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Through the Dark

  • Red_Nova
  • 03/19/2016 07:25 PM
  • 9243 views
Here you go, everyone! Through Dark and Liar's Soul is complete!

Deadlines are great, aren't they? They really force you to pick and choose what's important to the project since you don't have time to add in everything you want. I spent the first two days with Liberty's half just playing through it and picking apart story/lore/gameplay elements to see what I could use and expand on. To my excitement (and dismay), there was a lot to building blocks. I planned out a pretty elaborate plot with lots and lots of dialogue, but there just wasn't enough time to implement it all and do it justice. Sure, I could've just copied/pasted it into the game, but then I wouldn't be doing it justice. As such, I had to cut out about 30% of the planned stuff and rewrite other elements to plug the resulting plot holes in order to make more time for gameplay and stuff.

I console myself every night that it's better to cut content than to arbitrarily pad it out. Like Antoine de Saint Exupéry said, "...perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove."

... Not trying to imply that this game is perfect. Far from it, in fact. But you know what I mean.

Dammit, Liberty. You made more work for me by being too good at this. I cannot believe that was an actual sentence that I just wrote.

Overall though, I hope Liberty likes where I've taken the game, and I hope YOU like playing it! There are five endings to this game, and I'm really interested in hearing which ending you got first. And, of course, let me know of any bugs you find!

Thanks for playing!

*dies*

Posts

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Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
03/19/2016 08:22 PM
Nice! Downloading.
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
03/19/2016 08:37 PM
Thanks Ratty! I hope you like it!
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
03/19/2016 08:56 PM
Hooray! I also download! :D
Jeroen_Sol
Nothing reveals Humanity so well as the games it plays. A game of betrayal, where the most suspicious person is brutally murdered? How savage.
3885
03/19/2016 08:57 PM
I'll download this too, first thing when I've uploaded sjmorgan's and mine game!
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
03/19/2016 09:15 PM
Thanks, you two. I'd love to hear what you think!
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
03/19/2016 09:22 PM
Just started. One thing I've noticed, in battle, it seems like some sound effects are pretty muted, while others are much louder. Is that intentional?
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
03/19/2016 09:24 PM
Hm. Which ones were loud?
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
03/19/2016 09:32 PM
I think it's more that cursor sounds and "take damage" sounds are very soft in volume, which makes all the attack animations seem louder to me.
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
03/19/2016 09:44 PM
Yeah, I hear what you mean. All the music and BGS' were played at half volume, while the animation sound effects weren't edited. I just got so used to it during the week that it totally slipped my mind!

Thanks for pointing that out. I'll adjust it for the next update. Though if it's really jarring, I'll fix it and upload it sooner. I just want to avoid multiple downloads every time there's a small error.
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
03/19/2016 09:49 PM
It's not terrible, and I wonder if Liberty did that intentionally? I'm just so used to things being on an even level in most games that it sticks out to me XD

Tho it does mean that I appreciate the music a little less, I guess, since I don't want to have the sound effects super loud so I turn the volume down a little.
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
03/19/2016 10:00 PM
author=unity
Tho it does mean that I appreciate the music a little less, I guess, since I don't want to have the sound effects super loud so I turn the volume down a little.

Intentional or not, I think that's reason enough to warrant a quick update. Righty then, I've just updated the download to have all the battle animation sound effects dropped to a lower volume.
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32388
03/19/2016 10:14 PM
Well, I'm very grateful for the sound adjustments. So many RPG Maker games just feel like they're driving ice picks into my ear drums.
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
03/19/2016 10:26 PM
Thanks! I'm glad it was worthwhile!
Jeroen_Sol
Nothing reveals Humanity so well as the games it plays. A game of betrayal, where the most suspicious person is brutally murdered? How savage.
3885
03/19/2016 11:54 PM
That was a nice little game! ^^ I got roughed up a bit at the beginning before I'd figured out what all the items did, but I really liked it! Good job Libby and Red_Nova!
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
03/20/2016 12:06 AM
Thanks Jeroen! I'm so glad you like it!!
Liberty
RTP Princess
24266
03/20/2016 12:21 AM
I, uh, find most sounds grating in RM and I hate overly loud music so I tend to turn down the sounds and music a bit in all my games - I just forgot to do the same to the damn animations. I'd meant to do so, though. >.<

I'll be checking this out after I finish my second half (treating it as a reward for doing it~) but I'm definitely looking forward to what Red did with it~

Thanks for playing all~
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
03/20/2016 01:01 AM
Haven't finished playing it, but so far I'm loving it! I'll finish tonight or tomorrow and let you know what I think! ^_^

author=Liberty
I, uh, find most sounds grating in RM and I hate overly loud music so I tend to turn down the sounds and music a bit in all my games - I just forgot to do the same to the damn animations. I'd meant to do so, though. >.<

I'll be checking this out after I finish my second half (treating it as a reward for doing it~) but I'm definitely looking forward to what Red did with it~

Thanks for playing all~


Just out of curiosity, what's the difference in lowering all the volume of every sound/music in the game versus just turning down the main volume on your computer or speakers when you play?
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
03/20/2016 01:09 AM
Sound mixing. If everything's playing at full volume, there's a lot less flexibility in how you can control the audio. For many games, like It Moves for example, there's a large focus on sound design, and being able to move from quiet tones to louder ones can drastically improve the tone. Turning down the computer's volume would harm the game's atmosphere, as there's less dynamic range you can work.

I'm glad you're liking the game so far! Can't wait to hear what you think of it once you get to the end!
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
03/20/2016 01:14 AM
author=Red_Nova
Sound mixing. If everything's playing at full volume, there's a lot less flexibility in how you can control the audio. For many games, like It Moves for example, there's a large focus on sound design, and being able to move from quiet tones to louder ones can drastically improve the tone. Turning down the computer's volume would harm the game's atmosphere, as there's less dynamic range you can work with to drive home an atmosphere.


I get when it's done for horror or to punctuate things (by having something soft contrasting with something loud), but when both sounds and music are being played at, say, half volume, and nothing's being played at full volume, it seems the same as just turning your computer's volume down. Or is there more to it that I'm missing?
Liberty
RTP Princess
24266
03/20/2016 01:21 AM
Nah, like Red said, it's about balancing out the sounds and highlighting others. Usually music is a bit higher in sound depending on the tune, or I'll make background sounds louder/softer depending on how close to the source you are of those sounds. It can be hard to hear atmospheric effects over the top of louder music.

I'm also of the opinion that if someone has their sound set up in a particular way on their computer, forcing them to constantly change that based on your game music/sound is stupid (usually because I hate having to fiddle with sound when I'm playing a game/watching a movie at the same time). Why not just edit that yourself in your game?

That said, I tried something a little different this time by removing some sounds altogether (like cancel noises). I figured the game took place in a cave and too many beeps and boops make for immersion-breakage.
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