MADNESS! How it works, and why it’s even in the game
Hey! It’s Byte Barrel Team again. Last time we shared some secrets about our art design process and inspirations that followed us through developing Forgive Me Father. In this piece we would like to shed some light on how we created and changed Madness System during that time.
So, what exactly is that whole Madness System?
Insanity is an inseparable aspect of Lovecraftian lore, so we knew it had to be in our game somewhere. The choice was simple: why not make the entire system based on it? This allowed us to create an escalating feeling of anxiety that player may experience as our main character steps deeper and deeper into madness. But how does it work?
Simply put, Madness is a mechanic that rewards a player’s aggressive playstyle and picking all in fights over safer confrontations. The more enemies a player kills, the more powerful he becomes. But that's not all. It is a combo-like system where you need to kill as much as you can in a short period of time in order to gain the most benefits.
Madness is also a resource that allows you to use special abilities like Aspergillum - that stuns enemies, or Crucifix - that heals its user for a certain amount. On top of that after reaching half of the Madness bar, the player's screen goes black and white with that juicy red blood splash effect. We wanted to add that insanity factor to our game that is starting to make even more sense when the game story progresses.
Another thing is the fact that Madness gives our game more dynamic and that “what the hell is going on” effect.
How has it changed over time? From idea to Early Access version
Madness System is a feature that we could call the heart and soul of Forgive Me Father's gameplay. We knew that it would be present in our game from the very beginning, but we had to work on some specifics. We started with the thought that we want to make a combo-like system that brings more dynamic to the game and would create more gameplay possibilities for the players.
From that point Madness System had a long, long road to the place where it is now, and we would like to share that process with you. Through developing Forgive Me Father we created at least four completely different designs. Some of them differ in visual aspects (different colors, chromatic aberration effect) others were our attempts to make the best Madness System in terms of gameplay possibilities. Current one is using all the best aspects combined from previous prototypes. The very first Madness System wasn't all black and white like it is now, but it was this intense green color that would take over your screen!
Optimizing the Madness System
Have to say, that one was a little bit tricky. Making a combo-like system that rewards aggressive playstyle but also doesn't punish those who want to take their time while exploring the world of Forgive Me Father, wasn’t easy.
Another, and we think the hardest, thing was making the entire skill system based on the Madness resource. It had to be perfectly synergised. We had a lot of ideas but unfortunately we couldn’t implement all of them. Compromises are hard and necessary especially when it comes to optimizing a system that is so important when it comes to the core of our game.
As we said earlier, Madness System rewards aggressive playstyle, making players stronger as they take down enemy after enemy. But when you play slowly you also can earn your skills but just in a little less efficient way. So don’t worry, we have something for everyone!
Why it looks how it looks, and why it works how it works - about inspirations
We wanted it to bring more flavor to Forgive Me Father, accent its brutality, make the moment of reaching that certain level of madness worth player's effort. Our system had to fit perfectly into the Lovecraftian based universe and retro shooter genre at the same time.
Our intention was to make our game as comic-like as possible. Madness System is a nod to the Sin City comic book series by Frank Miller. It was an obvious choice for us because it’s not only perfectly matching our design but what’s more important, we are just crazy about his work. Also, there is of course that one more thing - nostalgia.
Going forward, we wanted to intensify encounters, especially those bigger ones with hordes of enemies rushing towards the player. Our goal was to create that special moment when the player is in the middle of a fight, madness is stacked, screen turns all black and white and players just know that there is no going back.
Developing the current Madness system was a really long process where we had to compromise a lot, and by saying that we really mean A LOT. But we believe that we created a version that fits our vision of Forgive Me Father!
Got some questions? Don’t hesitate to ask here, in the comments or on our Discord or Twitter. And please, once you've tried out the game, leave us a review here on Steam!
So, what exactly is that whole Madness System?
Insanity is an inseparable aspect of Lovecraftian lore, so we knew it had to be in our game somewhere. The choice was simple: why not make the entire system based on it? This allowed us to create an escalating feeling of anxiety that player may experience as our main character steps deeper and deeper into madness. But how does it work?
Simply put, Madness is a mechanic that rewards a player’s aggressive playstyle and picking all in fights over safer confrontations. The more enemies a player kills, the more powerful he becomes. But that's not all. It is a combo-like system where you need to kill as much as you can in a short period of time in order to gain the most benefits.
Madness is also a resource that allows you to use special abilities like Aspergillum - that stuns enemies, or Crucifix - that heals its user for a certain amount. On top of that after reaching half of the Madness bar, the player's screen goes black and white with that juicy red blood splash effect. We wanted to add that insanity factor to our game that is starting to make even more sense when the game story progresses.
Another thing is the fact that Madness gives our game more dynamic and that “what the hell is going on” effect.
How has it changed over time? From idea to Early Access version
Madness System is a feature that we could call the heart and soul of Forgive Me Father's gameplay. We knew that it would be present in our game from the very beginning, but we had to work on some specifics. We started with the thought that we want to make a combo-like system that brings more dynamic to the game and would create more gameplay possibilities for the players.
From that point Madness System had a long, long road to the place where it is now, and we would like to share that process with you. Through developing Forgive Me Father we created at least four completely different designs. Some of them differ in visual aspects (different colors, chromatic aberration effect) others were our attempts to make the best Madness System in terms of gameplay possibilities. Current one is using all the best aspects combined from previous prototypes. The very first Madness System wasn't all black and white like it is now, but it was this intense green color that would take over your screen!
Optimizing the Madness System
Have to say, that one was a little bit tricky. Making a combo-like system that rewards aggressive playstyle but also doesn't punish those who want to take their time while exploring the world of Forgive Me Father, wasn’t easy.
Another, and we think the hardest, thing was making the entire skill system based on the Madness resource. It had to be perfectly synergised. We had a lot of ideas but unfortunately we couldn’t implement all of them. Compromises are hard and necessary especially when it comes to optimizing a system that is so important when it comes to the core of our game.
As we said earlier, Madness System rewards aggressive playstyle, making players stronger as they take down enemy after enemy. But when you play slowly you also can earn your skills but just in a little less efficient way. So don’t worry, we have something for everyone!
Why it looks how it looks, and why it works how it works - about inspirations
We wanted it to bring more flavor to Forgive Me Father, accent its brutality, make the moment of reaching that certain level of madness worth player's effort. Our system had to fit perfectly into the Lovecraftian based universe and retro shooter genre at the same time.
Our intention was to make our game as comic-like as possible. Madness System is a nod to the Sin City comic book series by Frank Miller. It was an obvious choice for us because it’s not only perfectly matching our design but what’s more important, we are just crazy about his work. Also, there is of course that one more thing - nostalgia.
Going forward, we wanted to intensify encounters, especially those bigger ones with hordes of enemies rushing towards the player. Our goal was to create that special moment when the player is in the middle of a fight, madness is stacked, screen turns all black and white and players just know that there is no going back.
Developing the current Madness system was a really long process where we had to compromise a lot, and by saying that we really mean A LOT. But we believe that we created a version that fits our vision of Forgive Me Father!
Got some questions? Don’t hesitate to ask here, in the comments or on our Discord or Twitter. And please, once you've tried out the game, leave us a review here on Steam!