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Currently Seeking Talent! 3D Artists/Animators/Texture Artists

A Paranormal First-Person Shooter, based on the story, "The Rather Extraordinary Circumstances of 'Half-Rats'" It is a story-driven, cinematic first-person shooter, taking place in America in 1887. It will feature light RPG elements. It will follow the tale of “Half-Rats”, a cynical, bitter protagonist who’s led a rough and tumble life, and has a history rife with traumatic events - along with a drinking problem. After a falling-out - relating to their father's death, his estranged brother has gone missing, and Half-Rats is compelled by familial love, and the promise of one last chance at a decent life, to find him and rekindle their relationship. Little does Half-Rats know, the truth he’s about to uncover is an ugly one, and that the otherworldly agency behind it all is far uglier, and more insidious than anything he could have imagined - and it’s got big plans.

Half-Rats' rough turn is about to take him to the edge of perdition and beyond. His very fortitude will be put to the test before his journey is through; his very view of the world and of humanity will be upset indefinitely as he learns the truth. Unbeknownst to him, he'll soon bear witness to and take great a great part in things no mortal should! Will he and his companions rise to the occasion? Or let it eat them alive?


Features:

- Meet important characters along the way with their own backstories and crosses to bear.

- Inventory, trade and theft/sneaking system.

- Weapon mechanics that won't wrack your brain and cause nervous derangement.

- Brutal Glory Kills.

- Develop your skills and abilities!

- Historically accurate dialogue, architecture, dress and weaponry.

- Collect "essence" and combine it with others to create powerful enchantments and spells.

- Semi-Open world - explore post civil-war Detroit, meet and greet with your chuckaboos, irritate your landlord! Go and run errands or complete "Missions" (Side stories)

- The game is divided into sections which evolve the story-line at your own pace. From Adventure, to Thriller, to outright Horror!

- Taunt and "Drunk" taunt system (A combat multiplier...or a hilarity generator?) that can make NPCs faint, become enraged, flee, or shrug off the player.

- Enemy tactics that change based on the situation.

AND MUCH MORE!

Half-Rats' Background:

“Half-Rats”; (Richard K. Nelson) born on April 27th 1859 was always the black sheep of the family. His brother, not so much. His brother fought in the civil war as a west point officer, and his father was an iron monger who was involved in the railroad boom during that time. A family friend, Mr. Forsythe - who was an advisor to HR's father and secretly courted his mother has basically taken HR's brother under his wing and has been grooming him; as he has been destined to inherit his father’s company, “Nelson Rail”.

Half-Rats’ turn was a little more rough. Though he showed academic promise early on, and into his young teens – in the areas of literature, art, and athletic pursuits, he was always apt to get into trouble. When he was young, he loved playing tricks on his governess – whose care he was placed into in his father and mother’s stead. He showed a general contempt for authority figures and was frequently found fraternizing with boys who his governess and parents would deem of “low breeding”. His jealousy and resentment of his brother’s preferential treatment, in addition to his parents’ borderline indifference to him, bred a strange desire in him. On one hand, he hated the company and Mr. Forsythe, and resented his family, but on the other, strove to gain their attention and admiration through his own achievements – though always running afoul in that regard and falling victim to his own devices in the end – further widening the gulf. The last straw was when he was kicked out of secondary school for frequent fighting with other students, stealing wine from the headmaster, declining grades, and what one teacher stated as “perilous behavior”. He was turned out of his family manor, and he went on to join a travelling vaudeville act.

Traveling, he was able to pursue his passions for adventure. He learned trick riding and shooting, he sang and played guitar, and was introduced to spiritualism and the occult. Unfortunately, the converse of this, was that his taste for alcohol was fully cultivated.

All this lasted for too short of a time until the act was dissolved after two unsuccessful years. The leader of the act allowed Half-Rats to keep a Colt Single-Action Army revolver; in hopes of parting ways cordially and partly as an apology for the meager compensation Half-Rats received while performing over the years. Feeling less than optimistic, Half-Rats made his return home. His presence was tolerated, and his family was civil, and sometimes even accommodating towards him. It had seemed that, despite past transgressions, his family had indeed missed him to a certain extent. He regaled them with tales of his travels, and his brother even gave him his cavalry saber as a homecoming gift. Now an adult, Half-Rats had made up his mind at this time to attempt to clean up his act, despite still being aggravated by and distrustful of Forsythe, he even agrees to become more involved with business.

Things, for a short time had seemed to be looking up – until his mother died of a strange illness, which was thought to be cholera by the family physician. After a while, life returned to being somewhat normal, though Half-Rats began drinking more than before and began to once again fall into old habits – forgetting at times, his new pledges. One day, Mr. Forsythe invites Half-Rats and his father to join him and Half-Rats’ brother at the Forsythe residence for a ball. Half-Rats’ father attempts to encourage him to come along, and he agrees – Half-Rats’ father is hoping to introduce him to a future wife. Much to his father’s chagrin. Half-Rats decides to take his flask filled with Whiskey and knock back a long draught in response. His father’s chagrin mostly coming from the fact that he didn’t offer a drink. And they are off with their trusted driver.

On the way to a ball, HR's father is shot when their carriage is attacked by a group of bandits en route. HR manages to live because he drunkenly falls out of the carriage as a hail of gunfire kills the driver, the horse, and his father. HR manages to kill one of the assailants with his Colt, and escapes into the brush - this is a defining moment for HR because he has killed his first human being and watched his father be killed himself. Fast forward, his brother blames HR for how things went down, cuts him out of the will, out of any stock in the company, and he and Mr. Forsythe continue on with Nelson Rail. Fast forward again to years after, HR is living above a general store in a run-down, dangerous section of town, feeling survivor's guilt, and remorse for running away that night. He does odd jobs, is drunk frequently, and is quite cynical – even sardonic. He frequently puts himself in dangerous situations for lack of caring for his own mortality. He had contempt for authority before, but now, he has extended this courtesy to others as well. His prized possessions are his colt and saber. And his drink.


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What is Half-Rats?

Well, it centers around the exploits of Half-Rats, the protagonist from our two previous titles - but this time, we'll be diving into his backstory a bit, and bringing back some fan favorites - and of course, introducing new characters.

“Half-Rats” or, for now, “Project MOPAT” will be a story-driven, cinematic first-person shooter, taking place in America in 1887. It will feature light RPG elements. It will follow the tale of “Half-Rats”, a cynical, bitter protagonist who’s led a rough and tumble life, and has a history rife with traumatic events - along with a drinking problem. After a falling-out, his estranged brother has gone missing, and Half-Rats is compelled by familial love, and the promise of one last chance at a decent life, to find him and rekindle their relationship. Little does Half-Rats know, the truth he’s about to uncover is an ugly one, and that the otherworldly agency behind it all is far uglier, and more insidious than anything he could have imagined - and it’s got big plans. The game will start off as an action/adventure, work its way into an investigative thriller, and finally end as a supernatural horror experience.

The Front-End:

The art and 3D assets have been coming together ahead of schedule. As the legacy department wraps up "Half-Rats: Parasomnia", the MOPAT art team has already been hard at work bringing the front end to life - the front end of what will become the "Half-Rats" tech demo, that is. Our first standalone title being developed on the glorious Unreal Engine. We've welcomed some talented new members as of late.

Draylon, Sergey and Joe have been hard at work producing weapons, items and of course, the ever-important modular building kits which will become the habitations of pure evil! Or just regular folks...

Firstly, the weapons! As you can see, some Half-Rats Classics are making an HD, current-gen comeback!

M1860

Landmine

Colthp

It wouldn't be a Half-Rats game without a Colt Peacemaker, eh?

How about those buildings I mentioned? Okay, here you go, you nerds!

Modular Kit 3

Substance

Keektown

A city street test! Complete with ugly BSP telegraph poles. The buildings you see here were lovingly crafted by Joe!

I went ahead and made a couple of mockups of the inventory and trade screens because I'm just that kinda' guy.

The Inventory:

Inventory Mockup

Inventory Wearables

Trade Screen:

Tradescreen

So you can see, the whiskey's back, too!

The Story/Design:

I've been hard at work for the past months, writing a complete synopsis/screenplay for the tech demo, as well as completing the design documents for the game. I can tell you, you guys might have just have some fun with this one! All that's left is to finish the Screenplay and the Magic system design, and maybe design a few state machines, but other than that - the plan's set, and it's full steam ahead.

Some features:

- Inventory, trade and theft/sneaking system.

- Weapon mechanics that won't wrack your brain and cause nervous derangement.

- Brutal Glory Kills.

- Develop your skills and abilities!

- Historically accurate dialogue, architecture, dress and weaponry.

- Collect "essence" and combine it with others to create powerful enchantments and spells.

- Semi-Open world - explore post civil-war Detroit, meet and greet with your chuckaboos, irritate your landlord! Go and run errands or complete "Missions" (Side stories)

- The game is divided into sections which evolve the story-line at your own pace. From Adventure, to Thriller, to outright Horror!

- Taunt and "Drunk" taunt system (A combat multiplier...or a hilarity generator?) that can make NPCs faint, become enraged, flee, or shrug off the player.

- Enemy tactics that change based on the situation.

Seeking Talent:

This is a pretty damned ambitious project, and we're going to need some help. We're currently seeking to fill the following positions:

Texture Artists, Props Artists, Character Artists - And eventually programmers.

Must be willing and able to make a 10-20 hour-a-week commitment.

If you're up to the task, send Heath Games an email at: heathgames@outlook.com

OR add me on skype at: "heath_scoring"

Half-Rats, Full Throttle

Half-Rats, Full Throttle

News 2 comments

Things are picking up momentum! We plan to go into full production of "Project MOPAT" (Half-Rats) quite soon!

Half-Rats: Parasomnia (Open Beta) Released!

Half-Rats: Parasomnia (Open Beta) Released!

News 44 comments

Merry Christmas - it's out early! Click the link below to be taken to the counter. Goodnight, Half-Ratters!

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HRP Concept Art

HRP Concept Art

Wallpaper 5 comments

Contained here are my drawings. Enjoy! I hammered these out during the development process of Parasomnia. Not all monsters are present, as not all had...

Post comment Comments  (0 - 10 of 13)
D-Wanderer
D-Wanderer

Hey Mr. Rats I saw your job advertisment, no I'm not applying, I was just wondering will you continue your work on MOPAT now that the other game is in development, or was that MOPAT you were talking about?
Also a name reveal?! :O That's even bigger than that time you showed yourself in a Youtube video. Oh yeah, you were also on a pic on the wall in HRAFD, but I keep forgeting about it.

Reply Good karma Bad karma+3 votes
Half-Rats Creator
Half-Rats

MOPAT is on hold for now. We are working on another, secret, but much simpler project, with plans for another in between.

Reply Good karma+3 votes
Magic_Nipples
Magic_Nipples

It's here!

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Iron_
Iron_

Maybe explain how to install? Thank you!

Reply Good karma Bad karma+2 votes
Half-Rats Creator
Half-Rats

HR:P? Check the readme!

Reply Good karma+2 votes
Serious_Samsung
Serious_Samsung

I didn't even notice it until now.

Reply Good karma Bad karma+1 vote
Syph0
Syph0

No way

Reply Good karma Bad karma+4 votes
Syph0
Syph0

OMG THIS LOOKS SO COOL I HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS BEFORE

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Half-Rats Creator
Half-Rats

We're moving on to Unreal and working on HR: MOPAT

Reply Good karma+3 votes
Epoch_MEB
Epoch_MEB

This has a really nice potential. If you can nail the 'feel' it will certainly be great. I'm picturing it being somewhere between Dishonoured and Bioshock with a bit of Half-life thrown in for good measure?
Looking forward to seeing where this goes!

Reply Good karma Bad karma+4 votes
Half-Rats Creator
Half-Rats

Thank you, my friend. At this point, it's a one-man venture and I've been busting rump to get ahead of the massive curve. I don't normally fancy showing works in progress, though. As for the feel, if anyone can capture 1880's Detroit, it would be me - I believe I will be needing the assistance of some talented 3D artists at some point in the future, however. Also, I had pictured it as being everything you said, with the addition of Thief: Deadly Shadows.

Reply Good karma+4 votes
Half-Rats Creator
Half-Rats

Perhaps a bit of Fable, too.

Reply Good karma+3 votes
Half-Rats Creator
Half-Rats

Finally played Dishonored 1 and 2...Had to go and change a bunch of things I was going to put into MOPAT.

Reply Good karma+1 vote
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