For years I imagined making a completely FMV interactive story/puzzle game (think Myst but made entirely with videos). Last year I finally got around to figuring out how to make the game mechanics work, and little by little put together Yeli Orog. The game takes place in Asturias, Spain and was filmed in various locations there:
Yeli Orog is a FMV adventure game about an immense archaeological discovery: A bizarre stone tablet written in the Celtiberian language found buried underneath an ancient dolmen in northern Spain. The inscription written on the tablet tells a ghoulish tale believed to be the Celtiberian origin myth.
You play the role of Johnny Robin, an archaeologist sent to Asturias, Spain to assist in the recovery of Celtiberian remains. Upon arrival to Asturias you find yourself unexpectedly transported to an alien world, experiencing first-hand the terrifying story written on the ancient tablet.
If you are a fan of Myst-like games, interactive stories with puzzle elements, and FMV games, I think you will appreciate Yeli Orog. If you have any questions about the game or how it was made let me know.
Here is the steam page, the game will be released on July 13th:
Trailer:
@YeliOrog, while I admire your tenacity in seeing a project through, we’d really rather not have a dev just start out their Qt3 posting with spam for their own game. We encourage you to take part in discussions around the forum first, then we can revisit this thread.
Oops, I should have passed along word that he had emailed me and asked if he was okay if he posted about his game. I told him it would be cool if he wanted to hang out and talk about it rather than just cut and paste and run. My bad for not letting you know, Telefrog! Sorry.
By the way, the game is called Yeli Orog, the developer is called/named Yeli Orog, and the account is called Yeli Orog? Yeli Orogs all the way down!
-Tom
There are a few different portal types throughout the game. Making the game proved to be a good lesson in putting together special effects
So, why the FMV format? I’m interested in the decision-making process that led to that design.
I always found video to be more impactful than computer graphics. For example, I like open world games where you can explore the world and look at the scenery, but I find it hard to get really interested in a world that I know isn’t real. Likewise cutscenes and stories in video games can be good, but I always get more emotionally invested when watching a movie. Video has an air of mystery to it that always attracted me, especially video of landscapes.
I played with the idea for years to make a game with only video where you could explore and play at your own pace, rather then just an interactive movie. The interactive slide show setup of Myst was a big inspiration, I based the core game mechanics off of that. I wanted to make a game that felt more real than a computer generated world.
Congrats on setting your mind to making something new and pulling it off! I hope the game is good and does well for you!
I have a couple questions:
- The trailer makes it feel like it is (or eventually becomes) a horror game. Yeah?
- One of the things about the original Myst that was difficult as a player (and I think overall it’s brilliant) is the “slideshow” style made navigation disorienting. Especially things like rotating in place: If you turned too far, you’d lose track of how far you turned and where the things you saw before and after turning were located relative to each other. Have you found that to be a problem you’ve had to address?
Just based on the trailer, this feels a little bit Journeyman Project-y to me? Man, is the Journeyman Project on GoG? I wonder how that holds up (I assume poorly).
Yeah, all three of the Journeyman Projects are there.
The trailer makes it feel like it is (or eventually becomes) a horror game. Yeah?
Yeah, it definitely gets more disturbing as the story progresses.
Have you found that to be a problem you’ve had to address?
It was a problem, the solution I came up with was to use eight clips for every scene plus creating 3D sound for each scene. This combination gives a sense of location because you see parts of objects in multiple clips, and the 3D sound acts as a compass to where different things are located.
For example, in the trailer there is a scene in an apartment. You can see different parts of the couch, window, desk, door, etc… in various clips, and if you are wearing headphones the sound of the wind is always coming from the direction of the open window and the church bells from the closed windows no matter where you turn. This gives a sense of where you are in relation to things in the environment.
I can’t say, I never played any of the Journeyman Project games. I was just watching a gameplay video of Pegasus Prime, its really cool how they did the animations and sounds.
Damn, that brings back memories.
Oh, 3D sound. Very smart. I’d be curious to see how much that by itself ties the experience together to help you get oriented.
I don’t know if a game that gets into bloodcurdling scream territory is going to be my cup of tea, but best of luck!
Are there actors with filmed scenes?
There are no actors present in the game, no.
Yeli Orog is now released:
