Really cool game. From the visuals, I was expecting it to be a lot more jank, but the gameplay was surprisingly solid.
Things I liked:
- Finding hidden treasure, like under the capsized boat and behind some bushes.
- Enemies boarding your boat was awesome.
- Using the boat as a physics object to propel yourself to higher places.
Annoying things:
- Was hard to tell from a glance the state of the boats direction and speed. Maybe a singlular arrow showing what its currently set to would work.
- Gunplay wasn't so fun. Was hard to aim with a big, opaque crosshair. Having to manually reload felt unnecessary when emptying the clip.
I could definitely see this having potential. Mainly if you could overhaul the presentation, making the boat upgradeable (a turret would be cool) and finding new obstacles to get the boat around.
Heart of Evil, yeah right. I see what you did there. This Indiana Jones-ass game gives me some Brigand vibes, just with way more polished gunplay.
It didn’t let me pickup the machete, not sure if I did something wrong.
I fell in the water, great sound effect. It would be good for the controls list down in the corner to flash when it changes, I didn’t notice there was a climb key and was trying to push out.
The rudder turns you awfully fast at the slow speed, and it’s awkward to have to manually correct it like a throttle. It also seems like the first reverse gear is faster than the first forward? Maybe it’s just an optical illusion but it felt that way.
Would be good for the dialog about the locals blocking you up to not play as they start attacking you, I didn’t have time to read it.
You really have to get rid of those sprite enemies. Your style already has some serious clash but they especially stand out.
Really good sound effects for the revolver. The SFX in general are really, really good.
Switching to the dual revolver after crossing the rope thing was super-satisfying. Really felt like Big Iron there.
The inventory is seriously generous, making the consumables into carried items instead of instant pickups would immediately add some more tradeoffs. I never got close to running out of ammo.
The guys with the balaclavas should probably have the range at which they decide to stop and throw at you randomized so they don’t all bunch up and become headshot fodder.
Something’s really fucked with the camera when you’re looking really high or low, the horizontal sensitivity shoots up.
I didn’t notice the cave entrance until later, was going to ask if you’re supposed to use the blooker to rocket jump. I went back here after fighting the chieftain thinking I’d missed something and never even ended up using the coach gun.
The speargun isn’t very good in the cave though, it kept going straight through the piranhas and hitting the floor.
Really needs some pulpy safari music
Fighting the chieftain my health got down to 6.00000000001. It doesn’t seem to me like you’re storing health as a float so maybe it was a UI bug.
It didn’t let me pickup the machete, not sure if I did something wrong.
The interactable areas for pickups are all the same, you have to look at the handle or you won't get the prompt. I'll fix that.
You really have to get rid of those sprite enemies.
That's the plan but sprite enemies will stick around for a while more for testing reasons.
The speargun isn’t very good in the cave though, it kept going straight through the piranhas and hitting the floor.
Probably something to do with the sprite's billboarding misaligning the hitbox from the sprite. Another reason to get rid of sprites I guess.
The inventory is seriously generous
I knew I wasn't going to have enough time to balance it properly so I kept things simple for this demo. Inventory management will become more important later on.
The guys with the balaclavas should probably have the range at which they decide to stop and throw at you randomized
They have some cooldown variation but only after they fire. I'll make sure they're less synchronized.
Thanks again for playing and for the comment, much appreciated.
Already played this game before, so I'll just say what comes to mind.
-Seems like enemy spotting the player sounds aren't based on position. So it caught me off guard and made me wheel around to look for enemies, where instead he was off in the distance in front of me.
-A little odd how you need to press E to pick up ammo, but you automatically eat food for health.
-I crashed and got flung off the boat, which is cool intended or otherwise.
-Sea monkeys jumping out is really fun enemy idea.
-Teaching the player that the game has rocket jumping by putting a prize above the thumper is nice.
-I somehow have 3 hands? Don't know how, I think I was switching weapons while reloading on the boat.
-Underwater tunnel is cool. But I can't see anything, I basically had to hug the wall and hope it was a straight line.
-Purple wizard encounter, I rocket jumped out of the hole, which made it easier to beat him obviously. Intended? I think it was cool to do that. Afterwards though, I notice that in one corner the terrain lets you just jump up it instead to leave the pit. Eh.
-At that encounter, I managed to wedge my Boat. No matter which speed or direction I do, I can't get unstuck. Sad. Was going to load my game, but I first wanted to check out what was ahead. Oops. now it saved over and I have no boat, and there's only one save slot.
-Good thing I pressed on, it was the final boss. I like the fight, having an aggressive guy who chases you down is a bit more fun than strafing a wizard. Wonder if my character will somehow make it out alright with no boat.
Big improvement on last time, keep up the good work.
-A little odd how you need to press E to pick up ammo, but you automatically eat food for health.
The inventory system isn't fleshed out yet, I wasn't sure how to balance weight and healing so I kept it simple for the demo.
-Underwater tunnel is cool. But I can't see anything
It's meant to be disorienting to a degree, but I'll make a mental note of adding a flashlight later on.
Sorry about the boat getting stuck, I smoothed out that part of the map and didn't get enough time to test it properly. Same for the shaman fight, I figure I'd let clever players grenade jump away but I didn't realize you could jump out of it normally. Whoops.
Wonder if my character will somehow make it out alright with no boat.
There's a gate that opens when the boss dies which takes you to the next level if you drive your boat into it, but it's an empty map with a "thanks for playing" message that's only there to showcase the player's inventory carrying through to different scenes, you're not missing much.
Thanks again for the comment, I'll fix those bugs asap.
The concept of running around in a semi-open island world with a boat and guns is actually really fun. Enemy death animations are well-done and the combat is satisfying. There are a handful of things I would critique though:
1. Hitscan weapons have no spray, so I could cheese enemies from 1000 yards away just by clicking on them with the pistol
2. All sounds seem to be audiostreams setup on the player camera; since its a 3d game you should use 3d audiostreams and place them positionally where they make sense. All the sounds of enemies making noise or throwing spears is always perceived as though it were next to the player's head no matter how far away the enemy is
3. Player movement and speed is nice and responsive though I think the jump physics should give player more control in the air and have less momentum
4. The mash up of enemies with 3d models and 2d sprite models is jarring. the color schemes aren't coordinated and the theme is inconsistent.
5. Auto-save when approaching islands can trigger at weird times and leave you in bad spots for reloads.
Overall I think some touch ups on the worldEnvironment would go a long way; more dynamic lighting/commitment to one art style/brighter blue sky/water etc. A shader effect on the water to create some waves would also give more of the feel of being on open water rather than in a big swimming pool.
The sprites enemies are placeholder they'll be changed with 3d models eventually. Most enemy sounds use directional audio, but some sounds weren't attenuated enough, I lowered the unit size and it feels better now. I'll tweak the physics some more so that the jumping feels better.
Comments
Really cool game. From the visuals, I was expecting it to be a lot more jank, but the gameplay was surprisingly solid.
Things I liked:
- Finding hidden treasure, like under the capsized boat and behind some bushes.
- Enemies boarding your boat was awesome.
- Using the boat as a physics object to propel yourself to higher places.
Annoying things:
- Was hard to tell from a glance the state of the boats direction and speed. Maybe a singlular arrow showing what its currently set to would work.
- Gunplay wasn't so fun. Was hard to aim with a big, opaque crosshair. Having to manually reload felt unnecessary when emptying the clip.
I could definitely see this having potential. Mainly if you could overhaul the presentation, making the boat upgradeable (a turret would be cool) and finding new obstacles to get the boat around.
Hey thanks for playing.
That's definitely a better idea than the current UI, will do something like that when I get around reworking the boat UI.
I'll fix the crosshair. I might make it so the gun reloads automatically if you fire when they're empty or at least add an option for it, we'll see.
Yeah one is planned but the boat will stay in its barebones state for a while, it's relatively low priority at the moment.
Thanks again for the feedback!
Heart of Evil, yeah right. I see what you did there. This Indiana Jones-ass game gives me some Brigand vibes, just with way more polished gunplay.
It didn’t let me pickup the machete, not sure if I did something wrong.
I fell in the water, great sound effect. It would be good for the controls list down in the corner to flash when it changes, I didn’t notice there was a climb key and was trying to push out.
The rudder turns you awfully fast at the slow speed, and it’s awkward to have to manually correct it like a throttle. It also seems like the first reverse gear is faster than the first forward? Maybe it’s just an optical illusion but it felt that way.
Would be good for the dialog about the locals blocking you up to not play as they start attacking you, I didn’t have time to read it.
You really have to get rid of those sprite enemies. Your style already has some serious clash but they especially stand out.
Really good sound effects for the revolver. The SFX in general are really, really good.
Switching to the dual revolver after crossing the rope thing was super-satisfying. Really felt like Big Iron there.
The inventory is seriously generous, making the consumables into carried items instead of instant pickups would immediately add some more tradeoffs. I never got close to running out of ammo.
The guys with the balaclavas should probably have the range at which they decide to stop and throw at you randomized so they don’t all bunch up and become headshot fodder.
Something’s really fucked with the camera when you’re looking really high or low, the horizontal sensitivity shoots up.
I didn’t notice the cave entrance until later, was going to ask if you’re supposed to use the blooker to rocket jump. I went back here after fighting the chieftain thinking I’d missed something and never even ended up using the coach gun.
The speargun isn’t very good in the cave though, it kept going straight through the piranhas and hitting the floor.
Really needs some pulpy safari music
Fighting the chieftain my health got down to 6.00000000001. It doesn’t seem to me like you’re storing health as a float so maybe it was a UI bug.
Really cool game, keep it up.
Thanks for the feedback!
The interactable areas for pickups are all the same, you have to look at the handle or you won't get the prompt. I'll fix that.
That's the plan but sprite enemies will stick around for a while more for testing reasons.
Probably something to do with the sprite's billboarding misaligning the hitbox from the sprite. Another reason to get rid of sprites I guess.
I knew I wasn't going to have enough time to balance it properly so I kept things simple for this demo. Inventory management will become more important later on.
They have some cooldown variation but only after they fire. I'll make sure they're less synchronized.
Thanks again for playing and for the comment, much appreciated.
Already played this game before, so I'll just say what comes to mind.
-Seems like enemy spotting the player sounds aren't based on position. So it caught me off guard and made me wheel around to look for enemies, where instead he was off in the distance in front of me.
-A little odd how you need to press E to pick up ammo, but you automatically eat food for health.
-I crashed and got flung off the boat, which is cool intended or otherwise.
-Sea monkeys jumping out is really fun enemy idea.
-Teaching the player that the game has rocket jumping by putting a prize above the thumper is nice.
-I somehow have 3 hands? Don't know how, I think I was switching weapons while reloading on the boat.
-Underwater tunnel is cool. But I can't see anything, I basically had to hug the wall and hope it was a straight line.
-Purple wizard encounter, I rocket jumped out of the hole, which made it easier to beat him obviously. Intended? I think it was cool to do that. Afterwards though, I notice that in one corner the terrain lets you just jump up it instead to leave the pit. Eh.
-At that encounter, I managed to wedge my Boat. No matter which speed or direction I do, I can't get unstuck. Sad. Was going to load my game, but I first wanted to check out what was ahead. Oops. now it saved over and I have no boat, and there's only one save slot.
-Good thing I pressed on, it was the final boss. I like the fight, having an aggressive guy who chases you down is a bit more fun than strafing a wizard. Wonder if my character will somehow make it out alright with no boat.
Big improvement on last time, keep up the good work.
Thanks for playing and for the feedback!
The inventory system isn't fleshed out yet, I wasn't sure how to balance weight and healing so I kept it simple for the demo.
It's meant to be disorienting to a degree, but I'll make a mental note of adding a flashlight later on.
Sorry about the boat getting stuck, I smoothed out that part of the map and didn't get enough time to test it properly. Same for the shaman fight, I figure I'd let clever players grenade jump away but I didn't realize you could jump out of it normally. Whoops.
There's a gate that opens when the boss dies which takes you to the next level if you drive your boat into it, but it's an empty map with a "thanks for playing" message that's only there to showcase the player's inventory carrying through to different scenes, you're not missing much.
Thanks again for the comment, I'll fix those bugs asap.
The concept of running around in a semi-open island world with a boat and guns is actually really fun. Enemy death animations are well-done and the combat is satisfying. There are a handful of things I would critique though:
1. Hitscan weapons have no spray, so I could cheese enemies from 1000 yards away just by clicking on them with the pistol
2. All sounds seem to be audiostreams setup on the player camera; since its a 3d game you should use 3d audiostreams and place them positionally where they make sense. All the sounds of enemies making noise or throwing spears is always perceived as though it were next to the player's head no matter how far away the enemy is
3. Player movement and speed is nice and responsive though I think the jump physics should give player more control in the air and have less momentum
4. The mash up of enemies with 3d models and 2d sprite models is jarring. the color schemes aren't coordinated and the theme is inconsistent.
5. Auto-save when approaching islands can trigger at weird times and leave you in bad spots for reloads.
Overall I think some touch ups on the worldEnvironment would go a long way; more dynamic lighting/commitment to one art style/brighter blue sky/water etc. A shader effect on the water to create some waves would also give more of the feel of being on open water rather than in a big swimming pool.
Thanks for playing!
The sprites enemies are placeholder they'll be changed with 3d models eventually.
Most enemy sounds use directional audio, but some sounds weren't attenuated enough, I lowered the unit size and it feels better now.
I'll tweak the physics some more so that the jumping feels better.
Thanks again for the feedback.