- Thread starter Antlergeist
- Start date
It's too dark to see anything apart from the text - I can barely make out a silhouette with my brightness cracked all the way up; shame because it looks interesting.
Need some sample images of some action that don't look like they are being viewed thru a bad blindfold.
- Mar 14, 2022
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Thank you all for checking out my game. I honestly didn't expect the dark renders to cause such a problem, I will do my best to improve the visibility over the weekend.
Thank you very much for the suggestions burnerbud, I did consider adding ambient sounds to each render but that would have increased the workload tenfold so I'll have to really think about it. I didn't plan on making the sequel immediately after since I believe this first part subtly hints at everything that happened, but depending on what everyone thinks, I'm down for anything!
- Jun 4, 2017
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I'm not the classic horror fan. It's usually a bit too scary. That's why I avoid games with this genre. But when I looked at the preview pictures, I thought why not try it out. Maybe it's so dark that I don't have to be afraid because I don't see horror that way ....
So, will try it soon. Wish u all the best.
So, will try it soon. Wish u all the best.
- May 6, 2017
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Easier to render that way, plus you don't have to worry about people bitching about lighting.
- Jun 15, 2020
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Usually Kinetic Novel are not as popular. I have played horror games before and they have choices that lead to Good or Bad Ending. There would be 1 Good ending and multiple bad endings. It would be great if you could give the player some choices that could impact the story and lead to one path or the other.
Increase the font size. Its horrendously small. Add appropriate ambient music and sounds. It will 10x the experience. The darkness is fine but I had to close my blinds and up the brightness so maybe ease up on how dark things are a bit.
This looks like an interesting concept, and I get that the darkness of the renders was an intentional choice, so I'd hate to see you totally compromise on your vision. But - lighting things so that they look, and feel, dark, but that the important details are still easily visible, is an old, long-standing problem in film-making. I don't know much about 3d rendering, but there are a lot of videos and articles about how to do this kind of thing successfully in film, which you might find helpful when you're thinking about how/where to place light sources in your scenes.
for instance:
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or
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They're not all gonna be 100% applicable to something made entirely with 3d rendering but there's definitely some crossover, because you'll see a lot of the same types of techniques used in games like City of Broken Dreamers - which has a lot of scenes which are set in dark places and feel dark but aren't a strain on the eyes the way your third, fourth and fifth preview pics are.
Anyways, best of luck with this project!
- Feb 23, 2021
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The renders feel so disconnected from the dialogue even in a metaphorical way that this feels like it falls flat on its face.
Creepy renders + unrelated creepy story? Okay? Why? It just made whatever store was there less interesting because rather than be drawn in I'm taken out of it trying to imagine how the fuck the renders are related to what is being said. Definitely doesn't have the lovercraftian feel that I think it is trying to accomplish.
Maybe this would be OK as a creepy-pasta but as a kinetic novel it was straight to the recycle bin.
Creepy renders + unrelated creepy story? Okay? Why? It just made whatever store was there less interesting because rather than be drawn in I'm taken out of it trying to imagine how the fuck the renders are related to what is being said. Definitely doesn't have the lovercraftian feel that I think it is trying to accomplish.
Maybe this would be OK as a creepy-pasta but as a kinetic novel it was straight to the recycle bin.
- Mar 14, 2022
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Very interesting suggestion, will consider it for the finale. Thanks!
Thank you for the awesome tips, I am aware this has always been an issue in film-making. I could probably do a better job next time in terms of light setups and scene composition but hopefully the adjustments I just made in post will make it manageable for most. If necessary, I will re-render some of the darker ones with stronger lighting.
chthonic_goat_666 & CmdrJShepard, the dialogue is not supposed to match the renders, except for the lines that are slowly being typed out at the end of a shot. They sometimes match, but generally the dialogue is very much a subjective account that is meant to clue the player in as to what lead to the events happening on screen. I could probably do a better job in conveying this in a more straightforward manner.
I have updated the links with version 1.01. With this hotfix I increased the font size and attempted to improve the visibility across all renders. That being said, some of them are this dark on purpose, sometimes a silhouette is all you're supposed to make out. Heck, some of them are just slowly fading in.
Thank you all for the feedback, good wishes and giving my game another shot!
Darkness and Shadow are two different concepts.
You use Darkness to conceal, hiding things from sight creates suspance, the brain wants informations it can't access building stress.
On the other hand you use Shadow to bring something into focus, to capture the attention of the brain, giving it imperfect information forces it to fill in the blanks, causing interest and excitement to build up.
These two don't like each other much, they don't work well together. Shadow needs different types of bright light to work properly. The contrast against a strong light is what truly makes Shadow stand out. Mixing Shadow and Darkness is like mixing two types of milk, weirdly offputting, annoying to the edge of digust.
Good luck and have a nice day.
You use Darkness to conceal, hiding things from sight creates suspance, the brain wants informations it can't access building stress.
On the other hand you use Shadow to bring something into focus, to capture the attention of the brain, giving it imperfect information forces it to fill in the blanks, causing interest and excitement to build up.
These two don't like each other much, they don't work well together. Shadow needs different types of bright light to work properly. The contrast against a strong light is what truly makes Shadow stand out. Mixing Shadow and Darkness is like mixing two types of milk, weirdly offputting, annoying to the edge of digust.
Good luck and have a nice day.
- Apr 4, 2023
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