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A jam submission

Level DownView game page

6 DoF exploration/action shooter built for 7DFPS 2021
Submitted by Kaadmy (@kaadmy), literallyvoid
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Comments

I grew up with Descent, so this definitely tickled me :)

Submitted (2 edits)

okay, not to repeat that everyone else's been saying but this is a great game! very polished, movement and controls feel responsive but appropriately "heavy" - just like they should when you're piloting a hefty spacecraft (which you are). the graphics are clean, and the game runs AMAZING. like seriously, you can feel the quality craftmanship :) the enemies provide a nice challenge - they will kill you super quick if you're not careful, so traversing the infested sector never feels entirely safe. which is good!

i assume / seem to recall from discord / am gathering from looking at the files that this is a custom engine? if so, this is immensely impressive (if it's not, it's STILL immensely impressive)

p.s.: oh yeah, almost forgot - the music is really nice! it puts you right into that "cool late 90s video game" kind of mood without being overly referential or trying too hard

Developer(+1)

Thanks!

Yep, the engine is completely custom, and mostly bodged together with source from a handful of other projects I’ve made in the past.

I’m glad you think the music fits, but it was mostly placeholder haha. I got it from my go-to for CC0 music, Section31 on Opengameart.

Submitted

Wow, very polished FPS!  The graphics and UI are so crisp and clean, and the rendering shows a very high level of polish (love how the lighting affects your cockpit and the way the scan looks).  It's also impressive how the rotation assist helps make the corridor traversal look so smooth and effortless.  Deaths usually catch me by surprise and I'm not sure why...  clearer indicators of taking damage might help.  Great work!

Developer(+1)

Thanks!

The lack of a damage indicator is indeed an issue I noticed later on; there’s currently a sound but no indication of direction other than spatial audio.

Submitted

Loved the idea but found it too hard!! lol

Developer

Thanks!

Which particular areas did you find difficult? (navigation, combat, movement, etc.)

Submitted

Okay wow, really nice, polished descent-like! Immediately impressed that you got a full options menu in. The art style is very efficient  and effective (I knew I had to play as soon as I saw the thumbnail). The world looks great and feels appropriately claustrophobic. Is the maze procedurally generated?

In terms of areas of improvement, I feel like the maze may be too complicated to grok (especially coming into the game).  I see the alert about hostiles in the "green zone" but even with audio queues it's just an exercise of turning randomly until I see some green. Without landmarks I immediately decided that it was not going to be possible to learn the map. This meant that I didn't really get to experience that much combat (which I was aching for). When I encounter enemies I died a pretty easily (given how few opportunities I had to practise). I think simply increasing the density of enemies would improve this game, I'd like to spend more time dodging and less time searching.

Great jam entry. The team obviously knows what they're doing.

Developer

Hi, thanks for the detailed feedback!

The maze is not procedural at all, it’s a hand authored map I made in Blender.

Did you try using the scan mechanic in game (right mouse button)? It seems that some people didn’t realize it existed, and that makes traversal way, way easier.

Submitted

I did not!

Submitted

I really liked this one. I got lost a lot, but it was a pleasant lost XD

My only problem was the controls. I got a bit dizzy with all the turns and rolls, but that's probably just me.

I would like to take a moment to gush about the UI, cause I absolutely love the UI effects. It's so clean and smooth and gorgeous. 

Developer

Thanks! I initially wanted to force the player to have to learn the map layout via trial and error, but that turned out to be pretty confusing so we made the scanner easier to use and abuse.

Was there anything about the controls in particular that you think could be improved upon? That’s something I want to update since it seems to be a common point.

Submitted

It's the rotation on all axis. It just gets a bit confusing for me.

Developer

Ah okay, that’s definitely something that’s tough to get used to, unfortunately there isn’t a whole lot I can do about that. Have you tried the (enabled by deault) auto level option? It might make it feel easier to control and a bit more like a typical keyboard + mouse first person shooter.

Submitted

I believe I had it on.
I think if I were to play it more, I'd probably get more use to it.