Wretcher

Wretcher is a horror point-and-click adventure game that strives to follow the old  ways. Its style is heavily influenced by Clock Tower, the first horror adventure game of its kind (and still one the best), but also by Alone in the Dark and Silent Hill.

The player will soon find himself immersed in a nightmare, costantly hiding from monsters and struggling to survive in order to put an end to the madness.

Alas, the game is still in the making but, in the meanwhile, you may find a short (and very outdated) gameplay demo in the Download section that shows off the atmosphere.


The Story

Edward Valard A famed archaeologist commits a murder-suicide, or so the police say, leaving behind his mansion and all of its possessions in the hands of his niece Aileen.

Together with her friend Keith, they seek to unravel the mystery behind his death and the dissappearance of his wife whose body was never found. A darkness cast its shadow over the mansion with more than just secrets awaiting to be discovered.

The story takes place in the secluded town of Crowhaven where the mansion lies, but the action will take the protagonist, Keith, between this and the other world.

 


Main Characters

Keith MorrisonKeith Morrison

Born: March 5, 1983

Eye color: Gray

Height: 5'9" (175 cm)

An aspiring writer, has agreed to help his girlfriend, Aileen, to move into her uncle's mansion and to help her figure what really happened the day he died.


Aileen HaywardAileen Hayward

Born: January 23, 1984

Eye color: Lilac

Height: 5'6" (168 cm)

A young aspiring archaeologist, she got the passion from her late uncle and is the sole inheritor of his mansion along with all the possessions within.


 

The Project

The journey began one day in the far 2008 while chatting in a long forgotten chatroom with some friends, I proposed to make a horror game with a collective effort, I started tossing out ideas and everyone was thrilled. Obviously, the very next day everyone had completely lost interest but that didn't deter me.

The first embodiment of Wretcher was something completely different, as at the time the only game engine I knew how to use was Rpgmaker, and that was what I had planned to do the game with.

It was around that time that I came to know of Clock Tower, which I found to be most inspiring.

Time passed and I kept finding myself getting back to it, working on the story, the lore, and brainstorming. The unnamed horror game was growing. After the initial attempt to create the game on Rpgmaker, I realized it was not what I had painted in my mind. When I closed my eyes I could envision it in Clock Tower's style, but doing so would have meant a lot more to code, many more sprites to draw and animate... was I capable to do it ? I knew I had to.

So I searched for a better game engine that would have allowed my vision to turn real, and that's when I found Adventure Game Studio.
I learned the scripting engine and started practicing to draw backgrounds like CT, and I must say it took me quite a while to get good enough since, as a programmer, I had never drawn pixel art before.

Sometime inbetween AGS was released as open source, and I ended up becoming one of the maintainers.

Then I quit my job and become a freelancer, so I could focus more on grinding the skills I was missing.

Today the engine is pretty much ready, my artistic skills are up to the task, and all what's left is filling it with the contents.

 

Media

Screenshots

Artwork

 

Download

Old Gameplay Demo (2010): English | Italian

How to play

Normal Mode
Left-click: interact/walk (double click to run)
Right-click: look
F1: Options
F5: Save/Load

Evasion Mode
Left-click: interact/run

Panic Mode
During panic mode the portrait flashes and the player has to repeatedly press the left mouse button to struggle.

Chase scenes
While being chased there are different interactions and the player is always running. To end a chase the player has either to find a hiding place or find a way to make the monster give up pursuit.

 

News

Development is back in full swing! Check the twitter for progress

 

Links

Alan's twitter.

Progress is being posted.


Adventure Game Studio
A game engine that allows you to create point-and-click adventure games. Wretcher is currently being developed with it.