The Madness [Psychological Horror / Puzzle]

[Greeny]

So after 7 months of development and an additional 3 of lollygagging, it's finally done!

Enter a mind tainted with darkness, shrouded in a labyrinth of psychological blockades.
Strip away the locks of the mind one by one by solving perplexing puzzles.
Try to uncover the source of what's raging behind the facade of sanity.

What horrors lurk in the deepest crevasses of the mind?
Will you survive long enough to find out?



I'd like to use this opportunity to make another shout-out to the fantastic artists who cooperated on this game!
Nekomiira, main artist, Queen of Gore, and all around fun gal.
Reikun, the visonary behind the amazing paintings you'll be seeing in the game.
Geckos, talent responsible for drawing "photographs" found in the first area.

Warning: This product may contain sensitive, traumatic and/or triggering content. Gliese Productions will not be held liable for mental breakdowns or loss of sanity that may occur.

This game contains mind-boggling puzzles. You will require a working brain and most likely a notepad.
For best effect, play this game with headphones on, the volume loud, at night, in the dark, alone, with nobody around to hear you scream and no tether to remind you where the line between game and reality is drawn. And a plate of freshly baked cookies.

I should note that the difference between the difficulty levels is far smaller than in our previous game, The Loop. This was done mainly so that we could better integrate the puzzles with the environment. Instead, on the lower difficulty levels, you'll have access to puzzle skipping and additional hints. ...Or am I intentionally misleading you? Who knows!

Get it now!

[Caveat Lector]

YES! I've been looking forward to this for a while! I'll organize and post my thoughts as soon as I'm finished!

EDIT: ...Yeah, I'm coming back to this tomorrow. When it's light out.

[Reikun]

Whoohoo!! Congrats on release! I has a small issue when launching for the first time (something about my graphics card being old and DirectX needing to be updated. I was able to run the game after updating DirectX and ignoring the warning though This was the traceback in case you're interested:

Code: Select all

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
  File "renpy/common/00start.rpy", line 99, in script call
  File "renpy/common/00gltest.rpy", line 356, in script
  File "renpy/common/00gltest.rpy", line 368, in python
WindowsError: [Error 193] %1 is not a valid Win32 application

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
  File "C:\Users\Guest\Downloads\VNs\The Madness-1.0-all\renpy\execution.py", line 288, in run
    node.execute()
  File "C:\Users\Guest\Downloads\VNs\The Madness-1.0-all\renpy\ast.py", line 718, in execute
    renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
  File "C:\Users\Guest\Downloads\VNs\The Madness-1.0-all\renpy\python.py", line 1297, in py_exec_bytecode
    exec bytecode in globals, locals
  File "renpy/common/00gltest.rpy", line 368, in <module>
    subprocess.Popen(sys.argv)
  File "/home/tom/ab/x64lucid-deps/install/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py", line 679, in __init__
  File "/home/tom/ab/x64lucid-deps/install/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py", line 896, in _execute_child
WindowsError: [Error 193] %1 is not a valid Win32 application

Windows-7-6.1.7600
Ren'Py 6.15.7.374
The Madness 1.0

As far as playing goes, I didn't get very far (did a lot of clicking around and reading stuff)

I thought having The Loop on the computer was really cute... haha

I'm sort of waiting for someone to LP this so I can just watch it xD;;;; I'll give it another go later :3

[Hachiko]

Can't seem to download this ><

"Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at download1185.mediafire.com."

[kersplode]

IT'S HERE!!!!!! playing right now! i'm going to brave through it and play in fullscreen at 1:30 am. that's how it oughta be played, right? i'll tell you what i thought if/when i beat it!! (your last game was CRAZY GOOD, so i have high hopes for this one!)

[Muzozavr]

TECHNICAL:
Could you please make a version with a simpler "main menu" and "game over" animations? I know my integrated videocard is pathetic, making my computer laggy as hell when it comes to that... but with pretty much no other programs in the memory (maybe Skype) the main menu is borderline unusuable, at least in full screen. Due to the atmosphere and such, I really want to play this in fullscreen, but the main menu really brings my computer down to its knees. There's similar lag with the game over animation, it actually doesn't even finish before the menu pops up simply because it lags so badly.

The intro video plays fine and I can live with the (limited lag) during the "please... stop" animation, but the main menu is extremely problematic and when the game over animation stopped at "O"... well, forgive me for laughing at that. It's probably the "film projector" effect with all those lines across the screen. This is especially irritating because once I manage to get in the game itself, it actually plays just fine, with no lag... thankfully.

PUZZLES:
I found some but I didn't really get very far. I just wanted to take a quick look at this, so I didn't put in much effort. I think I haven't solved anything as of yet. I just hope they make a little bit more sense this time around - "The Loop" had puzzles that are pretty much impossible to solve logically unless you know the end result in advance, but you can't know the end result until you solve the puzzle.

THE MADNESS:
WOW. Seriously. And it's not just the voices, even though they freaked me the *BLEEP* out the first time I heard them. It's the little minor details, the slippery line between sanity and insanity blurring and things just changing back and forth. One of the most effective scare moments for me was the deck of cards changing color. I didn't even realize what was going on until I looked closely and then I wanted to scream. "The Loop" was successfully weird (I still love that black hole behind the window) but it really wasn't as frightening as this. So many creepy things. Not jumping out at you, not even doing anything. Just... being. Existing.

The doll is really creepy. Finding it in a non-descript room, it's quite easy to brush it off as meaningless. When you find that thing in a completely different place, you know it's getting serious.

I can't help but notice some superficial similarities to "The Loop". The computer, the "struggling writer" scenario (but I bet there's something more sinister hiding in the shadows this time), the kitchen, it really feels like a point-and-click version of the similar parts in "The Loop", only different. The "writer" part in particular has a nice creepy twist to it. And yes, having "The Loop" on the computer is a nice touch.

I also lit the only match I had on the "Solitary Confinement" level (I should probably retry on an easier mode) in the bathroom, the visual effect is FABULOUS.

So, first impressions: even more bizarre than "The Loop" (if that's even possible) and thoroughly unsettling. Main menu brings my machine down to its knees, but that's probably because my videocard is laughably bad, the rest of the game works fine.

[Nekomiira]

So it's finally out, huh?

I've already gotten a chance to play this *coughbetatesterherecough* so I kinda now what to expect. I guess I'll try again with a harder difficulty. ^^

Unfortunately I'm sworn to secrecy, which means I can't help you other players out there. Just keep your eyes open, you're maybe being deceived!

[Greeny]

Whoohoo!! Congrats on release! I has a small issue when launching for the first time (something about my graphics card being old and DirectX needing to be updated. I was able to run the game after updating DirectX and ignoring the warning though :P

Yeah, the game is a bit intensive on the animations, and Ren'Py is exactly the most optimized engine...

Can't seem to download this ><

"Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at download1185.mediafire.com."

A problem with the host, Mediafire. It happens to people sometimes, but if you retry later or a couple of times it generally works again.

TECHNICAL:
Could you please make a version with a simpler "main menu" and "game over" animations? I know my integrated videocard is pathetic, making my computer laggy as hell when it comes to that... but with pretty much no other programs in the memory (maybe Skype) the main menu is borderline unusuable, at least in full screen. Due to the atmosphere and such, I really want to play this in fullscreen, but the main menu really brings my computer down to its knees. There's similar lag with the game over animation, it actually doesn't even finish before the menu pops up simply because it lags so badly.

Unfortunately, the main menu isn't the only place which is heavy on the animation... Some puzzles make active use of animated elements. Still, I'll see what I can do. If I turn off the plug feed on my laptop, it has worse processing so that should be able to give me an idea of what areas are a problem on low-end machines.

PUZZLES:
I found some but I didn't really get very far. I just wanted to take a quick look at this, so I didn't put in much effort. I think I haven't solved anything as of yet. I just hope they make a little bit more sense this time around - "The Loop" had puzzles that are pretty much impossible to solve logically unless you know the end result in advance, but you can't know the end result until you solve the puzzle.

I'm not going to lie and say I'm not well aware of how bad some of the puzzles in The Loop were - mainly because they weren't integrated into the environment.

You'll find these puzzles to make more sense, but some are also a lot harder! Before you give up, I would reccommend you write down the information you have... when you've got an oversight of all your information they might suddenly make a lot of sense.


I will see if I can make a preference option to turn the heavier animations on/off.

[victorita9]

I officially stopped playing. It got too creepy and now I can't sleep

[Hachiko]

Ok, got it! Judging from the screenshots, didn't look so creepy; but after reading the comments, I am seriously afraid what I'll get myself into... =O ><

[Hyraculon]

I'm excited for this! I loved the Loop.

However, I have just about the worst internet connection in the world, and it's timed out three times already trying to download it. If it's not too much trouble, could you upload the version-specific games separately (or just the Windows one, as that's what I'm using)? I might have an easier time getting it if it were a smaller file.

If that's too much of a pain, I can always go mooch someone else's internet later. Either way, I'm looking forward to playing!

[Muzozavr]

Ok, got it! Judging from the screenshots, didn't look so creepy; but after reading the comments, I am seriously afraid what I'll get myself into... =O ><

I have no idea what it is exactly, but it's quite frightening. Wait until you fail the first part twice (and because the puzzles are really hard, you will) and then you will hear... things.

[Hachiko]

Huh? I've been clicking around and starting over again many times but I didn't hear anything? :S I'll prolly wait until someone has a walkthrough or something ahaha xD

[Greeny]

Oh the sounds you hear aren't part of the game, if you don't hear them it just means you haven't gone insane yet.

[Muzozavr]

Oh the sounds you hear aren't part of the game, if you don't hear them it just means you haven't gone insane yet.

... does this depend on the difficulty level? If not, then... what have you done? More importantly, how?

"It has to exist in the game, right? It can't just be in my head!"
"No matter where you go, everyone is connected. And insane."

(And yes, that last part is totally a Lain reference)