Beta 0.6 discussion [SPOILERS]

[matt]

ElTipejoLoco - Thanks for the info! If you don't mind me asking, is this the first build you've played? We had some code that locked it from previous save versions, but it seems like we didn't get to the root of the bug.

We'll have to double check before the next build that we don't unlock "Destroyed Dreams" when you beat "The Final Descent" because you are supposed to find it by choosing a different path in "Together at Last".

Feel free to publish the pictures! The actual Destroyed Dreams isn't a giant black screen. That was basically a placeholder for setting up the level select screen.

RightClickSaveAs - It seems like you are seeing the prototype for Destroyed Dreams... :-/ I'd strongly recommend against playing it because it's super rough and not really interesting in that build. We just got the music in and are going to do another pass on the art, so I think you are better off waiting...

I'm confused as to why you guys are seeing different things for Destroyed Dreams... I would have thought everyone would get the same issue. I saw in a playthough that people were getting black screens for Destroyed Dreams in 0.5, but I think we had some prototype stuff in 0.6, which is what RightClickSaveAs is seeing...

Also, are any other levels selectable? There should be 2 more on the map (Childish Things and Wayward Dreamer), but I'm not sure we have any content in for them. Definitely nothing for Wayward Dreamer. I don't remember where we were at with Childish Things when we published the build...

[RightClickSaveAs]

None of the other two grayed out levels are selectable to me, it's just Destroyed Dreams.

It's tempting but I'll wait, it's very interesting what I've seen so far though!

[matt]

Huh. Well, that's good to know.

Please, no one play Destroyed Dreams! It is kind of in an embarrassing state. The design was very first pass, and the art was really rough. The art will still be kind of rough when we release the first version of it, but the design is a lot tighter.

Also, we just got the music in, and it makes a huge difference. It's crazy what a difference appropriate music makes!

[ranger_lennier]

Sorry, the very first thing I did was to select and play Destroyed Dreams when I saw that the name came up on Nightmare Select. (Are ElTipejoLoco and I really the only ones?) But I guess I'll hold off on comments to avoid spoilers and since everything is subject to change anyway, other than to say that I reached the same point as ElTipejoLoco, which I assume is as far as the level was programmed to go when the beta build shipped.

[JPrice]

Well I was tempted to try that level out but me thinks I'll wait until it's fully polished before I try anything out, just so it has the full intended effect hahaa

[ranger_lennier]

As far as Final Descent goes, have you experimented with combining multiple enemy types in the same room? I think that could be an interesting way to tie together the various techniques the player has learned in the previous levels.

[matt]

Aaaahhh.. So you reach a black screen if you play through it all the way? I guess that explains why RightClickSaveAs wasn't seeing the black screen.

Well, for those of you that did play through it (ElTipejoLoco and ranger_lennier), can you at least give me the thumbs up/down? We are trying to do something different for the level, but I'm nervous about how it'll be received.

It'll also be interesting to see how hard/easy it is for people to unlock it. In playthrough videos, I've never seen people do the thing that will eventually unlock Destroyed Dreams, but perhaps that's only because they aren't looking for it. I obviously don't want it to be too hard to find such that you need a walkthrough, but I think the way you access it fits in pretty well with the themes. I am hoping to push a build with a much better version of the level next week.

[prof_yaffle]

I've just tried the beta and it runs okay. However trying to turn on headphone mode causes the game to freeze up. Actually it locks up the whole desktop. The only way to get out is to go to a different virtual terminal and use the kill command to force the game to close.

I'm running it on the 64bit version of Ubuntu 14.04. I'm using a Nvidia 660 graphics card and an intel sound chip.

[matt]

Sorry Ranger! I missed your comment earlier. We have not tried multiple enemy types in one room. Ordinarily, we space out the enemies significantly, so we don't run into bugs where two enemies try to kill you at once, so basically every enemy is in its own set up from the rest. It's an interesting idea, and I'll give it some thought, but we are kind of running out of time and want to get new stuff in, so I don't know how much time we'll be able to devote to descent... :-/

prof_yaffle - I'm sorry to hear that headphone mode is causing problems on Linux. We'll try and sort that out. Has anyone else gotten headphone mode working on Linux? I think I messed up my Linux installations, so I can't test it at the moment. Dan will look into it, but he runs OpenSuse for some reason, so I'm not sure if it'll happen for him or not.

[ranger_lennier]

Aaaahhh.. So you reach a black screen if you play through it all the way? I guess that explains why RightClickSaveAs wasn't seeing the black screen.

Well, for those of you that did play through it (ElTipejoLoco and ranger_lennier), can you at least give me the thumbs up/down? We are trying to do something different for the level, but I'm nervous about how it'll be received.

No, I never got a black screen. I played up to a point where I went through a door and was quickly killed by the enemy. I guess this is unavoidable, but I haven't actually tried it again. Then the game loaded a scene where Thomas was lying in bed with Gabrielle setting up next to him leafing through a book. Thomas had no face, which might just be incomplete art, but was kind of creepy. This scene continued indefinitely, and no button on the controller did anything, including the start button. I had to press the Windows button on my keyboard to get back to the desktop and end the program from there.

As for the level itself, it was obviously incomplete, but I think it shows promise. I was glad to see a different environment. It was definitely more labyrinthine than the other levels, which I think will work well if you make the rooms a little more distinct. Right now, there is very little color and interactivity. The new enemy definitely freaked me out the first time I saw it. But personally, I'd like to see an encounter where you have to do something a little more complicated than just running back to the nearest door.