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T H E S T O R Y

Ruby wakes up inside of a strange metal locker. She realizes she cannot remember most of anything. As she steps out, Ruby gets the feeling something is very wrong about her surroundings. Broken plaster and paint chips scattered on the ground all around her, she shakily begins her quest to ascend from the metal bowels she has been thrust into.

It soon becomes apparent that she is not the only one lost and that she may even have some sort of dark history in this strange place.

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E X P L A N A T I O N

Ruby Quest: Undertow is a personal rendition of the choose-your-own-adventure originally conceived by alias Weaver. It will feature additional scenarios/lore as well as changes to the storyline. One of the defining differences is that certain characters will play a bigger part in the dark tales of the Metal Glen, and most characters will become more personalized, as the source hardly tapped into actual spoken dialogue. A lot of moments from the original will still be implemented into the game.

The game sports an oblique perspective in the aesthetics department and completely custom, original graphics. There will be many different animations for characters and some cutscenes will consist of pictures.

Among the gameplay elements in Undertow are puzzles, exploration, fighting, and running for your fragile life. The Glen is filled with danger and invites you to brave them all. Prepare yourself for a unique horror experience from the developer of Death Proclaimed, the developer of The Longing Ribbon, and the developer of Home.

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C R E A T O R S

  • Jake "Fidchell" Springhorn - Art / Writing


  • Eric "Gibmaker" Hopkins - Programming


  • Felix "The Judge" / "Nitrosparxx" / "KeepListen" - Music


Latest Blog

A Sad Outcome

I thought that I had a game plan for creating this project, but unfortunately things have fallen apart, and both Gibmaker and I have dropped Ruby Quest: Undertow. Now allow me to explain what happened.

The game was a huge, ambitious effort from both of us but it proved too much. Production started a few years ago and a lot can change in that amount of time. I'm talking real life stuff, and sure enough, things changed for both of us.

In Gibmaker's case, since the beginning of this game, he was in a bad spot. In a sense, both of us were, but Gib was fighting his own demons, struggling with an obsession in progress and not feeling like he was getting much out of life. Just recently he managed to find someone that gave him a different outlook and practically changed his way of living. He does not have time much to work on the game anymore, and this is a critical blow, as he is the programmer and debugger. Not to say he had absolutely no time, but work was going slower than it ever has been, and things were beginning to fall apart.

In my case, there were a few factors in my loss of interest for this project. Firstly, while we thought RMXP was a sufficient engine for the game considering Gib and I were familiar with it, the further we went into production, the more I was realizing this engine wasn't up to snuff. At the point where we are with the game, it's basically being held together with duct tape, bursting at the seams. We've pushed RGSS to its limits here, and have encountered countless bugs and performance issues that marred my vision of the game severely. I've come up with the prospect of switching to software like Game Maker or even Unity, but decided against it, as that would mean we would have to learn an entirely new engine, code structure, and interface. It plainly wasn't going to happen. Another factor is just how ambitious I was with the graphical style. There was simply way too much for me to make, so much that I started asking Gibmaker for help with tilesets.

In retrospect, it would have been wiser to make a bigger team, but I thought the two of us could tackle it by ourselves. It was a mistake, almost an impulsive decision without much planning (I didn't even create a full script/outline for the game's plot until we released the demo). That's a personal demon I have to fight myself, my impulsive nature. I heavily regret dropping this project, as I'm sure a lot of people were looking forward to our iteration of the popular source material. We apologize very much for how the production of Undertow came to a screeching halt.

All that being said, we won't leave you guys with nothing. We have a newer build with more maps and events. It's about halfway through the game, but we won't be making anymore of it. We will release this build for you guys, but as it is incomplete in many ways, there is a high chance you will come across bugs, but hopefully nothing game-breaking. This is the least we can do for you guys who were sticking around since the start. We hope it provides some fun in the wake of this saddening blog. It also contains all of the music we have planned to use for the game. We've also included a bunch of fun pictures/plans that we've created in the production of the game. The demo will end while you talk to Tom in the hallway upon returning from the second dark world. It is not a game-breaking bug, it is simply where we stopped working.

Thanks again for taking interest in our project. I can't say for sure if we'll ever work on a game again, but you guys are free to check my and Gib's portfolio of games if you're ever curious for more completed works from us. Thanks for reading!

EDIT: Because RMN is being stupid, I've uploaded the demo to Mega. https://mega.nz/#!erJUBCJA!3v_CTxZzvr3HzLdQ8bqi1RZPDbQZCdIIBS7409x14K8

Posts

I tested the demo. I must say: It is an awesome game. There are a lot of things you guys do correctly. I like your characters. They are "normal" people and no super heroes who can't beat entire armies. Your monsters are not overpowered, but strong enough so scare you.
You guys didn't make a 1:1 copy of the original Ruby Quest, there are a lot of deviations from the original one. I think some parts of your modification of the story are even better. Your dialogues are short, effective and exact.
Your art style of your isometric world is fantastic. It reminds me of the old computer games like X-Com.
What fascinates me is the independent, autonomous behavior of your monsters. They are not just stupid static objects like in other RPGs, they seem to have a own life: They seems to discover the environment while you are moving around.
Also your Soundtrack is awesome! I hope to see more in future.
Unfortunately, I had to look at the walkthrough when I was in the scene where I had to swim around and active some lights....

I have some questions:
Why do you use RPG Maker XP and not the newer versions like VX? Don't they have a better scripting system?
Will your game just be a remake of the original Ruby Quest, or are you going to implement more deviations?
Are you only using RPG Maker XP or are you also using some extensions of RPG Maker?
For the monster behavior, do you use an own AI, or are you using the RPG-Maker default functions?
Honestly, I am fully invested in this project. I'm jumping on and consuming whole every new tidbit.
OMG!!!! I just finished playing your game and... and... I LOOOOVEEED IT!!! I can't wait to see what happens next... Really now, it is a wonderful game: GREAT graphics, with also those animated cutscenes which I loved, to not talk about the story and the original characters! I find that you did an amazing job! Really well done!

I can't wait to see what happened to my dear TOM!!!! That last scene was really devastating... I hope he won't die... ToT
Go right ahead! I know I've complained about a couple of the puzzles, but I did have a fun time figuring most of them out.
author=PentagonBuddy
Here's a walkthrough for the demo. It's pretty vague in some parts since I tried to keep spoilers to a minimum and provide hints before giving a direct answer. I don't list all the items/archive items since I don't know if I found everything. I forgot to note the locations of a few healing items, but they're obvious to spot as they're in first aid containers on the wall. If you find yourself stuck even after checking this walkthrough, there's a complete playthrough on youtube you can watch. It might not be perfect but hopefully it can get you through!

A note on item management: What I ended up doing was exploring to collect all the items, then return to a save point whenever my inventory was full to drop some of them. I rinsed and repeated until I was fairly certain I'd found all the puzzle items.


You begin in the Patient Quarters. By using S near the metal container, you can save your game. Explore this room and take note of the broken panel. There's an exit to the right, which is a path that leads downstairs.

Downstairs, you'll be in an L-shaped room with exits to the north and west. North heads to the brig (but is locked), and West heads to a hallway. On the bulletin board you can find "Storage Checklist", and there's some boxes you can't open yet.

In the hallway to the west, you'll find a table and a phone. Move the table and you'll find a can underneath. You can't take it, so don't worry about it for now. Head into the north door and you'll be in a T-shaped room -- in here you can find the map, and so now I'll use the room names from there. The room you're in is the T-shaped one with the elevator. All other doors are locked, so head back for now.

To the left of this hallway is the lab, where you can find the rubber gloves and the archive item "Whiteboard Notes".

In the waiting room there's a save point. Treatment 1 has the scalpel in it, treatment 2 has a CD labeled J and the archive item "Cereal Box", and treatment 3 has a locked red drawer. There's also a poster with red lines on it in treatment 2.

East of the waiting room is a hallway with an aquarium (you can get a dead fish from here), and a locked fire extinguisher. The women's restroom has the can opener.

South of the waiting room is a room with a microphone, and you can examine the shelves in the lower right to get "Purple Letter" and a pink bracelet. You can use the microphone, too.

Once you have the scalpel, you can return to the storage room with the boxes and use it to open them. This gives you the snap-on wire. Take the rubber gloves and snap-on wire back to the patient quarters, where you can use them to repair the panel on the north wall.

After using the shutter, if you read the whiteboard notes you'll get the number you need to use with the terminal. This took me some time to figure out, so here's a starting hint: "/str ### open" (without the quotes) is a command you can type in

Still confused? Then highlight the following to see the full command:
>>> /str 003 open <<<

This opens the panel on the left part of the wall, where you'll find the brig key. Here you'll meet a cat you can talk to. The Z hatch is also here. The east door leads back to the T-shaped hallway.

Bring the fish to the cat, then ask him to turn his opus around. You'll see a number. Return to the terminal, where you can use this number. Instead of /str, you'll have a different command to use, and the hint for this is also on the whiteboard notes. Highlight to see the command:
>>> /z -13 open <<<

Return to the brig and use the hatch to enter the autopsy room. In here you can find "Disturbing Photos", and a working computer that lacks a mouse. There's also a lever on the upper right wall that opens/closes the shutter you used to go in. There's a door to the north, and opening it triggers the first enemy encounter, so make sure you have the scalpel equipped before you do so.

Remember, CTRL to get into fighting stance, SHIFT to attack. The monster will follow you between rooms and is quite fast, so running will use up your stamina very quickly and leave you vulernable. I ran around a few rooms to try and lose it, but it was so fast that when I DID turn around and fight, I took quite a bit of damage because I didn't have time to recover much stamina.

You can use Z, then X when you're near a door to brace it, which prevents the monster from following you inside... but this just drained my stamina and didn't seem to help.

If you don't want to directly fight it (which I recommend), then make sure you've already unlocked the connecting door between the brig and the T-shaped hallway. It'll make this next bit easier. Lure the monster into the brig, then use the z-hatch to re-enter the autopsy. If you time it right, you can use the lever to decapitate the monster, killing it instantly. I wasn't able to get the timing right for this, personally. I suspected you could do this and checked out a video of someone else playing to confirm that yeah, it's possible.

Once you've killed the monster, you can take a green keycard from it. Examine the now open door in the autopsy room and you'll find the wooden key. Use this key on the treasure chest in the aquarium by the restrooms and you'll get another green keycard.

There's one more keycard, which you get by giving the cat in the brig the can opener and telling him that his can may have an item inside.

Once you have all 3 cards, take them to the brig and put them in the card reader. You'll open the door to a room with a TV and 5 buttons. If you talk to the cat in the brig, you can ask him about the symbols he's drawn, which might give you some idea of what the buttons do.

The first button closes the z-hatch, the second one does ???, the third and fourth ones get you a Dead End, and the 5th one opens the brig door.

When you return to the brig, congratulations! Tom joins your party. Tom has his own inventory, so now you can carry a total of 8 items. Pick up the letter opener from the opus in the cell and give it to him so he'll have a weapon.

While Tom is in your party, you can press S to bring up the action menu and tell him to "brace door". He'll then move to the nearest door to brace it. From the options in the main menu, you can now select Companion and change how Tom acts around enemies. If you don't have the pink bracelet and the circuit panel key on you, I recommend fetching them now.

Return to the lab, and with Tom's help you can move the shelves blocking the north door. You'll find an injured nurse in here. Drop the pink bracelet near her, and she'll move. You can then unlock the circuit panel and if you examine the switch on the right, you can turn on the elevator by the aquarium. Head there next and then into the basement.

From the elevator, go down and to the left left and you'll find a save point in the next room.

There's a series of doors on the left wall. The third door from the left has the map for this area. You can get the archive item "Dark Photo" from the bulletin board in the room 2 doors to the left of the sabe point (Storage). This room also has the green wooden shard item on the desk. The first door to the left is Generator 2. It may be hard to see, but all the way to the left there's one more door. Inside here you'll find the archive item "Odd Drawing".

North of the save point, you can find some Adrenaline in the first aid kid.

Hallway with a red light and a locked door that leads to Generator 1. The lock for this door is on the left and matches the drawing on Odd Drawing. On top are some roman numerals, which are added together when you slide the switch left or right. The goal is to get a total number that matches the one written on the Odd Drawing, and if you go over the number you're forced to reset. The switch begins with a value of 0.

Here's a working sequence: (highlight to see)

The numerals are arranged as 3, 6, 5, 2.

Number on left is the roman numeral to move to, and the number in the parentheses is what value you'll have. You can follow the keyboard directions, instead.
6 (0) right
5 (11) right
2 (13) right
5 (18) left
6 (24) left
5 (29) right
2 (31) right
5 (36) left
2 (38) right
5 (43) left

In the Test Stations room, you can pick up the Simple Key from the desk. Doing so triggers an enemy encounter, and the power goes out as well. I recommend running from this one, as if Tom dies that counts as a Dead End, and this room is very cramped.

The simple key unlocks the door leading to the fan units. Downstairs, you can find the archive item "Memorandum: Subject 6" on the bulletin board.

There's only one door you can enter, to the north. Before you go in here, it might be wise to save. There's a puzzle that can either be very easy or very time-consuming in this room depending on your skill level with combination dial locks, and you can't exit until you "solve" it. I say "solve" since it's more a matter of brute force.

After that there's another enemy encounter -- I REALLY recommend running from this one. However, there's an item you need in the upper left of this room (the alcohol), so you can run upstairs and try to lose the enemy, then go back downstairs to fetch it. Use the matches and alcohol on the door to the right of the safe room and you'll gain access to a new area. It's best to make sure you aren't being followed too closely before you go in here.

In this hallway the east door is locked, the south door goes to a room you don't need to enter, and the north leads to hydroelectrical chamber 1. This area is made of long, narrow paths, and it can be easy to get lost. From the entrance, go north until you reach a fork, then go west until you reach a platform. Here you'll find a map as well as a save point.

On the platform to the uppermost right there's a bandage. You can find the wounded nurse from earlier here, but I forgot to note exactly which platform. It was in the general direction of upper left. After a brief enemy encounter, pick up the ID card and try to leave the room -- I recommend saving beforehand.

You'll be in a dark map with 3 lights that you need to turn on. Just wander around until you find one and use the action menu to turn it on. There's a monster following you that will teleport you to random spots if you're caught. You can hold ctrl to go underwater and hold your breath, which may or may not help you dodge it.

Once you're done with this section, you'll be back in hydroelectrical chamber 1. DEFINITELY save. If you lost the ID card, make sure to grab it from right in front of the exit to this room.

Now you want to hurry all the way back to the treatment/research floor. You'll probably be chased on your way back up. When you make it there, you gain a fox companion, although he does not fight. (He can still take damage) You'll also be pursued by an enemy almost right away, but this one is pretty easy to kill.

Now that you're back up here, do you remember anything you might put a card in? You'll find it in the autopsy room, next to the door where you had your first monster encounter. The card reader 2000 comes with no instructions, but there's a poster on this floor.

If you don't remember, it's the poster in treatment room 2.

The order you scan the card is: (highlight to see)
middle, right, right, upper left, down, middle, down, right

Your partner will leave you after you scan the card, so make sure he doesn't have any items you want to keep.

Now you can enter the west door of the autopsy room, which leads to another storage area. In here you'll find a periodic table of elements as well as a glass cabinet with several tubes: 94, 20, 80, 12, 33, and 87.

Before you enter here, you can save some time by heading to the aquarium and grabbing another fish (you must scan the ID card first, though). I recommend bringing a bandage if you have any left. Once you're in the storage room by the autopsy, place the fish in the scanner on the right and you'll see what chemical it's contaminated with.

You want to send the bottle with the number that matches the chemical on the monitor. The periodic table on the wall will tell you which numbers go to which chemicals. Highlight for the correct tube number: 80

After you send the tube, you'll be forced to fight an enemy. Using the dodge move (ctrl to get into fighting stance, z to dodge backwards) will help a lot, as there's enough room to move around and this enemy has a spin attack that's easy to see coming. Wait until you're at the end of your health before using any healing items -- you want to end this fight with as much HP as possible.

After the fight, you're in a timed puzzle. Stand next to the glass tube you put the bottle in, get into fighting stance, and attack the tube. Then return to the cabinet and send a container.

Once you're in the next room, you can find a record on the bookshelf in the southwest corner. The dresser in the northeast has the archive item "Family Photo".

In the main room, you can open the grandfather clock and turn it on.

Upstairs, you'll find a room on the left where you can insert the record into the record player and turn it on, and a room on the right where you can move some boxes to plug in a radio. In the radio room, you can get the cellar key from the open box on the right.

The cellar door is on the first floor, close to the bedroom you began in. Downstairs you'll eventually find some wind chimes on a pool table, so grab those and then hang them on a hook in the garden north of the living room.

At this point you should be able to find someone in the first floor bedroom. She'll tell you to go upstairs, which is the end of the demo.

Congratulations! A winner is you!


Wow, awesome! Thanks for putting work into this! There's no telling how the rooms will alter in the future since there is sure to be some changes down the road with the game taking place in one setting and all, but I went ahead and added this as a tab to the page. Hope you don't mind!
I wrote a review, but I tend to write reviews targeted to other potential players, so here’s a couple quick notes from a developer perspective. Also separating this from the walkthrough I posted above that way people interested in the walkthrough don’t have to get this bit, too.

It’d have been nice if keys were separated from the other puzzle items, even if there was just singular “key ring” item that took up 1 slot but held all the keys you’d collected. A 4 item limit (though 8 felt fine when I had a companion) is really strict for having weapons, healing, puzzle items, and keys all competing for the same space. There’s always doing the unrealistic thing of storage chests, or maybe having save points function as storage chests like RE1. I dunno, I don’t think you should remove the mechanic entirely or anything drastic, but for me it was the kind of gameplay that contributed to feeling annoyed more than anything else.

Some kind of hint about how command line interfaces work would be a bit kinder for the shutter opening puzzles. I happened to get it, but my boyfriend who is a puzzle wiz had a huge amount of trouble since he’d never used one before. I wouldn’t consider that common knowledge among people who like horror games.

I mention in my review, but man I was impressed by the details to the animations, especially the little animated scenes. Just had to restate that!!
Here's a walkthrough for the demo. It's pretty vague in some parts since I tried to keep spoilers to a minimum and provide hints before giving a direct answer. I don't list all the items/archive items since I don't know if I found everything. I forgot to note the locations of a few healing items, but they're obvious to spot as they're in first aid containers on the wall. If you find yourself stuck even after checking this walkthrough, there's a complete playthrough on youtube you can watch. It might not be perfect but hopefully it can get you through!

A note on item management: What I ended up doing was exploring to collect all the items, then return to a save point whenever my inventory was full to drop some of them. I rinsed and repeated until I was fairly certain I'd found all the puzzle items.


You begin in the Patient Quarters. By using S near the metal container, you can save your game. Explore this room and take note of the broken panel. There's an exit to the right, which is a path that leads downstairs.

Downstairs, you'll be in an L-shaped room with exits to the north and west. North heads to the brig (but is locked), and West heads to a hallway. On the bulletin board you can find "Storage Checklist", and there's some boxes you can't open yet.

In the hallway to the west, you'll find a table and a phone. Move the table and you'll find a can underneath. You can't take it, so don't worry about it for now. Head into the north door and you'll be in a T-shaped room -- in here you can find the map, and so now I'll use the room names from there. The room you're in is the T-shaped one with the elevator. All other doors are locked, so head back for now.

To the left of this hallway is the lab, where you can find the rubber gloves and the archive item "Whiteboard Notes".

In the waiting room there's a save point. Treatment 1 has the scalpel in it, treatment 2 has a CD labeled J and the archive item "Cereal Box", and treatment 3 has a locked red drawer. There's also a poster with red lines on it in treatment 2.

East of the waiting room is a hallway with an aquarium (you can get a dead fish from here), and a locked fire extinguisher. The women's restroom has the can opener.

South of the waiting room is a room with a microphone, and you can examine the shelves in the lower right to get "Purple Letter" and a pink bracelet. You can use the microphone, too.

Once you have the scalpel, you can return to the storage room with the boxes and use it to open them. This gives you the snap-on wire. Take the rubber gloves and snap-on wire back to the patient quarters, where you can use them to repair the panel on the north wall.

After using the shutter, if you read the whiteboard notes you'll get the number you need to use with the terminal. This took me some time to figure out, so here's a starting hint: "/str ### open" (without the quotes) is a command you can type in

Still confused? Then highlight the following to see the full command:
>>> /str 003 open <<<

This opens the panel on the left part of the wall, where you'll find the brig key. Here you'll meet a cat you can talk to. The Z hatch is also here. The east door leads back to the T-shaped hallway.

Bring the fish to the cat, then ask him to turn his opus around. You'll see a number. Return to the terminal, where you can use this number. Instead of /str, you'll have a different command to use, and the hint for this is also on the whiteboard notes. Highlight to see the command:
>>> /z -13 open <<<

Return to the brig and use the hatch to enter the autopsy room. In here you can find "Disturbing Photos", and a working computer that lacks a mouse. There's also a lever on the upper right wall that opens/closes the shutter you used to go in. There's a door to the north, and opening it triggers the first enemy encounter, so make sure you have the scalpel equipped before you do so.

Remember, CTRL to get into fighting stance, SHIFT to attack. The monster will follow you between rooms and is quite fast, so running will use up your stamina very quickly and leave you vulernable. I ran around a few rooms to try and lose it, but it was so fast that when I DID turn around and fight, I took quite a bit of damage because I didn't have time to recover much stamina.

You can use Z, then X when you're near a door to brace it, which prevents the monster from following you inside... but this just drained my stamina and didn't seem to help.

If you don't want to directly fight it (which I recommend), then make sure you've already unlocked the connecting door between the brig and the T-shaped hallway. It'll make this next bit easier. Lure the monster into the brig, then use the z-hatch to re-enter the autopsy. If you time it right, you can use the lever to decapitate the monster, killing it instantly. I wasn't able to get the timing right for this, personally. I suspected you could do this and checked out a video of someone else playing to confirm that yeah, it's possible.

Once you've killed the monster, you can take a green keycard from it. Examine the now open door in the autopsy room and you'll find the wooden key. Use this key on the treasure chest in the aquarium by the restrooms and you'll get another green keycard.

There's one more keycard, which you get by giving the cat in the brig the can opener and telling him that his can may have an item inside.

Once you have all 3 cards, take them to the brig and put them in the card reader. You'll open the door to a room with a TV and 5 buttons. If you talk to the cat in the brig, you can ask him about the symbols he's drawn, which might give you some idea of what the buttons do.

The first button closes the z-hatch, the second one does ???, the third and fourth ones get you a Dead End, and the 5th one opens the brig door.

When you return to the brig, congratulations! Tom joins your party. Tom has his own inventory, so now you can carry a total of 8 items. Pick up the letter opener from the opus in the cell and give it to him so he'll have a weapon.

While Tom is in your party, you can press S to bring up the action menu and tell him to "brace door". He'll then move to the nearest door to brace it. From the options in the main menu, you can now select Companion and change how Tom acts around enemies. If you don't have the pink bracelet and the circuit panel key on you, I recommend fetching them now.

Return to the lab, and with Tom's help you can move the shelves blocking the north door. You'll find an injured nurse in here. Drop the pink bracelet near her, and she'll move. You can then unlock the circuit panel and if you examine the switch on the right, you can turn on the elevator by the aquarium. Head there next and then into the basement.

From the elevator, go down and to the left left and you'll find a save point in the next room.

There's a series of doors on the left wall. The third door from the left has the map for this area. You can get the archive item "Dark Photo" from the bulletin board in the room 2 doors to the left of the sabe point (Storage). This room also has the green wooden shard item on the desk. The first door to the left is Generator 2. It may be hard to see, but all the way to the left there's one more door. Inside here you'll find the archive item "Odd Drawing".

North of the save point, you can find some Adrenaline in the first aid kid.

Hallway with a red light and a locked door that leads to Generator 1. The lock for this door is on the left and matches the drawing on Odd Drawing. On top are some roman numerals, which are added together when you slide the switch left or right. The goal is to get a total number that matches the one written on the Odd Drawing, and if you go over the number you're forced to reset. The switch begins with a value of 0.

Here's a working sequence: (highlight to see)

The numerals are arranged as 3, 6, 5, 2.

Number on left is the roman numeral to move to, and the number in the parentheses is what value you'll have. You can follow the keyboard directions, instead.
6 (0) right
5 (11) right
2 (13) right
5 (18) left
6 (24) left
5 (29) right
2 (31) right
5 (36) left
2 (38) right
5 (43) left

In the Test Stations room, you can pick up the Simple Key from the desk. Doing so triggers an enemy encounter, and the power goes out as well. I recommend running from this one, as if Tom dies that counts as a Dead End, and this room is very cramped.

The simple key unlocks the door leading to the fan units. Downstairs, you can find the archive item "Memorandum: Subject 6" on the bulletin board.

There's only one door you can enter, to the north. Before you go in here, it might be wise to save. There's a puzzle that can either be very easy or very time-consuming in this room depending on your skill level with combination dial locks, and you can't exit until you "solve" it. I say "solve" since it's more a matter of brute force.

After that there's another enemy encounter -- I REALLY recommend running from this one. However, there's an item you need in the upper left of this room (the alcohol), so you can run upstairs and try to lose the enemy, then go back downstairs to fetch it. Use the matches and alcohol on the door to the right of the safe room and you'll gain access to a new area. It's best to make sure you aren't being followed too closely before you go in here.

In this hallway the east door is locked, the south door goes to a room you don't need to enter, and the north leads to hydroelectrical chamber 1. This area is made of long, narrow paths, and it can be easy to get lost. From the entrance, go north until you reach a fork, then go west until you reach a platform. Here you'll find a map as well as a save point.

On the platform to the uppermost right there's a bandage. You can find the wounded nurse from earlier here, but I forgot to note exactly which platform. It was in the general direction of upper left. After a brief enemy encounter, pick up the ID card and try to leave the room -- I recommend saving beforehand.

You'll be in a dark map with 3 lights that you need to turn on. Just wander around until you find one and use the action menu to turn it on. There's a monster following you that will teleport you to random spots if you're caught. You can hold ctrl to go underwater and hold your breath, which may or may not help you dodge it.

Once you're done with this section, you'll be back in hydroelectrical chamber 1. DEFINITELY save. If you lost the ID card, make sure to grab it from right in front of the exit to this room.

Now you want to hurry all the way back to the treatment/research floor. You'll probably be chased on your way back up. When you make it there, you gain a fox companion, although he does not fight. (He can still take damage) You'll also be pursued by an enemy almost right away, but this one is pretty easy to kill.

Now that you're back up here, do you remember anything you might put a card in? You'll find it in the autopsy room, next to the door where you had your first monster encounter. The card reader 2000 comes with no instructions, but there's a poster on this floor.

If you don't remember, it's the poster in treatment room 2.

The order you scan the card is: (highlight to see)
middle, right, right, upper left, down, middle, down, right

Your partner will leave you after you scan the card, so make sure he doesn't have any items you want to keep.

Now you can enter the west door of the autopsy room, which leads to another storage area. In here you'll find a periodic table of elements as well as a glass cabinet with several tubes: 94, 20, 80, 12, 33, and 87.

Before you enter here, you can save some time by heading to the aquarium and grabbing another fish (you must scan the ID card first, though). I recommend bringing a bandage if you have any left. Once you're in the storage room by the autopsy, place the fish in the scanner on the right and you'll see what chemical it's contaminated with.

You want to send the bottle with the number that matches the chemical on the monitor. The periodic table on the wall will tell you which numbers go to which chemicals. Highlight for the correct tube number: 80

After you send the tube, you'll be forced to fight an enemy. Using the dodge move (ctrl to get into fighting stance, z to dodge backwards) will help a lot, as there's enough room to move around and this enemy has a spin attack that's easy to see coming. Wait until you're at the end of your health before using any healing items -- you want to end this fight with as much HP as possible.

After the fight, you're in a timed puzzle. Stand next to the glass tube you put the bottle in, get into fighting stance, and attack the tube. Then return to the cabinet and send a container.

Once you're in the next room, you can find a record on the bookshelf in the southwest corner. The dresser in the northeast has the archive item "Family Photo".

In the main room, you can open the grandfather clock and turn it on.

Upstairs, you'll find a room on the left where you can insert the record into the record player and turn it on, and a room on the right where you can move some boxes to plug in a radio. In the radio room, you can get the cellar key from the open box on the right.

The cellar door is on the first floor, close to the bedroom you began in. Downstairs you'll eventually find some wind chimes on a pool table, so grab those and then hang them on a hook in the garden north of the living room.

At this point you should be able to find someone in the first floor bedroom. She'll tell you to go upstairs, which is the end of the demo.

Congratulations! A winner is you!
Woah, I downloaded this game some times ago but too scared to continue ; _ ; When I checked on this gamepage which has quite improved from before, I was... kinda motivated to complete it. Btw don't spoiler
author=kumada
No such creature exists, and I don't think I'm doing anything fancy. Titlescreen has no 'new game' 'load' 'exit' options, so I just hit enter, it dumps me into the intro, I get to the red flashing thing, and that's it. It flashes forever unless I go into the menu (which it does not prompt me for), and the only screen that's not black lines in the menu is the gamecrash.

Install the fonts and all your troubles are fixed. The game even gives a hint at what you should do in that moment.
Gibmaker
I hate RPG Maker because of what it has done to me
9274
oh.

I think you need to install some fonts.

please install the fonts what are in the Fonts folder.

and why wasn't there a screen to inform you that you needed to install the fonts. I specifically put one in. gaddammit
No such creature exists, and I don't think I'm doing anything fancy. Titlescreen has no 'new game' 'load' 'exit' options, so I just hit enter, it dumps me into the intro, I get to the red flashing thing, and that's it. It flashes forever unless I go into the menu (which it does not prompt me for), and the only screen that's not black lines in the menu is the gamecrash.
Gibmaker
I hate RPG Maker because of what it has done to me
9274
What! I cannot recreate such crashbug at the beginning. And there should have been a little pop-up message that told you what key to press to open the action menu.
Okay, feedback incoming. Demo v.08.

-Ooh, that title screen is good. The quick flashes of the credits are a little garish, though. It's skippable, which is very welcome as a player.

-Flashing intro is interesting, if a little uncomfortable to watch. The flashes are just slightly too quick and make my head hurt a bit.

-FOUND A BUG: Right out of the intro, while that reddish box/phone/thing is blinking endlessly in the near distance, hit escape, went into menu, and pressed left. 'Script Menu_SetInventory' line 121 RGSSError has occurred. Failed to create bitmap.

-It is very unclear what I'm supposed to do with the blinking red thing on the screen. Pressing enter, trying random keyboard keys, just simply waiting, no luck. I (can not) advance.

Seriously, though. What am I supposed to do to play forward? I am stuck in literally the first thing that happens in the game.
author=Fidchell
author=Qrimious
Hey! Just completed the demo and it is amazing! The graphics are perfect and I'm most impressed with it. The story comes along at a steady and nice pace that I like. There is a hook on the story and I really want to know what will happen!

I really do think this game will be amazing, and I had a fun time playing it as well! The scares were spot on in the moment and it really got me on my toes. Which is a must for a horror game and it achieved it. I really can't wait to see more, please keep up the good work!
Thank you very much! I assume because you beat the game that menu error didn't pop up again?


I don't think so! I checked and it worked fine after I realized I had to install the text settings I needed to play the game. Must've been that mistake ^w^
author=Qrimious
Hey! Just completed the demo and it is amazing! The graphics are perfect and I'm most impressed with it. The story comes along at a steady and nice pace that I like. There is a hook on the story and I really want to know what will happen!

I really do think this game will be amazing, and I had a fun time playing it as well! The scares were spot on in the moment and it really got me on my toes. Which is a must for a horror game and it achieved it. I really can't wait to see more, please keep up the good work!


Thank you very much! I assume because you beat the game that menu error didn't pop up again?
Hey! Just completed the demo and it is amazing! The graphics are perfect and I'm most impressed with it. The story comes along at a steady and nice pace that I like. There is a hook on the story and I really want to know what will happen!

I really do think this game will be amazing, and I had a fun time playing it as well! The scares were spot on in the moment and it really got me on my toes. Which is a must for a horror game and it achieved it. I really can't wait to see more, please keep up the good work!
Hi! I wanted to mention that I found this glitch, it happens when I tried opening the menu and tried looking at my items, and I get this error.




I really am looking forward to playing this game!
"Patch .007 will be out soon."

Quote under Fidchell's picture: "don't trust 7".
author=Bunnyroc
Before anything, I apologize if this is not the best place to report glitches, I'm *really* new to this site and I don't have the slightest clue of where to send this to, soooo...
I'm a huge fan of Ruby Quest and I was so excited when I found out about this game, I had to give it a try. And ohmygosh I REALLY love the demo so far. >u< It's just so rad and the art in it is SO AMAZING OHMYGOSH AND THE SOUNDTRACK TOO IOTGNFDOINEGDFV <3 <3 <3 <3 <3


Thank you much for your feedback and reporting this issue. We have the next patch coming out and hopefully we can alleviate these crash bugs for you. We're pushing this engine to its limits so it's expected that a lot of bugs will occur unfortunately. Please stay tuned and 0.0.7 will be out soon!
Before anything, I apologize if this is not the best place to report glitches, I'm *really* new to this site and I don't have the slightest clue of where to send this to, soooo...
I'm a huge fan of Ruby Quest and I was so excited when I found out about this game, I had to give it a try. And ohmygosh I REALLY love the demo so far. >u< It's just so rad and the art in it is SO AMAZING OHMYGOSH AND THE SOUNDTRACK TOO IOTGNFDOINEGDFV <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
I just can't wait to see what it'll be like when it's finally finished!! :3
However, I felt like I should point out a few glitches I have found through the game, specially one that has made it... downright unplayble for me so far. ;;
In case you want to know, I've been playing the latest version available at the time which is the Demo v0.0.6 (and yes, I did install the newest patch and such).

The first glitch I noticed when playing the game was that in the Z-Hatch room when the character gets tired out — which happened often to me due to not paying attention to the bars and wanting to always only run around — the sprite simply stops moving and gets stuck in the spot, with the animation of the sprite panting playing over and over again non-stop. At first I thought this was part of the game and effect from some other event and I kinda just kept watching it for like 10 minutes and nothing really happened. The only way out of it is by resetting the game. And as I'm pretty stupid it happened again later on — when I was already much further in the game and was running around to check places and see if I had missed something and then accidentally tired Ruby out right after entering the Z Hatch room — and the character just got stuck in the same way, and nothing I tried would work. I had to reset again. This time I had gladly saved much earlier though.

The second glitch I noticed is the worst glitch for me by far and is what made the game unplayble. I really don't blame anyone though, mistakes happen and these details casually go unnoticed, it's okay. ^u^
Uhm, oh well. I noticed this glitch riiight when I stumbled upon the first monster we have to fight in the game, and in my second attempt to go through the Z Hatch riiiight after I lose all my progress due to the first glitch. When the character is attacked and loses health, the game crashes. It straight up crashes, and shows this error.

And then the screen blacks out and shows this window.

Every single time, with every single monster I've faced so far.
Luckily I have managed to actually go through over a half of the demo by avoiding ANY kind of damage, literally going no-hit through the entire thing. However, now I can't do that anymore. I've gotten to the part where we have to fight Subject 6, the one who mistakes Ruby for Lucy and such, and I REALLY don't think there's a way of beating him without taking damage. I've really tried my best and it's just too hard, and probably impossible. There's no way of attacking him without taking damage and I really think there's no way of proceeding on the game either if not by attacking and defeating him... So I'm just not able to go any further on it anymore.
I've already tried reinstalling it and nothing worked. I'm not sure if the problem is only with me, and I'm not sure if any other people have already reported this glitch. In case anyone already did, I apologize for bothering! ><
In case you're wondering, yes, the screenshots are from the fight with Subject 6, you should be able to tell by the edges of the map that aren't covered by the huge "ERROR" window.
I really want to finish the demo however I really can't seem to find any way of proceeding without taking any single bit of damage. ;^; Aw man.
I've also tried to look for downloads of older Patch files but I couldn't find any. If there are any older versions I can download, I'd be really grateful! I'm a hundred percent sure I can cope with any other previous glitches as far as it doesn't make the thing unplayble like this one.

Thank you a lot for reading!! <3 I *REALLY* apologize if this is not the best place to post this or if this comes off any tad bit bothersome. I really just though I should report the glitch and make sure it hopefully will be fixed. Oh, and I'm really really sorry if this turns out to be happening only to me and to noone else. ;; And I'm so sorry if this ended up way too long!! I tend to really write a looot.