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The Dark Mark - currently in production!

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 3:09 am
by spratcliffe
This WAD is a bit more in-depth than anything I've ever attempted before - very slow going as I'm doing it all by myself. The game is made partly as a dedication to my love of Realms of the Haunting, particularly the use of dialogue and other various sounds to create a fun, somewhat scary environment.

It's partly RPG with a very basic inventory akin to Heretic/Hexen; there's no need to collect keys etc, any keys you need are generally single use only (Puzzle Item). If anyone is actually out there and would care to find out more about it, drop a comment and I'll spill all. :D

It has changed a good deal since this, but here's a tiny preview (sorry about the shitty quality):


Re: The Dark Mark - currently in production!

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 3:17 am
by Sgt. Shivers
Wow, this looks very interesting!
I think you should smooth out the punch attack and maybe make the hud a bit smaller.

Re: The Dark Mark - currently in production!

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:09 am
by spratcliffe
Cheers, Sgt. Shivers! I'll take that on board -- both good ideas. Mainly trying to scratch together slightly different than usual A.I (just through visual activation and monsters following you).. :) Kinda planning to try and sort out the main stuff, then get onto the aesthetics later on. As it is, I'm thinking of just working with five weapons (fist, pistol, salt-shotgun (the only thing that kills ghosts, among other things, a la "Supernatural"), Inferno (a super-power where you shoot fireballs that set human monsters on fire) and Thunderbolt (a super-power where you shoot a lightning bolt that splits into smaller bolts when it hits and enemy for attacking a large group). Phew! :D Thinking mainly on keeping the amount of weapons and enemies down and working on (hopefully) creating an interesting environment and a (possibly) cool story.




Re: The Dark Mark - currently in production!

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:20 am
by Unholypimpin
OOOOOOOOO!! This looks really promising, and I really like the dark atmosphere. I really do hope you finish this!!

Re: The Dark Mark - currently in production!

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:38 am
by spratcliffe
Cheers. :) I recently discovered Amnesia: The Dark Descent and was very inspired to make a dark horror game. I mucked around with a DECORATE script for a basic dynamic-light generating torch, which you need to navigate dark passages and find hidden switches/things for puzzles. Of course, this also means that I can swap the torch for the fist or something via a script when you're in a certain dark place, plunging you into darkness which is kind of cool. A basic synopsis is: you wake up in a mess of old trees in some sort of mysterious ruins without any memory of who you are or how you got there (or even where you are for that matter) with one objective: to escape the ruins and find civilization if you can. Meanwhile, as you navigate the destroyed buildings and crumbling structures, you find tape recorders that tell the tale of an author who was invited to the area to write a book on a cult called The Dark Mark and his subsequent fall into madness. As you wander around you get chased by ghosts, ragged cultists who want to kill you, and travel to a parallel dimension in order to open certain new areas in the ruins. As it is, the story is still writing itself and I'm unsure how it's going to end...! :/

Re: The Dark Mark - currently in production!

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:42 am
by Sgt. Shivers
Maybe you could make the anti ghost weapon not work on regular enemies? It would make sense.
I also would like to know if you would like some cultist sprites I made for an un-released mod I made.

Re: The Dark Mark - currently in production!

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:47 am
by spratcliffe
Mm, I was thinking that. Just mainly working on ghosts and perhaps zombies as they're also unholy. And absolutely! I'm not sure what'd be the best way to send them to me.. my email is: seb_ratcliffe@hotmail.com , so I guess just zip it and shoot it along. You'd of course get all credit for 'em. There's certainly no harm in gettin' more sprites: the more the merrier!

Re: The Dark Mark - currently in production!

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 9:12 am
by Arch
Wow this looks very good! Looking foward to play it. Maybe some translucency on the ghosts could be a nice touch.

Re: The Dark Mark - currently in production!

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 1:02 pm
by zrrion the insect
This is looking very spooky, I can't wait.

Re: The Dark Mark - currently in production!

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 8:36 pm
by spratcliffe
Many thanks to Sgt. Shiver for some new Cultist sprites. Have a peek, eh? Level 04 is coming along nicely; thinking of including a mini-game of sorts where you stand upon some ramparts and have to fight off a few waves of zombies, Cultists and cave dragons. Could be fun...

Re: The Dark Mark - currently in production!

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 8:47 pm
by spratcliffe
Working on adding a "The Dark Mark" page to my personal website so that I can freely post up updates and videos etc. Check it out if you get a chance!

http://spratcliffe.com/The_Dark_Mark.html

:D

Re: The Dark Mark - currently in production!

Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 8:28 pm
by spratcliffe
This here is the first few levels of The Dark Mark if anyone wants to give it a spin to see how it plays.

http://www.filefactory.com/file/75fs984 ... k_v1.2.zip

Re: The Dark Mark - currently in production!

Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 10:33 pm
by Sgt. Shivers
I'll give it a shot!

EDIT: Wow, this is very nice! The plot and atmosphere is very nice, but I think you replace the flashing images outside of the intro with something else because they kinda took me out of the game.
I haven't gotten very far into the game at the moment, in fact I'm stuck at what I presume is early into the first level and I can't find out what to do at all. I see some kind of teleporter at the top of this tower thing but I don't know how to lower the wall blocking the entry. I think you should replace the enemy sounds because I kept thinking I was getting hurt when I attacked the enemies.
Other than that, this is a pretty cool mod!

Re: The Dark Mark - currently in production!

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2013 5:34 am
by spratcliffe
Yeah, I'm still tinkering with what to have with the intro. With what I have at the present, using the punch actually hurts you one point of damage (because of your injured right hand), kind of to make people resist the urge to punch things too much and as a hint at some sort of realism; not too sure whether to keep it or not. In the teleportation tower area, there is a chasm you need to leap over and climb up a rocky incline, where there is a door illuminated by two torches. Pressing on it indicates that this is the way out of the ruins, but you can't access it yet. Pressing on it also drops the wooden wall in the tower and allowing access to the teleporter. I wasn't too sure if this would be too hard for people to work out, but others were telling me to make a game where you need to use the automap a good deal to look for unexplored areas etc. so I thought I'd make it a bit tricky. :) thanks for playing it man! Also thanks for the Chem Zombie sprites, I'll work on slipping them into the game. Cheers!

Re: The Dark Mark - currently in production!

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2013 10:11 pm
by Sgt. Shivers
I tried opening the locked door before but I didn't notice the door lower, maybe you could have the character mention he hears something moving or something?