• Add Review
  • Subscribe
  • Nominate
  • Submit Media
  • RSS

DISCLAIMER: THIS GAME IS COMPLETELY FREE TO PLAY AND NOT TO BE SOLD, BORROWED, OR MODIFIED ANYWHERE OR FROM ANYONE!!






SYNOPSIS:

Estes was just fourteen years old and dealing with the loss of his father when The Calamity occurred. Objects of unknown origin had struck near Ignarosa, the capital of Autenon, with the force so great the dust blotted the sky out and led to three months of freezing and unrelenting snow. People died of cold and starvation, and only a few isolated enclaves lived to see the Months of Blizzard end as suddenly as they started. During this time, many plants and animals were also decimated or driven to extinction. In their place, new and dangerous creatures to fill the void, many with a mysterious link to The Calamity itself...

Ten years later, Estes and his friend Nikolai are sent out from their home town of Jupa to make contact with survivors further north, and learn what they know of Calamity. Estes also hopes to see Makal, his formerly beautiful birthplace, while Nikolai is searching for the man who betrayed his father. Their journey will take them halfway across the barren lands of Autenon and grow more complex than anyone had imagined...



Winner of 4 Misao awards, 2021:
"Eye Candy" Award

The "How Did They Do That?" Award

Star Stealing Prince Award

Most Promising Demo Award



Nominated for 9 Misao awards, 2021:
Best Game Profile Award

Summoner of Sounds Award

Excellence in Narrative Award

Not Dead Yet Award

Game of the Year Award




FEATURES:

- Completely fleshed out Custom Menu System w/upgradable gear, custom character stat modifier, current objective, optional quests, enemy intel, ammunition and explosives crafting, and much more -





- Heavily modified DBS (CTB) with entirely animated monsters, a unique limit break system, and thoroughly thought out battles that require strategic thinking-





- Heavy immersion, explorable objects and locations -




- A rich soundtrack with original and modified scores -




Latest Blog

Hiatus & Plans

Hello all, for anyone not aware, I have been working closely alongside Blind on his game Beloved Rapture, an awesome SNES inspired game in the works planned to release very soon! This has unfortunately taken much of my time away from working on Nihilo, but on a positive note has also made me reconsider the future of the game!

Beloved Rapture is a commercial project made in Rm2k3 v1.12 modified heavily with BigShan's Maniacs Patch. We've been able to achieve so many things using this patch that break the boundaries of the engine including modifying the battle system's UI and fully animating enemies, easily and conveniently putting together a modern style CMS, and converting the project to a 16:9 ratio. Widescreen support for a 2k3 game, who would've thought? It's barely recognizable as a game created in 2k3 anymore.

All of this work has made me realize the desire I have to take Nihilo to that next level and put that passion into a game that can be commercialized as well, whether it be using 2k3 or another engine entirely! (We'll cross that bridge when we get to it)

Long story short, Nihilo is currently on hiatus until we wrap up with Beloved Rapture, but once that's done, expect some very exciting news! I hope I can garner enough attention for Nihilo to start a Kickstarter and raise enough funds to hire a really great team!

Stick around for more updates and please let me know your feelings here on the topic as well.

-Giz

P.S.
Go check out Beloved Rapture and wishlist it on Steam now!
Blind has been pouring his heart and soul into this project since before 2007 and his vision is finally coming to fruition! Not to mention the sleepless nights of work I've put into it as well! ;)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2017620/Beloved_Rapture/

Posts

author=Giznads
author=dreadpirate
Hey giznads I gave this demo a rip. Really good job my man. The game looks great. Although I haven't completed the play through yet there was something I noticed, I only noticed it due to also using 8 directional movement in my project so I'm pretty aware of some of the obstacles I dealt with while eventing it within my own project. There are times during game play that I would walk up to something and press the action key, a message would pop up at the bottom of the screen, something like "just an old rusty pipe." now while the message is displayed the hero's movement is locked, you can't move up, down, left or right, however, before dismissing the message if the player presses both up and right lets say, the diagonal movement is still active and the player can still move around the screen in diagonal directions. I noticed it in multiple places so I just thought I'd give you a heads up. I am very impressed with your diagonal movement. It feels really good for tile based movement. I would like to know how you adjusted the player speed so well (dyn plugin perhaps, which one?) it's something I tried implementing but couldn't get just right. especially with the diagonal movement. Really great job man I can tell a lot of love went into it. All the hard work you've done over the years has paid off for sure. Cheers man.

edit: I just opened the game to finish the demo and I'm in the sewer, if I walk up to a piece of machinery it shows the message and I can't use any movement commands. If I walk up to a cocoon larva and press the action key, I get the message but my diagonal movement is still active. I just thought I'd give you an exact spot to check out.
Yo!
Thanks for the kind words, much appreciated!

I actually played Onyx Rift not too long ago! Loving what you're doing, VERY Secrt Of Mana! <3
Yeah, 8-way movement gets a little tricky. There's some spots in my game, where you can definitely keep moving diagonally while text is being read.
There IS HOWEVER a REALLY easy fix for that, I just didn't deem necessary enough to fix.
To solve this, create a common event, call it "Halt Hero" or whatever you wish, set it to "Auto Start" and tie it to a switch. No code actually has to go into the common event, just need the "auto-event" to stop everything for a moment while you're reading.
Next, when you create an event where you read dialogue, turn the switch you tied to that common event on before the message display, turn your 8-Way movement switch off, and then turn both the Auto Switch off and 8-way movement back on when the message is over. Boom, no 8-way movement during text.

I should probably go back through my game and add that to all the text, just for consistency's sake.

Thank you for bringing this up actually! It's now on my list of fixes.
cool, thanks for trying onix rift out man. It'll be some time before I get back to it unfortunately. Regarding the diagonal movement fix, what you described is exactly how it's handled in onix rift. I figured you'd just forgotten to turn the switch off and on during a few message events. Right on man, I'll be trying to finish your demo. I'm having trouble with the first pressure release valve password.
author=dreadpirate
cool, thanks for trying onix rift out man. It'll be some time before I get back to it unfortunatey.l Regarding the diagonal movement fix, what you described is exactly how it's handled in onix rift. I figured you'd just forgotten to turn the switch off and on during a few message events. Right on man, I'll be trying to finish your demo. I'm having trouble with the first pressure release valve password.


You can find the answer to the 3 tier release system written on a poster in one of the rooms.
But the codes are as follows
SPOLIERS:
For Pressure valve release 1:
ENABLE
CONFIGTERM
NOSHUTPVAL1
For Pressure valve release 2:
ENABLE
CONFIGTERM
NOSHUTPVAL2
author=Giznads
author=dreadpirate
cool, thanks for trying onix rift out man. It'll be some time before I get back to it unfortunatey.l Regarding the diagonal movement fix, what you described is exactly how it's handled in onix rift. I figured you'd just forgotten to turn the switch off and on during a few message events. Right on man, I'll be trying to finish your demo. I'm having trouble with the first pressure release valve password.
You can find the answer to the 3 tier release system written on a poster in one of the rooms.
But the codes are as follows
SPOLIERS:
For Pressure valve release 1:
ENABLE
CONFIGTERM
NOSHUTPVAL1
For Pressure valve release 2:
ENABLE
CONFIGTERM
NOSHUTPVAL2
I did find that. I definitely must have misspelled when I entered the password. Hey, I love old school rpg's I never said I was good at them. Haha
author=dreadpirate
I did find that. I definitely must have misspelled when I entered the password. Hey, I love old school rpg's I never said I was good at them. Haha


Hahaha! I feel that, man! That puzzle's one of those "Okay, pull out the notepad" ones.
Hey! You’re on the front page!!! Congrats
author=Ashes of Emerald
Hey! You’re on the front page!!! Congrats

Ahh! I know! Totally unexpected, I'm so stoked.
author=Amaterasu
this looks sexual. Subbed!

My man! Hope you'll give the demo a go!
Hi! I'm trying the demo and it's freaking good. Awesome job, man! Congrats ^^
I stopped after the first boss but I'm liking the game so far. Maybe for a "tutorial fight", the battle is a bit too long.
I'll continue to play it next days and I'll write my feedback.

(I'm a bit disappointed to see some icons I made for Theia in this game without receiving any credit, but it's not a problem at all since this game rocks :D)
author=LolloRocketDiver
Hi! I'm trying the demo and it's freaking good. Awesome job, man! Congrats ^^
I stopped after the first boss but I'm liking the game so far. Maybe for a "tutorial fight", the battle is a bit too long.
I'll continue to play it next days and I'll write my feedback.

(I'm a bit disappointed to see some icons I made for Theia in this game without receiving any credit, but it's not a problem at all since this game rocks :D)


Yo! Thanks, it's an honor to have you even comment on page!
Theia was one of my biggest inspirations for picking this old project back up.

First fight is a bit long, and the tutorial is a bit dragged out for sure.
Currently working on implementing some other fights (or some other way in general) before the boss battle to split the tutorial up.
I hope you enjoy the rest of the demo! Definitely would LOVE some feedback from yourself.

Man, I completely spaced that I'd used some of your EXFONTs.
Credits have been corrected!

These will probably just be placeholder for now, because I love the way they look!
Oh wow, I'm glad you decided to add me in the credits ^^
Thanks a lot!
Ok I finished the demo! This is probably the most promising 2k3 demo I've ever played in my life. The aesthetic is great, the atmosphere and the animations are insane! I'm not a huge fan of the portraits behind the message box, though, but overall you did a wonderful job!

The gameplay is ok, I guess. I liked the battle system even if it's a bit slow sometimes. I don't really like spending turns changing infused elements and such, but I guess there will be more effective methods later in the game.
One thing about the battles: I still have to understand how the Fatigue works. I read the tutorial three times, but I don't get why there are two bars instead of one, since when one raises the other empties... dunno. XD
There's too little to comment on the character development in this demo, but I like the RP system and the weapon enhancing system. I suggest you to add the current number of materials in the crafting menu, though. That would be really helpful!

Plotwise, I won't express myself because that's just a demo so I need to experience the full story to give my opinion about it. However, I'm not fully convinced of the reasons why
the main characters got captured. The whole "fake-Nikolai thing" was a bit too much, for me XD. They could just talk to Estes and Nikolai and say "Hey, stop harassing the kid" and everything would've worked fine ^^"


author=LolloRocketDiver
Ok I finished the demo! This is probably the most promising 2k3 demo I've ever played in my life. The aesthetic is great, the atmosphere and the animations are insane! I'm not a huge fan of the portraits behind the message box, though, but overall you did a wonderful job!

The gameplay is ok, I guess. I liked the battle system even if it's a bit slow sometimes. I don't really like spending turns changing infused elements and such, but I guess there will be more effective methods later in the game.
One thing about the battles: I still have to understand how the Fatigue works. I read the tutorial three times, but I don't get why there are two bars instead of one, since when one raises the other empties... dunno. XD
There's too little to comment on the character development in this demo, but I like the RP system and the weapon enhancing system. I suggest you to add the current number of materials in the crafting menu, though. That would be really helpful!

Plotwise, I won't express myself because that's just a demo so I need to experience the full story to give my opinion about it. However, I'm not fully convinced of the reasons why
the main characters got captured. The whole "fake-Nikolai thing" was a bit too much, for me XD. They could just talk to Estes and Nikolai and say "Hey, stop harassing the kid" and everything would've worked fine ^^"



Yo! Thank you for the kind words and feedback, that really means a lot to me! I feel very privileged to have you have tried my demo!
Portraits behind the message box has been fixed along with many other things that needed revised!

There are two bars in the fortitude gauge to display a balance. If you max out the fortitude gauge (green bar fills/red side empties) you get a limit break. If your fortitude depletes (red bar fills/green side empties) your defence gets halved and that character will take more damage. Kind of a punishment for letting it dip, instead of just rewarding the character with limit breaks.
I could've easily conveyed that with just one bar, but I honestly figured it was better demonstrated through a balance gauge with two bars.
I could probably word the tutorial better! I'm not the best when it comes to explanations and dialogue, hence why I'm looking for a new writer, haha!

I could definitely go add the number of materials held in the crafting menu! That's a great idea! I'll add that to my list of fixes/improvements!

It definitely is early on in the story, and it will build as the game goes on, but as for the plot concern!
My reason behind the capture of Nikolai was to convey that the outside world is filled with very unsavory characters such as bandits and people who will do anything including murdering innocent people for their things. I wanted to convey that there is little trust for people outside of people's cliques. Also, it was a good chance to introduce the strange powers and abilities the calamity has bestowed on people early on in the game. Such as Ragus' "Second skin" ability. The fact that he can mimic people's appearances and such.
Oh, so... yeah, it's just one bar that when it's full you can use the limit, and when it's empty you're weakened, or something like that. XD

Ok for the plot section that we mentioned. It makes sense! ^^
You should make this game with rpg_rt.exe in it again so it can be played again in android with app like easyrpg. Instead of dropped the portability support altogether.
It's really nice looking rpg maker 2003 game so far.
author=DavidBlue
You should make this game with rpg_rt.exe in it again so it can be played again in android with app like easyrpg. Instead of dropped the portability support altogether.
It's really nice looking rpg maker 2003 game so far.

Thank you!
I hope you enjoyed the demo. :)

I may be wrong about this, but I don't think DYN plugins/patches are compatible with EasyRPG just yet.
As my game relies heavily on these plugins/patches, I haven't thought of moving it over, but I could be wrong.
CashmereCat
Self-proclaimed Puzzle Snob
11638
Okay, so... this is in demo phase, and it's definitely giving The Lonely League a run for its money when it comes to "Most Promising Demo" in my books. Absolutely polished from front to back, immaculate post-apoc vibes, brilliant dialogue, pacing is on-point and OH MY GOODNESS THE MONSTERS WTFFFFFF. They are so gorgeous and this world is so gorgeous and a lot of the menus and stuff are going to make more sense the more this game is developed but AS IS, it's just... crystalline. Let's go, Giznads. The gameplay, the graphics, the tone, the pacing, the everything. Let's just keep going and get that full released game. Everyone should play this <3
"Benny's Rating, Which Means Nothing EVERYTHING: 9.5/10"
Thank you so much, my friend!
I can't tell you how much it means to me to have had you play this and give such sincere feedback!
You've been such a great influence on my project, and I hope things stay that way!
there seems to be a bug in the demo. i can't load my save and the game crashed when i reached the first battle. here's the error that i got:
Access violation in module 'Nihilo - Definitive Demo v1.0.2_11-01-2021.exe' in with address 004CA00C and offset 1419FCD8 of type Read occured.

the game looks good so far. the 8-direction movement feels unnatural though.
author=aquatorrent
there seems to be a bug in the demo. i can't load my save and the game crashed when i reached the first battle. here's the error that i got:
Access violation in module 'Nihilo - Definitive Demo v1.0.2_11-01-2021.exe' in with address 004CA00C and offset 1419FCD8 of type Read occured.

the game looks good so far. the 8-direction movement feels unnatural though.

Hmm, very odd.
I haven't heard this one yet. Did you move the exe outside of the folder it came in? This could cause problems with the game trying to auto save (there is an auto save just before the boss), and can also cause issues loading a save file.