MENTAL GROW

Developed by: Kai Birli, CHICKENPIG SOFTWARE

Story:

Everything has changed 1 year ago, when the Zombies came. People say, it was a failed experiment by the government.
Nobody knows, what happened. The undead are now everywhere, roam fields and towns.
You're on the way home... back to the chicken farm.
Good luck.

Description:

A story fps zombie game without much words.
Explore the world, find out what's going on.
Make your choices.

It's a full game with a story and an end.
It has only 3 levels and 1 end level. So, it's a short game.

Download Link:

Dropbox Link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j98pc9emwv4d5wn/Mental%20Grow.zip?dl=0

Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Ny7s8mNhlXMzlIWTV5MG5QSzQ/view?usp=sharing

Contest Link:
http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/276#.VbUni_ntlBc

Video:



Finally my game is ready. Developed for the Indie Game Maker Contest 2015.
Developed in a few days.



Can someone check if the download link works? - google drive -

awesome looking game. I'm going to check it out. also the download link works.

it is a great game but the player needs more bullets.

thanks, good that the link works, I don't use much - google drive -
ok, I never used it before

nice use of fogging and DOF there mookai, great work there. good luck in the contest.

thank you

Wow! The atmosphere is simply outstanding. The music fits oddly well into it as well. Definitely download and try it once I get some data to do so. I think I'm gonna see 10 fps on your game on my laptop though. I'll try low settings. Good luck on the competition!

P.S You might want to open up a free dropbox account to host this on since a lot of folks might be hesitant on downloading it from Google drive saying that it can't scan it for viruses at 354 mb in size.

Something else to note also. If you want to reduce the size of your file more, you could always compress using 7zip format. Pretty much all modern zip programs can open 7z files nowadays.

Mxs, no, that's what the game is about. Fear and not 11111 bullets
It's also not really a shooter game.

Hmmm yes, maybe I will upload it to Dropbox, good idea

@Mookai Ok, so I couldn't contain my excitement of trying out your game so I snagged some bandwidth to download it.

observations and criticisms :
1. Your custom title screen, loading screen, and menus fit really well with the tone of the game. Oh, and they are very nice!
2. My laptop unfortunately couldn't run it even on low. The highest fps I got was around 12 fps so I ran it on my dual core desktop and got around 20 on low. The loading times were really bad but that could just be my system being too weak.
3. Combination of the low fps, and the amount of motion blur made me physically sick within minutes of walking around so maybe turn down the motion blur some.
4. I think the bloom is set too high. Everything had this really washed out look to it which also contributed to #3.
5. The overall visual atmosphere is fantastic, long as I don't move around.
6. Possibly adding more audio cues might add to #5. What sound/music there is wonderful but just felt very minimal to me.
7. I noticed you ran into the exact same issue I had with zombies. Their AI is simply horrible, regardless of how much you adjust them. Unsure how you could resolve it but it killed the fear factor for me since I could run past all of them with ease.
8. Shotgun with 1 round in it just seems pretty pointless, even if it's not a shooter. Maybe no weapon at all or a pistol with a few rounds would be better?
9. In regards to #7, possibly use the running zombie ai on the zombies to increase the sense of urgency/tension?
10. I'm fairly certain I missed the story element because the end level didn't make sense to me.

Overall, I really love what you've done with this. The atmosphere and your level design are definitely the game's strong point.

Thanks for the feedback.
Yes, performance is still a problem.
I have between 40 and 90 Fps ... On high settings, with a i5 4690k CPU, GTX 970
Psssst spoiler.....

In the first level you have a few bullets to kill a few zombies, but not for all. So u must run away.
In the 2nd level you have 1 bullet, first I wanted to set it to 0. But yes, gameguru is not accepting the value 0, if u carry a weapon on start.
Saw the farm? Saw the 2 zombies? If you are not tooooo fast they will follow u, but they not attack u. Anyway u can not kill them in level 2. No bullets and their health counter is set very high.

Level 3, you can collect a lot of ammo for the shotgun, now you can kill all zombies in the level. The 2 zombies from level 2 still follow you. Then you arrive at a hospital.....

Last level, something to read and behind the hill is something...

I tried to use not many assets and trees, but I guess the performance is still low on many computers... Sad for the game. But in a few months, after the big performance update, I will release an extended version of the game.

@Mookai Have you tried using lightmapping and seeing what fps you get ? I'm actually curious on the performance difference between that and realtime .

From the past I remember, that I always had a lower framerate when using light mapping, so at the moment I don't use it anymore.

Ok,

new dropbox link, if the google drive link not work:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/j98pc9emwv4d5wn/Mental%20Grow.zip?dl=0

I gave this a play and,...
level 1 I simply ran around the zombies and got to the end without firing a single shot,
level 2 the same,
level 3, crash,..(Runtime Error 506- Could not load image at line 18735) .

However I still liked this, you have a very nice creepy atmosphere which I love and the environment
was nice and detailed, and I managed to play this on medium settings at I guess around 30+ fps
so that's not bad on my budget comp,......on high settings it was only maybe about 20 fps,....a bit
too slow, so this performance work TGC are doing now can not come soon enough.

Level design is not easy to get right,.....there are so many different players that like so many different
things, you just can't please them all, and I know that from my own experience over the years working
in various engines,......I learned the hard way,.....and I made far more mistakes to start with than you
have done in this game, so I think your future at making games is looking good.

Not so good things,....
Frame rate, always remember that other players may not have a comp that is as fast as yours,
so for now, turn off the light rays, they kill frame rate and lower the motion blur and bloom a bit.

It's no good putting enemies in a level if players can simply walk around them,.....there's no challenge,
design your levels so this can not happen.

Good things,.....
Atmosphere, very nice and creepy.

Sound effects, very appropriate for the type of game.

Start menu, nice custom graphics.

Start menu sounds, nice.

In game environment sounds, again nice.

Environment, quite realistic and believable.

Your future as a game designer, looking good.

So there you are,.....my honest review, and as you can see, the good things are more than the not so
good things, so I think you will only get better as time goes on,.....and that's the way it is for us all,
so carry on and the very best of luck in the Indy game comp, and thanks for the download.

Hi Mookai.
First of all, congrats to your game.
Really good use of landscape , vegetation and overall mood of the game. Well done, by my humble opinion. And the accompanying music is just excellent.

I had crashes, "... has stopped working", but see this occasionally with every level.

I made it up to the level where I am on a small island with a brick post with writing on it "Your Wife or Daugther. Your choice if they survive" or something (wouldn't that rather read "...whether they'll survive" ?)
I don't know what to do there. I see another piece of landscape across the water with two human shapes on it (most likely zombies), but I cannot get anywhere near them, and nowhere else useful either. Is this the end ? Also, I found myself without weapons, but that may be because I died trying to wade across to the two but miserably drowned while trying.

That brings me to pointing out some minor flaws: I don't really like the choice of quite some items you employed.
* 70' sphere shaped easy chairs in the open ?
* Several standard cars in the garden of the chicken farm ? (why not a standard car, a pickup and a tractor instead, which would fit a farm?)
* Traffic signs alll over the place ? ( the game does not take place here in Germany, right ? ;] )
* A rusted bicycle on the small island I ended up, a place where one can barely walk 10 steps in any direction before arriving at the coast ?
Oh, I know, when I think of it now. THAT is the reason why it is rusted....
* Electrical street lamp posts on the side of unpaved roads in the outback ?
* Manholes and gutter hole grids (lots of 'em) on unpaved roads in the outback ? (Tried to open a few, but they were'nt meant to, obviously)
... are just a few of them

I know these are all there to make the landscape a little bit more interesting to look at,
I just think the items chosen downright mar an otherwise beautifully constructed set of levels.

Just my 2 cents
Yrkoon

@Shadow man

Thanks for your feedback
A crash... ohh... I don't had this crash, maybe it's the mysterious memory problem, which I had with one of my other games too...
"level 3, crash,..(Runtime Error 506- Could not load image at line 18735)"

The game is not really 100% a shooter, it's more a story about the 2 zombies you meet in level 2.
And the things you will do then. I planned the game with 0 bullets for level 1 & 2, but GG is not accepting the value 0, when you carry the Shotgun.
Again, thanks for the feedback and sorry for the runtime error...

@yrkoon
The small island is just the end scene, you can do nothing there. Just think about what you've done or not
Younger adults will maybe kill every zombie in level 3... without thinking...
Some others maybe will think first, before use the Shotgun.

It's a game about "are you grown up" and think first before shooting the "enemies"
That's what all the story is about, think first before shoot (maybe it's one of your family members).

70s chairs, well, welcome to trashland.
Yes, a tractor would be nice, also a pickup... but I don't have them.
Hahaha, yes the traffic signs... ok... no, it's not germany... I would say somewhere in the "Heartland" of the US. (midwest).
The bike, well artist choice... to confuse
Yes, you can not open the manholes, but hey why they should not be there... 1-2 years after the zombie infection everything looks different now, even the old streets look ... more old

Thanks for the feedback...

The crashes... sorry, this is something I can not change. It comes from the engine.

hehehe, I only used 3 shotgun cartrigdes - in the whole game.
What about a Win Zone to make clear that this is it ?


Quite an ethical approach - in theory, but Zombies are undead at best and utterly mindless for sure, in short, they're no human beings. The Zombies wouldn't hesitate a fraction of a second to devour me if they get a chance, even if they used to be my spouse/daughter/mother/best friends when they still were alive.
So, ethics simply don't apply here at all, and absolutely no advantage is to be gained by letting any one of them be. If your dearest pet animal should catch rabies, it will have to be exterminated, no way around that, likewise.

Actually, to me, zombies as we know them from movies of the seventies were (at least partly) actually conceived as a reflection of disintegrating formerly stable family relations in the western world - with only drastic resolutions on both parties.

May be, I just failed to encounter fellow humans in your game, but IF they were there (maybe hard to discern through all the haze, so , heavily endangered of getting shot by mistake) AND/OR there was a chance to restore zombies to humans, that was quite another story, but I don't see that.

Actually, I did take the text on the brick post as a reminder to think (thus fostering my suspicion that this really is supposed to be the final level), but in a totally different way, namely "Did I do enough - be it searching for human survivors or dealing out total extermination to the zombies as second best solution - to protect potential other non-zombies ?"
But, as they say "The message is made by the receiver"


or plainly damn illogical



Like I said: the places look as if they are located in some outback area where there simply are no underground sewers whatsoever, THAT's what's wrong with them.





I'm well aware of that, this was rather an information in your direction that I did not experience the "missing something at line 987654"


EDIT
As a conclusion, may I add that through our little discussion here, I can' help but feel that your game has some hitherto untouched potential, possibly making a reloaded version when GG has progressed more in the rpg direction.

You know, the 2 zombies from level 2 don't attack you. They follow you (if you're not to fast, bad AI).
That's the main difference to the other zombies, so they still have something from human. They remember you...
Did you read the signs at the hospital? Zombie = back to human...

Winzone, well yes... ah.
Level 4 is something like the winzone.

Ok, I place a winzone... how do I call the winscreen?
Anyway, I like the end like it is.

Zombies, there're many movies about them.
Sometimes classical the undead, sometimes infected by a virus or something else.
A few months ago, I've watched a zombie movie, the main char. was a zombie, but not the brainless kind of.
Movie name was ... one moment...

"Warm Bodies"
Not the best movie, but about a zombie, which was not totally brainless

Well, yes, I've planned already a new version. When GG has some more power.
Also want to add more levels....

Yes I did, and something like "we cure all zombies 100% Guarantee".
Unfortunately, I did not see anything delivered by the hospital.
Either those who set the claim were blatantly lying, or they're all dead.

But enough of this.

Like I said: I think there is something peculiar about your game background idea which can lift this game above other, mindless zombie shooters, with some more thought on "contingency" applied to it - but of course, that is my personal view.

Maybe, a rescue mission level would come in handy to broaden the action and at the same time emphasize the -not-so-prominent moral impetus ?

Such as finding real humans in the cellar of a typical US midwest wooden house ?
Will the player kill them and make use of their resources like food an ammo for himself, bettering his personal chances to survive by far ?
Or will he choose to convince them to follow him, leading them out of their fragile half-shelter to a private bunker (of which he may have learned in yet another level, then not knowing what to do with it, other than staying there for the rest of the game ? Now, he remembers....

Of course, the player constantly will have to round the totally disstressed humans up and herd them, lest they run of into the darkman's in a moment of strife.

And all of that naturally "not totally unmolested" by those pesky zombies.

And, maybe, some of the to-be-rescued humans may recognize some of the zombies as their former nearest and dearest, making thing even more complicated underways. "It's ME, SISTER! Nooooo! What are you doing to m....AAAAARRGGGHHG".

Or may be, you really have found a very small supply of "Anti-Zombine" before.

Will you share it when someone gets bitten by a zombie , saving him/her ...possibly ?

Or will you rather keep it to yourself, because YOU are the only one who can lead and defend the group and MUST survive ?

I will think about it, in which direction the game will go...
For the moment and the contest its ok, just worry about the engine crashes... hmmmm...

@Mookai did something change when you uploaded to dropbox? because I didn't experience any crashes at all and you know how weak my system is.

No, I've uploaded the same zip file to dropbox.
Good that you had no crashes.
I hope the performance update will be also an update for system stability of the engine.

Hi Mookai,
I hope that others think the same as me, namely, that it is the engine who is to blame, not your game itself.

My crashes were not repeatable, they occured at torally different places in the game,
and I passed those places again without problem in another run. And they were of the very general type
("Application has stopped working").

Outside of the "GG Backyard", that won't help that much, at best you'll receive a "then get another engine" flak,
probably.

But keep up your good work.
Best regards

Yrkoon

Sure, I'll continue using GG, I really like it now.
And it's getting better and better.
I hope the next update will be ... Amazing, perfect, super, extreme (?)

I played Mental Grow and was pleasantly surprised. I saw the low ammo at stage 1 and decided to conserve ammo and just took in the atmosphere, which was wonderful by the way. The attention to detail almost made me think you based it off of a real place. the building placement as well as debris and such was excellent. When I got to level 2 and saw the chickens I thought "Oh, this must be my chicken farm"(as in the description) and saw the 2 female zombies so close to the house. Having a wife and children myself I immediately said to myself "Oh...that's gotta be...oh". I skirted them and rounded the house and saw the children's furniture on the back porch and that confirmed it for me. I also saw the growth of grass in the concrete that showed the player-character hasn't been there in a while. The point I'm trying to make is it told a good story without words and evoked emotion, even if it were all contrived in my head or if it was intended to be that way. The only thing that confused me was the title. All in all great job.

@Disturbing 13

thanks for the feedback.
thanks that you took some time to look around...
the chickenfarm is level 2, so you finished the game? saw the hospital at level 3?

The story can have a happy end or a bad end.
The player make the final decision

Well, I guess the most of the "rpg contest player" will not understand the game. and only complain about that they not have enough ammo.