Sunday 29 July 2012

Slender: Source News For July, 29th 2012







It kinda bugs me that people are reporting that we are part of Parsec Productions. We're our own standalone studio 'Ethereal Entertainment' and we've gotten Mark J Hadley's blessing to produce and finish Slender: Source, and we're really proud to have his support in our first endeavor making a video-game. So again, we're our own development team, and Slender: Source isn't related to, or a direct sequel to Slender by Parsec & Mark J Hadley.

However, in other news there's been some detail leaks about Slender: Source that I need to correct. We said the game MAY be released in February or March of 2013, but we weren't too sure if we'd have a solid game by then that people can enjoy. You can expect it in 2013 sometime, but as for early 2013 we're gonna do our best. That gives us around 8 months of development time, and since we're only doing two maps for the first release that shouldn't be such a difficult task. We've got a ton of models being made, both of the maps have some pretty sweet progress done on them, and the coding is starting to get a little more completed.

We've also got a pretty awesome person doing our decal art for us that you'll see in-game. This is essentially going to be in the form of notes, diary pages, and just creepy imagery you'll see plastered on some of the maps. Here's an example of one.

Another thing I'd like to cover is that we're going to keep the isolated feel that players experienced, and expect from something like this. Players will be split up from the get go and their best chances of survival is to reunite, and only one of them has a flashlight. The other players will still be able to see and everything, it's just the flashlight will prove a very useful asset. However, if the player carrying it dies it'll be able to be picked up, so no worries there.

Adding to the isolated experience is the way we're working with voice-chat. You'll only be able to communicate with people within your vicinity, and you won't be able to speak to the dead. We realize third-party programs would ruin this, but if people want to ruin their experience that's fine with me.

Also, each experience shouldn't be the same when you play Slender: Source. We're not going to have randomly generated maps, but the scares & dolls are going to be different every-time. The dolls will spawn in different locations, and the scares won't happen in the same places either.

A common question we're getting is people applying for beta testers, etc. We're no where near the point of looking for testers. Wait till we release a formal announcement about it, but until then we're not doing beta testing until we have a stable product.

Also, to all the people thinking this won't be scary. Some of the development team has been jumping during testing of the maps, etc. If we're getting scared by our own creation we hope other people do to.

Until then, we hope you're all excited for the mod and we can't wait to play with you guys in-game.

- Justin Ross




Friday 27 July 2012

Slender: Source Intentions




Justin "Manio" Ross here, and I'd just like toss out a little bit of information out to the community, and hopefully clear up a ton of confusion, and problems that have recently arisen with the mod, and with people watching the mod's progress.

People have been concerned that we're trying to cash in on the success of the indie horror title "Slender" developed by Mark J Hadley, but this is not the case. We're all huge fans of his game on the development team, and huge fans of the Slenderman mythos as well. Slender: Source (name subject to change) is purely an inspirational piece to show our love for Slender, and the urban legend around the creature. We apologize formally to Mark J Hadley, and want him to know that we're not trying to undermine, or do anything negative on what was already presented with Slender.

It's a fantastic game; and we're just trying to show it some love by developing this and we hope that this can clear some things up and we can discuss the future of our games together, and provide some truly horrific scares to the gamer community, which he has done marvelously with Slender.

The name change is purely because we don't want people to think we're a "sequel" or "spin-off" to Slender. We're our own creation, and own take on the myths and we don't want to take any credit, and what-not for the original Slender, and the inspiration it has given us.

Slender is a brilliant game, and everyone here at Ethereal Entertainment can see it becoming a solid experience that will probably be one of the best horror games of all time, and we know for a fact there's no competing with it, and we never even planned on competing. We just wanted to put our own "spin" on the Slenderman legend, completely separate from what Mark and Parsec Productions provided for players.

It should be mentioned that without his game; we never would of designed Slender: Source. Being a fan of the mythos for a while myself I never knew that a Slenderman game could work until I saw his project, played it & fell in love. I mainly started development of Slender: Source for something my friends and I could run about it, and really never wanted it to become huge and gain media coverage. I just wanted something people I was close to could experience together; since we all adored Slender.

Anyways, please go here and play the original game and tell Mark J. Hadley about the wonderful job that he's doing with Slender.

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/141488-Slender-Beta-0.9

Everyone here would like to tell Mark directly that we love his work, and we all would purchase his game if he plans to distribute it; and that no ill intentions were planned with Slender: Source, and that we wish him the best of luck with Slender. It's one of our favorite games!

- Justin Ross
Founder of Ethereal Entertainment

Monday 16 July 2012

(PC) Four Keys | Review by Manio






Developer: Andrew "Mclogenog" Yoder
Engine: Unreal Development Kit
Platform: Windows
Genre: Adventure-Puzzler
Release Date: July 10th, 2012
Download/Game URL: http://www.indiedb.com/games/four-keys


 Four Keys is a short experimental game about exploration, the ways we think about physical space, and the medium specificity of video games. Does it deliver, or does it seem like another lackluster Portal clone?
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 The Game
Four Keys is a puzzle-exploration game designed on the Unreal Engine; or at-least that's what I think the game is. You're solving what seems to be puzzles; or just exploring. It's really hard to tell what kind of direction the game is going in. However, on to the review!

The whole concept of Four Keys is to well, find four keys hidden around the level. It's not exactly the most difficult things to do, and you should expect to complete the game in about ten minutes. So, to put it bluntly it's extremely short, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The game does one thing exceptionally well, and that's the feel/design. When I was in game I felt like I was exploring some sort of "virtual" "Tron-like" universe, and to escape I needed to find these keys.

The game doesn't really give you any directions as to why you need these keys, you just do. The point of the keys is to unlock the color-coded doors all around the map, and these doors usually lead to the other keys. However, some doors are not color coded and you can just simply enter them at anytime you wish and check them out, and possibly find a key. And this where the puzzle component gets thrown at you. 

 An example of one of the color coded rooms.

 Each room seems to have some sort of puzzle-esque element to them, or at-least that's how I felt in my experience with the game (you may feel differently). For example, one room had me wandering up what seemed to be endless flights of stairs, and I was getting extremely frustrated and figured this to be amateur level design, only to find my theory proven wrong. A really neat concept for a puzzle, and it made me feel an idiot at the end result.

So, aside from the "old-school" "Tron-like" visuals, we're also represented with what seems like some pretty retro sound effects that sound like some old kind of computer system when you pick up objects, and interact with the environment. It's a wonderful feeling; and it really helps to capture the mood. Since this game is so short, my review is pretty much coming to an end, but don't fret this game isn't bad what-so-ever, it could just use a little polish and some extra content. Again, this is an early build of the game and I'm expecting some more levels later on. 

 The Good

  • Funky level design really makes you feel like you're in some sort of virtual world.
  • The adventuring, and "puzzle" aspect reminds me of Portal; so fans of the Portal series may enjoy this.
  • Retro sound effects that really set the mood for the game.
  • A fun, little game to quickly breeze through and experience.
  • It's free!
 The Bad
  • Lack of content is a little disheartening, but I hope more maps/levels will be added in the future. This game has potential.
  • It may be a little short for some people.
  • Could use of some polish to some of the models, and the levels feel a tad bare.
  • The direction of the game is a little confusing; but my verdict is that it's a puzzle adventure game like Portal.
 So, what's the final verdict for Four Keys? It's a very neat concept, but some of it seems a little lack-luster and bare. Still though, it's a fun experience to quickly breeze through, and has a lot of potential. If the game added more content, and possibly a 1-2 story I could see people dropping a few bucks on this. It's free so everyone should check it out. Four Keys gets a Thumbs Up from me.
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Review by Manio, as seen on NooBTooB.com