Heya! Good job on the game, here's my feedback!
Game design feedback:
- The character should be able to jump to navigate the terrain better as it's very bumpy and has hills everywhere. It also helps with moments where the character gets stuck or falls through terrain which happens frequently. Not being able to jump made terrain traversal options rather limiting.
- There should be markers to tell you where to go next. Be it obvious guiding arrows, or just naturally-placed signboards on the terrain. I couldn't find the first destination despite wandering around for several minutes. Even if you want to keep the exploration aspect, you can make the markers appear after some time when the player has still yet to meet the objective, so it isn't confusing or frustrating for the player when they cannot find the shed after some time has passed.
- Subtitles for the dialogs would be nice
Graphic feedback:
- I found it quite dark overall, I think it could help with some contrast. For example, if the ground is dark, make the sky a bright grey so I can see the silhouette of the terrain. Or make the sky dark but have the ground be lit by occasional light sources such as lanterns and fireflies to illuminate the terrain. Currently, both the ground and the sky is black - although the rain helps to see the 'horizon line', the screen itself should never be pitch black outdoors. Even at night, there should still be some moonlight.
- The stairs in the lighthouse are pitch black in some areas, but the walls are illuminated and sometimes it's the other way around. (Seems like a directional light is passing through and hitting areas it should not?) There were also moments where descending, the screen is just pitch black because I'm facing the wall or opposite of the directional light, which makes it difficult to orientate myself in such a narrow tight space.
- I think the lighthouse could be the clear defining landmark. I expected it to be really easy to see and find no matter where I am, but because the fog distance is so short, I cannot see much further and couldn't find my way back to the lighthouse if I wanted to. I think the game would be better if you make it really tall and emit a bright light. If you don't want a minimap, make it very obvious where it is - so you can always orientate yourself and your relative position to it, and not get lost.
Technical feedback:
- At the bottom of the lighthouse, there should be an actual wall instead of an invisible collider to tell you you cannot descend further. I thought it was a collider bug until I turned left and saw the door to indicate where I was supposed to go.
- I fell through the ground very early on and it seems to happen occasionally and had to struggle getting back up.
- The build is pretty big (700MB) for the content, I think it could be optimized better since it's a downloadable game, but this is a minor point.
Liked:
- Atmosphere and mood was well established.
- Rain sound effects really elevated the immersion.
- Good job on the game - this was the first first-person controller game I played and I liked how you start off at the top of a lighthouse and you descend a stairs while sharing the dialog and story through the walkie-talkie. I liked how the game introduced the narrative that way.
Edit: Managed to find the shed at last, was a pretty short game but I liked how it got scarier when you flicked the switch and the rain instantly stops. Like woah. Nice little story too, I actually want to know more about what exactly is on that island! :)