Alpha 0.3 Discussion [SPOILERS]

[matt]

The new build is live! We didn't quite finish the art pass on the latest level, and it's missing the proper ending as well, but I want to get feedback on our new enemy type, and it's been so long since I pushed a build, I bit the bullet and put it out anyway.

I'd love to hear what you think!

Thanks for playing!

[JPrice]

Oh shit!
Shall play it now and give you my initial thoughts

----Edit----
Ok before I post my impressions, may I ask something?
When you get to the second pile of bodies right after you wake up in the office: http://i.imgur.com/F3gDTxF.jpg is there a way to get past or did you guys put it there intentionally as you said it's "missing the proper ending"? Because I'm stuck here and can't find a way past, I've tried like luring him out or slowly creeping past but that doesn't work, plus he doesn't move outside of that region to sneak past at all

----Edit 2----
I'll have to go to bed soon so I'll just post my impressions anyway:

Previous three levels
- Still as great as ever
- The transition from the first level into the second, completely threw me off guard! I was like "Whoa hey Gabrielle" hahaha
- Dialogue is temp I know (Nice voice acting though Matt hahaha)
- The stairs animation is really neat, looks really smooth and I personally really dig it
- The end of the third level was surprising with the body in the room near the candle gaining even more mystery (Also the stabbing itself was pretty grim )
- The new rendition of the "Lost Child" music is an improvement, albeit a subtle one. It's somehow even creepier than before so good job to Skyler on that one

New fourth level
The big new element in this build now!
- Immediately entering this area, especially with that banging door and the screams of agony, was terrifying. I was literally just thinking "Ohhhhh I don't wanna go out there " hahaha
- The whole setting in the Mental Hospital was great, a good change of scenery from the previous levels. Breaks things up nicely
- The new enemy: Love the design of them, fits the world well
- The new enemy: Their mechanic is pretty interesting, different to the "Baby" prior. I did die immediately to them the first time I saw one as I was running at the time, I like the idea of taking it slow and not getting too close.
- The new enemy: I did run into one instance where I died like 3 times to one of them around half way through, as the gap was rather tight to slip past. Just figured I'd mention it! I can give you video of the place I mean if need
- The new enemy: Overall a positive addition, one that adds to the game pretty nicely
- The blood effects in the hospital were great, loved how they progressively got more and more prevelant
- When I first saw a pile of dead bodies in that huge pile, I literally cringed because of how nasty it looked (Good job whoever drew that hahaha)
- The transition when you end up in the office with Gabrielle is really jarring (In a good way) and raises a lot of questions in regards to the story

Overall I'd say it's a pretty great build
However there probably needs to be some minor tweaking to the new enemies and their placement on occasion, but hey it's only the first instance they've been used in the game so should be fine to sort out! Aside from that there are some minor polishing things in the Hospital level if I really had to nitpick and such, just stuff like shadow clipping and general art refinement.

Still you should be proud so far! Great job team haha

[matt]

is there a way to get past or did you guys put it there intentionally as you said it's "missing the proper ending"? Because I'm stuck here and can't find a way past, I've tried like luring him out or slowly creeping past but that doesn't work, plus he doesn't move outside of that region to sneak past at all

Yeah there is definitely a way to get past it. It's actually quite easy if you know the solution, but I guess the solution isn't as easy to figure out as I hoped. That is what I was afraid of. I don't want to say the secret because I want to see if anyone can get past it.

You'll know when you reach the end of the demo because it'll be a black screen that says "You've finished the demo." and then a menu with two options "Take Survey" or "Restart".

The new enemy: I did run into one instance where I died like 3 times to one of them around half way through, as the gap was rather tight to slip past. Just figured I'd mention it! I can give you video of the place I mean

Yeah I'd like that!

When I first saw a pile of dead bodies in that huge pile, I literally cringed because of how nasty it looked (Good job whoever drew that hahaha)

That was Chris. I think he nailed it! When I originally prototyped the setups, I used the collapsed ceiling from the previous level. We originally didn't know what to put there that would work, but I figured a pile of bodies would be the same shape and explain where all the guards went.

Still you should be proud so far! Great job team haha

Thanks! I'm glad to hear you like it, but I'm bummed the final set up is too hard.

[gagaplex]

I won't get to play it till the weekend, but I'll definitely give my impressions again like last time, once I get around to it! Man, I'm excited.

[matt]

It's pretty cool! Two people have taken the survey, and they both said the new level is their favorite.

I still feel terrible that JPrice got stuck. Seems like I have a lot more work to do... :-/

[jknoxdabass]

I am having some difficulty loading the new build actually. Steam downloads it, and when I go to play the game, I'm met with nothing but a black screen and the title music. The music is creepy as anything and I love it, but I would love to play the new levels. Is there anything i can do to fix this?

[JPrice]

I still feel terrible that JPrice got stuck. Seems like I have a lot more work to do... :-/

Ahhhh don't worry about it Matt! I'm sure there's something obvious I'm missing, I can do that sometimes hahaha. I'll have a careful inspection now and see how it goes

----Edit----
Yup sure enough I did figure out in the end how to do it, feel pretty silly now that I didn't get it earlier hahaha
Was right at the end as well so that's pretty funny

I won't post what I feel about the solution yet as I want to see how others get on with it, could be that I was the only case of someone who got stuck so don't fret yet Matt! Could turn out to be OK

[siovannie]

I love the new level. It's really creepy, and the new enemies are great as well. You really need to be careful, I sometimes stood too close to them and died. I also couldn't get past the second pile of bodies. I tried multiple things, but I kept dying. I also liked the additions to the other levels with the sister. And the music is still amazing, it just keeps getting better.
I noticed a glitch in my game. But in the last level, only the last one, the shadows glitched. They kept flickering. I don't know if it's just me or if others experienced it as well, but I thought I should mention it.

[matt]

I am having some difficulty loading the new build actually. Steam downloads it, and when I go to play the game, I'm met with nothing but a black screen and the title music. The music is creepy as anything and I love it, but I would love to play the new levels. Is there anything i can do to fix this?

I'm sorry to hear you are having trouble. What OS do you have and what graphics card do you have? The black screen usually means one of two things:
1) Your graphics card drivers are update. Can you update them? This is issue 99% of the time. If you are on Mac, this could be a bitch because I think you actually have to update your OS. Another person was saying it didn't run on 10.7 or something, but when he switched to Mavricks, it worked.
2) Your video chip is not powerful enough to run the game. This seems unlikely because we run on the Ouya, which isn't a graphical powerhouse, but if you have an old laptop with the Intel GMA something something, it is possible.

Let me know what you find, and I'd be happy to offer more help.

I also couldn't get past the second pile of bodies. I tried multiple things, but I kept dying.

Hi Siovannie,

It is possible to get past the second pile of bodies. It is basically a puzzle, and there is a solution, but it isn't immediately obvious. I am thinking about adding in a help feature if you fail on it too many times. How many times do you think is a good number before you would want a hint? This is a bit of a tricky balancing act because in Uncharted, the darn thing gives you hints after two seconds, so you don't even get a chance to try to figure out the puzzle. Fortunately, the hint isn't going to be super obvious, so I think it'll just give you a clue as to what to do without completely giving it away. At least I hope so.

Also, I'd love it if you could take a video of the shadow issue, so I could investigate. Are you running on Windows? Fraps lets you capture 10 seconds of video with their free license or something and that might be sufficient. I'm sure there is something similar on other platforms, but I don't know what.

[JPrice]

Hey Siovannie, if you're stuck man I can tell you how I got past that section Though I won't spoil it on here as it's interesting to see how many people had the same issue for the purposes of balancing and such.