2017-11-21 18:20:02

Hello! I'm Lucas Wooleyhand and I'm also from the University of Baltimore taking a class on audio-only games. My game in particular is a Kidnapping Simulator. Essentially, the player is kidnapped and while in the car being taken to the kidnapper's hideout you have to listen for different environmental cues by moving left and right in the car. If you move around too much the kidnappers will yell and threaten you to stay still. Once the car stops you'll have to guess where they've taken you.

There are still a few quirks and bugs to this but I hope you'll give it a try. A few things to know: There is a non-visual main menu with play, options, and quit buttons. However, most of the volume options haven't been fully set up yet so there shouldn't be a noticeable difference in sound even if you use the different options. While there is a main menu, there is not a pause menu yet, so once you start the game you're in until you either win, get a game over, or manually exit the program. Winning or losing will take you back to the main menu.

In the menus WASD or the arrow keys will move you up and down (or left and right if you're using the volume options). Once in the game A and D or the left and right arrow keys will move you left and right in the car.

Please let me know if you run into any problems and I hope you'll give it a try!

Here's a link to a zipped folder with the executable and project data:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d1A9Jm … sp=sharing

2017-11-21 20:06:00

Moderation: as this is a playable release, even a public alpha/beta, I have moved this to the new releases room. More people will be able to find it. However, if you would like a more private/serious circle I can move it back to developer's room if this is more of a prototype release, but a lot of people here like playing smaller games as well.

2017-11-21 23:22:17

Hey this sounds interesting.

Audio game king

2017-11-22 02:00:34

when I heard kidnapping simulator, I was hoping for a simulator where you get to kidnap people. Maybe should be a kidnapped simulator instead. You know, I was disappointed. tongue

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2017-11-22 04:50:03

I'm so glad someone else posted this first, I was thinking the exact same thing. I've always been curious about discovering the best way to snatch helpless victims from the streets, and was hoping that this game would give me some useful insight into the practice.
Ah well. I suppose I'll have to continue my wait. I'd make it myself, but...

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2017-11-22 09:01:07

Lol, a kidnapping simulater would be sort of amusing and help in my plans for world domination, but hay.

I like the idea of this game and the uses of audio, however I did notice a couple of things.
Firstly, moving around didn't actually seem to be necessary since all sound sources were clearly audible wherever I happened to be in the car, so there wasn't really a  way of getting murdered unless I specifically tried to big_smile.

You might therefore consider giving the player reasons to risk moving around, either by way of more background noises, or by way of something specific, eg, perhaps when over to one side the player could feel right or left turns in the car and so give a better idea of where she/he is.

Likewise, I find it a little odd  your own agency can locate you when there are clearly so many docks, railway tracks etc in this particular area, so you might consider making the final question a trifle more complex,  asking what side of the car the doccks etc were on, or asking what turn was made.
Indeed you might consider having the player gather various bits of information which contribute to the time it  them to be found, rather than a simple win/lose scenario.

I also have a couple of bugs to report.
Firstly, when I finished the first game and play again, I was asked the question of where the kidnappers took me which was odd.
then I noticed when I moved fully left or right in the car and heard the sound of banging against the door, if the bad guys told me to sit still, my position seemed to reset to the center.

hth.

This is definitely a unique idea for a game, and I'll be interested to see where it goes.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2017-11-23 09:53:31 (edited by defender 2017-11-26 19:43:12)

Well this is a really cool concept on it's own, but it works especially well for an audio game, so major props for making something more unique than the norm.
However I must admit their are a fare few problems with the current implementation...


First, and most importantly, you can easily hear the sounds from the middle of the seat, and getting closer or farther away really doesn't seem to do anything.
I would suggest muffling the sounds with a filter, if not through the engine than using "Audacity" or something, that way it sounds more like your listening through a closed window.
I would also suggest making the volume VS distance level much more severe, to the point where when you are on the opposite side from the source, you have to strain to hear it even with headphones.
Another idea, if you can swing it, is to get a more generic ambience, and then separate more defining sounds, which you would only play when you get close to that side.
For instance, at the railyard, you may hear a train horn, PA system, and people, but you would only hear the train moving if you got close to the window, because it's a big hint.
I know that's impossible with the sounds you have right now, but their is a resource that is absolutely perfect for your game that you really need to be aware of.
http://www.freesound.org
They have a massive collection, and straight forward CC licensing, as well as geotagging if you want only American accents in your ambience, in order to set the scene better. Plus, they wont' spam you either. tongue
Using that may allow you to add hints like I suggested, but it will for certain allow you to add many more locations if you want to, or at least to have a ship's horn/heavy loading equipment in the docks sound, to make it far more defined.


The second major issue would be that location sounds can overlap each other, which means that for a time you are technically in two places... Making it hard to answer.


Okay now the less important stuff.


When you start a new game without exiting the program first, you get asked where you are again as your being walked to the car, which is pretty amusing.


The menu items really don't need to loop, (it's actually pretty annoying :-D) nor do they need any wait before speaking, in fact it's best if they can be interrupted by pressing an arrow key, so that you can move through them quickly.
If the wait is do to silence in front of the sound, and not via the code, than you can quickly and easily fix that up with a program like the aformentioned "audacity" or "wavepad", by just cutting the extra bits off.


It would also be nice if you could skip the intro and instructions sequences by pressing a key, maybe enter or spacebar, so that people who know what their doing already don't need to listen to the hole thing again (though it is a pretty cool cutscene I must say).


If possible, a more interesting death scene for when you answer the question wrong would be cool.


Begin
Spoilers


When you move around too much, the simple gunshot death is all fine and good, but if you answer the question wrong, I think it would be cool if you maybe got taken out of the car, walked to a building and a door closes before the game ends.


end
spoilers


That's pretty much all I got, though if you want any music, say for the main menu, win/lose dialog, etc, I have a list of sites you may be interested in.
http://www.freemusicarchive.com
http://www.soundimage.org
http://www.incompetech.com
http://www.nihilore.com
http://www.marcelofernandezmusic.com/ro … ree-music/
https://jonathan-so.itch.io/creatorpack

2017-11-27 23:18:52

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for your feedback, it was extremely helpful and I have a clearer idea of what changes need to be made moving forward. I really appreciate you all taking the time to play my game!

2017-11-27 23:29:54

I insist that you change the name to kidnapped simulator though. lol

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2017-11-28 04:05:20

I like this, but it could be better. For one, I feel no pressure, in other words, its not getting my heart racing, its not making me feel like a victim. I think some things that could help this is engine sound in the car that gives the illusion of speed, some defined road noises that come into play for different surface types, e.g. asphault, gravel, etc. Light to moderate tire screeching around some corners. Some traffic on either side of you, and make it sound like the car is sort of weaving through traffic. I like the suggestion of convolution to make it sound like you're listening through a closed window, but getting clearer the more you move to that side, right now you can just get in the middle and listen clearly to both sides.

I think some of this might put you emotionally into the scene, get you involved, so you feel a stake in the outcome, and make you feel the role of the victim held captive. Though I do get some of this, if overdone could prove a touch unrealistic, for example, you're not going to be speed racering around every corner without attracting attention from the other civilians out there, or the police.

One other thing I thought of is they're probably not going to just throw you in the back of the car and take off, you'll have to be tied up so you don't try to open the windows, or doors, etc. So, maybe one mechanic could be that too much movement in one direction too fast could cause you to fall over, causing the soundscape to shift, and making it even harder to hear out of that side.

Also, you could ad a bit of variability to it, and thus, some replayability too. Maybe they might start arguing amongst themselves, and you could use their preoccupation as an advantage to work your ties loose or something. Perhaps you could then crack the guard in the head or something, like find an umbrella, or ice scraper or something and now the driver is freaking out, he can't really effectively drive and shoot a gun at the same time so you might have a moment to escape or something before you even get to the location.

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2017-11-28 13:10:45

hello i can't download it. the link isn't working for me please help me.

2017-11-28 15:47:35

It should be, I used it last night, its a google drive. What you have to do is when it loads up, use tab to get to where it says open with, then keep hitting tab or the arrow until it says download or direct download or something like that, hit enter on it, and it starts downloading.

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2017-11-28 19:06:06

hello is it for 32 or 64 bt version of windows

2017-11-28 22:47:25

@masroor.rahmani Hi, the current build is for 64.

@ironcross32 Thank you for your feedback. That's sound advice for how I can make my game a bit more intense, and I'll see what I can do

@LordLundin I'm definitely still thinking about the name, all joking aside, Kidnapping Simulator does suggest that it simulates kidnapping someone else. But, I'll absolutely consider "Kidnapped Simulator" as an option!

2017-11-29 12:28:28 (edited by defender 2017-11-29 15:49:19)

Oh yeah also maybe if you get the question right, you could get rescued by the police or your own organization? I would be happy to help you make a short scene with free sounds, I have a sizeable collection with licenses that I've been collecting.
If you want that, than you can get in touch via Skype "superfreq2" or email, "[email protected]"
I'm nothing special, but I can bang out something short and if you plan what you wana do with voicing, I can pretty easily integrate it.
Otherwise I'd be happy to just provide you some of the stuff I've already got.
Obviously if you use freesound stuff you will need to add attribution in your credits somewhere, but that's pretty easy and it's well explained on the site.

2017-11-29 14:57:34

hello developer when you 32 bt version of this game? i like to play your game

2017-11-29 23:47:36

You should get a 64 bit system rather than ask developers to release a 32 bit build.

Facts with Tom MacDonald, Adam Calhoun, and Dax
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2017-12-02 19:25:16

@ post 17, some people might not be able to afford a new system, i've got the same problem.

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