[Suggestions] Gameplay frustration in Amnesia

**MrBehemoth** · 06-08-2014, 10:58 PM

I second SomethingRidiculous - bad grammar and spelling actually ruin it for me, even in a casual/funny cs. There are two kinds of people: those who don't mind bad grammer and spelling and those who do. If you're one of the former, you won't understand how jarring it can be. If you're one of the latter, you don't understand how someone could release a cs/conversion without proof reading it first. Some people aren't so good at writing and that's fine, everyone has different skills, but we should think of grammar and spelling errors as bugs. If you're not so good at coding, you get help from someone who is. Writing is no different.
Also, platforming. The HPL engines are not designed for jumping and climbing. It's imprecise and it doesn't feel right in a defenseless-survival-horror context, unless the story calls for your character to be some kind of acrobat.
@snakebyte, timed delays are a pet hate of mine. There is no sweet-spot between a non-frustrating and a realistically long waiting time. I would not base the delay on time at all - I would base it on activity. For example, the event could occur 5/10 seconds after the player has interacted with 3 items, or when they've moved around the room a certain amount. That way, efficient or impatient players won't have to wait at all; deliberate, thoughtful players will get to experience the immersive feeling of having waited; and everyone will understand that something spontaneous has happened after a delay. On top of that, if the players doesn't realise they are waiting for an event to occur, they might get up without pausing the game and completely miss it.
I don't mind searching for an item though, as long as there is the reward of it turning out to be in a logical place after all. For example,

Spoiler below!

the key in Daniel's room - it made sense for him to hide it in the cavity behind a painting, which was obviously built into the castle for the purpose of hiding things. Plus getting to smash the jar is a small reward for your search.