Afterlife: Escape The Darkness - NOW FREE2PLAY!

Welcome to another blog about Afterlife: Escape The Darkness. A lot has happened to tell you about so lets jump right in...

What is Afterlife: Escape The Darkness:

Its a survival/adventure/puzzle/horror type game that uses no weapons except for a flashlight. The game is built with the MIT release of Torque 3D 3.5.1 and is going to feature a hud-less GUI. The game has been in the works for a while under the name Project Jupiter which was scrapped to make a smaller, more intense game such as this.

Do you make all the content yourself ??

The ambient audio you will hear in the game was made all by myself. Most of the content you see in the game was made by myself, yes, but some of it was not. So I can not take full credit from saying its mine when it's not. I have bought others content packs to use in my game Project Jupiter and when the game was changed to what you see here, I decided to reuse the content that was going to be in that game. Why waste perfectly good unused content? Right?

Lets get into it...hope you enjoy it!




I have now put the game on Indie DB! You can follow it's progress there, on the web site at www.hallowscreams.com/dlstudio/afterlife.htm or on facebook at:

www.facebook.com/pages/Digital-Lightstorm-Game-Studio/236909276500210.

IndieDB site:

www.indiedb.com/games/afterlife-escape-the-darkness







The game is a adventure/puzzle game that will use Torque 3D 3.5.1 and have a G rating actually, since there is no gore, no weapons and no blood. I am shooting for a ambient adventure is what I like to call it.




I am still working on the sound track backside. I have released one of the tracks on Indie DB you can hear, it is the complete piece to the main title of the game. I hope you enjoy it, you can access it below...

www.indiedb.com/games/afterlife-escape-the-darkness/videos/never-ending-darkness...

The sounds are all totally custom built for this game. I have decided to reuse only a few tracks from my older ambient packs that fit the game and the rest of the tracks, about 80% of them, are going to be custom made, including all the sounds in the game so this way, it makes sure my product stays fresh with great content.



Here are the final screens of the older shots. The new shots will have improved 10 fold with new stuff in the levels and more lighting, effects like steam from pipes and lights swaying and machines and stuff in the halls to fill the rooms and setup the experience for you, the player.































This is what I am planning to use as the game logo...





Still, I am hoping to have it our by this Xmas, 2014, if not the full game, at least a working Beta or Alpha version at that time to show off the progress and work out bugs.




- Content will be harder to steal. Thanks to a cool bit of code, I was able to lock the contents of the game, so it will be harder to access by hackers or modding the game. I know people will try but this new feature will be harder to get to the content. Sure, its not fool proof but it will help.

- Steam coming out of pipes feature: Gaining ground with this. I will have new photos of this to show off in the next major blog. Looks good thou.

- Fog filled and low lying fog areas: Something like you would find in Quake 3 Arena with fog filled areas. I'm working on making this happen with the game to give you cool eye candy as well as some more enjoyment to the game since you will be without a weapon.

- Moving items: Doors, lights, wires, sparks, parts of the chamber base will have machines and more.

- Triggers

- Flashlight: Used to see in dark places and to ward off any ghosts you find around the base. Be sure to collect batteries along the way, and use your light to find clues, including, using special filters to find added clues that are only visable to UV lighting. I have a lot planned with just the flashlight that you should find fun and very interactive.

- Creatures: There will be some, but just enough to keep you on your toes.




- Steam Support: I would like to see the game on Steam within a years time after the finished product hits the market
- Minor cut scenes: Nothing fancy, but direct enough to get the story out to the player.
- Save and load game positions: Standard save/load features built in
- Auto save and map check points: Save your game as progress moves on
- Interact with the world through flashlight and Mechs and other items: The world will be interactive as much as possible.

The coming features list can change as time goes on, so these features are not set in stone.. yet. Watch for our next blog to see what is added or removed...




I am looking for a few people to help me pull this game off. I am needing someone to compile the source with game changes and game features I have and some minor content code changes to the engine.

Also, looking for an animator to do light animation work on the game and help with animating a Mech and do some cut scene production with me. Lastly, looking for a script coder to setup some triggers and flashlight features for me, including the color changing UV to normal change filters used in the game.

If your interested in donating your time to the project in exchange for credit in the game, please hit me up here or at info@hallowscreams.com and I'll get back to you. Thanks in advance!




The latest update is that the levels are changing, becoming more populated with things and stuff. It's not looking like just empity halls now. I have added structures, supports, machines and much more that will bring the entire game to life.

Also, the locking of the content will allow us to make sure the content is completely safe from stealing. I have added a chunk of code to the engine, and a special thank you to Quenton who helped me get this installed. I could not have done it without him!

This special feature allows me to remove the art directory and the scripts and even the sound and compile them into zip like files to release with the game. The main folders like ART and SOUND are no longer with the game. That is where the compiled content comes in. The engine reads from the compiled version of the content and allows you to play the game without opening your content up to those who would steal it for their own use.




Progress is slow but moving forward. I am happy to tell you that its moving along nicely. I have an idea of the levels I want to bring to life, including the add-on levels. I have been editing up some code and scripts to make things work as I need them to. Overall, a new group of photos are coming in the next major release blog of the game.




I've decided since working on the game that I now want the price to be free for the game. Yes, it will be totally free. What will not be free is the add-on maps to the game to expand it beyond the one level. I will personally be making add-on levels, content and more for the game and releasing them through my web site for just $4.99 a map. Right now, I am expecting to release at least 2-3 add-on map kits to the game once it comes out to market. I will be accepting donations to help my efforts to bring other games and free stuff in the future. If you would like to donate, just send me a PayPal payment to info@hallowscreams.com and I will get it. This keeps my Indie studio going and allows me to make more stuff available for free and to improve games such as this one by your donation. Thank you for those who have donated in the past and who might in the future!

That is it for this blog... I hope you enjoyed it. Be sure to check out the game web site at www.hallowscreams.com/dlstudio/afterlife.htm and get the latest news at our Indie DB site and FB. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.

Will Zettler
info@hallowscreams.com