Shutter - [Puzzle Horror]

Hey, thought I'd share the game I've been working on over two years, would love any type of feedback.

• Passive game, set in a single house
• Setup: You are doing remote surveillance for a security company in an old cabin
• Upload photographs, get new camera upgrades
• Fixed camera angles like classic survival horror games
• Use visual/audio cues to take pictures of.....something....not zombies.
• In development since March 2012 (concept work started Aug 2011)

Heres a quick teaser:

 

This looks cool, even though the video was very short.

 

playing as a little drone mixed with horror is a brilliant idea i love it!.
just a suggestion with the camera to add in camera effects such as pixelation camera distortions etc.

 

I wish I had an imagination like that.

 

wow, thank you so much for all the kinds words!

That's a great idea. Were hoping to have the player slowly chip away at the different layers of the ghost with each camera upgrade. Having some distortion effects when near the ghost would be easy enough to do. Thanks!

 

is this a ghost mystery?

 

Ya, sort of. There's this on-going narrative between the player and his boss, where you are uploading pictures of ghosts, and he's not really convinced. There's also notes hidden around the house, that reveal the backstory of the ghosts themselves, and why exactly they are haunting this cabin.

We've had many different story ideas over time, yet nothing concrete has really been laid out, as the game design itself keeps evolving. Story is something important to us though, and we really want a good ending for it.

BTW I really liked that thread you made about "what every unity newb should know." This is my first Unity project, I still feel like a huge newb.

 

Heres a downloadable build:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8085911/Downloadable/Shutter - Jun24.rar

 

I'm downloading it now. Thanks. I had a lot of trouble in the first month, it was like trudging uphill through mud.

You get used to the controls fast. I had some issues not being able to see well with the camera, there were black lines across everything. Not being able to aim up above a certain angle, I honestly expected to be able to look higher up.

 

Thanks so much for checking it out, and for the constructive criticism. The camera is easy enough to fix. I've been experimenting with discouraging the player from going into 1st person view too much. At one point we had a rechargeable battery that would drain from too much 1st person camera use. Perhaps ill simply keep the 1st person camera in black and white, instead of the scanlines effect.

 

Cool. Let me know if you want me to check it out later on, just for some random feedback?

 

Wow, your game's atmophere is very creeepy and soo brilliant! Nice job man!.
I'm impressed, two years in the same project, my patience always run out after a couple of months( or weeks).

CONGRATULATIONS! I'll be checking your project!
I hope you can finish your project. Good luck.

 

Thanks man! Appreciate all that. Every time I would get stuck, I would just start the whole thing from scratch again. I'll def be finishing this, too much momentum now.

 

I love the environment you've created, looks really creepy and that is cool I'm definitively going to take the demo for a spin!

One question: did you tried putting a fisheye lens on the robot's camera? That is one thing that might work out pretty well. Great work on this. Do you want some feedback after a proper gameplay session?

 

Hey, thanks for checking it out, I would love some feedback! Actually the fisheye effect on the RC vehicle is already in there, was thinking the same thing as you. Once you get a camera upgrade in the game, it gets rid of that effect. The idea being that you are slowly chipping away at the layers of the game, revealing more and more of the ghost.

Eventually you get thermal vision, which unlocks even more hidden notes, etc.

 

Impressive demo! I really enjoyed playing it.
The idea of the game is really fresh and innovative. I think you pulled it off quite well. The lighting looks great and the controls feel smooth and easy to get used to.
I don't get scared easily in games but I can see how this game could really strike a scary chord. Lots of potential for a game like this and I think there would be a lot of people that are looking to play something like this.

I am new to the community but I feel like people need to check this game out. I am looking forward to seeing more.

 

Thank you, appreciate all that!

 

July 19 Update

Downloadable build: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8085911/Downloadable/Shutter - Jul19.rar

Updates:
- Added start screen
- Changed followGhost behaviour (can only see shadow for 6 seconds, every 12 seconds)
- Changed particle effect on ghost (orbs)
- Changed the way you open menus (Press E)
- Disabled RC Vehicle when using computer
- Changed controls and updated instructions
- Changed "security cam" filter on the RC vehicle to "black and white"
- Changes in progression of game (new starting point, new pictures needed in early stages)
- Rewrote some of the emails
- Tweaked rain setting (splashes when hits ground)
- Tweaked Flashlight settings
- Added sound to Calibration Test
- Added SFX when boss opens doors
- Moved around a couple cameras
- Fixed bug where cameras would quickly change when in First Person
- Centered frame when taking a picture
- Added cookie to flashlight

Needs work:
- Rain not dense enough (causes major frame rate issues when increasing particles)
- Buttons dont highlight when hovering over them (this was causing a bug)
- Flickering of certain objects in distance (hallway door, address, graffiti..this is a common Unity problem when using deferred lighting, with few solutions)


Probably going to do a web version and a gameplay video in the coming days

 

Ok heres the Web Player build:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8085911/Web/Shutter - July19WEB/Shutter - Jul19WEB.html

 

Put together a gameplay video:

 

Have a lot of free time in the next couple months, really excited to put some serious time into working on this game. Thinking of doing a small kickstarter ($5000) to help fund some promotional costs, new sound effects, and perhaps some legal costs.

Also thinking about doing a steam greenlight, though it seems smart to wait until the game is nearly finished, or even actually finished. What stage do you think is best to start the greenlight process?

Made an animated gif:

 

Big update this week, updated the first post with the newest build. Found a few new bugs, hoping to get it it cleaned up and new a build by next weekend.

Downloadable: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8085911/Downloadable/Shutter - BETA_1.7.1.rar

Major

· Battery meter: drains when in first person view, recharges when NOT in first person view
· Fixed bug where certain objects in distance were flickering
· Can look higher and lower when taking a photo (Raycasting on Y-axis)
· Added “jump scare” triggers


Minor

· Crows!
· Moved around cameras/triggers
· Updated training section
· Emails re-written
· New sound effects
· New textures
· Rocks and bushes added to courtyard
· New security cameras
· New ghost shader
· Renamed “R.C.T.V.” to “R.A.V.E.N. Shield”
· Added loading bar at start
· Moved placement of flashlight
· Increased flashlight intensity
· Turned off photography flashlight at game launch (bug)
· Removed “upload picture” button/window until you need it
· Removed trigger textures in training area
· Moved Photo viewing screen in training area, and made way bigger
· Added lights/cameras switch to training area
· New start screen
· Changed shader on graffiti so it receives shadows
· Upgrading camera now resets last picture taken

 

And some gifs:

 

Getting close to wrapping this game up, hopefully in the next few months. Still have a lot of work to do, but it's all coming together rather nicely. It's going to be a short game, probably less than an hour to finish it, so I'm still debating if it's even worth putting in a save system.

I'll be moving to Montreal in January, and will be mostly using this game as my "resume" to try and find a job in the game industry. Would love love love to work for Unity; will see what is available once I move there.

Have barely done any marketing, other than contacting a few website and being involved in various indiedev forums and screenshot saturdays. My plan is to wrap the game up, sit on it for a month to focus on a marketing blitz and steam greenlight, add any extra bit of polish, then launch.

Heres some new screenshots:

 

New playable build: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8085911/Downloadable/Shutter - BETA_1.7.9.4.rar
New screenshot:

 

Getting close to wrapping up this game, feels great! Everything seems to be coming together smoothly. Should have a clean final build by new years, then going to work on a new trailer. After that, will finally focus on Steam Greenlight.

Anyone else wait until they are finished the game before going up on Greenlight?

Heres a bunch of new screenshots:

 

Have most of the game completed! About to add in the save/load system...wish me luck! (Why did I wait so long to tackle this?!?)

 

Added in a rough draft of the main menu, was trying to get as much natural movement as possible (with the shadows, rain and the fog).

Now I just need to make that "load" button functional.

 

Adding some new animations today for the final sequence

Heres a bit of gameplay:

 

So close to launch! Just adding in a few more animations, and adding a bit of polish. Going to focus on Desurea and GOG before focusing on greenlight I think. Just want to get it into the hands of reviewers and lets players, so I can make any necessary changes ahead of the greenlight campaign.

Heres a .gif of the main menu:

 

Hey, wrote this little article about adding polish to a completed game. I put it up on my indiedb page, which has pushed me into the top 100 games list (for today)! Thats a great website.

Heres the link

 

Added in some new particle effects or our ghost, went with like a distortion look.