Detailed Demo Review

[szederpg]

Dear Devs,

It has been a pleasure playing your game. As a fan of System Shock I am always looking for games like this bla bla bal.....sob sob sob.
We get very little information about where we are or how we arrived here. The Hub is a sacred treasure...is it a generation ship story? Are we on Earth? If this is intentional then just ignore this part.

So without wasting your time:

The Pros:

+ lovely intro and artwork
+ music is very atmospheric
+ love voice acting of token machines
+ lovely graphics

The Cons.. / Things to Improve:

- bad gameplay mechanic where I run around and whack everything with the pipe to get ammo....feels like wall humping to find secrets. Also why would an electronic panel on a pillar contain ammo or health? Makes no sense. I feel it is there to spare development time.....it would be harder to create safes, lockers, tables etc. where it would be logical to find ammo and supplies. Also I hit a toolbox, I get the ammo but the toolbox does not get destroyed, it just sits there.
- Green font. I like green, but it is sometimes hard to read with all the overgrowth in the background. Also the font size is quite small.
- About the overgrowth.... I know why you placed it there, it looks cool but does not make much sense. If you had Hydroponics then maybe but mushrooms and other plants growing out of the steel plating of the ship is kinda ridiculous. Sometimes I do not even realized that something is there, I just get a message that I picked up ammo. The plant overgrowth is now hindering the gameplay.
- the "hub". The h should be capitalized as now it is the name of a place.
- you move the same speed when crouched as when you are standing.
- huge quality of life change if we could move objects not having to hold down the E key.
- breaking glass: shards are constantly breaking off but you do no damage to the glass itself.
- I think it was after the upgrade you put these ridiculous "stop signs" in the corridors? Why? What purpose do they serve? Just another thing to hit with the pipe?
- Hitting with the pipe is really wonky..sometimes I can get them with one hit, other times my hits simply do not register. This is a hitbox issue. Hitbox proximity: I can push a button from 2 meters away, an enemy can attack me while not in melee range...now I found out it is not an issue but a feature...I can hit them with the pipe from like 2-3 meters and not take any damage.

- BUG: sometimes dialogue boxes disappear when using computers / terminals. It might be I'm alt-tabbing out but this definitely deserves a look. After I talk to a robot / terminal I get no dialogue box...the only way to escape this soft lock is to press space but that activates the first option in the dialogues tree. Talking to the service robot soflocked me....dialogue box won't show, pressing space will not get me out of the dialogue. (It is not about alt-tabbing, I tested it)

- Cannot destroy red tanks containing fluid with the pipe, I need to use my gun. Don't see why. Also..how does a tank containing fluid connected to nowhere powers a forcefield?
- the game is mostly so dark that you are REQUIRED to use a torch...whether that alarms enemies or not.
- random displacement of view by the engine...you walk along a path and you suddenly face another direction. Happens often, especially in "later" levels.
- dialogues that keep repeating....even after I take subway keycard the option is still there

I think there is great potential here but you need to address these things, especially the dialogue box bug...that could break the game.

Will keep you updated, wish you a great success with the development!

[B]

This is great, I really appreciate it I'm going to read it right now and make notes.

[B]

Can you give me a little more information about what is creating this dialogue box bug, I can't seem to recreate it.

[szederpg]

I would love to do it, tomorrow I will try to record it.

Basically when I choose a dialogue option the character replies but I do not get back to the dialogue screen.....there is nothing at the bottom of the screen. If I keep holding Space down then it will automatically select the first option but that is it. If that that option does not end the conversation then I'm stuck.

I'll try to recreate the bug as soon as possible.

[B]

interesting I have seen this but rarely. Also if you check out the latest update I spent all day applying a lot of the things you suggested

[szederpg]

Playing the demo again. Some very nice improvements.

+ Ammo is more scarce so you need to use the pipe a lot more
+ font size is great to read now
+ really like ammo boxes

Loading times are longer now but that is understandable.

- the mouse issue where the program adjusts my view is still there. I turn a corner and the game turns me 180 degrees or some random degree, can be really disorienting. It is like a mini-lag, dunno what causes it.

- hit box of the pipe and your general "reach" is still hilarious. I can knock off a zombies head from 2 meters away, same goes for computers...I an use them when I'm not even close to them.

Finally figured out the secret room thing. I think it is a bit misleading. I knew where the room is and I was provided a code in the journal so I was CONSTANTLY searching for a keypad to enter the code. I think the e-mails should make it clear that you open it from the computer itself....It was really pure luck that I went back to the computer after finding the code.....

The secret button in the bar. I pushed it....I did not know what it did but when I turned it looked liked it opened something which looked like this:

https://steamcommunity.com/id/szederpg/screenshot/5974658400598816675/

No textures or something :-)

- I noticed there is revolver ammo....I found 3 weapons but not a revolver. Is it now in the demo? Tokens are pretty brutal to find btw.

The main BUG I mentioned disappeared. I could not make the dialogue box disappear so that is a good sign.

It is forming up to be an excellent generation starship story, though it would be a good idea to hide that notion from the player for a time.

Great atmosphere, great models, weapons feel good as well.

[B]

Awesome to address your issues.
The mouse issue is age old, and I know why it's happening, it has to do with loading in large chunks of the level at once, which I used to think was a good idea, I think I might be able to break them into smaller chunks and have them load based on camera angles which should reduce the lag.

Do you you think the range is too much on the pipe, that can be reduced easy.

I amended the code text just now to mention that you need to type it in at the computer.

The patch today fixed the bar texture.

Revolver is a super secret weapon due to being extremely powerful, only one person has found it out of 1000. I like the idea of having this stay this way, I think it's fun to have secret weapons.

Ah interesting, so your theory is that you are on the Star ship currently?
The true origin of Thea is meant to be a mystery until the end of the game so I can't confirm or deny where you are currently :D

Thanks again for your feedback. I'd love to have you on my discord tester team.

[szederpg]

Originally posted by B:

Awesome to address your issues.
The mouse issue is age old, and I know why it's happening, it has to do with loading in large chunks of the level at once, which I used to think was a good idea, I think I might be able to break them into smaller chunks and have them load based on camera angles which should reduce the lag.

Do you you think the range is too much on the pipe, that can be reduced easy.

I amended the code text just now to mention that you need to type it in at the computer.

The patch today fixed the bar texture.

Revolver is a super secret weapon due to being extremely powerful, only one person has found it out of 1000. I like the idea of having this stay this way, I think it's fun to have secret weapons.

Ah interesting, so your theory is that you are on the Star ship currently?
The true origin of Thea is meant to be a mystery until the end of the game so I can't confirm or deny where you are currently :D

Thanks again for your feedback. I'd love to have you on my discord tester team.

Nice to make your acquaintance. Joined your Discord, will contact you soon.

The range in general is too much...not just on the pipe. As I said I can reach stuff from what would be 2-3 meters in real life. Of course if you adjust the reach range you would have to adjust the reach range of enemies....they can reach you from quite far.

I'll keep an eye out for the secret revolver, thanks for the heads up. I too like the idea though if it is 1 person out of 1000 then it is kinda wasted, isn't it? :-)

I was quite feeling on the top of the world when I found a token on lvl2. Gonna give it another shot. Tried to enter the vents using boxes...no success. We'll see.

Also one more thing......after the end boss appears there is a window of time where I can interact with stuff. I interacted with the computer and the game ended with me talking to the computer :-)

I am quite passionate about this project. See you on Discord!

Aaaaand I found the revolver....zoom does not work on it but still kicks like a bull.

[Trophy Scars]

I didn't had any major problems with demo.
But I just wanted to say, that it's amazing overall. If you manage to keep this deep creepy atmosphere through the whole game - it could become the System Shock 3 we never had.
Best of luck you.

[szederpg]

Originally posted by Trophy Scars:

I didn't had any major problems with demo.
But I just wanted to say, that it's amazing overall. If you manage to keep this deep creepy atmosphere through the whole game - it could become the System Shock 3 we never had.
Best of luck you.

Yeah the Dev is a really cool guy and fixed a lot of things since this review. And indeed the love for System Shock is showing, hope they can pull it off.