First Play Session Feedback

[Xentor]

So, just played about 45 mins of this on Easy... Definitely brings back the 90s Doom nostalgia. Some things...

GOOD:
* I like the general look and feel. As I said, it hits the nostalgia chord.
* The guns feel good. They feel powerful, and the reload is nice and simple.
* No complaints about the level design. Not completely linear, but easy to find where you're going. Lots of nooks and crannies to hide things, but doesn't feel cramped or forced
* I like the GUI on the weapons... Turn the left weapon sideways, and there's all my stats whenever I need them. Very clean.
* Some of those monsters are scary, once you realize how much it takes to drop them. Especially when I accidentally opened a door at a hallway junction, and one of those massive Cthulu-looking things was right in front of me

Needs Improvement:
* The music has the old Doom feel, but it's a little too constant. Most games will switch to a relaxing background theme once there are no monsters nearby. That way, as soon as you hear that first growl, the music can THEN jump to the metal theme to get your adrenaline pumping. If it's always going on full, the pacing feels flat. If you don't have another sound track, maybe just fade the music volume down when there are no monsters aggroing, so you can fade it up when something attacks.

* The monster noises didn't feel quite right. Maybe it's just me, but some of them didn't seem to be coming from the right direction. Maybe that's intentional, to keep the player guessing, but it makes it a little less immersive. If I hear a noise behind me, I want to be thinking "Oh crap, I'm being ambushed", not "Huh, I wonder if that sound is really behind me, or just elsewhere in the map". Similarly, having monsters randomly growling is nice, but that should be different from the noises they make when they come after you. Remember in the original Doom, there was a roaring sound the mobs made when they first noticed you... Anything before that was just an idle grunt or snort.

* The pauses during loading break immersion a little. Instead of dropping the render loop entirely and going to the out-of-game environment while the map loads, maybe just a black environment with a loading sign... Just something so I'm still in the game, not standing in my Vive loading area, looking at two controllers.

* The trackpad buttons to switch weapons and toggle the flashlight didn't feel very responsive... I sometimes had to hit them several times before it stuck. If there's supposed to be a weapon-swap delay, maybe some kind of sound effect should let the player know that it's happening.

Misc Impressions, mostly just a newbie stumbling around:
* Against the big things, I usually found myself teleporting backwards with my left hand while firing/reloading the shotgun with my right. Seemed to be the only working strategy. Maybe a little knockback would make it possible to stand your ground a bit longer... Dunno... Maybe kiting is what you're going for. Against the grunts, there was really no threat unless I got ambushed... Pop pop dead with the pistol. I assume they take more to kill in harder difficulties, but I'm a more casual player these days, so sticking with Easy.

* Took me a bit to figure out the gun mechanics... That the two numbers were actually for the two different guns I could wield in that hand. For a while, I thought it was current magazine on top, total ammo on the bottom. Usually expect to see both numbers. Maybe "9 / 50" (With the total ammo in a smaller font), and highlight the currently-selected weapon.

* In the early game, I burned my ammo on the big guns quickly, and then every time I picked up a few mags, I'd switch to them and see if they would load. Maybe just don't give them to the player at the start. Make it a big thing to finally locate the assault rifle and the energy rifle (Whatever that thing is, I like it). Make it obvious that you're supposed to use the pistol + shotgun for a while.

* The heads-up GUI has a lot of text. The numbers are obviously good, but most games use symbols/icons to represent the weapons and health. A heart for HP, a silhouette of a pistol for pistol ammo, etc. Took a while to realize which was which.

* I never really knew how my health was, unless I looked at my gun GUI often. Perhaps some kind of visual effect when you're heavily wounded? Some blood spatters on the view, or just start tinting things red, or something. Obviously you can't hamper movement, since it's VR, but something to make it obvious that it's time to find a medkit or die.

* When I reloaded, I wasn't usually looking at the gun (Too busy backpedaling)... Could have a sound effect when the reload starts, and then another when the gun is ready again... I started getting used to the timing after a bit, but again, learning curve.

* The levels all feel a little different (Despite the similar motif), but maybe that between-level map should have some location names on it. Like actual names, not just "Level 1"... Don't know if you're going for any kind of story, but just naming the levels and showing the locations on the map can make the player feel like they're progressing toward something, instead of just beating one level after another.



Anyway... Liking this... Not perfect yet, of course, but it really does scratch an old itch... Makes me want to find my old copies of Doom and Duke Nukem 3D.... Now if this one started with "Damn, those alien bastards are gonna pay for shooting up my ride!"..... Heh... That'd be jenga.

[vrmaets]

Haha what great thurow review ; Im adding i had a great time climbing/teleporting onto the crates, barrels and large containers and shooting the baddies from above; tho it was a bit of a real life stretch to reach those large containers(glad i have high ceilings)

[Zombie Apocalypse]

Hello Xentor, please look for the coming update 1.7 for the weekend. Some of your suggestions are involved. Send the invaders again to hell ...

[Zombie Apocalypse]

Originally posted by vrmaets:

Haha what great thurow review ; Im adding i had a great time climbing/teleporting onto the crates, barrels and large containers and shooting the baddies from above; tho it was a bit of a real life stretch to reach those large containers(glad i have high ceilings)

It should not so easy with the new shooting enemies ... You will need another tactic.

[Xentor]

Nice. I'll keep an eye out for it.

[Xentor]

Ok, the heads-up interface is MUCH MUCH better. Very easy to read your status now. I like the museum, where you can look at the various weapons and see what ammo they use, though you may be able to teach that through normal gameplay.

The shooting enemies look really cool, but their aim is way off. Maybe that's just a function of the difficulty, but I don't think they shot straight at me once.

The sound is still off. Lot of random sound effects that were a little scary at first, but that effect wore off once I knew they were just random. If every random growl was actually a monster right around the corner, it would be more effective. The positional audio didn't seem right either. Even when I shot a monster way across the room with some pistol sniping, the death growl came from right near me.

Some other thoughts...

For the map room in between levels... Still think it could use some names for the various locations. Even if they're simple like "The Approach", "Main Entrance", etc. Maybe remove the guns in that room, since there's no reason to shoot. Could replace them with something simple like hands, and have the location names pop up on the map when you touch them.

Anyway, like I said... The weapon interface is so much more intuitive now. Looks great!