itch.io

Glad I could help 😁

Hey, nice and polished experience. I think you laid a great foundation to build upon now. Here are some notes I collected during my playtest.

Playtest feedback:

• I’d recommend opening up the level a bit. Currently, it feels very funneled and there was not much decision-making happening in terms of where to go, what to explore, etc. For example, when the player is supposed to get the bomb, maybe you can create two separate paths - one will lead to the bomb and the other path will lead to a key to the ‘reactor’ room. That way, the player can choose what to explore first.
• The highlight of the level for me was when the ground breaks beneath the player towards the end. That part played with my expectations nicely and it made the escape even more exciting.
• Spice up the level with some environmental puzzles or obstacles. You already have a carrying functionality implemented, so I’d suggest creating some simple puzzles using that mechanic to make the gameplay more interesting and varied.
• Maybe add some visual or UI cue to when the player plants the bomb that they should escape now. During my first playthrough, I planted it and then I just stood there for 3-5 seconds not knowing if it’s successfully planted or not. It’s a small thing, but it can help raise the stakes if you add something like: ‘The bomb will explode in 1 minute and 20 seconds.’

Hey, great job! Definitely one of the best submission in the game jam. The demo conveys your concept really well and kudos on implementing a gameplay loop that feels complete. Here are some points I gathered during my playthrough.

Playtest feedback:

• REALLY like the different kinds of enemies. They are terrifying and make the gameplay interesting by requiring me to change my playstyle. Nice implementation of orthogonal design.
• If you have the knowledge and time, I would recommend making the enemies spawn somewhat randomly throughout the level. Currently, you funnel the player in certain directions and paths, which can make the playthrough feel repetitive when you get caught and have to retry.
• Doors that require keys should only tell the player which key is needed and the kyes themselves should have a description about where you can use them; otherwise, I don’t think you need to tell them where the keys are since the level is small enough that you can trust the players they will find them on their own.
• The kyes don’t need the UI icon on top of them as it breaks the immersion a bit, in my opinion. I think the key asset stands out well enough for players to notice it.
• Have you considered disabling jump? I think it would make the horror experience more grounded (no pun intended) and also create a proper challenge. I was able to avoid most of the enemies by jumping on objects and that made them feel a bit less terrifying.

Yeah, I'm not that experienced with Quake or Doom. Although, I have played the new Doom games and it's true that even in those modern iterations backtracking happens quite often and they do not add anything to the rooms when you backtrack. It is very subjective, so definitely go with what feels the best for you.

Hey, overall, I enjoyed playing through your level. It is very simple currently and there are certain aspects that hindered my experience. I would recommend focusing on what you currently have right now and polish the hell out of it. Here are some feedback points that can hopefully help you with that.

Playtest feedback:

• Add sprint to the game.
  
• Remove the Naughty Dog yellow; you’ve setup the level well enough that it’s not needed and it can break immersion.
• The crawling enemies are really hard to hit currently.
• Make the basic zombies slower and their detection range smaller; I would recommend taking inspiration from Dying Light. Then, you can add more of them in the level.
• What am I looting in the game? That should be conveyed to the player as soon, as they pick up the first crate.
• I really like the planks on the floor that lead you visually into the side room; it unconsciously guided me into the room. Also, the cable leading into the warden office. Definitely stick to these kind of environmental guides rather than UI prompts or the Naughty Dog yellow, for example.
• My main feedback point = polish the combat; it is currently quite annoying and players will not feel motivated to explore the level in my opinion, even during playtesting.

Hey, I enjoyed my time with your game. I think you've laid a great foundation that can be expanded upon. Here are some notes I gathered during my playthrough.

Playtest feedback:

• Spawn the player already with the first weapon selected.
• Doors should have a larger hitbox; right now, I have to get really close to them to open them.
• Make the doors more visually distinctive to separate them better from rest of the assets; they are the main short-term goals that the player is pursuing in each room, therefore, they should be easy to distinguish.
• Add ammo refill to at least some amount, so the player never runs out of ammo (e.g., up to 50, the ammo will slowly refill if you will not shoot).
• I did not notice that I received the laser weapon, so I did not even use it during my first playthrough; in general, receiving pick-ups should be more visible and/or audible.
• The boss at the end could use a better arena; maybe make it a bit bigger, add some obstacles to hide behind, etc.; just anything to make the boss fight a highlight of the level and not ‘just another fight’.
• I would recommend tweaking the enemy movement as they are currently fidgeting around maybe a little too much, but that might be just my experience; definitely playtest more and find the right balance of fun and challenge during combat.

Hey, nice work! I unfortunately have no way of playing the level, but I gathered some points from your playthrough:

• The individual parts of the level are nicely varied; each room felt fresh and interesting.
• The room with enemies on top of the blocks (1:30 in the video) stood out to me the most, as it requires the player to change up their pace and playstyle a bit; I would recommend you to focus on 'twists' like these which will make the play experience more varied.
• Lastly, the only criticism I have is in connection to backtracking. Since you require the player to backtrack, I would recommend adding something new on the way back (e.g., new traps, new enemies, slight changes to the rooms); a simpler solution would be to just allow them to teleport back to the main crossroad room, but changing up the rooms at least a bit would definitely be more interesting.

Hope this helps and feel free to reach out if you want me to elaborate on anything!

Thanks for the comment! Yes, the size of the player game object changes based on if they die (they get bigger) or if they shoot their companion robot (they get smaller).

We aim to create some simple puzzles around that mechanic, but our main aim was to create a satire out of the absurdity that the little robot is helping you escape and you have to destroy him over and over again to get through the game. Getting bigger on death was just an extra idea to counteract getting smaller.

All of this will hopefully make more sense, once we will implement narration from the robot.

Really nice game! I love the indirect storytelling and simple gameplay, although it can get frustrating at times.

I would definitely recommend taking down the audio of the last "fish" (avoiding spoilers :D) you catch. I'm using headphones and it got REALLY LOUD.

But overall great job guys!

Hey, really nice concept and atmosphere. However, I got stuck at the part where you're supposed to start guiding Ashley. This is the screen I see and I cannot do anything (I remember the tutorial saying that I'm supposed to press F at one of the screens, but nothing works).

I would recommend adding a timer to the tutorial texts, so if players miss them or simply forget them, the text will reappear. Or maybe a help button to show them.

Looking forward to playing it further!