KickStarter Hibernaculum - sci-fi survival horror dungeon crawler from Wormwood Studios' Victor Pflug

[Morpheus Kitami]

TBH, the pouch system doesn't look too bad from what I'm understanding of it, but I may just be thinking its going to be more Dungeon Master than U7. At the resolution the game's going to be at I don't think there is a perfect solution.

Animations are a bit janky - but as we know that's kind of my thing. Bad animation.

Uh-uh, sure. Bad animation, yeah, right looks amazing. I guess you could add a little more weight to the dude's attack, a mild wait when he raises his arms. The feet could move around a little more. His walking animation looks silly, I think the exaggerated shoulder movement doesn't work too well when he's walking in place.

 

[Victor Pflug]

Current art theft level = Chernobyl

Yeah just showing my technique a bit here, using the so-called "Elephant's Foot" A.K.A Highly radioactive stump deep in Chernobyl, as reference photographs for an event screen.

 

[Victor Pflug]

Okay okay how's this for an idea;

When you take hits, blood spatters the UI (before eventually fading) to not only increase tension during encounters and add a reminder of damage taken, it may also help bring the UI into the action of the game, blurring the lines between UI and the perceived environment.

UI isn't just the show curtains - they're a part of the show.

It does *not* however spatter the event window/viewscreen (House of the Dead style) as I think this breaks immersion, increasing the effect that you are just viewing a screen.

 

[Dr1f7]

this looks cool, what are you doing for music/sound design?

 

[Abu Antar]

Splatter is okay as long as it doesn't obstruct too much.

 

[deem]

It does *not* however spatter the event window/viewscreen (House of the Dead style) as I think this breaks immersion, increasing the effect that you are just viewing a screen.

I agree with this sentiment. Effects that are often lifted from cinema, and imply that we view the events of the game through a camera chip away at immersion. To paraphrase Matthewmatosis 'I rather view the game through a window than a camera'.

However, blood on the UI buttons raises the question, is the UI diegetic? Is this a Pip-Boy like gadget that the character is carrying around with them?

 

[lightbane]

As long as the blood splatters are not too annoying, it should be fine. I hate Gears of War for introducing the "blood borders" that infested gaming ever since.

 

[Fowyr]

Oh very much Eye of the Beholder/Westwood inspired. The idea (in really generic terms) is a game with an upgraded EoB, LoL engine, but with the survival horror elements and atmosphere of a System Shock 2.

Looks interesting so far. Somewhat reminds me about fungus level of Waxworks.
By the way, have you played Xenomorph or Spacewrecked? They have a lot of great ideas.

 

[Haba]

The UI can also degrade in other ways, i.e. backlights not working/flickering, physical damage etc.

For a game like this, definitely fine with not having a party.

TB/RT is question of design tbh. When I think of horror dungeon crawlers, you spent most of the time avoiding combat and frantically running away from foes. RT fits with that, and brings in the time constraint in a way that TB can't do.

Ofc too much stress can be too much.

 

[Victor Pflug]

Re: Music/sounds.

I had a blast doing the soundscape for Strangeland and luckily enough my partner in crime on this one does sound design too, and also owns a ton of vintage machines to gather foley from.
As for music I'm going to use a lot of period correct sound chips & soundtracker samples, FM synthesis etc to try to recreate a very much genuine sounding, Amiga feeling OST. Hopefully.

Re: Is the UI diegetic?

I was thinking *sort of* yeas - like it's an amalgum of suit system controls and PDAs you have strapped to your body from the get go. So partly yes, I think :D

Re: Waxworks, Xenomorph, Spacewreck.

Hell yeah I'm definitely channeling some Waxworks vibes. The fungus mine was my fav level in that. Haven't seen those other two - thanks! As far as I knew like, Whale's Voyage, Hired Guns and Perihelion were the only sci fi blobbers I was aware were made back then.

UI damage:

Not a bad idea - I'll keep that in mind... Sheeit - if you get crippled limbs or eyes we could have button presses go awry - now that would *really* fuck with the player lol

 

[Victor Pflug]

Oh yeah also regarding sound/music - aside from using mostly real hardware from the era synthesizer-wise (Akai AX80, Casio CZ-1, ESQ-1, Roland D-5, Korg Poly 800, etc etc) I also make my own synthesizers and do some circuit bending.

Here's some of the self built gear I've been messing with for the Strangeland soundtrack and other projects, and will feature in Hibernaculum to some degree depending on what I do with that.

I'd ideally like to buy some vintage soviet synthesizers to fit the theme better - but that shit is PRICEY. This stuff I built because I couldn't really afford the fancy gear.

EDIT) I have even cooler stuff too but the pics are too large to upload and I have me some Wolfenstein ET to play

 

[Dr1f7]

Oh yeah also regarding sound/music - aside from using mostly real hardware from the era synthesizer-wise (Akai AX80, Casio CZ-1, ESQ-1, Roland D-5, Korg Poly 800, etc etc) I also make my own synthesizers and do some circuit bending.

Here's some of the self built gear I've been messing with for the Strangeland soundtrack and other projects, and will feature in Hibernaculum to some degree depending on what I do with that.

I'd ideally like to buy some vintage soviet synthesizers to fit the theme better - but that shit is PRICEY. This stuff I built because I couldn't really afford the fancy gear.

EDIT) I have even cooler stuff too but the pics are too large to upload and I have me some Wolfenstein ET to play

View attachment 22917 View attachment 22919 View attachment 22920 View attachment 22921View attachment 22916 View attachment 22918 View attachment 22922 View attachment 22924
View attachment 22923

holy based
that's cool as hell

 

[Victor Pflug]

Heavy water drips from this ragged open grate, yet something gleams within.

Will you put your hand in?

Y/N

 

[lightbane]

This reminds me a lot of Primordia, which I'm replaying right now after 10 years since the first playthrough. I should get Resonance as well... Anyway, the answer is always yes...

If you save first.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Looks nice. I thought it was a couple of sketches when I saw it for the first time, but I'm glad to know it's a real deal.

I'm not a fan of RT crawlers, but single-character ones can work if the game is aimed towards the feeling of isolation / horror. Will watch this with great interest.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

I don't know if this has been told here somewhere, but what use money does have in game?
Is it for automated dispensaries where player buys ammo and other stuff? Or will there be NPC shopkeeps?
If game just has automated shops, what stops player from just taking crowbar on those?

 

[agris]

Heavy water drips from this ragged open grate, yet something gleams within.

We can see the drips quite clearly, your minimal flavor text should give *some* indication of the danger, whether real or bluffed. "Heavy water" doesn't really do anything that our eyes aren't already doing.

"What you hope is simply the drone of the structure emanates from within this ragged open grate, yet something gleams within."

"A brackish liquid drips from this ragged open grate, yet something gleams within."

 

[Victor Pflug]

This reminds me a lot of Primordia, which I'm replaying right now after 10 years since the first playthrough. I should get Resonance as well... Anyway, the answer is always yes...

If you save first.

*rolls dice* Despite initially deftly navigating the jutting torn metal shards, a sharp grasping thing clutches at your extended wrist. You yank back hard and manage to withdraw your hand, minus the skin that once covered it.

I don't know if this has been told here somewhere, but what use money does have in game?
Is it for automated dispensaries where player buys ammo and other stuff? Or will there be NPC shopkeeps?
If game just has automated shops, what stops player from just taking crowbar on those?

Right now I think I'm a bit torn between automated item machines and NPC shopkeeps, or both. I'm thinking we'll use money but call it space tokens or something (possibly zheton which is Russian for token I think). You'd be able to buy ammunition, rations (if we have rations, I'm thinking yes) guns, medical supplies. I think both automated dispensaries & NPCs with more rare items could make sense in our world and I actually like the idea of taking a crowbar to the NPCs. Neat idea, it's a bloody gamble which I think will be the bread and butter of Hibernaculum.

We can see the drips quite clearly, your minimal flavor text should give *some* indication of the danger, whether real or bluffed. "Heavy water" doesn't really do anything that our eyes aren't already doing.

"What you hope is simply the drone of the structure emanates from within this ragged open grate, yet something gleams within."

"A brackish liquid drips from this ragged open grate, yet something gleams within."

Very nice!! I may steal from that :D

Oh yeah and thanks again to whoever mentioned Xenomorph - sorry forget who that was - playing it atm and Jesus tap dancing christ is the interface obtuse but it also does a lot of very interesting things especially how they contruct the 3d spaces. It seems they originally had the same weapons belt idea I did which is neat too.

Actually playing it on one of the cheap ass Ebay "Super Ultra Power Retro Consoles" but it turned out to have every Amiga game ever made on it - so it's actually great for research.

 

[Victor Pflug]

Oh yeah Michael and I have been testing audio a little too - just SFX though no music yet, which will have much more the recognizable sound chip patches etc.

Laser and airlock SFX are also just placeholder - I made them very quickly and they will be swapped out.

 

[Jinn]

Wish it was turn-based, but holy shit is it beautiful. And of course looks like fun regardless. Any idea of when you might be getting a steam page up, Victor Pflug?

 

[Victor Pflug]

Wish it was turn-based, but holy shit is it beautiful. And of course looks like fun regardless. Any idea of when you might be getting a steam page up, Victor Pflug?

The short answer is, as soon as bloody possible haha - but yeah as soon as we like, shore up the demo, I get the cover art drafted up - some more minor stuff. It won't be long. We had no build a few months ago and have both been smashing it hard so. Yeah, not long.

 

[Victor Pflug]

So I'm pretty curious; who thinks an in screen weapon is a good idea/bad idea?

I'm leaning on the bad idea side but we have to consider all options.

EDIT) But actually - if it holsters automatically when you move and has to be drawn to fire, I could see it working.

 

[Abu Antar]

Selfish answer: Do it.

Reasonable answer: It would be cool to have, but you'll have to consider if it isn't too much of a pain in the *** to implement.

 

[lightbane]

It could be used as a mechanic to create tension if the protagonist has to drawn the gun every time like a moron, instead of holding it in one hand. Reload animations could also be a good thing.

 

[lukaszek]

that weapon animation looks super cool. Watch out as bullet fire trice appear to be generating weird angle issue