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(2 edits) (+2)

I went back and played again because I think this is a cool project and it has a lot of potential. I'm a big Gears of War and Company of Heroes fan and PANDORA feels like it fits right in the middle. 

Gameplay:

I already mentioned the controls in my other comment and I still feel the same way. Sprinting always shows the throw grenade cursor which is kind of odd from a gameplay standpoint. Right clicking directly on a cover should make the second character go to that cover (right now you have to click behind it). 

Give me some indication of which character I'm controlling. Both on the character and by the health bar would be nice. I wasn't getting confused while playing but it would make the gameplay more clear. It would also benefit streamers/content creators who have viewers that aren't playing the game themselves. 

A lot of the maps aren't very fun. Maybe I just don't have the skillset yet but they seemed like they were set up to be challenging instead of rewarding. One of my previous games had the same problem and all of my playtesters said the tutorial was more fun than the main map. 

The enemy AI is just an obstacle to the player. They take cover between the player and the objective and mostly sit there. They often take very dangerous routes to their end position instead of moving cover to cover. I think this is good for some enemies but I would like to see something more as the game progresses. 

I would like to see more depth added to the cover gameplay but I don't know exactly what this game needs. In Gears of War every player starts with a rifle and a shotgun. Players try to out angle each other with their rifles while also trying to get close enough to use their shotguns. The close range combat is surprisingly technical and the cover is used for player movement instead of protection. 

More bugs: 

The red cursor is often wrong. I also never saw the out of range specific red cursor. 

There seems to be a reload bug with the heavy machine guns. I think there are some actions that cancel the reload but I couldn't figure out exactly what I was doing wrong. This needs to read better in general but it should also cancel the reload sound effects. I've also had completed reloads not refill my ammo and I've ended up in states where I can't reload my gun at all. Spamming left mouse and R to reload seems to maybe cause issues. The friendly AI also doesn't seem to know how to fire HMGs. These are the best weapons in the game for virtually every encounter right now but they don't work consistently. 

Telling my buddy to hold caused the game to crash on 2 different occasions. In both cases it was when he was holding a HMG but wasn't firing. 

Switching characters back and forth while one of them is auto-moving seems to have some weird behavior at least some of the time. Having your controlled character die and then auto-switching to the second character while they were auto-moving felt bad most of the time. 

The enemy can sometimes stand off the edge of the screen when zoomed out. Zooming in seems to show more of the map around the edges. 

Moving my character along the edges of environmental objects feels bad for me but it's probably just a skill issue. 

I got my character stuck in the trees one time. I don't know if it was a bug with the game or if there's a part of the level that needs a little bit of adjustment. 

There were a few maps where I couldn't find the end. I wasn't sure if I had to capture the flag or run off the edge of the screen like the other missions. There were no prompts that I could see. 

Holding left mouse to precision aim and then canceling the aim with sprint causes a few bugs. Your precision continues to increase during the sprint and then after the sprint is complete it makes the shooting behave strangely. 

Character footsteps cause a little dust cloud or something but it's always an unnatural color. 

Video:

This was my third time playing the game and I'm just testing mechanics and looking for bugs. This was the furthest I've gotten so all the levels were new to me. 

Gears of War close range shotgun fights.

(+1)

Hey mate 

Thank you so much for the detailed post and the recording, this helps a lot.

I have a lot of things in my list and finally some time to fix a few things or try them differently.

For the maps: which one was "fun"/rewarding?

Maybe i can use that as an example to add more similar ones. Right now all are meant to have a tactical way of finishing them (there are usually combinations if environmental features and specific enemy placements that allow for a step by step approach. But maybe that's not clear enough.

The mg bug with he companion is really odd, j must have introduced this while fixing something else, as it worked before.


I will let you know once a new version is up and would love to get your input for that again and hopeful made the experience more fun.

(1 edit) (+1)

I think the first handful of levels were very fun. I had a lot of opportunity to make my own decisions and find a playstyle that worked for me. The later levels started to feel like I was forced to play a certain way (again, I may just not have the skillset to see my options). 

Here are a few videos that reshaped my thinking on level design. Maybe there's something in there that you find useful too. 

Tips for open level design:

Your levels are essentially puzzles for the player to solve:

(+1)

Awesome

I went and fixed the major bugs, so with the companion now being able to use all weapons properly, the levels should be easier.

I will study the gdc talk you sent and rework some levels and add many more.

Thanks so much again!