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Wow. Just wow. I haven't been on here, since I was TEN! Glad to see that Necromancer is still in the Top Five lol, great work Endmaster! I know that everyone probably forgot about me or didn't even know who I was in the first place. That's fine. I get it. I wasn't as big a deal as the others: Aman, KillaRobot, BerkaZerka, 3J, Endmaster, just to name a few. But yeah. After... what has it been? Seven years? Almost eight? Damn. Anyway, after being gone for so long, I figured I'd make a return. No real reason. Except... well...

 

I have an idea for a game. That's the basic reason why we're all here anyway, right? But I want this game to be a Top-Down 2D Pixel Horror RPG Puzzle Adventure PC Game. Ambitious, I know, especially with a limited budget and my limited knowledge of coding but that's beside the point. I didn't want to just jump into making the game without any idea of how it would be received. Will people like it? Will it be profitable? Or will people hate it? Will it end up being a waste of time, effort, and money?

 

That's where you people come in.

 

I know that on CYS I can't make the whole game in all its glory, but I can still push out a decent "sneak peek" along with the story etc. etc. NO THIS IS NOT GOING TO BE A DEMO! I learned that lesson the hard way. It WILL be a full-lengthed, fullly fledged game, but it will be the CYS version of the actual game I'm planning to make. 

 

What does that mean? It basically means that, yes, this is a full game and is about 99% canon to the actual story, but it isn't the "full" game. Augh, I've never been very good at explaining! What I'm TRYING to say is this game is like a prequal, but... not. Essentially, this game on CYS will be the CYS equivalent to the first game in the ACTUAL SERIES. There! I did it! 

 

This is a series? Yes. Yes it is. There are three games composing the "Origin" tales of the series, and ten games composing the "Chronicles". 13 games in all. Period. HOWEVER! Like I said before, I have no idea if it will even be remotely successful. That's why I came here. I'll take my plans for the very first game and turn it into a CYS version for you all to play, rate, and comment on. That way, I'll be able to reveal enough of the game for people to actually say if they like or dislike it, but it won't cost me as much money as it would to make the Gamemaker version. Understand? Good.

 

Now that that's out of the way, you're probably saying, "Kayo! When are you going to tell us what this freaking game is about?!" Right now.

 

"The Killzone: Book of Sanctum"

(A CYS Version of "The Killzone")

By: Kayotime

Shawn Campbell is your ordinary high school sophomore. He has a ten-year-old sister named Molly, two best friends name Aaron Malkovich and Stephen Harris, and a crush on the cutest girl in school, Lyra Fawkes, not to mention the intense rivalry between him and Lyra's twin brother, Liam. All seems perfect (well nearly perfect, if only Liam would get off his back!) until Shawn begins having strange visions... visions of things he should never have seen.

Before any of them know what's going on, they're trapped in a mind-bending alternate reality where everything is twisted and they may not come out of it alive. Can Shawn solve the puzzle of the Killzone? Or will he and his friends be lost in their own minds... forever? Find out in this exclusive CYS sneak peek version of the 2D PC game scheduled to begin development summer 2018!

 

Main Characters:

Shawn Campbell - The Story's "Hero".

Molly Campbell - Shawn's Ten-Year-Old Sister.

Aaron Malkovich - Shawn's Right-Hand Man.

Stephen Harris - Shawn's "Left-Hand Man".

Lyra Fawkes - Shawn's Crush.

Liam Fawkes - Lyra's Twin Brother. Shawn's Rival.

 

So... what do you guys and gals think? So far, I mean? 

 

Any questions, comments, complaints, concerns?

 

If you'd rather not discuss things here, please feel free to PM me.

 

Thank You for taking the time to read this!

 

Sincerely, Kayotime

Don't believe I know you, but welcome back to the site.

Good luck with your project, though honestly the first question that comes to mind is if this whole sneak peek thing is a good use of what could be development time on the actual game. A full sized CYOA with scripting for combat, puzzles etc. can be an ambitious project on its own, and if you've never made a game of the sort you're describing so far (the 'real' version of this) you're likely underestimating the amount of work it'll require as it is.

I'm also not sure if the opinions of people who like to read their games would work as a good example of the marketability of the finished version, where gameplay, art direction, music, advertising etc. will be such big factors.

But it sounds like an interesting project so I'll be watching to see how this develops, whatever you decide to do. Just pointing out that there are a lot of factors to consider, and it's easy to lose sight of the ones that may be less exciting but more important when it comes to making and marketing a project like this.

Thanks!

And yes, I know that a CYS project can be very difficult to do right. (Just look at how long it took Endmaster to make "Necromancer"!), but I'm not planning on doing something as ambitious as that here. If I were to make this JUST a CYS game, then I'd go for something like "Necromancer" as far as complexity goes. But this is basically just a smaller version of the "real" game. Not a demo, but just smaller. 

And yes, thank you for your concern with the whole difficulty and complexity things having to do with making the game. I know first-hand how hard it can be. I'm actually in the process of making a Visual Novel game right now, and it is hard work doing it all alone. But I've always been determined and rather stubborn, so if I want to do something, it gets done. I know that making the "real" game is going to be very difficult, but I have all the software and tools that I need and the experience to use them, so I say "Let's Do It!"

Also, I appreciate your feedback on how the community would react. I'm not looking for a huge reaction that will totally define the success of the game. I'm not that expectant. I'm a realist. I just want a rough idea of how people may or may not respond to the game. I'll take the feedback I get here and consider the different viewpoints, making changes to the game as I deem necessary. Then I'll take it to another website, and another, as I make progress on the "real" game and put out testing builds and I'll keep growing the game from there. So thank you for your concern, but I've got a plan in mind already. :)

I'm confused. To me, a 2D-top down pixel game sounds like a visual game like the old Pong game. It sounds like a puzzle where you press the arrow keys to navigate your rectangular box through the maze/puzzle, meeting "horrors" which sound like red rectangle boxes. It sounds like the story is just the description of the game and not the actual game itself.

So is there a story with a plot and all that? If so, what the heck does 2D-top down pixel game mean?

Sounds like just a fancy way to say tile-based to me.

2D top down video game sounds like something like Gauntlet.

"The Dwarf needs food badly!"

"The Elf is about to die!"

Damn those pesky reapers!

One day (after payday of course) some buddies and I decided to pump a fortune of quarters into the original Gauntlet arcade game, to see if we could beat it.

The 4 of us battled down through the levels 1-99, hoping that 100 was the magic number.

Nope.

Continue through the rest of the day going from level 100-999. 1000 had to be the last level right?

By this time, we were running low on quarters and level 1000 was pretty much nothing but reapers. The quarters were dropping like flies as fast as the characters!

Finally, we beat level 1000! And... the game reset back to level 1.

...

We all kicked the every loving shit out of that game.

Hello Endmaster!

I must say it's an honor for you to comment. You're something of a legend on the site, at least in my opinon.

I don't know what Gauntlet is, but from the way that BerkaZerka describes it, it seems like one of those Castlevania games, which is a sidescroller, and NOT what I mean by Top Down Game. If Gauntlet ISN'T like that, then my apologies, as I've never even heard of it before. But I want everyone to know that the game is NOT a sidescroller, platformer, or Atari-like game (Asteroids, Centipede, Galaga, Pac-Man). Maaaaaybe a little like "Adventure" from Atari, as far as general layout, but not in terms of gameplay, graphics, or story (or lack thereof in the case of Adventure).

No, this is Gauntlet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mMJio2MO6w
 

Ah! I see now, thank you for informing me! Yes, that is pretty much the layout of a Top Down Game. Except that in the games I'M making, you won't see the top of the character's head, it will just be a kind of.... well a sort of Top/Side view. Like Undertale:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEVR2FUB3ic

(Skip to 1:48 for the actual game)

"Top Down Pixel Game" is basically what Undertale, Dragon Quest, and Earthbound is. It's the sort of top view thing. So, pretty much the opposite of a platformer..... sort of. 

 

 

And yes, it has a story with a pretty interesting plot if I do say so myself. I'm hoping for the kind of lore method that Scott Cawthon used in FNAF, where the whole plot and backstory is revealed bit by bit throughout the series.