The Blood and the Darkness
INTRODUCTION
Loosely inspired by Dracula, a historical game for Intellivision in 1982 much loved by the public, The Blood and the Darkness re-proposes the gloomy and dark atmosphere of metropolitan nights.
The gameplay of the old video game consisted of guiding the famous vampire in the hunt for victims, avoiding armed policemen, dogs (or maybe wolves) and vultures that represented a trap in its humanoid or flying form (a bat). The aim was to bite and bleed the victims on the street, walking on the sidewalks of the city and knocking on the doors of the buildings in order to let out the unsuspecting pedestrians. Yet another essential factor lay in wait for the vampire's health: daylight. In fact, he woke up from his tomb in the cemetery at nightfall and was forced to race against time at the first light of dawn to return to the cemetery and save himself from certain death. There was also the possibility of creating zombie servants who, if necessary, could put the cops on the run.
STORY DEVELOPMENT AND GAMEPLAY
The story will be set again in the present day. The protagonist of the raids will be a modern vampire, dressed in black, elegant and with a long trench coat, reminiscent of the old cloak. The settings will instead be diversified and variable according to the levels. Unlike the original game, rather boring and repetitive, although exciting for the time, Dracula's aim will not be just to eat and escape from the light and enemies (situations however maintained), scoring until the end of the game, as much as to move from area to area (city, cemetery, abandoned amusement park, public park, pond...) in search of victims and new allies (homeless man who will make his slaves). This latter function is essential to ensure protection from angry guards and soldiers (who do not throw ash stakes, but simply shoot, weakening the vampire, but not killing him), from the cemetery guardian, knowledgeable of an ancient secret, from a mortal werewolf and a very dangerous vampire hunter: a nice girl with a crossbow and ash arrows.
BACKGROUND
At the start of the game there is a reference to the original literature. A sequence of animated images with themed music tells of medieval battles between Wallachians and Turks (sound of swords, screams), of an ancient Transylvanian castle, finally of a merchant ship crossing the stormy sea: Count Dracula is arriving in West by sea.
Time jump today. At the end of the events mentioned in the fundamental literature, about two hundred ago, Dracula was neutralized and incarcerated forever (or so it is believed) in an anonymous and secret crypt in an abandoned cemetery at the gates of London. Nobody has visited that cemetery for decades. There is no living or dead soul, with the exception of the cemetery guardian, a man of few words, rude. He is the only one who knows the great secret. He is descended from a generation of guardians of the place where the old legend is handed down.
It so happens that that night of the full moon a group of three unconscious boys decided to climb over and sneak into the cemetery for a séance. Young boys certainly know that this game is about to unleash hell: Dracula will wake up from the call of evil. A slow sequence will advance inside an underground crypt that will arrive in an isolated environment, with torches and diabolical symbols. In the center a stone sarcophagus is opening and the undead awakens inside. He rises stiffly to sit, then the camera that frames him in the foreground and zooms forward slowly (suspense music), his eyes snap open and grins.
The adventure begins.
THE LIFE OF AN UNDEAD
The city is in a panic: rumors of a ferocious maniac wandering around in the night. No one who has seen it has been able to tell about it. Only a few photographs printed in the newspapers warn the population, while the Mayor has put a price on his head.
Survival in a vast open world is essential. Hiding from heinous enemies and especially from daylight makes Dracula's non-life more and more difficult. As the game progresses, however, some clues and puzzles suggest to Dracula that the eternal life of an undead may not be the best way. Risking to be killed by a huge werewolf (in reality the true form of the cemetery guardian) or mortally wounded by the fearless bounty hunter is not the best you can hope for.
The search for natural death and above all in peace thus becomes the new purpose of the vampire who, feeding on victims and fleeing from enemies, will have to recover some magical objects that put together will break the spell, putting vine to eternal damnation.
A romantic and original happy ending that breaks the monotony of survival gameplay.
CHARATERISTICS
Dracula's weapons, in addition to the bite that allows him to recover energy, are different: he can become invisible, floating in the air, and run fast (at the cost of fatigue and loss of energy), jump and fight with punches and paws. He can also transform into a bat and fly very fast for a short time, using his sonar to locate the hot blood of victims and enemies, but beware of crows that can easily grab him.
He has an excellent resistance to traditional weapons (which cannot kill him but tire him), and can decide whether to turn the homeless into zombies who will defend him strenuously from enemies by attacking them.
He fears the crucifix, the cars and the ash bullets that are fired by the huntress' machine gun, while the werewolf is an indestructible enemy he can only escape from.
Dracula can take advantage of a great sense of direction thanks to the compass that constantly indicates the closest victims, the safe points to hide during the day and his grave.
The player, at the beginning of the game, will be able to choose whether to control a male character (Dracula) or a female character (Mina, victim condemned to a vampire existence).
STATE OF DEVELOPMENT: WIP
TIMELINE
2022, April: Victims AI, Bug Fix, Alerts, UI Menu
2022, May: Ultimate damage system of Dracula, enemies and victims, Clock-Weater System link
2022, June: Definition of Safe Points, Death
2022, July: Bug Fix, game testing and delivery of the ALPHA version (free download)
2022, December:
1 - improve AI logic
2 - implement other enemies and bosses (hunter, wolfman, priest and crow)
3 - add new houses
4 - implement slave characters (clochard and whores)
5 - implement female Player Character (Mina)
6 - implement save/load system
7 - unlock the entire playable map
8 - add anthropologist lab
9 - implement game progress - objects during playing (journal, billborads, flyers...)
10 - implement and improve progressive levels of difficulty of the game
11 - implement collecting three magic objects (ring, tooth and holy blood)
12 - implement "sweet death" of the Player
13 - implement the video for the end of the game
14 - Expected game release