just discovered and love it so much. Nails the silent hill vibe, I like the puzzles even more! You were NOT messing around with hard mode though; I tried and had to start over… and I’m typically really good with puzzles. Regardless, I appreciate just how much you changed the game with the different difficulties!
PLEASE KEEP MAKING SURVIVAL HORROR. I will happily pay for anything else you make in a similar vein
I've been looking for a game like this for years, played many "silent-hill-like" games but none as this one...
You Sr... Sr. Hades, you are a genius, you started from scratch and made this master piece, I just wanna say you made me a huge fan of you just with this, and I wanted to let you know this, and tell you that I've seen what other people say, some harsh and some kind, but I wanted to contact you not just because of this, but because I wanted to tell you that you have my support, if I can help you in any way, just tell me.
I realized your game(s) have multiple languages, and I can translate into Spanish (it's not much, but at least I can do this) and If you need something, I can try it, I'll be cheering for you!
Hey thank You so much Lilith! It means a lot to hear that, I'm glad you enjoyed the demo and the project. I'll do my best with the final version and try not to disappoint. :D
And thank you for the offer, I'd definitely like to add Spanish as a possible language option. Right now the project is taking a hiatus a little bit but when we need Spanish localization, we'll keep you in consideration. Cheers!
Thanks for the consideration and when the time comes for me to do a translation (if you want) I'll try not to disappoint :D
It's a relief to hear that this amazing game still on the road for development, and I don't want to just lay there waiting asking "where's my game? When can I play the full version?" I wanna help and see this nightmare at full potential (no game ever made me pause the game to retake my breath because of the terror it gave but Silent Hill 1-2 and Resident evil 1... Until Terminus appeared ♡) so I'll check if you ever need me, as I said, I can try doing anything, I'll try to do my best, you'll be the judge, I won't complain if I'm not up for the task.
And I end up writing a bit too much again like a fan girl but I think I made myself clear hehe ^^;
Haha I don't mind long messages and I try to read/reply to all. :D
I'm flattered that Terminus evoked the same/similar emotion that the OG SH and RE gave (that's the biggest compliment I could get, so thank you) and I hope I'll be able to make a proper full game out of Terminus that will do the same. While we have a plan for Terminus, we don't have anything yet because we're currently taking a break from it. I sort of did make a concept for the beginning in my spare time but that's about it because I'm focusing on other projects I can finish a lot sooner (and that don't need as much work) so I'm just putting it out there that it may take a long long long time until Terminus is done and I hope people (and You) won't mind.
You really need to chill out with the death pits. It's enough that you have these white guys who run at you faster than any silent hill 1 enemy ever could and can disintegrate your health in no time at all and the fact that enemies spawn in areas you have already cleared and can move from room to room but then you insist on constantly putting the player next to these pits in every room so they can just shove you into the holes and kill you instantly if you ever try to run away or avoid them. There are so many rooms and areas in this that are just narrow walkways over bottomless pits or are full of holes. Furthermore the edge detection is crazy unforgiving compared to silent hills and it feels like the edge of the end of your shoe needs to merely be around the edge for it to put you into the wobbling animation where as in Silent Hill you had to be at least a half or quarter of the way over for it to count.
Sorry to hear that you don't like the pitfall mechanic, luckily for you the game already has a way of getting rid of them: switch to easy action difficulty; but if you want to play on your current difficulty without the pitfalls, you can use a cheat that disables them. :)
Heya, I know this is probably a very strange request, but I'm trying to teach myself how to use Unity and I was wondering if it would be at all possible to get a copy of the Unity project, just to tinker around with and take apart. Totally understandable if not, but I figured I'd ask!
Heyo! Unity engine is free to use (the standard edition, which has almost all the benefits that Pro version offers) so you're *free*to get it from their website whenever. :D You'd first have to get yourself UnityHub and through UnityHub you can download the latest version(s) you plan on using. After that is done, you create an empty project, select if you want it to be a 2D or 3D project and violá. Good luck.
Oooh, my bad. I prefer to not share my projects, sorry. (I shared my projects in the past and I didn't really like what people did with them, so...) I'm sure Unity/UnityHub has example projects you can mess around with though.
I returned to this game recently and was hoping to try out the Story Mode but I wasn't able to lol, so I just returned to the Battle Mode and explored more there.
(Sorry for my english, it's not my mother language)
I'm a big Silent Hill 1 lover. After beating it so many times, i started searching for mods or something that could make it a little different. I'm really glad that i found this game inspired on it, because it's really good! It really has the atmosphere that an horror game should have, as well as that uneasy feeling that makes you feel when you play it.
In horror games (and in general) i always pick the hardest difficulties. I like the challenge. And so i did in this game. But i can't say that i liked, because before i could encounter my first enemy i died because of falling in the pits. Frustrated, i changed both action and riddle difficulty to easy. I think the pit thing also happened in SH3, but there weren't so many and camera angles worked different in that game, so it didn't bother me. I must say that it's a shame, because dying because a monster hits too hard, because you weren't too careful or because you didn't heal when you had to is ok for me. But dying because i didn't see a pit in the dark and having to restart is not. It's just my opinion, but i'd love to experience the hard difficulty action without having to worry about pits in a game that i never thinked about it as a platformer when i saw it on youtube. Again, it's just my opinion and i hope that my feedback helps.
As for the puzzle in easy mode, i liked it. I liked that it doesn't give you the answer right away, like finding a paper with 3 numbers and there you go, enter the code. So i'm going to replay the game to see the normal/hard riddles!
Congratulations on making such a great demo and i really hope that the development of the game goes well! The best for you!
Thank you very much, it means a lot to hear that and I'll do my best with the full version if we get to it. I'm glad (and hope) you enjoyed the demo despite the pitfalls killing the fun.
Yes, I see some people expressing their dislike towards the pitfall mechanic but it is something I intend to have in the game. However, if you're falling in the pitfalls by yourself, that's an easy fix: When you enter the falling animation (when you step into the abyss) then don't press any buttons until the player brings himself back on his two feet. If you're falling by just triggering it yourself, then you must have pressed a forward/backwards button which will cause the player to fall fully into the abyss. (which gives you a game over) The player won't fall if you just stepped into the pitfall, he will fall if you push forward/backwards button while he's trying get himself back up OR if the enemy attacks you while he's trying to get back up. Normal action difficulty adds a buffer between the next pitfall trigger, so that you don't constantly walk into them. On Hard action difficulty, there is no buffer and you can trigger the pitfalls all the time anytime. I can agree that the camera is a little bit up-close and personal but that's because by default the camera is zoomed in so that the screen is flattened; and I can't move it away in some rooms due to physics/clipping. You can open the debug command and change the "field of view" yourself (I think the command is SetCameraFOV X where the X is a number from 30 to 120) but you will see that the more you zoom out, the more fisheye'd the game will look (hence why I used the default FOV). Also, there are times where the FOV will reset/change due to some c i n e m a t i c c a m e r a t h i n g y stuff, so... If you use the custom FOV, you'll have to enter the command again.
Sorry for a wordy reply. There's a small update planned (mainly the corrected Polish translation) but if you want, I can add a debug command that disables the pitfall mechanic for all difficulties... but at the cost of handicapping the rank/score entirely. Let me know. I hope you enjoy the rest of the demo and good luck with other riddle difficulties if you're planning on trying them out. (SB Gamers streamed the hard riddle difficulty which contains the explanations for the puzzles, so if you're stuck- you can use it as a walkthrough) Have a great rest of the day and happy new year! :D
P.S: Your English is perfect so don't worry about it lol. Cheers
The debug option for the pitfalls would be great! I'll try the hardest difficulties then!
And for the camera angles, they didn't bother me. The problem i had with them was related to the pits, but once i played on easy mode i didn't notice anything that would make me mad about it. Also, the default zoom was good to me. As i said, i played a lot of SH1 and a lot of it is replicated here, so this stuffs is fine for me. Maybe other players feedback would be better than mine here, hahaha.
Keep up the good work! And greetings from Argentina! :)
PS: If you need help with a translation from english to spanish, i'd be glad to help in my free time. Just let me know! ;)
What's interesting is Team Silent fully intended for players to fall into the pits when you were in the otherworld, but took them out last minute for whatever reason. Interestingly if one were to clip into the area of the pit one would die instantly in what would've been an instant death in the game. I, personally, like the inclusion of pit falls. It ads a level difficulty and encourages one to pay attention to their surroundings. It also gives one a sense of what Silent Hill 1 would've been like had they included the feature. Greatly looking forward to a full release of the game!
P.S. Would definitely like to some greater controller support on the full release.
Hello! I'm very excited to play this, but I'm having issues getting my gamepad to work correctly. Now, I will say, everything is "working", but the movements are off. Specifically my character movement. Seems the joysticks are switched up. I'm playing on playstation type pad. My D-Pad controls my 360 degree turns. My left joystick controls camera or look. The most confusing control however is my right joystick. Pushing up and down does nothing, but moving the stick left and right makes the player move forward and backward respectively. I'm able to move around and work everything, only it's entirely unintuitive to control in this manner. Anyone here know how to edit Xinput within the game?
Hey thank you! I can confirm that XInput gamepads should work correctly but I can't guarantee all models will function the same. I tested the game with Xbox controller and my colleague tested with PS4 controller (with the help of a plugin iirc) because DirectInput has some compatibility issues. (I have one of those bluetooth gamepads that are meant to be used with android devices, and it doesn't get recognized by the game)
At the moment there isn't a way to customize buttons except changing Types, but it doesn't affect things like movement and look. I'd like to make a customizable controls for sure, definitely for the full game. Sorry I can't help much but have you tried using any PS controller plugins?
Happy new year everyone! If anyone is interested in what content there is in hard riddle mode or if you need a walkthrough, you can join a stream on January 2nd. (unless it gets delayed) The streamer will be doing it mostly blind with me giving hints as we progress/go along; that way users who want to figure out some stuff themselves, they won't get spoiled.
The aesthetics of this, especially the sound design, are really well done but gameplay wise it feels like you took all the worst aspects of the series (particularly Silent Hill 3) and threw them in for some reason:
-Death pits. Just no. It's obnoxious as hell and does nothing but serve to irritate the player, especially when many of them seem to be intentionally obfuscated by the camera angles.
-Bizarre camera angles. Fixed camera and tank controls can work really well, but right now there are quite a few spots in the motel where items you can grab, enemies and pitfalls are difficult to see because of their positioning. There is also this weird tendency to have areas where you traverse a narrow walkway with the camera either very zoomed out so you can't make out where your protagonist is moving, or where the camera angle suddenly changes dramatically halfway across a narrow plank.
-Extremely high damaging enemies on Hard. Yes, I know, it's Hard difficulty for a reason, but having the flying enemies kill the player in 2-3 hits when it takes multiple energy drinks to recover that lost health is silly.
EDIT: Got stuck at the clock puzzle. I have 3 notes which highlight the numbers 43-23-32. I see you stated in another comment that this requires knowledge of cryptography - I think it's an extremely bad idea to expect esoteric outside knowledge from the player when approaching a puzzle, just like with the infamous Shakespeare puzzle in SH3. I have no idea even with a basic understanding of what cryptography is how you are supposed to approach this. You have 3 numbers, seemingly with no relation to each other whatsoever, in a sea of equally unrelated numbers, and from this you are supposed to determine which clock hand to manipulate and what value to set it to. At first I thought it was simply the position of the highlighted number in the text document, which gives a solution roughly around 6:35:35, but this wasn't the case. The other solution I thought of was that the numbers are directly indicating clock hand position, since a clock face goes from 1-60, and the numbers are analogous to Second-Minute-Hand based on which values are higher than the others, for example: 23=Second because it's the lowest, then 32 for Minute, and lastly 43 for hour, which gives us the solution of 8:23:32, but this also was not it. I'm at a total loss as to what else you could expect the player to think here.
There's also a padlock with a 3 letter code, which I have found absolutely nothing relevant for at all, and a book that talks about POW's during the Vietnam War using a system of tapping on the ceiling and pipes to communicate...which also doesn't seem to be relevant to anything at all.
Thank you for your input. Sorry you're not liking the design choices. The camera is zoomed in for a few reasons but there is a debug command to zoom out; You're free to use it, but there are times where it'll reset so you'll have to input it again sometimes. The pitfalls are disabled on Easy action difficulty if they make the game annoying, as well as make enemies not KO you that fast.
As for the hard riddle, you misunderstood: cryptology is a study that deals with decrypting/solving codes, and the two hints the hard riddle gives you are SUPER important. The game gives you two massive hints on what method you need to look for (you're absolutely free to use google for this one). The hard riddle is meant to be like some puzzles in Siren with the intent of people sharing their solutions/hints/ideas online. They don't have to, but it's welcome. Those 3 little messages tell you which hand to use and where, you just need to decode the message. People who are familiar with the method should recognize it after at least one of the hints. (one literally spells out the name of the method) I'm sorry if you don't agree with it. The player who started hard riddle mode will finish it some time soon, so if you're still interested you can check it out later. I'll post a link here a day before the stream so that whoever wants to see what hard riddle is like, they can know in advance. Merry Christmas (if you celebrate) and have a good one.
I'm confused - your saying the notes with numbers on them are a code, and once you understand it you can find a hint in the highlighted number? How does a player with no previous experience in this cypher method decode it?
Edit: So after some googling, I learned about something called the Polybius cypher, which essentially assigns double digit numbers from 1-5 to letters in a system like 11=A, 12=B, 21=F etc. I decoded one message using that cypher to be "five Matthew", which obviously means minute hand at 5. Sorry if I come across like a highly critical ass here, but my point about puzzles not requiring outside knowledge is that outside of someone who has studied Cryptology before and actually heard of this cypher, there is no way I can fathom a player approaching, understanding and solving this puzzle. It's not so much a solution to work out as it is just a knowledge test - if you know this method, it's easy, if you don't, it's impossible. It would be like presenting a puzzle that consists of 5x5 to someone who has never heard of multiplication, they would have no idea what to do. If other comments here hadn't eluded to cryptology, I could have stared at those notes forever and never understood them, simply because there is nothing about a series of double digit numbers that makes my brain go "wait, what if 13 means C?"
Congratz on figuring out the puzzle. You're about to face another puzzle but that one won't require outside knowledge... still, it will be very cryptic; Imagine piano puzzle v2.0 from SH1. I'm aware that this riddle difficulty will be unfriendly for players that don't know these specific methods/riddles but I still want this difficulty to contain riddles which require thinking outside the box. (meaning: hints are in the game but the solution requires outside knowledge or looking it up on the net if there's no one who shared their knowledge) Also that polybius cypher is called smitty tap code, and the name for it is in room 24.(or whichever room with the plush it is)
I appreciate your input and criticism. I will take it into account when/if making riddles for the full game. I am aware that not everyone will agree or like it, but this is how I'd like to make this game. (and if it's too difficult for players, the option to change difficulty levels will always be there; albeit with less extra content on easier difficulties)
I just tried this masterpiece, you did a great job guys, this project really deserves a lot, I hope you add the Italian language, I would love to complete the full game :)
Great, the multilinguage system is a great thing, I have a question to ask, are you going to release it on some console in the future when you complete the game ??? It would be nice to see it on Dreamcast and PSX or maybe on smartphones, I'd pay $50 for a game like this. One advice I could give you is to create an initial intro in the game, maybe a video explaining what happened and why the player is in that place. Congratulations again for the work done, keep it up!
Thanks and if the full game is made, I definitely would like to port it to consoles... however I don't think it's possible to port to Dreamcast and PSX. Even if conversion is possible, I think the game isn't optimized enough despite the PS1 graphics.
Oh, we're 100% having an intro (we already have a mini plan for it) but at the moment we barely have any skill in 3D modelling so we are leaving it for the full version. :)
Too bad it's not released for PSX, in any case an alternative would be to release it on the Steam platform, I can't wait to watch more updates of this project!
That sounds great! If you want to get some help in doing that, I'm up for it :) I already translated games in the past and I'm also a Silent Hill expert (I'm currently covering italian in depth lore runs of this saga) and I would love to stream this and show it to the italian community :)
As I tried this horror game myself and being a Silent Hill fan for years, I can just express myself that I'm amazed of this indie game that completely revives my childhood and the scariest experiences from SH1. What matter into a videogame is not the graphics, but the gameplay, the atmosphere and the sound effects. And you completely surpassed my expections! I like how faithful is the design of the game (cameras, gameplay, riddles, menus and everything), for being a fan Silent Hill based game. I completely hope this project will be a full game release, even a commercial one to buy for all kind of consoles or steam at least. It's a game that I would buy with my eyes closed, no questions. Please don't ever interrupt the idea to develop a full game of this. Keep up the good work!
Thank you so so much :D I'm happy this project brought back good memories and that you enjoyed it, means a lot to hear that! I would like to make a full game out of this for sure, though it'll take a lot of time. Won't make any promises this early but I'll do my best when I return back to this project. Thank you once again and have a good one. Cheers!
No problem! I also like the fact you made a multilanguage system. I'm italian, but I don't have problems to understand english. If you ever need some help for an Italian translation, feel free to tell me. I would love to help ^^
Thank you for the offer! This was the first time I ever added a working multilanguage system; I'll consider your offer in the future since adding another language should be easy. :)
Absolutely fantastic. The fact that you managed to near perfectly emulate not only the visuals of the original Silent Hill, but also the atmosphere and overall vibe, is amazing. I truly felt like I was taken back 21 years when I played the game for the first time.
My only feedback might be to work on the camera system/placements a little more, as there were times I was cheaped out by an enemy because the it wouldn't cooperate or was hidden behind some scenery. Another gripe I would express is how the puzzles are laid out. I was at a complete loss on the clock puzzle (was it something to do with the order of numbers on the different notes?) and eventually had to restart with a lower riddle difficulty.
The combat felt fine, the controls were fluid, and I didn't have much issue with the "platforming" areas. Overall, very solid game. I'm excited to see what becomes of the project in the near future!
Hey thank you very much! I appreciate it and I'm glad you had fun despite the issues you encountered. :D 1) The camera is meant to be a little bit claustrophobic at times (and that sometimes the enemies are hidden, only their presence told by your radio if you have it turned on) but sometimes it helps if you hold the "look" button (I think it's L2 on a PS controller). If the camera is in free-roam mode then it'll move itself behind the player. Otherwise it'll only look ahead. If you aim at an enemy and hold the look button, the camera will focus/follow the target. 2) Yes, hard riddle mode is meant to be hard. There are 2 big hints laid out on how to do the clock puzzle but the method requires some knowledge in cryptology (you are free to use google for help on this puzzle). And yes, the numbers on the notes are the solution, they tell you the time and the clock hand. A colleague has streamed on hard riddle mode and I left some directions there; He'll stream a complete walkthrough on hard riddle in case people need a guide (and you'll see what extra content there is on hard riddle). The normal riddle difficulty is kinda like the piano puzzle from SH1 where you have to correlate the position of the ornament with the number on the drawing. (kind of how you had to correlate the position and color of the birds to the piano keys)
Thank you again, I'll do my best when I come back to the project. (we are currently on a break away from game dev, if it's not a problem) Cheers!
YOU SIR.... ARE A GOD! For making this play almost EXACTLY like the original Silent Hill PS1 game. Because of that, I am now following you. I have made a video of this game inside my "Spooky Games" video that's dedicated to Silent Hill fan games.
Daww thank you so much man, much appreciated! :D I saw your video yesterday and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Loved the video btw and the other 2 games look super neat! It's amazing to see how much influence Silent Hill has on the gaming world.
I grew up with the first SH so emulating the aesthetic of a PS1 was the main goal for me. You're free to finish it since it's a demo (and the full version is still far far away) so I hope you enjoy it. I hope you don't mind the higher difficulty (it was intended, like the old survival horror) but the new version is a liiitle bit more forgiving on normal (and has a bit more content). Cheers!
Really wanted to keep playing, but fell a few times and it felt too cheap. I understand that this is tied to the action difficulty but maybe it should be a separate "platforming difficulty" option to turn it off completely. I obviously came as a SH1 fan, everything else here is awesome but the falling deaths are a huge turn-off. I would love to see more if that mechanic is removed/reworked.
Thank you very much! I kinda like the "platforming difficulty" idea but for now I'm keeping it in action difficulty. If you have a big issue with pitfalls in-game, switch to Easy action difficulty and the pitfalls will be disabled. You won't miss out on any content (unlike riddle difficulty) and there's no shame in playing on easy difficulty especially if you only want to beat it and move on; That's why the difficulty options are there.
If you still plan on playing with the normal/hard action difficulty, then if you trigger a pitfall- don't press any buttons and let the player bring himself back up. If you press the forward/backwards button while the player is about to fall, you'll push him to his death (just like SH3). The mechanic was improved in v0.1.4 so that on Normal difficulty, if you trigger a pitfall and don't fall, you have 1-2 seconds invincibility from the pitfall triggers. (a user suggested that on the server so I implemented the 1-2 second invulnerability) If it's the enemies that give you issues because they push you into holes, then you'll just have to avoid the holes as best as you can. If you're going into combat, keep track of where the pitfalls are and move to the spot with the least amount of danger. I hope this info helps and good luck. :)
I have a few questions about development and your goals with this project, it would be awesome if you could answer them. Here they are:
1. How long do you reckon it will take to finish the game, or at least be able to release an early access build with the core game fully complete?
2. Do you plan on releasing any more demo content? Maybe an extended demo when more of the game is complete?
3. Do you plan on keeping the silent hill art style and feel, or do you plan on creating something different of your own? (personally I would love it if you kept the style but still added new ideas, which you already did with the falling mechanic)
4. How long do you plan on making the game?
5. At what price point do you plan on releasing the game at?
6. Do you plan on release the game on other platforms other than pc? (personally I think it would be great on android and ios)
Hey, sorry for late reply and ask away: 1) Don't wanna get anyone's hopes up, but it will take a long time. We're a team of two and we don't get to work full time on the project. We are currently taking a break (I'm still doing a small update to the demo) and we're jumping between other projects, but we will come back to Terminus eventually. 1-2 weeks ago I had to recreate the entire demo because windows update corrupted my files, so I'm not very energetic to work on Terminus. I hope you and everyone else understands.
2) We plan on adding a story demo, but it'll require a lot of work as well as updating the motel section. The story mode won't be anything big, just something to set the scene.
3) We're pretty much keeping the SH style with our own twist. The full version will have more effort put into textures. The ones in the demo are just enough to test out the whole thing (with Crocotile, affine textures and lighting)
4) To be honest, we're not sure. We thought the demo will take at least 15 minutes but for some people it's more than 40 minutes lol. We're hoping to make it at least an hour or two long, maybe longer for hard riddle difficulty since on that difficulty there's more levels to explore. (at least in the demo) I can't say for sure but I prefer keeping expectations minimal.
5) I think it depends on the development and workforce. We don't know how much the project will be worth when it's finished so I don't wanna accidentally throw around random numbers.
6) We'd love to have it on consoles, but I don't think we can afford it. I think Xbox license is cheaper and there's less hoops to jump through in order to get it... whereas Sony is very strict with licenses/ports. I dunno if Terminus would be comfy enough to play on a phone but if there's enough demand, might as well consider(?) and the Vita is dead lol
I hope this answers your questions and if I got something wrong, ADC will correct me and/or probably reply with his own info. Cheers! :)
Thank you for your response and thanks for answering the questions! Also this would definitely be a successful game on android. Most people play these games with a controller on android and android is the go to system for many (myself included) when it comes to emulation and retro style games so this game would fit perfectly on there. There's a huge market for these types of games on there man. Have a nice day!
Any time! :) Playing the game on mobile with a gamepad makes the most sense since this project is joystick oriented but I think I'll be required to add a touchpad control as well for the android/iOS port which... considering the difficulty of this game, might not work as well. The only paid android game I played was Final Fantasy 3, so I don't have much knowledge on what kind of games populate the android/iOS hemisphere. Have a nice day as well!
Touch controls would be a terrible way to play it yeah, but there are quite a few great android ports that are intended for use with a controller, sure they still throw in half assed touch controls but its not the way they intend for it to be played. A good example of this would be the great max payne 1 port (or any rockstar android game really). There are also games that REQUIRE a controller like hotline miami 1 and 2. You could easily just port it without the touch controls too. I replay Silent Hill 1 like once a month, always on android. Its much more convenient than on pc.
When I read that there is a version for linux it made my day, I use linux and people only give attention to windows, but my happiness was gone when I tried to run and nothing happened, I tried to open it on terminal and this appears on the screen: Loading in SingleInstance mode But nothing happens, the game doesn't open, how can I make it work here? I use debian buster with kde.
Hey I'm really sorry Linux version doesn't work on your end. We don't have a legit linux device so we don't have a way of testing the ports. Someone said the linux version works on their device so I'm not sure what exactly makes it incompatible to other devices. I might try and set up a virtual machine (which I've never done before) with a Linux OS, or any way I can test the linux version myself. If I find a fix, I'll let you know.
No prob! Thank you for your patience. My friend and I set up a virtual machine (mine is Debian with KDE while my friend uses linux mint iirc). I tried out Terminus and the launcher opens correctly (where you can chose the resolution, framerate, achievements, etc) but when I click "play" then it hangs on a black screen... however I found out that virtual machines aren't for playing games unless you have good specs (and my PC is old enough to drink in the US) so if the launcher doesn't appear on your end then we may have a possible solution. My friend tried a working project yesterday and it didn't run on his end (it starts and instantly closes the game) which might mean it's a graphic API issue. Game is trying to play in Vulkan API (which my gfx supports) instead of OpenGL; if that's the case then it shouldn't be hard to fix the issue but we are still testing stuff out so I hope you won't mind if it takes longer. Cheers!
Update to my previous message: My friend and I both set up Debian with KDE and it works on our end with 3D acceleration disabled. (with a few transparency/camera issues here and there) We also attempted to disable Vulkan support but it didn't fix the issue. I'm sorry, I think this could be a component related issue but I'm not 100% sure. As a last resort, you could try and run the game with -force-opengl command line if it helps.
Here I use opengl by default, so it should run, but it doesn't, it quickly opens a window and closes right after, like it opens but closes in less than a second, maybe because computer is too old too? But as it's a game with ps1 graphics I thought it would run here, is there a list of minimum requisites necessary to run the game? Maybe it would help to know. And thank you for answering me and for the patience to try to fix this on linux, it's rare when developers answer the public and give this kind of attention, so thanks again, I appreciate that ^^
We'll still try to see if we can get the game to be compatible with most devices, for now we assume your computer has 3d acceleration which was giving us the same closing issue on our VMs but we'll see what can be done.
I loved this so much man! This captures the exact same vibe as Silent Hill 1. Actually this has the potential to be better than silent hill 1! Even though Silent hill 1 one of my favorite games of all time it has a few weak parts, like the sewers and it has some pacing issues too, like almost all early 3d games. With this you can perfect silent hill 1s unique style of horror! Please continue working on this. If you could set up a way to donate I would gladly do so!
Thank you so much man, it means a lot to hear that! :D Yeah water-related levels in games are usually different, even though SH1's sewer levels are a bit linear, I still like them. (they probably wanted to make something a little different compared to the school or hospital)
I'll do my best when it comes to the full version but it'll take a while for it to happen. My friend and I who made the demo are currently recharging our batteries but will come back to the project eventually. Thank you for the offer, we really appreciate it but keep it; You may need it, considering what the world is going through at the moment. Cheers!
You're welcome man! Thanks for the response! Ill definitely keep an eye out for this game's full release if it happens and devlogs/updates. I really hope this game doesn't get abandoned like a lot of psx projects.
Yeah with the sewers they wanted to make something different but they didn't know how to do it well due to the limited hardware and them being unexperienced since 3d was new tech at the time. They also didn't have the budget, it was too linear as a result and really killed the pacing.
This demo is one of the few things that brought me joy in 2020 so you definitely deserve money for this, it was a though year for everyone. Thankfully the pandemic didn't effect me at all financially (but it affected me in many other ways) so I would gladly donate.
How did you go about hitting that PSX look? Any tips/tricks? Obviously there's affine mapping, low res textures, but what else would you recommend for achieving this look?
The things I used are: CRT effect(s), pixelization, diffuse shaders with affine mapping and vertex snapping (polygon twitching), 8-bit/16-bit color depth and the most important of all... dithering. :)
Pixelization is disabled by default, you'll notice all the effect changes when you toggle between them. The v0.1.3 version tells the players in-game that they can do that from options>extras.
Yup :) I couldn't decide whether to have it on or off by default, so for now I decided to have it off. Maybe for the full version I'll have it enabled by default, but I'm still not sure about that. I'll think about it.
As a big fan of Silent Hill 1 (my favourite game ever) I played this demo. And this is amasing! Special thanks for the gamepad support! So I played in normal/normal difficulties, and I had several problems: 1. on normal/hard difficulties protagonist falls too easily into the abyss (sometimes he turns his back on the abyss and falls into it, lol); 2. sometimes the same monsters die from one shot, sometimes from six. That's strange; 3. frequent respawn of enemies where they were not. It's okay. But why do they show up in the save room?! my pants are full of bricks; Otherwise, everything is very cool, I will wait for updates! p.s. a new content and sounds from SH1/2 for menu it's ohuenno :D
Hey thank you so much! I greatly appreciate it, it's one of my favourite and first game I ever played on the PS1! :D
1) That is sort of intended but there is a mechanic for it: when you step over the pitfall on normal/hard, the player will enter this "nearly falling" animation. During this animation if you press forward (or the button towards the hole) then you will get a game over. Instead, when he enters the animation, you should let him pull himself up. He will always succeed pulling himself back to safety unless you press forward during the animation, or he gets attacked/pushed. I'm sure there are some collision issues as well where some specific pitfalls can be re-triggered twice if you're in the right spot. I'll try to fix those if I encounter any. I'm just so used to the pitfalls that I can run through areas with wooden planks without triggering a pitfall.
2) On normal/hard enemies will recover back up if they're not stomped/finished. If they are downed and you save the game, they are gonna be loaded into the game as "alive&walking with 1 HP" or something like that.
3) SPOILER: The enemies have a 10% chance to travel to other rooms if they cannot find you close by. That also includes the save rooms, most of them are accessible by enemies. There are, however, some doors enemies will never pass through. One of the demo discs for SH1 had a trigger event with a demon child going through the door near the school library.
I'm glad you liked the SH1/SH2 sfx library. :D If you switch to SH2, it changes the loading screen and inventory status. Thank you once again for playing the game and giving feedback! Cheers!
Thank you and yes, there's a lot of pitfalls as a secondary threat. That's intentional.
If you switch your action difficulty to EASY, then the pitfall trigger will be disabled (meaning, you won't be able to fall into holes or get pushed into them). However if you still plan on playing in normal/hard action difficulty then if you get into "nearly falling" animation, just wait for a few seconds and the player will automatically bring himself back no problem. When you're in the "near falling" animation, getting attacked or pressing the walk button towards the hole will cause a game over. I hope the info helps. :D
Hey dude! Thank you for the previous message but I'm sorry the game crashes on your end so frequently. 1) Are you playing on Windows? If not, then maybe it's a port specific issue. 2) Does the game automatically exit the game? If not, then open the debug console to see if there's an error. 3) Does the game stutter or have framerate issues? Try setting the game to 30FPS (options -> frame limit) and if that doesn't help, try disabling all effects (options -> extras -> crt off, dithering off, color depth to 32-bit)
Random crash after I got the photo from the box and came back into the room. I don't think I did anything to make it occur, I was just walking. Wish I could give you a more detailed report :/ Good thing there's a save anywhere function. That sure is cool!
Anyway, the game itself is amazing so far. This definitely has the potential to be an amazing spiritual successor to Silent Hill. Definitely scratched the itch that I've been looking for for so long. Atmosphere was amazing.
Pretty cool demo. I enjoyed it for the most part. The pits become really annoying after a while though and some enemies are so relentless that you don't really get a chance to fight back. I got a little lost toward the end of my vid but it was still pretty fun. Thanks!
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just discovered and love it so much. Nails the silent hill vibe, I like the puzzles even more! You were NOT messing around with hard mode though; I tried and had to start over… and I’m typically really good with puzzles. Regardless, I appreciate just how much you changed the game with the different difficulties!
PLEASE KEEP MAKING SURVIVAL HORROR. I will happily pay for anything else you make in a similar vein
Is it still in development? Long time no news...just like silence concerning "Simulacrum Chapter 1".
Is this project dead? I really like how well it recreates SH1 experience, it almost feels like original game. This white monster is terrifying btw
I recently came across your Game and i am impressed! Streamed it here:
Are you still working on it?Lepo bre na Hrvatski da ima da mogu da igram lepo
Why was Linux removed from the supported OS in the tag?
I've been looking for a game like this for years, played many "silent-hill-like" games but none as this one...
You Sr... Sr. Hades, you are a genius, you started from scratch and made this master piece, I just wanna say you made me a huge fan of you just with this, and I wanted to let you know this, and tell you that I've seen what other people say, some harsh and some kind, but I wanted to contact you not just because of this, but because I wanted to tell you that you have my support, if I can help you in any way, just tell me.
I realized your game(s) have multiple languages, and I can translate into Spanish (it's not much, but at least I can do this) and If you need something, I can try it, I'll be cheering for you!
Hey thank You so much Lilith! It means a lot to hear that, I'm glad you enjoyed the demo and the project. I'll do my best with the final version and try not to disappoint. :D
And thank you for the offer, I'd definitely like to add Spanish as a possible language option. Right now the project is taking a hiatus a little bit but when we need Spanish localization, we'll keep you in consideration. Cheers!
Thanks for the consideration and when the time comes for me to do a translation (if you want) I'll try not to disappoint :D
It's a relief to hear that this amazing game still on the road for development, and I don't want to just lay there waiting asking "where's my game? When can I play the full version?" I wanna help and see this nightmare at full potential (no game ever made me pause the game to retake my breath because of the terror it gave but Silent Hill 1-2 and Resident evil 1... Until Terminus appeared ♡) so I'll check if you ever need me, as I said, I can try doing anything, I'll try to do my best, you'll be the judge, I won't complain if I'm not up for the task.
And I end up writing a bit too much again like a fan girl but I think I made myself clear hehe ^^;
Haha I don't mind long messages and I try to read/reply to all. :D
I'm flattered that Terminus evoked the same/similar emotion that the OG SH and RE gave (that's the biggest compliment I could get, so thank you) and I hope I'll be able to make a proper full game out of Terminus that will do the same. While we have a plan for Terminus, we don't have anything yet because we're currently taking a break from it. I sort of did make a concept for the beginning in my spare time but that's about it because I'm focusing on other projects I can finish a lot sooner (and that don't need as much work) so I'm just putting it out there that it may take a long long long time until Terminus is done and I hope people (and You) won't mind.
You really need to chill out with the death pits. It's enough that you have these white guys who run at you faster than any silent hill 1 enemy ever could and can disintegrate your health in no time at all and the fact that enemies spawn in areas you have already cleared and can move from room to room but then you insist on constantly putting the player next to these pits in every room so they can just shove you into the holes and kill you instantly if you ever try to run away or avoid them. There are so many rooms and areas in this that are just narrow walkways over bottomless pits or are full of holes. Furthermore the edge detection is crazy unforgiving compared to silent hills and it feels like the edge of the end of your shoe needs to merely be around the edge for it to put you into the wobbling animation where as in Silent Hill you had to be at least a half or quarter of the way over for it to count.
Sorry to hear that you don't like the pitfall mechanic, luckily for you the game already has a way of getting rid of them: switch to easy action difficulty; but if you want to play on your current difficulty without the pitfalls, you can use a cheat that disables them. :)
Heya, I know this is probably a very strange request, but I'm trying to teach myself how to use Unity and I was wondering if it would be at all possible to get a copy of the Unity project, just to tinker around with and take apart. Totally understandable if not, but I figured I'd ask!
Thanks for your time. :)
Heyo! Unity engine is free to use (the standard edition, which has almost all the benefits that Pro version offers) so you're *free* to get it from their website whenever. :D
You'd first have to get yourself UnityHub and through UnityHub you can download the latest version(s) you plan on using. After that is done, you create an empty project, select if you want it to be a 2D or 3D project and violá. Good luck.
No no no I didn't mean Unity itself I meant the source project for this game to tinker around with haha, sorry if I was unclear
Oooh, my bad. I prefer to not share my projects, sorry. (I shared my projects in the past and I didn't really like what people did with them, so...)
I'm sure Unity/UnityHub has example projects you can mess around with though.
No worries! Thanks anyway. :)
I returned to this game recently and was hoping to try out the Story Mode but I wasn't able to lol, so I just returned to the Battle Mode and explored more there.
(Sorry for my english, it's not my mother language)
I'm a big Silent Hill 1 lover. After beating it so many times, i started searching for mods or something that could make it a little different. I'm really glad that i found this game inspired on it, because it's really good! It really has the atmosphere that an horror game should have, as well as that uneasy feeling that makes you feel when you play it.
In horror games (and in general) i always pick the hardest difficulties. I like the challenge. And so i did in this game. But i can't say that i liked, because before i could encounter my first enemy i died because of falling in the pits. Frustrated, i changed both action and riddle difficulty to easy. I think the pit thing also happened in SH3, but there weren't so many and camera angles worked different in that game, so it didn't bother me. I must say that it's a shame, because dying because a monster hits too hard, because you weren't too careful or because you didn't heal when you had to is ok for me. But dying because i didn't see a pit in the dark and having to restart is not. It's just my opinion, but i'd love to experience the hard difficulty action without having to worry about pits in a game that i never thinked about it as a platformer when i saw it on youtube. Again, it's just my opinion and i hope that my feedback helps.
As for the puzzle in easy mode, i liked it. I liked that it doesn't give you the answer right away, like finding a paper with 3 numbers and there you go, enter the code. So i'm going to replay the game to see the normal/hard riddles!
Congratulations on making such a great demo and i really hope that the development of the game goes well! The best for you!
Thank you very much, it means a lot to hear that and I'll do my best with the full version if we get to it. I'm glad (and hope) you enjoyed the demo despite the pitfalls killing the fun.
Yes, I see some people expressing their dislike towards the pitfall mechanic but it is something I intend to have in the game. However, if you're falling in the pitfalls by yourself, that's an easy fix: When you enter the falling animation (when you step into the abyss) then don't press any buttons until the player brings himself back on his two feet. If you're falling by just triggering it yourself, then you must have pressed a forward/backwards button which will cause the player to fall fully into the abyss. (which gives you a game over) The player won't fall if you just stepped into the pitfall, he will fall if you push forward/backwards button while he's trying get himself back up OR if the enemy attacks you while he's trying to get back up. Normal action difficulty adds a buffer between the next pitfall trigger, so that you don't constantly walk into them. On Hard action difficulty, there is no buffer and you can trigger the pitfalls all the time anytime.
I can agree that the camera is a little bit up-close and personal but that's because by default the camera is zoomed in so that the screen is flattened; and I can't move it away in some rooms due to physics/clipping. You can open the debug command and change the "field of view" yourself (I think the command is SetCameraFOV X where the X is a number from 30 to 120) but you will see that the more you zoom out, the more fisheye'd the game will look (hence why I used the default FOV). Also, there are times where the FOV will reset/change due to some c i n e m a t i c c a m e r a t h i n g y stuff, so... If you use the custom FOV, you'll have to enter the command again.
Sorry for a wordy reply. There's a small update planned (mainly the corrected Polish translation) but if you want, I can add a debug command that disables the pitfall mechanic for all difficulties... but at the cost of handicapping the rank/score entirely. Let me know. I hope you enjoy the rest of the demo and good luck with other riddle difficulties if you're planning on trying them out. (SB Gamers streamed the hard riddle difficulty which contains the explanations for the puzzles, so if you're stuck- you can use it as a walkthrough) Have a great rest of the day and happy new year! :D
P.S: Your English is perfect so don't worry about it lol. Cheers
The debug option for the pitfalls would be great! I'll try the hardest difficulties then!
And for the camera angles, they didn't bother me. The problem i had with them was related to the pits, but once i played on easy mode i didn't notice anything that would make me mad about it. Also, the default zoom was good to me. As i said, i played a lot of SH1 and a lot of it is replicated here, so this stuffs is fine for me. Maybe other players feedback would be better than mine here, hahaha.
Keep up the good work! And greetings from Argentina! :)
PS: If you need help with a translation from english to spanish, i'd be glad to help in my free time. Just let me know! ;)
What's interesting is Team Silent fully intended for players to fall into the pits when you were in the otherworld, but took them out last minute for whatever reason. Interestingly if one were to clip into the area of the pit one would die instantly in what would've been an instant death in the game. I, personally, like the inclusion of pit falls. It ads a level difficulty and encourages one to pay attention to their surroundings. It also gives one a sense of what Silent Hill 1 would've been like had they included the feature. Greatly looking forward to a full release of the game!
P.S. Would definitely like to some greater controller support on the full release.
Hello! I'm very excited to play this, but I'm having issues getting my gamepad to work correctly. Now, I will say, everything is "working", but the movements are off. Specifically my character movement. Seems the joysticks are switched up. I'm playing on playstation type pad. My D-Pad controls my 360 degree turns. My left joystick controls camera or look. The most confusing control however is my right joystick. Pushing up and down does nothing, but moving the stick left and right makes the player move forward and backward respectively. I'm able to move around and work everything, only it's entirely unintuitive to control in this manner. Anyone here know how to edit Xinput within the game?
Hey thank you! I can confirm that XInput gamepads should work correctly but I can't guarantee all models will function the same. I tested the game with Xbox controller and my colleague tested with PS4 controller (with the help of a plugin iirc) because DirectInput has some compatibility issues. (I have one of those bluetooth gamepads that are meant to be used with android devices, and it doesn't get recognized by the game)
At the moment there isn't a way to customize buttons except changing Types, but it doesn't affect things like movement and look. I'd like to make a customizable controls for sure, definitely for the full game. Sorry I can't help much but have you tried using any PS controller plugins?
Happy new year everyone! If anyone is interested in what content there is in hard riddle mode or if you need a walkthrough, you can join a stream on January 2nd. (unless it gets delayed) The streamer will be doing it mostly blind with me giving hints as we progress/go along; that way users who want to figure out some stuff themselves, they won't get spoiled.
The aesthetics of this, especially the sound design, are really well done but gameplay wise it feels like you took all the worst aspects of the series (particularly Silent Hill 3) and threw them in for some reason:
-Death pits. Just no. It's obnoxious as hell and does nothing but serve to irritate the player, especially when many of them seem to be intentionally obfuscated by the camera angles.
-Bizarre camera angles. Fixed camera and tank controls can work really well, but right now there are quite a few spots in the motel where items you can grab, enemies and pitfalls are difficult to see because of their positioning. There is also this weird tendency to have areas where you traverse a narrow walkway with the camera either very zoomed out so you can't make out where your protagonist is moving, or where the camera angle suddenly changes dramatically halfway across a narrow plank.
-Extremely high damaging enemies on Hard. Yes, I know, it's Hard difficulty for a reason, but having the flying enemies kill the player in 2-3 hits when it takes multiple energy drinks to recover that lost health is silly.
EDIT: Got stuck at the clock puzzle. I have 3 notes which highlight the numbers 43-23-32. I see you stated in another comment that this requires knowledge of cryptography - I think it's an extremely bad idea to expect esoteric outside knowledge from the player when approaching a puzzle, just like with the infamous Shakespeare puzzle in SH3. I have no idea even with a basic understanding of what cryptography is how you are supposed to approach this. You have 3 numbers, seemingly with no relation to each other whatsoever, in a sea of equally unrelated numbers, and from this you are supposed to determine which clock hand to manipulate and what value to set it to. At first I thought it was simply the position of the highlighted number in the text document, which gives a solution roughly around 6:35:35, but this wasn't the case. The other solution I thought of was that the numbers are directly indicating clock hand position, since a clock face goes from 1-60, and the numbers are analogous to Second-Minute-Hand based on which values are higher than the others, for example: 23=Second because it's the lowest, then 32 for Minute, and lastly 43 for hour, which gives us the solution of 8:23:32, but this also was not it. I'm at a total loss as to what else you could expect the player to think here.
There's also a padlock with a 3 letter code, which I have found absolutely nothing relevant for at all, and a book that talks about POW's during the Vietnam War using a system of tapping on the ceiling and pipes to communicate...which also doesn't seem to be relevant to anything at all.
Thank you for your input. Sorry you're not liking the design choices. The camera is zoomed in for a few reasons but there is a debug command to zoom out; You're free to use it, but there are times where it'll reset so you'll have to input it again sometimes. The pitfalls are disabled on Easy action difficulty if they make the game annoying, as well as make enemies not KO you that fast.
As for the hard riddle, you misunderstood: cryptology is a study that deals with decrypting/solving codes, and the two hints the hard riddle gives you are SUPER important. The game gives you two massive hints on what method you need to look for (you're absolutely free to use google for this one). The hard riddle is meant to be like some puzzles in Siren with the intent of people sharing their solutions/hints/ideas online. They don't have to, but it's welcome.
Those 3 little messages tell you which hand to use and where, you just need to decode the message. People who are familiar with the method should recognize it after at least one of the hints. (one literally spells out the name of the method) I'm sorry if you don't agree with it. The player who started hard riddle mode will finish it some time soon, so if you're still interested you can check it out later. I'll post a link here a day before the stream so that whoever wants to see what hard riddle is like, they can know in advance. Merry Christmas (if you celebrate) and have a good one.
I'm confused - your saying the notes with numbers on them are a code, and once you understand it you can find a hint in the highlighted number? How does a player with no previous experience in this cypher method decode it?
Edit: So after some googling, I learned about something called the Polybius cypher, which essentially assigns double digit numbers from 1-5 to letters in a system like 11=A, 12=B, 21=F etc. I decoded one message using that cypher to be "five Matthew", which obviously means minute hand at 5. Sorry if I come across like a highly critical ass here, but my point about puzzles not requiring outside knowledge is that outside of someone who has studied Cryptology before and actually heard of this cypher, there is no way I can fathom a player approaching, understanding and solving this puzzle. It's not so much a solution to work out as it is just a knowledge test - if you know this method, it's easy, if you don't, it's impossible. It would be like presenting a puzzle that consists of 5x5 to someone who has never heard of multiplication, they would have no idea what to do. If other comments here hadn't eluded to cryptology, I could have stared at those notes forever and never understood them, simply because there is nothing about a series of double digit numbers that makes my brain go "wait, what if 13 means C?"
Congratz on figuring out the puzzle.
You're about to face another puzzle but that one won't require outside knowledge... still, it will be very cryptic; Imagine piano puzzle v2.0 from SH1.I'm aware that this riddle difficulty will be unfriendly for players that don't know these specific methods/riddles but I still want this difficulty to contain riddles which require thinking outside the box. (meaning: hints are in the game but the solution requires outside knowledge or looking it up on the net if there's no one who shared their knowledge)Also that polybius cypher is called smitty tap code, and the name for it is in room 24.(or whichever room with the plush it is)I appreciate your input and criticism. I will take it into account when/if making riddles for the full game. I am aware that not everyone will agree or like it, but this is how I'd like to make this game. (and if it's too difficult for players, the option to change difficulty levels will always be there; albeit with less extra content on easier difficulties)
I just tried this masterpiece, you did a great job guys, this project really deserves a lot, I hope you add the Italian language, I would love to complete the full game :)
Thanks a lot and I may consider adding Italian language in the future. Cheers! :D
Great, the multilinguage system is a great thing, I have a question to ask, are you going to release it on some console in the future when you complete the game ??? It would be nice to see it on Dreamcast and PSX or maybe on smartphones, I'd pay $50 for a game like this. One advice I could give you is to create an initial intro in the game, maybe a video explaining what happened and why the player is in that place. Congratulations again for the work done, keep it up!
Thanks and if the full game is made, I definitely would like to port it to consoles... however I don't think it's possible to port to Dreamcast and PSX. Even if conversion is possible, I think the game isn't optimized enough despite the PS1 graphics.
Oh, we're 100% having an intro (we already have a mini plan for it) but at the moment we barely have any skill in 3D modelling so we are leaving it for the full version. :)
Too bad it's not released for PSX, in any case an alternative would be to release it on the Steam platform, I can't wait to watch more updates of this project!
Greetings :)
That sounds great! If you want to get some help in doing that, I'm up for it :) I already translated games in the past and I'm also a Silent Hill expert (I'm currently covering italian in depth lore runs of this saga) and I would love to stream this and show it to the italian community :)
Dear Hades,
As I tried this horror game myself and being a Silent Hill fan for years, I can just express myself that I'm amazed of this indie game that completely revives my childhood and the scariest experiences from SH1. What matter into a videogame is not the graphics, but the gameplay, the atmosphere and the sound effects. And you completely surpassed my expections! I like how faithful is the design of the game (cameras, gameplay, riddles, menus and everything), for being a fan Silent Hill based game. I completely hope this project will be a full game release, even a commercial one to buy for all kind of consoles or steam at least. It's a game that I would buy with my eyes closed, no questions. Please don't ever interrupt the idea to develop a full game of this. Keep up the good work!
10☆
Thank you so so much :D I'm happy this project brought back good memories and that you enjoyed it, means a lot to hear that!
I would like to make a full game out of this for sure, though it'll take a lot of time. Won't make any promises this early but I'll do my best when I return back to this project. Thank you once again and have a good one. Cheers!
No problem! I also like the fact you made a multilanguage system. I'm italian, but I don't have problems to understand english. If you ever need some help for an Italian translation, feel free to tell me. I would love to help ^^
Cheers to you as well!
Thank you for the offer! This was the first time I ever added a working multilanguage system; I'll consider your offer in the future since adding another language should be easy. :)
Absolutely fantastic. The fact that you managed to near perfectly emulate not only the visuals of the original Silent Hill, but also the atmosphere and overall vibe, is amazing. I truly felt like I was taken back 21 years when I played the game for the first time.
My only feedback might be to work on the camera system/placements a little more, as there were times I was cheaped out by an enemy because the it wouldn't cooperate or was hidden behind some scenery. Another gripe I would express is how the puzzles are laid out. I was at a complete loss on the clock puzzle (was it something to do with the order of numbers on the different notes?) and eventually had to restart with a lower riddle difficulty.
The combat felt fine, the controls were fluid, and I didn't have much issue with the "platforming" areas. Overall, very solid game. I'm excited to see what becomes of the project in the near future!
Hey thank you very much! I appreciate it and I'm glad you had fun despite the issues you encountered. :D
1) The camera is meant to be a little bit claustrophobic at times (and that sometimes the enemies are hidden, only their presence told by your radio if you have it turned on) but sometimes it helps if you hold the "look" button (I think it's L2 on a PS controller). If the camera is in free-roam mode then it'll move itself behind the player. Otherwise it'll only look ahead. If you aim at an enemy and hold the look button, the camera will focus/follow the target.
2) Yes, hard riddle mode is meant to be hard. There are 2 big hints laid out on how to do the clock puzzle but the method requires some knowledge in cryptology (you are free to use google for help on this puzzle). And yes, the numbers on the notes are the solution, they tell you the time and the clock hand. A colleague has streamed on hard riddle mode and I left some directions there; He'll stream a complete walkthrough on hard riddle in case people need a guide (and you'll see what extra content there is on hard riddle). The normal riddle difficulty is kinda like the piano puzzle from SH1 where you have to correlate the position of the ornament with the number on the drawing. (kind of how you had to correlate the position and color of the birds to the piano keys)
Thank you again, I'll do my best when I come back to the project. (we are currently on a break away from game dev, if it's not a problem)
Cheers!
YOU SIR.... ARE A GOD! For making this play almost EXACTLY like the original Silent Hill PS1 game. Because of that, I am now following you. I have made a video of this game inside my "Spooky Games" video that's dedicated to Silent Hill fan games.
Daww thank you so much man, much appreciated! :D
I saw your video yesterday and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Loved the video btw and the other 2 games look super neat! It's amazing to see how much influence Silent Hill has on the gaming world.
I grew up with the first SH so emulating the aesthetic of a PS1 was the main goal for me. You're free to finish it since it's a demo (and the full version is still far far away) so I hope you enjoy it. I hope you don't mind the higher difficulty (it was intended, like the old survival horror) but the new version is a liiitle bit more forgiving on normal (and has a bit more content). Cheers!
Really wanted to keep playing, but fell a few times and it felt too cheap. I understand that this is tied to the action difficulty but maybe it should be a separate "platforming difficulty" option to turn it off completely. I obviously came as a SH1 fan, everything else here is awesome but the falling deaths are a huge turn-off. I would love to see more if that mechanic is removed/reworked.
Thank you very much! I kinda like the "platforming difficulty" idea but for now I'm keeping it in action difficulty. If you have a big issue with pitfalls in-game, switch to Easy action difficulty and the pitfalls will be disabled. You won't miss out on any content (unlike riddle difficulty) and there's no shame in playing on easy difficulty especially if you only want to beat it and move on; That's why the difficulty options are there.
If you still plan on playing with the normal/hard action difficulty, then if you trigger a pitfall- don't press any buttons and let the player bring himself back up. If you press the forward/backwards button while the player is about to fall, you'll push him to his death (just like SH3). The mechanic was improved in v0.1.4 so that on Normal difficulty, if you trigger a pitfall and don't fall, you have 1-2 seconds invincibility from the pitfall triggers. (a user suggested that on the server so I implemented the 1-2 second invulnerability)
If it's the enemies that give you issues because they push you into holes, then you'll just have to avoid the holes as best as you can. If you're going into combat, keep track of where the pitfalls are and move to the spot with the least amount of danger. I hope this info helps and good luck. :)
I have a few questions about development and your goals with this project, it would be awesome if you could answer them. Here they are:
1. How long do you reckon it will take to finish the game, or at least be able to release an early access build with the core game fully complete?
2. Do you plan on releasing any more demo content? Maybe an extended demo when more of the game is complete?
3. Do you plan on keeping the silent hill art style and feel, or do you plan on creating something different of your own? (personally I would love it if you kept the style but still added new ideas, which you already did with the falling mechanic)
4. How long do you plan on making the game?
5. At what price point do you plan on releasing the game at?
6. Do you plan on release the game on other platforms other than pc? (personally I think it would be great on android and ios)
Thank you.
Hey, sorry for late reply and ask away:
1) Don't wanna get anyone's hopes up, but it will take a long time. We're a team of two and we don't get to work full time on the project. We are currently taking a break (I'm still doing a small update to the demo) and we're jumping between other projects, but we will come back to Terminus eventually. 1-2 weeks ago I had to recreate the entire demo because windows update corrupted my files, so I'm not very energetic to work on Terminus. I hope you and everyone else understands.
2) We plan on adding a story demo, but it'll require a lot of work as well as updating the motel section. The story mode won't be anything big, just something to set the scene.
3) We're pretty much keeping the SH style with our own twist. The full version will have more effort put into textures. The ones in the demo are just enough to test out the whole thing (with Crocotile, affine textures and lighting)
4) To be honest, we're not sure. We thought the demo will take at least 15 minutes but for some people it's more than 40 minutes lol. We're hoping to make it at least an hour or two long, maybe longer for hard riddle difficulty since on that difficulty there's more levels to explore. (at least in the demo)
I can't say for sure but I prefer keeping expectations minimal.
5) I think it depends on the development and workforce. We don't know how much the project will be worth when it's finished so I don't wanna accidentally throw around random numbers.
6) We'd love to have it on consoles, but I don't think we can afford it. I think Xbox license is cheaper and there's less hoops to jump through in order to get it... whereas Sony is very strict with licenses/ports. I dunno if Terminus would be comfy enough to play on a phone but if there's enough demand, might as well consider(?)
and the Vita is dead lol
I hope this answers your questions and if I got something wrong, ADC will correct me and/or probably reply with his own info. Cheers! :)
Thank you for your response and thanks for answering the questions! Also this would definitely be a successful game on android. Most people play these games with a controller on android and android is the go to system for many (myself included) when it comes to emulation and retro style games so this game would fit perfectly on there. There's a huge market for these types of games on there man. Have a nice day!
Any time! :)
Playing the game on mobile with a gamepad makes the most sense since this project is joystick oriented but I think I'll be required to add a touchpad control as well for the android/iOS port which... considering the difficulty of this game, might not work as well. The only paid android game I played was Final Fantasy 3, so I don't have much knowledge on what kind of games populate the android/iOS hemisphere. Have a nice day as well!
Touch controls would be a terrible way to play it yeah, but there are quite a few great android ports that are intended for use with a controller, sure they still throw in half assed touch controls but its not the way they intend for it to be played. A good example of this would be the great max payne 1 port (or any rockstar android game really). There are also games that REQUIRE a controller like hotline miami 1 and 2. You could easily just port it without the touch controls too. I replay Silent Hill 1 like once a month, always on android. Its much more convenient than on pc.
When I read that there is a version for linux it made my day, I use linux and people only give attention to windows, but my happiness was gone when I tried to run and nothing happened, I tried to open it on terminal and this appears on the screen: Loading in SingleInstance mode
But nothing happens, the game doesn't open, how can I make it work here?
I use debian buster with kde.
Hey I'm really sorry Linux version doesn't work on your end. We don't have a legit linux device so we don't have a way of testing the ports. Someone said the linux version works on their device so I'm not sure what exactly makes it incompatible to other devices. I might try and set up a virtual machine (which I've never done before) with a Linux OS, or any way I can test the linux version myself. If I find a fix, I'll let you know.
Ok, thank you :)
The distro I use here is debian buster, I don't know if it has something to do with debian.
No prob! Thank you for your patience.
My friend and I set up a virtual machine (mine is Debian with KDE while my friend uses linux mint iirc). I tried out Terminus and the launcher opens correctly (where you can chose the resolution, framerate, achievements, etc) but when I click "play" then it hangs on a black screen... however I found out that virtual machines aren't for playing games unless you have good specs (and my PC is old enough to drink in the US) so if the launcher doesn't appear on your end then we may have a possible solution.
My friend tried a working project yesterday and it didn't run on his end (it starts and instantly closes the game) which might mean it's a graphic API issue. Game is trying to play in Vulkan API (which my gfx supports) instead of OpenGL; if that's the case then it shouldn't be hard to fix the issue but we are still testing stuff out so I hope you won't mind if it takes longer. Cheers!
Update to my previous message: My friend and I both set up Debian with KDE and it works on our end with 3D acceleration disabled. (with a few transparency/camera issues here and there)
We also attempted to disable Vulkan support but it didn't fix the issue. I'm sorry, I think this could be a component related issue but I'm not 100% sure. As a last resort, you could try and run the game with -force-opengl command line if it helps.
Here I use opengl by default, so it should run, but it doesn't, it quickly opens a window and closes right after, like it opens but closes in less than a second, maybe because computer is too old too? But as it's a game with ps1 graphics I thought it would run here, is there a list of minimum requisites necessary to run the game? Maybe it would help to know. And thank you for answering me and for the patience to try to fix this on linux, it's rare when developers answer the public and give this kind of attention, so thanks again, I appreciate that ^^
We'll still try to see if we can get the game to be compatible with most devices, for now we assume your computer has 3d acceleration which was giving us the same closing issue on our VMs but we'll see what can be done.
Cool bro, you guys are doing it great
I loved this so much man! This captures the exact same vibe as Silent Hill 1. Actually this has the potential to be better than silent hill 1! Even though Silent hill 1 one of my favorite games of all time it has a few weak parts, like the sewers and it has some pacing issues too, like almost all early 3d games. With this you can perfect silent hill 1s unique style of horror! Please continue working on this. If you could set up a way to donate I would gladly do so!
Thank you so much man, it means a lot to hear that! :D
Yeah water-related levels in games are usually different, even though SH1's sewer levels are a bit linear, I still like them. (they probably wanted to make something a little different compared to the school or hospital)
I'll do my best when it comes to the full version but it'll take a while for it to happen. My friend and I who made the demo are currently recharging our batteries but will come back to the project eventually.
Thank you for the offer, we really appreciate it but keep it; You may need it, considering what the world is going through at the moment. Cheers!
You're welcome man! Thanks for the response! Ill definitely keep an eye out for this game's full release if it happens and devlogs/updates. I really hope this game doesn't get abandoned like a lot of psx projects.
Yeah with the sewers they wanted to make something different but they didn't know how to do it well due to the limited hardware and them being unexperienced since 3d was new tech at the time. They also didn't have the budget, it was too linear as a result and really killed the pacing.
This demo is one of the few things that brought me joy in 2020 so you definitely deserve money for this, it was a though year for everyone. Thankfully the pandemic didn't effect me at all financially (but it affected me in many other ways) so I would gladly donate.
How did you go about hitting that PSX look? Any tips/tricks? Obviously there's affine mapping, low res textures, but what else would you recommend for achieving this look?
The things I used are: CRT effect(s), pixelization, diffuse shaders with affine mapping and vertex snapping (polygon twitching), 8-bit/16-bit color depth and the most important of all... dithering. :)
What kind of CRT effect did you use? Like I'm unable to really see it in the footage that Alpha Beta posted.
As for pixelisation, im also unable to see it in videos. What pixel density did you set it to?
Pixelization is disabled by default, you'll notice all the effect changes when you toggle between them. The v0.1.3 version tells the players in-game that they can do that from options>extras.
ah that's likely why I didn't see it. So by default it's running at max res?
Yup :)
I couldn't decide whether to have it on or off by default, so for now I decided to have it off. Maybe for the full version I'll have it enabled by default, but I'm still not sure about that. I'll think about it.
As a big fan of Silent Hill 1 (my favourite game ever) I played this demo. And this is amasing! Special thanks for the gamepad support! So I played in normal/normal difficulties, and I had several problems: 1. on normal/hard difficulties protagonist falls too easily into the abyss (sometimes he turns his back on the abyss and falls into it, lol); 2. sometimes the same monsters die from one shot, sometimes from six. That's strange; 3. frequent respawn of enemies where they were not. It's okay. But why do they show up in the save room?! my pants are full of bricks; Otherwise, everything is very cool, I will wait for updates!
p.s. a new content and sounds from SH1/2 for menu it's ohuenno :D
Hey thank you so much! I greatly appreciate it, it's one of my favourite and first game I ever played on the PS1! :D
1) That is sort of intended but there is a mechanic for it: when you step over the pitfall on normal/hard, the player will enter this "nearly falling" animation. During this animation if you press forward (or the button towards the hole) then you will get a game over. Instead, when he enters the animation, you should let him pull himself up. He will always succeed pulling himself back to safety unless you press forward during the animation, or he gets attacked/pushed.
I'm sure there are some collision issues as well where some specific pitfalls can be re-triggered twice if you're in the right spot. I'll try to fix those if I encounter any. I'm just so used to the pitfalls that I can run through areas with wooden planks without triggering a pitfall.
2) On normal/hard enemies will recover back up if they're not stomped/finished. If they are downed and you save the game, they are gonna be loaded into the game as "alive&walking with 1 HP" or something like that.
3) SPOILER: The enemies have a 10% chance to travel to other rooms if they cannot find you close by. That also includes the save rooms, most of them are accessible by enemies. There are, however, some doors enemies will never pass through. One of the demo discs for SH1 had a trigger event with a demon child going through the door near the school library.
I'm glad you liked the SH1/SH2 sfx library. :D If you switch to SH2, it changes the loading screen and inventory status. Thank you once again for playing the game and giving feedback! Cheers!
Managed to finished it. Great game, great monsters with some critic at the end of my playthrough.
Thanks man, I appreciate it! I left a reply in the comment section to clear some stuff up, just in case. :D
Well you've absolutely nailed the look and feel of Silent Hill 1. Definitely gonna do a playthrough of this for my channel!
Hey thank you very much! We're looking forward to it. :D
I like this demo very much! Is there a way to send you donations?
I'm glad you liked the demo and thank you very much for the offer. For now, there is no need to donate or contribute in any way. Cheers! :D
Game is cool but it seems a bit too easy to fall to your death for how many holes there are.
Thank you and yes, there's a lot of pitfalls as a secondary threat. That's intentional.
If you switch your action difficulty to EASY, then the pitfall trigger will be disabled (meaning, you won't be able to fall into holes or get pushed into them).
However if you still plan on playing in normal/hard action difficulty then if you get into "nearly falling" animation, just wait for a few seconds and the player will automatically bring himself back no problem. When you're in the "near falling" animation, getting attacked or pressing the walk button towards the hole will cause a game over. I hope the info helps. :D
can you make pinky next-
Made a video
Holy moly, I'd pay full price for a full game of this. Great work, you really captured that Silent Hill 1 atmosphere.
Hey thank you so much! It means a lot to hear that and I'm glad you liked it! :D
Very fun
I do love the potent amounts of dedication and Silent Hill vibes this gives off, can't wait to see more
another crash randomly in the shower room :o
I went to turn the shower nozzle. Not sure if that's a function or not, but I figured I'd mention it in case that's the reason.
Hey dude! Thank you for the previous message but I'm sorry the game crashes on your end so frequently.
1) Are you playing on Windows? If not, then maybe it's a port specific issue.
2) Does the game automatically exit the game? If not, then open the debug console to see if there's an error.
3) Does the game stutter or have framerate issues? Try setting the game to 30FPS (options -> frame limit) and if that doesn't help, try disabling all effects (options -> extras -> crt off, dithering off, color depth to 32-bit)
The game really is a love letter to Ps1 games like Silent Hill. Nice job. I will keep an eye out for this game's full release.
Here's my channel for other games I have played. http://www.youtube.com/c/Levont
Random crash after I got the photo from the box and came back into the room. I don't think I did anything to make it occur, I was just walking. Wish I could give you a more detailed report :/ Good thing there's a save anywhere function. That sure is cool!
Anyway, the game itself is amazing so far. This definitely has the potential to be an amazing spiritual successor to Silent Hill. Definitely scratched the itch that I've been looking for for so long. Atmosphere was amazing.
very atmospheric, I love it
Pretty cool demo. I enjoyed it for the most part. The pits become really annoying after a while though and some enemies are so relentless that you don't really get a chance to fight back. I got a little lost toward the end of my vid but it was still pretty fun. Thanks!
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good vibes retro ... great