This is a good thread. I would really like feedback on the progression of how the levels teach the player the intended mechanic. I know there is a flaw in my design halfway through. But no one mentions it, I was only able to figure it out by watching someone play the game. I would also like to get feedback on enemy patterns, this was my 1st time making enemies with patrol routs and I kinda winged it with regards to timing and how long they should do certain actions for. I know this is kinda granular but It's something I don't see being addressed at all and I really want to know the answers to these things!
TLDR ; Were you able to understand all the mechanics at a proper pace? How did the enemy patterns look?
Thank you so much for making this thread. I hope to see some good replies now!
https://itch.io/jam/gmtk-2019/rate/460992
Really fun stealth-puzzle game! The enemy patterns made sense to me. The timing was a bit tight for some levels, but that can be adjusted and, as long as the player can get back into it quickly, it shouldn't matter too much. My main probably was that I had a hard time telling when the guards were able to see me at long distances. Maybe adding a line of sigh or sight cone would help? You could also make it so the guards have a state between not seeing you and chasing you (sort of how the soldiers in Metal Gear get curious and slowly walk over to check things out). You could also do something like Thief does and have a visual indicator showing how visible you are. You could also modify the levels to make it more obvious where you can and cannot hide.
Hey FTWRahul!
You did a really good job at introducing mechanics, I felt! I really enjoyed your game, great little puzzle stealth experience.
I liked the puzzles for the most part!
You've got a problematic difficulty spike here:
I think the issue is not so much that the solution itself is particularly hard, but that the player starts in danger.
About 3 seconds into the level, the enemy will kill the player if they haven't moved. I think this distracts the player from actually solving the puzzle, as they need to deal with that immediate problem before they can think. Which would be less of an issue if this wasn't also a level where you're teaching the importance of positioning enemies on switches.
Perhaps a redesign where the player can observe the enemy before placing THEMSELVES at risk would work better?
Also, while you can hide from the bad guy by standing to the side of the room, that's not exactly intuitive. If that's going to be a part of your system, I think you need a whole level to teach it (hugging the wall is the only thing you have to/can do to pass an enemy).
You could also expand the wall out to give the player something obvious to hide behind to indicate that they SHOULD hide?
Quite a few different ways to solve this one, you'd have test them out and see which is your favourite :)