[REQUEST] Can someone test my CS so far?

[bagobonez]

Will update this post with my feedback as I progress through the maps. Rangers game is on so I'll probably not finish it tonight (depends how long it is).

First impression:

Spoiler below!

Note had proper text. Very nice and eerie. But, you don't use boxlight at all in here. It looks jarring and, frankly, terrible. Please use a boxlight to make the dark spaces not...pitch black....

Nice music, but window is missing billboards. I'd also put a curtain in front of it, and light_dust particles to make it complete. The lack of point lights/boxlights is becoming noticeable in this second room, and it really needs to be fixed. Plus, these torches on the mansionbase wall look bad. Consider using candlesticks.

Missing text on level door. Where am I heading? I could use this knowledge.

Outside:

Spoiler below!

Lovely atmosphere! Really digging the skybox. I'd propose adding a very large spotlight that acts as the "moonlight". Make sure you cast shadows on all your spotlights!

Big Mansion Room:

Spoiler below!

No idea what to do. Missing sign on the Laboratory sign. Also, LEVEL DOORS NEED TO BE MARKED!!!! Going into the library first, that's what my instincts tell me to do.

Library

Spoiler below!

Love the soundtrack. Please change the text on the door, instead of saying "It's locked, I'll need to open it", just say "It's locked." so that I can use my imagination and really get immersed. Don't tell everything for us! Let us figure it out!

I'm stuck in the Archives. Can't find a way past these bookshelves. Need to find a Storage key. Can't do so. Will leave and return later.

Gonna stop myself here for now.

Every door is locked. That's not fun to keep finding keys. Please reconsider this design decision. Currently in the laboratory. It's nice and all, but the key puzzles won't be fun. Gonna take a break and probably pick this up in a bit.

Wow, thanks for the quick feedback! Yes I started to realize the key thing was getting to be repetitive, perhaps I'll go back and maybe take some out and find other ways for the player to access the rooms. Will also add some lighting to the window of the first map area, that was my first time using the level editor at all so I need to go back and polish that entire map up a bit.

Spoiler below!

What did you think of the Count Wilshire painting scare as well as the library pot exploding? Did you like the claustrophobic design of the library? How are you doing on oil/tinderboxes? About how long did it take you get to the laboratory, and do you like the story so far?

Thanks again for helping out, I will get to work on your suggestions immediately.

Oil and tinderboxes are scarce, but that's kind of negated by starting out with 100% oil in the lantern. >.>

It took me 10 minutes to get to the laboratory, like 2 inside the mansion room, then 1 minute outside, then 6-7 in the library. I didn't finish the library. I can't get out of the Archives with a key. Count Wilshire scare was okay, but I would much have preferred to see a sanity damage effect when it happens. Did not see the library pot explode. Claustrophic design is nice, but I don't know where to find the key??? (once again I repeat, searching for keys is not fun and I will not do it religiously. I play to experience a story and solve puzzles, not searching every nook and cranny. That's not even exploration, that's tedious).

Story so far seemed...hard to follow. Because you're directly talking to the player, which makes it feel like a test or something...I don't know, didn't play for that long to really discover notes.

As for "other ways to access rooms", how about just having them open to start? Why does it have to be such a linear experience? I never design like that...the doors are always open and there are a lot of them, and each one is always different. Inside there are things to read or events or items to collect and stuff. When you restrict us from room to room, it's a bit...boring. I suggest having the major doors either locked or stuck (i.e. crowbar). What you can also do is have a door locked and have a back entrance the player has to find (like the Archives map of Amnesia the Dark Descent. Door the secret bookshelf room is locked, but you can go around, get avalanched in, and go through that way.

Hmmm... I'm thinking what happened is you didn't actually find my little "bookshelf maze" in the library... there's an area near where the window is that you have to crouch to go under a leaning bookshelf, and then you walk through a claustrophobic "maze" of sorts with the bookshelves, and along the way you come across a note that gives you a hint where to find a key to the library storage. I was afraid it might seem as though the area you have to crouch under would appear as a dead end and I suppose I was right. I might do away with the leaning bookshelf to make it more inviting to explore. Or maybe I'll leave a health potion or tinderbox under that bookshelf to encourage the player to crouch and try to get it.

I thought about making more rooms open but I'm afraid if I do so, the player will forgo exploring rooms that contain notes which are crucial to the story and instead just try to finish it all as fast as they can.

I added billboards to the window in the first house, replaced torches with wall lanterns, added a boxlight and added a moon to the outdoor map.