Does anybody want to create a Call of Cthulhu/Lovecraft fan game?There are programs out there to create 3D games. I have a copy of First Person Shooter Creator X9, which could be used. The basic stuff we would need would be models, textures, sound effects, and a storyline. I have some small experience in textures.If anybody is interested reply to this post or email me: chrispetermorgan@hotmail.comIm not thinking of some award winning games production, just something fairly basic, but which would be fun for a few of us to make and play. And since a sequal to DCotE is not going to be coming out anytime soon, it might be time we did something ourselves.Chris.

A few fangames have been made already. I actually worked on one independant title myself called "Lost in the Darkness", which eventually became "Nocturnal: Mythos". It's currenty being stored away until I have a much better "budget" and team to do it with, since I don't want the idea to be presented in indy-form. I am currently working on something called Nightmare, set in the 70s, which is about the Mythos.I may be able to lend a hand from time to time, my email is slik_power at hotmail dot com.

Cheers for the info Ray.I was definately thinking of some 'indy' however, rather than something proffesional. Something fairly small, and easy for a few people to put together. Any help you could give would be great, but you seem like a proffesional so I would not want to access your skills, until more groundwork has been done, in order not to waste your time.Im looking for a solid (but short) storyline first, followed by creation content. I can do some texture stuff, and use some of the in-game resources for FPS Creator. hopefully some more people will read this text and want to get involved.Good luck with the Nightmare and Nocturnal projects, and thanks for giving me your email, I hope to call on you at some point. If you know anybody who would like to get involved in the low level stuff - storyline and map-making let me know!Chris.

I would love to get involved with this project.Too bad that I don't see how, since I doesn't seem to have much useful knowledge to contribute.I did play play around with Dromed in the past (a map editor for Thief and Thief 2) if that counts.

Hi Nyaria,Any help you could give would be excellent. I am aware of Dromed, but I was thinking of FPS Creator, as I have used it recently, so I am fairly familiar with it. I am looking at the storyline first, do you want to want to work with me on that?Chris Morgan.

To Grundelund/NyarlaGrundelund: - Yes I did get in touch with Ferret (and joined the Nightmare forum), and said that I could do some basic textures, but I would be happy to help on the storyline too. I assumed we would be contacted if our services are required, am I wrong? I admit FPS Creator is not amazing (despite its own hype) however I feel confident it can be used to make something basic.To Nyarla: - regarding the gameplay I was thinking more of a shooter, with some adventure elements, although the program is FPS Creator (First Person Shooter Creator) we do not necessarily have to have any shooting in the game if we do not wish, but as this was an aspect of CoC DCofE, and some of lovecraft's stories I think it is a good direction to go in.In FPSC you can implement scripted events. I'm not sure about cutscenes, but you can play movie clips within the game. By audible dialogs I assume you mean sounds/voices etc, and these can be used in-game. What do you mean by readable ingame material? You can bring up images and the like when you examine a game object etc.I agree we should use one of Lovecraft's story's as the basis of the game, thats a must. However I think it should be one of the shorter stories, or one that can be incorporated into a short game. I feel if we keep the game fairly basic, fairly short, we will have a better chance of completing something.I was about to say that 'The Thing in the Moonlight' might make an interesting short game, but from just checking on Wikipeadia, it seems it was written by somebody else, although other book collections have it as Lovecraft's work. Did you have a story in mind? I am staying at a friend's house for a few days, but when I get back I will skim through some of the stories and see what would be good. Incidentally some aspects of the Lurking Fear would make a good short shooter game.Do you prefer to be contacted IM address or over this forum?Chris Morgan

I've sent you a p.m. Chris.

Hi Ray,Everything you have said makes good sense. I am just waiting for Nyarla to read/reply to the posts so far. I think we will work on a design document together, including the story, and then pass it by all the interested parties for their input. I am staying at a friends house until tonight, and then Im busy at home until the weekend, but then I can start adding peoples email's/IM's etc and messaging people direct, although my hope is that the majority of stuff will get passed through this forum in order to make as much as possible available to the community.Cheers,Chris Morgan.

Sorry for the wait."What do you mean by readable ingame material? "I meant anything in game that could spawn readable text for the player, for example a newspaper lying on a table.I now read both short stories you mentioned and I think that The Lurking Fear could be great material for a game.The Thing in the Moonlight is an enjoyable read but doesn't have much potential as I see it, because it's shortness."I was about to say that 'The Thing in the Moonlight' might make an interesting short game, but from just checking on Wikipeadia, it seems it was written by somebody else"According to thetempleofdagon.com, Lovecraft wrote it as a letter and J. Chapman Miske just added a few paragraphs to the beginning and the end."Do you prefer to be contacted IM address or over this forum?"You prefer the forum and it's fine by me.I'm already thinking about what could make it into the game from The Lurking Fear.

Hi,The game engine can produce images, i.e. a flashscreen when a particular trigger zone is entered, and possibly also when a particular object is examined. So to use your example, I trigger zone would be set so that when the player came into it, the image of the newspaper would appear on-screen. These on-screen flashscreens are like 'pop-ups' in that they do not cover the whole screen.I am a bit tentative about the Lurking Fear because of its length (and yes I realised I mentioned it...) however if you are keen on it then lets go for it!Okay - down to business. If you read Ray's posts above, he mentions that a design document is the best thing to begin with. As far as I am aware a design document will have a title and a brief. How about the following...Title: The Lurking Fear - a FPS horror inspired by H.P. LovecraftBrief: A man investigating the terrible legend haunting a mountain backwoods mansion comes face to face with a subterranean horror. A First Person Shooter game inspired by the H.P. Lovecraft story of the same name, and set in, around, and under the mysterious 'Martense' mansion.how about that?As I posted before, I am thinking of something fairly short, so that we have a better chance of completing it.So at the moment I am thinking of two main levels. The mansion, and under the mansion. I also just thought of a possible intro level. Like in CoC DCotE, you as a private investigator could read a newspaper telling you about the 'lurking fear' and then set off from your office to investigate it.What do you think?

I downloaded FPS Creator and played with it for a while.Do you have model packs for it? My version (1.0) has very limited resources.Your outline for the game seems great to me. We would have 1 intro level with no fighting just a few a rooms and in one of them the player discovers a newspaper that covers the massacre on Tempest Mountain.2nd level - mansion.3rd level - underground tunnels.What model do you plan to use for the enemy?The title and briefing for the design document are good.I think now we can start to create blueprints for the maps.

One question I should ask first, have you got windows XP or windows Vista, or something else? I have a computer with XP and FPS Creator (my version is version 9.something) runs fine, but I have problems with it on Vista, supposedly FPS Creator version 10 (x10 I think it is called is the Vista one).I have no model packs for it, apart from what is available with version 9. There is some free content on the web, I have often searched and found stuff, however I was hoping that somebody with modelling skills might help us out, or we could model something ourselves in a free modelling program. Also the same company produced 3D Gamemaker, which you may or may not have heard of, I think I had a copy of it somewhere, I will look for it and if I have it the models on there may be compatible with FPS Creator.I agree with your outline of the levels. In terms of what model I plan to use for the enemy see the paragraph above. However I do think we can concentrate on most of the content creation later on, at which point something may have presented itself.Therefore I agree with you, that we can begin to concentrate on the maps. Lets start with the intro level, how do you think it should look? I thought maybe one room with the newspaper on a desk, with the room lit by lamp light - let me know what you think.Also can we post our maps in this thread (in a post)? It would be good to show people what we are doing in order to attract people.I almost forgot, I downloaded a free program from the FPS Creator forums, created by some genius fan, which allows you to create new segments (the bits you create rooms with) and signs and things like that, so getting the look we want will not be a problem. I/we can just create new textures and make new room sections with them.

My OS is Windows XP.I tried Blender recently. It's a free, 3D modeling software and now I'm quite convinced that I won't be the one who sculpts the monsters for this game. Here is how far I got in the tutorial. It's a guy waving his hand:http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/8900/guyt.jpgBy the way it is possible to open FPSC models with Blender, I tried.What do you have in mind for the monsters? I think the most common enemy should be the distorted Martense family member. As Lovecraft puts it "a filthy whitish gorilla thing with sharp yellow fangs and matted fur". Maybe some little devils too.The intro map is okay for me as you described it. One room, probably the home of the protagonist, with one or two unusable doors leading to the rest of his flat, and a newspaper for briefing. Do we want it to take place in 1921 as in the short story? If so, that could be on the paper.Have you thought about the climix of game? How will it end?And can you make it so that it's raining outside while the player is the mansion? Probably we could record some thunderstorm sounds from a movie and loop it as background noise for the mansion level.We should also decide how to link the mansion and the tunnels map. The basic motivation for the mansion level could be the notion of getting down into the basemant, which is barred in some way. We might end up with the antediluvian idea of get the the right key for the right door but maybe we'll come with something better. Like finding a chute somewhere the leads to the basemant."Also can we post our maps in this thread (in a post)?"I don't see why not."I/we can just create new textures and make new room sections with them."I never tried texturing before, but if no one else comes I give it a shot.

I'm creating a Cthulhu inspired game myself, though it's commercial. It's still working title but the progress is quite good so far, it's an FPS/RP/Adventure Game set in modern day England. You stumble across a declining town where the clothes, decor and industry haven't changed since the 1920s era. Two in-game screenshots below :http://www.silentasylum.com/bmar/bm1.jpghttp://www.silentasylum.com/bmar/bm2.jpg

I had a look at the image of the man waving his hand, its not too bad, but if necessary I can always give the sculpting a go. I will download blender when we get to that stage, if no modellers have come forwards. If it is possible to open FPSC models with blender that also gives us a whole new set of options as we could just adapt another model for the job.In terms of enemies I had the idea of two main sets of enemies. In the mansion, the Martense family retainers (servants), degenerate but still human. Below the mansion, the fully degenerated descendents of the Martense family, the "filthy whitish gorilla thing[s] with sharp yellow fangs and matted fur". Also possibly two bosses/mini-bosses. Below the mansion, a 'mother' creature, but above the mansion Im not sure. Maybe another Lovecraftian creature, but we do not want to make things too difficult for ourselves just yet. I would like to avoid the 'little devils' if possible, I dont think they have the right feel to them.I think we should have the game taking place in 1921, and have that on any newspaper image we create and use. The flat sounds fine with one room. Can I ask, what are your drawing/mapping skills like? Would you like to draw some basic illustrations of the flat, or even a basic floorplan? If not, thats cool, I could rough up a basic level in FPSC, but it would be good to get your ideas on how things should look.I have not yet thought about the climix of the game. Maybe ending with killing the 'mother' boss. Maybe something to do with lightning. Obviously we cannot use the climix in the short story, where that is the protagonist discovering the Martense descendents for the first (and last?) time. We can use that as the climix of the 2nd level (the mansion) but not of the whole game. I do not think we need to focus too much on that now.I think some form of 'environmental' effects, such as rain, can be created in FPSC, otherwise you idea of a looped thunder track is a good one.Yes, the motivation of the 2nd level (mansion) should be getting into the basemant, and we can work in some visual (or otherwise) clues that indicate that the player needs to get in there. To be honest I think the idea of 'getting the right key' is perfectly okay. We may come up with something else, but it always has to be matched by our abilities, and the capabilities of FPSC.I would like to do the texturing if you have no objections? Im not brilliant but I do actually enjoy it.How do you feel about all this?Here is a book/audiobook cover of the story, showing the creatures, and it might be a good basis for our own models.[img]http://sites.google.com/site/chrismorganstuff/Home/TheLurkingFear.jpg[/img]I have the audio book available, but I cannot upload it to my Google website, because it is two large, do you want me to send it to you over MSN or something? It would be good to make it available in this thread, but I cannot provide a link to it.

I recently looked at the FPS creator as some previews showed promise, but I was left a bit disappointed as my first impression was the levels could only be made in blocks and my 3DS Max geometry is pretty much pointless unless I dissect it heavily whereas I don't have to with other 3d package friendly engines. If you look at the images uploaded above, I tried to use them with FPS but it crashes the engine.

Hi Eyeinthepyramid,The images look fantastic, good luck with the project. Maybe if you have some spare time you will be able to give us a hand?As I have said before FPSC is fairly basic in terms of what it can do, but I think it is a fair place to start. We are not making a commercfial game, just a short fangame.Keep up the good work!Chris.[img] http://sites.google.com/site/chrismorganstuff/Home/TheLurkingFear.jpg [/img]here is the image at last!

I'd be happy to help. Theres many engines which you can use though some require a level of coding most don't want to bother with. I use a heavily modified version of Quest3D for mine.

"Can I ask, what are your drawing/mapping skills like?"I can't draw. But I enjoy mapping. I started a few maps in DromEd, never finished them though.I created a floor plan in mspaint for level 1.http://img17.imageshack.us/my.php?image=playersflat.jpg"I would like to do the texturing if you have no objections? Im not brilliant but I do actually enjoy it."Please, do it.I checked the cover of the audiobook and I think the artist who draw that didn't catch what Lovecraft was talking about. They look like general fiend depictions. They don't have ragged white fur, nor big, dirty tunnel digging claws. When I'm thinking about the Martense creatures I imagine something along the lines of a furry caveman, with mole claws.How big is the audio book? You could upload it to sendspace.com and provide a link, then anybody could get it.And hello eyeinthepyramid.update: Hopefully the image is accessible now.

Hey nyarla : ) I can't seem to see the level map there.

@eyeinthepyramid, when is your game coming out

Hi all,Nyarla:I have seen the map, it looks good. I did have something slightly different in mind, but I think we should go with yours, I will start to mock something up in FPSC this Sunday. I will do the texturing as well, however could you give me some suggestions as to what you think the textures might be? E.g. what the walls might look like etc.I think you are probably right about the Martense's they need to be furry/hairy with tunnel-digging claws, though I think they need to be more ape-like than caveman-ish. If Im honest I posted that pic in part, so that people would some stuff to look at!The audiobook is in two parts of about 20mb each. I will look into sendsapce.com. Do you have any objections to my including your floorplans etc in a design document that I am compiling, and which I will make available through this thread?Eyeinthepyramid:Thanks! Unless Nyarla has any objections I would like to stick to FPSC unless some of these other engines are free and particulalry easy, and (hopefully) have the option of creating a stand-alone game. What do you all think? Does Quest 3D fulfil the above requirements?All:What is a good screen-grabbing program?Chris.

I think the walls in the players flat should be covered with some cheap, worn out wallpaper (brownish or yellow) that started to peel off in a few places, since he neglects his environment because he lives only for the supernatural.You can find pictures of 1920s interiors here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/daily-bungalow/tags/1920s/"Do you have any objections to my including your floorplans etc in a design document that I am compiling, and which I will make available through this thread?"Of course not.About the possibility of an engine change:I'm willing to switch engines if a better one appears."What is a good screen-grabbing program?"For screenshots? I use IrfanView, it's free, small and great.

More mythos games, Hooray! Good luck with your project,Q.

HiIm working on the basics of the first level. Hopefully I can take some screenshots of the first level and post them tomorrow. As usual its taking longer than I expected. Sadly this is not because Im a perfectionist, but because I am anolly retentive!Nyarla:Ive had a look at the 1920's designs and will bear them in mind. Im working on some, not so cheap, wallpaper textures, but I will make them look old (or at least try to!) I have registered with sendspace.com and downloaded Irfanview, so I will follow up with the audio-book download link, and screenshots. I will post the design document, when I have finished with the first iteration of it.Quinjet:Thanks. Fancy joining in?