Some ideas and critiques!

Share your ideas and thoughts for the game with the community and team.
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seapunksundog
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2016 7:57 pm
Location: definitely not in that barrel over there

Hey there! I recently finished the pre-release version and I'm super impressed with it!! I just have a few ideas and little criticisms with it here and there i thought I should share! :)

[*]It was not very obvious that I was being poisoned by the mushrooms in the sewer. Took me a few deaths to realize it was the mushrooms and not the leeches killing me in one hit. Maybe add a ui effect for poisoning or a more low-key sign in front of the sewer entrance that says BEWARE POISON MUSHROOMS or something?

[*]perhaps an option to make important interact-able objects shimmer? The cabinet with the plague doctor mask in it was unnecessarily hard to find imo, same thing with the door that ended up being in a dark corner of the castle. Paying someone to point to the objective feels a little lazy...

[*]There's a whooooooooole lot of going back to the prison to pick up a thing missions and I got tired of it pretty quickly. More puzzles and less fetch quests would be up my alley. Maybe instead of "go get this thing back there" the character could offer a clue to access a secret/new room to find quest objects? I feel like this would make the castle seem much more expansive and would allow for easily adding things to the map (look at this new hallway through this seeecret doooor woooOooOOoo).

[*]perhaps expand on the pick pocketing angle? Maybe some guards could be carrying florins, potions, quest items or food instead of just a handkerchief.

[*]Expand on the idea that you can knock out guards. I understand this definitely isn't a battle oriented game but I feel like a well angled bottle or rock to the head should at least buy you a few seconds.

[*]More feedback with effects in general. It's very hard to notice when I'm taking damage. Perhaps making the health bar a little bigger? or adding a painful squeek sound effect ( :( )

[*]night should definitely effect the visual range of the guards. It feels a little odd that they can see me in the pitch darkness across the yard >.>

[*]more effects with costumes! Perhaps giving a boost to stealth with the thief's outfit or a dodging mechanic with the pirate costume that allows you to pary attacks with a stick (like a pirate's scabbard....yar)

[*]make the difference between hearing and visual meters more distinct or perhaps get rid of the two separate meters and turn it into a single, more traditional "awareness meter" that goes up when the player is too loud (not sneaking) or in their visual cone. Stopping to wait for the hearing meter to go down feels clunky. Eventually i just gave up on stealth all together and ran past everybody to get to the next hiding spot.

[*]perhaps moving traps to make them work for you instead of against you? For example moving a bear trap to catch a guard's tail instead of yours!

[*]Edge sneaking like in Sly Cooper and more climbing feels like it would make sense since I often see mice scuttering about in trees.


That's all i got so far! I hope these are of some use to y'all. Great job on what you have so far by the way! :D im excited to see what comes next
fakenina
Posts: 126
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2014 9:53 pm

Hi seapunksundog,

Thanks for your feedback! Your suggestions are all great, definitely worth investigation, and consistent with the spirit of the game. A few have come up previously in suggestions from other players, and some fit with what we'd already planned, but there's a lot of good, new things there.

Damage feedback on UI:
Look out for the UI effect in a future build!

Interact-able object shimmer:
We're not planning to implement a special 'shimmer' effect on interactive objects, but Seith is working on making some more visible. I'll make sure this comment reaches his ears. :)

Shortcuts/backtracking/Quest variation:

Yes!! There will be more shortcuts in the final release. Also, bear in mind that the quests you're seeing in the early access release are mainly secondary ones. There will be a lot more variation (including puzzles!) in the final release.

Expanded pick-pocketing:
This is great! We'll definitely do more of this.

Knocking out guards with projectiles:
Right now you should be able to knock out most guards by hitting them in the head with a bottle (except for the guard wearing the full-face helmet), and we're considering other types of weapons Tilo could use to buy himself time. Also, in a future build there should be a timer that will indicate to the player the time remaining before the guard wakes up again.

Feedback Effects:
Good suggestion, I'll pass it on to Seith.

Guards' vision at night:
Agreed! We're aware of this issue for sure. This one is more of a technical challenge, but we're working on possible solutions.

Costume benefits/abilities:
Absolutely! There will definitely be special costume abilities. The 'parry' idea is not one we've considered, though. Again, I'll raise it with Seith.

Awareness meter:
The two types of indicator (sound and vision) were introduced fairly recently, in response to player feedback. The issue here is that the two types of awareness require a different response from the player. If you've been heard then the correct response is to move more carefully, or to stop, whereas if Tilo is in danger of being seen the correct response is to run and find cover. It makes sense therefore to differentiate between the two.

BTW Seith's working on a significant AI overhaul in response to player feedback, so it should be a lot harder to just run past the guards as the game progresses.

Moving and rearming traps:
YES!!! Love it!

Edge sneaking:
Interesting, and something I'll talk with Seith about.

Thanks again for taking the time to write. If you have any more suggestions in a similar vein, don't hesitate to let us know!

FN
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