Scope Creep
Incredibly fun game, but it’s severely docked because there were four people working on this team.
MENU: The Menu is very thematic and very cool, instantly setting me with the expectation of being on an uninhabited world on a lone space station. Kept it simple which is great, too many games have options and additional menus that are unnecessary for a game jam! The animation of the zoom in helps to set the tone of “just arriving” as well. I can see a lot of thought and effort went into making the menu!
AUDIO: What is there to say about this that isn’t instantly recognized and loved? Every part of the audio works well to create a compelling narrative. From the charge up sounds of the red spirals before they shoot, from the monster attacking, the erratic horrifying breathing when you run out of stamina, the audio effects are all perfect. I especially loved the walking and running bit sounds that helped you to know when you were moving quickly, everything was responsive and sounded great and fit the overall style.
ART: Scope Creep utilizes an early PSX style to the game which blends so well with its horror aspects. I’m personally a huge fan of PSX style and so seeing all the furniture of the space station, the design of the monster and the effects utilized with the gun was really exciting to see.
GAMEPLAY LOOP: Not for everyone. I had a lot of fun playing this game but I’m familiar with shooters and enjoy anything with gunplay, but for people who like slower paced games and aren’t familiar with shooting and running, there will be some struggle, especially because of the Scope which follows the theme of the game. This game is perfect for speed running and comparing scores.
Written Review
Scope Creep is a first person shooter horror game with an interesting twist: the alien monster (and its red floating spiral companions) are invisible to your weapons scope, requiring the player to no scope 360 headshot the red spiral creatures in order to kill the monster roaming the hallways of the station. The player is a lone soldier, sent to an abandoned space station that’s overrun with impossible to explain alien creatures. You fire at the large creature roaming the halls as floating red spiraled creatures fire red lasers in every direction, but the large alien appears to be immune to your light beam rifle, instead harvesting the light energy for its photosynthesis. After running and scouring the station, you find scrawled writings and drawings on the wall in a mysterious red liquid that tells the player to aim for the red floating creatures taking over the station. But as you aim and fire, you notice that none of the creatures are visible to your weapon’s scope, requiring you to be a better shot than you normally trust yourself to be. With each floating eye shot and killed, the large creature grows more restless, hunting you down, before eventually dying after enough of its companions are destroyed.
Problems for the game quickly arise. When the monster attacks, it becomes immobile, and a slight step backwards allows the player to miss its attack range completely, causing the major threat to the game feel more like a reminder of “just keep walking and you’re fine”.
Way To Improve Game
Make the large monster feel more like a threat with its attack.