Beta 0.9 Discussion [SPOILERS]

[AironNeil]

Was it wrong in the kickstarter post or in the game?

It was wrong in the game, I didn't try the kickstarter post.

[matt]

It was wrong at the end of the level, but not in the extras menu. I only fixed it one place. However, we issued a Steam hotfix correcting it everywhere, so future players should be all set. We didn't fix it on OUYA but no one has ever filled out the survey on OUYA (and I don't blame them since there is no mouse/keyboard).

Sorry for the trouble! If you didn't fill out the survey yet, please do. You can find the right one here.

Thank you so much for participating in the beta!

[JPrice]

Also, I haven't heard much feedback on the final level. Do you guys like it?

Well considering this is pretty much the last beta build for the game now until it releases, I'm gonna go playthrough every level thoroughly and give my final thoughts and fixes.

I'll try and make it as detailed as possible so I'll back to you when I'm done

--Edit 1--
OK so I ran through most of the levels and there weren't any real major things although there were a few things of note:
General - Backgrounds behind the close up backer portraits are still a little blurry
Lost Child (I think) - There's an instance where you can get halfway off the screen and behind some dolls. Here's a picture of where it is: http://i.imgur.com/NJLVrU1.jpg
Childish Things - There are a pair of eyes in the forest that clip into Tommy, its kinda hard to see in the picture but it's there hahaa: http://i.imgur.com/cNkEnUJ.jpg

[matt]

Thanks for the feedback! We haven't redrawn any of the backgrounds behind the closer look portraits. Hopefully we'll have time.

Good catch on the nav mesh in Lost Child. That'll be fixed in the next build.

The eyes aren't clipping through Tommy... Well, not precisely. They write as a light source to override the shadow effect, and that is rendered AFTER the shadow occluders, so I can't really think of a good way to fix that. Would you say it's a glaring issue? If so, I guess the solution would be to move the eyes, but if you think it's minor and people won't notice, I'll leave it as is.

Any thoughts on the new level? Now that you know the secret to branching to Wayward Dreamer do you think it's too hard? I'm curious as to why always taking the bottom path didn't work for you. It works for me. Gabby is on 2 of the 3 bottom paths, so it should trigger... :-/

[JPrice]

Any thoughts on the new level? Now that you know the secret to branching to Wayward Dreamer do you think it's too hard? I'm curious as to why always taking the bottom path didn't work for you. It works for me. Gabby is on 2 of the 3 bottom paths, so it should trigger... :-/

Well I'd rather play through the new level again as I've only done so once, but as far as first impressions are considered:
- I don't think that the branch to Wayward Dreamer is that hard, it took some time sure but I managed it eventually. Plus you said that you were fine with Destroyed Dreams being the main one that people found so I think you should be fine with that
- I'm not sure about the bottom path triggering thing. Perhaps I thought I took the bottom path every time but missed an instance, would make sense and all really considering it did't trigger when it probably should have hahaha
- As far as the new level is concerned, I really dig it. Love the new doll enemies and the setting itself really evokes a sense that its "Gabby's Level" as it were (Well the one where you feel her presence the most anyway hahaa)

I'll write more detailed impressions and thoughts when I play it again tomorrow though
Oh also I finished the guide for all the pathways on Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =302779092
Couldn't do me a big favour and check that all the descriptions I wrote for obtaining each branch are correct and written well enough to be understandable and represent the game OK. That'd be a great help! haha

[matt]

That guide is awesome! A few minor suggestions:

In order to lead yourself onto the "Wayward Dreamer" branch, you must simply follow Lil' Gabby on every pathway that she chooses.

Technically you have to follow her on two out of 3 paths she chooses.

You are only put on the opposite branch when you follow a path that doesn't have her on it, the trigger for "following a path" means to walk all the way down it until the screen changes.

This is a little confusing. Perhaps something like "the game only considers a path taken when you follow it all the way until the screen changes"? Technically, it's a little more complicated if you backtrack, but I don't think anyone cares about the implementation details.

You might want to give a path suggestion for Childish Things->Destroyed dreams.

Otherwise it looks great!

Also, no rush on your feedback. Taking some time to replay the new level seems very reasonable.

[JPrice]

Thanks for the kind words and the suggestions Matt
I understand that the section describing the Wayward Dreamer path is not 100% accurate but I tried to explain in a way that could be understood easily by most people. I just did that backtracking from the start of a wrong "Gabby-less" path back to the road fork myself and it seemed to work fine for reaching the right pathway the both times I did it!

Also I did a written section for Childish Things -> Destroyed Dreams :O
Is it something that's written in there or doesn't that section show up at all?

[matt]

Sorry, I meant a specific path directional combination (like up, down, left, right etc). I should have been more specific!

[JPrice]

Ahhhh right yes now I understand hahaa
I was going to actually but I didn't remember the exact choices/instructions at the time. I'll playthrough tomorrow and update it with a simple path guide though

[matt]

I imagine the opposite of your choices will work with the exceptions of the dead ends.