The Victim

So there are a handful of things I wanted to add to the game but didn't have the time to, and honestly, some just blatantly slipped my mind. So I figured I'd just list them here, in case anyone wants to play it again once the changes are implemented. Timing wise, it'll probably done a few weeks after my birthday, since I have to get some things sorted out.

+ more Dialogue and choices
+ Good/Evil judgement system
+ Two more additional puzzles
+ Expanding the ending (will add 2 more endings)
+ More Diary pages to explain the stories of the other girls


I feel as though the first half of the game has a very different feeling than the second half. And the ending will feel rushed for some, so I want to fix the pacing, a lot. I'm very new at making games in RPGMaker, and I ran into more problems than anticipated even though I kept the game extremely simple.

There are a lot of... mood issues, I think my inexperience really shows. I battled with myself a lot between being obvious and leaving things to the imagination. Moreover, I struggled with trying to present cliches in new and interesting ways. I know I'm not dealing with a brand spanking new or untouched topic, but it is one that I think is very chilling, and a dark reality for so many. Which is why I didn't want to add any humor whatsoever. I didn't want to draw away from the atmosphere I was struggling to create, as I had very little faith in my ability to recreate the mood after breaking the tension.

Another thing, I really did miss out on explaining Belle and Sarah's personalities. While Mary's is extremely obvious, and Elise's is very low-key as to not distract the player from the choices they are trying to make, this was intended to allow them to play Elise and to experience the story from a non-slanted view. Though, I admit, I slipped in a few areas, but I hope to fix that when I make adjustments.

I think the most important thing will be me getting emotional distance from the project over a week or two, before going back and working hard at fixing and tweaking the plot to make it deeper. Right now it's a serious topic that is dark, but still a bit more shallow than I like, and I'm sure players who enjoy the darker genres would appreciate more back story to learn the good and the bad of each character.

I hope I didn't spoil anything for those of you who haven't gotten to playing it, but I'd love advice and critique. I know the mapping is horrible, but I worked with all the default things in the game, as I wanted to see how much I could do to create the atmosphere without unique things. Much like, how scary can I make this feel with things people are used to seeing all the time. Much like one feels safe in their home until something bad happens.

Anyway, it basically sums up as, 'I wanted to create something deeper but my inexperience and late start really held me back from being satisfied'.

Thanks for playing, and please let me know what you think or any suggestions you have! I want to improve and develop.