[WIP] Dear Bloody Diary
So a long while ago I started a game called "Book Of Blood" . Haven't really been concentrating on it until recently (used to put in a couple of hours a week). I'm getting close to release and decided I would upload the PC demo for now. The game's name has been changed to "Dear Bloody Diary" to avoid copyright issues (there is a Clive Barker film and novel called Book of Blood) and because it better reflects the aesthetic and setting of the game.
STORY:
You are the lone hero doomed to death, inside the sadistic mind of a bored school kid. In the pages of his diary you will find your many adventures and many deaths, drawn by this school kid during his boring English classes. Survive his creativity as long as possible by killing the monsters his mind envisions, but you cannot live forever... No hero ever can.
DEMO FEATURES:
*Procedural generation ;)
*Tight top down shooter controls
*Five unlockable monster types (total gameplay time)
*Six unlockable projectiles (total number of kills)
*Three power ups
*Cool doodle aesthetic
Full version will have:
*15 unlockable monster types
*15 unlockable projectiles
*8 power ups
Planned release for:
PC and GameStick. Android devices at a later stage - when I figure out a decent control scheme.
Target:
Casual and Non-casual gamers. Appeals to people that just want to play a quick game. It does provide suitable progression through unlocks.
Cost:
I think anything above $1USD is fair and will probably make it pay above $1. Feedback please.
CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK PLEASE!!!
TL:DR
Top down survival shooter demo with some procedural generation. Near release - feedback on how much it should cost.
DOWNLOAD DEMO
STORY:
You are the lone hero doomed to death, inside the sadistic mind of a bored school kid. In the pages of his diary you will find your many adventures and many deaths, drawn by this school kid during his boring English classes. Survive his creativity as long as possible by killing the monsters his mind envisions, but you cannot live forever... No hero ever can.
DEMO FEATURES:
*Procedural generation ;)
*Tight top down shooter controls
*Five unlockable monster types (total gameplay time)
*Six unlockable projectiles (total number of kills)
*Three power ups
*Cool doodle aesthetic
Full version will have:
*15 unlockable monster types
*15 unlockable projectiles
*8 power ups
Planned release for:
PC and GameStick. Android devices at a later stage - when I figure out a decent control scheme.
Target:
Casual and Non-casual gamers. Appeals to people that just want to play a quick game. It does provide suitable progression through unlocks.
Cost:
I think anything above $1USD is fair and will probably make it pay above $1. Feedback please.
CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK PLEASE!!!
TL:DR
Top down survival shooter demo with some procedural generation. Near release - feedback on how much it should cost.
DOWNLOAD DEMO
Thanked by 1Cheatsi
Comments
1) The first round was extremely boring. I feel that if you have the first 3 enemies unlocked from the start this shouldn't be a problem.
2) I want some indication of how long powerups are going to last and what buffs I currently have active.
3) Make the buffs last longer. This game shouldn't be about the perfect balance...it's about killing stuff. The better I can kill stuff, the happier I'll be. :)
4) I can't hear the voice...it took me about 20 HP packets to realize what the voice was saying.
5) It didn't quite feel frantic enough. I think boosting all the speeds a tad might help with that. Also enemies with cooldowns(like the berserker) helps with this.
6) MOAR powerful sounds for the weapons...BANG BANG, not pew pew.
7) The help screen was confusing... O.0
8 ) The perfectly laid out papers seems out of place...more messy seems like it would fit better. Add some random doodle decals or something!
9) The health, score and kills UI is not visible enough. In the end I gave up on trying to manage my health because I couldn't see easy enough. :/
10) I didn't always realize when I got hit. I think you need to provide some better feedback for when you get hit.
11) The descriptions on the menu are very difficult to read. They were all fuzzy for me, not sure if it's a resolution issue or what, but I could hardly read the names.
12) I want the stats screen to be laid out more vertically. I'm gonna be reading it a lot and I want the information to be easy to digest...please break it up into lines for me. :)
13) The berseker is a super cool enemy. Almost crapped my pants the first time they did their thing! :D
14) Screenshake...!
15) The tanky ones felt too tanky. I had trouble killing more than 3 of them.
I don't know a lot of about costs and pricing of games, but I'm not sure if you'll get people to pay more than 1$ for this. I think that there are games that are under the buck mark that has a lot more visceral feedback(than you have at the moment) that you have to compete with.
1. Fair enough.
2. The announcer text displays when you get a powerup and when it is disabled... the powerups have a random range of time for which they last. I could announce it when the player collects it.
3. I'll shift the ranges higher.
4. Was toying with an announcer voice and figured that the announcer text could act like a subtitle for the voice... I have taken it out because of all the noises it can be distracting.
5. I meant for it to be slow in the beginning so that the player can develop a strategy: collect health/find the perfect weapon. BTW did you notice that you can collect more than 100 health but it will then steadily decrease to 100.
6. Yeah... placeholder sounds from sfxr. Prob do a frequency shift to make them deeper and more powerful sounding.
7. Yeah I know... I'll make one with less labels and less on screen.
8. I disagree here.... it's meant to feel like the kid is playing and has set up this battle field by pressticking a bunch of pages to his desk. I agree with the decals though.
9. Made them bigger.
10. Made the hurt sound more obvious... I tried visual indicators but it makes it a bit difficult to play when you get into a situation that you're overwhelmed.
11. Fixed.
12. Which stats screen? Game over screen?
13. Yeah there gonna be a lot more cool enemies... remember there are going to be ten more...
14. I'll add it to the eraser powerup...
15. That's weird I found them easy, with the right weapon...
I figure that there's more content here than Crimsonland (which sold for $9) so $1 is a fair ask. That's all I want for it. I wanna provide the option for people to pay more if they want too.
How does one go about getting a Humble Widget for payments?
So, polish includes:
1. The paper layout in the back - just as Ed said, looks like lazily laid tiles, which is what they are. If the idea is that everything was hand made and tactile (important thing to keep in mind), then there WILL be imperfections and there WILL be stray angles and sticky tape and different textures on the papers, etc. That's polish.
2. I still think the graphics should be multiplied onto the paper - so that you see them drawn onto the paper instead of looking like things on the paper. If they're supposed to be pieces of cut out enemies, then they should look like cutouts - ie rough paper edges, slight dropshadow, etc.
3. That background brown texture in the back... I still don't know what it is and what range it's at. If it should be far away (like the paper is on a table and the brown is the floor) then you should see some of the table first before the floor. If it's just paper on the floor then the texture should be sharper.
4. Powerups that last x amount of time should be indicated on-screen with something that counts down, a clock or a meter or something.
So anyway, polish creates an overall direction and focuses the player into a singular impression, it provides a single illusion that they can enjoy without consciously or subconsciously question it :) Good luck for book of blood!
The bullet-time powerup has a nice feel; although maybe tweaking the player speed to be slightly better than the monsters might help give an advantage and want the player to pick the next one.
I'm gonna give you some more stuff in a numbered list because it helps me think :P (Bear in mind, these are my suggestions you don't need to take them all seriously :P)
1) The flashing help at the start is really confusing. I suggest having it static and then just fading out.
2) I can see the time/health better now.
3) Still not properly recognizing when I get hit. Maybe you could try "bleeding" the edge of the screen when you get hit. Sort off like FPS Games does.
4) I would just up the player speed to what it is while you have the speed boost.
5) Instead of having the eraser as a powerup, give the player 3 to use.
6) Love the guns sounds, sounds a lot better. I think it could be tweaked more, but a great improvement nonetheless.
7) Maybe make a bigger fuss about new stuff that gets unlocked somehow.
To answer some of your previous questions
5) I only noticed the health thing because we talked about it. Or rather I was looking to see whether you included it.
12) Yes, I was talking about the game over screen. It's better now, but it looks weird now when you beat your high score because of the "High Score" text that fits in next to the ranks.
15) I've thought about the tanky onees again...it's not so much that they are too tough to kill...its that they make me feel less powerful. I think something that could be great on them(though not sure how hard it is to implement) is to have bits fall off when you shoot them. That way even though they take longer to kill you feel freaking awesome while doing it.