(I am updating this in 2021 to reflect the current state of Murmia
but i will let my old description below.)

Murmia Moldborn

Developer: Hauke / MoldPunk Games

Storyline: In many fantasy stories the hero arrives to prevent the evil forces to corrupt the land. In Murmia a mysterious being called The Blue Moon Man has already transformed the previously lush and magical world into a grotesque and surreal landscape. The inhabitants became moldy and limbless caricatures of the happy magical creatures they have once been.

The player is a being summoned by the Blue Moon Man himself and the Murmians call him "Moldborn".

After the Moldborn emerges from the slimy brain-mold that covers the land he is confused and explores his surroundings. He learns about the fate of some of some of the Murmians and attempts to help where he can but in the end he is nothing but a plaything for the Blue Moon Man´s entertainment


description:
It mixes 2d and 3d elements in an attempt to achieve a "moldy story book look".

all characters and many assets are hand painted by me. most of the music and voices are made with Melobytes.

I call it a mini-game game because it has just one level which can be played in one sitting.

gameplay:

-explore the city

-find keys to open doors

-meet the Murmians and taste their exquisite cuisine

- follow a short story-line about a kidnapped teddy-bear.

length:

currently around 30 minutes - maybe a bit more if all is explored. it currently has 2 tiny secret areas but Iwill add more.


below how i started out years ago: (omg almost six years ago! ) - the latest development of Murmia is reflected from page2 on

"A stranger walks through a weird town called Murmia"

my humble micro project that i hopefully posted in the right forum

i have some admitted limitations/guidelines for this
not really necessarily all so strict but yeah :

- no intelligible storyline - npc´s talk gibberish - any writings or prompts are unintelligible.
- the terrain is flat all the time - player is always on ground level.
- linear path
- ca. 30 minutes of walking/exploring hopefully in one level ...
- no HUD (no combat - basically no game-play except walking)
- most of the inhabitants of the city don`t leave their position-- only some will move and follow player but they don't attack.
- it will be a mix of 3d and 2d entities ( all npc are 2d)
- as much of self-made textures,entities and sound as possible - everything as minimalist as possible

basically a short,linear "walking simulator" with secret areas and many weird details to see and hear.
the occasional mild jump-scare but overall relaxing - if maybe a bit disturbing (according to my test-player)

the world is a whimsical-cartoonish-surreal-bizarro-creepy post apocalyptic thing.

i did not make any interiors for this yet but they will be small.
i´m having quite some fun doing this so i thought why not make a post here.

some more images

I like the aesthetic and the surreal tone of it, did you made the creatures?

hey thanks!! glad you like the visuals !! i just paint them in photoshop and use Sketchup to make the "cut-out". it´s really quick but they are just 2d so they are quite static.
they always look at the player and some can move a little and might follow the player.
i dont bother to give them arms and legs since they wont be able to use them anyway
good thing about this is that i can make new assets really quickly.

i like the 2d - 3d mix and i don't really see them as placeholders ... i guess it would be pretty easy to transform them into 3d objects -stumpy and simple as they are- but i will only start thinking about that when i got this finished.
sometimes i also wonder if i should add some sort of game-play... but i decided to finish the whole walk and all the 2d and 3d assets- add all sounds etc. before i start to bother with any of that. i´m really bad at coding anyway...

for now i just sneak my 2d art into 3d environments and have fun walking around being stared at by my drawings.


i´ll try to upload a short video later on.

oh my godddddddd i am so excited

Beanz: I really like the style and atmosphere !!! I believe that this work deserves to tell a story ... perhaps as surreal as the visual ... a journey that tells a story and invites reflection at every step ...
I want to see that video !!!!
And with regard to making them 3d ... I do not know ... maybe it's one of the characteristics of the murmianos ... to be "chatos de pensamiento", to say the least ...

ORIGINAL:
Beanz: Me gusta mucho el estilo y la ambientación!!! Considero que ese trabajo se merece contar una historia... quizá tan surrealista como la visual... un recorrido que cuenta un cuento y que invita la reflexion a cada paso...
Quiero ver ese video!!!!
Y con respecto a hacerlos 3d... no se... quizá es una de las características de los murmianos... ser "chatos de pensamiento", por decir algo...

thank you Bugsy !! that is very encouraging !

and warlock12 thank you so much for your inspiring feedback !
while constructing the world small stories are surging and hopefully i´ll be able to tell them somehow.
visually,with signs and gibberish ... something like that
the thing is when i start to make to much sense of it it upfront it gets me stuck quickly. specially when i try to use language.
i want to try to let things open to interpretation for visitors and make them feel like they are complete strangers in a strange world.
and i like the expression " "chatos de pensamiento" very much ! thanks again !

wow now i´m really happy that i posted this here. you folks are encouraging!!

i made a small video but the quality isnt good because i dont know how to record gameplay. used OBS and this was the best i could come up with. its short because further on the recording got choppy.
i added a small bonus scene at the end

having trouble with the A.I. - some characters are supposed to move around more and so on ... but yeah it´s w.i.p.
hopefully i´ll figure out how to make a decent recording...
but here it is :

hey someone knows how to configure OBS so it records a decent video? or knows another better - free - recording software ? would be much appreciated !

I love the style! From my point of view ... its realization is very original in a 3d environment. I remember the products of amanita design and perhaps Limbo too, and let's agree that they were transformed into acclaimed indies ... I think they have a good course ... I imagine some piano tinkling here and there, advertising posters and indicators in an unknown alphabet, some very short and melancholy melody. .. very good course. We'll have to wait to see what LOBO says ... he's a very experienced guy and his reviews are very juicy !!! Wolf where are you ???
To record because I did not try Bandicam or Fraps ... those went very well ..

Me encanta el estilo! Desde mi punto de vista... es muy original su realización en un ambiente 3d. Me reucerda mucho los productos de amanita design y quizá tambien a Limbo y, convengamos que se trasnsformaron en indies aclamados... Considero que tienen un buen rumbo... imagino algunos tintineos de piano aqui y allá, algun melodia muy corta y melancólica... muy buen rumbo. Tendremos que esperar para ver que dice LOBO... es un tipo con mucha experiencia y sus críticas son muy jugosas!!! Lobo donde estas???

Para grabar porque no pruebas con Bandicam o fraps... esos me anduvieron muy bien..

Well...this is a nightmare

...but in a good way. Very moody and atmospheric project. Also congrats on being so bold to go with a sprite based route in a 3d environment!

warlock12 and Wolf thank you so much for your awesome feedback and encouragement !!! very much appreciated!!!

more advertisements posters and also weird indicators are in the works
and i will try bandicam and fraps to make a better video- thanks warlock12!

the characters looks great!
nice work.

It's very surreal and a bit creepy I like it.

It might need some kind of other activity for gameplay or if it really is to be a short play walking environment then could be fine.

Cheers.

thanks Mookai and cybernescence!!

it is to be a short walking environment - and more of a linear one. it will have hidden ways,secret areas and things to explore off path but not really open-world.
i think it is something that i am able to finish.

if i start to fiddle around with game-play i will get stuck and if i keep it small i can finish it.

i guess it´s an extreme measure to use 2d characters,gibberish and on top of that have no game-play - just to be able to finish something... and i dont think i´m courageous - it´s more like walking the path of least resistance. but thanks Wolf !!

hell at the moment i don't even have doors because that one interaction entails much more interactions and implications in the game- world.
and then it never stops.
most Murmians don't have arms - and big part of them wouldn't fit into their houses anyway so no doors in Murmia.

when i began to treat my limitations as features i started to have serious fun with game-guru.
and it feels like a little breakthrough in my creative work. and that combined with the positive feedback that my micro project received here leaves me ecstatic !

some new screenshots- fiddling with global lighting but i always end up deciding everything must be very green. it is because Murmians love their poisonous air and their garbage.

A very clear idea of a workable project. Very good!
Question: are we amnesiac murmianswho go to Murmia ??? Have we arrived in a spaceship or through an interdimentional vortex?

Me encantan tus edificios de pocas ventanas... los mantendría como un estilo murmiano de arquitectura. Hablando de atmósfera tóxica con un sencillo script de zone hurt puedes crear zonas de alta contaminación que hagan daño al caminante de forma de agregar una simple mecánica.

I love your buildings with few windows ... I would keep them as a murmur style of architecture. Speaking of a toxic atmosphere with a simple zone hurt script, you can create areas of high contamination that hurt the walker in a way that adds a simple mechanic.

I really like the look of this - if you can incorporate a story, something to keep the player engaged and give him/her a reason to explore the world, then you could be on to something. Keeping the game simple (2d characters, small playing area) and therefore manageable (from a development point of view) is a good idea, and I love the gibberish!

This is very different; that's a good thing though. We could use some fresh blood to feed Lee with around here...

I mean it looks great! Love the sprites, I'm surprised how cleanly they clipped for you in GG.

it's a bit too green for my tastes, but I get that is your atmosphere. Neat work. Level design in a bit plain but it works, strangely enough, given the oddness of the environment.
Definitely would like to see this one followed through to completion.

thank you so much Gtox and Bolt !
have been working on it on and off during the last couple of years- experimenting, making entities etc.
but now i dont want to do anything else !
i will make a pause for 2 weeks but i cant wait to get back working on it.

i make the characters in sketchup - basically an image on a flat plane. is that called sprite-based ?

hello

after a small break i´m back working on Murmia.
at start i attempted to include some small interiors- short corridors and small rooms made in ebe but i quickly gave up on it.
it made the map crash often - without ebe-structures i have way fewer crashes - almost none.

before i started to feel seriously stuck i went back concentrating on the city, re-arranging things, making new buildings for the background
new characters,sound-effects and musics- having fun doing it.

little update -

i had to cut my level in half because i reached the point where it crashed each time i loaded it.
my initial plan to make one "long walk" did not work out and i reached a limit where working on it was no fun anymore.
so now i´m making small levels and it´s fun again.
but the small interrupted levels probably need some game-play.

the idea i have is that the player is a wasteland dweller called Mungo Balugany.
He likes to collect and steal stuff and maybe he has a cave where he guards his treasures.
He would set out to Murmia with a list of things he wants to have.
in the first level he would just have to find items without any danger or only little danger involved.
like 4 rotten hearts 5 slime-sorbets, 3 mold-sandwiches and such things.

the second level would have an antagonist called Sissimoken
to make the collecting of items a little more exciting in a casual way.
and there probably should be a third level with slightly heightened difficulty
before Mungo Balugany can complete his list.

i managed to make smallg´s slenderman script work and i think it would be perfect.
but so far i could not make AmenMoses Hidden Object script work which i figure could work for Mungos list.

another edit: with amenmoses help i managed to implement the "hidden object" gameplay

i have a test version of level 1 almost complete.
in level one i set up 5 small zones where the player can find and pick up objects like mold-sandwiches,old pizzas and goo-sorbets.
it is still possible to just walk through the level- the "hidden object" game is optional.
since i place the objects myself - i have little idea how dificult,easy,fun,boring it is ... will need test-players for this version soon.

started out making a walking simulator and now i have something like a hidden object game.
also a rudimentary story is growing and i have some ideas for a a little prologue scene.

i wonder if i should update my OP with this new development direction. (?)

some screenshots

another update:

officially stuck now.
i was expecting that this would not be easy so i´m not surprised.
i´m at 800 hours in game guru and 120 hours into the "murmia project" but i have almost no prior experience in computer-game-making and many things are tough to grasp for my poor old nuggin.

the map i have built got serious frame-rate issues.
first i wanted to do a "walking simulator" kind of thing that would last more than 3 minutes for one level ( my idea was 30 minutes ... ) but soon the editor got sluggish and started to crash.
so i cut what i had in half and thought of making small levels and introduce a hidden object mini game. that worked nicely at start but once again i started to have framerate issues because i needed so many objects crammed together in small spaces for the hidden object game.

i was using only dynamic lights because i knew from earlier experiences that i could only bake them when i had every object in place.
so i did not try to bake anything for several weeks haha silly me.


so i finally hit F4 and it starts mapping the whole map instead of the area i built in.... weird.
i quit the mapping- reduce map size and run it again.
when it got to the area of my level i immediately saw there was something off.
the "buildings" i had clumsily made in sketchup where gigantic in size.
i quit again and went back to check if my level had any accidentally oversized building floating around but everything was normal.

so i run the mapping to the end and when i start the level i have a truly surreal landscape with titanic red and white checkered entities.
spectacular effect but unwanted and only to be appreciated at 1 fps

probably something is wrong with my sketcthup buildings...
i probably have too many entities crammed together...
hm.
everything was looking very nice but atm i feel kinda lost.

hello folks

after feeling lost for a while i´m back to Murmia.
first - i am back to my initial concept : very small, no game-play no story.
less is more.

i created a small series of images which i call "postcards from there" using Murmia screen-shots
which revived my Murmia Spirit and unexpectedly led to a new project : a creepy children book that will feature a very similar ambient
and even some Murmians.
really having fun integrating the game-guru engine more in my illustrations and my moral is up again to create a
visitable version of "A Visit To Murmia"

No gameplay? What will drive the player then?

i am honestly not sure what visitors would get out of visiting Murmia . maybe just the experience of being
there and explore will entertain some - i just know that i find it entertaining to build it and also to use it as a source of inspiration
and resource for my work.

maybe it could be similar to a small "walking simulator" but it is tiny and it probably cant be called a game.

for me it is a place i create and visit like a tourist and take snapshot´s to create illustrations in the outside world.
i am also setting up a gallery inside Murmia which will be hidden in the wasteland.
the weirdness and the gibberish somehow makes my imagination flow but as soon as answers and logic appear the magic dissipates.
maybe someone experiences it in a similar way who knows ?

i was encouraged to try out the game-play side of things and i did some effort to test out different things like a "slenderman" kind of setting and i set up a little "hidden object game" - and it took me several weeks but in the end i did not like it.
i thought that Murmias magic started to die around it.
also the frame-rate and my motivation slowed down drastically.

but since i´m back at the unexciting simple premise "A stranger walks through a weird town called Murmia" i´m excited again.

while being half asleep for months Murmia has already initiated the production of a children book.
it´s a weird place that just exists for itself kinda thing.
once this microscopic little project is done who knows what kind of stories and game-plays it might spawn next?

Glad you found your way back to this ... you've definitely got a great vibe/atmosphere going on with Murmia - it's a surrealness I can't quite describe but I like it .

Unfortunately I think it just takes (a lot of) time and maybe much trial and error with many ideas falling behind to get something that works visually and with game-play at a decent FPS - within the limitations of time, the engine etc.

Hope you crack it - I like the idea of a companion game to a book - perhaps you could blend the two, so you get further information/clues from the book to explore areas in the game, which overall enriches the book reading experience.

Cheers.

hey thanks ! and yes it takes an insane amount of time and effort. last year i got a little frustrated when i had a nicely detailed city but
the engine would not run it. i decided to let it rest and later dial it back to an earlier version.
creating nice things is very difficult and it means repeated failure.
it´s frequently frustrating and seems meaningless but it adds itself up and eventually things come together.

just tinkering on enjoying the ride.
for now i´m just happy that i found a way to use game guru in my work having an excuse to spend more time with it and learn more.

to use a lot of static lights on a large city is tough for GG, but it can be done. try to use large lights that illuminate whole areas with more than one obvious source.

I dont see the need for "gameplay" in a forced sense, I'd prefer to explore a tiny-but-fully realized artistic world than play 20 minutes of game that i wanted to end 15 minutes ago because i'm looking for random stuff the whole time

hey thanks Bugsy - that is encouraging !

gah having trouble uploading a video

i still have trouble to figure out how to record gameplay footage... it´s bad framerate and bad editing galore but well this might give an idea what i have been working on. frame-rate keeps being troublesome.i attempted to optimize this test-build but maybe best is starting from scratch... need to gain courage again.

Well, the creepiness factor is still nice and high

hey thank you so much Gtox ! very much appreciated !

This game feels like a 'trip' down memory lane lol

Nice to see someone sticking to their own art style. Very unique. Great little walk thru.
Keep it up.

Wierd but wonderful,I like it something new.

Dave

oh man thank you all for your comments - really very much appreciated !!!

it encourages me to just stick to my weird ideas which is very exciting for me !

i just had a major shock when i loaded up my level with the new update....
everything is different - all my characters are bugged out or non-existing- all my 3d models are weird- all textures,colors.
basically i´ll have to make new assets and start from scratch. point zero.

holy shit !
the whole thing seems washed away by the update.

well... the secret of all is accepting what is .
doesnt make sense to howl to the moon -
i know but here it comes :

oooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh!

sorry

thanks to help from steam forum i changed the ini file and it set most things normal again yay still got some assets weirded out but not such a big deal it seems ...

amazing projekt, amazing work, i love it Its now one Week that i work with Gameguru, but i need to learn so much. Is it possible that you say me point to point how i can import 2D painted charakters vom Photoshop or Illustrator to the Gameguru? all tzhe osftware i have but i can not figure out how i get it into this engine. Thanks a lot

Not sure how i allowed this one to slip past my eyes. Incredibly creepy stuff here!

Amazingly wonderful! Can't wait to visit!
A magical journey through a small weird town... works for me!

Please continue!

hey folks thank you all so much for your comments !! and sorry that i did not answer earlier !
i had to take a long break from Murmia because of other work but i will continue with Murmia as soon as possible !

hey folks thank you all so much for your comments !! and sorry that i did not answer earlier !
i had to take a long break from Murmia because of other work but i will continue with Murmia as soon as possible !

ups sorry doublepost !

hello folks

i have been trying to re-animate my murmia project from the dead but i cant make the 2d cut-out characters work.
whatever i do i only get a blue rectangle or an invisible entity. i have a png and in the fpe file it refers to that png but nothing shows up.
last year i made a dozen+ 2d characters and now none of them works.

i used sketchup to make the cut-out of a drawing and then exported an x file via a plug-in. i could then easily import the character into game-guru. those 2d chars would always face the player and they could move - also made them work with the slenderman script.
now i just cant make it work again.
any ideas would be much appreciated

edit- just want to add i think it was synchronmesh that helped me a couple of years ago to get this 2d figures rolling. and back then he sent me a 2d doom character - which now after the new updates also does not work anymore - it also just displays blue rectangle.

have you tried using a .dds format instead of .png file? .dds is the native texture format for game guru. Here is a tool that I use for making a .dds with transparency or opaqueness.
http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/programs/dxtbmp.htm
I hope you can get this sorted as i really want to see this game thrive.

hello thank you very much for the reply Disturbing13 i will check it out!

since my old Murmia saves are all messed up i am starting from scratch and for the time being - until i figure out how to fix my 2d characters- the residents of Murmia are all static objects.
my goal is just a small visit to Murmia and i really want to finish the first small step.
it´s crazy how much time i spend in the editor just fooling around and enjoying myself without ever creating a standalone.

i have to remember my own minimalist concept from the beginning :

- no intelligible storyline - npc´s talk gibberish - any writings or prompts are unintelligible.
- the terrain is flat all the time - player is always on ground level.
- linear path
- ca. 30 minutes of walking/exploring hopefully in one level ...
- no HUD (no combat - basically no game-play except walking)
- most of the inhabitants of the city don`t leave their position-- only some will move and follow player but they don't attack.
- it will be a mix of 3d and 2d entities ( all npc are 2d)
- as much of self-made textures,entities and sound as possible - everything as minimalist as possible

reason why i still did not have a standalone is that i started to forget my own rules and got stuck in failed experiments like hidden object game,slenderman,a story... etc. - it was good though because i learned and now have more assets.

i will now stick to my initial minimalist concept and use all the stuff i made so far.
it´s supposed to be just a small walk through a weird mostly static environment accompanied by sound and nothing more.
overall goal : weirding out visitors.
can it be so hard to stick to such a simple initial concept ? dammit!

Beanz if you email me one of your 2d characters ill take a look for you and see if i xan fix them.

hey Belidos thank you so much for your help- i just sent you an e-mail with one of my 2d chars

short video of my work in progress - characters are all static atm - but i hope i can get them back to move around soon.
i´m trying to make the level to feel a little more open even allowing some "free exploration" in some areas.

i want to play small videos here and there but each time a video finishes the HUD is appearing back on screen and i did not find a way to prevent that. i´m using the hidehud script - anybody has an idea how to play a video without having the HUD return ?

I've received your email, i've been a little busy, but i promise i will take a look at it at the weekend.

Just at a quick glance i see you're still using entity_basic.fx in the fpe, have you tried any of the new shaders instead? What version of GameGuru are you using?

oh wow Belidos you just helped alot !!! i just tried using the new shaders and yay i managed to get it work !!
dunno how i did not remember to try that ! gah!
very happy now thank you so much !!!!!

i was just thinking about buying Darkwood on steam and spend the night playing but now way!!
will be reanimating Murmians !
yay!!!