"The Attic" (Chapter 1) Custom Story

[Technobrain]

"The Attic" is my favorite Custom Story, very great scary atmosphere and great map building, really, i can't wait Chapter 2. Good luck & Keep it up guys !

[JetlinerX]

THANK YOU ALL!

The Attic Chapter One has made it over 10,000 downloads! (THAT'S OVER 9,000!)

More specifically: 10,295!!

For this special moment, we will be doing a full developer diary!

Meaning:
Seth and I will be playing the custom story, while we record a voice over of the process, what took us a while, what we had fun with etc.!

We hope you will all be looking forward to this, and we thank you for making The Attic so popular.

Also remember, Chapter Two updates can be found here:
http://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/thread-9937.html

Thanks again guys!

Lead Developers:
Slade and Seth.

[DreeyRyder]

Very nice Story, keep up the nice Work!

[JetlinerX]

The Attic: Chapter One has hit 20,000 downloads!

Thank you everyone! With your help and support we hit this amazing milestone of 20,000 downloads for The Attic: Chapter One!

We never would have expected The Attic, our first custom story ever, to get even nearly as popular as it is!

We thank you all for this wonderful milestone! Also special thanks to JenniferxOrange for without her we never would have been able to get as far as we did!

Another special thanks to all who has LPed our custom story and posted it on YouTube! From these we were able to find any errors in our custom story to fix them!

Again thank you all!

Lead Developers:
JetlinerX & Seth1466

[joshzilla]

I think "The Attic: Chapter One" is one
of the best custom stories I've ever played!
The map has a great atmosphere and it's
details are great. Some of the scares are
unexpected, so that's great to. I'll definitely
play "The Attic: Chapter Two" soon. Thanks
for sharing this great custom story with us!

[Ansatsuhan]

May contain mild Spoilers:

What I liked:
The Attic started just great. Even without enemies spawning the atmosphere was perfect. Also liked the documents one could find so far. It was really creeping me out to climb up to the attic of that huge house knowing something might be there and - even worse - knowing I needed to get down all the way again if something happened. The first jumpscare when I wanted to leave the attic was maybe slightly over the top but fitting. I was freaking out when I realized that it was pitch black around me and I needed to get all the way down again. When I reached the door to the staircase and it was locked I was at the edge of my seat.

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When the first enemy spawned I got a warning that I should hide plus I had time to react before the monster broke the door. It was a little much so short after the first jumpscare, but at least the game gave me a few seconds and it added to the atmosphere with the monster being around. Thought it would be a one-time-event.

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What I didn't like:
Soon I had to find out two things. First, the game is overall too dark. Most of the time you don't see anything. I thought that was only on one floor but it continued. It may be ok if you only want to rush through but you can't really look around if you there are nearly no sources of light and you have to hurry as long as your limited amount of oil still lasts. Second, there are too many jumpscares and monsters breaking down doors immediately attacking as soon as you do anything important or just walk by. It becomes kind of predictable and in many cases you cannot hide (you wouldn't see good hideouts anyway) but just have to sprint to the nearest loading door to get away. As I entered the floor below the one where I came to my senses again it was like: flying corpse! - "Oh, were did that come from?" *looks* - Monster out of the cupboard! - "Damn, a monster! I have to..." - It's a poofer! - "Ok, I'll look around elsewhere...oh, a key!" - Monster attack! What I want to say is, those permanent attacks (where in most cases you can't even hide but just have to run) and the pitch-black darkness don't really add to the atmosphere you have created before. It spoils it because you are too busy with jumping in your seat and running to really notice all the cool things about this custom story. I have to admit that I was kinda disappointed because I really loved the beginning and was hoping for it to continue in a similar way.

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You definitely know how to create atmosphere but you should add more lights and use your jumpscares more lightly. I also think it's better if a monster doesn't immediately breaks the door attacking you, but you actually know one is nearby. Knowing it is there and trying to avoid it creates much more fear than the monster just spawning into your face and bashing it in. Also give the players time to really appreciate the story you created. If they can't see anything and are running most of the time it's wasted effort. I see much potential so I hope that review was helpful and you continue making custom stories. Greetz :-)

[owlsigh]

Hello!

I didn't actually play your custom story first-hand, but I did watch Cry do a playthrough it at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbNRO_YeN5E

I'm sure you've already had plenty of people with the same backstory as mine, but perhaps my viewpoint could help you to improve? I hope so, anyway. Well, here we go.




Off the bat, I'm noticing that you have a very lengthly description. The story is really interesting and well written. However, perhaps you could integrate the backstory into the actual game in your next project via memories and backflashes? Now that would really be something.

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The first room is really well decorated! The rug is a bit blurry, but I'm sure that's because it's been stretched and there's not much you can do about that.

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All the rooms are beautifully decorated!

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It seems odd to use human blood in a medicine. If you were to inject laudanum into a person, you'd be injecting it to their bloodstream, and therefore mixing it with blood by default. The note with instructions on how to make laudanum also doesn't describe what kind of blood to use. Just a minor problem, not a big deal.

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Laudanum Log 3 - Why was the dad sacrificing people to use heir blood? Blood transfusion existed before the 1800's.

"The first fully documented human blood transfusion was administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys, eminent physician to King Louis XIV of France, on June 15, 1667."-Wikipedia

Perhaps he could've done this instead of killing people? Or maybe used animal blood, since the recipe didn't call for human blood. Maybe you could build up the suspense by having the player discover dog corpses as early test subjects..

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Oh, wow! The sequence when you leave the attic is really awesome and spooky! Great job!

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The red writing on the painting is a bit hard to read! Perhaps a different font would be a good idea?

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The fireplace being blue after the monster hits the door is a bit odd, and the red writing on the painting glows a little. But the monster really took me by surprise.

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I'm not entirely sure why there were dead cannibals in the dining room. Were they test subjects being forced to eat people parts? Was the dad insane and liked to play with dead bodies like dolls? Was it a hallucination? Hmm..

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Again, the red writing is difficult to read on the desk. And one can't commit suicide. Perhaps a message explaining Derrek's resolve should pop up here to explain why you can't commit suicide.

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The cage on the first floor in a small room is a bit odd. A note explaining who the person was and why they were there would certainly add to the experience. Or maybe not have this room at all? Sometimes less is more when it comes to scares.

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YES! I love the weeping angel scare technique!

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There certainly are a lot of dead folks in this mansion! It's a wonder people didn't grow suspicious of the disappearances.

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HAHAHA! The person on the floor that follows you is hilarious!!! But I'm sure if I were playing, myself, I'd be surprised and spooked!

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Red writing is hard to read in the basement…

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A few lit candles or torches in the basement would prove useful for someone low on oil!

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Spooky ending!

Thanks very much for creating this custom story. It was really good! I hope my input here can help you improve your technique. Feel free to message me if you feel the need.