Post by XxXReD123 in AnoMalOus comments - itch.io

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XxXReD1234 days ago(+4)(-1)

Hey made this account just for you. That is the potential (or perversion your pick of the truth) I see in the game. I relay want to see this game succeed, and be more than the other MAL0 games I have played. So I am going to give you my feedback the good and the bad. Take what you think will make the game better ,I just want to give my thoughts and feelings on this before they get cold.

Here is my feedback:

The Good

1. Starting game-play. You have a good retention loop ,I played the game to keep getting more rather than just look for the scenes. I hope to see more refinement on this (Loot variety, competitors, tools, friendly interactions with MAL0, ect)

2. Works on even a potato. If you keep it optimized you have the potential to garner more players. I would love to see this work on steam-deck to but I understand the nature of the beast and can't complain if it don't. Prioritize making it functional and complete before expanding.

3. The models charm. It stands out for not being the most overused and has a charm that makes it stick out to me compared to others. With more interaction both NSFW and cute friend/pet? moments I think this could have some staying power. A SFW mode would show that your game has more merit than just the FUN stuff, but I would rather see the game be complete rather that have more and more added to it.

Things to tweak.

1. The environment should have a little more character to help players navigate more. This could mean adding different types of doors to indicate to players what the room type is before they entering. Give a feeling of control allowing them to plan a head. Right not it does not matter, but it is good to future proof the plan.

2. Give rooms a personality. The example I will give is the binding of Isaac.

Keep the room connection idea but make every room have a personal problem to overcome. It does not need to be complicated just a little chiefs kiss. Make it feel like this place was a used and not just some SCP test (Unless that is what you are going for).

If you wan to keep the RNG that is fine it has a fun twist to it, but the rooms don't make you want to engage with the game-play much, just get the best stuff and GTFO.

2. The reward loop is backwards. This is not just you, too many people do this, but you should not be rewarded for failing . If you want to stand out invert this.

Have it that something else is coming after you (The plague doc or something) and make MAL0 your upgrade system/reward to winning. Like she is the one pinging the loot, and helping you navigate ect. I feel this would make the hub room story (BTW the best part IMO) make more sense and give you a reason to keep doing what your doing.

A example reward and game-play could be like this depending on what you want the game play to become: When you get to the switch you then get an option to find her and gain a new scene and maybe some more GBs add a challenge that the doc or whomever is now more aggressive so you make the choose what is more important.

3. The Game Style. I would think about how the game is currently being positioned. You already have a similar competitor with the same hostiles (Different objectives, models, ect of coarse, but the game style is the same. Get the do-hicky, what ever else you can or need and GTFO) as mentioned above adding just a little more core game-play challenges could put this into the top of your genre .

4. The tools. Right now you have a really bad inventory system. Why would I take a flair when I could just add another cog and save up for battery upgrades. The map to me was the thing that was king, nothing compared for both price and functionality to it. Why get HP restore when most things can just oneshot you until you get HP upgrade? The scanner takes up to much power for what it currently offers that I have seen. Then once you know what is worth what why would you go buy it? (Again if it was like a MAL0 upgrade it might have more pull, as then you would be interacting with her)

I know this stuff is still RELAY EARLY but just food for thought.

I like the game, and would love to see it stand out compered to games like it. I see a good game here that could go far and I hope I can help in doing that.

Twisted-Nature4 days ago(+4)

Thanks for the awesome suggestions!

Most of what you suggested are things I was thinking about while I was working on the game, and I agree with you on your points.

I was hoping to add some more content to this initial release like an alternative story mode where you explore pre-made levels with MalO as an ally, but things were taking far longer than I anticipated and I wanted to get the prototype out.

As for the "reward on loss" issue, I agree with you that this is a problem from a gameplay perspective. I wanted the loss animations to be a bit femdom oriented, but in future updates there was also going to be a bunch of purchasable animations to reward players for collecting money. I might rework how the loss animations are "rewarded" to the player in the future as well.

XxXReD1234 days ago

That good to hear. I hope that even a fraction of the ideas are put into place, but just make sure that you don't make it so wide with random content that it becomes shallow. I have seen to many good ideas be ruined by that. This seems to be your first game, so keep it tight, that way you have a strong foundation and goals. If the game is not huge but deep people will want to play more. I like to use VoTVs map as an example, it is not that complicated but the simplicity allows them to make everything feel impactful and permit, compared to a massive open world map (New Far-cry games) that can feel quite empty.

Now this is were I would be cautious. I think that the story mode might not be a good idea, you would be making two different game-play and focus types. Stick with one and make it right. People will buy an add-on/dlc for a good game more often then get a bloated mediocre one. I have made that mistake myself and the projects never got off alpha stage :(.

From what you have presented, keep it as is, and integrate the story elements with the MAL0 ally game-play . You don't even rely need to change what you have made already, instead make an upgrade (reach the current max GBs LV) that comes in one her emails to you to help next game play update . She can kind of be a tutorial, being not that aggressive and helping the player to understand the hostile AI without it being OVERKILL.

For the reward system here is an idea. You might just have to remix it, perhaps you make the getting scene become the challenge? A tug of war of ideas, she can have some kind of extra want or dislike certain items ect. Peev her off and she will try and take control, a hidden way for the player to find more scenes(always fun :3). It adds a bit of flavor, the player needing to push her to dom-mode and can allow a reason to lose that is not game over, but hidden options for people who like it and people who don't. Just remember what is your core game-play what we are talking about could be considered late stage additions depending on what you want it to become.

Speaking of witch, what do you want the game to be? I can see a few paths from what you presented in this alpha, but are you trying to do all or is one the main focus above all else? I will say that if you continue with the lethal company game-play it could be fun with more players (One plays MAL0?) but that is a lot of work. If it is the story I feel you will have to make it apart of the map tiles (exploration will be king in understanding what happen here and why she is with you ect.) And I will warn though we all came for the FUN stuff if that becomes the totality you really will be setting the bar high as your competition as is more than just games at that point.

What ever it is I hope you stay true to the why you wanted to start doing it in the first place. This is something that has sparked my interest and I would love to see it reach 1.0

ZealotDKD1 day ago

let the player talk to malo and start any previously viewed scene, maybe bedroom variants.
unlock more scenes and story progression through gaining intel.
possibly block the player from increasing level until challenges/story elements are met.

add more ways to deal with malo, like throwing things at her

story progression could involve finding other dungeons full of other hot SCPs