Thanks for the demo! I'm eager to see the full release!
Not sure what you've already fixed since, so some feedback and bug reports:
- Linux: only the Linux/nw version worked. Linux/Game and Linux/nwjc crashed with different errors. Not exactly sure why there are 3 versions if what we really need on PC is wrapper around the web version, but here are the logs (when starting from console):
./Game
...
Fatal error in , line 0
# Failed to create ICU number format, are ICU data files missing?
./nwjc
Usage: ./nwjc [flag] ... jsfile outfile
SSE3=1 SSE4_1=1 SAHF=1 AVX=1 FMA3=1
Usage: ...
(it's used for compiling, so I don't think the user should run it?)
- Typo: numberic instead of numeric in one of En's lines
- UX: doors that transition to other areas are harder to distinguish when oriented to South, West and East. Their shapes are closed so they just look like curved parts of the wall. Consider keeping the shape open, maybe add some light gradient if you want to indicate the door is open (you'll find plenty of references in top-down RPGs and adventure games, and plenty of them are pixel art)
- UX: There is one save panel near the end of the demo where you must go through a few lines "let's go to the elevator" before opening the save popup. If possible, make the save immediately accessible, at least the second time you watch the panel.
- UX: I'd say if you get caught by the guard you are respawned a bit far, but in makes sense story-wise as you get back to your room. Seriously it wasn't a big issue for me, I simply got more and more careful each time.
- UX: I tried various words in the terminal search, but could not find information on my first searches "elevator" and "exit", which makes me think we get more access to a generic DB (with specialized knowledge, for sure) than a Q&A for people working in the station. Maybe this could be made clearer? The first dialogue about the terminal is about searching information on this place and showing a map... I didn't try to search "map" though, maybe that was it?
- UX: I tried various words in the terminal search, found a key narrative element yes, but that shouldn't have impacted the station. When I came back, the door was open, I guess this was it, but it's not very clear what happened. From a narrative perspective you probably want to force the player to find that narrative hint, but from a logical perspective I'm not sure what opened the door. You could cheat though, by making the terminal room darker (except for the terminal), then just after the key narrative search lighten up the room, and En would say "oh, power has come back!" so you force the player to do the search but you also let the player know he/she can come back after that.
- Graphics: small "glitch" when the characters are climbing up the spiral staircase, as they must switch layer to go from "behind" the stairs to "in front of" the stairs, when reaching the left side. You're probably aware and didn't find a good solution for it... I don't have an idea either, but since this game focuses on writing and aesthetics that may be a thing to tackle in the Polish phase.
Nice job for the hidden search terms ;)