Post by xxthrowawayxx in Nights of Temptation comments

Viewing post in Nights of Temptation comments

I think in the future when this is more polished I will really like this game, but right now it feels really bad to play.

Combining visual novel elements with FNAF gameplay does not work in the way this was implemented. It's frustrating when I have to wait for the "shine flashlight" command to pop up before I can do it, or that I have to sit through dialogue before hearing that I can't do an action that I tried to do. Also being able to be attacked while a cutscene that I can't skip is being played feels unfair.

The worst is getting caught and having to watch a cutscene before being able to do anything, then getting caught again because I was interrupted and didn't have the time to recharge the battery or do whatever I was trying to do. Or going to the vent, seeing the girl in the vent, and in the middle of the unskipable cutscene of the vent light going on getting caught by the same girl since you don't get flashlight option until after the light in the vent turns on. I know that you want to make a FNAF game where you can live through the night, but in FNAF 3 getting jumpscared doesn't stop your movement so you're still able to do stuff. Maybe reset all enemies when you get attacked so the player is able to reset and has new time to prepare?

I think FNAF games are a style that works best in Unity or non-visual novel game engines, but if you must do renpy I would recommend responsiveness over polish. Instead of having to wait for the vent to light up before being able to select an option, skip that and just let the player shine the light. The priest lady shouldn't speak and you should just immediately be able to play the minigame when clicking on her cam. Also buttons don't feel responsive and the fact that you can't see any room until you click on one is annoying. Sound effects for whenever an enemy moves or is in position to attack is important too, since it gives the player another way to deal with the night.

I know this is a negative post, but I honestly like the premise. I think if you reduced attack times in the earlier nights (night 1 feels like 4/20 mode with how often everyone attacks) and make the game more intuitive and responsive then you'll have something that plays nice. The visuals are good too, it's mainly just how the game fells that needs more fine tuning.

Spicy Pumpkin1 year ago (1 edit) (+1)

Thanks for the very insightful feedback! I mean it. This is my first non-visual novel game, so my balancing definitely needs work, feedback is more than welcome.

I'll look into changing the vent to shine flashlight automatically without needing a choice, that won't be hard to implement at all. And sure, I'll make Claire immediately start helping without dialogue. I will also add sound effects for when some of the ghosts spawn (edit: I tried doing this, but didn't like it because the sounds became obnoxious). As for intuitiveness, I've already added a new in-game tutorial that will be released later this month, so hopefully that'll help.

The enemy "reset" you mentioned is something I planned as an "upgrade" that needs to be unlocked at Day 3 (in fact I'm working on it right now), still not 100% sure how to implement it, but I think it's possible. I might try different things depending on how it goes.

Regarding being attacked during a cutscene, I'm not entirely sure what you mean, but I'm assuming you mean during things like collecting essence. That was a conscious decision, because it would be too easy if you can just recharge your essence, power, or pleasure gauge while being safe. I wanted to require the player to check all the threats before doing these "recovery" actions. These recovery actions are not mandatory, and there's also casual difficulty where it is impossible to lose.

I noticed the button responsiveness issue too, and unfortunately I haven't been able to take away lag completely despite already taking steps to optimize. I guess since Renpy is an interpreted language, it just can't do things as sharply as some of the other engines can, but I only know how to do Renpy so it can't be helped too much.

xxthrowawayxx1 year ago(+1)

I pretty much agree with everything you've said.

With the flashlight, I was more going towards allow the player to shine the flashlight immediately and regardless of whether an enemy is there or not. Though however feels the best is probably the way to go.

For being attacked during a cutscene I was thinking more in line of the logic of the first FNAF, where animatronics won't attack you until 30 seconds after you put up your screen. Thinking with the mechanics in mind, I get why you made the choice of allowing the enemy to attack whenever.

I am not sure how renpy works so I can't give any insight to optimizations, but I will say that if you find that responsiveness is an issue, I would say reduce the amount of buttons a player presses. Like if the lights can't be optimized for example, have the monsters stare stare outside the window and just have the button that shocks them.

Now that I think about it, because the game is so fast paced sound effects may be super annoying. Like how Freddy would laugh the whole night during 4/20 mode. I still think they're important though, maybe just do a walking sfx (even though ghost don't have feet)? Something very small and subtle at the very least adds to the atmosphere.

Again I think this has a lot of potential, and I'm excited to see what future versions will bring to the table! Btw make sure that you use the Five Nights at Freddy's tag (I don't see your game when I filter with that tag) and maybe even change your name to 5 Nights of Temptation. The FNAF genre is super popular, so making it very clear that you are a FNAF/FNIA game will drive a lot more traffic to you.

itch.io

Viewing post in Nights of Temptation comments