Utterly Mad

I was thinking of a game were you are using a computer console of some kind to tell your player (that would be a square, I guess) what do do and where to go. It would be an infiltration game, and the console would be really, really basic.

However, later on the game implies that you are telling actual people what to do, and when they die, they die for real, and all is an spy organization of some kind.

Each level would be unique, and if you die, you can't repeat the level unless you start the whole game over, implying, again, that the agent died.

If you do bad, at the end of the game you'd be discovered by the enemy organization and killed off, but you are never told everything.

If you do certain things you could also get some papers of the enemy organization with would tell you the back story, and that the agent would send you. But if you do this, the agent has to die or they would say something and you would be caught.

The real end? I don't think there'd be one. Just different endings, like being caught by the enemies, by your side or just doing all the missions perfect, or at least doing most.

That idea sounds awesome, if incorporated right.

A text game where you play the guard of a prison, and as you progress through the days system, gaining more story and money and equipment through roguelike style combat with traitors and escapees as well as just reading through the story, slowly realise you are playing the guard of a concentration camp, with subtle hints of what happened. E.g. "Another group got killed today, that'll teach them." With you believing it was a group of escapees, but was just a group of innocent people. Towards the end, your life as a guard becomes harder and the details larger until you A, kill yourself or B, wait for the liberation of your 'prison'.

Okay, time to say why I haven't been writing or well doing much anything.

I've been working on a idea that may sound outlandish in a way, but I kinda want it to sound outlandish.

First it started out as a joke "sim" game to help me get some experience in the world on coding.

Then I started thinking about expanding the joke into something more bizarre.

Then finally after some doodling and some thinking (families out of town so I've had plenty thinking time); I've decided on a game that I'll give the [WIP] name Utterly Mad. Why? Because the idea, story, and concept are all Utterly Mad and will most likely make me look like a bafoon.

I want to make a Metroidvannia style'd game in which you descend down into your new house's basement to discover a entrance to a dungeon that slowly reveals more Lovecraftian and Poe elements the further down you go; this is where its going to sound crazy but... I want to do it in a cartoony artstyle and now I will explain why.

1. Because all I'm really good at is doodling and making semi-crap/semi-decent cartoon drawings.

2. Because when you start finding "deep lore" {Basic example: Dagon, Red Death, or Cthulhu}, I want them to look 'realistic'. Think of how Courage the Cowardly Dog was cartoony, but at random times they'd have photoreal monsters that normally hail from other dimensions.

3. Cartoons are easy to animate better without them looking like utter shit in 3D.

---

Originally I wanted it to be another run-of-the-mill FPS horror, but I think a 3D or 2D game might work better. Also its mostly just a string of ideas at the moment, nothing really concrete except one thing; I want the game to become more macabre and bizarre the further into the dungeon you go, possibly simulating a descent into madness that so many Lovecraftian or Poe characters often go through.

And the level design is also another problem, I'm thinking about making it 3D with rooms similar to how Zelda dungeons are (they have a simple or complex puzzle in them that you have to solve, or its just a room).

So instead of trying to piece words together I'll just list a list of things.

I don't really want guns in the game, at all, if you're going to be fighting or defending against horrors from the depths of wherever; then having a gun may either defeat the purpose of them being all-powerful beings, or maybe because I personally think adding guns into a horror game is kinda cliche in a sense. However I don't want the player to be defenseless, I think using makeshift weapons or traps, or artifacts that you gather would be way better then firing bullets at something. [Perigrin, I think that melee crating system we talked about for The Highway would be great in this respect!]

The bonus or secret areas should be something really cool or interesting to find, I don't want it to be a shitty room that looks like the rest but it has more ammo or whatever. No, I want the bonus levels to be a "taste" of what the later game will feel like. I'm talking about breaking through a wall and finding a portal that leads to the Dagon's underwater city, "Y'ha-nthlei" Or have a secret room that has a secret item for a secret puzzle of secrets.

I personally like it when games have a huge mystery inside them, that gamer nerds go on about for years and years to figure out. I was personally thinking about having a secret quest to defeat or join The Yellow King, and finding him would require know how of both the lore inside the game, and lore outside the game. And maybe having a few other things like this for the more less known Old Ones like Nyarlathetep or having a bigger quest that involves finding The Yellow King; said bigger quest would be about finding 'Azathoth', and upon seeing Azathoth, your game will crash.


Also even with the cartoon-style I want there to still be horror in the game, and since its cartoony it'll help enforce the fact that subtle or 4th wall horror might catch people off-guard (which in turn may surprise or scare people). One example of this would be the mirrors, early in the game (I'm talking right at the start) if you stare into a mirror for more then 5 minutes the area around the mirror will start to darken, tendrils will slowly start pouring from the edges of the mirror and tentacle-like appendages will start creeping out towards the player. If the player just keeps on staring the appendages will wrap around the player and pull them into the mirror. Killing them instantly. (Although I have an idea that involves doing this exact same thing to get to another location.)




So what do you think?

[[Also when I mean cartoony, I don't mean going full-on Wind Waker. I'm talking more "Spooky's House of Jumpscares" or the game "Eldritch". Basically giving the monsters exaggerated proportions, giving the character exaggerated facial details, etc... Alright better comparison, think of Monkey Island with Wind Waker's animation, with a hint of Lovecraft drawn illustrations.]]

Hmm, for a good example of a creepy cartoon game, look at Knock Knock. Also, for the mirror thing, almost the EXACT thing you said was done in Doom3, and it was terrifying. Plus, if we are going Obscure Lovecraft, bring in Cythlla and Yog Sothoth. Most people are only familiar with Cthulhu, Gnarly, and Hastur. The King in Yellow would be a neat thing too, as is the Hanged King from SCP. Also, for monsters, if going Lovecraft, shy away from Shoggoths and Deep Ones. They are too familiar to most people, and the emphasis is on the bizarre and unknown in Lovecraft.

No, there will be Shoggoths, and Deep Ones... but they're going to be the more obscure **** you could find. [Also Doom3's was a jumpscare, an effective one at that I might add. I was thinking more slowly creeping towards the player and as soon as they start moving it follows them] But yeah, if you know me, you'll know I want to shy away from Cthulhu; mainly due to the fact that Cthulhu should be dead and only talking to you through dreams, so I might have Cthulhu randomly start whispering to you the deeper into the lore you go. [I didn't really care for The Call of Cthulhu, as sinful to HP as that is]


Also Yog Sothoth is the major part to getting to Azathoth, since Yog Sothoth is basically the only way of getting to him. And the reason why I've wanted to do The King in Yellow, is because The King in Yellow is the avatar of Hastur; and since you aren't supposed to say his name (and since The King in Yellow is a creepy ass book) I'd thought that including a big secret quest that leads to bigger things would be neat.

But now that I think of it, maybe some doing obscure horror for this game might be the best bet.

I mean everyone has heard of Cthulhu, The Statue, and The Raven. But why not have more obscure references or works in there; why not have a level set in the tower described in HP's The Outsider, or have the bone dimension from Rats in The Walls.

We could really go all out if people start fishing for more obscure works, or creating their own monsters.

Hmmm
The king in yellow is one of Gnarly's avatars, not Hastur.

http://www.yog-sothoth.com/wiki/index.php/Hastur

http://kinginyellow.wikia.com/wiki/Hastur

Hmmm
The king in yellow is one of Gnarly's avatars, not Hastur. And if we are bringing obscure monsters and home brew, I have monsters from mt recurring nightmares that would fit. The Suessikin and Fuse are the ones that come to mind from my nightmares. But, Obscure Lovecraft trivia, if Cthulhu is dead, he is set to emerge from.his daughter Cythlla's womb after some time, because Lovecraft was a creepy mofo. That could play in.

I know. Cthulhu remains dreaming in R'lyeh till' that happens. I've read almost all his stories. I got streetcred.

Ok, you are right, my mind got messed up there. Does seem like something Gnarly would do, ****ing with humans like that.
Hmmmm
Lovecraft us interesting, in that he very rarely described anything in much detail, so there is room for interpretation. Shoggoths could be scary if not given a proper shape like a lit of games do, and simply being a sliding black mass. Deepones.... Need a bit of work. They are scarier for what they do than what they are.

If we were to include Shoggoths, I'd want them to be big and in a almost pitch black area of the game. It'll make them look formless and massive (as they should be), but if we were to include smaller ones, we should make an algorithm that randomly places whats described on the Shoggoth's "base".

Same with Deepones. The monsters should be have "silhouettes" as closer inspection of them would be dangerous. Also I think including some brutal deaths might help in this regard [IE: Being absorbed and dissolved in a Shoggoth, Deepone ripping you limb from limb then dragging your corpse off, maybe have a cutscene if you get "killed" by a cultist, showing you getting sacrificed or being converted into their ways].


But I mostly want to shy away from Cthulhu, his presence should be unexpected or so subtle that you barely even notice him; every time a game introduces Cthulhu or brings him in, it ends up floundering and fucking up badly.

Also in true Lovecraftian/Poe fashion, there won't be a good ending where you kill all the old ones and live a normal life. You either will go insane and take your own life, or go insane and embrace the lore by the end of it; or go insane and stick around in the dungeon for the rest of your life trying to survive against impossible odds. Also I'm thinking about having the Old Ones being nearly impossible to beat, or maybe having an alliance system; where you can swear fealty to a Old One, and get some perks out of it. But that may be a bad idea, or a genius idea; because either way the Old One of your choosing would be working through you or simply just use you until they decide that you have to go.