Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs Discussion Topic Part 1

[The Rock Worm]

Damascus_Rose, thank you for letting me know that the games were already heavily Lovecraft based. I had heard before (back when I first started playing Amnesia 1) that the games were Lovecraft based, but hadn't realized then just how much of the Lovecraft themes they used in Penumbra and Amnesia 1. Considering that Lovecraft Stories were short, I guess all I was truly saying was adding some more of his themes to the games. Lovecraft had various dangerous entities such as Shub-Niggurath, Cthulhu, and more. Any/All of these entities could be based off of to have as the major 'bad-guy' (or girl in Niggurath's case) in a future game. Niggurath's Dark Young are tree-like, can you imagine a harmless tree suddenly jumping out at you with legs and tentacles? The Deep Ones are fish monsters that, as far as I've seen them in the card game, have the ability to walk on land. Lovecraft has so many monsters that I probably haven't heard of (but any of you could have) that could fit in Amnesia 2.

If you want an example of Lovecraft themes from Amnesia, you can look in the super_secret.rar then creatures and characters art, and look at some of the old monster designs. The first grunt and brute designs look very Lovecraftian, especially the brute. Also that old_misc has concept monsters that are very Lovecraftian with the plants growing out of them.. and plant like bodies. Also the whole deal with hiding in the shadows from monsters in penumbra and amnesia is inspired from the stories. This one is kinda obvious, but the engine frictional made is called the initials of Lovecraft.. HPL. But you probably already knew most of these.

As for AMFP, the whole design of it could be a lot different from TDD. The developers from the game aren't gonna have the same kind of inspiration Frictional did from lovecraft I'm fairly sure, and they will go about doing scares and environments and entities in their own ways. So we can't really expect that it will be more Lovecraft themed than the previous games. I'm sure they will do a great job though.

Wow, thanks for the more info I have seen the super_secret.rar and its contents and was impressed with the previous brute/grunt designs (wonder why those looks didn't make the cut?). I guess I really need to read Lovecraft books, because a lot of what you said (yes I knew about the engine name, very clever) I didn't realize were part of the Lovecraft story. So you're right, it's hard to add more when they have so much in it, and the fact they have done well in Penumbra and Amnesia 1, I'm confident we will enjoy Amnesia 2. Of course by playing these games, I did better than read a Lovecraft-style story but was part of one.

Any thoughts on what you would want to see in this new game?

[cantremember]

A small thing I don't like at all currently is how saved games are managed. If you make a save of something funny or whatever you have to store it outside of the game manually and put it back manually whenever you want to play it. Otherwise autosaves can overwrite manual saves which is kind of against the convention.

[Mehis]

- Long build-up
I know that TDD had quite long build-up until monsters but it was so much different from Penumbra's. In Overture, you are in this small well lit cabin. In Amnesia, you wake up in stormy castle. I felt more connection with Penumbra in the start because it felt safe. And when you finally take that light from player, he will freak out.

- Other carry-able light sources
YOU ACTUALLY NEED. Not like flare, which you will never use. You just need a sequence where you have to use it.

- Harder way to create Custom Stories
No more bad cheap jump scare Custom Stories.

[The Rock Worm]

- Long build-up
I know that TDD had quite long build-up until monsters but it was so much different from Penumbra's. In Overture, you are in this small well lit cabin. In Amnesia, you wake up in stormy castle. I felt more connection with Penumbra in the start because it felt safe. And when you finally take that light from player, he will freak out.

- Other carry-able light sources
YOU ACTUALLY NEED. Not like flare, which you will never use. You just need a sequence where you have to use it.

- Harder way to create Custom Stories
No more bad cheap jump scare Custom Stories.

I also liked how you felt safe and lit at start but dark and spooky later. Even though Amnesia had better scares, I like the build up of Penumbra.

I never used those flares much. The only time I did was for size comparison when taking a screenshot. Now if it could be used to distract a monster, then I'd be all for it

I to want the level editor/model editor made better. Just having one is good though.

Now I'm surprised that, considering the title for this game, no one has thought of a pig being in this. Well take that back, this person did: http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&sectio...a#/d4tgmuw (artwork is NOT mine).

[Macgyverthehero]

I hope so. Custom stories have always made the game to be more refreshing in gameplay, as people come up with new and creative stories... or just another story with nothing but jumpscares.

[cantremember]

Why is Pumba scared, a machine could be anything. Could be a food dispenser for pigs.

[The Rock Worm]

Why is Pumba scared, a machine could be anything. Could be a food dispenser for pigs.

LOL True, it could be a food dispenser for pigs. I hadn't thought of that. However, who or what is running the machine? The only thing that, I think, could scare him if a predator had no sense of smell. But what is that I have no idea.

[Adny]

Fancier grass.

[Traggey]

Fancier grass.

Again, won't run on HPL3. The grass demo was from HPL3.

[The Rock Worm]

Fancier grass.

By fancier grass, do you mean:
1) Better looking grass.
2) Flowering plants/more plant variety.
3) Monster plants.
4) All of the above.