Darkness is a linear (with optional side-quests) first-person Horror Adventure game. Six people over the prior month have gone missing from a hotel. You, a hired detective, have been brought in to investigate. Only problem is, this investigation will be a bit more than you bargained for. The setting is in the early 1920s. World War 1 just ended, prohibition just got added as the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The world is in a frenzy and you're at the thick of it, dealing with possibly one of the most unique cases you've ever had. Will you - Can you survive the darkness?

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Hello everyone, it's been an exciting week for Darkness. Ever since I posted the initial News thread here at Moddb, the team behind Darkness has grown.

Before it was just me. I can barely model so I used a paper look to everything. I can't write music so I stuck to public domain songs from the 1920s and before. However, as a result of making Darkness open to the public, this is changing. First off, music.

After posting the News article last week Matt, who's working on the Source mod Outbreak : Condemned promptly Pmed me asking if he could work on the music for Darkness. I like Matt's work so I was happy to have in on board. Unfortunately one week isn't enough time to finish a song (unless you're Jonathan Coulton), so there's nothing to let you all listen to this week.

Next we have the modeling. The other day DemonProwler posted in the ModDB forum offering services in virtually everything (programming, level design, shader work, modeling, etc). After sending him the link to Darkness he decided to join the team as well. Demon Prowler has probably one of the most skilled texture works I've ever seen for modeling.

He models with very low polygon counts. Most of his stuff is under 300 polygons. He makes up for this by doing fantastic texture work that's so good the model appears to be a much higher polygon count. Here's a render (done in Cinema 4D) of several models he's done for the game so far:

After seeing this I began to wonder how the game would like if it was fully 3D, and not stuck to left and right. So at the moment I'm currently working on transitioning the current content over to an entire 3D level that you walk around in (in a first person perspective). This servers a few nice benefits:

1) I can fit more stuff in a single room. So instead of having hugely long hallways filled with paintings, I can make a more realistic settings filled with a ton of notes and such hidden throughout, and in a lot less time as well.
2) I'm having trouble finding a character modeler. Doing an FPS hand and arm is much easier, and it's something DemonProwler can do as well.
3) It's more interactive overall. This is always a plus.

I'm not saying that the game will definitely switch over to a full 3D view, but it might.And that's all for the update this week everyone. Hopefully there will be more to show and tell next week!

-William

Darkness - An Introduction

Darkness - An Introduction

News 8 comments

Introducing “Darkness”. Darkness is an attempt by me to create a side-scrolling horror adventure game. I've never touched either of the two genres...

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Jokerme
Jokerme

So?

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leilei
leilei

Hey I remember that short-lived band!

yeah, a new name could be a good idea. There's already many things named "Darkness" including a commercial game. Go synonym hunting?

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TheGameSquid
TheGameSquid

As far as I know, there isn't a single commercial game in existence called "Darkness". I may be mistaken though.

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xalener
xalener

How the hell have you never heard of the darkness? :P

It was a damn good game. Short lived, but good.

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wbokunic Creator
wbokunic

There's a commercial game called "Darkness" or "The Darkness?" I can only find one called the latter.

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Thestjester
Thestjester

Indeed the concept is neat, there is a lack of projects within the genre so that helps with creating a strong fan base. Its design is relatively simple, but not very original which is something that could be expanded throughout the course of your development. Think of complexity in terms of design elements such as map layouts and of course challenges, I believe this is what will make or break your game. No pun intended as I type this, but I personally find the blood writing on the wall to be extremely cheesy. Perhaps its the style of writing which appears too "perfect", as each letter is perfectly aligned with one another (font typed?). If you must go this route, find a font that's more imperfect and choose a saturation that doesn't stand out as much. If your aiming for a "Sin City/Spirit" style, then the wacky hue's will work, just make sure your desaturated tones stand out just as well. Hope this helps a bit, good luck with your project!

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wbokunic Creator
wbokunic

The design of the game is getting reworked quite a bit from how it currently is, do to the attempt at switching to a full 3D environment. The noticeable blood on the walls will probably go away in its current form, but I'm adding something that'll bring it back in a vastly more interesting way.

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KaiMan32
KaiMan32

Man, I never liked the dark. But I bet this game will be very good :D

Tracking

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tobier
tobier

This game is indeed dark. :)

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Spiderhund
Spiderhund

wow this is looking really good.
I love the atmosphere of this game :)

Good job

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