Hi ChritBoy,

Thanks very much for your detailed feedback.

I'm enjoying receiving solid feedback!

It's nice to have a project deployed that I can get feedback on from other developers/players.

I've started working back through my notes (part of the post-mortem prep)  and I am breaking down comments and feedback into issues to action on Git. I have a solid list to work through!

The Boxes Bug

This bug is a pretty funny unintended consequence of how sprites are being handled for some objects.

Some sprites use an 8-direction flipbook and calculate/change the displayed flipbook based on some maths logic.
Some decorative items pickups use a 1-directional Sprite.

For the 1d Sprites, they apply rotation/transformation based on the player's location in the world.

I think what happens when the player is on top of the box, is the calculation is constantly trying to "face the player" - but because the player is being influenced by the rotation of the box - the "face to player" logic is never able to complete.

This leads to the player and the box doing a little dance until Unreal has a mini panic attack and flings the player flying!

I'll be sure to dig into this in more detail and find a better way to handle my box logic!

Gate & Player Choice:

For the level design, I ended up sprinting to the finish line in a hot sweat of crunch and making levels 2-13 in about 2 hours.

I miscalculated how long it would take to put together a Linux build and tasks that I had scoped for taking 1-2 hours sometimes spiralled into 4-5 hour slogs.

This means I ended up having to strip out and hack together levels in a mad dash. The "gates" and "keycard" systems were available for my level design passes and I had many great ideas in mind for them.

I even have meshes and art pieces for air vents, explosive barrels, explosive mines and all sorts of gadgetry and stuff I was planning to put into the level designs.

I was working on the assumption that I'd have time to implement a lot more than made it into the release build.

So I ended up slapping down gates and keycards but was worried due to not having time to playtest.

Funny Fact: I playtested the final loop/levels the day after publishing!

I was aware that the keycards might not work and the players could not progress.

So I deliberately left an alternative path there in case the game was more broken than I realised!

When I update my level kits,  add missing features and start designing these levels with the time they require;

I hope I can integrate alternate player paths and "multiple solutions" to a problem. Similar to how games like THIEF & DEUS EX often allow you to complete puzzles, find an alternate path or kill guards.

Giving the player more choice is my goal!

I also want to build out and add some systems to support player choice/agency between "kill the zombies" and "no-kill" runs.

Elevators, Buttons & Interactions:

The elevator is a time-bound hacky solution that I'm thankful works at all!

It's a rotated/scaled door with a long float curve controller/timeline.

Again, that pesky overscope and feature creep rears its head!

Naively, I thought I would have time to add interactions, buttons, switches and proper level sequences and that's where I aim to move in future builds.

I also dislike the transition between levels and it's a byproduct of choosing to closely recreate the first level around the MGS Cargo Elevator scene. I wanted to have "smaller elevators" and "emergency staircases" that you also see in MGS.

With the intent of using "small lifts" for all levels other than the opener - the opening cargo lift was left as a long shot to "set the tone" but it's also where I hoped to add in some bespoke cinematics (again, ran out of time!)

Zombies, difficulty, missing bullets and general pacing issues:

Solid feedback. Exactly the sort of stuff you tend to miss after replaying it over and over again!

I scaled back damage and increased player health because I wasn't sure if the zombies were going to mop the floor with people who hadn't spent the month splattering zombie's brains!

I had no idea how other players would "play the game" for the first time. I had no tutorial texts or anything until the last few hours before submission.

I wasn't sure if anybody would even download the game, and I wanted to make sure that it wasn't an exercise in frustration for anybody who gave me some of their time.

There's nothing worse than a progress-stopping bug or a game that's so hard you don't have any fun!

I have clearly swung too far the other way - and I'll take your feedback to heart and try to get a better balance!

For missing bullets, the enemies use either a projectile-based system (that uses a sprite or 3dmesh)  or a direct line trace.
I know some enemies are not firing projectiles (bullets) at all and I need to better telegraph their attack patterns.

I think better "juice", "microinteractions" and "player feedbacks" are something I need to spend a lot more time on.

Syncing animations, and sprites and communicating things clearly to the player are crucial for a satisfying and fair combat system.

I fell short with this build - but I have some exciting ideas in mind for how I can make things more fun!

Your feedback really helps give me some direct stuff to tackle first and is very helpful.

AI & How I hope to improve:

I will be reworking the AI as I want to add some more emergent systems and behaviours. Focusing on consistency and communicating what/when/why an AI is doing something is a key concern for me.

AI Behaviour Trees and some of the maths/logic behind how AI works is a bit over my head - but I'm taking some courses that help me address these issues. I hope I can implement some of the grander AI Plans I have moving forward!

The "Greyscale" Area:

There was a planned sequence / "jump scare" I had in mind but I accidentally deleted the overlap trigger and borked the whole thing. 
The post-processing/greyscale was planned to kick in just before some eerie music and then a "scripted sequence" or "sudden reveal".

I hope I can learn more about using Unreal's cinematic sequencer and level blueprints to elevate those traditional jump scares/elements of horror.

Overall Feedback on Stealth/Kill Em All:

The game is suffering from a bit of an identity crisis at the moment!

I was trying to make a doom-inspired retro shooter with elements of tactical combat from classic Rainbow Six - cinematic elements from metal gear, stealth and evasion from Thief and Splinter Cell and systematic designs and reactivity from games like Deus Ex.

I grossly overshot!

I was using this project as testing bedrock for some non-horror-inspired retroShooter and tacticalShooter projects.

I plan to add and refine it a little with the proposed updates but my main focus now is on pivoting towards some of my loftier goals for a more complex offering.

For the next few days/weeks, I plan to rescope the project, clarify the identity and purpose of this game add any missing features and polish it to hell before moving on to the next game.

The idea is to then transfer the core from that project into a more tightly focused game that strips back horror and changes gears a bit.

I have a lot of ideas for how to improve and shape the project but I also don't want to be tied down to a "horror" theme long term.

TLDR:

I love feedback, keep it coming.
I am new to scoping and managing projects of this scale and grossly overshot.
I like having actionable steps to help me improve the project.

P.S

I found Kenny's blog post on how to be a nice programmer an insightful read:

https://kennydodrill.com/blog/how-to-be-a-nice-programmer/

It has made me wonder how I come across in text though, often very hard to gauge!

I hope I don't come across as defensive and unwilling to listen to feedback. I am really passionate about game dev and learning and I often have lots of thoughts racing around at once.

I find writing is one of the most effective ways to help me work through problems/solutions.

I need to get better at writing shorter more concise posts!

Hi Kenneth,

Thanks very much for taking the time to try out the game!

I'm happy you recognized the callbacks to MGS in the level design and the retroShooter gamefeel.

I started this project working from a doomWad project and a pitch to mix elements of doom and the MGS1 demo disc!

Brief:

Depending on progress, pick one or more clone or baseDoom wad pack.

Make a short, microgame to enter into horror jam and publish on itch.io.

Use doomClone and create an eerie loop that subverts expectations.

Pitch One:

MGS1 Demo Disc elevator loop.

Each lift exit triggers a new horror mutator.

Make each loop more abstract and horrorfied.

I will be looking into a full optimization pass in a future update. My testing platforms are a moderate-tier PC and SteamDeck.

I found that adjusting settings from high to Medium improved performance from 12fps to 60fps capped on SteamDeck using a power limit of 8 watts. I attempted to force settings to medium when loading the first level - but it's a very hacky solution and there's lots of room for optimizing the hell out of this moving forward.

I will try my best to address optimization and performance in upcoming builds!

Gameplay Feedback:

Thanks for pointing out the issue with boxes - I'll be sure to work on a solution to this as soon as possible.

Your point about firing and input delay is a valid concern and it's something I will rework at the earliest opportunity. I am not satisfied with how the weapon system works currently and will be overhauling it significantly. I hope I can make it feel a bit more responsive.

With regards to Doom/GzDoom, it was my first port of call when planning out the project.

Project Smile started as a prototype in UlimateDoomBuilder before switching to Unreal. It may sound a little backwards - but I thought I'd build a baseline in Unreal and then match it back to Doom from there.

My hope is that building out this project will better prepare me for delivering on some lofty ideas I have for some custom iWad campaigns!

I would like the flexibility of a modern engine that allows me to work with features from other classics. I am particularly fond of the increased interactivity from BuildEngine games as an example. 

I also have a few more elaborate design ideas I would like to explore to add a bit of a twist on that classic shooter feel that may be more feasible in Unreal than GzDoom.

I like the depth and breadth of content and creative minds found in the doom Modding scene and I will be releasing some iWads in future to help me refine the level design and gameFeel for my final solutions.

I've been playing a lot of Doom, Duke Nukem3D and ShadowWarriorClassic to  help me solidify that core retro feel.

I do think the core mechanics and game feel of doom is lighting in a bottle and it still feels so smooth and "juicy" all these years later. I hope I can work towards something equally satisfying over time.

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of Trenchbroom I've come across it a couple of times when doing research and will look at it again.

More than anything, thanks very much for taking the time to offer some insightful feedback and checking out the project.

Playtesting and fresh eyes are exactly what I need to help elevate this project to the next level.

Happy Gaming!