itch.io

(FIXED VERSION - edited, summarised, corrected and reviewed (see the comments at the bottom))

Hello. I am a big fan of this game, and I would like to talk to you, mrdrnose.

The horror game for its mechanics of horror is perfect, but it has a few problems; here are my suggestions for improving the game while correcting these problems:

Easter Eggs: 

It's good to add Easter Eggs, but there are too many (1): as you can see, all the popular YouTubers make fun of Easter Eggs. That's why I propose two solutions: All monsters in the Easters Eggs in a level appear in the game because the more characters there are, the better it will be, like the new BBIEAL. We do not know the history of the game at the beginning, so it would be a good incentive for each level beaten, and the Easter Eggs should supplement these incentives even more. (2)

Random Events:

In the new version of BBIEAL, we have random events like fog, leakage, doors that prevent us from escaping, etc.

I think it would be great if you added events too (3), but even more scary, like all the lights going out where we hear weird noises in the dark with another monster who stalks us, a tide of blood, phantom children who appear and murmur "you cannot escape", "give up", etc. in short events that would advantage/disadvantage us while frightening us. (4)

Lil Puss Mode Idea:

I have nothing against the Lil Puss mode, but I just had an illumination for its utillity in the game. The Lil Puss mode is the original game before it becomes a horror game. (5)

My idea is that we start the level normally, where a teacher presents the rules and everything goes well, except that the more we advance in the game, the more the teacher or we become weird (insult, threat), we see ghosts a bit like Albert who recommend that we escape as quickly as possible and the sets that change as and when. We go into another dimension, then we come back in our dimension, a bit like in Outlast 2. One of the aforementioned events triggers every time we solve a notebook. After collecting all the notebooks in the original mode (Lil Puss mode), the horror game begins.

For the other difficulties, I would simply have easy, normal and difficult (of course written your way); a bit like Outlast.

Level Generator: 

Honestly I think it would be a very good idea as BBIEAL if you lose 3 times, the generator changes, and the game would be harder and cooler. (6)

Final Chase:

For me to reinforce this dimension of horror game, the decorations should have various things - for example, why not have blood red walls, or the walls and floor full of blood? And the real face of the monsters should be displayed as the face of the main that you can see all the monsters as well as Victor's true face (7) - the same for Marzia, except that since it's the second level, it should be even more scary - like, why not have all the lights go out and child ghosts appear on all the walls, whispering various, negative things?

Best music:

I loved Viktor's music for the final chase, but the one with Marzia should be even more scary like this (it represents the dark/predatory side of Marzia). See original post. (8)

For Alice, this one will be perfect (it represents Alice's story and how she became so monstrous, with a mixture of despair and rage.) See original post. (9)

Other Suggestions:

-Remake the old intro with Viktor (10)

-Remake the menu (11)

-Give a better explanation for items (like in Outlast or Amnesia, e.g. "Press Z to use the lighter") (12)

-Have more characters like Granny who make jumpscares (13)

-When a jumpscare hits the player, his sanity decreases by half (14)

-Make a Hell mode, where all problems are unsolvable, and the teachers are more angry, fast, dangerous and creepy, which will have the best easter eggs (15)

-The alarm clock in the Language Level should be restored when the player has picked up a certain number of language notebooks (according to the mode).

-When the player has picked up a certain number of notebooks, Marzia should change her behaviour (like Viktor in the Math Level, where he walks silently). After Marzia says something like Viktor, her behaviour will become the opposite and she will break doors. (16)

-When the player is solving a notebook and Granny appears, she should interrupt the player, giving them a jumpscare as normal, but forcing them to return the notebook and start again.

-While the player is solving a notebook, auditory events should occur, like screams, cries and murmurs of children, men, women and/or monsters.

-Make it so that Marzia doesn't pursue the player in Lil Puss Mode. (17)

You should honestly delete the fanart in the language level and put other things in place. To see these paintings, it should be enough to unlock the extra mode, after finishing the game. (18)

Also, mrdrnose, you should add more sentences in the language notebooks. We keep having the same ones, which makes it quite easy for the players. (See the original post for more info.) After Marzia screams ("HOW DARE YOU!"), sentences that were simple and normal become more complex and glaucous, and the last sentences have no logic like "IRAKEKFDJOIFEJFZOHURZFPO¨DSOHFUI¨ROZRIEUHRPËOZROJ ZFP" (19). The more we collect notebooks, the more the sentences become glaucous.

Your game is fine, but you should make it much more scary. If you want some examples, do not hesitate to look at my latest comments, and the comments of your fans such as Devon who also give good ideas. (20)

I know you're the creator of this game, so I have nothing to really say about it, but these are tips from a fan, so feel free to decide.

What do you think?

Good luck and I hope this game will have the glory it deserves.

1: It depends. All the existing Easter Eggs right now revolve around the lore, except for the meme at the end of the long hallway in the Language Level, as well as the cancerous green book of internet memes on the top storey and also the nuclear pigeon, which makes the History Level free to explore as it's being developed. I do agree that there's a bit many (the lower the level, the more there are - seriously, see for yourself), but yeah. I won't spoil them all here, but since you look like a loyal fan, I will upon request, on the condition that you agree to ruin the surprises for yourself, which some people don't like since it spoils the experience for them (hence, spoilers). The hidden buttons added in Version 0.1.3b are a bit mundane though.

2: The whole idea is that each level will have deep secrets to be explored and found. I forgot what I was going to say next, but I guess I just wanted to point that out.

3: That's okay, but remember what he spammed on the front page once, which is now only said four times: "this is not a fan game". It actually is, but it's not meant to directly be like BBIEAL anymore. While it will retain core similarities in elements, and we do want BBIEAL and AEWVS to come closer together (in terms of communities and knowledge), AEWVS will seldom use BBIEAL's elements simply for that purpose again.

4: I feel like having the ghost children appearing and whispering things is a bit obvious. We're not really supposed to know what's going on until we explore, and I think the shadow ghosts in the caféteria were enough. And having a tide of blood just for the heck of it is a bit redundant and forced, and retracts from the already-established lore. Besides, we already have a few random events, despite them being inconsequential, like a random murmur here or there, or an alarm announcing warnings to the Head Teacher. I would also consider Granny's appearance one of them, too. When you think about it, it is.

5: It's supposed to be a joke mode for, as it says, little pusses. The idea of getting used to the map and the problems isn't really going to be affected, but yeah. I don't even think it was really a school before it was repurposed as one, since there are way too many classrooms and confusing layouts, and not enough teachers.

6: See 3. I think a random generator would be best for a limited section of the Geometry Level, or Mathematics #2. Not only would everything be difficult to program and fit in (considering how connected everything is), but AEWVS is about strategy, which would be more difficult to implement if people only had three chances to get a working strategy into place and succeed before having to start all over again.

7: Viktor's mask is his true face - he's a tarwill, after all. See AEWVS: Christmas Curse for more info, or find a way to do something with the chalk.

8: In case you didn't notice, the chase music for Marzia is now Wrillez Basics: Discordia. Tell us what you think of that one first, since it's basically an extension of the Language Level theme.

9: As it turns out, Alice is a human being possessed by an entity called Tiara, which gives her various transformations. So she only has one true personality, which recently has become quite friendly and positive. I'm still willing to bet on the loneliness and isolation of Alice and Tiara though. Also, mrdrnose has said on Discord that Baldi, Viktor and Marzia all had chase sequences, and he wants something different for Alice.

10: Yeah, that was pretty helpful, albeit a bit spoiling (though every decent game needs a content warning, so it's okay).

11: He's doing that, even though it's still not done. See the test menu at the bottom of the screen. It's planned to be about some computer monitor.

12: It would be nice to allow Angell to examine and describe various items, which I'm thinking about doing. But remember, AEWVS is about creativity, problem-solving and experimentation - which is the key to learning all of it's secrets, so keep that in mind.

13: If they're just like Granny, they'd be a bit redundant. At least now, her jumpscare gives effects. Your sanity now lowers when she jumpscares you, which recently was updated to alter your vision and control your actions at lower levels. Other than that, characters with jumpscares are okay. I do notice how characters like Doggos and Phonty kind of don't though - they just behave threateningly and make you drop and roll onto the floor by killing you in various ways.

14: Granny already does that, but that doesn't really sound like a bad idea. Also, Angell is a girl. Who I didn't even realise was until her gender and name were confirmed.

15: Have you played Brainiac Mode yet? There are also slight peaks and differences in the modes, so what would Hell mode be like?

16: In Brainiac Mode, Marzia busts down doors instead of merely opening them once she manages to get through. I imagine that would be the change, which would apply to every mode instead of just Brainiac, at different numbers of notebooks. But she's quite fast, which would be a bit problematic in some cases.

17: Not only would her appearance arise a lot of problems, since she doesn't have hands and needs to high kick doors open with her foot if she doesn't just bust them down like in the final chase, but she knows she's in Lil Puss mode (her lines change), and isn't co-operating, which is why the language notebooks allow wrong answers to be registered, unlike the math notebooks. Also on every tenth language notebook she insults you (in every mode).

18: Spoilers. But see the hidden gallery that's pretty much just a hall of fanart along with various helpful items which the staff don't know how to get in. That's a good idea though, apart from the question of what to put in the room with Phonty instead. I've considered that for secret paintings, which should only be accessible once you know the secrets. Like, if you enter teleporting doors in the Math Level with a Rusty Fork, maybe you'd see something like that.

19: I know mrdrnose has various things he needs to work on in English rather than Russian, but Marzia is a Grammar Nazi - but instead in Soviet Russia.

20: See Discord. A massive chat room with history dating back to over a year where they just be themselves. Weirdos...lol... Really though, you should catch up. I think I even might, just out of curiosity.

You really should go to Discord and catch up with everyone - I know I haven't - or at least Twitter, YouTube and Itch (see the newest version of AEWVS and also the Christmas Curse DLC if you haven't seen it yet). By the way, to everyone wanting it to be rid of memes, I say, don't bother. The Christmas Curse DLC is confirmed canon by mrdrnose, despite going against many of the things already established in AEWVS (like how they're celebrating Christ) and being much more like a costume party in terms of costumes. If Viktor likes memes, let him - this game is about him, after all, and it's not always about memes.

Welp, I hope this helped everyone. Feel free to read my feedback on your feedback, and just keep going on what you're doing. Bye!