MZ - Solace Creek (Horror - Free Demo OUT NOW)

I'm thrilled to announce my next project: SOLACE CREEK.

ABOUT
Welcome to the enigmatic world of Solace Creek. Before you is a portal to a place where the line between reality and the supernatural blurs. It's a place under the cover of darkness, revealing a sinister underbelly, lurking with secrets and mysteries.

As a young woman awakens in the dimly lit, underground room, she finds herself in a state of bewildering disorientation. Without any recollection of how she got here, she feels a palpable sense of unease, a gnawing realization that she's not alone in this subterranean abyss...

PLAY THE PREVIEW NOW
Just in time for Halloween, Solace Creek is an RPG Maker Horror game that delves into the realms of suspense, exploration, stealth, and puzzle-solving. Drawing inspiration from the eerie atmospheres of "Twin Peaks" and "Silent Hill," it immerses you in a chilling narrative that will hopefully keep you on the edge of your seat.

You can now play a ~15 minute preview from the beginning of the game. https://starlit.itch.io/solace-creek





GAMEPLAY
The game is in the early development stages. This preview is meant to show of some of the following core gameplay mechanics:

• Exploration: Explore the enigmatic world you found yourself in and interact with your surroundings to find clues
  
  
• Stealth: To stay out of harms way, you'll need to seek cover, hide in lockers, or crouch behind corners, always listening for the faintest sounds that might betray your presence.
  
  
• Puzzles: To advance you'll need to overcome a variety of obstacles and riddles.

Solace Creek's gameplay mechanics aim to immerse players in a tense and surreal world, blending exploration, stealth, puzzles, and choices into an unsettling narrative.

Solace Creek Preview 1.1 Release​

Hello everyone,

I want to thank all of you for the positive feedback for Solace Creek I've been working on this project for a few weeks now and it feels great to get something out relatively early.

I've just released a bigger update for the Preview containing the following improvements:

• Camera is closer to the player now for a more intense, immersed feeling
• macOS Version now available
• Fixed some passability errors
• Reduced download size

You can downloat it on itch.io => https://starlit.itch.io/solace-creek/devlog/627674/solace-creek-preview-11-release

I'm very excited to be working on something new, and I'll be sharing updates on the progress of Solace Creek here.

While I'm aware that you've since switched this project to 3D (which seemed to be a great choice for Solace Creek in particular), I've decided to provide some feedback for the RPG Maker version too, since I think you had potential for something great here too and to compare the two game versions.

So, the premise is that the protagonist wakes up in some dark room with no memory as to how she got there. I always like this sort of classic premise and love to see different people's takes on it. The RPG Maker version is simple, the game simply has the protagonist lie there on the ground, then she suddenly gets up and has some exposition dialogue. In contrast, the 3D version is more ambiguous and 'artsy', with the camera floating down to the protagonist who then slowly gets up and the exposition is delivered through exploring the contents of the room she wakes up in (which is barren in the RPG Maker version). The 3D version's approach works better and it's great to see how much you've improved on that.

The RPG Maker version is also mostly barren when it comes to the environment, most of it is just vaguely industrial corridors, the 3D version has a better graphical style and more interesting things to see. The one moment where the RPG Maker version seems superior to the 3D version is the first locker hiding sequence. You hear something coming, the MC says to hide in the locker. You hide in the locker, the game suddenly switches to 1st person mode and this transition really works wonders for the atmosphere. And if you get out of the locker too soon, there's some noise, the screen goes suddenly red and it's game over.

In contrast, the 3D version of this scene is mostly standard 3D horror game approach and if you get out too soon, the protagonist is simply jumped at by some shadow monster, which is less atmospheric. I think the RPG Maker scene is a lot more unsettling, atmospheric and overall memorable than the 3D version.

Overall, I do think the 3D version is better and it was a good choice to switch. Still, I do really think that you should consider trying to make another RPG Maker Horror Game sometime in the future, with some concept tailored to RPG Maker in particular. I do think you'd do really great at it! Anyway, good luck with the 3D version of Solace Creek!