Yes, we develop this as indie, without any publisher or big budgets. We are not limited by one shadow per object, but we still use only DirectX 9.0c tech, because once we started working on that, we were oriented on Xbox360. As for game complexity - it's a bit friendly now and you won't be killed by making any bad move. But i must notice, that difficulty level in the demo is somewhere between easy and normal. For hardcore fans, there will be hardcore modes
Ah, I see. I suppose it makes sense to stick with DX9c rather than spend extra time and money trying to upgrade it, and risk introducing bugs. Thanks for the info. It sounds good. I'll try to remember to test the demo and get back to you.
Update:
Tech
-Everything loaded quickly and ran smoothly.
-The gamma control also seemed backward compared to most games.
-The cascaded shadow maps, even on high settings, showed a very visible line between resolutions. I would expect high settings to have that line farther into the distance.
Gameplay
-It's not a real problem, but the default controls are a bit strange. In many games, "E" would be "use" and the spacebar would be "cover" but here it's the other way around.
-The movement seems a bit sluggish. Just turning around to face the opposite direction takes about twice as long as I'd expect, and the character took a little long to stop his forward motion sometimes.
-I didn't have any problems entering or leaving cover.
-Shooting doesn't feel like it has any impact. There's no recoil, camera shake, or any sense of power. I do like the limited amount of health that enemies seem to have. Combat doesn't get irritating.
-It's a little sad that "instinct" mode is showing up in so many games these days. I wish it wasn't there.
-It was unclear how close I could get to an enemy before they'd see me. The enemies seemed quite blind unless I was standing right in front of them. Maybe instinct shows that, but I tend to think that levels should be designed in a way that it's clear which areas you're likely to be spotted in.
-When I entered the castle, it said my objective was complete but I don't think it told me my next one. That would be nice to add, so players don't have to manually check.
-I wish I could shoot while crouching. It felt really strange not to be able to at least hold my weapon while crouched.
Other
-I really like the look of the title screen.
-The floorplan of the castle seemed strange in places (really skinny hallways near the entrance, for example) and the basement area seemed almost completely wasted, gameplay-wise.
-I hope you'll be getting the English text proofread. I didn't see any big issues, just sentences that were missing "the" and "is".
-The graphics are better than I expected from the screenshots.
-I disliked some of the footstep sounds and the weapons sounded weak, but I liked the environmental sounds (ex. leaves rustling, birds singing).
-The area felt a little more cramped than I remember from the previous games, but maybe that's just the demo level.
Bugs
-A soldier took cover on the wrong side of the wall at the top of the stairs in the first area.
Overall, I think it's coming along quite well. I may play it some more later.
Feedback
