ARES - Automated Relay System

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ARES Community Devlog

ARES - Automated Relay System community

Report - Bugs and Gameplay Improvements Sticky

A topic by ChXris created Jan 28, 2024 Views: 210 Replies: 8

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ChXrisDeveloper328 days ago(+1)

Hello there!

If you're reading this, you are amazing, and quite handsome. I know this, because you played (or are intending to play) this little indie game prototype called ARES.

Made for the Pirate Software game jam in the span of two weeks, it required quite a bit of trimming down in order to meet the deadline. Many features I had envisioned (and thought of during development) had to be postponed.

Well, postponed can mean right away, and here I am. I'm currently working on ARES 2.0, with all the features originally envisioned and more. And since I'm just one gamer goblin scrambling pieces of code together, I ask for your help. Yes, you.

I just learned about the community thingy here in Itch.io, so I image it'd be more appropriate for this purpose.

So, what would really help ARES' development?

Leave in this post any of the following:

- Any bug you've encountered or any behavior you're not sure it was intended.

- Any suggestion on what work/ didn't work. Any annoyance you want to curse me for, or any great convenience you want to curse me for and ensure I don't remove it.

- Grammar Misteaks, or ortogiraffical errors. I'm not a native English speaker, so while I may catch some Mrs. Pellings, it's very likely there are some strange sentences in there that sound off.

- What would you like to see? What would you like for me to avoid? What? Huh?

- How was your day?

I'm always checking out for replies, so don't be a stranger and let me know what's on your mind.

Take care!

pstock324 days ago

I was playing on the itch.io page and received an Out of Memory error which required me to reload the page and lose all my progress. Not sure if there is a memory leak somewhere in the game or a compatibility issue with itch.io or what, but just wanted to leave a comment about it nonetheless.

I went back and got one of the endings (I assume there’s two) and had no bugs this time. Overall great game! I enjoyed the story. Might go back and try to get the other ending.

ChXrisDeveloper324 days ago (1 edit) (+1)

That's odd. I'll run a test to check if there's a memory leak somewhere, thanks for the heads up!

That's great that you got to the ending! Thanks for playing and taking the time to report the issue!

Nolly_nd324 days ago

There is one little typo (or at least "it seems" to be one) regarding one name. I dont think it is necessary to progress but seeing how some names are used on the locator tool, it may bring some confusion (unless this name simply doesn't appear on the locator database at any time).

ChXrisDeveloper324 days ago(+1)

Haha, yes! The Hepner/Hepburn thing was a silly mistake, character was added way too late in development. It doesn't appear in the locator database, though, so thankfully it doesn't influence gameplay, but it's still noticeable as the game makes a point to take notice of names, so, definitely is in the priority list.

I'll make sure to correct those instances you mentioned. I'm really surprised you took time to post screenshots! You're great, this is very helpful!

HumanBean25322 days ago (1 edit)

Hey, I really enjoyed this game. Played to ending 1/2 on html (chrome). The theme was interesting and it's nice when a game's UI is in-universe and works well. I played it almost right when it released (just happened to see it) so I don't remember everything exactly though. There were some bugs. The first bug I encountered was when you pick up a call (I think in the battery hold) and get a creepy sort of response. The game engine showed an error as the text came up and I had to restart. I think it mentioned that something (off the top of my head it was something like "badneighbor.png"(?)) couldn't be loaded. It worked as intended the second time through without any issues.

After reaching the first ending, I went back to the part where you control the drone (sentinel) and direct it walking around the ship. I assumed that the difference between the two endings is whether or not you choose to force the shutdown of the drone (not sure if this is actually what it is). In terms of gameplay the whole sentinel section was confusing to me, it took a bit of randomness to figure out what I was supposed to do. Anyway, when I was attempting to reach the other ending by playing that part all the way through, I ran into the known bug that occurs there. Certain combinations of "take snapshot" / "warning message" were able to leave the snapshot on the screen while the game thinks you're in the part where you're directing the sentinel around, leading to a soft lock. It happened to me and I stopped playing then.

I also noticed some clunkiness with the controls of the game in the terminal (normal gameplay). I know the game is meant to be played with mouse, but using the escape key worked in some situations, but did not work in others. If I play this again I'll comment on this more accurately.

In terms of the story I don't remember it perfectly, but the ending that I got felt very strange (in a good way, I thought it was interesting). This made me want to play the other ending because it felt like I was missing some very important context / information.

I might play this again to see the other ending, so maybe I'll leave a reply with more details.

Edit: I played from a save and got the "bad ending" thanks to the helpful info in the game description. Is that ending 2/2 or is there anything else? Anyway as I've sort of mentioned, I enjoyed the semi-"free roam" aspect of this game, but occasionally it can feel like you don't know what you're supposed to be doing (or why you're doing it).

ChXrisDeveloper322 days ago (2 edits)

Big thanks for the detailed review! I'll address everything you mentioned:

I believe it's the friendlyneighbour.png you're referring, yes, I caught just before submitting it for the game jam, haven't seen the error pop again, hopefully it's fixed.

The whole sentinel section is a bit vague, I agree completely. It's a common feedback I've seen, so it's definitely one of the priorities. I added to the main page some tips for it as a lifeline while I wait for the jam to be over to update the game. The "take snapshot" bug I believe it's contained to the low decks and it has been identified and corrected for next release. Sorry for the inconvenience!

As for the ESC key, I think the engine takes it in the same value as Right Click for cancel. I didn't want to completely kill keyboard support as I do intend to add a sort of 'hotkey' support, like computers of old, so it's likely some keys have functionality here and there that's not reported on screen as a leftover.

The Bad Ending does not count towards the endings (so, technically, there's three), it's essentially a game over screen. If you managed to visit the low deck, you're already on path for ending two, you just got to listen to the audiologs when you get back to your main interface. It isn't vey intuitive, as it's the only part where audiologs are a thing, definitely another priority to fix.

I did wanted the player to feel less constrained on what they could do to push for a more 'explorative' pattern, but given the limited playtesting cycle I had, it was bound to have a lot of hiccups. This last week has been very productive to reshape my approach and I'm confident I can fix the "what do I do" moments now that I've been able to see more people interact with it!

Again, huge thanks for taking the time to comment, and I'm very glad you enjoyed it in spite of its shortcomings! Hopefully you come back for ending two, as it kinda explain what's going on haha. Though some sound effects got lost in the upload, so prepare for some definitely intended silent parts.

Rayo75309 days ago

Found a small typo among the other ones already mentioned. Other than that, the game was SOLID. I go into more detail in my review but... wow, congratulations on making something like this. I'll be looking forward to the next version to see how the plot thickens!

ChXrisDeveloper309 days ago(+1)

Nice catch! I didn't notice that one.

And also, the green "glitchy" lines are not supposed to remain on the screen, haha. Another bug to the list!