Thanks for watching everyone! Who knows the feeling of constantly changing things about your game? Also a huge thank you to ALL OF YOU during me recent streams to give me great ideas! THANK YOU! ► Wishlist Twisted Tower: store.steampowered.com/app/1575990/Twisted_Tower/ ► Learn how to become a full time game dev, free: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-how-to-make-six-figures ► Enroll in my 3D workshop, free!: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-15-minute-3D-game ► Make your game instantly beautiful with my free workbook: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-instant-beauty-color-workbook ► Get my 2D game kit, free: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-2D-game-kit ► Join my 2D character workshop, free: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-2d-character-art-workshop ► Learn how to make money as a TH-camr: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-indie-game-income-workshop
Hi about the ultimate, is that a combination of all you fulltimedev material + jasons fullpath bundle ? .. or is it totally new materials ? was not clear in your promo :D
The plot still seems slightly incohesive... to me its strange to have a game show with a cash prize AND to be searching for your bride. Is the prize/money the motivating factor for the protagonist? or is the bride? I don't see how the two are connected in this sense.
It doesn't take a genius to understand that at the end of the game you will get a choice between money or your wife. There will probably be some plot twist with your wife betraying you. Took me like 30 seconds to find a cohesive story...
I think he is getting desperate after wasting two years on a project with no clear goal in mind than "to become viral". His downfall will be switching from 2d to 3d. NFTs is just another symptom of his desperation.
All these ideas especially charlotte sounds really good. Would love to see you exploring the squid game theme a little more, by including floors, dedicated with live or die mini games or something like that. Every mini game is lead by a new antagonist, who is a subordinate of mr tickles and if you beat the mini game, you will have to fight these subordinates as some boss fights. For me personally that sounds like a better gameplay hook, because the everchanging hotel system sounds like procedural generated levels and I´ve played a lot of those, including remnant from the ashes which is one of the better examples for procedural generated levels. Most of these games are boring. But yeah overall your game concept sounds a lot better than the original concept of father. Ah and btw Tower Of Tickles sounds like a good name, but I think that you could come up with am even better name.
I'm personally not a very huge fan of this new idea for a few reasons. 1: The environment would always look the same. This would probably make marketing harder, since you're just cutting out all the other outdoor areas which objectively looked better. 2: I think the new idea isn't better than the last one with the garden of eden and stuff. Not really a fan of the twist either, just making my way up the same hotel again and again with slight changes doesn't really seem that fun to me. I would much rather explore new beautiful areas (although that would take a lot more work for you). However, I'm a really big fan of these new movement improvements, as I thought the father demo was kinda boring. If you just added the new movement into the original father, and changed it a bit (like removing the stupid gates, I think you the half life 2 progression system is really good, maybe you should aim for something similar to that), and maybe change the story a bit because I can totally understand why you're having issues with it. It doesn't have to be linear either like father searches for daughter, then he finds her. You should try to make it like a movie with twists and turns and maybe somehow make it thrilling. I don't know. I just think you should reconsider this idea as I would personally want to buy father a lot more than this.
@@tarkanyilmaz425 Yeah I know, I don't know the full story of father but it probably needs a change if they can't come up with any new ideas. But I'm personally not a fan of the squid game thing. Anyway, if there is anything you should take away from this stupid comment I made, it's that this new idea taking place in a single location isn't a good idea. idk, just saying what I think
@@allanhedlund8007 yes I know that you don't know the story. It is easy to say make it like a movie with twists than to actually do it. Especially when thomas isn't inspired by the concept of father. The new direction seems much more exciting to him and thats better than going back to the old concept and trying hard to Come up with great ideas
I don't think all the environments are gonna look the same. There's a lot you can do just with different interior styles and the game not being realistic means they can go for some more wacky ideas like having one floor just be a forest or something
I very much appreciate somebody willing to be transparent about their process of making a game, helps the rest of us in seeing we're not alone. Thanks Thomas
As for game title ideas. How about "moon hotel". Here me out, the idea of a moonlit night fits perfectly with the horror genre and setting and you could work into the story that the bride and groom accidentally booked the "moon hotel" instead of the honeymoon hotel, either a grave mistake or a stroke of luck -- depending on if they can be the first to the top. or... combine moon with an adjective like: blood moon hotel
The reason why I followed the DEV Diaries was because of the plot of Father. I really thought that it was unique enough to watch as many of the videos as possibly can I tried to make my own story by wathcing the "level design" for some extra back story. The hotel theme for me sounds like "it has been done before". For me it is like the creators of American Horror Story season 5: Hotel TRIED to make a Bioshock knockoff. BUT I really do like the atmosphere and if you get the rythm down I think it will be a great game.
If you're playing with the hotel changes theme you can name is somethin like "Hotel Shift". The definition of shift has a few meanings that all fit your theme. 1 move or cause to move from one place to another, especially over a small distance. (Going from the bottom floor to the top floor) 2 a slight change in position, direction, or tendency (If you have random elements to the hotel) and 3 Shift could be the work period for the hotel workers(enemies in the hotel) like a night shift.
I personally like "The last laugh". (It hasn't been used for a game and no copyright reserve on it as far as I can tell) Sometimes you can add a sub-name to your game to differentiate it but be careful doing this at the beginning because it's usually done on the sequel etc and that can get confusing. Alternative idea for a game name: "Evil Live"
So I have a few general questions that I just want to throw out there for you to consider: 1. How exactly is proceedurally generating a new hotel layout every week a mechanic? Not to say this is a bad idea, but it feels less liek a mechanic and more of a feature that some players will enjoy and other won't. The 2nd question feeds off of this. 2. Who is this game marketed towards and what are your end goals? from the initial redesigned game I was hooked on the idea. A squid game-esque bioshock inspiured horror fps. This, like you said has a lot of open potential. But as you go on it feels like you are doubling down on a single aspect of the idea (the horror game show) and not exploring the other aspects as much. While the changed layout and tile trail style gameloop will be enjoyable to lots of players you are also potnetially limiting yourself in both depth and player base. Which then leads me to my 3rd question. What aspects of Bioshock are you utilizing? Bioshock is known for its rich world and story telling along with solid gunplay and cool abilities. Its still early on so, hopefully, solid controls and gunplay will come along before releas, but how are you utilizing those other aspects? If the hotel changes every week how do you build a rich story and environment around that? All in all I am enjoying the early sages of the game being shown and I just wanted to toss out some things to consider if they haven't been already. Also it sounds like you've already got a good game name on your hands with "Happy Hotel". Keep up the good work!
I currently work at moon studios. And you don't have any idea about how many iterations, changes, and simply reworking on something they do. I wasn't at the company during the Ori games, but they told even the story of Ori had some changes almost at the end of the development. They achieved what they wanted just by being critical of themselves. Sometimes it's SOOOO frustrating to rework, but in the end, it's worth it.
The game has a pretty interesting artstyle and I think the hotel changing and having a price every week is a cool idea but I'm not sure if it's the mechanical hook that will draw players in. The hotel changing isn't something the player can control or have influence over so they might not even view it as a mechanic. As for the prize, depending on how competitive a player is they also might not engage with the leaderboard at all. I don't know what the overlap between people who enjoy horror games and people who enjoy speedrunning is like, though maybe it's enough to make the game work (+ there's a big overlap between movement shooters and speedrunning fans so that might work too).
The mechanical hook for your game should definitely be a different hotel - every week - or perhaps subtle multiplayer "competition" from other players (think ghost drivers from racing games). But the rewards should not be something meta - like username changes or cash/money or something like that. NFTs could work sure (I'm not fond of them -yet) but the reward should be something that doesn't break the immersion of a horror game. After the first runthrough sure - but the canonical ending should be an in-universe reward. That's the mechanical hook you need. Somebody mentioned adding forests? I totally agree that this "Hotel" should be completely paranormal and actually transport you to different locales - forests, lava fields, caves, outer space (planets), etc. Go wild. If you can keep the horror in there but go no holds barred on a crazy hotel that would be a very interesting hook. Obviously you'd have to also always tie in (visually) the connection to the hotel. So that it still paranormally feels like its within the hotel but man that feels like a good idea to have. Love the change in direction. Feels so much more interesting. Also I'd be happy to help write your game for you, for free! Hmu
Tower of tickles is more unique and mayabe need more teasing around the tickles. But i think something with Hotel is much better because the environment is also a hook.
I would think the "hook" would be the bride in the game. Make a twist on her instead maybe? I think it would be even cooler if she had some story involvement with the hotel changing or something. Then again, might be too cliche and done before. Love your series and wish you the best on your game!
The Week Ends As the name of the Hotel, also i would make it a Casino/Hotel with creepy mini games to open doors and new floors, you could change those mini games each week too. Give me a job ❤
Changing from a narrative horror FPS with cultists and demon enemies to a run-based rogue-lite with NFTs and an online leaderboard based ranking system seems like two entirely different games. I dont think there is much cross-over between the audiences that would be interested in actually playing those two games. You should hire a writer to give you a cohesive story so that you have a solid foundation for the setting and characters that actually mean something to the player. Either that or just scrap the story part all together and go for the full emersion of the character just being a vehicle for the player to complete their best weekly run. You can call the player character "The Guest" and play up the "anonymous victim wakes up in the hotel" aspect of having multiple runs and weekly changing content. It doesnt sound like the characters personal story is going to have any direct impact or meaningful development anyway, so just making them a different person each time the player does a run would not detract at all. Instead you can have the narrative aspect focus on the hotel, its residents, and the mystery of the gameshow that is being put on inside it. This would also lend itself more easily to a sequel in the future, since the franchise and game wont be tied to a specific married couple or main character but tied instead to the hotel itself and the mystery figure who runs the show. It is incredibly hard to believe that the couple would ever be unfortunate enough to get caught in similar circumstances again, but if the player is a random guest, it plays to the idea that many people are trying to get to the top of the tower and that every playthrough is a different "contestant" in the game. The NFT thing is definitely also a turnoff to a lot of people, and it going to be a hard "dont buy" from a big chunk of people who might otherwise be interested in a competitive run-based single player boomer shooter.
Watched the video for a second time. I think that you have a lot of great ideas, you could also sprinkle some different lore and story scraps every week hidden in this changing hotel. But man NFTs really? Why would you ruin such a good concept with nfts. I don't get it Thomas thats a reason for me not to buy this game
I honestly preferred the previous version. I don't like the new version (yet. maybe that changes), since it doesn't feel as creative and individual, but rather like a mixture of stuff that already exists and is popular instead of building on your own ideas. But yeah, it doesn't have to be perfect for me, seems like most people like it, so thats fine :)
I really like the "charlotte" enemy. Sounds like a mix of Mr. X and Lickers from resident evil 2. However, the idea of squid game theme sounds much less intriguing and interesting than what you had before. Playing some games to win a cash prize just isn't as intriguing in a horror game as fighting some ancient cult to save your daughter. The new mechanics are very similar to Doom Ethernal now. Seems like the player is too powerful and agile now. But others seem to like the new direction so I guess it's just me not being a fan of squid game... About the name, "Happy Hotel" with some creepy background cover would be best.
Don't get me wrong, I love the idea, i just really liked the overall religious theme and sad to see it go. It's not a deal breaker, just something to note.
Playing on your garden of eden theme, why not something along the lines of Hotel Genesis (also playing on hotel california "you may never leave"), or something else to hint at the connection to the occult? Tower of Babbel also might be something to key off of here, the idea that the cult was building the tower to reach the heavens.
Be careful with usernames being added to the tower. (Derogatory gamer names being shown)... Also the hotel would have to be at least somewhat diverse without becoming boring after 30 mins of gameplay. I think looking at the Forest Temple from Ocarina of Time is a good start, how they twist and bend the dungeon to keep things fresh (and a bit confusing!) Also changing the level every Friday is a huge development commitment on your part, in fact anything multiplayer driven can cost your reputation as a developer if it's not updated regularly. Last thing, having the reward as the player "owns" the tower or player name is shown isn't really that fun to me and isn't worth the time put in to grind the levels/floors of the tower. Just my thoughts.
like all the changes, except one, from the way you put it it really wasnt clear if you're joking about the nfts or not. if you weren't I'm not buying the game, period. To be completely clear. even if yours wasn't nefarious on it's own, it would lead people into nft marketplaces where 99% of the "projects" are money laundering schemes or scams at best.
I agree, this looks really bad compared to what we saw of Father. It feels like he kept trying to make more and more ideas and never stopped to consider if they were good ideas. I'm also very sad to hear he wants NFTs and real money prizes in the game, it'll ruin the game for sure.
Yea. I’m a big thomas brush fan but it really feels like he’s grasping at straws trying to keep the game idea alive. Just coming up with a bunch of mediocre ideas and seeing what sticks. I hate to see it and really hope he can pull through on this but the clashing ideas (game prize/finding bride/real money prizes/nfts) come off as very in-cohesive. I will say the weekly changing castle layout seems like a really fun mechanic to me though.
I prefer "Vacancy" as a title to the other three options but it seems the story is about a groom trying to find his bride so i think "Honeymoon Hotel" or "Jamboree Tower" since its a weekly celebration of winners
@@tarkanyilmaz425 It doesn't sound spooky... Honeymoon Horror? Infinite Tower if we have to vote on one already listed. I mean, if it's going to change every week...
There are plenty of actual hotels called like that all around the globe. It would be awkward both for people trying to search the game and business owners.
Interesting premise swap. The only issue with the hotel I can see is area diversity. To ensure you have diverse and interesting areas, I'd add a psychedelic element. Like on the level of tripping balls and seeing a forest. That way, maybe you could even add aspects of Father back into the game.
"The only issue with the hotel" - really? I see an increase in scope, throwing away all of the preproduction and having to re-do it. Different target audience and shift in setting/tone. As well as gamifying a horror game, which usually works best in realistic settings (afaik).
Hi, I love your work. I've been watching your content for a really long time and when you first started working on father, I was so excited, especially when you mentioned that it was a little inspired by bioshock infinite. In spite of it's inspirations Father felt personal and unique. I agree with you when you say that you were having a hard time coming up with ideas, especially utilizing biblical and religious themes, but I think if you revisit why you came up with this idea in the first place, it will help you move forward. Sometimes simple is better and in father's case, would have been perfect. You don't have to reinvent the wheel with father, just tell a good story. Your new idea is ok, but it's nowhere near interesting or even attractive to me as father was. I trust your going to make a good game regardless and I hope no matter what direction you go in you keep making good games and keep sharing with us on your journey.
I had a crazy dream of your game last night (no joke it was so strange I think I've been watching so many of your videos they've slipped into my subconscious) but in it had different title (must've been dreamspeak, you gotta love the weird stuff your sleeping brain comes up with, I also must be thinking about it too much lol) tl:dr but anyway if you are still taking new names put my vote in for: Velvet Dread (I know its really odd but there's something comforting but also scary about it) Also, I gotta say I love that you are doing this too; same thing happened with Biohazard when it was localized for US, they had a vote on a new name (since Biohazard was taken already Stateside) and they ended up with Resident Evil, some people hate it but I think it's truly perfect, it honestly fits the game so well and something inexplicably poetic too... Anyway, I think i'm sleep deprived so I'm going to bed now just thought id mention it before I forget!!!
WHOA I really like that!! Maybe it could be "Dread Velvet" like a play on red velvet [cake] in reference to wedding cake or something like that but I feel like it fits the vibe of the game, dreams are weird for sure but good idea m8
Would you consider releasing what you had of "Father" as a bonus, or something? Because what i saw looked very interesting, and I'd love to explore it.
Seeing the video I get the impression that the hook is still missing. The Hotel theme that you need to get to the top every week sounds like a multiplayer focused thing, but you play alone (at least that is how I understand it). Sound like it could be fun, but also sounds like it could be a sporadic game like Fall Guys (fun for a little while, but not substantial). On the design side of the game, the weapons and locations seem very polished and look good, but the monsters seem to be so standard/boring that they stand out like a sore thumb. The new dancing monsters just made me think of teletubies or a generic horror game. Charlotte also gives that vibe (see the indie game Grannie for an example of similar design). My suggestion is: Embrace some madness in monster design and behaviour. Maybe Cronenberg them up a bit, making them look like nightmares or make the less symmetrical. On a personal note: The Garden of Eden thing seemed better for me. The hotel/gameshow vibe plopped it in a generic limbo for my taste, but that could be just me being wrong! Will keep following the development and videos! Hope you figure all this stuff out and be happy with the game you and your team create!
Maybe I'm alone here but the original games plot and theme was the thing that hooked me. I haven't seen anything like that out there. I hope this new one works but in all honesty it feels like shoe horning in popular stuff and lacks the originality of the original game. The previous game seemed very personal and partially based on your inner self and beliefs. It had soul bursting from you. But I guess when you do this full time you can't take a gamble on this stuff you gotta try to play it more safe. I will be on the lookout for the development of the new game.
It's definitely important for you to be happy and satisfied with what you're creating. I was really into where the original game was going, but I'm sure the new version will good.
Thomas I’ve been watching your videos throughout the total development of my own game and you’re by far my favorite gamedev TH-camr. I think you’re on the right track with the changes in your game and I do hope you continue prototyping. I do want to give you some honest thoughts I have with regards to what I’ve seen so far with this game. So I do agree with the advice you received from Devolver that the game didn’t really have anything particularly unique or interesting about it (aside from looking great). There’s so many doom like FPS clones you have to compete with. And to be honest even with this pivot, which I do like the idea, I still can’t see this standing out much from other FPSs. I love how you’re so open with your development process and I just want to let you know what I see watching these videos. It looks like as evidenced by the “Dog Game” you are trying to identify a type a game that people “actually” want and you’re even willing to compromise what you personally would want to get that audience. That’s perfectly fine and what all good game developers should do but it bothers me to no end that I feel like the game that YOU really want to make happens to target one of the biggest indie audiences out there: horror. Slender has to be one of the biggest indie games ever and it’s incredibly simple gameplay wise. You say yourself your strengths are art and mood and weaknesses are gameplay. You’ve even made horror movies. Why not prototype Father as a true horror game that would play to your strengths? The most exciting character I found from this video is the “enderman” type woman where you would have to sneak around to avoid. If I were you, and had your skills and strengths, I would turn out the lights, throw away the gun, and try to traverse to the top of that hotel completely helpless. With that being said these are just some thoughts from an internet stranger. Glad to see you're making great changes with the game!
My vote goes to - Tower Of Tickles. - Infinitower sounds like a soulless game with an infinite amount of procedurally generated levels, where the player climbs up level by level. Happy Castle sounds like something that kids would want to download. But this would be my second vote.
Then infinitower works, cause this is a soulless game with an infinite amount of procedurally generated levels, where the player climbs up level by level. (You can see that last part in the elevator sequence). I'm disappointed Father was repurposed into THIS. NFTs? Real Money prizes for reaching the top the fastest? really? The animations look badly placed and the enemies don't fit the environment. Father actually looked like it was going to be very fun, it's hook was that it was a modern take on old school shooters. This has so many bad ideas that I'm convinced Thomas was so invested in chasing a single hook that he added 10 "hooks" that don't fit the game.
only problem with the weekly changing map being the hook, is once someone beats the hotel, they are gonna stop playing till the next week. causing poor player engagement, in my opinion a mechanical hook should make a player want to not stop playing
Thank GOD, I love your shooter game Maybe this is what my game needs to keep in development (Starlight action RPG) Thank you, You are so amazing My name idea is "In house" or "In house the Blood way" or something
Since the plot of the game included us to be spending out honeymoon at the happy hotel, my ideas for the game name will be: 1. Happy Honeymoon 2. Just Married
Scrap the bride. Having the bride AND the gameshow prize money as the reward for completion makes no sense. Having 2 motives for the same journey takes away from the significance of the prize. The character should either be selfish (playing for money) or selfless (playing to save someone else).
Of the three titles "Infitower" seems the most catchy to me and gives the most information about the game, but I'm not really to excited about any of those names, particularly since if this takes place in a hotel then why isn't hotel in the game name? I agree with others that "Happy Hotel" would be the best name. Someone else wrote "Vacancy" which would be a cool name too. Or for a name that is the opposite of the premise like "Welcome Home" could give it a creepy and mysterious vibe. So far I still like the concept of Father better (except for Charlotte which is an epic enemy that seems to be a hybrid between the alien from alien isolation and the witch from the left 4 dead games if I'm understanding that correctly) but the movement and other little adjustments that have been made in this new game are definitely an improvement and I will still definitely be playing the new game as it is also a very cool premise. I just feel like there were things that could've be done with father to make it have a twist - like doing some genre mashing and make it a FPS-metroidvania or FPS-roguelike for example. With the fruit or, more particularly, forbidden fruit you can 100% make it creepy if there is some mysterious unknown downside to eating the fruit that is insinuated from the start.
I don't know about this Thomas. I mean, you shouldn't give too much credit to what anyone outside your team says, 'cause it's your game in the end. But I really feel like you fell into your own criticisms with this one. Remember when you said in your interview with Zeh that you were bothered by the last Star Wars trilogy because Disney played "too safe"? I feel like you're doing the same here, and hopefully I'm not coming across as rude by saying this. Making references to superpopular themes like Hazbin Hotel, Backrooms, and Squid Game with Left-4-Dead-like monsters as the backbones of your game design realy doesn't tickle me the right way, specially when your aesthetics became (IMO) a bit too similar to Bioshock. In the end, that's just my opinion. I thought twice if I should even post this in the comments, but ended up decing to do it because I would want to read this kind of feedback: an honest one. But the one thing I have to agree with you is that this new theme surely sounds more marketable. Anyway, whoever it is that's reading this, I hope you have a nice day! Edit: was the NFT joke a reference to Poppy Playtime? ('cause the game was almost killed by it and stuff)
I think "Happy Castle" would be a good title, because it's similar but also contrasts the Happy Hotel, that's for the options you gave. But honestly I think you should go with "Happy Hotel" as the title, since it's the main location of the game, and a lot of games choose their title based off the main location or something important within game.
Exactly, Happy Hotel is the best choice. 'The Forest' almost seems like too simple of a name but look how that game turned out, it achieved far more success than the devs expected.
I don’t understand how you plan to update the hotel every week? Seems like tons of maintenance unsustainable by a small team. If it’s procedural then your dealing with tons of crazy debugging and ability to ensure you can complete the tower get that wrong and you’ll have tons of angry users. It seems like you like to release a game and move on and your entire concept here revolves around never moving on. You’ll be working on this every month to try getting head on your weekly challenges. On top of integrating real prizes. No offense but I think you are grossly underestimating the amount of work this concept is vs just making a good single player story game and moving on.
"CARNIE CASTLE" - That's my original name idea, but as for voting on the ones you provided, my favorite is "Happy Castle" (although it doesn't seem like a castle, maybe "mansion" is more suiting?) Ohh, Merry Mansion is another... If all else fails, "Charlotte's Web" haha.
I actually can't watch the gameplay footage, because every time you strafe, that wobble to the side makes me instantly nauseous. Hopefully I'm alone in that, but keep your ear out for other complaints, if any come.
Vacancy, like you said at the end of your monologue seems like a more appropriate name for your game. None of the others seems to fit with your new line of game play.
A hook is very important. I started to get more interested in this game because of the art deco aesthetics (it’s a favorite of mine). With horror, you also want to find the out of the box scare. We’re familiar with cute toys being scary, animatronics, usual monsters, but when the movie “The Ring” made me afraid of being alone with my TV, that was new. I like the idea of restructuring of the hotel every Friday, customizations is fun. I think having a hotel room that is a safe place, or instead of dying a bellhop creature drags you back to your room. Having unsettling movements of objects or walls/floors, like you don’t know if something is coming or going to attack, feels like the building is alive. Old weapons or items that randomly misfire or don’t work. Using monsters or their parts to solve a puzzle. Maybe something Dreamcore horror and not knowing if you fell asleep in the game or you’re awake in moments, or maybe that’s how you know a dream monster is near is when stuff starts warping. Some of this stuff is seeming good to me. I’ll have to put these with my other game concepts
This is really cool but PLEASE either speed up Charlotte's animation or make her a little slower so that her hands and feet don't slide through the ground, I think that would make a big difference in making her look like she's really crawling :)
This is a new game. Do not conflate the idea of your old game father with this game whatever it turns out to be. I believe there was a story there with father that was deep inside you that you wanted to tell and I don't want to see you mix too many of the ideas that you had for father into this game to try and keep that story present in the background. Just like Charlotte will be core to this game keep whatever was core to father in that idea because I do believe someday you will want to return to that idea
YES THOMAS! The original design I loved, but this is something that is making me ask more questions in my head about it than ever before. For Father I loved the vibe, love Eden spin and esp the apple spiders (plz keep) but to me the narrative felt like an estranged 3D pinstripe. This new look and feel is a great move. As a dev that has rebuilt their current game a few times, I can tell this is the one really getting the team excited to find the fun and evolve it into something with a much better impact on launch. -- Happy Castle
I'll be brutally honest. I don't think the levels changing is a good gameplay hook. There are already a lot of games that do this, and they even change every "run", so quite often. I'm not sure if "a week" interpolates 1:1 to real time, so that you have an entire week to play the same level because if that's the case, you won't be interested in buying the game, just keep playing, from how you said it, it seems the likely target audience would be speedrunners, which is... meh? Idk, I'm not sold if that's the main selling point.
I've definitely been in a place where the premise doesn't go past the first couple sentences. I think that's where placing limitations and questioning conventions or assumed elements comes in. Like, why zombies? What can you do to shake things up and really push your own ideas around rather than someone else's pre-baked ideas. Another is, I definitely get the feeling that the whole "creepy cult" revolving around a "garden of Eden" theme was limited because it was so tied to religious conventions, and when you pushed forward with it it became hard to keep any sort of believability to the base idea. It began to feel like a shallow, cliche evil cult surrounding a distorted understanding of Genesis. Starting with simpler concepts, feelings, aesthetics are easier than taking a pre-baked prompt that sounds good on paper, but doesn't have the fluidity to go any further. Final thing, with the original idea I'm surprised spiders made of fruit were the go-to, but somehow demonic snakes didn't make the cut. And no, fruits aren't scary if you just take them for fruit. The metaphor behind the Genesis fruits is the important thing, and in storytelling, finding and placing significance on something ordinary is what takes work. To examine, question, and work not for a baseline "Is it spooky?" Does this random thing work with everything else that's random and spooky and "annoying?" Ask what significance your story contains with the contribution of carefully considered elements. Why have you added them? What reason is there for zombies and fruit spiders? Spooky isn't enough. It's the reasons behind the spooky that makes elements so effective. Guess I'm saying cliches are hard to work with. Iconic things become cliche because of the thought behind them, not the surface level. More thought behind underlying concepts gets you farther, than adding a veneer of thought over random elements, which quickly become hard to separate from. Hence the reason why so many drastic changes were made. I hope you don't run into the same problem with this one, good luck. Just some thoughts, hopefully somewhat coherent/helpful... Love the additional movement options. Hope y'all have taken more of the Boomer Shooter resurgence lately
You are right about a good game concept will easily spawn new game ideas by itself 👍 Not sure about the hook though, something that makes it stand out, a special game mechanic.. I don’t agree on that. A game doesn’t need any orininality, IF all the gameplay mechanics are polished beyond the normal.. Like Ghost of Tsushima, nothing original or special mechanics in that game, but every element of the game is extremely well done and polished.. But of course, if one can’t make good polished game design, then one HAS to rely on a unique game mechanic..
Ngl I think father was more interesting however I think the character movement and character mechanics are better in this one. My biggest issue with this game is there really doesn’t seem to be a purpose to play it. From how you described it, it’s just a procedurally generated corridor shooter with somewhat generic enemies like the clown or Mr X from RE type enemy. There are a ton of indie games that use unity and share the same character movement so that’s not really unique enough. I do think this game will sell really well with indie fans, it definitely has the indie version doom feel.
I liked the old theme a lot (especially the visuals and plants) but it honestly wasn’t all that scary because plants and insects are „dumb“ enemies and it‘s not like they usually hide any secrets etc. I love the new idea because it‘s just more scary and it reminds me of these nightmares where you can’t find the exit of a huge building. Also the new enemies are amazing, unique and the lady results in a more stealthy gameplay which is important for a horror game because if you can defeat everything, there‘s little to be afraid of
Thanks for watching everyone! Who knows the feeling of constantly changing things about your game? Also a huge thank you to ALL OF YOU during me recent streams to give me great ideas! THANK YOU!
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Yes, That's so cool. It's is big
Hey thomas since i'm already enrolled in your course. is their a way i can get Davids course separate from the bundle out of curiosity?
Hi about the ultimate, is that a combination of all you fulltimedev material + jasons fullpath bundle ? .. or is it totally new materials ? was not clear in your promo :D
The plot still seems slightly incohesive... to me its strange to have a game show with a cash prize AND to be searching for your bride. Is the prize/money the motivating factor for the protagonist? or is the bride? I don't see how the two are connected in this sense.
Both seem like arbitrary goals, tbh the premise still feels "forced", like there isn't a locked down idea driving this project forward.
It doesn't take a genius to understand that at the end of the game you will get a choice between money or your wife. There will probably be some plot twist with your wife betraying you. Took me like 30 seconds to find a cohesive story...
I think he is getting desperate after wasting two years on a project with no clear goal in mind than "to become viral". His downfall will be switching from 2d to 3d. NFTs is just another symptom of his desperation.
@@biancanoir2403 i think the nft thing was a joke... atleast i hope so
@@biancanoir2403 Him making videos about how to make games only to never make the game himself makes him look more like a grifter than an actual dev.
All these ideas especially charlotte sounds really good. Would love to see you exploring the squid game theme a little more, by including floors, dedicated with live or die mini games or something like that. Every mini game is lead by a new antagonist, who is a subordinate of mr tickles and if you beat the mini game, you will have to fight these subordinates as some boss fights. For me personally that sounds like a better gameplay hook, because the everchanging hotel system sounds like procedural generated levels and I´ve played a lot of those, including remnant from the ashes which is one of the better examples for procedural generated levels. Most of these games are boring. But yeah overall your game concept sounds a lot better than the original concept of father. Ah and btw Tower Of Tickles sounds like a good name, but I think that you could come up with am even better name.
I'm personally not a very huge fan of this new idea for a few reasons. 1: The environment would always look the same. This would probably make marketing harder, since you're just cutting out all the other outdoor areas which objectively looked better. 2: I think the new idea isn't better than the last one with the garden of eden and stuff. Not really a fan of the twist either, just making my way up the same hotel again and again with slight changes doesn't really seem that fun to me. I would much rather explore new beautiful areas (although that would take a lot more work for you).
However, I'm a really big fan of these new movement improvements, as I thought the father demo was kinda boring. If you just added the new movement into the original father, and changed it a bit (like removing the stupid gates, I think you the half life 2 progression system is really good, maybe you should aim for something similar to that), and maybe change the story a bit because I can totally understand why you're having issues with it. It doesn't have to be linear either like father searches for daughter, then he finds her. You should try to make it like a movie with twists and turns and maybe somehow make it thrilling. I don't know. I just think you should reconsider this idea as I would personally want to buy father a lot more than this.
You are pretty vague with your story arguments.
@@tarkanyilmaz425 Yeah I know, I don't know the full story of father but it probably needs a change if they can't come up with any new ideas. But I'm personally not a fan of the squid game thing. Anyway, if there is anything you should take away from this stupid comment I made, it's that this new idea taking place in a single location isn't a good idea. idk, just saying what I think
@@allanhedlund8007 yes I know that you don't know the story. It is easy to say make it like a movie with twists than to actually do it. Especially when thomas isn't inspired by the concept of father. The new direction seems much more exciting to him and thats better than going back to the old concept and trying hard to Come up with great ideas
Agreed 100%. I love the eden themed stuff and seeing that it's now another creepy game set in a hotel honestly made me lose the interest in the game
I don't think all the environments are gonna look the same. There's a lot you can do just with different interior styles and the game not being realistic means they can go for some more wacky ideas like having one floor just be a forest or something
I very much appreciate somebody willing to be transparent about their process of making a game, helps the rest of us in seeing we're not alone. Thanks Thomas
I believe Hilbert's hotel named after the mathematical paradox of the infinite hotel room
As for game title ideas. How about "moon hotel". Here me out, the idea of a moonlit night fits perfectly with the horror genre and setting and you could work into the story that the bride and groom accidentally booked the "moon hotel" instead of the honeymoon hotel, either a grave mistake or a stroke of luck -- depending on if they can be the first to the top.
or... combine moon with an adjective like: blood moon hotel
The reason why I followed the DEV Diaries was because of the plot of Father. I really thought that it was unique enough to watch as many of the videos as possibly can I tried to make my own story by wathcing the "level design" for some extra back story. The hotel theme for me sounds like "it has been done before". For me it is like the creators of American Horror Story season 5: Hotel TRIED to make a Bioshock knockoff. BUT I really do like the atmosphere and if you get the rythm down I think it will be a great game.
If you're playing with the hotel changes theme you can name is somethin like "Hotel Shift". The definition of shift has a few meanings that all fit your theme. 1 move or cause to move from one place to another, especially over a small distance. (Going from the bottom floor to the top floor) 2 a slight change in position, direction, or tendency (If you have random elements to the hotel) and 3 Shift could be the work period for the hotel workers(enemies in the hotel) like a night shift.
What about Hotel Liminal
I personally like "The last laugh". (It hasn't been used for a game and no copyright reserve on it as far as I can tell) Sometimes you can add a sub-name to your game to differentiate it but be careful doing this at the beginning because it's usually done on the sequel etc and that can get confusing. Alternative idea for a game name: "Evil Live"
great idea
So I have a few general questions that I just want to throw out there for you to consider: 1. How exactly is proceedurally generating a new hotel layout every week a mechanic? Not to say this is a bad idea, but it feels less liek a mechanic and more of a feature that some players will enjoy and other won't.
The 2nd question feeds off of this. 2. Who is this game marketed towards and what are your end goals? from the initial redesigned game I was hooked on the idea. A squid game-esque bioshock inspiured horror fps. This, like you said has a lot of open potential. But as you go on it feels like you are doubling down on a single aspect of the idea (the horror game show) and not exploring the other aspects as much. While the changed layout and tile trail style gameloop will be enjoyable to lots of players you are also potnetially limiting yourself in both depth and player base.
Which then leads me to my 3rd question. What aspects of Bioshock are you utilizing? Bioshock is known for its rich world and story telling along with solid gunplay and cool abilities. Its still early on so, hopefully, solid controls and gunplay will come along before releas, but how are you utilizing those other aspects? If the hotel changes every week how do you build a rich story and environment around that?
All in all I am enjoying the early sages of the game being shown and I just wanted to toss out some things to consider if they haven't been already. Also it sounds like you've already got a good game name on your hands with "Happy Hotel". Keep up the good work!
I liked the concept of Father alot but this sounds great too. The idea of changing the layout of the hotel every week is awesome
I currently work at moon studios. And you don't have any idea about how many iterations, changes, and simply reworking on something they do.
I wasn't at the company during the Ori games, but they told even the story of Ori had some changes almost at the end of the development.
They achieved what they wanted just by being critical of themselves.
Sometimes it's SOOOO frustrating to rework, but in the end, it's worth it.
The game has a pretty interesting artstyle and I think the hotel changing and having a price every week is a cool idea but I'm not sure if it's the mechanical hook that will draw players in. The hotel changing isn't something the player can control or have influence over so they might not even view it as a mechanic. As for the prize, depending on how competitive a player is they also might not engage with the leaderboard at all. I don't know what the overlap between people who enjoy horror games and people who enjoy speedrunning is like, though maybe it's enough to make the game work (+ there's a big overlap between movement shooters and speedrunning fans so that might work too).
The rubber worm works once your studio reaches AAA status and you can sell pre-orders for unfinished games. Take notes!
The mechanical hook for your game should definitely be a different hotel - every week - or perhaps subtle multiplayer "competition" from other players (think ghost drivers from racing games).
But the rewards should not be something meta - like username changes or cash/money or something like that. NFTs could work sure (I'm not fond of them -yet) but the reward should be something that doesn't break the immersion of a horror game. After the first runthrough sure - but the canonical ending should be an in-universe reward. That's the mechanical hook you need.
Somebody mentioned adding forests?
I totally agree that this "Hotel" should be completely paranormal and actually transport you to different locales - forests, lava fields, caves, outer space (planets), etc. Go wild. If you can keep the horror in there but go no holds barred on a crazy hotel that would be a very interesting hook.
Obviously you'd have to also always tie in (visually) the connection to the hotel. So that it still paranormally feels like its within the hotel but man that feels like a good idea to have.
Love the change in direction. Feels so much more interesting.
Also I'd be happy to help write your game for you, for free! Hmu
Tower of tickles is more unique and mayabe need more teasing around the tickles.
But i think something with Hotel is much better because the environment is also a hook.
the weekly changing tower and nfts and highscore tables is way to much for this I think.
You had me at bioshock meets squid game 😍
I would think the "hook" would be the bride in the game. Make a twist on her instead maybe? I think it would be even cooler if she had some story involvement with the hotel changing or something. Then again, might be too cliche and done before. Love your series and wish you the best on your game!
Wedding Night
Maybe with a tagline like "It'll never end."
How do you know on choosing a name for your game , how can you know if the name is taken ?
The Week Ends
As the name of the Hotel, also i would make it a Casino/Hotel with creepy mini games to open doors and new floors, you could change those mini games each week too.
Give me a job ❤
Changing from a narrative horror FPS with cultists and demon enemies to a run-based rogue-lite with NFTs and an online leaderboard based ranking system seems like two entirely different games. I dont think there is much cross-over between the audiences that would be interested in actually playing those two games.
You should hire a writer to give you a cohesive story so that you have a solid foundation for the setting and characters that actually mean something to the player. Either that or just scrap the story part all together and go for the full emersion of the character just being a vehicle for the player to complete their best weekly run.
You can call the player character "The Guest" and play up the "anonymous victim wakes up in the hotel" aspect of having multiple runs and weekly changing content. It doesnt sound like the characters personal story is going to have any direct impact or meaningful development anyway, so just making them a different person each time the player does a run would not detract at all.
Instead you can have the narrative aspect focus on the hotel, its residents, and the mystery of the gameshow that is being put on inside it. This would also lend itself more easily to a sequel in the future, since the franchise and game wont be tied to a specific married couple or main character but tied instead to the hotel itself and the mystery figure who runs the show.
It is incredibly hard to believe that the couple would ever be unfortunate enough to get caught in similar circumstances again, but if the player is a random guest, it plays to the idea that many people are trying to get to the top of the tower and that every playthrough is a different "contestant" in the game.
The NFT thing is definitely also a turnoff to a lot of people, and it going to be a hard "dont buy" from a big chunk of people who might otherwise be interested in a competitive run-based single player boomer shooter.
I'm glad not father is not being canceled. I think it has massive potential. Definitely love the red queen!
Sometime in the future, you are going to look back at this video and say to yourself....
"What the @#$& was I thinking?"
Happy Hotel would be a cool name. Also don't do NFTs, don't know if you were joking but please don't touch that shit.
Just call it Happy Hotel. That's the best name. Definitely don't call it Infinitower, that's the worst one.
Wonder where he had the idea with the teletubbies from 😛 (the call with the creator of choo choo charles)
Watched the video for a second time. I think that you have a lot of great ideas, you could also sprinkle some different lore and story scraps every week hidden in this changing hotel.
But man NFTs really? Why would you ruin such a good concept with nfts. I don't get it Thomas thats a reason for me not to buy this game
this is amazing
I like the ambience, it reminds me of bioshock
I honestly preferred the previous version. I don't like the new version (yet. maybe that changes), since it doesn't feel as creative and individual, but rather like a mixture of stuff that already exists and is popular instead of building on your own ideas. But yeah, it doesn't have to be perfect for me, seems like most people like it, so thats fine :)
You need to prototype. Forget "theme", "art", all of that. Come up with fun mechanics and figure that stuff out later.
I really like the "charlotte" enemy. Sounds like a mix of Mr. X and Lickers from resident evil 2. However, the idea of squid game theme sounds much less intriguing and interesting than what you had before. Playing some games to win a cash prize just isn't as intriguing in a horror game as fighting some ancient cult to save your daughter. The new mechanics are very similar to Doom Ethernal now. Seems like the player is too powerful and agile now.
But others seem to like the new direction so I guess it's just me not being a fan of squid game...
About the name, "Happy Hotel" with some creepy background cover would be best.
Best detour in videogame herstory
Don't get me wrong, I love the idea, i just really liked the overall religious theme and sad to see it go. It's not a deal breaker, just something to note.
Heavens Tower. Is that good name?
I tried to register and it was at 897$ and it kicked me off the screen and now it's 7100$. ?? What
Reach out to Andreas at game.courses and he’ll get you sorted! But, try a different browser that’ll fix it
Playing on your garden of eden theme, why not something along the lines of Hotel Genesis (also playing on hotel california "you may never leave"), or something else to hint at the connection to the occult? Tower of Babbel also might be something to key off of here, the idea that the cult was building the tower to reach the heavens.
Be careful with usernames being added to the tower. (Derogatory gamer names being shown)...
Also the hotel would have to be at least somewhat diverse without becoming boring after 30 mins of gameplay. I think looking at the Forest Temple from Ocarina of Time is a good start, how they twist and bend the dungeon to keep things fresh (and a bit confusing!)
Also changing the level every Friday is a huge development commitment on your part, in fact anything multiplayer driven can cost your reputation as a developer if it's not updated regularly.
Last thing, having the reward as the player "owns" the tower or player name is shown isn't really that fun to me and isn't worth the time put in to grind the levels/floors of the tower. Just my thoughts.
"Vacancy"
You can do whatever you want with your game but you went from a more creative game to a game that is another horror hotel setting.
like all the changes, except one, from the way you put it it really wasnt clear if you're joking about the nfts or not. if you weren't I'm not buying the game, period. To be completely clear. even if yours wasn't nefarious on it's own, it would lead people into nft marketplaces where 99% of the "projects" are money laundering schemes or scams at best.
name : Happy
Vania a play on vanity and vampires bride theme.
bro please father is a very unique name
I was really excited for Father with it being a sort of mix between Resident Evil and Bioshock so it’s sad to see it scrapped for this.
I agree, this looks really bad compared to what we saw of Father. It feels like he kept trying to make more and more ideas and never stopped to consider if they were good ideas. I'm also very sad to hear he wants NFTs and real money prizes in the game, it'll ruin the game for sure.
@@Chemical_Alchemist wait I saw the video did he really say that?
I think its a good change, because, the creators are more passionste about this and this will result in a better game.
But NFTs🤢
Yea. I’m a big thomas brush fan but it really feels like he’s grasping at straws trying to keep the game idea alive. Just coming up with a bunch of mediocre ideas and seeing what sticks. I hate to see it and really hope he can pull through on this but the clashing ideas (game prize/finding bride/real money prizes/nfts) come off as very in-cohesive. I will say the weekly changing castle layout seems like a really fun mechanic to me though.
I prefer "Vacancy" as a title to the other three options but it seems the story is about a groom trying to find his bride so i think "Honeymoon Hotel" or "Jamboree Tower" since its a weekly celebration of winners
Vacancy is probably the best name for the theme and horror element. Although I can't help liking Honeymoon Hotel more.
Yeah Vacancy sounds like a proper name for this game!
Honeymoon Hotel is really a cool name
@@tarkanyilmaz425 It doesn't sound spooky... Honeymoon Horror? Infinite Tower if we have to vote on one already listed. I mean, if it's going to change every week...
Vacancy is awesome.
I think Happy Hotel is a pretty natural fit. It's already in the game!
There are plenty of actual hotels called like that all around the globe. It would be awkward both for people trying to search the game and business owners.
Not So Happy Hotel 😊
Interesting premise swap. The only issue with the hotel I can see is area diversity. To ensure you have diverse and interesting areas, I'd add a psychedelic element. Like on the level of tripping balls and seeing a forest. That way, maybe you could even add aspects of Father back into the game.
Yaass! This! Great idea! You can be in the hotel without necessarily being stuck in the hotel with some paranormal hellraiser-esque dimension bending.
(Mmm, area diversity in hotels, kinda like what's in Luigi's Mansion 3? All 3 of them really.) 😏
"The only issue with the hotel" - really? I see an increase in scope, throwing away all of the preproduction and having to re-do it. Different target audience and shift in setting/tone. As well as gamifying a horror game, which usually works best in realistic settings (afaik).
Hi, I love your work. I've been watching your content for a really long time and when you first started working on father, I was so excited, especially when you mentioned that it was a little inspired by bioshock infinite. In spite of it's inspirations Father felt personal and unique. I agree with you when you say that you were having a hard time coming up with ideas, especially utilizing biblical and religious themes, but I think if you revisit why you came up with this idea in the first place, it will help you move forward. Sometimes simple is better and in father's case, would have been perfect. You don't have to reinvent the wheel with father, just tell a good story. Your new idea is ok, but it's nowhere near interesting or even attractive to me as father was. I trust your going to make a good game regardless and I hope no matter what direction you go in you keep making good games and keep sharing with us on your journey.
I had a crazy dream of your game last night (no joke it was so strange I think I've been watching so many of your videos they've slipped into my subconscious) but in it had different title (must've been dreamspeak, you gotta love the weird stuff your sleeping brain comes up with, I also must be thinking about it too much lol) tl:dr but anyway if you are still taking new names put my vote in for: Velvet Dread
(I know its really odd but there's something comforting but also scary about it) Also, I gotta say I love that you are doing this too; same thing happened with Biohazard when it was localized for US, they had a vote on a new name (since Biohazard was taken already Stateside) and they ended up with Resident Evil, some people hate it but I think it's truly perfect, it honestly fits the game so well and something inexplicably poetic too... Anyway, I think i'm sleep deprived so I'm going to bed now just thought id mention it before I forget!!!
WHOA I really like that!! Maybe it could be "Dread Velvet" like a play on red velvet [cake] in reference to wedding cake or something like that but I feel like it fits the vibe of the game, dreams are weird for sure but good idea m8
Honestly, I liked your 1st concept. I wish listed Father, not creepy teletubbies! But it's your game, your life bro. You do you!
Would you consider releasing what you had of "Father" as a bonus, or something? Because what i saw looked very interesting, and I'd love to explore it.
Seeing the video I get the impression that the hook is still missing. The Hotel theme that you need to get to the top every week sounds like a multiplayer focused thing, but you play alone (at least that is how I understand it). Sound like it could be fun, but also sounds like it could be a sporadic game like Fall Guys (fun for a little while, but not substantial).
On the design side of the game, the weapons and locations seem very polished and look good, but the monsters seem to be so standard/boring that they stand out like a sore thumb. The new dancing monsters just made me think of teletubies or a generic horror game. Charlotte also gives that vibe (see the indie game Grannie for an example of similar design).
My suggestion is: Embrace some madness in monster design and behaviour. Maybe Cronenberg them up a bit, making them look like nightmares or make the less symmetrical.
On a personal note: The Garden of Eden thing seemed better for me. The hotel/gameshow vibe plopped it in a generic limbo for my taste, but that could be just me being wrong!
Will keep following the development and videos! Hope you figure all this stuff out and be happy with the game you and your team create!
Maybe I'm alone here but the original games plot and theme was the thing that hooked me. I haven't seen anything like that out there.
I hope this new one works but in all honesty it feels like shoe horning in popular stuff and lacks the originality of the original game.
The previous game seemed very personal and partially based on your inner self and beliefs. It had soul bursting from you. But I guess when you do this full time you can't take a gamble on this stuff you gotta try to play it more safe.
I will be on the lookout for the development of the new game.
It's definitely important for you to be happy and satisfied with what you're creating. I was really into where the original game was going, but I'm sure the new version will good.
Thomas I’ve been watching your videos throughout the total development of my own game and you’re by far my favorite gamedev TH-camr. I think you’re on the right track with the changes in your game and I do hope you continue prototyping. I do want to give you some honest thoughts I have with regards to what I’ve seen so far with this game.
So I do agree with the advice you received from Devolver that the game didn’t really have anything particularly unique or interesting about it (aside from looking great). There’s so many doom like FPS clones you have to compete with. And to be honest even with this pivot, which I do like the idea, I still can’t see this standing out much from other FPSs. I love how you’re so open with your development process and I just want to let you know what I see watching these videos.
It looks like as evidenced by the “Dog Game” you are trying to identify a type a game that people “actually” want and you’re even willing to compromise what you personally would want to get that audience. That’s perfectly fine and what all good game developers should do but it bothers me to no end that I feel like the game that YOU really want to make happens to target one of the biggest indie audiences out there: horror. Slender has to be one of the biggest indie games ever and it’s incredibly simple gameplay wise. You say yourself your strengths are art and mood and weaknesses are gameplay. You’ve even made horror movies. Why not prototype Father as a true horror game that would play to your strengths? The most exciting character I found from this video is the “enderman” type woman where you would have to sneak around to avoid. If I were you, and had your skills and strengths, I would turn out the lights, throw away the gun, and try to traverse to the top of that hotel completely helpless.
With that being said these are just some thoughts from an internet stranger. Glad to see you're making great changes with the game!
It's alredy not my type, but great to see you progress.
I personally like The Happy Hotel but out of the options I like Happy Castle.
My vote goes to - Tower Of Tickles.
-
Infinitower sounds like a soulless game with an infinite amount of procedurally generated levels, where the player climbs up level by level.
Happy Castle sounds like something that kids would want to download. But this would be my second vote.
Then infinitower works, cause this is a soulless game with an infinite amount of procedurally generated levels, where the player climbs up level by level. (You can see that last part in the elevator sequence). I'm disappointed Father was repurposed into THIS. NFTs? Real Money prizes for reaching the top the fastest? really? The animations look badly placed and the enemies don't fit the environment. Father actually looked like it was going to be very fun, it's hook was that it was a modern take on old school shooters. This has so many bad ideas that I'm convinced Thomas was so invested in chasing a single hook that he added 10 "hooks" that don't fit the game.
only problem with the weekly changing map being the hook, is once someone beats the hotel, they are gonna stop playing till the next week. causing poor player engagement, in my opinion a mechanical hook should make a player want to not stop playing
@@ShaolinDave we think alike, that's exactly what I was thinking of
@@ShaolinDave maybe include a single player story mode that explains why the hotel changes, like the hotel is alive or something
Damn… the old ruins of the garden of Eden was the most interesting thing for me.
I'll put my vote in for "Step Father"
Thank GOD, I love your shooter game
Maybe this is what my game needs to keep in development (Starlight action RPG)
Thank you, You are so amazing
My name idea is "In house" or "In house the Blood way" or something
Midnight Hotel, fits the theme sounds good (in my opinion) and aludes to the friday midnight reset.
Since the plot of the game included us to be spending out honeymoon at the happy hotel, my ideas for the game name will be:
1. Happy Honeymoon
2. Just Married
I like your idea for Just Married. It keeps well with the theme of the game, and the title stands out more.
Scrap the bride. Having the bride AND the gameshow prize money as the reward for completion makes no sense. Having 2 motives for the same journey takes away from the significance of the prize. The character should either be selfish (playing for money) or selfless (playing to save someone else).
Of the three titles "Infitower" seems the most catchy to me and gives the most information about the game, but I'm not really to excited about any of those names, particularly since if this takes place in a hotel then why isn't hotel in the game name? I agree with others that "Happy Hotel" would be the best name. Someone else wrote "Vacancy" which would be a cool name too. Or for a name that is the opposite of the premise like "Welcome Home" could give it a creepy and mysterious vibe.
So far I still like the concept of Father better (except for Charlotte which is an epic enemy that seems to be a hybrid between the alien from alien isolation and the witch from the left 4 dead games if I'm understanding that correctly) but the movement and other little adjustments that have been made in this new game are definitely an improvement and I will still definitely be playing the new game as it is also a very cool premise.
I just feel like there were things that could've be done with father to make it have a twist - like doing some genre mashing and make it a FPS-metroidvania or FPS-roguelike for example. With the fruit or, more particularly, forbidden fruit you can 100% make it creepy if there is some mysterious unknown downside to eating the fruit that is insinuated from the start.
Tower of Tickles gets my vote
I don't know about this Thomas. I mean, you shouldn't give too much credit to what anyone outside your team says, 'cause it's your game in the end. But I really feel like you fell into your own criticisms with this one. Remember when you said in your interview with Zeh that you were bothered by the last Star Wars trilogy because Disney played "too safe"? I feel like you're doing the same here, and hopefully I'm not coming across as rude by saying this. Making references to superpopular themes like Hazbin Hotel, Backrooms, and Squid Game with Left-4-Dead-like monsters as the backbones of your game design realy doesn't tickle me the right way, specially when your aesthetics became (IMO) a bit too similar to Bioshock. In the end, that's just my opinion. I thought twice if I should even post this in the comments, but ended up decing to do it because I would want to read this kind of feedback: an honest one. But the one thing I have to agree with you is that this new theme surely sounds more marketable. Anyway, whoever it is that's reading this, I hope you have a nice day!
Edit: was the NFT joke a reference to Poppy Playtime? ('cause the game was almost killed by it and stuff)
I think "Happy Castle" would be a good title, because it's similar but also contrasts the Happy Hotel, that's for the options you gave. But honestly I think you should go with "Happy Hotel" as the title, since it's the main location of the game, and a lot of games choose their title based off the main location or something important within game.
Exactly, Happy Hotel is the best choice. 'The Forest' almost seems like too simple of a name but look how that game turned out, it achieved far more success than the devs expected.
@@kulak8548 Yea, exactly. A simple name can go a long way.
The changes you made are great. I hope you go with that. My only advice would be you should redo the animations and add dying animation as well.
I don’t understand how you plan to update the hotel every week? Seems like tons of maintenance unsustainable by a small team. If it’s procedural then your dealing with tons of crazy debugging and ability to ensure you can complete the tower get that wrong and you’ll have tons of angry users. It seems like you like to release a game and move on and your entire concept here revolves around never moving on. You’ll be working on this every month to try getting head on your weekly challenges. On top of integrating real prizes. No offense but I think you are grossly underestimating the amount of work this concept is vs just making a good single player story game and moving on.
yeah imma be straight up, i dont like any of those names. but the gameplay and premise and the whole "Friday night map change" are all really cool.
"CARNIE CASTLE" - That's my original name idea, but as for voting on the ones you provided, my favorite is "Happy Castle" (although it doesn't seem like a castle, maybe "mansion" is more suiting?) Ohh, Merry Mansion is another... If all else fails, "Charlotte's Web" haha.
I actually can't watch the gameplay footage, because every time you strafe, that wobble to the side makes me instantly nauseous. Hopefully I'm alone in that, but keep your ear out for other complaints, if any come.
Vacancy, like you said at the end of your monologue seems like a more appropriate name for your game. None of the others seems to fit with your new line of game play.
A hook is very important. I started to get more interested in this game because of the art deco aesthetics (it’s a favorite of mine). With horror, you also want to find the out of the box scare. We’re familiar with cute toys being scary, animatronics, usual monsters, but when the movie “The Ring” made me afraid of being alone with my TV, that was new. I like the idea of restructuring of the hotel every Friday, customizations is fun. I think having a hotel room that is a safe place, or instead of dying a bellhop creature drags you back to your room. Having unsettling movements of objects or walls/floors, like you don’t know if something is coming or going to attack, feels like the building is alive. Old weapons or items that randomly misfire or don’t work. Using monsters or their parts to solve a puzzle. Maybe something Dreamcore horror and not knowing if you fell asleep in the game or you’re awake in moments, or maybe that’s how you know a dream monster is near is when stuff starts warping. Some of this stuff is seeming good to me. I’ll have to put these with my other game concepts
Transient Tower of Terror! I like leaning into the main mechanic with a name. Also, I like alliterations.
This is really cool but PLEASE either speed up Charlotte's animation or make her a little slower so that her hands and feet don't slide through the ground, I think that would make a big difference in making her look like she's really crawling :)
This is a new game. Do not conflate the idea of your old game father with this game whatever it turns out to be. I believe there was a story there with father that was deep inside you that you wanted to tell and I don't want to see you mix too many of the ideas that you had for father into this game to try and keep that story present in the background. Just like Charlotte will be core to this game keep whatever was core to father in that idea because I do believe someday you will want to return to that idea
I'm excited for whatever you make, but the original father felt like a far more personal concept.
I trust you know what you doing, but it think the "father" game was more interesting for me personally.
Hay , your game name is good . how ever , "Mysterious Tower" is good name for your name ☺️☺️☺️
Happy Hotel sounds really cool, but my eye keeps snapping to tower of tickles
YES THOMAS! The original design I loved, but this is something that is making me ask more questions in my head about it than ever before. For Father I loved the vibe, love Eden spin and esp the apple spiders (plz keep) but to me the narrative felt like an estranged 3D pinstripe. This new look and feel is a great move. As a dev that has rebuilt their current game a few times, I can tell this is the one really getting the team excited to find the fun and evolve it into something with a much better impact on launch. -- Happy Castle
The clown truth 😂, my name idea
Thanks for a ♥
I'll be brutally honest. I don't think the levels changing is a good gameplay hook. There are already a lot of games that do this, and they even change every "run", so quite often. I'm not sure if "a week" interpolates 1:1 to real time, so that you have an entire week to play the same level because if that's the case, you won't be interested in buying the game, just keep playing, from how you said it, it seems the likely target audience would be speedrunners, which is... meh?
Idk, I'm not sold if that's the main selling point.
Man needs to take a really far step back, breathe and hopefully get some clarity.
Obviously Tower of Tickles. Other names sound silly imo
Since it's a hotel perhaps people could hit the bell on the check in desk as well to get rid of Charlotte?
Horror at Happy Hotel. Or Honeymoon at Happy Hotel. Illiteration is fun.
I've definitely been in a place where the premise doesn't go past the first couple sentences. I think that's where placing limitations and questioning conventions or assumed elements comes in. Like, why zombies? What can you do to shake things up and really push your own ideas around rather than someone else's pre-baked ideas.
Another is, I definitely get the feeling that the whole "creepy cult" revolving around a "garden of Eden" theme was limited because it was so tied to religious conventions, and when you pushed forward with it it became hard to keep any sort of believability to the base idea. It began to feel like a shallow, cliche evil cult surrounding a distorted understanding of Genesis. Starting with simpler concepts, feelings, aesthetics are easier than taking a pre-baked prompt that sounds good on paper, but doesn't have the fluidity to go any further.
Final thing, with the original idea I'm surprised spiders made of fruit were the go-to, but somehow demonic snakes didn't make the cut. And no, fruits aren't scary if you just take them for fruit. The metaphor behind the Genesis fruits is the important thing, and in storytelling, finding and placing significance on something ordinary is what takes work. To examine, question, and work not for a baseline "Is it spooky?" Does this random thing work with everything else that's random and spooky and "annoying?" Ask what significance your story contains with the contribution of carefully considered elements. Why have you added them? What reason is there for zombies and fruit spiders? Spooky isn't enough. It's the reasons behind the spooky that makes elements so effective.
Guess I'm saying cliches are hard to work with. Iconic things become cliche because of the thought behind them, not the surface level. More thought behind underlying concepts gets you farther, than adding a veneer of thought over random elements, which quickly become hard to separate from. Hence the reason why so many drastic changes were made. I hope you don't run into the same problem with this one, good luck.
Just some thoughts, hopefully somewhat coherent/helpful... Love the additional movement options. Hope y'all have taken more of the Boomer Shooter resurgence lately
I think you guys have difficulty creating idea for a religeous themes.
On that note: great choice then.
You are right about a good game concept will easily spawn new game ideas by itself 👍
Not sure about the hook though, something that makes it stand out, a special game mechanic.. I don’t agree on that. A game doesn’t need any orininality, IF all the gameplay mechanics are polished beyond the normal.. Like Ghost of Tsushima, nothing original or special mechanics in that game, but every element of the game is extremely well done and polished..
But of course, if one can’t make good polished game design, then one HAS to rely on a unique game mechanic..
A very valuable skill to let go of ideas that you think don't work. We usually keep too attached to them when a decent portion of time was invested.
Ngl I think father was more interesting however I think the character movement and character mechanics are better in this one.
My biggest issue with this game is there really doesn’t seem to be a purpose to play it. From how you described it, it’s just a procedurally generated corridor shooter with somewhat generic enemies like the clown or Mr X from RE type enemy.
There are a ton of indie games that use unity and share the same character movement so that’s not really unique enough.
I do think this game will sell really well with indie fans, it definitely has the indie version doom feel.
I liked the old theme a lot (especially the visuals and plants) but it honestly wasn’t all that scary because plants and insects are „dumb“ enemies and it‘s not like they usually hide any secrets etc. I love the new idea because it‘s just more scary and it reminds me of these nightmares where you can’t find the exit of a huge building. Also the new enemies are amazing, unique and the lady results in a more stealthy gameplay which is important for a horror game because if you can defeat everything, there‘s little to be afraid of
You should call it Daddy's Home.