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Xpost20001 year ago

This is a cool execution of the concept. I kind of wish this separate cyberspace idea was used more in other cyberpunk or sci-fi games. It is interesting how this is a real time game, and yeah like BrineShrimp I agree it's basically just a clunky first person shooter.

The encounters are pretty fun, but since everyone is basically firing in a straight-line (does the spread mechanic also apply to enemies? They only seem to fire in bursts so it probably doesn't influence them too much.) it's not very easy to avoid getting hit, it does also hurt that the enemies seem to respond pretty competently as well.

I know it's obviously not within the limits of the jam's requirements, but it would've been a better game had it been more like Wolfenstein3D style (or maybe a few concessions like a turn 180 degree binding or something). Although as is I found it pretty satisfying.

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CoSeph1 year ago (2 edits)

That's interesting, I'm a heavy FPS gamer myself so I did wonder if that FPS/dungeon crawler crossover might be jarring for some people, but I thought it would be a challenge to make it anyway. Would you say a game like Legends of Grimrock is also just a clunky FPS? That's also real time, and was one of my inspirations for how I made this.

Yes the spread mechanic does technically apply to the AI (sometimes you can see them hit the wall or ceiling beside you).  But as you noticed they only fire in bursts, so it's in a pretty limited way.

To avoid getting hit so much, the best approach is to be further away from them. They're not as accurate as the player is (especially if you control your bursts well). You can also anticipate their moves and be ready to shoot as soon as they come into line or as soon as they come through a doorway. The shotgun on the second floor also lets you shoot them in groups and very easily hit them before they get in line to shoot you (obviously only use this at close range though, it's weak at long range).

The enemies would have been more dangerous if I'd had more time XD I haven't added any hearing mechanic to them, so you can shoot right beside them and as long as you don't shoot directly at them they wont notice. There's also some room for improvement for where they choose to move. I wouldn't have made the 2nd floor encounters so big if I'd had time to make the AI smarter.

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Xpost20001 year ago

I wouldn't say any real time dungeon crawler would qualify as a clunky FPS.

I'd say it's more like there are certain expectations of the gameplay based on weapons you can get. When you have ranged weapons that hit at effectively instant time at least my expectation is that the danger of instantly getting hit is compensated by having sufficient cover in the level design or strong movement mechanics to provide ways to counter the ability to get hit. Which is basically just things that encourage a faster pace of gameplay. It's just an association of that stuff with the flexibility of a different genre. I can't really buy getting like a railgun but like a greatbow would be okay (both are high damage but one uses a projectile, and at least to me it would be okay even if the projectile was very fast.), but on the other hand a hunting rifle makes sense to me but not a chaingun (high damage in one shot compared to higher damage over time).

I'm sure the difference in practical terms doesn't "mean" anything, but it feels different you know? I don't really know of any dungeon crawlers with automatic ranged weapons, usually they're either projectiles or semi-automatic.

Not sure if that makes any sense but that's how I see it. 

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CoSeph1 year ago (1 edit)

I thought I was pretty generous with medkits, but actually no-one has commented on them yet. I wonder if people maybe haven't noticed them or maybe they're too hard to see? I definitely plan to add some sort of glow/highlight to them when I develop this further.

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