Phantom Hysteria Dev Update #6
Hello, Investigators! We’re excited to bring you another update!
Spooky month has come and gone, and the team at Lunar Tale Games has made incredible strides in the game across the board. Animations, gameplay, and so much more; we all program down here.
Trailer and Gameplay Featurette
Our goal for October was to further build the game to the point that we could show some gameplay off. We did just that; not only releasing our Alpha Trailer but including a gameplay featurette featuring aspects of the game that were ready for the audience's eyes. You’ll find an original song, new additions to Phantom Hysteria’s equipment, and the reveal of our first phantom…
These trailers launched alongside a podcast with the game’s lead developers, available as a VOD here: Twitch.tv
Keep track of our future updates and events on our discord: Discord.gg
Equipment
We debuted two major editions to the P.I.N.E team’s equipment during investigation and banishment: the Electro-Magnetic Field Gun and the Holy Shotgun!
EMFG
“Sometimes, the best solutions are the simplest. I’ve stocked our armory with 12-gauge shells, loaded with as much rock-salt your guns can safely eject. Phantoms hate the stuff; as anyone on the receiving end would, I’m sure.”- Nate Blanc, Head Engineer
Players will buy ammo for these weapons at P.I.N.E HQ, using them across multiple phases of haunts to fend off the phantoms. Use your ammo wisely--you will only have so much of it in the fight against the undead. Adding this equipment is one of our biggest steps in making Phantom Hysteria a game of its own; making high octane hunting gameplay one of the core pillars of this game.
HOLY SHOTGUN
“Sometimes, the best solutions are the simplest. I’ve stocked our armory with 12-gauge shells, loaded with as much rock-salt your guns can safely eject. Phantoms hate the stuff; as anyone on the receiving end would, I’m sure.”- Nate Blanc, Head Engineer
Players will buy ammo for these weapons at P.I.N.E HQ, using them across multiple phases of haunts to fend off the phantoms. Use your ammo wisely--you will only have so much of it in the fight against the undead. Adding this equipment is one of our biggest steps in making Phantom Hysteria a game of its own; making high octane hunting gameplay one of the core pillars of this game.
Phantom Classification System
Just because you’ll be armed for combat doesn’t mean these phantoms are easy prey. Phantoms emerge during haunts with an array of abilities and behaviors, claiming their domains with savage fury or cunning precision. Members of P.I.N.E have created a system of defining these various phantom types: the Phantom Classification System. Listed based on their powers and behaviors, agents of P.I.N.E will be required to determine what phantom type they are in order to properly banish them. The phantoms you face will manifest in different ways every time you face them, forcing you to adapt to their new style of play.
P.I.N.E has discovered phantom types with levels up to 5, each level being more dangerous and powerful than the next. The Imp is a Level 1 phantom, a trickster and unpredictable spirit. You can expect them to throw items more often, especially at you, and maybe harder to pin down than other phantom types. A Grue is a Level 2 phantom that fights harder in the dark, preying on your fear in more predictable but dangerous ways.
Should you ever encounter a Lich, a Level 4, you are in for a challenge; they will do everything they can to separate you from your team and form vendettas against you. Phantom types are a critical point in how our enemy AI behaves as players experience the game, and more details will be revealed on the PCS in the future.
Models and Animation
Our Halloween presentation was perfect to reveal our first phantom and character mode: Morrigan Payne and Michael Evans!
Voiced by the great The Geeks of Retro, Michael Evans is the first playable character we’ve rendered in-game. The CEO of P.I.N.E, and manchild supernatural enthusiast, Michael found fame and fortune through P.I.N.Es social media presence and supernatural contract work. Up until now, he and his team have been exorcising phantoms relatively easily; but with the arrival of Morrigan Payne, Michael has only just begun to realize how little he has learned about the supernatural.
Our first phantom, Morrigan Payne, has an intense long history with the living. Born to a collective of Welsh-Pagan in the 1600s, her people settled in the Appalachians to escape persecution. Known then as Bronwyn Craddock, she grew up to be an incredible faith healer and an inspiring storyteller. When Yellow Fever struck the Colonies, victims begged Bronwyn for healing; and soon after, witch hunters arrived to destroy her settlement and hang Bronwyn for her ‘witchcraft.’ But something happened as she hung from that tree. Something that destroyed her, remade her. When she fell from the tree, she was someone else. Something else. And America still pays dearly for what had been done to Morrigan Payne. Mx.iTerra voices Morrigan with astonishing gasps and groans, reflecting her neck trauma in gruesome detail.
Our animation team has created terrifying sequences that not only reveal Morrigan’s savage nature but show how careful you should be when in a room with her. More phantoms, characters, and animations are soon to follow during our development.
Music
Our lead programmer, voice director, and lead sound designer revealed some of our original music, the single On My Own, alongside our trailers. The dirge-like metal sound matched perfectly with the phantom Morrigan stalking the player throughout the Antebellum household and is something the three of them worked tirelessly towards over this October. It is available on Youtube and Itunes, and soon available on Spotify!
On My Own (feat. Mx.iTerra & Rin.GK)
As our work develops, and more members of the team contribute their talent, we will see this game grow in ways we couldn’t have possibly anticipated. None of this could have been possible without the support of our community and their dedication to this project. We project Phantom Hysteria to release in Q2 of 2022 with four phantoms, four playable characters, four maps, and four phantom types; with more released through updates following launch.
Thank you for your continued support, and we’ll see you in our next monthly update!.
- Lunar Tale Games
