The Nightmare from Beyond
Lack of updates
I have bad news for all. As you have seen, there's been a lack of updates for a while. I have been going through a lot of personal issues for a long time that don't let me work on this game. I wish I had better news. I don't know when I will be able to continue development.
I am sorry because I reopened the purchases thinking I would deliver, but I have just failed again. I think I will have to disable purchases again, because it is not fair to be selling a game I can't develop right now.
Merry late Christmas, happy late new year, and a couple of updates
Well, first of all, merry late Christmas and happy late new year.
I wanted to share a few things about the status of the game. I recently purchased a few furniture props that I plan to use to populate the castle, and I am looking into stuff I can use to populate the basements.
The idea is that Lavinia's family is just moving into the castle (and I'm going to come up with an excuse that explains why she's alone in the castle), so I was lucky to find some furniture pack that has covered furniture to give the idea maybe some of the furniture that was in the castle was covered for protection.
I'll be adding furniture to the castle and look more into the "stalker rat" I talked about in the previous update. Now that I'll be adding that, I can also look into using other light sources for the castle, and improving lighting overall.
I also changed the model of the human-rat hybrid that shows up in the chase sequence. This one actually looks more like a rat, although maybe I still need to change it a little bit so it has some human features on the head, and also to make it more menacing looking.
Sorry for going so slow. Lots of things going on, but I'm getting there.
Current plans and new things I'm working on
I have been figuring out what to work on next for this game. I need to expand the first basement (the one with the brown walls, which was actually the second basement to be added), and also add another underground area, and also add stuff to the castle. I have been doing that, including adding more stuff to the light puzzle, but there's nothing "put together" to make the build "flow" better (have a start and an end).
For those that have played, the idea behind the light puzzle is that Lavinia uses this light puzzle to slowly open the way to the lower underground levels, so there's some back and forth in the game. Right now there is some sort of "path" you must follow to reach an "end screen" but that ignores the puzzles that are part of the castle itself, so maybe I should work on castle puzzles now.
A few days ago I thought it would be cool to have a "stalker rat monster". If you're an old follower of this game, you probably remember this image:
I didn't explain what that image was about. That was from some "Haunting Ground" like game I wanted to make, and I worked on the AI and all that (and that's also how I learned to make somewhat-realistic characters with realistic hair like the one Lavinia uses). The game is basically dead at the moment, but it's something I'd like to go back to after The Nightmare, if I can get either Patreon or Crowdfunding money for it (so if I earn your trust at the end of this game, keep that in mind when that time comes).
Anyway, I have been working on making a "lite" version of the AI of that game. My idea is that, at some point in the game, you "set free" one of the rat monsters and it's following you in the castle. While that's not part of the story in The Rats in The Walls, I think that could be interesting to make the game "more gamey" and not just have the protagonist walk and "discover the horrors hidden under Exham Priory".
But I think first need to expand the first basement and add the castle puzzles (including adding castle furniture and all), so there's an actual route you must follow and have the "event" that frees the rat monster, and also have animations of the monster grabbing Lavinia and all that, similar to the chase sequence.
I also want to modify the rat monster a bit (specially the head) so it actually looks like a rat. TBH right now it kinda looks like a human dog =_=.
I can't tell you when this will be ready, because I still have a lot of complications, and I am trying to grab free time here and there to make this happen. Again, thanks for the encouragement. If you want to support this game's development, please purchase it, but remember it's taking a while to be finished. If you would rather wait until it's more advanced, or even finished, that's ok too.
Sorry for the lack of updates
Hello there.
I just wanted to say sorry for the lack of updates. I have had a lot of complications for the past several months so I haven't been able to devote the time this project needs. I hope I can solve my situations soon so I can come back to this and give you a new build of the game soon.
New update for The Nightmare from Beyond is out!
In this update I added more stuff for the basement 1, including a few puzzles. One of the puzzles connects with a puzzle in the basement 2 (the light puzzle), and my idea is to have that light puzzle connected through different areas (the castle and the two basements, and maybe an additional area). I also added a few more things to the basement 2, including what will eventually become the entrance to basement 3. Following the idea in The Rats in The Walls, Lavinia would continue going down and down, finding the horrors (that I haven't included yet, lol).
I would have liked this update to be bigger, but I just wanted to release something because it's been a while since the last update, and I wanted to show signs of life. One thing I wanted to add but couldn't add yet is the hide and seek sequence. I am still working on that, but I will make sure it's in the next update. I also want to add another chase sequence (this time in the basement 1) because I think those are cool and are a good challenge.
And one again, thanks for encouraging me to continue working on this game. If you want to support its development, please purchase it, but remember it's taking a while because I am working on this alone, so if you would rather wait until it's more advanced, or even finished, that's perfectly fine.
More updates soon.
Happy new year and quick update
Hello everybody.
It's been a while since the last post. I had been busy with a lot of different things (many not related to games), but I have been slowly working on this.
I have been extending the "first basement" area with more areas, and adding some puzzles
And also some crushing stones.
I also plan to add another enemy in this area, but I think this is not going to be a chase like in the other basement. Maybe some sort of "stealth" area, using some of the AI and behavior trees stuff from Unreal Engine that I have learned in the past. When I was thinking about the original concept for this game, I had this idea that it would be cool to have stealth sequences where you can also hide in platforms below or above the enemy, so that's my plan.
As usual, thanks for the support. I hope to have a new version of the game soon for you to download.
Quick update: version 0.3 is live
Just a quick update. Version 0.3 (second release for October) is out. This is a quick update that fixes some of the bugs and other issues. You can read about the issues here
This release doesn't have new content. Right now I am working on new content for the game, and it will be included in the next update.
As always, thanks everybody for the support.
New game update (version 0.2) is finally out.
Hello all.
First of all, sorry for the delay and for taking longer than I wanted to make this update. I had some real-life complications, but it's finally here.
So what's available in this update.
First of all, I made some bug fixes to the platforming, and hopefully everything works fine. If you find bugs, please let me know.
I added a first, preliminary version of the first basement. The basement is empty at the moment, because I want to get the sense of the scale, and also because I don't want to put too many "spoilers" in that area. Since the game is not really linear, I was thinking the first basement would be accessible later in the playthrough, so things that The Rats in The Walls puts in deeper parts of the castle, I plan to put them here.
This basement also has a couple of platforming things. One is the moving platforms that I have been testing for a while, and the other is some rotating machine that lets you move across a room.
The castle has all the visual changes and improvements I was teasing in the previous posts. I think the castle looks a lot better now. Still no platforming in the castle, because that will come when I start adding the puzzles there.
Also, this update includes Lavinia's pink outfit (the one in the screenshots). I like that outfit and I hope you like it too. The outfit is available right off the bat, so it's not something you need to unlock or anything like that.
I am thinking of different ways to make the development more agile and bring updates quicker.
And those who have purchased the game, and continue purchasing it, thanks for the support and for believing in the game even after it was abandoned for all that time (4 or 5 years, I think). You're the reason this game was revived and is taking shape.
Moving platforms are now working correctly
After lots of days of fixing and testing, I finally got it to work.
I have been working on other things too. I am making a first version of the "first basement" (what you have in the demo is part of the "second basement" of the castle). I am checking the story of The Rats in The Walls to figure out how this first basement should look like, and I think I have an idea. We'll see how it works.
For this part I plan to have some "lore sections" where you can find stuff for the story. Just like the demo basement, I want this basement to feel big, to make it feel like the impossibility of this huge basement actually being under the castle (english is not my first language so I don't even know if what I said made sense, but well).
For this basement I also want some traps that kill you instantly. I got some ideas from Classic/Legend Tomb Raider for these "crushing pillars" traps that I will put in the hallways in some areas to make the game feel more like a Tomb Raider (but the old ones, because I really don't like the reboot series).
And lastly, sorry for the delay in the next update. I have to balance work and personal stuff but I will have this next update up soon!
testing platforming on moving objects
Well, I have been working on another basement area of Exham Priory, and at some point I thought it would be cool to have moving objects to hang from. The thing is I didn't add that to the programming at first, so I had to look into how to do it. After some work, I was able to do it.
Here's a video showing off that thing.
Right now, I will leave this new basement area completely open, like the castle. I want to have everything more or less finished (although without the fine details, ornaments and stuff) so I can get a full sense of the world, and also because I want to have everything in place before I work on the actual "area-by-area progression" because my idea is that the game will not be linear, but rather some sort of "metroidvania" where you slowly gain access to areas of the castle.
I'll post the next build as an update as soon as it's ready!