itch.io

I like the idea of 'vehicle stealth', though the terrible vehicle made it frustrating. I played in 3rd person mostly as the car bouncing around so much off road was a bit sickening. Some quick thoughts;

• Perhaps lean more heavily into the stealth aspect.  Have buildings (barns, warehouses, petrol stations) scattered around  for the player to hide under while enemy flies over head. If an alerted enemy spots player enter hiding spot, you could have them destroy the roof/blow up the entire thing. Could also have engine noise being part of what alerts the enemy, so at times player may want to turn it off while hiding, or while rolling down slope.
• Once an enemy is chasing me, I was rarely able to escape it while offroad.
• The cars suspension was too 'bouncy', combined with the low poly terrain made getting around off road a bit unpredictable. Really feel the terrain should be smoother.
• Terrain should probably be flatter over all. Be a bit more forgiving for traversal (car can barely make it up the steeper slopes) and allow player to see keys in distance. 
• Highways/roads were too narrow, it's easy to hit side and fall off. You also can't even turn around on some of them. I'd suggest doubling their width, but including hazards like abandoned cars and broken sections.
• HUD for third person.
• There wasn't much point to having the headlights one given how bright things are. Perhaps make things much darker and include some hazards you'll drive into with out them (trees, rocks etc). Could explain the darkness as an eclipse or giant 'sky friend' blocking light.
• Should be an audio que for enemy becoming alert, as well as, going back to roam state
• Working rear view mirror would be a nice touch and would make being chased more intense.
• Be nice to have radio to listen to, could have player provide URL for internet stations. You could also tie this to gameplay with having enemies broadcast things over it, like their alert sound
• Cosmetic damage wasn't so obvious in first person, maybe have some more exaggerated things like losing doors.
• You could make key count UI indicator diegetic like the damage indicator. Keys could be shown sitting on dashboard for example.

Thanks for playing. Regarding randomization, it's the positions of enemies, hostages and traps. And jumping seems to be something a lot of people found tricky, I guess I may need to change how it works or include a platforming tutorial.

I wasn't really able to make progress due to the parkour system and the high upgrade cost.

Quick feedback;

• I found the parkour to be quite frustrating. Not every ledge seemed to be grabbable (or it has very strict conditions) and wall running requiring two keys was inconvenient.
• The alloy values are far too low compared to cost of upgrades. Either lower the costs or increase alloy values.
• Maybe randomize alloy locations and have some high value ones that spawn in harder to reach locations (or are hidden in hard to spot locations). That way runs don't involve revisiting same spots.
• Without upgrades there's a lot of dead end paths. I also feel the floor should instantly kill the player without upgrades as often there isn't even a way back up anyway.
• Performance seem to dip in the warehouse
• Just show the upgrade menu between runs, no need for that confirmation prompt. Though I don't think it should be shown before first run, as player obviously won't have any alloy.

Managed to finish on first attempt with a score of 8784.

Some quick feedback;

• When I tried it on my main browser (Vivaldi), after selecting first upgrade the game stayed frozen. Had to switch to EDGE to play it properly. It would be nice to have downloadable version to avoid that
• I felt it was too easy, as I won on first attempt. may want to adjust the balance
• Skulls weren't really a threat due to how slowly they change direction. If they perhaps exploded on death, then they'd be something far more dangerous to deal with
  
• The weapon sound quickly got irritating. If you're not already, try varying it's pitch.
• The weapon felt weak due to it's sound, animation and lack of enemy hit reaction (like the humanoids don't flinch in pain)
• The exp crystals would sometimes orbit around player, may want to put some dampening on them
• It'd have been nice to have UI indicator of weapon stats, could perhaps show it on upgrade screen. Sometimes it felt like upgrade didn't do anything and I wasn't sure if that's cause I'd maxed out a stat or if the increase was small.
• Player can jump even when not on the ground, thus can 'fly'.
• Combat could use some more depth, like alternate attacks (eg grenade or AoE attack) and enemies that have special requirements to kill (ex. shoot weak point, specific damage type). Could also have special enemy types like one that buffs nearby allies making it a priority.

Thanks for playing. Regarding jumping it's affected by look direction, so if you look upwards you go higher otherwise you go longer horizontally. As for being spotted, I was ultimately planning to have enemies shoot at you, just didn't get it done in time unfortunately.

Some quick feedback;

• Performance dipped heavily after getting several upgrades
• Players projectiles obscure the screen, I suggest making them visually smaller or semi-transparent
• Really needs mouse sensitivity setting
• UI warning that enemies are behind player would be helpful, maybe a short range minimap showing enemies. Also a directional damage indicator would also be nice
• Enemies can spawn too close to the player
• Sometimes enemies seem to just move extremely fast in a random direction
• Some weapons/projectile types did not seem to be doing any damage, made some runs unwinnable

If you happen to need any inspiration, consider taking a look at Still Not Dead: Prequel, which is a similar style of game

Found it pretty frustrating and decide to give up after doing several runs and only reaching the stairs. Because of the lack of checkpoints I ended constantly running back to health station if I wasn't making progress which further made it less enjoyable.

I feel the health cost of every action is far too high especially with how rare the health station are and the fact you need to restart from beginning on death. Personally I'd redesign it to have hazards that cause the player damage (ex. visibly rusty walkway that collapses if you try to use it, or sharp metal debris on ground that injures you if you step on it) , so it's avoidable if player is cautious and better fits the urban-ex theme. You can still keep the slow damage over time to give a little time pressure. If you really don't like that idea then simply lower health cost of actions and/or make health stations checkpoints. 

The maze-like level design is simply not enjoyable, especially as even with replays it is still a challenge to recall exact path through especially in area like the  'pipe maze' which lacks any navigation aids (signage, landmarks etc). A puzzle focus would have been more enjoyable in my opinion, could be simple stuff like finding ways to 'unlock' a 'locked' path (ex. pipe leaking steam that kills player, find valve to turn it off or find path around it) .

Some more random thoughts;

• I actually missed the health station in pipe area the first few times, should include nearby signs directing to it.
• It'd have been more interesting if there were multiple valid paths rather than a single linear one.
• Maybe consider including risky secret shortcuts that come with a high health cost.
• You could add some randomization to the valid route and puzzles to add replay value (Assuming you make level less maze-like).
• It may go against the urban-ex practices (leave only footprints), but you could allow player to leave persistent marks on walls. Like they draw a cross on a locked door and that mark will remain for every next playthrough. This way player can slowly make progress and avoid repeating mistakes. You could even give the game a supernatural rogue-lite aspect with blood trails and corpses from previous runs being visible (again serving as reminders for wrong paths taken).

Really do love the art style, but needs work as you know. Really do hope you'll consider continuing work on it. Some quick feedback on what's currently there;

• Player gets 'caught' on doorways (slows down for a moment), I think the issue is the player collider is around same height as them, making doorways slightly taller should hopefully fix that
• Disable the enemies collider the moment they die, currently there's a short delay which gets a bit annoying and can get you killed (corpse blocks retreat)
• Make the damage indicator directional, so it's clear if damage is coming from sides/rear. The claw marks could simply be closer to relevant edge of screen
• For the semi-auto weapons, allow the mouse to be held. Having to spam click is not easy on figure.
• I feel shotgun should be rebalanced feels a bit to weak at the moment. Either increase it's OHKO range as currently it seems to only work at point blank, or change it up to be a crowd control weapon (wide spread, and bullet penetration)
• Didn't really notice a difference between the two pistols, is there any point to having both?
• Everything needs audio feedback, like picking up ammo
• Angle of the tommy gun sprite was a bit odd.
• Levels have too many tight corridors, needs more more rooms and maybe some wide corridors.
• Really needs a map (with fog of war), so player knows exactly where they've been. Unless you plan to revamp level generation with landmarks and themed zones.
• Have mouse wheel cycle through weapons as well
• It'd be nice if there were more persistent battle evidence; enemy corpses, bullet holes, bullet casings, blood on walls

That would be the 'Pirate' trait, representing eye patch. It'd be helpful if game explained the effects of traits.

>When you open the cover there should be text saying Info and Instructions and clicking them will let you read some story info and the tutorial again. 

Ah, I did not realize those were actual buttons, as they don't look like the other UI buttons which have white boxes around them.

Interesting concept, it'd be nice to see it expanded on. And maybe do a version that doesn't specifically cater to the 'Exhausting Jam'. I managed to get 3 endings. I assume last one is about choosing yes/no correctly each time, but I wasn't sure about the criteria.

Some quick feedback:

• I found the tutorial very unclear, I suggest rephrasing it or outright giving a full step-by-step example of how to do it. Also I did not even realize that the transmission button could send two messages. The '1 Yes 2 No' on cover was a bit  ambiguous.
• You should let the player re-read tutorial without restarting game. Currently interacting with manual a second time just shows the cover.
• Chart layout makes it slightly hard to read, maybe revise it or show the coordinates that mouse is hovering currently.
• It would have been nice if there were more "events" (eg UFO flyby), even simple things like a bird flying by or sound of a wolf howling in distance.
• Sound after transmission sent should be quieter, as well as, the static.
• Tuning the frequency to was a little finicky, if that was intentional to mimic feel of using real dial (or for the Exhausting Jam) then it's fine but otherwise maybe make the slider longer.
• Maybe add a few more things to interact with, even simple things like say turning a desk fan on/off.
• Bug: One set of coordinates I received were wrong, and after manually stepping through all frequencies and then working backwards I found out that one of the x & y coordinates had been reversed. The screen showed X497 Y202 (16), but actual co-ords were suppose to be X202 Y497 (10).

You've done a good job recreating the aesthetic of the famicase.

Quick thoughts

• Scoring system would add replay value.
• May want to delay spawning enemies or spawn them further away from player. It's frustrating to take damage immediately after starting.
• I found the controls very hard to handle, it feels like an odd mix of TPS and 6DoF. Have you considered removing gravity and just making the player control like a ship in a 6DoF game?
• Crosshair does not reflect actual fire direction which made aiming at enemies very difficult. If you want to keep current 3rd person perspective then one possible fix could be to raycast from camera and angle gun to face where raycast hits. Alternatively a laser sight could help.
• It felt a bit unbalanced, but honestly it might just be I was bad at it.
  • Maybe slow the speed of enemy projectiles to make it easier to dodge them.
    
  • If you do rebalance things, you may need to nerf slomo, for example have a recharging meter for it.
• Visuals and flashing effects are a bit hard on the eyes. It'd be great if you could tone it down a little
  • This also applies to the game page, maybe add a warning about it and replace the gif with a Youtube video (so it doesn't auto-play)
• Power-ups and alternate weapons would make things more varied.
  • Power-up that grants temporary invulnerability and makes it so you kill enemies on touch. Which would be an interesting reversal to fleeing from enemies all the time
  • Railgun with hit-scan projectile that penetrates enemies but has slower fire rate.

• Really should add option to change mouse sensitivity.
  
• At certain camera angles the coffin blocks the view.
• Sometimes the muzzle flash did not disappear.

Thanks for playing.

That lovely feeling of revelation (especially on 3 lvl). Cool idea.

If I was creative enough then ideally every level would evoke that feeling. The hedge maze (level 1) and castle (level 3) are the levels I'm currently most satisfied with in that regard.

Btw, I dont get what was the concept of 5 and 6 maze.

The purple and yellow circle maze (level 5), was one where I sadly didn't get around to implementing a trick, but I was really happy with how it looked so kept it in. It's a stretch but you can pretend the trick is that there is no trick. But I'd welcome any suggestions for a trick that may fit the style.

As for the toilets (level 6), the idea was to trick the player into exploring the maze, when the exit is in fact in the "mirror". I assume you didn't fall for it? Any thoughts on how I could make it harder to realize?

Thank you for playing and leaving a comment.

Some BGM during the first level would have been nice.

Yeah, overall the audio really does need some work. Regarding music specifically it's always a challenge to find the right piece that fits and isn't annoying to hear looping.

Also when I pressed CTRL + W to crouch and walk forward my browser tab closed, maybe there is a way to prevent this?

The browser build really was a last minute addition, hence the warning on page, so I didn't get a chance to thoroughly check it. I've updated the WebGL version to include 'c' as an alternative crouch keybind, so that shouldn't be an issue anymore.

It's a neat little concept, felt a bit short though.

Quick thoughts

• I found it a little tricky to keep track of all 4 "universes" and the exact positions of platforms.
  • Perhaps consider adding "ghosts" showing where the other universe platforms are.
  • Or even reducing universe count to three or even simply two.
• I found a couple of the levels a bit frustrating. 
  • For example the rapid fall speed made 'the dropper' seemingly impossible until I realized I could simply go around the slopes. I'm unsure if that was intended solution or if I've cheated.
• The famicase's color scheme would have been easier on the eyes.
  
• Sound effects for various things (movement, switching universe, reaching cube etc) would help improve how the game feels.
• The character movement could use some improvement, like 'coyote time'. 
  • GMTK's Platformer Toolkit, is a great resource on how you can get platformer movement feeling good.
• Minor thing, but the uploads filename (and internal root folder) should match the game name. I downloaded a bunch of jam entries to a folder before playing them and was confused till I saw exe name.

So you've created a "reverse GTA", that's very interesting concept. I'd love to see you expand on it.

Quick thoughts

• Adding incentives to break the rules would make it more challenging. Like a time limit on transporting passengers, so the player may end up considering taking shortcuts across the pavement or speeding. 
• I felt driving was a little unsatisfying, a higher top speed and a handbrake would be a nice improvement.
• The pick-up/drop-off zones are too small, I had to park on top of the clients and I found parking at the exact destination very difficult.
• Keyboard controls felt a bit off, like the steering turned me to sharply. I presume it handles better with a controller?
• More rules to break would make things more interesting. Like stop signs, speeding and crashing into breakable props.
• It'd be nice if there was a UI indicator showing the current rules being broken (ex "You ran a red light").
  • This would also help those who make the mistake of assuming you should be driving on right side of road (I'm too accustom to it from US made games). In fact you should probably spawn the player in the left lane as a subtle hint.
• The map layout was a bit bland, you could take a look at games like 'Crazy Taxi' and 'Simpsons Hit & Run' to see if you can find inspiration to make it more interesting.
• Escape key doesn't close the game.

You've done a great job realizing the famicase concept. The game would probably do very well on mobile platforms.

Quick thoughts

• It could really use in-game tutorials, or at least a pop-up hint system.
  • I wasn't clear on how some of the mechanics works like the repair between stages.
    
  • Also, I initially did not understand what recycling stage was for as I couldn't use it while I had a single unit.
• Really wish you were able to interact during combat somehow.
  • Issuing basic orders would be nice, like hold position or focus fire on a particular unit. I'm aware there's items that control target priority, but I feel it'd be better left in players hands. Alternatively you could go for a simple visual scripting system, like the gambit system in Final Fantasy (ex. IF HP Low THEN Retreat). It's frustrating to lose a run a couple of stages in simply because you're unit targeted a far away enemy.
  • You could also add triggerable abilities (repair, air strike, flee battle, etc) with a cool down of X stages to balance them. They could be tied to the specific characters to make choosing a one more relevant.
• I feel the upgrades should be shared across all characters, unless you plan on adding character specific talents/skills.
• Some actions should have a confirmation prompt, I often accidentally did stuff like swapping unit positions and applying an item to the wrong unit.
• The UI is a bit too complex. I found it hard to understand the information I wanted, like what the DPS of a unit would be if I added a certain item.
  • Also it'd be nice if I could hover over UI symbols to get text explanation of what it is.
• More stage types with stronger risk vs reward elements would be interesting. Like the kind of thing you'd see in Slay the Spire.
• Need a button to manually end a run, perhaps styled like a self destruct button for fun.
• Maybe consider making more use of the characters, for example they could say things during combat (including hints). As well as, something like the unique abilities I suggested previously.

It's a shame you weren't able to get as much done as you'd hoped, sounds like it would have been an interesting game. I hope you'll find the time to develop it some more.

Quick thoughts

• Really needs a mouse sensitivity setting
• There really needs to be an in-game UI hint about how to insert the cartridge. I honestly restarted the game assuming I'd glitched it until I notice the instructions on game page.
• I feel it's a shame turning on console is in a UI menu, while other interactions are more immersive.
• Platformer
  • Need a ui hint about which keyboard button is the 'Start' one, it was missing from controller input hints.
  • The camera jittered as I moved horizontally (Perhaps a pixel camera issue?).
  • I didn't seem to be able to make the first jump in the 2nd stage without the "mushroom" power-up.
  • Killing enemies doesn't seem to consistently bounce me up.
  • The movement felt a bit off, like the jump seemed to floaty. If you haven't seen it, I recommend checking out GMTK's 'Platformer Toolkit' it's a great resource for improving platformer movement and game feel.

• House yard should have visible boundaries rather than just invisible walls, like a fence with closed gates
• Noticed the rain splashes were sometimes visible through wall.
• 'Hold esc to quit' should become visible faster. I tapped it and then assumed escape hadn't been implemented.

I'm impressed with how well you recreated the famicase at-style. Also does a great job of giving the feeling that you're really caving. Unfortunately though I ended up getting frustrated trying to hunt the elusive red mushrooms and so ended up using cheats to reach the end.

Quick thoughts

• It'd be interesting the the mushrooms could be located via additional cues, rather than just line of sight and the compass. Like unique audio, or a trail of spores floating through the air.
• More traversal options would make exploring more satisfying,  for example a grapple (unlocked by finding it or paying mushrooms) or a mushroom that launches you into the air when you jump on it (jump pad). Even the debug teleport would work, give it a limited range and cost a mushroom to use.
• Compass: Really needs an above/below indicator and it would be helpful if it showed landmarks, like the doors.
• Would have appreciated navigation aids, like trail markers. Perhaps you could even allow the player to place them.
  
• At times I felt it was too hard too see.  I wonder if a LIDAR-like effect with a cooldown would help.

Nice little concept, makes me think of Sayuka (Freezes time and throws daggers), in-fact it somewhat has a bullet-hell feel. I'd love to see it expanded on.

Quick Thoughts

• Took me a moment to figure out how to play.
• Noticed a little bug: if you look at your feet, the daggers get frozen and can't harm you.
• Wish the audio made it a bit more clear as the daggers approached, not just when they're next to you.
• It would be interesting to see how it'd play if you made the daggers move like seeker missiles (dodgeable) and added breakable cover objects
• Consider having a visible object (eg. a character), spawning the daggers to make them a bit more predictable.
• Also, I found myself mostly staring at the sky, adding traps  on the ground (or simply pitfalls) could add to the challenge.

Trailer is down, would love to see how it looks in action.

I like the concept but I feel you didn't use it to it's full potential. Also I wasn't able to complete it as I could not find a way to access crate in center of "maze" area. I hope you'll consider expanding this into a bigger game.

Suggestions/Ideas

• One simple challenge you could add is having to switch colors while jumping. Like a row of alternating two colors platforms.
• Add a reason to turn off the light, for example colored hazards. Alternatively the light could have limited battery that quickly recharges, adding a time limit.
• Have pattern or message decals on walls/floor using the shader (with offset parameter to avoid z-fighting). Messages could include puzzle hints or be story related (Like Portal's Rat Man)
• Dark environment, only navigable by seeing colored makers

Feedback

• I'd suggest rebinding controls to make them more intuitive. Mousewheel to swap colors. E or M1 to pickup object.
• Spotlight cone is too narrow. Perhaps let player switch between two light "modes", standard (shorter range but wider angle) and high beam (current). So high beam is for scouting out path, and standard is for follow it.
• Holding a crate blocks view, making platforming near impossible. Simple solution would be to make the crate transparent. Though I'd suggest replicating 'The Talos Principles' hold system. Crate is held at bottom of screen, physics are disabled, it's rendered on separate camera to avoid clipping (though this request new placement system to drop it).
• Platforming is tedious due to small gaps everywhere and having to jump frequently. Have larger platforms with bigger gaps. Use ramps instead of stairs, or have elevators.
• Player can switch colors while inside block causing issues. Can do it on the first red step resulting in falling through floor. Not sure what best option would be aside from preventing color switching/turning on light if player is inside matching color block.
• Crate clips through walls.
• Camera clips through walls when standing next to them and looking perpendicular. Reduce the near clipping plane distance to fix it.

I really like the idea but it could use a little work. I hope you'll consider updating it.

Suggestions

• Restart option in pause menu (for when vehicle gets stuck)
• Odometer on dashboard, so player can gauge their own progress
• The part health hud is rather obtrusive, make it toggle-able or replace it with a vehicle hologram to dashboard with color coded parts indicated their health.
• Game Over Stats; distance traveled, cash spent, vehicle damage taken and repaired
• Other damage indicators
  • Cracked glass with hull damage
  • Smoke from engine that obscures vision
  • Strange sounds like rattling or clunks (The kind of sounds you'd dread to hear driving your own car)
  • Animations like rattling wings
• Finding repair items in wrecked vehicles or ruined buildings
• Instead of a store UI, have player physically enter store to search for items. Adding to the time pressure
• Not sure if it's a good idea but; permanent vehicle damage, like loosing wings
• Camera screen shake in storm
• Intensifying storm effects; denser fog, dust particles, loud wind, slow passive vehicle damage
• Internet radio, let player supply the URL/s
• Interesting things to see

Issues

• Sparking sound is extremely irritating, please change the audio clip or lower it's volume a lot.
• It wasn't obvious how it all worked, a readme or ingame hints would be helpful. Specific things I wasn't clear on:
  • Gaining cash
  • Impact of each damaged part
  • What items repairs each part, specifically the ambiguously named ones like glue
• Stutter from what I assume is the procedural generation of next chunk. Could it perhaps be executed over many frames?

A few quick suggestions, apologies if they've been mentioned before.

• Played/rated indicators.
  • Symbol/outline/something shown on the "game preview" when searching.
  • Banner on game page (like the 'Owned' one), perhaps with a reminder to rate/review if you haven't already done so.
• Owned indicator on "game preview".
• Option to show reviews in collection instead of adding blurbs, as in most cases their content would be the same.
• Collection discover-ability:
  • Page to search for collections. I'm aware a few get shown in browse side bar, but I'd rather a more reliable means to find them. Instead of using the most common tags in collection as reference, perhaps allow tags to be added to collection to improve their search-ability.
  • On game page, button to see public collections it's in, similar to the 'Relate Games' page.
• Make certain key information from the 'More Information' section displayed prominently elsewhere (Last Updated, Average Rating etc). Or at least user option to have 'More Information' section expanded by default.
• Improved search (Seems these may be possible by manipulating URL, but they really need to be in the page ui)
  • Exclude tag from search.
  • Search with tags & keywords at the same time.
• Don't increment a posts edit count if it's within 60~ seconds of post.

Great work, though could use some polish. I could not find the last flag, and wasn't sure what to do in 'Nocturne' world (beside listen to  recordings). But otherwise I did see the ending.

Quick feedback:

• Increase movement speeds or make the worlds smaller. It takes far too long to get anywhere.
• Button to quickly leave a painting world (instead of returning to menu). Allowing player to quickly leave after getting secret piece, or escape if they encounter bug.
• Add an indicator on the painting (in gallery world) telling player if they've "completed" it (Found all collectibles).
• Best to model the environment, instead of stretching primitives, so that UVs are good. You could consider using probuilder. Not recommended but the lazy solution is a triplanar shader (uses world coordinates instead of mesh UVs).
• Binoculars/Zoom button would useful for the large open worlds.
• English text needs proof reading, and English translations of the French text would be nice.
• Final boat ride is too slow.
• ISSUE: In 'Abstract World' player can jump on broken bridge to reach final platform.
• ISSUE: Performance in grassy areas is extremely poor. Especially in the 'Final World'
• BUG: Collecting final 'Piet's Wall' piece twice resulting in me have 6/5 piece, preventing me from placing the painting in 'Abstract World'. (Luckly was able to fix by decompiling your code to find out how you were saving, then modifying registry).
• BUG: Exiting game while in 'Red Corridor', then resuming game spawned me in the core (which I had not unlocked yet). Fortunately could escape by climbing stairs, this also allowed me to collect the secret piece.

'1' is confirm in menu's.

(I am aware this reply is far too late, but hopefully it'll help anyone who discovers the game in future)

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