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Hi there super duper awesome profile viewer! My name is Tabitha. I am a 22 year old college graduate with a passion for one thing above all else: story-telling. No matter the media, story-telling is my love, and I think I'm pretty decent at it. Currently I'm working to finish editing my first completed novel, and I'm also the head designer and lead writer over at Machines in Motion, a startup indie game developer! We're currently creating an awesome procedurally generated horror game called "The Kingsport Cases"! It's awesome! Thanks for checking out my mediocre profile. Have a great day!
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When I woke up this morning I couldn't believe what I saw. Like usual I checked my email, mocked spam in my before-my-morning-coffee voice, and eventually went to our site host for The Kingsport Cases to check on our traffic. I couldn't believe how big the numbers were, and a quick look at where the traffic came from revealed a strange thing:
Traffic was coming from PC Gamer. That huge, monumental, hundreds of thousands of hits per day publication.
I haven't been in the indie business for very long at all. I mean, I still have a day job! But seeing our game mentioned in a press that big is one of the most motivating things I think I've ever seen. With that said, it's time for me to go work on Kingsport some more. After all, our demo is out in a few weeks!
Give our mention in PC Gamer a look if you're interested, and thanks for viewing. :)
PC Gamer Article: The Kingsport Cases procedurally generated horror mysteries, demo on the way
And here's our demo teaser trailer, if you're interested:
Hey all! Super happy to announce that today, The Kingsport Cases official website launched! We here at Machines in Motion have spent a lot of time on the game, and it's great to finally have a good looking site up.
On the site are new teasers, promises of two dev blogs and vlogs a week discussing the procedurally generated aspects of our survival horror game, and an image still from one of the more creepy aspects of our...work in progress.
Check it out if you don't mind!
Horror games are touchy things. You play them over and over again, showing the title off to your friends--each friend--until at least everyone has screamed once. But then the game becomes stale. You know the patrols of the monster, memorized where all the key items are, and understand that when you turn this corner a beast is going to assail you and then poof away as a hint to your character's insanity. At some point, the horror bleeds out--it isn't suspenseful anymore. What's the answer to this problem?
Randomization, or: procedural generation.
Now many games out there have randomized monster spawns, patrols, or frightening events, and they've all done a good job of it so far. But somehow, even those games lose their fear factor after a while; each time you play you lose stake in the setting, the creepy atmosphere, and above all: the story. Machines in Motion's recent development The Kingsport Cases is attempting to procedurally generate not just the maps and monsters, but the story too, thus making every playthrough uniquely frightening. In the next few developer blogs, I'm going to illustrate the concepts behind randomizing the story, and how we hope these ideas will keep players on their toes, no matter how many times they've played our game.
It all starts with the story. The story is what holds the setting, suspense, and atmosphere together. Let's look at the key elements story has in our game (and though the chart is very cute, please be assured our game is going to be rather frightening. There's a reason I'm not the artist):
The five key elements of story in our game are:
- Character Roles: Which characters are allowed and what they do.
- Conversation: Dynamic conversation which reveals plot and knowledge, and brings characters to life.
- Knowledge & Clues: Hints at the overall story and how to change the outcome.
- Recurrence: It's The Kingsport CaseS , not Case. More on this later.
- Plot: What is happening, and where is it happening?
The first four elements will get their own blog posts, but for now I want to talk about Plot, because not only is it the most simple aspect, it is the skeleton of the story for which all other pieces are the meat. The Plot is simple and will be the most static and scripted part of the story. Without this solid ground to stand on, nothing else can be accomplished; however, there will be several different plots and storylines in our final product.
So, when our game decides to pick a plot, these are the things it works through:
- What is the plot? Cult-themed? Zombies? Rats in the Walls?
- What enemies, character roles, and clues can be in this plotline?
- There is a LARGE list of each of these, and the game chooses which ones can be in the plot, then from there randomly selects from the smaller list.
- What is the state of Dread? How much time does the player have to discover and stop the problem?
- What locale will the game be in? Forest? Manor? Lakeside Villa?
- Places clues, characters, and randomly generates map.
There it is, in its simplest form. While the Plot is the least randomized aspect of our game, procedurally generated maps, character roles, and the like can twist, morph, and complicate even the simplest plot a great deal. This aspect is merely the ground for a great game to stand on, and we hope you'll check it out when it's finished! Thank you for reading this post! Part 2 will be coming soon!
As always, for more information on us and our game check out our website:
Kingsportcases.blogspot.com
Delivering the concept of a game project through writing is essential when trying to convey your ideas to gamers, testers, or even funders with whom you can't communicate in person. Proud to say Machines in Motion's in-development title, "The Kingsport Cases" now has some decently functional concept flavor text!
If any of you out there have interest in the project, take a peek at our (in development) website:
You are the detective...
You arrive late at night to the port town manor at the behest of a friend who says a darkness is afoot. Inside a party drawls on; the ale and mulled wine is flowing freely, but though the cheer is palpable you glance a pair of narrowed shifting eyes in the gathering. You move to ask him a few questions but a waiter obscures your view in a clumsy display of servitude. When he passes, shifty eyes is gone, and a horrible wail from the depths of the manor fills the room and silences all. No one moves. No one speaks. It is obvious your friend was right. And what can a good detective do but investigate further...?
A spin on the horror game genre...
The Kingsport Cases is a horror game all about, well, horror. It's about being afraid to play, see what happens in play, and stare frightened into the dark corners of your home after play. The game will weave constantly changing, terrifying storylines based on player interaction, exploration, and survival based gameplay in a procedurally generated, all new one of a kind universe each playthrough. It's the type of fear you can never get used to.
A twist on how stories are told...
Our game is all about the player, not about the character they play. Are you quick-thinking enough to solve this case? Do you like that shifty looking waitress in the corner? Social Horror adapts to your style of play, whether your one mission is to find all the clues and solve the case or chat up the handsome chap at the bar to get a free drink. Whether you pursue it or not though, the story moves on, and all the characters have their own goals to attend to...It's up to you how you engage with the constantly changing universe and survive the calamities sure to come.
A change of pace for gamers everywhere...
Ever loved a horror game so much you played it constantly and now you aren't frightened of it anymore? We understand. That's why our promise is to deliver fresh, procedurally generated content every time you start up a new game. That means new maps, new characters, and new storylines each time you play! Experience great fright, gameplay, and replay value at an unending rate.
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