YES!!! I finally got it downloaded!
Now for a brief review. [EDIT] Oh, wow, that wasn't as brief as I thought it would be. [/EDIT]
Atmosphere: 8/10
- I liked the fog! It added a creepy element, because you can't always see well ahead of you. In some cases, you can't see ahead at all; just a grey wall.
- Excellent attention to detail; the numerous old boxes, the empty and overturned shelves, the scattered crates, palettes, and barrels, all good! I did have a thought during game play that went something like,
"Is this what a real abandoned warehouse would look like?"
- The ambient sounds were fantastic! Very creepy and fits the alien theme of the game. In a horror game with a lot of lag (see comments in
Game Play,) the traditional tricks of having objects fall in front of the player from the dark don't work as well, as everything is slowed down and the surprise is foiled. However, having out-of-this-world ambient music will totally make up the difference. Your game had out-of-this-universe ambience, which did an excellent of making the game spooky, despite the lack of surprises.
- Some very seldom odd lighting issues, where it would seem a light was originating from no-where.
- Zombie/alien/whatever wasn't scary just standing there around the corner. To fix that, I would suggest:
> Have the player enter a
long corridor and have the zombie spawn aways down it.
> Then delete any references in the zombie's properties to any sounds, and that includes scripts.
> This way, when the player walks down the corridor, full of fog, it will appear as if the zombie/alien/whatever is walking straight towards the player
out of the fog. Oh, I can imagine the shear horror. The unknown, coming out of the spooky fog. Just classic.
Gameplay: 3/10
- Lag was very bad; you had 10 FPS at worst and maybe, 13 or 14 FPS
at best. This took away some of the scariness of the game.
- The generalized, almost unclear, objectives added to the creepiness of the game, which was good. Investigating something unknown (aliens) is already scary enough, but not really even knowing what you are doing? Can give some people the shivers. It can scare
some people to the point where they are terrified of moving from the very spot they are in. I probably would've had that reaction as well, except I've used FPSC for about a year and I know at least some of the tricks and tips behind the game, since I use the same engine
-
I could not find the gun! VERY BAD!!! (Hence the low score)
Where is the gun, anyway?
- I noticed you had some dynamic boxes, which appeared black in-game. I know that the larger one was necessary to complete the level, but I don't know what the smaller ones were for. Perhaps it would have been better for them to be static, as it looks like a bug to the person who doesn't use FPSC.
- I did not have to hold down the control button when traveling through the vent. Which is a good thing!
- Grained camera HUD was awesome!
- I thought the lamp was cool, but
The Storyteller 01 is right, it doesn't fit. And why are there medical tools, out on their trays and awaiting usage, in a warehouse??
- The exploration element was wonderful, but I got lost and couldn't figure out how to get to the vent, so I restarted the game, and then it occured to me that I ought to try getting another box and jumping on top of it to get to the vent. If you were to remake this game, I suggest you use voices and sound zones to give small hints to the player as to where to go. Just generalized things like, "I wonder if I can get into that vent up there. Maybe there are some aliens inside," will give the player a hint of what they are supposed to do.
Screens (Menu,Loading,etc.): 6/10
- I liked how you told the user to find something in the fridge on the loading screen since it might take a while to load. Very amusing, and considerate, I might add. By the way, it did not take long to load at all.
- The actual images don't really seem to match the overall theme of the game. I might reccommend grey or something darker for your next game.
- The background music for the loading and menu screens doesn't really seem to match the games as much as I thought it would. It has a really creepy, UFO-like tone to it up front, but then it breaks into drums and it just kind of ruins everything. Except for the former Area 51 employee part that comes in a little while after that. That was good.
- I like how you defined the objectives in a very brief, to-the-point, bullet points list (As I said above.)
- Excellent little message you put on the GAME OVER screen, it adds to the player's sense of failure and spurs him on to try it again to WIN!
Story: 1/10
- Story? What story?
Oh, yeah, you had the loading screen.
Bugs:
- The only bug I had was when I tried to start up the application away from the folder it resided in. If I tried to start it from the start menu, I would get: "Init error: Genre unknown."
- That's all I found! However, I did not try the save game feature, because it is typically so buggy, so we will see if anything comes up from it.
Quote: "The cam hud is so nicely unique, but it shouldn't stay up when a weapon is taken, because it completely destroys the illusion of the player holding the camera."
Same here.
Quote: "I'd call it " A game with a lot of potential to create a unique experience and storyline, but a lot of work has to be done to get there.""
Same here.
Quote: "There should have also been some cooling facilities "
Umm, could you explain that? I'm not sure what you mean by a "cooling facility."
However, when you average it all out, it comes to a pretty good 5/10. Great job, I'm happy to see a game like this!
Signing off,
Captain Coder
One of the most humbling days in your life will be the day you discover you AREN'T the best at what you love to do.
- Me
