Incline CYCLOPEAN CHASMS Development Updates (Lovecraft inspired Walking Simulator)

[Cleveland Mark Blakemore]

I want all my survival horror to be inspired by Lovecraft. In fact, I am enjoying working on this game so much that I may do nothing but Lovecraft-themed games based on his existing works for the remainder of my first 100 years.

Lovecraft is a thing now. It has entered popular culture to the extent it should be a video game genre all it's own.

Visions and hallucinations are more effective exposition as cutscenes than actual cutscenes. Sitting through a cutscene is a drag, watching a vision unfold as in a Lovecraft story is both exposition and entertainment.

What do you think of the notion of a gun being a MacGuffin in a survival horror setting? In fact, just being dumb enough to use the gun while surrounded by Lovecraftian immortal horrors is exactly what you'd expect in real life ... instant suicide? I have a bunch of dead creatures on the floor now which wake up at certain game logic cues. Fire the gun, they all wake up. Fire the gun in the wrong place, a Shoggoth finds you. In a lovecraft survival horror weapons should be at best a Deux Ex Machina at key points of the game but otherwise useless. Stealth and brainpower should be all.

 

[Eirinjas]

So long as nothing in it reads like his shit writing. None of that "I was horrified by the horrific and horrifying horrors" nonsense.

 

[HarveyBirdman]

Everybody is making survival horror Lovecraft games from the human perspective.
Rise above! Try something from the perspective of a lowly and comprehensible servant. Maybe an intelligent shoggoth? Serve and cower from your master, outmaneuver your fellow shoggoths, and outsmart your human prey/hunters.
Perhaps your mission is to wrest this double-edged gun from human control (which would place you in a position similar to the Nazgul re: the Ring of Power).

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Armoire: Heralds of the Eldritch Abomination
Coming soon in 20 years

 

[Neanderthal]

In our nighted slumbers we tossed and turned most violently, sweat bathing our pale flesh, panting out each breath like an ancient, eyelids flickering as nightmare visions beset our gaze.

Dreaming or voyaging in realms where no man was meant to tread, dark timeless places, where no star has ever shone or mundane life blossomed. Only the foul intelligences of the gargantuan, eldritch abominations that slumbered within illuminated that place, a foul, sickly corona that wracked our bodies with pain and twisted our minds.

When shall our nights and dreams be free of distant, nighted Codexia? I know not, but I hope and pray for it with every fibre of my being.

Dear traveller heed my words and venture not down that troubled path, some knowledge carries too much of a price, often your soul entire.

 

[howlingFantods]

Is this game exclusively a survival horror? Or is it an RPG as well?

I like the idea of the gun being a sort of last resort. Definitely wouldn't be impressed by a survival horror game that let me dispatch Lovecraftian horrors with ease.
By using the gun as a Macguffin do you mean that you will be spending a significant portion of the game trying to acquire a gun only to find out that it's not very useful most of the time?
If so then two thoughts: 1) It can possibly be a cool way to give the player hope and then crush it which would be appropriate thematically in a survival horror setting 2) But it also risks pissing off the player

 

[thesecret1]

In fact, just being dumb enough to use the gun while surrounded by Lovecraftian immortal horrors

Guns often do work in Lovecraft's works, though, so long as you don't try gunslinging with a shoggoth or something. For example deep ones and ghouls are shown as being killable (or at least being driven off by) conventional weapons - the point is that it then turns out that the action was pointless. When deep ones' cities were bombarded by torpedoes, they just shrugged it off, as they could easily recover from it. When Pickman drove off a ghoul, another one (presumably) got him later. In a video game, I'd expect guns to work on the "weaker" horrors. You ventilated that monster's skull, good job... only you spent some of the extremely rare ammunition to do so, the enemy has no loot, and his pals will be arriving soon due to the noise it made. Hope it was worth it, because you better leg it now.

 

[Barbalos]

I like the idea Cleve mentions that carrying a gun could be a serious danger to yourself as well.
A sudden pulse of insanity from God knows what Lovecraftian scene leads to suicidal urges, the gun is in your hand already... Bang, game over.

 

[zapotec]

If i remember well, the idea was already implemented in Dark corners of earth, if you have the gun drawn while under a fit of insanity you can shoot yourself in the head.

 

[Neanderthal]

If i remember well, the idea was already implemented in Dark corners of earth, if you have the gun drawn while under a fit of insanity you can shoot yourself in the head.

Marriage and Lovecraft share common dangers then.

 

[Alex]

Did his writing frequently include actual visions? I am not trying to burst your bubble here, it has been a while since I read any of his stories; but I don't remember visions being very present in his stories. I remember some protagonists suddenly becoming disabled because of the horrors they were facing, but I don't remember this ever giving them any kind of insight into the situation around them or anything else, really.

 

[PsychoFox]

I didn't read the OP because i don't care, but i want to say this about Lovecraft: Stop making "John Reed" the protagonist of every fuckin' Lovecraft game. The washed up detective trope is abhorrent. Why not play as fucking Cthulhu and fuck with people's dreams for crying out loud?

 

[Lagole Gon]

I've heard that this new lovecraftian game, The Sinking City or whatever, is hilariously bad.
Every possible lovecraftian trope cramped into one story that feels like an urban fantasy cartoon. Fishman NPC casually giving you a sidequest, instead of damaging your sanity and convictions about mankind's place in the universe.

 

[Master]

Lovecraft is a thing now. It has entered popular culture to the extent it should be a video game genre all it's own.

Uh, Lovecraft has been a thing for a long while now. Have you been living in a bunker all this time?

 

[Cleveland Mark Blakemore]

In fact, just being dumb enough to use the gun while surrounded by Lovecraftian immortal horrors

Guns often do work in Lovecraft's works, though, so long as you don't try gunslinging with a shoggoth or something. For example deep ones and ghouls are shown as being killable (or at least being driven off by) conventional weapons - the point is that it then turns out that the action was pointless. When deep ones' cities were bombarded by torpedoes, they just shrugged it off, as they could easily recover from it. When Pickman drove off a ghoul, another one (presumably) got him later. In a video game, I'd expect guns to work on the "weaker" horrors. You ventilated that monster's skull, good job... only you spent some of the extremely rare ammunition to do so, the enemy has no loot, and his pals will be arriving soon due to the noise it made. Hope it was worth it, because you better leg it now.

That's exactly the way I imagined it. One ghoul is possible with a gun or with a molotov but if a half dozen wake up it's game over. A loud noise within earshot of dormant ghouls wakes them all up. I will probably put something like six rounds in the game and you will need to apportion them very carefully. I actually display a cylinder in the HUD that shows how many rounds you have left when you have the revolver equipped.

Other weapons are supposedly left behind by a prior Miskatonic University expedition in addition to scientific equipment that can be used.

I have saved this model from 3DMaesen for four years in an asset collection I was putting together specifically for this very game because it instantly made me think of Pickman's model :

 

[Cleveland Mark Blakemore]

Lovecraft is a thing now. It has entered popular culture to the extent it should be a video game genre all it's own.

Uh, Lovecraft has been a thing for a long while now. Have you been living in a bunker all this time?

It really has not been done well in a video game outside of CALL OF CTHULHU.

 

[Cleveland Mark Blakemore]

I've heard that this new lovecraftian game, The Sinking City or whatever, is hilariously bad.
Every possible lovecraftian trope cramped into one story that feels like an urban fantasy cartoon. Fishman NPC casually giving you a sidequest, instead of damaging your sanity and convictions about mankind's place in the universe.

This is what I mean - these guys don't understand real Lovecraft. I saw the game play ... it was kind of a popamole 3rd person generic game.

 

[Alex]

Hey Cleve, have you played (or maybe just read) any of the Chaossium adventures for the Call of C'thulhu RPG? I read through a few a long time ago and I remember thinking they were pretty good. I also heard very good things about Masks of Nyarlathotep.

 

[Cleveland Mark Blakemore]

Did his writing frequently include actual visions? I am not trying to burst your bubble here, it has been a while since I read any of his stories; but I don't remember visions being very present in his stories. I remember some protagonists suddenly becoming disabled because of the horrors they were facing, but I don't remember this ever giving them any kind of insight into the situation around them or anything else, really.

Yes, Lovecraft is filled with wild fantastic hallucinations and visions of other worlds, ghastly unlit cyclopean chasms.

 

[Cleveland Mark Blakemore]

Hey Cleve, have you played (or maybe just read) any of the Chaossium adventures for the Call of C'thulhu RPG? I read through a few a long time ago and I remember thinking they were pretty good. I also heard very good things about Masks of Nyarlathotep.

They are extremely well done.

 

[Cleveland Mark Blakemore]

I like the idea Cleve mentions that carrying a gun could be a serious danger to yourself as well.
A sudden pulse of insanity from God knows what Lovecraftian scene leads to suicidal urges, the gun is in your hand already... Bang, game over.

I think this would be truly cool as an extension of fear/insanity. I have a mechanism which permits you to settle your emotions like AMNESIA.

 

[Alex]

Did his writing frequently include actual visions? I am not trying to burst your bubble here, it has been a while since I read any of his stories; but I don't remember visions being very present in his stories. I remember some protagonists suddenly becoming disabled because of the horrors they were facing, but I don't remember this ever giving them any kind of insight into the situation around them or anything else, really.

Yes, Lovecraft is filled with wild fantastic hallucinations and visions of other worlds, ghastly unlit cyclopean chasms.

Oh, I see. I was thinking of something else when I read "visions".

 

[Cleveland Mark Blakemore]

Is this game exclusively a survival horror? Or is it an RPG as well?

I like the idea of the gun being a sort of last resort. Definitely wouldn't be impressed by a survival horror game that let me dispatch Lovecraftian horrors with ease.
By using the gun as a Macguffin do you mean that you will be spending a significant portion of the game trying to acquire a gun only to find out that it's not very useful most of the time?
If so then two thoughts: 1) It can possibly be a cool way to give the player hope and then crush it which would be appropriate thematically in a survival horror setting 2) But it also risks pissing off the player

It's a survival horror with perks like THE EVIL WITHIN. Didn't think RPG form was right for this particular 1st person game.

Yes, the second a newb finds a gun and begins firing wildly I want it to bring every monster in the game down on them. This will no doubt frustrate many snowflakes but I want to show that the gun is hardly a cure-all although it can be used in dire circumstances ... only against some ghouls, revenants and fairly minor encounters. Other creatures should require stealth, brainpower or simply fleeing to survive.

 

[Agame]

Uh, Lovecraft has been a thing for a long while now. Have you been living in a bunker all this time?

He is correct in that there has been a mini explosion of Indies doing 'Lovecraft' type stuff recently.

 

[Swigen]

Cleveland Mark Blakemore I think you’re fabulous, and if you could just see it in your heart to make Grimoire available for iPad I promise you UNCONDITIONAL support in every thread you post on!

Picture this...

FUCK ME DEAD! Was legless watching footie on the bovo when me old cobber Frank burssed outta the dunny goin’ off on some hard yakka. So I says “Frank ya drongo cunt, you’ve only gone an’ pissed your daks ‘aven’t you? Silly ripper!”

Agreed.