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The Devil Inside
ThatCrazyShaman Offline
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#1
The Devil Inside

"This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine." Prospero, The Tempest


For the past couple of years, I've dabbled with re-working some of my story ideas so that they would work as potential Amnesia custom stories/mods. During that time, I didn't have a practical way of actually working on any projects due to my computer being a piece of junk half the time [I still don't know exactly what's wrong with it], and so I focused primarily on writing while seeking out other people to help me.
I came fairly close to actually getting somewhere with one particular idea, but, as is common in life, we all became preoccupied with more important things, and I decided to put that one on hold until a later date.

I finally decided it was about time I got back into mapping myself, after two years of not doing so, and I settled on doing a small project that would be good practice for the more involved ideas I have for later.
I've also got some great people helping me out. RaideX will be handling scripting for me and Umbakarna will be assisting me with one particular map and potentially a few other things.

I was doing some research a little while ago for a series of short stories I'm writing for my book, one of which this is based on. The series focuses on plants as the catalyst of the events that take place within them, so you already have a faint idea of what this will be about, without me giving away anything important.

The Devil Inside

This is a work-in-progress that I just started on not long ago. It will be a relatively short Amnesia custom story, set within a fairly small, contained world.

On a rainy afternoon, Olive awakens in a state of disarray; wracked by fever and unable to remember what has happened, she stumbles forth in search of her husband, whom she is certain will look after her.
Rather, she finds herself wandering her own property, searching for help while experiencing vivid delusions of the child she never got the chance to raise and being stalked by a strange creature that calls to her, intermittently blacking out just to come to in unfamiliar, almost dream-like vistas.
What is real and what isn't? Only one way to find out.


About

As stated above, this will be a somewhat short custom story [or, at least, I think it will be - I'm terrible at judging these things], with relatively small maps.

I know, I know; you are probably saying how boring that will make it. While this might sound like it would be excessively short, I’ve thought up some ways to make it longer without building gigantic maps. Rather, I wanted to get away from the castles and mansions that Amnesia is known for and, instead, create a modest three-story house, owned by a middle-class couple.

While it’s going to be a short CS, there will be A LOT of story, most of which occurs in the form of dialogue. And not only that, but it avoids many of the major tropes of stories created for the Amnesia-verse. I’ve tried to keep the story organic to the real world [and it's about a topic many people are totally unaware of, at that], as well as interesting. There is an element of mystery to it, a grand revelation and an ending that I think has the potential to be memorable.
It deals quite a bit with mental illness, as well as the effects of a certain plant-based chemical compound on the human brain.

It follows Olive, named after a character in one of W.H. Auden’s songs, in which he mentions slaying a devil – lol FORESHADOWING! … No, not really. But there is something of a reference to that in there xD.

The one trope carried over from the Amnesia series is the, well, amnesia. Olive wakes up with no memory of what has transpired recently, and she struggles to recall what has happened over the past few years while also dealing with her inability to distinguish reality from her own delusions. When she does finally figure out what's going on, it isn't what she expected, to say the least.
Her primary goal is to explore and surpass any obstacles that present themselves. At some point, she settles on a more solid objective and begins collecting things with a particular use in mind.

That being said, the CS utilizes a lot of sensible backtracking - that is to say, you only go looking for an item once you actually know that you need it for something. It won't be collectable before you know what it's role is, since the ability to gather random objects for no apparent reason has always driven me nuts in games.
And then there's the aforementioned "dream-like vistas", which are based, almost down to the last detail, on a dream I had recently featuring some odd interior decorating and rather unusual monsters.

There will be a new monster [which I'm working on right now], as well as some re-textured creatures that wander certain areas.
There will also be some new wall/floor/ceiling textures that I've made... most of which are also based on the dream I mentioned, as well.

I should be posting some screenshots of the preliminary maps shortly, as I need some feedback, seeing as I haven't done any mapping in so long xD.

...The only people worthy of consideration are the unusual ones. Common folks are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed. - L. Frank Baum
08-03-2014, 01:04 AM
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Daktoa Offline
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#2
RE: The Devil Inside

This sounds really interesting, I can't wait to see it. I really like the idea of plant-themed amnesia cs, cause plants are really opposite to the way most amnesia stories are themed.

The only thing I might have to say is that you probably shouldn't make people backtrack to get things.
You say it frustrates you that you pick up random objects for no apparent reason, but it's also pretty frustrating not to be able to pick up an important looking item just because you haven't found it's exact purpose yet.
08-03-2014, 05:29 AM
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AGP Offline
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#3
RE: The Devil Inside

If it's a fairly contained world, I can't imagine the backtracking being a terrible burden.

I love the idea of this and can't wait to see those screenshots! Big Grin

08-03-2014, 05:58 AM
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ThatCrazyShaman Offline
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#4
RE: The Devil Inside

(08-03-2014, 05:29 AM)Daktoa Wrote: This sounds really interesting, I can't wait to see it. I really like the idea of plant-themed amnesia cs, cause plants are really opposite to the way most amnesia stories are themed.

The only thing I might have to say is that you probably shouldn't make people backtrack to get things.
You say it frustrates you that you pick up random objects for no apparent reason, but it's also pretty frustrating not to be able to pick up an important looking item just because you haven't found it's exact purpose yet.

Glad to hear you're interested Smile

You make a good point there, but, at the same time, it would probably not be that much of an issue. The few things that the player will need to backtrack to get probably won't seem terribly important at first lol

(08-03-2014, 05:58 AM)AGP Wrote: If it's a fairly contained world, I can't imagine the backtracking being a terrible burden.

I love the idea of this and can't wait to see those screenshots! Big Grin

Judging from the way I've been setting things up, backtracking wouldn't take much time at all, so I don't think anyone would mind too much.

I'm happy that the idea is well-received! Now I just need to get those screenshots squared away.
They'll be up soon; I got a bit distracted working on a miniature side project to cheer up my girlfriend, as she's been having a really hard time lately.

...The only people worthy of consideration are the unusual ones. Common folks are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed. - L. Frank Baum
(This post was last modified: 08-09-2014, 11:38 PM by ThatCrazyShaman.)
08-09-2014, 11:33 PM
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Daktoa Offline
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#5
RE: The Devil Inside

Aw, sorry to hear about your girlfriend. I hope she gets better soon.

Also can't wait to see the the screenshots!
08-10-2014, 04:40 AM
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ThatCrazyShaman Offline
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#6
RE: The Devil Inside

(08-10-2014, 04:40 AM)Daktoa Wrote: Aw, sorry to hear about your girlfriend. I hope she gets better soon.

Also can't wait to see the the screenshots!

Thank you; that's very nice of you to say. I'm doing what I can to lift her spirits - hopefully she'll be back on her feet soon.

I'll have them up sometime this week, once I finish polishing one particular map [my favorite one] Smile

...The only people worthy of consideration are the unusual ones. Common folks are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed. - L. Frank Baum
08-10-2014, 05:05 AM
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