Adventure Gamers - Forums

I’m not sure if I had an “official” post about Asylum here. It’s been such a long time that maybe it was archived. Because the other ongoing thread is more a discussion about the pros and cons of Kickstarter, I’m opening a new one to briefly resume all the latest news and goodies from the game. I’ll try to keep this updated as work progresses (and sorry if you’ve already seen some of this stuff!).

Just today we posted the full intro to the game, a 2-minute long ride towards the Hanwell Mental Institute. Quite reminiscent of Scratches maybe (yeah, I have a thing with brooding car rides toward unspeakable horrors):

This footage alone took us three months to get it right. We’re very happy with the final result as it sets the right mood for the kind of game that awaits you: brooding, surreal, and relentlessly menacing. If you pay attention, you might notice disturbing details.

As you might know, Asylum has been in alpha for a while. The entire building can be explored fully, close to 100 distinct locations with tons of horrifying things. We’re now implementing the actual game logic, and this year we achieved a crucial milestone in the project: the characters you meet in Hanwell, and the way you interact with them, have been finalized. As I’ve said often, this was no small feast: the idea is that the dwellers of the asylum should look and behave humanly, with impressive animations and believable reactions to your questions. They’re almost on the same level of big budget games, and they took a tremendous time to get right. Here’s a test we did for the mysterious Lenny — perhaps your only friend in Hanwell — and he’s already looking much better:

Other progress include the breathtaking new visual effects, such as a foreboding weather system that will completely change the style and feel of the asylum as the story progresses. Check out this oppressive sunset and brooding thunderstorm:

The reason I don’t want to venture a release date is to avoid giving you false expectations. We’ve been doing so for the past years (harkening back to an embarrassing “Coming 2011”) and you see how that went. This is a huge game, too huge we reckon, with a difficult schedule that’s been hard to estimate, but we’re pulling it off. We’re also very stubborn when it comes to the quality and style of the things we do. The kind of detail we’re striving to achieve can be seen in this mysterious tape recorder — note the strikingly realistic wobbling tape head:

Those Kickstarter backers who tried Asylum can confirm that simply moving around Hanwell alone can take several hours. For sure, this is a game that will live up to the expectations, not just playing it but encouraging endless theories and discussions about its story.

Oh, we have dead cats too:

But seriously, rest assured that all is well and that we’re making progress every day. The moment Asylum is closer to become a reality, it will all happen very fast: new trailer, dozens of screenshots, lengthy gameplay video, post-mortem, live Q&A, demo, you name it. We’re saving all that to build hype for the shocking moment of truth when you get to see for yourselves the fruit of five years of work (and counting). It will happen. 100% guaranteed.

For now, thank you so much for your patience and support. Here’s hoping you enjoyed this preliminar look into our ambitious project at Senscape that may earn a permanent place in your nightmares.

Agustín Cordes - 21 October 2015 06:27 PM

Because the other ongoing thread is more a discussion about the pros and cons of Kickstarter,

No, it is NOT just about the pros and cons of Kickstarter. It’s about YOUR game and YOUR Kickstarter and YOUR posts. Hell, the thread is even called Asylum. 

I’m opening a new one to briefly resume all the latest news and goodies from the game. I’ll try to keep this updated as work progresses

Smart move. Divert the attention away from the other thread. You didn’t reply, did you. Too close for comfort?
http://www.adventuregamers.com/forums/viewthread/6536/P30/#100259

Karlok - 21 October 2015 08:00 PM

Agustín Cordes - 21 October 2015 06:27 PM

Because the other ongoing thread is more a discussion about the pros and cons of Kickstarter,

No, it is NOT just about the pros and cons of Kickstarter. It’s about YOUR game and YOUR Kickstarter and YOUR posts. Hell, the thread is even called Asylum. 

I’m opening a new one to briefly resume all the latest news and goodies from the game. I’ll try to keep this updated as work progresses

Smart move. Divert the attention away from the other thread. You didn’t reply, did you. Too close for comfort?
http://www.adventuregamers.com/forums/viewthread/6536/P30/#100259

 

Thank you for derailing the thread in the first reply. I’m deeply sorry that I couldn’t address your latest comments during the 3 hours since you posted them.

I’ve been announcing the news of the intro all over the place, so I’d kindly ask if you can give me time until tomorrow morning to continue addressing the concerns voiced in the other thread as I’ve been doing since it was first posted.

A great-looking and atmospheric intro, if only a bit cliched. Scratches, Outlast, Silent Hill, Barrow Hill immediately come to mind, not to mention numerous horror films. I know the game is supposed to remind us of B horrors, but still wish it doesn’t rely on cliches too much.

Checked out the intro, it looks great and oozes atmosphere. Loved the corner-of-your-eye stuff in the tunnel, it really sets up the atmosphere nicely. I never was an Asylum backer (I’m not sure I was even aware Kickstarter existed back then) but I’m definitely buying this game when it’s out. One question for Agustin - how big of a visual influence was the Danvers State Hospital on the Asylum?

Amazing work. Your game is going to be impressive Agustin. I remember I was already impressed in 2012 when I was working on ASA: A Space Adventure, and it really inspired me sometimes (and motivated me).

I have no doubt that a lot of people will enjoy the new graphics, and that it will help you find new fans around the world - and I think it was the right choice if you look at all the games now created with Unity 5 and with fantastic graphics.
However aren’t you a bit worried that some of your backers supported a pre-rendered 3D game instead? I remember that the graphics with Dagon were already excellent, and you also know that many adventure fans suffer of motion sickness (I do).

Mr Underhill - 22 October 2015 06:16 AM

Checked out the intro, it looks great and oozes atmosphere. Loved the corner-of-your-eye stuff in the tunnel, it really sets up the atmosphere nicely. I never was an Asylum backer (I’m not sure I was even aware Kickstarter existed back then) but I’m definitely buying this game when it’s out. One question for Agustin - how big of a visual influence was the Danvers State Hospital on the Asylum?

Sorry about taking long to reply, these past few days have been truly hectic!

Anyway, no, Danvers hasn’t been such a big visual influence, although Session 9 (a movie taking place in Danvers before it was sadly smashed to cinders) was a strong inspiration on the game. Highly recommended for fans of genuinely scary movies! (and no, it won’t spoil the experience of Asylum in any way).

Although we used many diverse references, the architecture that most influenced our Hanwell Mental Institute is from Taunton State Hospital:

Hope I can visit the place someday!

Simon_ASA - 22 October 2015 06:50 AM

Amazing work. Your game is going to be impressive Agustin. I remember I was already impressed in 2012 when I was working on ASA: A Space Adventure, and it really inspired me sometimes (and motivated me).

I have no doubt that a lot of people will enjoy the new graphics, and that it will help you find new fans around the world - and I think it was the right choice if you look at all the games now created with Unity 5 and with fantastic graphics.
However aren’t you a bit worried that some of your backers supported a pre-rendered 3D game instead? I remember that the graphics with Dagon were already excellent, and you also know that many adventure fans suffer of motion sickness (I do).

Thanks, as I’ve also said, ASA looks incredible. I still have to play it but I honestly will (I love Sci-Fi as well).

The switch to Unity won’t be a problem in that regard because we’re still doing pre-rendered graphics. We’re using Unity primarily for realtime visual effects (i.e.: the storm) or interaction with full 3D characters, but the scenes remain pre-rendered. We didn’t have much problems integrating real vs. “pseudo” 3D. For example, Lenny is a realtime character against a pre-rendered backdrop

Oh man, why did you have to go and post all this good stuff, Agustín? I’ve been successfully dodging my way past the Kickstarter builds and updates to focus on production here and then you had to go and do this. Now all I want to do is track down my VIP-doctor-whatever-access thingy and play the latest Asylum build!

And that YouTube intro video? Glorious! A delightfully sinister throwback to the Scratches opening.

dmwi_mike - 28 October 2015 06:18 AM

Oh man, why did you have to go and post all this good stuff, Agustín? I’ve been successfully dodging my way past the Kickstarter builds and updates to focus on production here and then you had to go and do this. Now all I want to do is track down my VIP-doctor-whatever-access thingy and play the latest Asylum build!

And that YouTube intro video? Glorious! A delightfully sinister throwback to the Scratches opening.

Thanks, Mike! I feel the same about Prominence… wish I could give the beta build a try

(and hey, it’s funny that after all these years both games will be released around the same time!)

BTW it’s funny how people are finding the intro reminiscent of Scratches because we truly didn’t intend it to be that way. Pablo (the artist) didn’t play Scratches around the time the intro was being produced, and Pablo (my brother, the composer) didn’t create the tune with the intro in mind. It all just… happened. I guess strange forces are at work here

*bump*

Here’s a little something we released today. After lots of experimenting, we settled on an interface for Asylum dubbed “Look ‘n Click”, which works essentially the same with mouse, gamepad and touchscreen. Very pleasurable to play on the couch and a big TV, but of course feels just like home with the venerable mouse.

Thoughts on what you see in the video?

We have cool news on the way too

Sefir - 02 July 2016 02:16 AM

Agustín Cordes - 01 July 2016 09:17 PM

Thoughts on what you see in the video?

Loved it. Very nice graphics and the interface seems really easy. Liked the (not so subtle) Scratches refference too!

That won’t be in the final game, though, it was a test line that I thought was funny enough to leave in the alpha

2 questions though.
There were sound effects on the video -the wind most notably-, but not music. Also, the in-game descriptions weren’t voice dubbed. Will this be the case in the final version?

There is definitely music (and pretty good, I must say!). Much like in Scratches, there will be music with often moments of uneasy silence. As for dubbing, we’re doing it, although I was this close to also make it work like in Scratches: no dubbing except during conversations. But, poor Josh Mandel said he will record all the lines (possibly around a gazillion by now).

That reference to Scratches made me laugh, Augustin.