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Nachtheulen is a short story-focused dungeon crawler (wut) produced for the RPG Maker VX ACE Lite Cook-Off. The competition allowed us to work on any game we felt like, so I chose to reboot a barely-worked on 2k3 experiment project then titled Night Howl. The cast, plot and premise have remained the same.
This game employs the use of a mix of narrative-driven scenes combined with dungeon exploration, similar in a sense to Persona 4. It crafts a somber, serious atmosphere to tell the tale of two wayward vampires, along with a high difficulty curve that rewards you for playing intelligently rather than button mashing. If you enjoy this sort of approach to a game, Nachtheulen is right down your alley.
Additional Info
Story
For as long as people can remember, monsters have roamed the earth they occupy. Although some are passive and can be avoided, they present major challenges and are nigh impossible for ordinary humans to kill.
As a result, humans turn to another monster- a monster born from their own. Certain groups of vampires offer human settlements protection from monsters, promising not to harm any humans so long as they are permitted residence close by.
These situations rarely last very long.
Leander and Fionn are two such vampires. They live a nomadic life style, travelling between towns every few years. They haven't had much luck finding a permanent residence- one or both of them usually succumb to their darker desires and as a result they are chased away. So far their present situation has been ideal, but something new is approaching- something that will reveal secrets from the past and shed light on the future.
Nachtheulen is the direct prequel to Blood Rose, and Leander and Fionn are directly tied to Blood Rose's main cast. Since this game will be released first, it is written to be played first. Time line wise, this game is the first story to take place within the Atrum Somnium Terra universe.
Gameplay
The game is quite short, and most gameplay takes place within dungeons. An indicator will display showing you whether you are in a SAFE/NORMAL/CAUTION/DANGER zone, each have varying enemy types. In danger zones, enemies are likely to kill you.
Fionn and Leander rely on one another in battle, so you must cover each of their weaknesses with the other member or you will fall quite quickly. Learn how each works both in conjunction and separately to conquer Nachtheulen's dungeons.
Outside of dungeons, you are able to explore, finding equipment, selling items and communicating with the townspeople the two come into contact with. Pay attention to what equipment you have and what you are able to sell in order to arm your characters effectively.
Graphics
Nachtheulen employs the use of the RPG Maker DS Resource Pack, along with a number of custom graphics and portraits. As such the game holds a pixel-art based aesthetic while combining such with portraits.
Essentially the current credit list is:
Archeia_Nessiah
EvilEagles
(consistent graphic style woo!)
Music
Nachtheulen has quite a somber, serious mood, and this is dominantly reflected within its music choice. Although the soundtrack is taken from a variety of NewGrounds artists, the overall mood and tone remains essentially the same. The game takes place during the dead of night, given that Leander and Fionn are unable to traverse during the daylight hours, so the music is chosen to reflect the cold stillness of a world only illuminated by the glow of the moon.
Should you play this game?
This game employs the use of a mix of narrative-driven scenes combined with dungeon exploration, similar in a sense to Persona 4. It crafts a somber, serious atmosphere to tell the tale of two wayward vampires, along with a high difficulty curve that rewards you for playing intelligently rather than button mashing. If you enjoy this sort of approach to a game, Nachtheulen is right down your alley.
Additional Info
Story
For as long as people can remember, monsters have roamed the earth they occupy. Although some are passive and can be avoided, they present major challenges and are nigh impossible for ordinary humans to kill.
As a result, humans turn to another monster- a monster born from their own. Certain groups of vampires offer human settlements protection from monsters, promising not to harm any humans so long as they are permitted residence close by.
These situations rarely last very long.
Leander and Fionn are two such vampires. They live a nomadic life style, travelling between towns every few years. They haven't had much luck finding a permanent residence- one or both of them usually succumb to their darker desires and as a result they are chased away. So far their present situation has been ideal, but something new is approaching- something that will reveal secrets from the past and shed light on the future.
Nachtheulen is the direct prequel to Blood Rose, and Leander and Fionn are directly tied to Blood Rose's main cast. Since this game will be released first, it is written to be played first. Time line wise, this game is the first story to take place within the Atrum Somnium Terra universe.
Gameplay
The game is quite short, and most gameplay takes place within dungeons. An indicator will display showing you whether you are in a SAFE/NORMAL/CAUTION/DANGER zone, each have varying enemy types. In danger zones, enemies are likely to kill you.
Fionn and Leander rely on one another in battle, so you must cover each of their weaknesses with the other member or you will fall quite quickly. Learn how each works both in conjunction and separately to conquer Nachtheulen's dungeons.
Outside of dungeons, you are able to explore, finding equipment, selling items and communicating with the townspeople the two come into contact with. Pay attention to what equipment you have and what you are able to sell in order to arm your characters effectively.
Graphics
Nachtheulen employs the use of the RPG Maker DS Resource Pack, along with a number of custom graphics and portraits. As such the game holds a pixel-art based aesthetic while combining such with portraits.
Essentially the current credit list is:
Archeia_Nessiah
EvilEagles
(consistent graphic style woo!)
Music
Nachtheulen has quite a somber, serious mood, and this is dominantly reflected within its music choice. Although the soundtrack is taken from a variety of NewGrounds artists, the overall mood and tone remains essentially the same. The game takes place during the dead of night, given that Leander and Fionn are unable to traverse during the daylight hours, so the music is chosen to reflect the cold stillness of a world only illuminated by the glow of the moon.
Latest Blog
Greetings from the Necrosphere!
Puddor
So, I've been working on a fairly large overhaul of the game. It's intended to add all the pieces from the original design document that didn't make it into the Lite edition and elaborate on some more of Fionn and Leander's stories.
The game's hard mode is now called Ephemeral, and is simply a stat change to the main characters...because even normal mode has perma-death now. I'll be reducing the effectiveness of Holy/making Memorilux learnt sooner, and Leander's HP has been increased to the Phantasmal setting permanently unless you're playing Ephemeral. I watched Liberty's Let's Judge and found the two rarely actually died unless it was Holy spells, which is why I decided this approach wasn't too absurdly cruel. Reviver has been changed to Harmony, which is auto-revive, and you'll be able to get auto-revives in certain stores and attached to certain equipment.
I'm not just putting it in without adjustments, jeez.
I've also been working on maps and cutscenes; the first sequence has been adjusted slightly, with certain scenes removed or altered, and new boss battles implemented; in the original design document you were meant to be fighting a lot more wolfies than what actually made it in! :V
That said, the soundtrack's been expanded and adjusted to fit these new editions.
This is the theme for werewolf battles.
And this is one of the new areas. The timer will probably be changed to a day/night timer instead, but the basic idea is that you've got a limited amount of time in open area dungeons- Tents can be used to reset the timer, since Leander enchants tents to be sun-proof.
With that mechanic I do have to adjust some of the dialogue slightly, but the visit to Ayrshire is still necessary because of supplies, and Tents don't endure having such heavy-duty magick used on them more than once (hurr).
Hopefully the update will be done soon, but the Lite edition is still available for download and is a complete game in itself; there are things in it that will not make it into the update, including Azriel's dialogue after you beat him.
To finish, have Leander taking a bath and Fionn being a perv.
The game's hard mode is now called Ephemeral, and is simply a stat change to the main characters...because even normal mode has perma-death now. I'll be reducing the effectiveness of Holy/making Memorilux learnt sooner, and Leander's HP has been increased to the Phantasmal setting permanently unless you're playing Ephemeral. I watched Liberty's Let's Judge and found the two rarely actually died unless it was Holy spells, which is why I decided this approach wasn't too absurdly cruel. Reviver has been changed to Harmony, which is auto-revive, and you'll be able to get auto-revives in certain stores and attached to certain equipment.
I'm not just putting it in without adjustments, jeez.
I've also been working on maps and cutscenes; the first sequence has been adjusted slightly, with certain scenes removed or altered, and new boss battles implemented; in the original design document you were meant to be fighting a lot more wolfies than what actually made it in! :V
That said, the soundtrack's been expanded and adjusted to fit these new editions.
This is the theme for werewolf battles.
And this is one of the new areas. The timer will probably be changed to a day/night timer instead, but the basic idea is that you've got a limited amount of time in open area dungeons- Tents can be used to reset the timer, since Leander enchants tents to be sun-proof.
With that mechanic I do have to adjust some of the dialogue slightly, but the visit to Ayrshire is still necessary because of supplies, and Tents don't endure having such heavy-duty magick used on them more than once (hurr).
Hopefully the update will be done soon, but the Lite edition is still available for download and is a complete game in itself; there are things in it that will not make it into the update, including Azriel's dialogue after you beat him.
To finish, have Leander taking a bath and Fionn being a perv.
- Completed
- Puddor
RPG Maker VX Ace- RPG
- 02/05/2013 12:03 PM
- 08/02/2023 07:18 PM
- 02/18/2013
- 84176
- 56
- 1274
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CloseHey I jut finished playing through this and I did notice a couple of glitches. Both in the mines. If you go to the big gap before you get the paling you get this
Which is a little confusing since you don't normally access your menu that way so it looks like the text is invisible.
Also in the section beyond the locked door there is a smelling salt on the ground, but after you pick it up you can't move past that point, it's like the event is stopping you from walking up that side corridor even though the item is no longer there. It doesn't stop the character's from progressing, but if there was something up there, you'd miss out on it.
Oh and if you use the optimise option on Fionn it removes his second weapon.
Which is a little confusing since you don't normally access your menu that way so it looks like the text is invisible.
Also in the section beyond the locked door there is a smelling salt on the ground, but after you pick it up you can't move past that point, it's like the event is stopping you from walking up that side corridor even though the item is no longer there. It doesn't stop the character's from progressing, but if there was something up there, you'd miss out on it.
Oh and if you use the optimise option on Fionn it removes his second weapon.
