I’ve messed around with the brightness settings on my monitor and I think I have a much better idea of what people are complaining about now. But all the same I will still add a gamma slider and a flashlight. Later on some sort of NVGs or something too.
enjoyed playing. movement is smooth and gunplay feels good.
if headshots are implemented, they need to feel a lot stronger to distinguish them from body shots.
encounter design is excellent, a strong point of this game.
several areas were way too dark - under the underpass for example. i understand using darkness as a level design feature, but this just seemed poorly/incorrectly lit.
no mag drop/replace animation? no flashlight?
the edge of the map when underwater ends abruptly.
i could definitely use more visual detail and interactivity in general, like destructible environment props, consoles, etc. anything to build out the world a little more and make it feel a little more immersive.
this enemy died weirdly.
melee weapon is super strong and fun to use for stealth-kills.
speaking as someone whose game uses unpronounceable names as a feature, i think you might consider changing the title... i know the historical city it refers to, but i'm not sure how that relates to the story, and it's quite difficult to pronounce.
if headshots are implemented, they need to feel a lot stronger to distinguish them from body shots.
They’re going to be a unique feature of the railgun
no mag drop/replace animation? no flashlight?
Flashlight is coming, but likely not reload animations. The current system is fine for now, I’ll put a note at the bottom of the to-do list to try and see how fast I can make them.
i could definitely use more visual detail and interactivity in general
Same as above, I’d like to put more of this in but it is a very low priority.
speaking as someone whose game uses unpronounceable names as a feature, i think you might consider changing the title… i know the historical city it refers to, but i’m not sure how that relates to the story, and it’s quite difficult to pronounce.
Seeing people struggle to pronounce it won’t convince me to change it, but you do have a point that it doesn’t make much sense. It’s supposed to be the name of the city where the game takes place, which was originally going to be gathering dust in the desert. Now it’s a resort city in a tropical paradise. I’m open to renaming it for that reason but I have no idea what I’d change it to.
Besides, it didn’t seem to be a problem for Brigand: Oaxaca, and it certainly is unique.
Still very good. While the new level is more linear than the other two, it has a decent pace. I feel like the particles form the mech's plasma could disappear a bit faster, their shots become a blurry mess of blue, especially in the city levels. I also had an issue where a mech shot inside one of the buildings, with the projectile hitting the inside of the wall/collision box that was next to me and got hit by the splash damage.
This was bothering me too, I want to be able to see them so they can be dodged. I’ve also slowed them down further. With the idea being to speed them back up on Hard difficulty.
mech shot inside one of the buildings
This is a tricky one to avoid unfortunately because it’s caused by the width of the mech’s collider radius being too small, allowing the muzzle to clip through. If I make it too big though it will be easier to hit and will get stuck on more terrain.
I thought this was written in java. Is it in c/c++ then? Kind of impressive how small the files are for the game. the performance is flawless, truly this is one of the few DD56 games that runs very well on my system, congrats on that.
good idea to put keybinds in the pause screen
itd be good if enemies seeing you could be blocked by level terrain and they think you are where they last saw you before being blocked. that way you could double around behind them and see their backs and that'd be nice.
a gamma/brightness slider for the graphics would be nice.
its nice that the guys "pick an angle" and fire on it even after you move, helps make the spike be very useful
I thought this was written in java. Is it in c/c++ then?
During agdg’s deep antiquity (DD7-10) it was written in Java. Now it’s just barely C++ because of Bullet 3D (which fucking sucks, don’t use it if you want reliable stair-stepping) and when/if I rip it out, it will be trivial to recompile it as plain C.
itd be good if enemies seeing you could be blocked by level terrain and they think you are where they last saw you before being blocked. that way you could double around behind them and see their backs and that’d be nice.
A big AI rework is the goal for DD57. I’ll be redoing their behavioral system. Only thing I’m skipping for now is pathfinding as I want them to act reasonably even without any navigation like the enemies in Doom and Quake.
a gamma/brightness slider for the graphics would be nice.
This has proven way more important than I ever imagined
It assuages my engine-dev heart that somebody appreciates the performance (because I haven’t profiled in years at this point). More to come in DD57!
The best FPS on Dreamcast, it just looks like it could be played on that console, and I heard DC look is gonna be a new fad! I like that you can sneak up on your enemies, but they're pretty dumb - they can shoot their comrades in the back while aiming at you, one decided to run towards me and fell into the water. They sure pack a punch though. I have a feeling our protagonist's health is somewhere at half of a common enemy. My health could drop from 100 to 66 with two shots. First mech battle was even worse, sometimes it would take out 6 hit points, other time two hits sent me straight to the level restart screen. First level is rough, a linear passage with enemies jumping at you here and there and with mech at the end I died 3 times. Maybe there's a secret I missed with a rocket launcher? Bottom line, enemies should die 1-2 bullets faster and I think there should be a rocket launcher next to two jeeps and a mech, so it's possible to sneak past a mech, grab it and unload initial salve. Shooting down a mech with just a starting weapon is kinda lame.
I didn't have problems with 2nd and 3rd level, these are much more interesting. I especially liked the lowering bridge at the end of level 3. The housing flats in level 2 aren't that good. There should be more rooms, or at least barricaded doors, right now it looks like a corridor that leads to one room. Still I liked open-ended of the levels, even though there is a default way to progress it's nice that you have to look around and visit different places first. Port town leads you naturally through a level and waterways make great natural obstacles that don't feel forced.
Now is it only me or the game is very dark? Again first and also parts of a second level, were so dark I couldn't find my way. I played in the dark and even with increased contrast it was very hard to see at times.
Anyway, the game has a nice feeling to it. Can't wait for more!
I do hope so, I’m all-in on aping that era with my art, lol
I like that you can sneak up on your enemies, but they’re pretty dumb
AI rework is the big goal for next DD, everything you’ve mentioned are things that have bothered me for a good while now.
I have a feeling our protagonist’s health is somewhere at half of a common enemy.
Close, the regular enemy goons have 100 health and 50 armor, and their weapons currently do the same damage as your MG. One pickup that’s really missing right now is regular armor, I only have the little collectible shards/pads.
First mech battle was even worse, sometimes it would take out 6 hit points, other time two hits sent me straight to the level restart screen.
This one does half the usual damage your own Plasmagun, but it is dealt as splash damage so glancing hits will do less.
First level is rough, a linear passage with enemies jumping at you here and there
It was rushed to get a new level for DD56, but it is also meant to be more linear for being near the start of the game. That said, I do intend to widen out the actual encounters so it isn’t such an obvious corridor like it is now.
Now is it only me or the game is very dark? Again first and also parts of a second level, were so dark I couldn’t find my way. I played in the dark and even with increased contrast it was very hard to see at times.
Virtually everyone mentions this, it has to be a monitor thing because even when streamers complain about it being dark it will look fine on my screen. I’m going to add a flashlight and a gamma slider to make up for it.
I love everything about your art, texture work is impeccable.
Aw gee thanks! I’m focusing a lot more on art for this past year because I’m more of a programmer. I’m pretty happy with how I’ve progressed so now I just need to get faster at cranking it out.
I too would also like knife to insta backstab or be useable with a gun equipped.
I’m pretty happy with how it works right now so I’m not going to change it, though I will likely explain how it interacts with velocity when I make the tutorial level.
Mouselook did not. Is there acceleration or something?
It takes whatever the OS reports as cursor movement. I’ll be switching to GLFW at some point instead of doing this manually, which will have an option for hardware mouse. In the meantime, any acceleration curve applied by the OS will be reflected in-game. It may also help to ensure VSync is off as I believe I have it turned on by default.
I’m a dumbass, I missed the yellow keycard, DNF. But I likely will go back to it, since I had a lot of fun!
Ain’t no objective markers here now or in the future, you’ve got to be aware of your surroundings! All good, I’m thrilled to hear that, thanks for playing
Well, its playing fine the game but something I don't like is that headshot don't do a critical hit. The enemy's AI need more work, all enemies are very dumb specially in how they react to the player, for example when I fight the mecha I just run around it while I was punched it to death.
Speaking of melee combat, I feel the damage inconsistent, sometimes I one hit a soldier an other time he need 3 hits to die. I think the speed of the character is affecting the damage, most of the time when I run and punch a soldier, he dies from one hit, I'm no sure if this is intended. Also, I don't think there's need for melees combat be separate from weapons, it should have it's own button, for example, in a WASD setup it can be the F.
The graphics are fine because it have a retro fell of a 2000 game, that say the rock part in the first level feel too dark for me, maybe lighten it up a little bit.
The game have potential but need more polish, maybe check out Far Cry Blood Dragon, I think it can give you a nice inspiration if still hasn't played yet.
I also liked the MC, so I made a little drawing of her. Looking forward to see your progress in the future.
something I don’t like is that headshot don’t do a critical hit.
I don’t think there’s need for melees combat be separate from weapons, it should have it’s own button
I’m really aping how the boomer shooters actually played back in the day, especially Quake 3 and UT2004 so headshots are going to be a unique ability for the railgun, and doing a weapon-switch to perform a melee attack is supposed to be something you have to practice.
when I fight the mecha I just run around it while I was punched it to death.
This is also intentional, I’m taking enemy design straight from Doom (the originals) where the challenge comes from how enemies combine and one-on-one is relatively easy. The levels so far are all in the first half of the game so I’m not concerned about them being too easy while I build up the roster.
I think the speed of the character is affecting the damage
It is, the only way to one-shot a regular merc with the spike is to hit them unaware at a full run. If you even click to late and it connects after you bump into them it won’t work properly. Making this sort of thing too easy I think actually harms replayability as it lowers the skill ceiling.
first level feel too dark for me, maybe lighten it up a little bit.
I know, particularly if you have an OLED monitor or some other fancy type your darks will be much darker than on my own monitor. I’ll be adding a flashlight and a gamma slider for DD57, and a set of NVGs as a powerup in a later DD.
check out Far Cry Blood Dragon
I 100%ed it twice years ago, I refuse to install it again because it needs that stupid Ubisoft client which probably doesn’t even work on Linux anyway. I get my ideas more from Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior Classic, Doom WADs, and Shogo MAD
I also liked the MC, so I made a little drawing of her.
I like the aesthetics and music here. I think that the blade arm should be usable during the holster animation so that you can conserve ammo seeing and pick off low health enemies. Also, moving the mouse up and down in the controls menu stacks a lot of sound effects on top of each other.
I broke the game by switching from fullscreen to window, then resizing it.
That’s a new one. I resize in windowed mode all the time without issues. Did it just crash or something?
I still wish there was a flashlight.
Not just you, I’ll have it for DD57.
Do headshots do more damage?
They do not. They may be pillaging war criminals but they are responsible enough to wear protection. That said, there will be a railgun next DD that has the ability to get headshots.
I feel he made his game unpronounceable on purpose
Not originally, it was just a town I liked in Rome:TW. I have kept it that way on purpose because of how much trouble people have though, lol.
I dunno if you guys can see it but it’s really dark
It’s monitor differences for sure, when looking back at the stream I can see well enough. Though I might be biased from just knowing the layout already. Flashlight is in the works, though it will give away your position! And yes, I definitely need a brightness/gamma setting because this keeps coming up.
The sound is really loud
I haven’t done a pass over the sound effects as a group yet, I’ll have to sit down at some point and just tune all of them at once because the gunshots in particular are really loud. Maybe I’ll just have a separate volume slider for gunshots?
You can just freeze up enemies by shooting them
This is intended, one enemy at a time should be really easy. I intend for ambushes with lots of numbers being the main source of challenge.
Work on the main menu
Yeah it was slapped together way, way back in like- DD5 or something? I kind of had the idea to have a rotating scene, perhaps I’ll have it cycle through models and backgrounds or something.
Would be cool to see who you’re playing as
I do intend to have little comic strips for the loading screens. I have made a model of the MC mostly for that purpose as you won’t really see her in-game.
Title Music is pretty nice, I like the slow start, but the Titlescreen itself is lackluster I think. Could use more Flair, if you're keeping a drawing of the main Character, consider a more interesting Pose then copied from a reference Sheet.
Nice that theres a small and concise changelog at the beginning. Not nice that the Ocean has an invisible Wall, consider having Sharks, Piranhas or whatever eat the Player when swimming too far out, or drown from fatigue or something.
It feels like it'd be great to sneak up on the Guards and backstab them, but apparently they don't die from one stealth hit with the Knife. Sad.
Your Vehicle has no Drivers Door, the same Metal Texture everywhere, including the Wheels, and overall feels very Barebones. Compared to the Tricount on your Hands especially, I think it could use more Detail.
Headshots do a ridiculously small Amount of Damage.
I like that Guards can hit each other, I don't like that they don't react at all to it.
Gut Stuck once when jumping up the Shack without Roof, probably got between the Crate and the Plank or something like that.
When you jump into the top Corner just the right Way you can slow your Fall down immensely, feels like a Bug.
Transition between Beach and Rocky Path is odd. Path also severly lacks in Detail.
The Pillar-Area afterwards is too dark, I couldn't see a lot of the Environment.
Your Enemies feel too tanky, and their AI is very stupid. Often enough they just run into a Wall when you're on the other Side, and start shooting at it, instead of trying to see if they can actually see/hit you. Needs improving.
Mecha at the End is a neat Idea, but needs to be put into Scene more. Also needs better AI, you can just crouch on the other Side of a Truck and shoot its Toe until it dies, since it'll just blast everything into the Truck.
Level 2 Music is really nice, and I like that every Time I try to reach somewhere I think I'm not supposed to go, that I can make it and find some minor Thing, a Medipack, some Armor or Ammo or something. Also the surprises and leading back into itself in general of that Level is nice, but it could use some more Props and a less Square Road Layout I think,
Guard fell into the Water next Level, started to walk across its floor instead of swimming. It's nice that the Machine Gun has Zoom, and that due to the Enemies often being decently far away makes me actually use it while avoiding Bullets, instead of just sniping while unseen, or being too close/hectic to ever have a Reason to use it.
Music isn't as nice as Level 2.
Still very dark Shadows, a Flashlight, or lighter Shadows would be nice.
The Channel(?) is bad, put something under the Water. Also it has an invisible End when going out to the Ocean aswell.
City Level is too big. Not in a Time it takes to beat Sense, but just the Amount of walking and back and forth without anything going on, across empty incredibly wide Streets.
I’m not sure when I’ll get to this but it really has lagged behind the rest of the game. I have a few ideas but they may have to wait until DD58.
Nice that theres a small and concise changelog at the beginning.
All for demo day <3
Not nice that the Ocean has an invisible Wall, consider having Sharks
I do actually plan on having sharks at some point. There has to be an invisible wall eventually though, more surface area needs more lightmap data and the map compiler has a hard cap on the map dimensions (admittedly much further than I’ve gone but still)
they don’t die from one stealth hit with the Knife. Sad.
They do, but you need a run-up. Velocity affects melee damage.
Your Vehicle has no Drivers Door
Of course not, it’s an APC, everybody gets in and out through the back.
I think it could use more Detail.
I messed up on the texture density for this one and I need to come back to it. New assets take priority though.
Headshots do a ridiculously small Amount of Damage.
There are no headshots. That will be a unique ability for the railgun.
Gut Stuck once when jumping up the Shack without Roof, probably got between the Crate and the Plank or something like that.
When you jump into the top Corner just the right Way you can slow your Fall down immensely, feels like a Bug.
I’ve pushed Bullet 3D about as far as I can get it. At this point the next step is to just rip it out and do my own collision detection. That’s not going to be until I’ve at least added all the enemies, items, and levels.
The Pillar-Area afterwards is too dark, I couldn’t see a lot of the Environment.
Flashlight and gamma slider incoming for DD57
Your Enemies feel too tanky, and their AI is very stupid.
The hitstun counteracts the high health a lot. And yeah the AI is very barebones, as stated in the level changelogs improving it is my priority for DD57.
It’s nice that the Machine Gun has Zoom, and that due to the Enemies often being decently far away makes me actually use it while avoiding Bullets, instead of just sniping while unseen, or being too close/hectic to ever have a Reason to use it.
This was pretty much my intention, good to see it coming up naturally!
City Level is too big. Not in a Time it takes to beat Sense, but just the Amount of walking and back and forth without anything going on, across empty incredibly wide Streets.
I really like it, despite being not much of an fps player. It felt very quick and responsive. I thought the robot enemies were quite scary, although once i'd got a gap between them, they were a bit harmless. I wonder if you should maybe increase their health and speed, and cut their numbers in half to make them more threatening... My favourite thing is the style and graphics, i'm a sucker for the low poly stuff! It was a tad dark in places, when you should be showing off how the game looks! I know its supposed to be night, but the canyon and cliff faces in particular were quite hard to see and navigate. All in all a very fun game. oh yeah, and cool music too :)
I really like it, despite being not much of an fps player.
Sounds good, I figure it would catch on best with Doom and Quake fans. But if non-fps players like it too then that’s a good sign!
once i’d got a gap between them, they were a bit harmless.
That’s pretty much by design. Like Doom’s pinkies the cyborg dudes are only really dangerous in close quarters with large numbers. I will probably make them faster and a bit tankier though.
It was a tad dark in places
I’ve shuffled around my priorities so I’ll put in a flashlight instead of distance fog. On my monitor the first level looks fine but it doesn’t have very deep blacks.
cool music too :)
No need to thank me, look up System ST91’s stuff on bandcamp, he does good shit!
Oh no, that’s for French people. Or whoever else uses an AZERTY keyboard because their WASD is ZQSD
I see you going for headshots, I should probably explain in the tutorial eventually that headshots don’t do anything (except for the upcoming railgun). Close-range circle-strafing is the main intended strat.
it turns pretty fast
This should be cleared up in the forthcoming AI rework, the current tracking function uses your actual position instead of where the AI thinks you are which is definitely not intended. Getting the mechs to look one way and then flanking them is intended. Though I might make it that they start to catch on and “cheat” the longer you fight the same one.
robot zombies
There’s some deep lore about what they are, I’ll introduce it with future assets.
freaking me out
I’m so familiar with all the enemy spawns that I don’t even register the ambushes. It’s hilarious seeing someone get stressed out about them. Good shit!
I wish I had a peek
I won’t add leaning, but in the AI rework enemy’s won’t immediately spot you, there will be a spotting time. Except perhaps on a hard difficulty.
That’s a very pink looking red keycard
I’ve redone the pickups as CMYK instead of RGB, but I’ve been lazy and haven’t updated the door assets to match yet, lol.
Abuse the AI. Just a bit
Working as intended ;-)
I wonder if there’s another way
Really glad to see somebody doing this
Really like the aesthetic
Thanks, I’m more of a programmer than an artist so it’s good to know I’m on the right track as I focus more on assets over time.
…when he’s done
Another big reason the AI needs a rework, they’re supposed to reposition as soon as they lose LOS.
I am having a good time
Me too, lol. This is great.
Should I have really wasted that?
Seeing you stop dead in your tracks and switch to the rocket launcher was gold. I could feel the gears turning through the monitor. And it all turned out well in the end.
I actually tried to play it on stream but antivirus killed it because it tried to modify "loadorder.txt" in the data files? It also doesn't record for OBS, sowwies!
Its a super short game, has that olden CS feel, so much that I wondered if I could bunny hop my way through the levels (I did lol).
It becomes really easy to clear once you know the enemy positions since shooters are static and crabmen ambush you. You can b-hop past the crabs and shoot the glowies before they "HUH" you.
There's a problem where if you run out of bullets while fighting the mecha boss you are soft-locked since I don't think you can win with a knife. But since I am a genius, I just pressed the big red button to end battle and was a bit disappointed you can't destroy the mech. Maybe it needs a little less health, like maybe a mag or two of health because a normal person would not have much bullets without b-hopping.
There's an angle on the highway where you can trick the mech into firing but all shots go into the highway. I just sniped it from there.
Despite appealmaxxing, the girl doesn't exist in the game. Dangit, I was scammed! (laugh)
antivirus killed it because it tried to modify “loadorder.txt” in the data files?
Retard antivirus doesn’t remember the game made that file itself, in Window’s own intended appdata location for per-program storage!
It also doesn’t record for OBS
Odd, I record all my webms for it using OBS. But I’m on Linux, and don’t have any antivirus so maybe that affects it.
Its a super short game, has that olden CS feel, so much that I wondered if I could bunny hop my way through the levels (I did lol).
It doesn’t move you any faster, but there’s no real downside and it might even help avoid some attacks more easily so go for it!
It becomes really easy to clear once you know the enemy positions since shooters are static and crabmen ambush you. You can b-hop past the crabs and shoot the glowies before they “HUH” you.
It will become even easier soon as for the DD57 AI rework I’m making more viable stealth options. However, I’ll also be adding actual patrol and wandering spawns that might make them a little less predictable. The plan is to ramp up difficulty by just having more and more enemies.
There’s a problem where if you run out of bullets while fighting the mecha boss you are soft-locked since I don’t think you can win with a knife.
I’m pretty sure you can, though in fairness, I’ve never tried.
I just pressed the big red button to end battle and was a bit disappointed you can’t destroy the mech.
You totally can, I’ve done it every playthrough. But as there’s no saving/loading yet the big red button is intentionally easily accessible.
There’s an angle on the highway where you can trick the mech into firing but all shots go into the highway. I just sniped it from there.
I have a plan for making a proper boss arena down the line. I intend to touch up past maps with each demo moving forward. I’m only aiming for about 7 maps in the end anyway, though level design gets faster and faster as I make more stuff to use as clutter and trim.
Despite appealmaxxing, the girl doesn’t exist in the game. Dangit, I was scammed! (laugh)
lol, Pranked! I do have a model in the works but it isn’t textured yet and I’ll mostly be using at reference for mission briefings. I intend to do them as comic stills on the loading screens.
Here, have your (You) and Inner Circle invite!
I don’t need no inner circle! I’m a lone-wolf, a loose cannon, a rebel without a cause. A bona-fide Militech Solo, baby!
Anyway, when’s the next orgy? Do I get my stock options in the mail? Because this might put me in a new tax category…
Very classic shooter, I like the fast movement, finally I don't feel like I'm moving a bag of sand around. Sometimes the goons shoot their friends when they are in the way which is funny. There are a few dark areas where I'd like to have a flashlight or just light them up a bit. Do headshots do extra damage? If so, a headshot indicator would be nice.
finally I don’t feel like I’m moving a bag of sand around.
It was originally much slower (like, back in DD10 ;_;) but early on I knew I had to embrace the ＳＰＥＥＤ.
Sometimes the goons shoot their friends when they are in the way which is funny.
Pretty much working as intended. I don’t have proper infighting but I’m really tempted to add it down the line.
There are a few dark areas where I’d like to have a flashlight or just light them up a bit.
I have a plan, see my response to Max Stern down below.
Do headshots do extra damage?
No. The Goons are all good boys who remembered to bring their helmets. That said, the next weapon incoming will be a railgun which I’m thinking will have headshots as a unique feature. The SMG is intended to be a fallback weapon and so won’t be getting any mechanical buffs.
The shotgun in particular feels great to use. The SMG could stand to be a bit more accurate considering its low damage, but the only enemy that gave me trouble was the first mech because my instinct was to circle strafe it and it didn't work out.
I like the look of the levels, I kept getting keycards without realizing it but that's a me problem. The enemies all look good too, they've got personality especially the CRT guys. They aren't terribly engaging to fight once you get some good guns though, the mech is easy to kill from a distance, the melee bots have a hard time hitting you even when going for melee hits yourself and the shooters feel like a health tax more than anything since their attacks are hard to avoid but go down easily. It's not that they're bad or anything, just that they feel like the chaff to a more challenging enemy that hasn't shown up yet.
I wish I had played this before, will check it out in future DDs for sure.
The SMG could stand to be a bit more accurate considering its low damage, but the only enemy that gave me trouble was the first mech because my instinct was to circle strafe it and it didn’t work out.
I’m intentionally making it kinda awkward as it’s meant to be a backup weapon. The next weapon I’ll be making is a Railgun for actual sniping.
kept getting keycards without realizing it but that’s a me problem
One of these days I need to actually have the pickup notices stack up so it’s not so easy to miss them when you pick up a bunch of stuff in a row. I also really need to update the colors to match the new keycards instead of reskinning them with the old ones, lol.
they feel like the chaff to a more challenging enemy that hasn’t shown up yet.
I’m kinda aiming for a Quake/Doom roster where an individual enemy usually isn’t a big deal and the challenge comes more from dealing with shitloads of them at once in awkward situations. Each demo day I’ll be revisiting and tuning the encounters on each map to better get towards this. For now the current maps represent roughly the first half so I don’t want them to be too difficult.
shooters feel like a health tax more than anything since their attacks are hard to avoid but go down easily.
My big task for DD57 is a major AI rework. Due to how the current tracking function works there’s no way to completely eliminate it which I don’t want, as circle-strafing is an intended strat. That said, the basic goons and TVBots fill a role similar to the chaingunners in Doom where there is always a chance they’ll hit you regardless. I’m probably going to reduce the damage though as making their projectiles too slow would completely trivialize them at range.
Comments
I recorded a no commentary video of my playthrough for this DD. Maybe it'll be of some use to you.
The game's as fun as ever, and I really enjoyed my time with it. I love the soundtrack. 10/10 as always.
Thanks for trying it again! There is a very subtle reference to Damaskus hidden away in there but I don’t think you saw it, at least not in the video.
I liked it, movement and gamefeel is very good
levels are well designed, but a flashlight would help, my screen is darker in general but even on full brightness its pretty dark.
weapons are unique, didnt feel like any of them didnt belong or stuff like that
keep it up cowboy
I’ve messed around with the brightness settings on my monitor and I think I have a much better idea of what people are complaining about now. But all the same I will still add a gamma slider and a flashlight. Later on some sort of NVGs or something too.
I will partner, much obliged
enjoyed playing. movement is smooth and gunplay feels good.
if headshots are implemented, they need to feel a lot stronger to distinguish them from body shots.
encounter design is excellent, a strong point of this game.
several areas were way too dark - under the underpass for example. i understand using darkness as a level design feature, but this just seemed poorly/incorrectly lit.
no mag drop/replace animation? no flashlight?
the edge of the map when underwater ends abruptly.
i could definitely use more visual detail and interactivity in general, like destructible environment props, consoles, etc. anything to build out the world a little more and make it feel a little more immersive.
this enemy died weirdly.
melee weapon is super strong and fun to use for stealth-kills.
speaking as someone whose game uses unpronounceable names as a feature, i think you might consider changing the title... i know the historical city it refers to, but i'm not sure how that relates to the story, and it's quite difficult to pronounce.
They’re going to be a unique feature of the railgun
Flashlight is coming, but likely not reload animations. The current system is fine for now, I’ll put a note at the bottom of the to-do list to try and see how fast I can make them.
Same as above, I’d like to put more of this in but it is a very low priority.
Seeing people struggle to pronounce it won’t convince me to change it, but you do have a point that it doesn’t make much sense. It’s supposed to be the name of the city where the game takes place, which was originally going to be gathering dust in the desert. Now it’s a resort city in a tropical paradise. I’m open to renaming it for that reason but I have no idea what I’d change it to.
Besides, it didn’t seem to be a problem for Brigand: Oaxaca, and it certainly is unique.
Thank you for the feedback, glad you enjoyed it!
Still very good. While the new level is more linear than the other two, it has a decent pace. I feel like the particles form the mech's plasma could disappear a bit faster, their shots become a blurry mess of blue, especially in the city levels. I also had an issue where a mech shot inside one of the buildings, with the projectile hitting the inside of the wall/collision box that was next to me and got hit by the splash damage.
This was bothering me too, I want to be able to see them so they can be dodged. I’ve also slowed them down further. With the idea being to speed them back up on Hard difficulty.
This is a tricky one to avoid unfortunately because it’s caused by the width of the mech’s collider radius being too small, allowing the muzzle to clip through. If I make it too big though it will be easier to hit and will get stuck on more terrain.
Glad you still like it!
I thought this was written in java. Is it in c/c++ then? Kind of impressive how small the files are for the game. the performance is flawless, truly this is one of the few DD56 games that runs very well on my system, congrats on that.
good idea to put keybinds in the pause screen
itd be good if enemies seeing you could be blocked by level terrain and they think you are where they last saw you before being blocked. that way you could double around behind them and see their backs and that'd be nice.
a gamma/brightness slider for the graphics would be nice.
its nice that the guys "pick an angle" and fire on it even after you move, helps make the spike be very useful
During agdg’s deep antiquity (DD7-10) it was written in Java. Now it’s just barely C++ because of Bullet 3D (which fucking sucks, don’t use it if you want reliable stair-stepping) and when/if I rip it out, it will be trivial to recompile it as plain C.
A big AI rework is the goal for DD57. I’ll be redoing their behavioral system. Only thing I’m skipping for now is pathfinding as I want them to act reasonably even without any navigation like the enemies in Doom and Quake.
This has proven way more important than I ever imagined
It assuages my engine-dev heart that somebody appreciates the performance (because I haven’t profiled in years at this point). More to come in DD57!
The best FPS on Dreamcast, it just looks like it could be played on that console, and I heard DC look is gonna be a new fad! I like that you can sneak up on your enemies, but they're pretty dumb - they can shoot their comrades in the back while aiming at you, one decided to run towards me and fell into the water. They sure pack a punch though. I have a feeling our protagonist's health is somewhere at half of a common enemy. My health could drop from 100 to 66 with two shots. First mech battle was even worse, sometimes it would take out 6 hit points, other time two hits sent me straight to the level restart screen. First level is rough, a linear passage with enemies jumping at you here and there and with mech at the end I died 3 times. Maybe there's a secret I missed with a rocket launcher? Bottom line, enemies should die 1-2 bullets faster and I think there should be a rocket launcher next to two jeeps and a mech, so it's possible to sneak past a mech, grab it and unload initial salve. Shooting down a mech with just a starting weapon is kinda lame.
I didn't have problems with 2nd and 3rd level, these are much more interesting. I especially liked the lowering bridge at the end of level 3. The housing flats in level 2 aren't that good. There should be more rooms, or at least barricaded doors, right now it looks like a corridor that leads to one room. Still I liked open-ended of the levels, even though there is a default way to progress it's nice that you have to look around and visit different places first. Port town leads you naturally through a level and waterways make great natural obstacles that don't feel forced.
Now is it only me or the game is very dark? Again first and also parts of a second level, were so dark I couldn't find my way. I played in the dark and even with increased contrast it was very hard to see at times.
Anyway, the game has a nice feeling to it. Can't wait for more!
I do hope so, I’m all-in on aping that era with my art, lol
AI rework is the big goal for next DD, everything you’ve mentioned are things that have bothered me for a good while now.
Close, the regular enemy goons have 100 health and 50 armor, and their weapons currently do the same damage as your MG. One pickup that’s really missing right now is regular armor, I only have the little collectible shards/pads.
This one does half the usual damage your own Plasmagun, but it is dealt as splash damage so glancing hits will do less.
It was rushed to get a new level for DD56, but it is also meant to be more linear for being near the start of the game. That said, I do intend to widen out the actual encounters so it isn’t such an obvious corridor like it is now.
Virtually everyone mentions this, it has to be a monitor thing because even when streamers complain about it being dark it will look fine on my screen. I’m going to add a flashlight and a gamma slider to make up for it.
Glad you liked it, more to come!
Mechanicool!
Aw gee thanks! I’m focusing a lot more on art for this past year because I’m more of a programmer. I’m pretty happy with how I’ve progressed so now I just need to get faster at cranking it out.
I’m pretty happy with how it works right now so I’m not going to change it, though I will likely explain how it interacts with velocity when I make the tutorial level.
It takes whatever the OS reports as cursor movement. I’ll be switching to GLFW at some point instead of doing this manually, which will have an option for hardware mouse. In the meantime, any acceleration curve applied by the OS will be reflected in-game. It may also help to ensure VSync is off as I believe I have it turned on by default.
Ain’t no objective markers here now or in the future, you’ve got to be aware of your surroundings! All good, I’m thrilled to hear that, thanks for playing
Well, its playing fine the game but something I don't like is that headshot don't do a critical hit. The enemy's AI need more work, all enemies are very dumb specially in how they react to the player, for example when I fight the mecha I just run around it while I was punched it to death.
Speaking of melee combat, I feel the damage inconsistent, sometimes I one hit a soldier an other time he need 3 hits to die. I think the speed of the character is affecting the damage, most of the time when I run and punch a soldier, he dies from one hit, I'm no sure if this is intended. Also, I don't think there's need for melees combat be separate from weapons, it should have it's own button, for example, in a WASD setup it can be the F.
The graphics are fine because it have a retro fell of a 2000 game, that say the rock part in the first level feel too dark for me, maybe lighten it up a little bit.
The game have potential but need more polish, maybe check out Far Cry Blood Dragon, I think it can give you a nice inspiration if still hasn't played yet.
I also liked the MC, so I made a little drawing of her. Looking forward to see your progress in the future.
I’m really aping how the boomer shooters actually played back in the day, especially Quake 3 and UT2004 so headshots are going to be a unique ability for the railgun, and doing a weapon-switch to perform a melee attack is supposed to be something you have to practice.
This is also intentional, I’m taking enemy design straight from Doom (the originals) where the challenge comes from how enemies combine and one-on-one is relatively easy. The levels so far are all in the first half of the game so I’m not concerned about them being too easy while I build up the roster.
It is, the only way to one-shot a regular merc with the spike is to hit them unaware at a full run. If you even click to late and it connects after you bump into them it won’t work properly. Making this sort of thing too easy I think actually harms replayability as it lowers the skill ceiling.
I know, particularly if you have an OLED monitor or some other fancy type your darks will be much darker than on my own monitor. I’ll be adding a flashlight and a gamma slider for DD57, and a set of NVGs as a powerup in a later DD.
I 100%ed it twice years ago, I refuse to install it again because it needs that stupid Ubisoft client which probably doesn’t even work on Linux anyway. I get my ideas more from Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior Classic, Doom WADs, and Shogo MAD
That looks great, saved! Thank you!
I like the aesthetics and music here. I think that the blade arm should be usable during the holster animation so that you can conserve ammo seeing and pick off low health enemies.
Also, moving the mouse up and down in the controls menu stacks a lot of sound effects on top of each other.
That’s a good point, no need to wait until fully raised to start swinging.
Feature
Glad you liked it!
The new levels are fun, nice job.
I broke the game by switching from fullscreen to window, then resizing it.
I still wish there was a flashlight.
Do headshots do more damage? If so, it's doesn't feel like a big difference.That’s a new one. I resize in windowed mode all the time without issues. Did it just crash or something?
Not just you, I’ll have it for DD57.
They do not. They may be pillaging war criminals but they are responsible enough to wear protection. That said, there will be a railgun next DD that has the ability to get headshots.
It makes the game look like this and the character keeps turning to the left.
Ah, some sort of window handling bug. At some point I’m just going to switch to GLFW and that should clear things up.
The new level is cool and I was surprised by the mech enemy.
I like how they’ve turned out. The AI needs work but I’m happy with how they shake things up.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2136354743
Not originally, it was just a town I liked in Rome:TW. I have kept it that way on purpose because of how much trouble people have though, lol.
It’s monitor differences for sure, when looking back at the stream I can see well enough. Though I might be biased from just knowing the layout already. Flashlight is in the works, though it will give away your position! And yes, I definitely need a brightness/gamma setting because this keeps coming up.
I haven’t done a pass over the sound effects as a group yet, I’ll have to sit down at some point and just tune all of them at once because the gunshots in particular are really loud. Maybe I’ll just have a separate volume slider for gunshots?
This is intended, one enemy at a time should be really easy. I intend for ambushes with lots of numbers being the main source of challenge.
Yeah it was slapped together way, way back in like- DD5 or something? I kind of had the idea to have a rotating scene, perhaps I’ll have it cycle through models and backgrounds or something.
I do intend to have little comic strips for the loading screens. I have made a model of the MC mostly for that purpose as you won’t really see her in-game.
Thanks for streaming, good to see you had fun!
Yeah I def had fun. Its one of the more 'proper games' I've played so far in the jam.
Took roughly 1h to beat.
Title Music is pretty nice, I like the slow start, but the Titlescreen itself is lackluster I think. Could use more Flair, if you're keeping a drawing of the main Character, consider a more interesting Pose then copied from a reference Sheet.
Nice that theres a small and concise changelog at the beginning. Not nice that the Ocean has an invisible Wall, consider having Sharks, Piranhas or whatever eat the Player when swimming too far out, or drown from fatigue or something.
It feels like it'd be great to sneak up on the Guards and backstab them, but apparently they don't die from one stealth hit with the Knife. Sad.
Your Vehicle has no Drivers Door, the same Metal Texture everywhere, including the Wheels, and overall feels very Barebones. Compared to the Tricount on your Hands especially, I think it could use more Detail.
Headshots do a ridiculously small Amount of Damage.
I like that Guards can hit each other, I don't like that they don't react at all to it.
Gut Stuck once when jumping up the Shack without Roof, probably got between the Crate and the Plank or something like that.
When you jump into the top Corner just the right Way you can slow your Fall down immensely, feels like a Bug.
Transition between Beach and Rocky Path is odd. Path also severly lacks in Detail.
The Pillar-Area afterwards is too dark, I couldn't see a lot of the Environment.
Your Enemies feel too tanky, and their AI is very stupid. Often enough they just run into a Wall when you're on the other Side, and start shooting at it, instead of trying to see if they can actually see/hit you. Needs improving.
Mecha at the End is a neat Idea, but needs to be put into Scene more. Also needs better AI, you can just crouch on the other Side of a Truck and shoot its Toe until it dies, since it'll just blast everything into the Truck.
Level 2 Music is really nice, and I like that every Time I try to reach somewhere I think I'm not supposed to go, that I can make it and find some minor Thing, a Medipack, some Armor or Ammo or something. Also the surprises and leading back into itself in general of that Level is nice, but it could use some more Props and a less Square Road Layout I think,
Guard fell into the Water next Level, started to walk across its floor instead of swimming. It's nice that the Machine Gun has Zoom, and that due to the Enemies often being decently far away makes me actually use it while avoiding Bullets, instead of just sniping while unseen, or being too close/hectic to ever have a Reason to use it.
Music isn't as nice as Level 2.
Still very dark Shadows, a Flashlight, or lighter Shadows would be nice.
The Channel(?) is bad, put something under the Water. Also it has an invisible End when going out to the Ocean aswell.
City Level is too big. Not in a Time it takes to beat Sense, but just the Amount of walking and back and forth without anything going on, across empty incredibly wide Streets.
Overall pretty Enjoyable tho.
Rookie numbers.
I’m not sure when I’ll get to this but it really has lagged behind the rest of the game. I have a few ideas but they may have to wait until DD58.
All for demo day <3
I do actually plan on having sharks at some point. There has to be an invisible wall eventually though, more surface area needs more lightmap data and the map compiler has a hard cap on the map dimensions (admittedly much further than I’ve gone but still)
They do, but you need a run-up. Velocity affects melee damage.
Of course not, it’s an APC, everybody gets in and out through the back.
I messed up on the texture density for this one and I need to come back to it. New assets take priority though.
There are no headshots. That will be a unique ability for the railgun.
I’ve pushed Bullet 3D about as far as I can get it. At this point the next step is to just rip it out and do my own collision detection. That’s not going to be until I’ve at least added all the enemies, items, and levels.
Flashlight and gamma slider incoming for DD57
The hitstun counteracts the high health a lot. And yeah the AI is very barebones, as stated in the level changelogs improving it is my priority for DD57.
This was pretty much my intention, good to see it coming up naturally!
I have some devious plans to address this…
Thanks for playing!
Add flashlight please.
Nice game, you should change pad by plate, because with the new image and looting armor pad, I feel right at home.
L-lewd…
Just like the bruiser brothers, working as intended XD. I do plan to replace that first mech with an actual boss later in a dedicated arena.
By popular demand, this has bumped off distance fog on my priorities for next demo day.
Wut? I don’t know what you mean.
Nice fanart
I really like it, despite being not much of an fps player. It felt very quick and responsive. I thought the robot enemies were quite scary, although once i'd got a gap between them, they were a bit harmless. I wonder if you should maybe increase their health and speed, and cut their numbers in half to make them more threatening... My favourite thing is the style and graphics, i'm a sucker for the low poly stuff! It was a tad dark in places, when you should be showing off how the game looks! I know its supposed to be night, but the canyon and cliff faces in particular were quite hard to see and navigate. All in all a very fun game. oh yeah, and cool music too :)
Sounds good, I figure it would catch on best with Doom and Quake fans. But if non-fps players like it too then that’s a good sign!
That’s pretty much by design. Like Doom’s pinkies the cyborg dudes are only really dangerous in close quarters with large numbers. I will probably make them faster and a bit tankier though.
I’ve shuffled around my priorities so I’ll put in a flashlight instead of distance fog. On my monitor the first level looks fine but it doesn’t have very deep blacks.
No need to thank me, look up System ST91’s stuff on bandcamp, he does good shit!
Right on!
Video Feedback: Not much to say other than i had fun
Oh no, that’s for French people. Or whoever else uses an AZERTY keyboard because their WASD is ZQSD
I see you going for headshots, I should probably explain in the tutorial eventually that headshots don’t do anything (except for the upcoming railgun). Close-range circle-strafing is the main intended strat.
This should be cleared up in the forthcoming AI rework, the current tracking function uses your actual position instead of where the AI thinks you are which is definitely not intended. Getting the mechs to look one way and then flanking them is intended. Though I might make it that they start to catch on and “cheat” the longer you fight the same one.
There’s some deep lore about what they are, I’ll introduce it with future assets.
I’m so familiar with all the enemy spawns that I don’t even register the ambushes. It’s hilarious seeing someone get stressed out about them. Good shit!
I won’t add leaning, but in the AI rework enemy’s won’t immediately spot you, there will be a spotting time. Except perhaps on a hard difficulty.
I’ve redone the pickups as CMYK instead of RGB, but I’ve been lazy and haven’t updated the door assets to match yet, lol.
Working as intended ;-)
Really glad to see somebody doing this
Thanks, I’m more of a programmer than an artist so it’s good to know I’m on the right track as I focus more on assets over time.
Another big reason the AI needs a rework, they’re supposed to reposition as soon as they lose LOS.
Me too, lol. This is great.
Seeing you stop dead in your tracks and switch to the rocket launcher was gold. I could feel the gears turning through the monitor. And it all turned out well in the end.
Probably not though, to answer the question
Much appreciated, thank you.
I actually tried to play it on stream but antivirus killed it because it tried to modify "loadorder.txt" in the data files? It also doesn't record for OBS, sowwies!
Its a super short game, has that olden CS feel, so much that I wondered if I could bunny hop my way through the levels (I did lol).
It becomes really easy to clear once you know the enemy positions since shooters are static and crabmen ambush you. You can b-hop past the crabs and shoot the glowies before they "HUH" you.
There's a problem where if you run out of bullets while fighting the mecha boss you are soft-locked since I don't think you can win with a knife. But since I am a genius, I just pressed the big red button to end battle and was a bit disappointed you can't destroy the mech. Maybe it needs a little less health, like maybe a mag or two of health because a normal person would not have much bullets without b-hopping.
There's an angle on the highway where you can trick the mech into firing but all shots go into the highway. I just sniped it from there.
Despite appealmaxxing, the girl doesn't exist in the game. Dangit, I was scammed! (laugh)
Here, have your (You) and Inner Circle invite!
Retard antivirus doesn’t remember the game made that file itself, in Window’s own intended appdata location for per-program storage!
Odd, I record all my webms for it using OBS. But I’m on Linux, and don’t have any antivirus so maybe that affects it.
It doesn’t move you any faster, but there’s no real downside and it might even help avoid some attacks more easily so go for it!
It will become even easier soon as for the DD57 AI rework I’m making more viable stealth options. However, I’ll also be adding actual patrol and wandering spawns that might make them a little less predictable. The plan is to ramp up difficulty by just having more and more enemies.
I’m pretty sure you can, though in fairness, I’ve never tried.
You totally can, I’ve done it every playthrough. But as there’s no saving/loading yet the big red button is intentionally easily accessible.
I have a plan for making a proper boss arena down the line. I intend to touch up past maps with each demo moving forward. I’m only aiming for about 7 maps in the end anyway, though level design gets faster and faster as I make more stuff to use as clutter and trim.
lol, Pranked! I do have a model in the works but it isn’t textured yet and I’ll mostly be using at reference for mission briefings. I intend to do them as comic stills on the loading screens.
I don’t need no inner circle! I’m a lone-wolf, a loose cannon, a rebel without a cause. A bona-fide Militech Solo, baby!
Anyway, when’s the next orgy? Do I get my stock options in the mail? Because this might put me in a new tax category…
Very classic shooter, I like the fast movement, finally I don't feel like I'm moving a bag of sand around. Sometimes the goons shoot their friends when they are in the way which is funny. There are a few dark areas where I'd like to have a flashlight or just light them up a bit. Do headshots do extra damage? If so, a headshot indicator would be nice.
It was originally much slower (like, back in DD10 ;_;) but early on I knew I had to embrace the ＳＰＥＥＤ.
Pretty much working as intended. I don’t have proper infighting but I’m really tempted to add it down the line.
I have a plan, see my response to Max Stern down below.
No. The Goons are all good boys who remembered to bring their helmets. That said, the next weapon incoming will be a railgun which I’m thinking will have headshots as a unique feature. The SMG is intended to be a fallback weapon and so won’t be getting any mechanical buffs.
NEW LEVEL, WOOOOOO
i got ambushed multiple times by the enemies in a container, why do i keep falling for it???
the mech at the end fucking smoked me lol
great job!
You can do better than that, strafe!
Thanks for playing, great to hear!
This was really fun!
The shotgun in particular feels great to use.
The SMG could stand to be a bit more accurate considering its low damage, but the only enemy that gave me trouble was the first mech because my instinct was to circle strafe it and it didn't work out.
I like the look of the levels, I kept getting keycards without realizing it but that's a me problem.
The enemies all look good too, they've got personality especially the CRT guys.
They aren't terribly engaging to fight once you get some good guns though, the mech is easy to kill from a distance, the melee bots have a hard time hitting you even when going for melee hits yourself and the shooters feel like a health tax more than anything since their attacks are hard to avoid but go down easily.
It's not that they're bad or anything, just that they feel like the chaff to a more challenging enemy that hasn't shown up yet.
I wish I had played this before, will check it out in future DDs for sure.
Good to hear!
I’m intentionally making it kinda awkward as it’s meant to be a backup weapon. The next weapon I’ll be making is a Railgun for actual sniping.
One of these days I need to actually have the pickup notices stack up so it’s not so easy to miss them when you pick up a bunch of stuff in a row. I also really need to update the colors to match the new keycards instead of reskinning them with the old ones, lol.
I’m kinda aiming for a Quake/Doom roster where an individual enemy usually isn’t a big deal and the challenge comes more from dealing with shitloads of them at once in awkward situations. Each demo day I’ll be revisiting and tuning the encounters on each map to better get towards this. For now the current maps represent roughly the first half so I don’t want them to be too difficult.
My big task for DD57 is a major AI rework. Due to how the current tracking function works there’s no way to completely eliminate it which I don’t want, as circle-strafing is an intended strat. That said, the basic goons and TVBots fill a role similar to the chaingunners in Doom where there is always a chance they’ll hit you regardless. I’m probably going to reduce the damage though as making their projectiles too slow would completely trivialize them at range.
Thanks for your feedback!