TIGSource Forums

We're a group of students looking to get feedback and visibility for our game. It's currently unfinished and still in development.

Here's our website: www.subraygame.com
Download link can be directly found here: http://downloads.digipen.edu/arcade/downloads/0688/SubRay_Setup.exe

Feedback posted here or in our forums on our site would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Gameplay Screenshot:
(http://games.digipen.edu/system/photos/2204/original/SubRay1thumb.jpg)

Oh, you fancy DigiPen kids and your crazy tech.  :handmoneyR:

I like the style and it controls pretty well, although I disliked the jerky movement while cloaked.

-The cutscene that starts off the gameplay seemed off a bit. It was like it jumped from the shot of my ship flying to a more zoomed-out shot of the same thing, which was a bit jarring.
-When I went off the bottom of the screen, I wasn't sure if I had gone to another area or if I'd just found an unfinished part. It takes a surprisingly long time for the next area to show up. Maybe some sort of feedback would be good, to show that what's happening is supposed to happen. Even if the fade-to-black was faster, that'd help. As it is, I thought maybe my flashlight was just out of range.
-The flashlight doesn't feel bright enough to me. I drove slowly right into a monster while my flashlight was on it, because I was looking at just how dim the light gets when its over a dark background. Also, not all the ground (particularly near the beginning) has that edge glow when aimed at.
-It would be nice if monsters' eyes glowed when you shone the light on them, even if it was just subtle. Then again, it just depends on what sort of game you're going for. I didn't feel like the game was meant to be played slowly until I ran into those monsters.
-I found the placement of the second monster (at the end of a corridor) both annoying because I couldn't see it and a bit misleading. It seemed to suggest that I had to think of some way to get past it, and the checkpoint position (placed after the path I should've taken) seemed to reinforce that idea.
-I wish the gun charged just a tiny bit faster (by that I mean a 5-10% speed increase or something, nothing major)...or that it didn't exist. A part of me was happy to get it, and a part of me was disappointed that the game had shooting in it like most games out there.

Bug: The game crashed when I tried to return to the starting area from the second area.

Issue/weirdness: I blew up a boulder to get into a cavern and the camera shifted into the cavern while I went flying backward from the explosion, so I was basically out of sight for a moment. It was strange.

I feel like the game takes a little too long to open up. It seemed really uninteresting at first, because there was only ever one route to take, without even a superficially alternate path to try. Then, when it finally opened up it was in an area where I could hardly see anything at all so it still didn't feel great. I think that showing the flashlight beam more, even on dark backgrounds, would give the game a bit more of a lively feeling.

I stopped playing when I got destroyed by a swarm of stingrays in a place where I couldn't see where I was going. While cloaked, one of them somehow spotted me even though I avoided the spots I with the sonar. I didn't feel like dealing with them a second time. It's a decent game and shows potential. I felt like it was heading toward becoming something I'd enjoy, but I find it more frustrating than fun at this point in time.

What do they feed you guys at DigiPen?  There always seems to be a new weird and wonderful game coming out of that place!

Played with a controller, once I figured out that the right shoulder button was for turning on and off your light (and not sending out a sonar ping) I loved it.  I agree with quicksand that the light could be a TINY bit stronger - not too much though or it would ruin the game.

I don't think you should make the enemies more visible, I loved the way with the bigger enemies that you were never too sure what was scenery and what was an enemy until you were up close.  It makes you use caution, and really ups the tension when you're exploring the unknown depths.

I'm happy with the gun, with the slow recharge time forcing you to use stealth and not just blast your way through the enemies.  Though if you're planing on making the game longer, you could have a longer amount of time at the beginning without it, or change things up with some new weaponry - such as charging the surface of your ship with electricity (electric eel style) or decoys.

The ending was superb!  It felt as tense and unnerving as a good survival horror game, really left me wanting more.

Bug report: The game crashed the first time I played, just as I turned the 360 controller on.  But worked fine after that.

Great work & good luck with the game.  :)
 

Quicksand-S, Thanks, we're hoping to do further iterations of the stealth movement to make it more easy to control/intuitive.

I plan on adding a light on the second Vine Lurker (chompy enemy) to make sure that it is illuminated per your feedback, it's intended as another instance of the enemy for the player to familiarize themselves with.

Also I loved the shimmering eyes suggestion, I really want to implement it, it's just a matter of time.

All your feedback was really great, if you'd like to be credited as a playtester you can PM me the name you would be credited under. Thanks for playing!

AlphaBetaGamer, They structure things to encourage 70 to 80 hour work weeks and enough resources to accomplish just about anything you put your mind to. =P

I'm going to play with making the light a little more visible, it's hard as everyone's monitors are calibrated differently to fine tune it across everything.

I'm really glad you liked the tentative ending, it was a hard decision of what to do with our limited time as we're about to start working full-time as teachers unless we find some way to fund development.

Your feedback means a lot to us. Thanks for playing!