Corpus Edax - HPS1 Jam
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Corpus Edax is a short, first-person lite immersive-sim RPG, made for the HPS1 Summer of Shivers jam. The "lite" part refers to how it has some mechanics from an immersive-sim, made by 1 person in 1 month, so keep your expectations in check!
Setting
Without the Dark Ages, the Industrial Age quickly came to prominence in the late 16th century, and with it, a rapidly decaying atmosphere.
After a series of catastrophic weather events, humanity is forced to abandon Earth in search of a new planet.
Set in a retro-future of late 70s and early 2000s , on a city in a distant planet, you are suddenly upgraded from a GRADE-C citizen to a GRADE-B citizen, giving you the privilege of having a job and a new apartment.
You start at the beginning of your first day, but things rarely go according to plan...
Features
- A character creation sheet so you can play and make a character how you want
- Melee-based combat
- Stealth
- Branching dialogue with skill-checks and consequences
- Grab, throw, kick objects into people
- Explore a small part of the station that holds a couple of secret areas
- Access computers and look for datapads to learn more about the world
There are still some missing features due to lack of time - some skills (Hacking, Stealth, Barter, Lockpicking) haven't been fully implemented yet, some sounds are missing.
WELCOME TO
Mac Users - To open the game please do the following
- Open Terminal
- Right-click on the game's app and click Show Package Contents
- Go to Contents/MacOS and you'll see the game's executable
- Type "chmod -x" in Terminal and drag the game executable onto the Terminal window so it completes the path.
- Hit Enter
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Development Update - #1 (GIF heavy)Nov 09, 2021
Comments
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Hello! when I picked new game and I put in my stats why does it keep saying agnis points not atubruted
Heyo! that message will show up if there are any AGNIS points left unattributed. You have Skill points and AGNIS points, you'll need to distribute them before moving on the next screen.
could you give a demo video?
Here's a video playthrough, at around 6 minutes he completes the character registration.
Hello,
For anyone visiting this page, I will be updating the development of the full game on https://epicmcdude.itch.io/corpus-edax and reserve this page just for the HPS1 Jam project.
Thank you!
Found this game from your interview with Stephen Scott Day, I am really amazed that you managed to create this with Playmaker and Unity, you are my inspiration! Are you using any other assets besides Playmaker, or it is all custom coded actions?
Hey, Mike, thanks a bunch, man!
I used a couple of assets which I'll say below, but I do want to say that I used them mostly due to time constraints, you can do these things with Playmaker, but iterating and fixing bugs and doing the logic would just eat a lot of days from my time.
Destroyit - Used for calculating the HP and damage of objects based on force and then destroying them. I even used it for NPCs, even though it wasn't really meant for it, it turned out to be a time saver because it also has some nice Playmaker actions included. I only had to make one custom action for it
But of course, you can very easily do this with Playmaker using compare actions, get velocity actions, etc... and playing around with the values.
Easy Character Movement - This is used for the player controller, which again, you can easily do one in 5 minutes with Playmaker, or spend a week perfecting a rigidbody one (so it interacts with physics objects), it's your preference! I ended up using this because of all the physics objects and damage applied through object velocity in the game, and also because it's a really good controller, I completely recommend it.
Don't be afraid to try or buy character controllers on the store, it's an integral part of any game, so my train of though was that I might as well use one made by someone who knows what they're doing.
You can access the character controller scripts through Playmaker with Get Property actions, which allowed me to make it more RPG like, by changing float variables depending on the each skill level of the character. I've been playing around with this and it's working great.
Everything else (Combat, AI, animation scripting, dialogue system, barks (dialogue above character heads), picking up objects, event triggers, sound scripting, skills, skill checks, menus, interaction system...) I made it in Playmaker :)
For example, the GIF above shows the character in combat and using the helmet of the guard to destroy the window with a kick.
The helmet coming into contact with the window and destroying it is part of the Destroyit asset, but the part where the helmet has to come up and detach from the guard, and the kick has to interact with the helmet was done with Playmaker.
Hi, when I try to run this game on Mac, it doesn't open, and a popup opens up that says it can't be opened. Any ideas on how to fix it?
Hi! Yeah, I posted the fix on this page, here it is:
That should make it work, tested it on my brother's Mac Mini
When I picked the non-binary gender options, the characters still called me "him" and "new guy". Some non-binary people use masculine pronouns but I was at least expecting the dialogue to be gender neutral even if you didn't let the player choose pronouns. Kinda bummed out by that.
I'm really sorry about this, I had no time to script the dialogue to change based on the gender. Why did I include the gender option then - I initially thought I could do it but I bit more than I could chew.
Very nice, cool atmosphere in this game.
Hello, I work on a small podcast where I like to interview indie dev's and their projects, would you like to do an episode? my contact info is on profile and link to my channel.
Hi Rex, sorry for the late reply, been out of the loop a bit . Yeah I'd love to, I'll send you a message as soon as I can.
Looking forward to it!
Honestly. If you polished this up and released a full version I'd pay for this. Solid and interesting ideas, feels like a much better version literally any fallout game after new vegas.
Thank you!! I'm hard at work on the game, hope to have a Steam page by the end of the year :)
Nice. I look forward to streaming this game one day!
I am in love, I would pay 60 bucks for a full version. I love how it feels, i get all sorts of nostalgia, including total recall vibes. The graphics are just right, and the melee combat is fun, needs more work on stealth though, as shadows don't really help as far as i noticed. The character creation said "not implemented" so i guess it isn't implemented lol. I love how the pressure windows suck people out, and then block off as well, the environment feels alive, i cant believe 1 person made this, and in 1 month. this is incredible, i can only hope you get further, and work on this for a while, as i would love to see a full fledged RPG etc.
Comments like yours warm my heart, not gonna lie. Makes all those nights and days of my free time working on it worth it.
And don't worry! I am and will keep working on the game - currently planning the general story and working on the setting, characters, progression; polishing the mechanics, adding new ones and making the combat system feel more impactful.
I should probably make some devlog posts here to keep you guys updated and receive feedback as well, it's been great getting some much needed feedback outside of friends and family.
yeah, too many games these days suck, and all they focus on are graphics, so they have shitty machanics etc.just this demo alome feels better then most AAA games these days.I dont know too much about what engine your using, but adding in a synchronized animation for a stealth grab/neck snap would ve awesome for the stealth, but its not needed. The stealth kill thing would just be a cherry on top, having an open world would be amazong too, but yet again it isnt needed, as deus ex 1&2 are some of my favorote games, and they are not fully open world etc. The things i would like the most are options on how to complete tasks, dialogue options, and a decently lenghty campaign. I know that is a lot to ask for from one person, but you have done amazing things so far. Please keep going even if it takes a long time, good things are worth waiting for, good luck.
Great game. I like it
Thank you!
Very atmospheric! Unfortunately I got stuck in the elevator, but I guess that can happen in real life too ;) Anyway, it's a very nice start, I'd like to see more! Especially since Synther won't get released it seems.
Nooo, how did you get stuck? There's a bug where if you pause when inside a trigger, it makes it to think the Player exited the trigger when you didn't, this might cause the next area from the elevator to not load... Haven't had the time to figure a workaround but I'll get back to it soon enough!
Thank you for the kind words, sorry for the bug :(
PS: It is an honor to receive a comment from the Rat King themselves!
Unfortunately I don' really remember what I did to get stuck, I think I went to the ground floor and then tried to get back and couldn't get out of the elevator any more. Very likely I paused inside.
I LOVED this game so much I played it several times over just to see what would happen. I like the fact stealth kills do infinitely higher damage and the level of detail was weirdly high. I would actually pay £60 for a full game with just a story driven RPG like this. One where your character makes actual decisions based on the stats that feel heavily fallout NV inspired. I WANT MORE OF THIS. LOVE IT.
Ahah, this put a smile on my face, thank you!
Cool! I was very surprised by the lack of content given how much there is to the mechanics (though this is very understandable for a jam gam). Looking forward to where you take this. Felt like a rustier Deus Ex.
Biggest piece of criticism I have is the dialogue - especially with the Resistance. I mean, I guess I get the "gritty, everyone is an asshole" aesthetic, but it's ridiculous when the "Resistance, who fight against the oppression of the people" address you in such an authoritarian way... I mean, the cure is obviously worse than the disease.
Cool project, regardless!
Thank you for the feedback! My intent was indeed to show that this so called "Resistance", may not be the good guys after all, or even the cure for what ails the people. I didn't have time to flesh this out, but my intent with this faction (in the future) is to be satirical and show how they don't really know what they're doing and are in some ways worse than the actual government they're trying to overthrow.
There's a bit of connection to this intent when you find a Wrea-der log next to a dead body, hidden in a room in the Refectory. The woman who calls herself Resistance Alpha is named Jacquie (you only know her name is Jacquie if you scream when talking to her), who is referenced in that Wrea-der log.
The Wrea-der log also references how the security outside his door didn't do much, as the dead person was the person living in the house the Security Watchdog is guarding. If you read the email on the computer you can see he snitched on the ex-resistance guy (John) who's house you now live in, and got John killed.
Jacquie was undercover as his wife, and killed him by locking him in a storage room.
Was this sidestory poorly told? Yep, it was, especially since it's hidden in optional side areas. But of course, it all goes back to being a jam game and me biting more than I could chew!
Well, who are the good guys? (this is a personal peeve of mine haha most games are too cynical these days!) There's also a difference between a flawed character/faction and a flat-out contradictory one. But of course all this may come across very differently on a more fleshed out game.
I only found one Wrea-der log, the ones trapped inside the storage room. I could have replayed it, but didn't expect to find much more optional content with so little "main content". This is not a problem at all in a game jam game, though. You have a functional system in place already, I'll stay alert for where you take it in the future.
Best of luck!
This is a fantastic proof of concept for a sci-fi role-playing game and I certainly hope that you continue to work on this project. It's clear you've put a lot of work into it! I did a playthrough below:
Some general thoughts of mine about the game -The foundational mechanics you have are great. You've clearly thought out the essential infrastructure for RPGs and implemented it well, with skills and attributes, dialog checks, basic combat and inventories.
What really drew me to this was the degree of ambition you show in your environment design. You have lots of hidden areas, notes and terminals, and write characters with a really fleshed-out sense of worldbuilding.
I think there's lots of opportunities to work on building the Corpus Edax base as a persistent environment and giving the player room to breathe and explore, perhaps with the use of some less linear secondary quests.
Visually this is really neat. The PSX graphics are pretty solid but not shonky - there's lots of interactable items, animations, and basic physics to keep things interesting! The faces took me a bit by surprise though.
Dialogue could be slightly improved. I'd definitely consider some feedback for unsuccessful skill checks, as well as the speed of the incidental / overhead dialogue as the speed may be too quick for some.
I think the next big milestone would be an inventory overhaul once weapons are introduced. A linear list of items generally isn't user-friendly, and it may be more helpful to have an interactive grid-based inventory.
This is super promising! I hope you continue with the project and build on the strong foundation that you already have with this prototype.
- FSV
Stellar feedback, thank you very much. I will definitely improve this little prototype, most of what's wrong with it was due to lack of time.
I wanted to push myself for the jam, but now in hindsight, I didn't really think things through due to the natural ambition of doing an immersive-sim RPG. I didn't scope this well at all.
Regarding the feedback for unsuccessful skill checks, I'm still pondering between having the NPC give a negative reaction to your failed skill check, or just have feedback of not accepting the dialogue option.
I'll also revamp the first level as most players aren't really understanding the mechanics the game has to offer, and that is entirely my fault as I rushed through the level design.
Thank you once again for the feedback!
This game is quite entertaining. A first person rpg like game is rare for me and playing it was quite enjoyable. The combat was quite easy to understand but what intrigued me the most was the stats system. I really enjoy rpg where it is not all about punching your way through but using dialogue as a method too proceed through the game. I don't think I finished the game but from what I have played it was interesting and fun. Loved it :D
This is an amazing game. I found the combination of first-person action with RPG elements very interesting and the paths you can take depending on the responses you give in the dialogues. I can't wait for the final version of this game. Congrats and keep it up!
Wow, it's a great game!
First things first, I am absolutely floored by the atmosphere achieved by a single developer in such a short time. The world you have created here has so much potential and the gameplay "feel" is already very solid. I am very excited to follow this project should you decide to continue work on it! (I hadn't seen the gifs of blowing the pressure glass, awesome addition, took me totally by surprise).
Having played it through (albeit only the once), I have a few notes on some things I came across.
* The bottom tooltip for interaction interfaces (like the computer and elevator) tends to get stuck on screen.
* Going into the menu seems to mute sounds for a short period after leaving it, could be coincidental to when I looked at it though.
* I managed to reach a state where after coming out of a menu the cursor was unlocked and unhidden, had to restart game to get it back, but it didn't happen again (happened after interacting with the computer in the first room)
* There are small boxes around the characters in your text. Assuming that its not a design choice and you are using TextMeshPro, this can be solved by rebuilding your font asset with an SP/PD Ratio of roughly 10%.
* Some dialog goes by too quickly to read it, this was especially prevalent with 'Resistance Alpha'. Would be good to get a press to continue button or something along those lines.
* The elevator button confused me for a second, I think it would be better to start the elevator going when the button is clicked rather than clicking the button and backing out of the menu for the elevator to start.
* Joanne asks me if I'm the new guy, even when I just finished talking to her.
* Had a nasty habit of throwing a punch accidentally when leaving dialog menus (luckily didn't get me in any hot water with security!)
A lot of the above points are likely down to lack of time more than anything (Game jams and solo devving is a rough experience!) and they are pretty minor, but I feel that fixing some of these things could be a quick win for improving a players first impression going in.
Apologies for the text wall, what you have created here is a fantastic start, and I wish you the best of luck with this, and any other projects in your future!
This is some fantastic feedback, thank you very much. I was aware of some of the issues, but the cursor one I've been unable to replicate it consistently, which is making it harder to fix :(. I'm taking a break this week but I'll be looking into this next next week, I want to expand upon this little prototype for sure.
Absolutely stellar prototype for an immersive sim. Everything feels really compelling, and can't wait to see this made into a full game.
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nice prototype
Thanks! Couldn't help but notice your framerate was at 25fps, you can change it in the options menu.
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ok good story retro