the room lights up a little ( Using advanced Lighting Techniques, very advanced ) and the observation deck becomes visible. Inside, there are 2 guys and they tell you a little about the test. Not too much, otherwise it would give it all away. They say they that the world needs more people who make the right choices, and there company is looking for more people like that for reasons they will not tell you. After the debriefing, a Portal appears and you go through it and appear in the first test chamber.

Here's that example I was talking about. You appear in a room, with 2 people near the bottom center on the floor. A light with no known origin hangs above them, emphasizing there importance. As you approach, you can hear there bickering over a pointless topic. One of them stole the other persons red ball. ( Yes, pathetic ) You get to talk to both and here there sides of the argument. One of them, the one who is holding the ball, says that the other person tried to steal it from him and he's keeping it away. The other one, not holding the ball, claims that he was tossing the ball at a wall back and forth when the other guy, currently holding the ball, came over and stole it. They both then give you some info about what happened, and you decide what must be done. You can either use persuasion techniques to get your desired results, or use some of the other objects in the room. You see 3 different objects in the room that could change the outcome: Another Red Ball, so you can give the one without the red ball one, or give the current one with the red ball another one. You also see A Gun ( Which is loaded ) and a piece of toast. There are many possible outcomes to this situation, since you point and click to pick up, select, have objects interact with other objects, and etc.

So, what do you think? Does the idea sound like it would make a good game?

There are going to be 16 Different Experiments, each very different from the previous one. Your moral choices effect the outcome of the experiments, and something even bigger in the end. After the 16 tests, something happens, but I'm not telling

Planned Features:

• Surreal, Dark Atmosphere
  
  
• 16 Tests, all Different
  
  
• Your Moral Choices effect the outcome
  
  
• 2 Guys observing you the whole test, sometimes interjecting with random comments
  
  
• Advanced Lighting Techniques
  
  
• Controls are all done with Arrow Keys / WASD and the Mouse, along with some other keys pertaining to some tests
  
  
• A dark, disturbing ending, which is different depending on your decisions during the test

So... opinions?

This sound like a great concept. The only problem I can think of is that it sound very complicated (to make), that might lead you to not make or it will take a while until it's finished. Have you already started working on it?

Cool.

that sounds cool

Vivi_IX wrote:This sound like a great concept. The only problem I can think of is that it sound very complicated (to make), that might lead you to not make or it will take a while until it's finished. Have you already started working on it?

It's actually not all that complex really. There is going to be... I'm thinking right now either 8 or 6 Possible outcomes. Each Outcome will occur depending on multiple Global Variables which are changed at the end of each test. The hardest part would probably be making the whole object interaction system. The rest is within my grasp.

The beginning sounds a lot like Portal

Portal partially inspired me. But it's quite different, multiple people are monitoring you, different outcomes, different atmosphere.

Sounds awesome, will it be like the other "test" game that you made, where you can only do it one time though? Because I hope not. I'd like to see what happens if I used the gun

sound very nice.

-js1210- wrote:Sounds awesome, will it be like the other "test" game that you made, where you can only do it one time though? Because I hope not. I'd like to see what happens if I used the gun

Nope, you can go through it as many times as you want

Well I'm glad this is all within your grasp becuase it sounds like a good game. Good luck, cant wait to play it.

Sounds great, good luck staying sane making it.

Thanks guys
I'll probably release a demo sometime in the future - Keep an eye out for it.

Ok

Here's a Screenie:



It's a picture of the main room in a conceptual state. Notice the Surface Lighting.

Do you get a Portal gun in the game?

Cool.

No, you don't get a Portal Gun

How do you do the surface lighting thing? Can you share it with us me?

IT'S MY SECRET.

No, I can share it. But you'll have to download it from THG - And it requires Pro.

Just go here:

http://www.tastyhamgames.com/thg_main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=39&Itemid=47

It's Example 12. I modified it to make the lights look more realistic, with the blur. Otherwise it's a solid light. If you want, I can show you how to make the blur.

EDIT: Here is a Screenie of the Main Menu. It looks MUCH better in game, with all the Particle and Wavy Text Effects with Random 0.6-0.8 Alpha Values.