Just released the first alpha of my multiplayer map based on Chaves (El Chavo Del Ocho), a TV Show I love, for Grand Theft Auto 2, a game I really like. It is available here.
And I released all its custom textures and Krita project files that I made so far for it too, available here.
Map and its script are licensed MPL 2.0.
Textures are licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
>Sorry, I don't really understand what you mean.
This is the UI element I mean:
>The initial battles have to be easy to allow beginners to learn how to play the game.
That's fair enough, but I don't think it's necessary for them to be 1vs1 to be easy, and with 1vs1 there's still the problem that mistakes are much more unforgiving, and if you get your one unit stun locked there's nothing else you can do but just wait for him to die.>I'm not sure if ammo adds anything tactically interesting to the game. All it means is that the player to do extra work (clicking a reload button every few shots). However, I will consider adding it as a feature, but other features have higher priority.
I think you're selling such a feature short, I believe having to reload and limited ammo gives more depth to weapons, having to make sure you'll have enough ammo for a battle, making you consider if you will be able to reload when you need to without risking yourself too much, being able take advantage of the enemies having to reload in certain situations, allowing more differentiation between weapons with different mag capacities and reload AP costs, maybe even having to swap to a secondary if reloading is gonna be too costly and you need to shoot now, different ammo types giving you more reason to use different weapons depending on availability of ammo and whether it's worth using a harder to come by ammo instead of a more common one, rather than just obsoleting a weapon instantly cause you got one with better stats, maybe you will have to pick up some ammo off the ground if you run low, etc.
>I don't think that feature would make the game more interesting to play, just more complicated. Just because other games do it, does not mean it's good.
Well, I don't mean to say you should do it just because other games do, but rather show an example of a fairly simple and common solution to this problem, since diagonals give considerably more distance and therefore give more value to moving in a diagonal if the cost is the same, +50% AP cost is easy to keep track of and good enough approximation to the real difference. Without accounting for the difference moving in a diagonal feels like a constant exploit IMO. Makes me think of those glitches in some old games that allow you to move faster in a diagonal.
>the sound is heard from the perspective of the currently selected merc, so his own footsteps will sound loud. I don't know what you mean by "weird"
Well, they sound kinda muffled and low quality.
>the roof disappears if your soldier gets close to the building, or if he spots an enemy inside the building. Maybe that's what happened.
That's probably what happened the second time I had it happen then, but the first time I had barely gotten into the map and didn't even have visual range into the building that was revealed.Yea, but it feels like it makes the first interrupt level disproportionally worse compared to later ones, example:
As far as I've observed, enemies can diagonally move through the marked red lines without triggering an interrupt, and these are inconsistent since you don't have any dead zones if you aim straight north, south, east or west. The other levels don't have these dead zones (aside from having your field of view limited by cover). I'm not sure how you could solve this though, other than having interrupt be able to trigger "in-between" tiles.
>You mean it targeted a different soldier than the one that moved? Yes, the code is set to do that, but maybe I should change that.
I see, that wasn't very clear to me since AFAIK the player units can't do that.>I don't know what you mean by that.
I'm talking about how you can also automatically increase a skill by using it enough, which for me happened when one unit increased his auto skill after a battle, I had previously thought you had to always manually spend skill points. I think it's cool.
>Yep, they can do that. I might add a feature, so they move out of your way if they are blocking a doorway.
That would be good too, but my main issue with that case was with how my grenade was stolen, perhaps you could make it so they won't try to take items dropped by player units for one turn.
>They do look for cover. The AI moves in range to the best target, fires and then takes cover, if there is any about. Obviously, it can't take cover if there is no cover about. They may do nothing if they don't have enough APs to do anything. Remember, if they have been hit many times they can lose a lot of APs.
I don't mean to say they always do exactly what I had said, but I find they do it way too often. In the screenshot example only a few of them got shot, and there was cover they could've used around them, a few did take cover eventually, but most of the time they barely moved while taking shots, and sat around around each other in the open, with the occasional lone unit rush, until they decided to retreat.
>Eventually, the "overworld" will be changed completely, (see this post: https://itch.io/t/1355801/new-strategic-design), so not really worth the bother.
Nice, that does look like a big improvement.
Also, I sent you an e-mail.
Thanks for making a Linux version of the game, I played through all that is available in demo, here are my thoughts.
The black text on dark background in the merc control UI buttons lacks constrast, the transparent backgrounds can cause readability problems too depending on what's behind them. "Range" text can sometimes blend in with the background, an outline would help. The tutorial speech bubbles that point to in-world element stay fixed and move with the camera. I would like to be able to see the AP number on tiles from behind walls, so I don't have to turn the camera just to see that. On that note, I think it'd be better if instead the remaining APs were shown on the tile instead of AP cost, so some of the math is already done (Xenonauts is a game that does it this way). A cover indicator, using a similar system to the UI element that shows much of a target is visible would help to remove some ambiguity from some cover elements.
It's cool how the hearing gets reduced when you take a shot.
The beginning 1v1s were not very interesting at all, there's not many tactical options available then, and it puts too much importance on an individual unit, allowing cases with no recourse such as what happened to me where I got hit by a grenade, lost all APs, then got stun locked by pistol shots for the next 5 turns before dying. In fact I think the number of units you can have in this game is very low, having just 2 is fine for the very first tutorial battle, but by the end I only had 3 units, I believe 4 should be the minimum, with the possibility to get more.
It feels very strange to never need to reload nor have to worry about spare ammo in this kind of game, resource management is usually a key element to this style of game.
The AI can make some questionable grenade throws, had a case where it tried to throw a nade at one of my units, but it bounced off a nearby wall and killed another enemy instead.
I hate having to drag from a merc to a tile to move, you should just be able to select a merc and then click a tile. I wish I could control the camera with WASD, changeable keybinds in general is always good to have too. I noticed right click also does nothing currently, maybe make that turn the merc instead by default, or make it change fire mode. I don't see why there needs to separate keys and UI buttons for standing and crouching, just make it a toggle.
Diagonal movement costs the same, that's ~41% more distance covered per tile for no extra AP cost, other tactical turn based games often make it cost 50% more AP, which is a close enough adjustment.
Footsteps sound quite loud and weird.
The different death animations are quite good, I liked how specific they get, like with the one where they hit their back against a wall and then fall over.
It's kinda weird how when the roof disappears from a building when you get close the lighting acts like it's physically gone, only casting shadows from the walls, perhaps keep the roof shadows but add some interior lights.
It's also weird how it seems you don't need visibility of windows and such to get roofs to disappear.
I had a case where a building way across the map had its roof removed.
And another where I got close to one building and it also removed the roof of one that was farther away.
I like how there's many factions that are not friendly with each other, and how you can take advantage of that while they're distracted with each other in some big fights.
I noticed there's a lack of usable doors.
I had weapons sometimes increase accuracy after taking a shot, I find that strange.
There really should be vaulting through windows, and similar low objects.
It's sometimes difficult to tell what is visible to a merc and what isn't, maybe have the tiles that aren't visible be darkened, the game already has some visibility UI element with the interrupts.
I feel this game could benefit from a suppression mechanic, for more tactical options with burst and auto fire. This could give a reason to have a free aim option too, perhaps that's another thing right click could be set to do.
I noticed attacks don't trigger interrupts, but maybe they should. I also had an enemy walk diagonally in between two of the interrupt trigger tiles, which means there's basically dead zones when you're watching an area at an angle with only the first level of interrupt skill. There was one case where I moved one unit northeast, and it triggered an interrupt, but the enemy targeted an unit further south I had already moved previously instead.
It's interesting how there's both a purchase system and a "learn as you do" system for gaining skill points.
Consider making it so you can safely shoot over your own units if they're adjacent and crouched, feels a bit jank to have to move around them in those situations (that's another thing Xenonauts does), maybe you could make so if you shoot over an unit this way they also have their hearing reduced as if they've taken a shot.
The "close to wall" animation seems to override the "in interrupt mode" animation.
I noticed there's different "classes", like "scout" and "rifleman", what's the difference? I don't think the game explained it.
I had one case where I dropped a nade so another one of my units could pick it up the next turn, but then a Ben Dabi unit that was previously idling in a corner with little HP, walked up to it, stole it, and proceed to idle in the middle of a doorway blocking my path as well for the next couple turns, it decided to move and do some shooting after.
I'm a fan of shotguns but this game has none, hope some will be added in the future.
The enemy AI is... Not very good, even on very hard, they have a tendency to bunch up in the middle of roads and shoot without seeking cover, rush where I have units waiting for them, sometimes walk back and forth and do nothing else as if they're indecisive, or, when retreating, all run simultaneously to the same wall in the map, and line up side by side in an easily flankable position.
Sometimes some weird shadows appear on the top left of the screen depending on the camera position.
There should be a way to plot a path through the overworld.
I'm not sure what exactly you've tried before but for what it's worth, the standard camera panning 2D shooters usually have always felt fine to me, for this game you could make it so the suit light enables a small amount of panning, and aiming down sights toggles a more sensitive panning rate with higher max distance for the camera, perhaps gradually transitioning, perhaps with transition tied to the time it takes to gain full accuracy? Or even make panning amount manual with the scroll wheel or smth, might be overcomplicating it though. If nothing else, personally I think the minimum that should be done is, reduce the speed at which camera side switching occurs with the suit light on, reduce camera transition speed when aiming (to hopefully help with the fact there's always some change to your crosshair position relative to world when you start aiming) and simply don't allow side switching at all when aiming.
And speaking of visible OoB areas, I actually found one while playing around with the latest version, just move either to the very left or the right of the ending elevator and aim in that same direction, you'll be able to see the grey void.
Fair enough on the stair air time, at least it's unlikely to affect gameplay much, with the coyote time still allowing for jumping and the high amount of air control allowing for a quick 180.
About the jump, I worded myself badly before, it's not so much that I feel it should be higher, I think it's mostly fine, and really it could still happen with higher jump heights, it's more of a potential level design issue that's likely to be in any game with jumping, any jumps you cannot make should just clearly look like so to the player. But one thing I feel could be done more generally is having a decent step up height, so you don't miss jumps by just barely stubbing your toe on the edge, I will also restate I believe this is necessary when simply walking on the ground to not get caught on tiny protrusions. It feels like the game kinda already has something like this, just very very small, as there's that area with short gaps you can run across without jumping but fall through if stopping on a gap, and how you hop up a little when stepping on the lift, as well as the stuck spots I reported before seem to be related.
Some more things from what I played of the latest version:
The console doesn't appear for me, I tried all keys it could possibly be, playing on the Linux version btw.
It turns out restarting from the end actually has all the doors already unlocked or open, except for the one that is also activated with those extendable platforms, unless your first playthrough after launching the game started from an alternate spawn after any lever activated doors.
Discarded mags of previous playthroughs will appear on a game restarted from the end.
If you beat the game, then restart and select an alternate spawn, they get screwed up, except for "quick start". "Warehouse" places you right behind the door that gets unlocked by the lever in that level, "theater" places you permanently falling through absolute blackness, and "mall" places you in front of a door in a secret room behind the mall's first set of stairs, entering the door places you in front of it again, there's no way out of this room I could find.
Shooting the flickering light while it's on will cause that plant to stay triggered forever, until you shine your flashlight on it which will fix its behavior.
Btw it'd be cool to see shootable lights used as a mechanic in new levels.
I don't think I ever noticed this suit here before, it kinda blends in with those seats.
I found out you can do this, lo.
Anyway, I'm glad to help.
Didn't really expect I'd end up playing this when my friend linked me it, but between the sound design in the gameplay vid, the free software engine Godot, Linux support, the responses to feedback, and other details I learned, I felt I had to give it a try. Seemingly this game just has the mystical ability to catch the interest of people who are Not A Furry©™. Anyway, here's my feedback.
First impressions, found the camera side switching with the flashlight on kinda jarring, and it was very jarring when aiming as it was both more extreme and threw the crosshair forward. Later, this also made aiming down finicky when exploiting the enemies' AI on stairs, I also noticed then their hitbox is quite thin compared to their visuals. I really wish the camera would follow the crosshair up and down when aiming as well.
The two separate flashlights are cool, and the fact you can lose one of them.
Moxie's idle pose looks a bit weird, she looks like she's trying not to piss herself, which might be accurate considering the situation. How she closes one eye when aiming, while not proper, fits since she doesn't give the vibe of someone trained with firearms, despite that I still appreciate the muzzle discipline in the run anim. I also noticed the detail where she looks way more displeased about reloading without clothes.
Being able to see Moxie's breath is a nice detail, but because of that if there's ever to be any idle anims then she should totally shiver when missing any piece of clothing.
Atmosphere is quite intense, I still got startled by that grate despite kinda knowing it was coming, and I jumped a few more times through out, but tbh it's easy to spook me. There were some tense moments where I had to juke enemies out while panicking because of being unable to reload on the move. Although it is fairly easy to jump past enemies in general.
It's weird how you fly off the top of stairs when going up or down them, kinda reminded me of how Half-Life 1 handles slopes (not quite like this but close enough).
The magazine inventory keeping separate non-full mags reminded me of SWAT 4, very good. Being able to pick up a discarded mag is also cool.
The "grapple" minigame was trivial, didn't lose a single piece of clothing in my whole first playthrough, and I didn't even know you could slap the "limbs" away then. I also found it uninteresting concept-wise. I did notice later on while messing around that it becomes way harder with no clothing though.
Having your movement halted by little sticky-out bits that look like you should be able to easily step over was kinda annoying (this also prompted me and my friend to joke about a tripping mechanic). On that note it was also bit annoying to just barely not have enough height for certain jumps.
The interaction between enemies and the flashlight is very cool, but I wanted to be able to shoot that flickering light over that light-triggered enemy. I also only learned the connection between those and those slow armored enemies after I had already beat the game and my friend told me about it, I triggered that once near the end but didn't notice that I did. I also thought the armored enemies would only block shots, never did try to shoot them in their armored state, and just slowly kited them around.
The level design is p. corridor-y overall, not a whole lot of intricacies in the layout.
The mall signs were amusing.
The debug room becomes a clusterfuck of triggered enemies p. quickly in my experience. Also when I first saw that "Koubold" I thought he'd be friendly at first, being a similar creature to Moxie, compared to the so far homogeneous enemies, so it was a bit of a surprise when he teleported behind me all "nothing personnel"-like by spawning a vent from thin air. Whatever the plan is for his proper introduction in the game it should showcase clearly he's hostile, specially since he's also p. OP.
Some visual things:
Moxie's head should track her arms when aiming.
Reloading should have some animation besides the one pose.
Killed enemies should leave corpses behind.
I feel like the suit flashlight should be visible on the suit somewhere.
The railings on stairs are way too short, only going up to Moxie's knees.
Looking at the patreon ad image I for some reason expected the main menu to look something like that, it'd be cool if it did.
Some glitches, weirdness and screenshot spam:
Spamming jump while in the green goo will speed you up some, if you jump into it from normal ground and keep spamming jump as you go forward you will keep jumping full height and won't be slowed.
If you go back through the first usable door after the grate you will fall from the grate again.
Restarting from the end makes the first lever activated big door be already open.
If you constantly go down and to the left in the Koubold's minigame you'll end up in a tiny spot where you can just idle until the stamina depletes, that was also when I found out I could click to attack in that minigame as I just started trying random stuff then.
In my first playthrough I got stuck for a bit in between where these metal plates(?) and the ground connect, constantly hopping up and down. It took some effort to replicate it though, required a precise jump.
I then later found another spot like that further on, after the pile of ammo, just go forward without jumping and you can get stuck (it's inconsistent though).
Moxie rendering against the map is kinda inconsistent, when moving against some walls she renders over and others half of her gets occluded (which both look weird), perhaps her collision should be wider. You can also shove your gun through at least this wall.
And you can also shoot through the bottom of that wall while away from it at certain positions on the stairs (and idk what happened to her arms in this screenshot lo).
This one railing has collision that others of the same type don't.
Those crawling enemies can attack from under the floor if you go right next to a wall, as I found out while being suspicious about this broom (it immediately made me think of mimics from Prey(2017), which, I feel would be a fitting enemy type for this game), it crawled the wall underneath, escaping the grapple places it in the floor below.
The bloom effect in darker areas can make some weird glowy outlines appear on Moxie.
All in all, was a surprisingly enjoyable experience, and has potential.
Grapple hook attachment point always looks off.