Grave Prosperity: Redux

Alright, a good amount of progress has been getting made on the making of Part 2! Here is a clip from the intro showing how Amber's sister Miki finds herself in Prosperity. Anyone who has played through the first episode may notice a trend of appearances and/or references to famous Youtubers. I thought it was a sort of fun and silly addition, so in each episode there will be something relating to some of my favorite channels that do LPs!

Who knows? Maybe she did leave the Grumps playing while she went out of town? People do weird things all the time haha.. I am suprised that the audio was loud for you though. I actually had it turned down pretty low compared to other videos from Part 1. That whole audio bit was meant to be a sort of an easter egg anyway, so for anyone who doesn't know who was being referenced there, it is going to seem out of place. Much like the Markiplier Cheezits poster in Part 1. It looks totally out of place, and rightly so, as it is an easter egg and meant to be silly.

Anyway, as far as the EXP system goes, yes they will transfer over to the next parts that are released. That would just be straight up bad game design if they didn't. And the difficulty will remain the same for Amber. The game will do absolutely no hand holding and difficulty will be based around skill. The better you become, the easier the game will feel. However, the combat system that you have become familiar with will not be same one that Miki uses in Part 2. She will not just be a re-skinned version of her sister, so everything from her combat system to her menu screen will be very different. Even the attitude to approach the enemies with will be different. In short, Amber is a seasoned badass, Miki is not. Plus Miki deals primarily with firearms instead of bladed weapons. So expect more of a classic Resident Evil sort of feel from Miki's scenerios.

Actually, scratch that last statement there. Miki's scenario will be much closer to Parasite Eve 2, for anyone familiar with those old titles. Which is also a hint toward future game mechanics. In fact, while I'm on this subject I may as well toss out some interesting points of interest on the origins of the game.

Grave Prosperity originally started out as a Parasite Eve fan game back in 2007 on the RPG Maker. I was such a huge fan of the series that I wanted to continue the story where Parasite Eve 2 left off. Amber Ridge was originally going to be young Eve all grown up (Yes, she was a blonde in her first concepts). But as time went on, the story began to evolve into its own thing and Eve became Amber and then Miki was developed as a part of the new story. The city of Prosperity was going to be a deserted town similar to the Dry Field in PE 2 as well.

As the years went on and the story grew, Grave Prosperity eventually came out of the whole thing. Some of Amber's history in Redux is based off my own, Gabriel's character pretty much is me (Hell, I even voice his character) and the leading source of power (and evil) in the story is also an idea influenced by my own past experiences. It's kind of funny that I'm divulging all this info all of a sudden. I just got home from work, and for some reason it just felt like good timing.

Anyway, there's some fun little facts surrounding Grave Prosperity!

Oh trust me, I play test every aspect of the game many many times as it is being developed. Which is why I know the difficulty is fine where it is. As you level up your strength and find new weapons, the enemies hp will not be a concearn. You have to remember that your character is encountering these creatures for the first time, and Amber really isn't a physically strong person in general. She isn't even 120lbs. But the more you level up, the stronger she'll get and the more the monster's hp will make sense. Plus once you get ahold of guns and your powers, things will really start to fall in place.

I have played all the way through episode 1 more than 20 times using both the gamepad and the keyboard just to make sure that every action and every interactable object works properly. That being said, there are still glitches that pop up on different computers that i cannot duplicate on my own computer. So no matter how much play testing I do, there will always be those random freak bugs that will occur on different systems from time to time. Kinda like the hp being depleted when it wasn't supposed to be.

Enemy difficulty and spamming attacks are actually random. the teleportation move the Scavenger uses is set to a randomly generated variable, same with the Dweller's attacks and the Berserker's dash attack. This means that they could potentially use their specials 5 times in a row, or not at all during an encounter. I won't change that though, as that is what keeps the fight organic and unpredictable. Nothing ruins a fighting game worse than having enemies with a patern. Once you figure it out the fight may as well be over. Plus I taylor my games to myself. Personally I could care less how many people like it or not. Not to sound like an ass, but I won't make a game that doesn't appeal to me. As a lone developer, I will have the most time with the game and if I don't like what I am working on then I will not put the passion my work deserves into it. I know the game isn't that difficult because I know that I can run through it without taking any damage at all. And if I can do it then many other gamers out there can pick up the system as well. It is probably a poor sales approach to say that I don't care about the gamer's issues with the difficulty, but then again I am not a sales man. I am a developer, and I am not even really doing this for the money, I am doing it out of the love for making video games. I just happen to be making money while doing it.

The points I made are true for myself, but maybe not for everyone else out there. I mean, most gamers don't like to pick up a game and immediately get ninja kicked in the teeth as soon as it starts. As for me, however, I enjoy games like that. The beginning village scene from RE4, pretty much every second of Ninja Gaiden... Those kinds of games really appeal to me as a gamer, and that is the sort of experience I am trying to give with Grave Prosperity. But then of course that is also why I made that combat demonstration video also. At first the game does seem pretty insanely hard! But that video shows the skill that practice can bring. It shows how rewardingly easy and fun to play the game can be if you really learn the system.

On your second point, yes, the previously visited locations will still be open to exploration in the future episodes. In fact, The very minimal parts of the town that Amber got to explore in Part 1 will be greatly expanded upon in Miki's scenario.

Don't sweat the combat though. Practice makes perfect, and I've had a lot of practice since I am the only game tester I've got! The first time I fought the Scavengers after creating them I got my ass kicked numerous times! I was thinking to myself, "What the hell have I created??!!"

I'm not sure what the Ys games are. I would like to check it out though.

The AI was pretty easy for this game. Since the characters move freely on the map instead of just left and right, I put an invisible arrow at the feet of each enemy that is programmed to point at Amber's collision detector at all times, and the enemy will move in whatever direction the arrow is pointed. There is also an invisible attack range box at the feet of each enemy as well, and if Amber's collision box overlaps that box the enemy will attack. And then there's the special attacks that are set to a randomly generated variable. As long as the enemy is not in mid attack animation, or mid damage or death animation, they can use their special attack if the variable warrants it.

I wish I had even a vague idea of when Part 2 will be ready, but I really don't. It is certainly already much more visually appealing than Part 1 was, as lots of work is going into the environment. Miki will be outside in the rain a lot of the time, so I'm getting to play with particle effects a lot more in this episode, and they are looking very impressive without affecting performance. This game will cover Amber, Miki and Gabriel. Gabriel will be more of a side character, but depending on how everything turns out after the entire game is complete, I may release a DLC where you play through Gabriel's story and learn about what he was doing while Amber and Miki were doing their thing.

I haven't seen your post. Send a link and I'll check it out. I'm so busy with the project that I only get online to check on the pages I've posted the game on.

Here is a gif of the rain system for Part 2. It's too bad the gif file is too small to see the splashes of water bouncing up off from Miki and her environment very well.

But yeah, things like walking through puddles, running, dodging, will all send water splashing up from under your character. I thought it was a kind of neat extra visual effect to have. Plus it makes the backgrounds seem a bit less static and boring.

She has a pretty good sized box, but I made it purposely so that the enemies have slightly better reach than amber so that you could not just spam attacks and keep the monsters at a distance that would not allow them to attack. This way Amber is always within attack range and the player is forced to use strategy opposed to just button mash.

Yup, the little white dots are the splashes. I kept them at only 2 pixels big so that I could use a lot of them. Same with the rain, the drops are a single line that is only a pixel wide. The fire from Part 1 was a pretty large sized graphic, so I think that really helped cause the lag. It was a break in the action though, so I don't mind it too much. With the rain being so small I haven't had any issues with performance so far.

That's right, I remember seeing your game before. I was always terrible at the Metroid games, as they were the classic Nintendo fair of fake walls and impossible to figure out without a walkthrough or 100's of hours kinds of stages. It definitely has the look and feel of the Metroid games though. I might put in small tutorials for the doors that need to be shot with rockets to open. Even though it may seem obvious to someone who has played the old Metroids in the past (As there is a rocket pickup and a door and nothing else to really do but use the new item on the door), today's gamers will probably not be so quick to pick up on that cue. It does go against the spirit of classic Metroid, but it could serve the game well for modern gamers.

On the note of it not getting much love because of its art style, I don't believe people really care much about that at all. I've seen tons of games here, on Steam, and pretty much everywhere else on the net that look and play like they were ripped right out of the 1980's, and people dig them WAY more than even my game, with its solid controls, full CG cutscenes, an ACTUAL story, professional voice actresses and advanced 2.5D graphic style. What I'm saying is I think if you market your game right, people will be all over it. There is still a HUGE fanbase for the old-school Metroid. You just may not be reaching them.

People don't want overly complicated, or "too difficult." They want simple and fun. That's it. The vast majority of gamers today are lazy impatient kids who do not want to take the time to read or figure things out for themselves. They want to be spoon-fed a linear experience that has as few roadblocks or deaths to impede their progress as possible, and tons of checkpoints. "True gamers" still exist, but they are hard to find even in the Indie Market. You'll find more hipsters in this market, who like to claim they know true gaming. Until they rage-quit and prove themselves wrong.

Stick it out. It can be slightly infuriating at times, but the only one who can stop you from making something great is yourself. That's the true beauty of the Indie Market.

1. Yeah, gotta get right there in line with the monsters. There is a little offset, but not too terribly much for it to not make sense.

2. That's crazy about the lag. I don't have a super computer by any means, (In fact it's quite dated- 2010) but the minor lag I do get from the fire only lasts while the fire is present. I've been noticing different behaviors on different computers too though. Very strange..

3. Wellp... That link just says all that needs to be said. Thank God I was born before the 90's set in..

4. I guess I am too laid back to really see quality by genre. To me genre steriotypes are a lot like racial steriotypes. Sure they were put in place for a reason, but you can't just go through life judging all books by their covers. We're in the year 2015, and dismissing a people or genre because they resemble something negative from long ago is just a foolish way of living. That's how people miss out on some of the best things in life.

Personally I loved the Dead Space games and all the Resident Evils. Maybe it's because I approached them as a game, and not as a "horror" game. I step into those worlds with one expectation- to have fun. With people placing labels on everything these days and getting all butt hurt when something isn't tailored to their exact specifications, the world has become a jaded and very self centered place. I liked the jump scares of DS and RE and I liked the action packed shootouts as well. They are games. I come, I see, I conquer, I have fun. That's it.

My game is no different. It's going to have plenty of dark and disturbing themes in it, some jumpscares here and there, and some all out balls to the walls action as well. I didn't grow up in Burger King like many of these over privileged, self serving kids do today. My parents' motto for me wasn't "Have it your way." It was more like, "Accept what your given and be grateful you got it. And if you don't like it, make it yourself."

5. Oh yeah, horror has been used up to the eyeballs with SO many different stories. You have to think, people have been telling ghost stories forever. Horror is probably the oldest genre, right alongside romance. Fear and love are right there with the most basic and first discovered Human emotions. It's what we've built our entire world around. But luckily, through context, the same story can be told millions of different ways. Every genre does this. People just like to give horror the finger more because they've been desensitized to it, and they believe it is now flawed. The reality is that horror has not changed, we have as a people.

6. That was my whole point about the games looking like they came right out of the 80's and still getting more love than a sharp, pre-rendered game. Yours fits in perfectly right there with the flavor of the month. It has that retro look and feel, and people are gonna love that.

Here is an in-game screenshot from Grave Prosperity: Redux- Part 2! This is showing the new rain effects used as you play through Miki's (Amber sister) part of the story. Rain will splash up off from backgrounds and Miki herself as she explores the streets of Prosperity. As you can see in the image, firearms will finally be introduced in Part 2 as well.

CHECK IT OUT!!

Great news, everybody! Grave Prosperity: Redux has been given the opportunity to go to E3! For all of you out there following this game, please show your support by nominating this game here:

http://indiescrashe3.com/nomination/116 ... FDAF806439

Grave Prosperity: Redux part 1 is now available on Steam!! Wow, it's been a long time coming, but it is finally up! Now back to the grind stone on Part 2!

I just watched a JimSterling vid on youtube about this game. Was good to watch and he didnt say too many negative things about it unlike many unity games that he just rips apart. I think its great that you actually got on steam and made a full game, quite an achievement!

Yeah I'd say he actually wasn't that bad, especially not after reading all the comments his fans left on the video. I always forget just how messed up the comments section of Youtube can get.

After seeing what gamers had to say after playing Grave Prosperity: Redux I have come out with a patch that should address the main issues!

Changelog for Version 1.01

*Fixed spelling errors

*Added sprint function at the start of game

*Changed Amber's innitial walk cycle

*Added machete idle animation

*Changed Amber's Pause Menu avatar

*Added Easy Mode (Halves enemy HP and damage dealt by enemies)

*Added Normal Mode (Default difficulty)

*Added Hard Mode (Doubles enemy HP and damage dealt by enemies)

*Added Fullscreen option

*Fixed bathroom bug for the first aid kit

Thank you all for your feedback! It is always welcome and can go a long ways toward bettering this project!