Fatale (working title) [DEMO ADDED]

[Rayne Aven]

Fatale
A shocking and insightful journey into the mind of a murderer...
Indie Game Challenge 2011 Unprofessional Entry (details)

Story
A brutal murder has been committed in broad daylight. The sole suspect was brought into custody, but he has not uttered a single word since. As an experienced psychological explorer, you are hired to enter the criminal's mind and find the truth.

Gameplay
Fatale is an atmospheric puzzle/adventure game. The suspect's mind is home to a number of strangely familiar and unfamiliar places, each with their own rules. It is the player's job to learn these rules and solve unique puzzles, essentially "figuring out" the suspect's mind. Through doing this, the player gains access to deeper areas and more intimate knowledge.

Each puzzle has its own mechanics and rules. The only mainstay between them is that arrow keys move your character in the four cardinal directions and the Confirm button (Enter, Spacebar, or C) interacts with things.

Screenshots

Spoiler

The title screen. It's animated.

This is a lot more annoying in-game.

See? The RTP can be pretty.

This is to show a little more of the atmosphere in the game.

Here's some art from one of the cutscenes. It shows the suspect hooked up to the machine that allows his mind to be entered.

Notes

Spoiler

• Yes, we do realize that independent game company Tale of Tales came out with a game called Fatale last year. The two games have nothing to do with each other. We came up with name Fatale before this was released and haven't changed it since, but we will change it before the product's release.
  
  Fatale is being developed in RPG Maker XP with mostly RTP graphics, RTP sound effects, and some RTP music. Yeah, we didn't want to either, but RMXP comes with royalty-free resources that we can use. It's just not feasible for two programmers to make the art for a game like Fatale.
  
  Like it says that the top, we are planning on entering this game in 2011 Indie Game Challenge (and possibly the IGF Student Showcase). The deadline for entry to this competition is October 1, 2010, so that's the latest date at which you can expect this game to be released. It will be released as freeware.

Download the demo! and let us know what you think!

Credits
Enterbrain - Graphics, Sound, some music
Nathan Chmielinski - Design, Story, some art
Richard "Rayne Aven" Gebbia - Programming, Story, some music
Grace Chmielinski - Cutscene Art
Ben Chmielinski - some art

Also note: this thread is under construction. As soon as we can, we will get more information and a demo up here.

 

[Rayne Aven]

Due to the OVERWHELMING number of responses to this thread, I have decided to add a demo so you's can all see what we're up to. Be warned, though, there are a few graphical inconsistencies, and story stuff still hasn't been added, so you might feel like you're wandering around and doing nothing. Hope you enjoy, though, and PLEASE post your thoughts!

 

[regi]

The story is a refreshing concept, but I'm not quite convinced with the execution. You say RTP can be pretty, but the maps are too empty and lackluster. Also, I like that you're introducing custom graphics for cutscenes, but I hope in-game they will be refined and more solid than that basic sketch?

Still, I like the feel of it. From your description it looks clean and simple, and it has a lot of potential.

 

[Rayne Aven]

Thank you for taking time out to respond to the thread.

I'm glad you like the story; there's a lot more to it than I can reveal on here. I know the execution is poor compared to what it could have been, but we are unfortunately just two programmers, mainly, who don't have the privilege of a professional artist working on all the content in the game and a professional musician composing all the tracks for the game. We're working with RPG Maker XP and its RTP mostly to get a game out there, and even if it's not the prettiest looking thing, we hope it will be a good game with exemplary level design.

On the topic of mapping, are you referring to any maps in particular when you say empty and lackluster? And could you also elaborate on what you mean by "lackluster?" I'd like to make the maps as eye-catching as possible using the RTP without going overboard, so if you or someone else could drop some tips, that would be most appreciated. Also, the level design really trumps the art direction in a game like this. As much as I would like to add a few things here and there, that may make the puzzle harder to navigate or understand.

In reference to the cutscene images: they will be more refined in that they will be colored. They are still going to have that ever so slight cartoon look to it because that is Grace's style, and they are going to be hand-drawn and scanned, as well.

 

[regi]

Hey, I never said the RTP can't produce a pretty game. That said, you may need to step up mapping a notch to get there. The mapping's decent; there aren't any errors, but the areas are quite barren and empty. I guess it depends on the tone or atmosphere you want to convey, but generally towns and fields are much more active and full of life-- be it human, plant, or animal. IMO the forest is the hardest area to map. All the ones I've seen tend to look the same. You'll need to be really creative to make it stand out.

Given that these are more aesthetic than logical problems, I can't really give too many pointers; but I'd suggest looking around the Screenshot Thread for examples. I know there's a million pages to search through but there are some excellent pics in there! (Or just look around the Projects forums for XP games that catch your eye.)

 

[bacon]

I agree, the story is pretty cool. The only issue I see here is character development. There isnt much room for it, and this could make the game stagnate. I think the best way to create character development would be to go through the suspect's whole life from beginning to present. You can bring some interesting things to the table and literally "get into the suspect's mind". If executed right, it could bring sympathy towards the murderer and you can have this bittersweet symphony going on with the story.

Mapping wise it needs some work. Your to be frank isnt very good. You misuse tiles and break a lot of rules mapping wise. I would suggest going to the mapping improvement thread located in Game Development or reading Tindy's Mapping Tutorial located in the tutorial section. Puzzles should not dictate mapping, mapping should dictate puzzles and many people seem to miss this.

Your detective sprite is flat. I would go to pixel analysis for more information but you need more contrast and it comes off as flat.

 

[Rayne Aven]

Once again, thanks.

Regicida: Looking through the maps now, I definitely see what you mean with the maps being empty. I will do my best to try and fix it. The town is actually not supposed to have that many people in it. The game explains why, but that obviously doesn't excuse poor mapping.

bacon: We have the whole story planned out, and, like I said before, there's a lot more of it I simply can't reveal here. If you're interested (and I sincerely hope you are), you'll have to wait until we can get all the cutscenes up to see what we have planned. I honestly think people will really like it. What I can reveal, though, is that the part of the suspect's mind you enter contains four main rooms, each with two puzzles. Once you solve both puzzles in a room, you gain access to a memory, which gives you more insight into the suspect as a person.

While I kindly disagree that mapping should dictate puzzles, both you and Regicida have made it manifest that the mapping is bad. I have actually read that tutorial several times; I guess the knowledge hasn't completely been absorbed yet. =/ After giving it a quick read-through again, however, I don't see what rules are being broken and what tiles are being misused. I will send some of the maps to the mapping improvement thread.

As for the detective sprite, thank you for pointing that out. I kind of see what you mean, perhaps some lighter grays need to be added into the coat? I'll try and get that problem squared away as soon as possible.