A few months ago, I posted my work so far of a game I'd been working on. A zombie apocalypse survival game. It was pretty similar to Survivor: The Living Dead by Pyroklastic and after a while that started to piss me off and I started again from scratch.
After many hours, days, weeks, work... I've finally got the scrolling, rooms, doors, lighting and shadows working the way I want.
It would be great to get some criticism. What works, what doesn't, be harsh if you need to.
Not zombies yet. Just a house to walk around in and flick the lights on and off.
CONTROLS
Left / Right: Walk
Space bar: Open doors
Up / Down: Pass through doors
Enter: Toggle light switches
~: Debug
I'm interested to see what people think of the scrolling.
Also, the back door (leading from the kitchen to outside). If you walk through this door while it's open, by default you enter the house. To stay outside, you hold down. Is this awkward?
Wow...You've done a tremendous amount of work on this, and it shows.
The doors and shadows and everything look phenomenal. I like the way the player can shift from one "layer" of the house to the next; the visuals of "fading" flow with the effect aesthetically and make the change natural and expected. You've definitely addressed your earlier issues.
Depending on how things go with fighting zombies, you may want to make vertical doors (for lack of a better term..."vertical doors" as in, those with a thickness of 0 when closed, like the Bathroom Door) be interior doors only. This will prevent confusion of a player deliberately versus accidentally re-entering the house while running around in the woods.
You've mastered slopes, it looks like. Have you tried stairs? I can imagine Castlevania-style stairs working very well for this style of game.
Oh, and I recommend you change the level design so that the light switch and open/close doors can be operated by the same key/button.
One button for actions; one button for attacking; one button to access menus. Keep things simple, so the player can focus on the action instead of navigating your controls.
I remember having a reason for using different button to open doors and toggle lightswitches but no idea what that reason was. Space bar does both now and the game feels much better. I've updated the link too with this change. Cheers!
As for the vertical door in the kitchen (I've been calling them "side doors" haha), I hear what you are saying. But I really want there to be 2 entrances to the house, making holding off zombies and boarding up doors much more frantic and challenging.
My alternate options are:
2 front doors: which houses do not have.
1 front door and 1 back door: but then the player must be able to walk behind the house. Not sure how to go about this.
Or what I've gone for: 1 front door and 1 side door, which works alright I think.
I admit it does feel weird going in and out quickly but I'm hoping it will add to the horror or something like that.
I'm hoping to have 10 or so different levels, each level, a different and more challenging house. Most of thegame play is going to be inside the house so I opted for, by default, walking passed a side door takes you inside the house, as opposed to walking passed the outside of the house. Holding down will allow you to walk past. I tried this the other way round, with holding up to walk in, but it didn't feel right.
I totally see your point in terms of the side door (which is such a simpler way to put it! ) of the house, and it adding another dimension to the gameplay. If most of the action is intended to be in the house anyway, it makes sense to let the player easily enter as well as exit.
About camera scrolling: I noticed that while outside of the house, the camera freely moves back and forth, but when in the house the camera is fixed. I think this is a wise choice; it's probably less of an issue for graphics processors as well, cutting down on choppiness in general. If you choose to have buildings with more than a single level, I recommend you move the camera when the player begins ascending or descending the steps, with it arriving at the floor's fixed point at roughly the same time the player can begin controlling their x-axis movement. Not any earth-shattering feedback, but I realized I hadn't mentioned anything about it until now, while you asked for it at the outset.
Locked doors worked fine, no issues to report with either entrance door to the house. Again, I reiterate that keeping the buttons simple for a player is something to aspire to: one button for attacks, one button for actions, and one button for menus. The current dilemma with the House Keys is that you can't choose to unlock a door, open a door, close a door, and lock a door with the same button. That's too many flags for a simple "switch," I'd imagine.
I'd recommend that the player have one item in their hand, and that would be the attack button; this would include House Keys (which means that you would need a different name for the key/button instead of "attack," I suppose). The menu button would allow a player to quickly switch between weapons and other hand-held objects. Let the "action" button do things such as open and close doors, cabinets, boxes, etc. and perform a general search, as well as confirm actions with a "yes" or "no" choice to be made.
I'm sure you've already put a lot of thought into this aspect of the gameplay, but I wanted to share my thoughts on it.
Looking forward to seeing your shambling zombies in an upcoming build, C.
Thanks again s-m-r- for more (earth shattering!) feedback. It really helps! Yes, I do have visions of multiple story houses. Mansions! Complete with balcony's, attics and basements. I was planning something similar to what you suggested for the scrolling. When you walk up/down stairs, the camera follows and centers on the new area. I like the idea that you can only really see the room you are in. Makes it more scary!
I'm sorry to say I'm not to familiar with the Castlevania games. Which game, and what are the stairs like?
I really do want to keep the controls simple. But, I am fairly sure (although very open to suggestions) that I must have a separate key to lock/unlock doors. I want the player to be able to do so without dropping their weapon, so it can't be the same as the fire key. It can't be the same as the open door/lightswitch key because you have to be able to open a door or lock/unlock it (separate key required). It can't be the same as the search key because there will be items behind doors. There must! Houses are cramped and there are things everywhere! Even behind doors.
Pretty much like a play station game. Triangle, Square, Cross, Circle and Select.
That being said, however, I did experiment with holding the DOWN KEY plus the OPEN DOOR KEY to lock/unlock it but it didn't go to well. I'll have another crack at it and see how it feels.
I really appreciate your suggestions, so thank you! And yes! Zombies coming very soon. Next, I am doing character animations, which includes zombies. Cheers!
I think your four buttons + a "select" key would work very well, especially if you gave players the option to use a gamepad! Can't wait for the zombies. Are we talking shuffling Romero-esque ghouls or 28 Days Later style running/jumping types? Or both!?
There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary and those who don't.
You can also look up Castlevania II and III, on the same website.
Main features are:
- if the player presses UP anywhere near the bottom of the steps, the player automatically moves to the base of the stairs
- once on the steps the player can move either up or down by pressing UP, DOWN, LEFT, or RIGHT; their left or right movement is based on the orientation of the stairs themselves
- the player can walk past the base of a staircase without automatically going up them. If at the edge of a platform, the player must press DOWN to begin using the stairs. Players can "fall through" the steps unless they engage them at the base or top of the stairs by pressing UP or DOWN, respectively.
- jumping is not possible while on stairs.
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Edited by Chris Burrows
) of the house, and it adding another dimension to the gameplay. If most of the action is intended to be in the house anyway, it makes sense to let the player easily enter as well as exit.
