next »

[Vania]

So your goal is to rescue the people lying around the building (Lead them to one of the exits).
The closer you are to them the louder you'll hear their heartbeat (GGJ )

You have to deal with fire, smoke that floods the building and zombies.

Keys:
D- action key, run open doors, pick up items...
A- use item
E- open inventory

I would really like some feedback and ideas for this game, since I'm a bit stuck.

To play:

goto: https://www.fgl.com/login.php?username=bombero
user: bombero
password: tester

Programmer graphics WARNING!

[Quicksand-S]

Why zombies? When I saw that in the title, I almost didn't try it. Kinda sick of zombies by now.

Anyway, I like that the fire spreads. Sound effects were good choices.

Path-finding had a few little issues, and my own character stopped whenever I tried to move along the wall past a door.

I found it pretty boring and slow-paced, though. I found out that I could run, but I didn't see anything about a run key in the first level, so it was just tedious (Note: I realize now that you say it in this post, but it should be obvious in the game). Saving people was not challenge with fire all around. I imagine zombies make it harder (I didn't play the later levels much), but shouldn't getting through a burning building be challenging?

I think one big thing you could do to improve the gameplay would be to include environmental puzzles of some sort. Maybe just give the player more options, like breaking through a wall to get to someone but risking letting smoke and fire into the room.

Consider letting the player start outside of the buildings (as opposed to these "courtyards" or whatever) and giving them multiple options for getting inside. They should probably get a map beforehand, so they can plan where to go and try to figure out where people would most likely go to get away from the fire. People should be placed randomly in those sorts of locations.

I think the game just needs to be tense in some way. It is, after all, about running into burning buildings to rescue people. You should have to make a plan and try to execute it as efficiently as possible before the fire and smoke make it impossible.

Just my opinion. I may be making it too much like the old Rainbow Six games in my mind. I don't know.

[Vania]

I like the idea about placing the player outside the building.
I'm trying to think about more environmental hazards, you're right it should be a lot harder to get through the building. Maybe gaps to jump over, gas leaks, cinders falling from the ceiling...

Also it seems the tutorial levels should be a lot shorter and to the point, so as not to bore skilled players. Now that I think about it the game doesn't get challenging until level 5 or 6...

Thanks for the feedback.

[toborprime]

Really interesting concept. I like it. The sound is fantastic! There is some nice feedback when using the axe on zombies and on doors.

I agree that this game could benefit from some puzzles - like trying to minimize smoke getting into a room while trying to save stranded people. I think giving the npcs a health value of some sort that gets taken away from too much smoke inhalation or any other hazards would definitely make the game feel more tense... unless you already have that in there and I just didn't notice.

Using the item interface felt a bit clunky - I didn't like switching between mouse and keyboard whenever I opened the inventory. A hotkey for swapping between items like the axe and fire extinguisher would be welcome... again, unless this feature is already present and I just didn't realize it

Destroying the hint objects after reading them would also be welcome - maybe having a hint journal or some such thing in the inventory so you could access previously discovered hints and tutorials?

Overall great concept and with some spit and polish graphics wise (themed tilesets for levels would be cool, i.e. office building, warehouse, home, etc.) this game could really shine.

Thanks for the opportunity to play!

[Vania]

I was thinking about making 3 very quick tutorials and then just one HUGE level.
Maybe that would encourage players to play again and try to do a little better, and since failure would be normal I can get away with adding more challenging parts.
People and items could change positions between plays too. All items would need to wear off for this to work.

About the puzzle part, I can make doors that are near thick smoke change color, that way you know that if you break that door smoke is going to flood the place. So you have to decide when to breach it.

I had a button for cycling through items before but people complained, I'll add a way to control the inventory without mouse.

Thanks Matt

[toborprime]

Somewhat randomly generated content on different playthroughs sounds rad! Always a fan of that.

I'm surprised to hear that there were complaints with having hotkeys for the inventory - bummer.

Color coded doors sounds like a great way (in addition to the locked green door you had) to introduce more puzzle-y mechanics.

I'd be interested to throw some sprites your way (fireman, zombie, distressed person, etc.), if don't have any/aren't doing any already. PM me if that sounds good.

Otherwise, it'll be cool to see how this progresses!

 

[helgravis]

I also had problems switching equipments (took me a minute to figure I had to use the mouse, since I thought the game was keyboard only). It just didn't feel right that I had to switch from keyboard to mouse. A cycle button sounds nice, and maybe you can leave the mouse drag feature for people who want it.

I somewhat agree with Quicksand-S. I did find the zombies a bit out of place too, but I think you can make it work if you change the setting a bit (like maybe saving scientists in a top secret laboratory?).

[B6ka]

Wanted to check the first level and ended up playing four. I like the concept and I am sure you can develop the trade-offs between air and actions further. When I put the mask, I had hard time breathing, similar effect to one moment from 2001 Space Oddessey when a guy goes to space in a suit. Here are my suggestions (only for the first four levels, do not know what is after):

1) Obviously, improve the sprites and graphics in general. You can have your screen sprayed with water or foam when you use fire-extinguisher or with blood if a zombie beats you and many more other effects. Music would not hurt as well, though I did enjoy your sound effects.
2) Possibility to cycle through weapons/items, equip/remove mask (as already noted).
3) Zombies are fine though kind of overused but you can add a twist that there are some type of zombies that spread fire like fire, or some cultists that do this and turn people into zombies, possibilities are endless.
4) I really like the mechanic of the smoke spreading. But once you extinguish fire the smoke level should probably go down. I do not know how you model this, but it would be nice to have some sort of global sources of fire and smoke that spread gradually from room to room. I think fire should also be spreading if there is some material near it unless you destroy the material.
5) Also agree with the folks here that you should have a map. In one of the levels I found all but one of the persons, and was too lazy to go through everywhere one more time. This is why I quit.

Good luck with your game, and hope to play a finished version.