Post by hythrain in Underwater Study jam comments

Feedback Quest 7: indiegames X indie streamers » Entries » Underwater Study

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Hello! Welcome to Feedback Quest 7! My name's Hythrain and I'm one of the hosts and one of the streamers for this event! This feedback is being written live as I stream your game! If you're interested in seeing my live reaction, let me know and I can send you a link to the VOD once it's posted to YouTube!

So my normal approach for any game in these events is simple: I get the game, make sure it's not a virus, then play it with as little information on how to play as possible. This way, I can judge how intuitively someone can figure out the game. Only if it's obvious that I need to read more will I do so. I note this so you can get a sense where some of these feedback comes from. In addition, I want to note that feedback and rating are different; don't use this feedback to gauge what I'll rate, nor should you view my rating as entirely indicative of my feedback.

So this game has a lot of problems upfront. For starters, it just throws players in without any sort of regard to tell them anything. Then it presents a shooter but doesn't tell the player where their shots are going, making it a GUESS if their shots are going to work. And given you only have 6 bullets and can't stockpile them and reload (you just have to find drops, which I've not been able to tell what is a bullet drop), this means you'll run out quickly trying to hit targets. THIS is then followed by inconsistency regarding the controls when you get to the panel you have to open in the second room. How is this inconsistent? Because then you're presented with a bunch of buttons to change a video. It can be fun to check out. However, it's NOT based on pressing E when over a button; it's based on just highlighting over it, and if you walk to one side or the other without backing up then you change the video. I was then left in confusion when I went to pause the game by hitting ESC only to find it just closes the game entirely.

Honestly, I stopped after that last issue. As I set up to START writing this, someone in my stream informed me how the controls listed on the game page didn't even include how you shoot.

I will gladly return to play more once these things are addressed:

1. An indicator on screen to let the player know where their shots are going to hit.

2. Making bullet drops more obvious.

Like Reply

SnakeWinter138 days ago

I'm sorry about some of these issues. I guess sometimes you just play-test your own game so much that things become second-nature. This game has a lot to it in terms of complexity compared to my previous games. It had a lot of problems near the end, so I had to kind of push it out as it was. I would have considered more player reactions to the different mechanics if I hadn't had those problems. I was glad that I was able to get it in working, playable order. I'll try to address some feedback specifics.

I don't know how I forgot to mention click to shoot. I added some additional instructions on controls to the game's page.

The ESC ends games thing is a trope of mine. I'm starting to think other people don't like that, but I personally prefer a single button to immediately end a game. If this was a bigger game with saves, loading, etc, sure, I'd have more with menus/esc menu, etc. I updated the game page on ESC.

Drops in the game work randomly, by killing an enemy you either get bullets, health, or money, it shows a little popup above the status bar for which one you received. Bullets are also in the environment in red boxes. There's one on the table. There are others that are hidden in secret areas. And also, in the dance hall, there is a machine that converts health to bullets. There should be enough bullets in the game, even not using the secrets. This game can be played with different playstyles and it can be rushed through. You don't get penalized for not killing the majority of the enemies, so you can save on bullets that way, like in a Resident Evil game. The only enemies that need to be killed are the ones that appear in the dance hall in a sort of rush/boss fight.

This game was a test for me making this type of game. I'm not sure I'll continue this specific project. But, I'll try to take forward the advice of consistent controls and being sure to mention all controls on the game page in future projects.

Thank you for your feedback. I'd like to see your video when it's posted, thank you.

itch.io

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