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Game Title: Evil Dawns
Game Designer: Jakk Dion
Studio: ZL Entertainment
Engine: RPG Maker VX Ace
Genres: Dark Mystererious, Horror, Puzzle
Version ID: Prototype
Version Number: 6.6
Story Completetion: 100%
Game Completion: 40%
Estimated Gameplay Time: 2 Hours +

Evil Dawns follows the story of Sarah Brown, who is a 13 year old girl whose father and uncle go missing. The game takes place all in a Mansion in the year of 1827 (you try finding appropriate tilesets for that year. The refrigerator itself hadn't even been invented yet,) that she presumes to be haunted at first. As the story progresses, she realizes not all is what it seems. She searches the Mansion, discovering clues as to what happened to her family and all the other people who have gone missing.

Through the game, you search each room for clues as to what might have happened. The storyline throughout the game can be found with "news clippings", notes, letters and talking to the very few "people" that you can talk to, which I believe there are only 2 as of now. You can solve puzzles to get items or keys to progress further in the mansion. Combat is similar to One Night 2: The Beyond; though it's possible to run away from most enemies. There is also a total of 5 weapons that you can find throughout the game, each getting better the further you get in the game. Evil Dawns also has 6 different possible endings. Extra Good, Good, Normal, Bad, Extra Bad. How do you get a certain ending?

I'd tell, but... spoilers. But I shall give a small hint. If you have ever played or watched someone else play Silent Hill, you'll get an idea what needs to be done. There is also a 6th ending but is only available after beating the game with one of the "good" endings. This will be the famous "Joke" ending that you see in a few Silent Hill games.

Keys:
  • WASD - Movement

  • Left Shift - Run (You can usually only run outside anyway.)

  • Right Mouse Button - Menu/Cancel

  • Left Mouse Button - Confirm

  • F - Light

  • M - Map



Features:
  • 640 x 416 Resolution

  • Puzzle Elements

  • Six Different Endings

  • Ranking System (how well you played the game)

  • Four Difficulties for Action and Puzzles

Latest Blog

Evil Dawns MV Available!

Why can't I leave this game alone?
No, it's not my first game I started on, but it is the first game I finished. In fact, the original game had taken me a month, or less, to make. Since then, I haven't actually done much work on it. But recently, just this year (2019), I've worked on nothing else, but this game. I have reworked all the maps and most everything, although, the story stays the same. You can check out the game pages at the following links. Note that I don't have a download as of yet, but you can always keep an eye on it. I expect it shall be out sometime later this month (September 2019).
So, why can't I leave this game alone? There is just something about finishing a game that feels very special. Perhaps not to you or most anyone else. But it is special nonetheless. I really love the story of this game, thus, I felt it important to give it a proper game, that is, I felt the need to make it as close to my original vision as I could do.

Anyway, here's all the links to where you can find it:
Evil Dawns MV (RMN Site)
Evil Dawns MV (itch site)
Evil Dawns MV (GameJolt site)
  • Completed
  • JakkDion
  • RPG Maker VX Ace
  • Adventure Puzzle
  • 12/12/2014 06:09 AM
  • 09/03/2019 08:55 PM
  • 12/15/2014
  • 44592
  • 10
  • 638

Posts

Pages: 1
I was testing it today and found a somewhat game-breaking error. I've been trying to fix it all day. Once I can get through a full test play with no more errors it'll be up for download. :)
Stayed up till 3 in the morning, California time, just to make sure everything is good enough to play. Glad to say I'll be uploading the download in a few minutes :D
Keep in mind that it's still being worked on, and there are bugs. I've already seen a few and reporting them. Have Fun!
Indeed, I am working on fixing the bugs still. There are minor ones though. Like fixing features and such, but otherwise the game is playable. The only thing I can't seem to fix is the New Game+ script. For some reason that isn't working.
Hey dude, I streamed this game on my Twitch.

Here's the video link. http://www.twitch.tv/huntingswan/c/5701628

There are some moments where I was too harsh and I apologise in advance for that but it was simply because the game's design choices are all so frustrating.

Anyway I hope it helps you. Keep making games!
author=HuntingSwan
Hey dude, I streamed this game on my Twitch.

Here's the video link. http://www.twitch.tv/huntingswan/c/5701628

There are some moments where I was too harsh and I apologise in advance for that but it was simply because the game's design choices are all so frustrating.

Anyway I hope it helps you. Keep making games!

Wow! Awesome! Thanks! I'll have to check it out. I also know what you mean. It even bothered me, thats why I HAD to fix it up. The new version will be up, hopefully later today. Tomorrow at the latest. But for my first finished game, I honestly think it turned out better then I had ever thought it would.
nhubi
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
11099
Ok so gave this a go and yeah there are some issues, I think I may be one download behind where you are currently at, so if you fixed any of these thus far just ignore that bit of this comment.

For a game that has horror and dark as two of it's three characteristics, it's not really very much of either. I mean yes it can at times be visually dark, but not narratively or tonally dark. Though that being said in that first cut scene where you are talking about the president the screen darkens between each interchanged dialogue. It's a little off-putting. There is also way to much space in that first room, in fact there is a lot of empty spaces in a lot of the rooms throughout the game. You can get a much better feeling of dread and indeed horror in more closed in spaces. Less room to run and hide, less options aids in building tension. Toning down the colour palette can help too, everything seem bright and cheery and really doesn't fit with the random atmospheric thunder.

I do like the little curtain move animations when Sarah is heading off to do exactly what she was told not to do by her father, which is another oddish thing. You've set this game in 1827, but the language and attitudes you use are all modern. Sarah defying her father's stated wishes, a servant referring to her employer by his first name, in an era where husbands and wives were known to call each other Mr and Mrs, a 'Hey' and 'See you later' in terms of greetings. It's anachronistic and doesn't help with immersion.

Also and I will admit to this being a pet peeve, don't disable the arrow keys, I know you've indicated that WASD is movement in the description, but it's not a good idea to also make the arrow keys defunct. Most people like playing with one hand over the other and this makes the movement a little more clunky and uncomfortable, I think it's the mix of mouse and keyboard you;ve got going that made you do that, but that is also not a great choice. RPG games have a set of default controls that allow you to do everything you want to and arbitrarily changing them and introducing the need to use two input devices to play just makes it more complicated than it needs to be.

You've got a few grammatical errors cropping up, not spelling so far, but incorrect word choices, use rather than useful in regard to the lantern for example.

But oh the combat, the combat is so slow, there is no tension in it no feeling of threat or unease, and it's so detached, the fact you've obviously created it says a lot about your abilities but it really doesn't translate into an enjoyable scenario. It's just pick an action, watch an action happen, have an action happen to you, pick an action. Sorry but that's about when I stopped playing. The menu and controls made it unwieldy, the atmosphere was picking up but was still not particularly eerie or immersive and the combat just bored me.

You do have some innovative ideas but the execution is flawed and needs to be looked at with a more critical eye.
author=nhubi
Ok so gave this a go and yeah there are some issues, I think I may be one download behind where you are currently at, so if you fixed any of these thus far just ignore that bit of this comment.

For a game that has horror and dark as two of it's three characteristics, it's not really very much of either. I mean yes it can at times be visually dark, but not narratively or tonally dark. Though that being said in that first cut scene where you are talking about the president the screen darkens between each interchanged dialogue. It's a little off-putting. There is also way to much space in that first room, in fact there is a lot of empty spaces in a lot of the rooms throughout the game. You can get a much better feeling of dread and indeed horror in more closed in spaces. Less room to run and hide, less options aids in building tension. Toning down the colour palette can help too, everything seem bright and cheery and really doesn't fit with the random atmospheric thunder.

I do like the little curtain move animations when Sarah is heading off to do exactly what she was told not to do by her father, which is another oddish thing. You've set this game in 1827, but the language and attitudes you use are all modern. Sarah defying her father's stated wishes, a servant referring to her employer by his first name, in an era where husbands and wives were known to call each other Mr and Mrs, a 'Hey' and 'See you later' in terms of greetings. It's anachronistic and doesn't help with immersion.

Also and I will admit to this being a pet peeve, don't disable the arrow keys, I know you've indicated that WASD is movement in the description, but it's not a good idea to also make the arrow keys defunct. Most people like playing with one hand over the other and this makes the movement a little more clunky and uncomfortable, I think it's the mix of mouse and keyboard you;ve got going that made you do that, but that is also not a great choice. RPG games have a set of default controls that allow you to do everything you want to and arbitrarily changing them and introducing the need to use two input devices to play just makes it more complicated than it needs to be.

You've got a few grammatical errors cropping up, not spelling so far, but incorrect word choices, use rather than useful in regard to the lantern for example.

But oh the combat, the combat is so slow, there is no tension in it no feeling of threat or unease, and it's so detached, the fact you've obviously created it says a lot about your abilities but it really doesn't translate into an enjoyable scenario. It's just pick an action, watch an action happen, have an action happen to you, pick an action. Sorry but that's about when I stopped playing. The menu and controls made it unwieldy, the atmosphere was picking up but was still not particularly eerie or immersive and the combat just bored me.

You do have some innovative ideas but the execution is flawed and needs to be looked at with a more critical eye.

First, I really want to thank you. I appreciate the time you took to help me out, with writing all this. To be completely honest, I agree with most of what you say. I saw the first 5 minutes of HuntingSwans "Let's Try" of it and I cringed. I forgot it was that bad lol
True, it has gotten better for the up coming Beta 6.1 release, but the Combat is about the same. Though, now I have a slightly better A.I, as the enemies now have a designed custom route. Also, quite honestly, it's not exactly a horror game, but I have nothing else I can think of to define it as. I was going for more of a creepy feeling then a Horrifying feeling. Yeah, there are a few jump scares, but in the end, this game is more of a Sci-Fi/Creepy-Horror.
The darkening on the screen, in the intro cutscene, is supposed to signify that things were once happy and cheerful, but are no longer that way. The lights starting to falter is the sign something bad is happening. I couldn't think of any other way to convey what would shortly happen. Either way, I still am not a huge fan of the very intro part of the intro cutscene.
For the empty spaces. I actually drew up the floor plan on some paper, before I started working on the game, and decided how big I wanted the Mansion to be and just stuck with that design, thusly, all the rooms are consistent on how big the Mansion is. Besides the wide hallways, the only real empty place I can think of is the supposed "Game Room", which is where the piano is now. And the ballroom, but I figured that was a spot where people would dance.
1827. Yes, everything you say in that paragraph is completely true. I have NO idea what 1827 is about, except that Ludwig van Beethoven died the year before. I actually tried researching what mansions looked like back then, but I could find no pictures or descriptions on that. The language my characters use is exceptionally modern, as I have no idea how they talked back then. That actually still frustrates me, but I really don't want to spend more days trying to figure that out. I am now thinking, that I probably should have picked a better time frame to start the series with :o
The script I'm using for the keybind, I actually wish I could find a script where the player would be able set up which keys they'd like to use, but I can set it up to where the player can use arrows or WASD, which I have done hours before I seen this comment.
And thank you you much for commenting on my "no spelling errors" part. I try my hardest on not misspelling any words. I'm not so good with grammar sometimes, but keep in mind, I am usually working on these games well into 2 or 3 in the morning.
The combat. I got from One Night Series 2: The Beyond. I loved the combat right away and I wanted to use it in one of my games, I did notice nobody else seemed to like his combat in that game either, but I still wanted to use the combat. The next game will definitely use a script for that. Anyway, he used VX, so I had to figure out how he did it on my own. I actually ended up making a variable for all enemies in the game, that made me sad as that took hours alone to set that part up. Especially since there are 99 total enemies in the game, including the mini-bosses and the boss. Not including, though, all the enemies in the basement.
Finally, the ideas I have... I do have plenty, but as this is my first completed game, a horror game nonetheless, which seems to be more difficult to make on this engine, I have to say overall, it isn't too bad for a first. Or maybe I'm just saying that to myself, so as to not fall into despair lol
Once again, thank you for commenting, most people usually ignore what I have to offer. I mostly want help in whatever I do, to get better and you did help. Now I just hope I can make this game a little more playable and enjoyable.
shayoko
We do not condone harassing other members by PM.
515
Bold-issues notes and or improvements
Other-just thoughts
random thoughts

Auto skipping text sucks (intro)

console shows up,a extra window outside of the game one. this should be disabled.
i believe there was a checkbox somewhere in the editor that needed to be unchecked


set time intro that you cannot skip

female lead? yay!

love the shadow effects

f12 causes khas awesome light effects line 347 crash
^probably cant be helped i have seen this error in most if not all games that use this script

reading the files causes invisible menu issue! E.G Tragedy strikes

i hate rankings,they are bs and ruin the enjoyment of the game

the games lighting randomly changed for a while to a lighter setting then went dark again

"plot rant"
oh ma goud! those types of things that are just plain stupid
like a virgin having any significance to anything compared to someone that's not
or memories being stored in the heart!
guh i hate it!

major lag spike when enter 3rd floor

enemy bodies take to long to disappear

the book on the 1st fl behind the spikes bottom right of the screen did nothing

wrong location
2nd fl- if you go thru the door at the end of right the hall, on the left side
you exit on the left side of the inner lobby where the boy is rather then the right


all items in inventory need descriptions

the key from the guy in bedroom 4 if you let him live does not appear in your inventory


Overall
with all those issues and such aside. this was a meh experience over all. like nhubi said the battle system was...not entertaining at all
not sure what it aimed to be (despite the above comment)
heals are plenty at least with enough to spare!
but the lack of direction is sometimes painful with a trial and error violation of the player
having a map would be nice!

theres not alot to interact with like a couch a simple "this looks comfortable"
adds so much to to a game to see the character perception of whats going on.
but enough of this

i could not clear he game

i got to the part where you have the bedroom 1 key and open the door on the second fl bottom left with the friendly monster in it and get the 2 heals from the room
there is nothing to do


Closing
the story was not interesting,the exploration needs way more interactivity,the battles are boring
i cant recommend this to anyone it needs so much work imo
Awesome, thanks for the comment :)
First, I have been working on this game a lot. Right now I am making different puzzles for whichever difficulty the player chooses. I've completely got rid of the original battle system and decided to use it for another game that isn't a somewhat horror game. Only the random zombie guy still has the original battle system. Anyway...
I really like when cutscenes feel like a mini movie that you can just sit back and enjoy, but I suppose that doesn't really work for a 2D game. I took out the intro anyway.
The console is due to the script I used called Test Edit, that way I can play the game and make changes immediately when I find a mistake. I had forgotten to ctrl+Q the script before I released it last time. I did it for the newer version.
I never heard of the F12 crash, but I'll check it out.
I have no idea about the invisible menu thing, but I have been working on the menu system to be better and hopefully that has been fixed.
I love ranking systems :D lol (adds replay value)
I believe that I fixed the lighting errors.
I have no idea what to say for that comment lol
3rd floor? Oh, the Attic. That is actually a huge map, but I have not much going on up there. Probably due to Khas Lighting script.
Enemies disappearing or not is no longer an issue cause I have completely changed the A.I system to correlate with the lantern. (Quick fact, the lantern is no more useful and adds a ton more difficulty to the game, mostly in the beginning.)
The book is supposed to be a random cheap scare at first and later holds clues for puzzles.
I just fixed the transfer. I laughed a loud when I saw that I made that mistake.
Most items do have descriptions, but I will get the rest up there also.
The guy in Bedroom 4 never gives a key... well, technically he does, but it's useless and can't be used so in story she tosses it aside. The room it would unlock anyway is already unlocked.

The battles system... was probably better on the game I first found it. I first found it on One Night 2: The Beyond and I really loved it, though I noticed comments saying they didn't like it. Either way, I still want a game with it. It's just not for this one. I now use a ATB System.
Heals actually depends on difficulty chosen :D
A MAP!! I am such an idiot! I LOVE making maps!! *Starts making maps*
There isn't much to interact with and at the same time there kinda is. I was trying to find a way to guide the people to where they need to go to do certain actions, like a blinking light, but then that makes the game too easy.
At least you got further than most. I changed a lot in the game. I have to keep reminding myself, "Yeah, I know where to go, but nobody else does."

True, there pretty much is no story. I just wrote the most basic and somewhat cliche story that I could think up.

Again, thanks for the comments and help :)
Where can I see how the Character looks?
author=AnimeGirl
Where can I see how the Character looks?
Huh, I think I forgot to update a few things, but I had the menu as Q, I think. But I'm planning on remaking it on MV, and have already started a few months ago since it'll be easier to do the things I wanted to do with the game in the first place :) and this time I'll spend more time than just a few weeks on the game :D
Also, sorry it took so long for me to answer :o
Gameplay was rather annoying. We got a limited lantern oil mechanic like in amnesia which is extremely annoying in my opinion. The entire game (from how far i got before i got slaughterized) is almost pitch black and you basically need the lantern lit most of the times to despawn the ghosts. Then you run out and have to constantly flash the lantern to keep the goasts off your butt. But careful, press f two or more times and a dialog box about needing oil will pop up, freezing you in place and letting the ghosts get free hits off you. Which made the limited oil mechanic even more annoying than ever.

Got a few minutes into the game and the werewolf caught me. Due to having been leeched by goasts constantly, I was no match for him and i was rekt. The end.

Good luck remaking this in MV. I really hope these mechanics get an overhaul so that it isnt This Annoying.
I could tell you this personally, Jakk, but I feel like saying it here.

I suppose I could help out with some of the mechanics if need be. If you need help in Ace or MV, I could take a crack at it. We talk on Discord a lot, but I felt it was appropriate to revive this game's discussion. I haven't finished a single game since my first usage of RPG Maker, so it's cool to see you have.

This game has the potential to be revived. It just needs some love.
author=Candon
I could tell you this personally, Jakk, but I feel like saying it here.

I suppose I could help out with some of the mechanics if need be. If you need help in Ace or MV, I could take a crack at it. We talk on Discord a lot, but I felt it was appropriate to revive this game's discussion. I haven't finished a single game since my first usage of RPG Maker, so it's cool to see you have.

This game has the potential to be revived. It just needs some love.

Thank you kindly. First time on this site in about 2 or 3 years... I think. Anyway, I did indeed start remaking this in MV and even UE4, but kinda lost any kind of motivation. But it would be nice to try and get the MV version done and just focus on my true vision for the game instead of trying to make a game I think that everyone else wants to see.
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