MURDER LAND



STORY
You try to stay the night at a motel, get locked in and find everyone is killing each other. So what do you do? Try to kill them first.

The game is based off an old online multiplayer game: Murder Motel. Although very addictive, that game had a limited objective of simply killing as many other motel guests as you can, before you die. This one is similar as this is one of your objectives. The biggest difference is I had to make this a single player game with the same level of addictiveness. I'm not sure if I will accomplish this task but here's a few of the ways I've attempted too:

Featuring:
- Custom and unique battle system incorporating the best of Murder Motel. The difference is I had to create a random encounter system from scratch, which I think I've managed to do quite well. This battle system contains a Loot, Item, Weapon and Defense system.

- Items are not generic. Some of the weapons include a Banana Peel, Nail Gun and a Super Soaker that sprays acid. I've eliminated the need for ammo to make the action more streamlined. Instead of dying constantly because of having an empty Nail Gun, like what used to happen so often in Murder Motel, you live longer and accomplish more. With that...

- There are missions to complete. Each level has a Boss with its own unique challenges. Bosses can only be found and killed when you find a note to kill them. There are other challenges as well but I won't ruin all the surprises.

- Along with a kill count, I've added a score counter so players can have more goals to aim for than just having the highest kill count. Although a high kill count can go towards unlocking...

- Achievements. The usual, high score, highest kill count... even a high enough death count. These things and more will open up new levels for you to play around in.

- Murder Motel was set in a hotel, with a small area that expanded into a crypt, a maze, a field, and a couple other things. All were small and the whole map was a singularity. This game has 21 unique levels, although for classic appeal, level one is a motel. This game will be much larger than the original once completed.

- Interactive Fiction: part of what inspired me to do this. I read those words a week ago or so on the main page and it made me think of Murder Motel. Since then I've spent 3 days working on this game.

How far along is this game?
In the 3 days I've worked on it I've completed the custom menu system, all the graphics and the custom battle system (including loot, items, and anything else to do with it). What I have left to do is a little touching up such as a couple more options for Save Icons... maybe a little more music selection. The big thing is I haven't made the levels yet. All the programming is in place, I just need to make an image for each "room" to describe where you are and attach them all for each level. This unfortunately is the most time consuming part. However, given there are no graphics to mess around with, this process will go much faster than most games and was my main reason for choosing this style of game.

When can we expect a demo?
If I do a demo it will be of level one prior to any of the other level options. Essentially, it will be almost the same as Murder Motel but single player. I probably won't release this as a demo, but instead send it to a few people for testing, then release the entire game upon completion. Given my busy schedule I'm not sure what release date can be expected.

Is this game going to be a failure like most?
No. I've set myself up to finish.

Have you ever finished a game before?
I've released two complete games and a 5 hour demo.
- Mrs. Kitty was made for a girlfriend and was quite glitchy. Rather than fixing it, I abandoned it because it wasn't really meant for the public.
- Panda Massacre was released for a competition here. I thought it was quite promising but the people demanded mouse-compatibility. I refused as it was only made for the competition and didn't win. Review as not bad though.
- I released a demo for Yoshi's Quest but pulled it and abandoned the project because of a dispute over the graphics I used. This is why I make my own graphics now. FYI, that would have been a kick ass game.
- Currently working on Stuck in a Dream, which will take a life-time at the rate I'm working on it, but it is by far my best work.

The difference with this game is I've put the practice in and am using all my skills. It runs very efficiently. In the old games I relied heavily on switches. I'm now very impressed with what I've learned and been able to do with variables and other aspects of the program.

Disclaimer
Not everyone will like this game. It's tailored to those that like the interactive fiction or adventure games. Those that like first shooters for the graphics of heads exploding probably won't get the same satisfaction out of a flamethrower when it's graphic is, "10 DAMAGE".

I read the story and falls in love with the game already! ​  Hope you can finish this soon.

I've never heard of the original, but this actually looks really really neat.  Can't wait to see this finished, bud!

Thanks guys. I'm really tired today and was planning on going to bed early but I guess I can get a little done on it. I should have a couple levels done by the end of August if I can work on it for at least a couple hours every Sunday, if no other time.

Evangel: I'm trying to keep with interactive story, letting the words describe the place. There won't be any pictures for the rooms. It is room-room movement, with random loot drops (with a set chance % for each kind of item). Here is how the battle system works:

WEAPON | DMG | DEFENSE AGAINST WEAPON

Banana Peel | 2 | Boots
Bow & Arrow | 3 | Wood Shield
Nail Gun | 5 | Wood Shield
Spray Can | 3 | Goggles
Paintball Gun | 5 | Goggles
Super Soaker | 7 | Rain Jacket
Hand Gun | 10 | Bullet Proof Vest
Flamethrower | 10 | none

If the defender has the defense against the weapon used on them, the attack is blocked 100% of the time.
An example of how a battle works (its very simple):

Say the player has a Nail Gun and a Hand Gun for weapons: Boots and Wood Shield for defense.
Enemy has a Banana Peel and a Paintball Gun for weapons: Wood Shield and Rain Jacket for defense.
First off, you don't know what the other guy has until you attack him.
Player always attacks first, but the turn plays right through both parties once an attack is made. It would look like this.

You attack with a Nail Gun.
Attack BLOCKED.
You attack with a Hand Gun.
10 DAMAGE

Enemy attacks with Banana Peel.
Attack BLOCKED.
Enemy attacks with Paintball Gun.
5 DAMAGE

The Enemy was knocked back.

At this point you can either start the next attack, use items to heal, or attempt to run away. You can also attempt to run away before attacking. When running away you have a 60% chance of succeeding. If you fail, the enemy will invoke 1-5 damage on you for each failed attempt. Items can be found to increase your chance of escape.

There is also always a chance the player or the enemy will miss with their attack. If this happens, that turn they do not attack with either one of their weapons. Items can be found to increase the enemies chances of missing, or the players chance of hitting.

The player can only carry up to two weapons and two defenses at any given time. Each level has its own advantages and disadvantages for each weapon and defense that the player will have to figure out, but there will be no combination that is 100% full proof in any level. The battles are random encounter with many different kinds of enemies and once in a battle, you can't switch weapons or defenses. If you can't cause damage to the enemy, you're forced to attempt to flee.

A good combination might be a Nail Gun and a Hand Gun with Wood Shield and Goggles as defense. But you could run into an enemy that has a Wood Shield and Bullet Proof Vest for defense, and a Super Soaker and Hand Gun for attack.

In harder levels enemies have more HP, can sometimes heal, and the bosses can carry more than two defense and are more likely to be equipped with something like the Flamethrower, which can not be found with random loot but instead must be sought out in the levels.

That should be a pretty good run down of the battle system.

EDIT: Tease screenshot...

Interesting game! I wanna try it out!

Evangel: I'm specifically avoiding that. However, if I change my mind, it'll be a piece of cake to add in a view generic backgrounds to the chipset and spread em' around.

Supreme Warrior: Thanks! It's coming along nicely.

A couple quick updates:
- I've decided to make this game more mission based than battle based. Originally it was just going to be a battle for the most kills/highest score. Now that will be second hand, with up to four missions per level to complete.
- With this there will be different challenges to open up new levels. As well as an Overall Stats screen showing your combined kills, deaths, and score for every level.

RM2k3 my friend.

I thought the screenshots spoke for themselves.