Alpha 0.5 discussion [Spoilers]

[matt]

We pushed the build live. You can now play all the way to the end of the first playthrough. The final level in the first playthrough was done although missing a few elements (including sound effects) and some polish, but we figured we'd get it out there, so we can start getting your extremely valuable feedback.

Besides the new content, there are a number of fixes:

• Massive changes to the ghost girl in "Together at Last" that will hopefully fix everyone's difficulties with her
• More variety in closer looks in the asylum level (also fixed some missing/broken closer looks)
• Miscellaneous bug fixes - too many to list. Did you know in 0.4 if you paused the game when you were hiding in a cabinet the game would crash? I didn't! Otherwise, I would have fixed it earlier.

Note that we most likely did NOT fix the issue with Thomas speeding up as you play through the levels. I would be interested to see more video examples of that in 0.5 if it's still happening. Also, it might be interesting to get a video of the player standing by the clock in the together level if he is walking super fast. That way we could determine whether it is just the player's animation that is sped up or if it's everything.

I appreciate all your help and feedback. I am super nervous about the reaction to the ending, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that you guys like it.

[nsane]

Before I go back to the earlier levels, I wanted to give my thoughts on the newest one. On the whole, this level certainly took everything and wrapped it up nicely, a little bit of everything was here along with some new twists. Especially surprising was the baby monster that came literally out of nowhere. The atmosphere and pacing was once again top-notch with the enemies showing up when they needed to.

I'm going to hold my thoughts on that ending for now as I'm still gathering them and I think going back and playing beginning-to-end will help that out.

[matt]

Awesome. I'm glad you enjoyed it! Having at least one person make it through until the end and not saying "WTF is this crap" is a relief. hahah

[gagaplex]

Well, I did make a video this time, but it's a friggin' 2 hour monster. It'll take a while to upload, but I hope it'll be useful anyway.

[matt]

It'll definitely be useful! I can't wait to see it! Joe can watch stuff while working (since I guess being an artist doesn't require your full concentration), so he loves watching playthroughs too.

[InfinitapJoe]

Yes, I would be very interested in seeing that 2 hour monster.

[JPrice]

Alright just got done with the last level and man it's quite a lot to take in hahaha
I'll break down my thoughts on it now though

- Loved the disjointed feel of the level as a whole. Just how every previous level was blended into this one, gave it a real sense of "Ok this is coming to a close".
-The music is really good again. Very distorted and broken sounding, love it!
- I knew there was going to be a mix of enemies in one of these levels sooner or later hahaha
- The new elements (Intestines everywhere, doll hands coming out of the floor) are just...creepy man *shudders* hahaa
- Walking through the hanging Gabrielle corpses was also very creepy, both in the forest and in the house
- Like the new coloured cell doors, fit nicely into the world without sticking out
- The repeating room bit was well done, just got worse and worse in there man
- That long stairwell in the darkness was so eerie man. Just how pulled back the camera was and how much darkness is surrounding you, chilling stuff

Now the big topic: The ending
- First, the "womb" area was a little...I don't know. I want to say that it looked out of place artistically but in a way I can kinda get why. Like when I first saw it I was like "Whoa this is way different from what I've seen before". Maybe that was the intended effect, to startle you with how alien it is showing up like this with all the previous art being black and white. If that was the intended effect then it did a pretty good job at it!
- The actual ending though was good and made sense, like I can't really point out how it wouldn't make sense at the moment anyway. It actually made me feel pretty bad for Thomas considering he had to deal with the pain of losing his daughter and being traumatised by it. I'm still interested though how she died. I'm guessing it was something to do with hanging as that often appears with her (Hanging in the attic, the forest, the mansion near the end) but who knows!
- Only thing I thought was weird was how quick it cut to the ending. Like you had Gabby reading out the letter, Thomas crying and then bam just credits out of nowhere. Maybe a nice small fade out scene or something would help it transition better I feel, as it feels rather jarring at the moment. But this is just my opinion so I'd be interested in what other people here think

Overall though, I thought this was a good build! Level lives up to the standard set by the previous ones and the ending was pretty well done with some good closure. Well done chaps

[matt]

Thank you so much for your feedback! I’m glad to hear that you are digging the last level. We are actually planning on adding some more creepy stuff that should make the level even better.

I’m glad we got a good balance with the cell doors.

Do we need spoiler tags? I’m going to omit them since it is a spoiler thread.

Yeah the womb is supposed to be kind of different/startling, but I would agree that it kind of feels out of place. We are actually working on something that I think will make it less jarring. Stay tuned.

Some things like how Gabby died are going to be left up to your imagination. There’s no wrong answer. Actually, I think my ideas might be explained in the design doc, but that doesn’t count as “canon”. Hahahah I guess if you really want a cryptic hint, I would just note that the hanging Gabby’s are supposed to be the adult version. I realize it’s kind of hard to tell the difference. Take that for what it’s worth.

You are right that it cuts really quickly to the credits. We were really hurrying to get everything in for IndieCade (although they may have already looked at it), so we didn’t put a ton of polish. I think you are totally right that we have to extend out the crying and fade to black.

We are making some good progress on the next nightmare, which will branch from the together level and lead to a totally different ending. I think it’ll be pretty darn cool, but of course I am biased.

[JPrice]

Yeah you're probably right, I might as well get rid of them haha
Ahhhh being cryptic with her death I see, how sly of you haha but yes I like how your leaving it up to our imagination, opens the door to many theories!
Also I'm glad that it wasn't just me who thought that the credits were a bit sudden, glad you're looking into it though

Look forward to the next build anyway!

[miumiaou]

I too really liked this last level, everything felt amazingly disturbing. I have nothing else to say now (I always play each build twice: first alone, then with my sister so I'll write again if I see something more to say)