Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs Discussion Topic Part 1

[Ossie]

A tweet yesterday from Dan Pinchbeck:

"All available hands are on Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs now, get the little squealer finished off!"

[GrAVit]

Awesome!

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Perhaps if you die, it wouldn't make you necessarily "respawn", but affect the outcome of the game. Maybe there would be this important part where you mustn't get knocked out, or else some important thing would be lost, like losing a character.

Events, where the outcome affects the story.

Yeah that was the direction in which I was thinking too One would have to be careful, though. If for example you tell the player in a loading screen or whatever "be careful, you'll get a bad ending if you die too often", it would cease to be an emotional threat and become a mere gameplay mechanic again. It's what I disliked about Dishonored... the endings made sense but the fact that they outright told you beforehand what would happen spoiled it a bit, because it put me into an "achievemnt" - mindset... if you know what I mean

Losing a character would be great if - and only if - the game succeeded at making you feel emotions for an NPC. Which is very hard to achieve, but definitely possible if done well!
Imagine for example having to save a beloved one and knowing that character will inevitably die if you fail and get captured O.O So no savepoints, but you don't have to restart either if you get caught. You just enter a different branch of the story in which you'll have to live until the end of the game with the thought that you failed.

Yes, but the point is that this chore takes about ten minutes, maybe five if you do it right.

It's not the same time that it took you the first time. That's what a lot of other posters miss, for me Justine was a five hour game that I, now, can run through in ten minutes. When you first go through a level, it can take you half an hour, being scared of dying, after you've figured it out it's a couple of minutes, but you've already spent that half an hour.

And each time you get to the unexplored part you switch to the "scared
as hell, sticking to the walls, running back to safety at every sound"
mode, and spend most of your time playing in that mode.

Yes, that's true of course. But to me it makes even less sense that way. Why would I want to speedrun through a part of the game/level after I die, only to get back to the scary part? To me there's no difference between that and simply respawning shortly before the scary part, except for the fact that I have 5 minutes of running before being back where I was.

I agree, though, the mechanic Amnesia used didn't really work that well either, especially after you figured out how it worked.

[RawkBandMan]

A tweet yesterday from Dan Pinchbeck:

"All available hands are on Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs now, get the little squealer finished off!"

Sweet! We're getting closer and closer to an actual release date, I can just feel it.

[Googolplex]

Sweet! We're getting closer and closer to an actual release date, I can just feel it.

I feel march 2013.

Because the game needs a well polish when it should be better than The Dark Descent and when people shouldn't get disappointed. The quality is the most important and I feel they release it when it's done and not when the publisher's date.

[Potato]

Sweet! We're getting closer and closer to an actual release date, I can just feel it.

I feel march 2013.

It's been confirmed/hinted at January 2013 by Jessica.

[failedALIAS]

Sweet! We're getting closer and closer to an actual release date, I can just feel it.

I feel march 2013.

Because the game needs a well polish when it should be better than The Dark Descent and when people shouldn't get disappointed. The quality is the most important and I feel they release it when it's done and not when the publisher's date.

^THIS^ I was almost terrified( true masters of horror, eh?) that they might release it on Christmas like many Publishers.

[palistov]

The consequences and results of death in Amnesia are quite central to the game design, actually. They found a balance between trial-and-error and helping the player by easing the difficulty as they died more. Permanent death just doesn't seem appropriate, even for a horror game. Permanent death was appropriate in Justine because of the short length and was more of a test of character rather than a long story to be played out. But I think in a full-length story it might not be entirely appropriate, particularly because I feel the game will be more about the player experience rather than a challenge.

Also, death can result from the debilitating fear that Amnesia affects the majority of players with. I can clearly recall times when I died in TDD specifically because I was too afraid to act, or couldn't escape fast enough because I was so terrified. So why should players be punished for experiencing the game exactly how they are supposed to experience it?

Perhaps an optional mode to have permanent death would appeal to people, and if thechineseroom doesn't deliver, you can always mod the game to have an option for it

[Kreekakon]

I thought that they announced a October release first, and then pushed it back to "Early 2013". I don't think Christmas was ever in the equation, and as far as I know no game publisher I know ever moves forward a release date for a game earlier than its previously announced date.

[Macgyverthehero]

I thought that they announced a October release first, and then pushed it back to "Early 2013". I don't think Christmas was ever in the equation, and as far as I know no game publisher I know ever moves forward a release date for a game earlier than its previously announced date.

What about Far Cry 3? From what I've heard they moved up their release date abit earlier.