Saw the trailer and really wanted to try out the demo, but whenever I launch it. It just shows the credits and turn white. So is it my computer or something else?
if you ever decide to expand the game a bit I'd love to contribute some ideas actually...I had a concept for a similar game but I was having trouble getting into the flow of coding and have since chosen to do my idea as a novel
Hey again! Finally managed to beat the robot (and thus the game), and I have a few more suggestions.
Firstly, while I agree with a lot of what gruevy said, I would disagree about the camera speed... kinda. The problem is that while the camera is indeed a bit too slow to turn after wall run turn, it's also too responsive for very fine adjustments (such as when you're trying to line up a jump along a narrow walkway). (Not sure if this would be as much of a problem using a controller, but it definitely is for a keyboard.) One thing I considered was having the camera auto-rotate after a successful wall run turn, but that might just end up being too disorienting for players who've otherwise had far more camera control.
Also, the first wall run turn puzzle feels a little broken to me. With ever other parkour puzzle (including the second wall run turn puzzle), I know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. With the first wall run turn puzzle, all I can do coming out of the turn is launch Tikal at the platform to the right and hope he makes it. Sometimes he climbs up to the platform; sometimes he wall runs up to the platform. One time he even went through the middle and ended up on the next ledge along (I have no idea how, and also that meant that I'd missed the checkpoint, so had to do the whole thing again at the next death). It just feels like there should either be a ledge at wall-running height to just drop onto, or a climbable wall at the end that can just be run into.
Regarding fighting, one of the tips said that you can stun your enemies after three consecutive hits, and it would be nice to have some kind of visual signifier of this (e.g. cartoon stars over their heads), because I have definitely managed three consecutive hits against the pigwolves and they just look like they're still fighting.
On another note, I really liked the final cutscene, although I was a little disappointed that Tikal changed back to the default outfit for it. Also, in my game, Tikal had almost died facing the robot, and his "I'm hurt" noises were still audible after the cutscene had finished.
Thanks for reading! Good luck with the rest of the game!
Haha, I'm glad you enjoyed the game and the final cutscene!
I did play with the idea of an auto turn camera during parkour. And perhaps in the next iteration I'll explore that a bit more. Though, I did intend for camera control to be part of the challenge. Still, I'll see what feels more natural. I just know that if I do implement it, there's gonna be people that want an off button for it. So it's a tough juggle.
As for the first wallrun challenge, ahh I'm having some trouble visualizing what exactly was giving you a hard time with it, but -- this was technically my first stab at making a unique parkour puzzle out of the established game mechanics. There is definitely still plenty of work to be done at making Tikal best match the player's intentions, it does seem that some were left fighting the mechanics rather than working with them, so I still have more to experiment with and flesh out so Tikals actions better match what the player expects, for sure.
And perhaps I didn't explain it clearly enough in the game but -- the stun only works if you get three consecutive hits while your damage multiplier (the curved white/red bar) is maxed. And then you'll definitely know when an enemy is stunned, they go ragdoll.
I'll definitely take a look at that injured noises bug! Thanks for mentioning!
Thanks for playing my game and your valuable feedback, I'm taking in all I can!!
I think maybe I'm supposed to be running up the right wall to the orange platform, but it's too high to be easily reachable, and generally Tikal will run under or into it, and will fall. I wouldn't mind the difficulty if intent was clear, but there are several other ways to solve it, for example, if I jump at the exact right angle almost immediately after the turn, I can climb up the near side of the wall:
And while I definitely don't think there's anything wrong with having multiple solutions to a problem, here it feels like the game should be more clear about what solution it has in mind. (For comparison, the next wall-running section is very smooth, once you get the timing down, and it's very obvious what you should be doing at every point.) Does that help?
Oh, and on the topic of screenshots, I like the camera mode for being able to set up nice images (and also for scouting for secrets), but I have no idea where those images are saved to; is this a feature that's still in development, or am I just missing something obvious? Part of me would also like it if Tikal could be posed in the camera mode, but I realise that that would probably be a lot more work.
And, looking at the text in game, I see that it does mention more than just "the third strike", but I don't recall it ever really going into how the damage multiplier bar works, unless I missed the tutorial note about that. EDIT: I managed to get the stun, and it is obvious when it happens, but it looks like unarmed attacks are far better at filling the bar than spear attacks are. Is this intentional or a bug?
I see what you mean I think. Now when making environmental puzzles, I do feel there's some importance to making the solution perhaps slightly ambiguous. Using world geometry to hint the solution but not make it obvious. But as with all things, there's a balance there, and some people are just going to happen to have a harder time with the puzzle because of how their game experience went. But yeah, people trying for hours to solve a puzzle the wrong way is also no bueno, so obviously striking that perfect balance is something worth working on.
In the latest build, photo mode images save in your "My Pictures" directory! I probably should've mentioned that somewhere.
It is fully intended that unarmed attacks raise your attack multiplier far more than your spear attacks do, since they do less damage. This is meant as an encouragement to use both armed and unarmed attacks intermittently.
Okay; that's definitely one way I've managed it, but most of the time, jumping there just gets me into another wall run, which takes me under the overhang. I've never found it easier or more intuitive than, say, running up to the top of the left wall and jumping over:
To be clear, it's not a big issue (as I said, I've solved it several different ways), but it does feel like there should probably be one solution that (once you know it, at least) feels like the obvious solution. At least for the main storyline puzzles; secret puzzles can be as obscure and non-intuitive as possible.
And yeah, that makes sense about the attacks; would it make sense to have a tutorial popup about them?
Oh, I guess this doesn't really have anything to do with the demo, but I was wondering if you were planning on adding swimming as a mechanic at some point later on?
Thanks a ton for adding an inverted camera option. Much appreciated.
Made it through the game. Great stuff. Some good puzzles, etc. Dunno where you got the character animation set from but I dig it. Tikal's visual design is excellent, too. He looks great and I like the voice.
I like the blood and bruises you added. The 'look at this toof' animation made me grin.
The boar animation needs work. It's hard to tell whether they're growling or biting you, causing you to take damage when you can't anticipate it. Also, the jump up and crash down thing doesn't really look right. Maybe they can turn and try to kick hard with the hind legs instead?
It'd be nice if the costume stayed as whatever you picked after you die instead of resetting to default.
The forward roll hits a bit too hard. It feels like the kid's made of cement.
The 'second jump is higher' thing is okay, but it doesn't look right. There's no reason his second jump should be higher, other than that it is. It doesn't make logical sense and there's nothing going on visually when you land the first jump that makes it make sense. It's not bad as a puzzle mechanic, but there you go.
It'd be nice if we could increase the camera speed. It can be a little slow.
The controls on the last puzzle with all the wall running are making it way harder than it should be. It took me longer than I want to admit because I couldn't get Tikal to do what I wanted him too. IMO, changing direction when you hit a corner in a wall run should be automatic, not a timed button press + camera move. Also, this is where I noticed the camera is too slow. I'm still not quite sure how wall running works, because sometimes he jumps off and runs up straight and other times he doesn't. It doesn't seem like he just goes wherever I'm aiming with the stick. I dunno but it's hard to control.
The fight mechanic isn't bad, but it occurs to me that having the timer bar takes your eyes off the enemy and the action during a fight. Maybe a pulsing light on Tikal would work? Just a thought.
Are there only three costumes?
What's with the kid sticking out of the sand on the edge of the map?
That's all my feedback for now. Again, good stuff. Impressive work for a solo hobbyist. Keep it up man :)
You're welcome! Thanks for playing my game. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
About 20% of the animations were from a motion capture library and the other 80%, were done by hand. And yeah Tikal's voice actor totally rocked it.
And huh... I would say you and I have some different thoughts on working game mechanics but I appreciate all the two-cents nonetheless.
There are only 3 outfits for now. More in the next iteration.
And haha oh you found that huh? It's actually a running joke, the kid sticking out of the sand is the protagonist from my main game, Vacuulus. Frozen/petrified since I hadn't worked on his game in a few months.
Thanks again for all the kind words! This game was a 4 month labor of love while working a full time dayjob and I'm glad it could bring you some joy!
This is certainly a very good looking demo; the graphics are good and movement feels very natural.
I have to echo a couple of points made so far: the pickup prompt appears after your first death (and doesn't appear if you find an item before that); it tries to launch Discord on startup; and there seems to be no way to access the pause menu (I'm using keyboard).
The tutorial text is fine, but they're not necessarily located in the best places; I had fallen to my death several times before I learned I could roll, and I lost a further life to the monster before I discovered I could lock on.
One negative thing I would note about the graphics is that the lack of borders to platforms can make it difficult to see where the edges are, when the edge and the ground are both the same colour.
Unfortunately, the one thing that really didn't click with me was the combat. The strike-timing combo itself is fine, although I never could tell why some times a "hit" would still break the combo instead of continuing it (what I assumed to be an energy gauge next to the health bar never changed). More annoyingly, starting a combo will lock Tikal in place until the combo ends, while the enemy is free to attack; I've seen other people mentioning the ability to dodge, but I couldn't find any key that would let me do this, as both movement and jumping were disabled. This meant that it was usually better to attack twice to immediately break the combo than to play it the way it was actually intended to be played.
I think that one improvement that would mitigate a lot of these issues would be to have the key bindings visible (and maybe even changeable) from the start menu. Also, it would be nice to have opponents who are somewhere in difficulty between the immobile targets and the monster and robot.
Okay, I'll definitely look into that pickup prompt issue. I am certain its another Unity input system bug that's causing that issue, but there are workarounds I can do in the game logic end to make sure that doesn't happen. Noted for a future update.
Hmm, yeah, this isn't the first time someone has said something to the effect of the controls half working which is just odd to me. It seems to be a computer to computer basis on that. It does make sense that the combat didn't exactly do it for you because the dodge is a very integral part of it. Because without the dodge you're a sitting duck, which is by design. I'll try to look into this but unfortunately, as this seems to a be a bug of Unity's input system itself, I'm not super sure where to start, but I'll look into it nonetheless. But just in case you simply couldn't find it, the binding for the dodge is left Ctrl, which you can only do while holding a direction. (though, that's something I could also fix in a later update, making the dodge work regardless.)
Key bindings are also in the pause menu which you get into with Escape, but if that doesn't work for you... then that is troubling. I guess in the mean time I'd recommend maybe trying to hook up a controller. PS4, Switch Pro, and Xbox controllers are all fully supported.
The Discord integration was a fun experiment but it seems to be causing nothing but issues for most so that will be removed in a future update.
Either way, thanks for playing and thanks for the constructive comment!
Hmm, that could have been the problem. I tried the direction keys on their own, and I think I tried Ctrl too, but didn't think to try multiple keys at once. I would definitely suggest making it only the direction keys, as that feels far more intuitive.
But, yeah, I did definitely try Escape to pause, and that didn't work. Unfortunately, I don't have any controllers. I know a lot of games use P to pause; do you think that would make a difference? (I don't think it should, but you never know.)
Thanks for your reply!
Edit: I just played again, and the dodge does work, but it is very finnicky to have to press both buttons together. Sadly, Escape definitely doesn't work to pause.
Hi there! Just wanted to let you know in this latest patch I did get to the bottom of all of these bugs and they should now all be fixed. I also made changes to the dodge based on your suggestions. Thanks again!
Thanks! Both P and esc work for the menu now. The pig-wolves are a lot easier to beat with the new dodge, although I wish I could say the same for the robot... (I would suggest having more easier enemies to practise against to get the timings right, but I realise those are not going to be easy to code.)
One further suggestion I have is that it would be quite nice to be able to see the collected tutorial notes from the menu, as I got one just before falling to my death, and thus missed whatever tip was written on it.
Also, I see that there's an option for changing outfits? Are these implemented in game, and if so, would it be all right to know how to unlock them? Thanks!
My mouse is always on screen and I don't know if this is meant to be so or not because the camera can be controlled with the arrow keys and I don't know if you can control the camera with your mouse (I hope you can because controlling it only with the arrow keys would be kinda terrible). Also I can press every button but "A" is not working at all so I can't move to the left :/. And what I really don't like is that the game has no sound slider because it's so insane loud and my windows sound is already on 2% because my pc is dumb :/.
Well I hope I can play it soon because it looks so good. (And yeah the issues still exist after a pc restart or starting the game as an administrator)
For what it actually is, the word demo may be somewhat misleading, but I couldn't think of a more fitting word. Perhaps "experience"?
Despite working a full time job, I spent nearly every waking moment of my free time working on this for 4 months straight, and legitimately tried my best to make it a fun, entertaining and memorable experience for everyone. I'd hope that would at least be worth $2. :)
Errr... I launched it via the Itch.io launcher and when I run it displays the intro screens (up to the twitter handle) - and then it launches Discord for some reason? 😅😅😅
Hey sometimes you need a neat looking robot model stat and Unity delivers!! It's pretty much the only model in the game that I didn't make or have my prop modeler make. I did change his proportions and completely re-rig him from scratch though! XD
Haha so it has Discord rich integration in it! But it shouldn't do anything if you don't have discord open, much less launch it... I'll have to run it on my end with the itch launcher and see if I can recreate it as well as the UI bug, never seen either of these bugs!
Also there is indeed a pause menu mapped to the start button. I think the input system may have issues with your controller? Which are you using and how is it plugged into your computer? USB or Bluetooth?
Hi there! As of the 1.3 release, the game has updated and now Discord rich integration has been completely removed! (it was a stupid idea in the first place, sorry about that)
The other issues you brought up like lack of pause button and the pickup prompt getting stuck have both also been fixed as well! Give it a try when you get a chance! Thanks!
Yay! Apologies if I've been a bit harsh at the time - I realised I mostly focused of what I didn't like and... as a dev I should have been a bit more empathetic ^^
Trivia: I forgot I renamed Discord so at some point I was completely clueless about why it wasn't running anymore :P
2 months have passed and... I'm hopefully going to be able to defeat Jedi Kyle :P this time - I saw you got tons of feedback, which is nice!
Mirror's Edge meets Dark Souls couldn't be more accurate! Between Tikal's fluid combos between his hand to hand and spear combat to the wall running and platforming he can pull off the game feels like a love letter to both series while still bringing it's own unique feel to the table. The voice acting and physics are phenomenal as well, I was blown away truly. Keep up the good work Dylan!!
Spoiler alert: definitely worth a look! This game has two main components to it, here are my thoughts:
The combat is fun and engaging: it rewards you for staying in focus and trying to get reads on your opponents, but without becoming super sweaty or technical. The way in which stacking attacks works took a bit to grasp but they way it's implemented allows for some very satisfying combos! While enemy variety is limited for this demo, each enemy engagement felt distinct and required you switch gears in a way that would definitely keep you on your toes if more enemy types/density get added.
Now, the parkour: I have... something of an aversion to jumping puzzles so when I saw this part of the game made the bulk of your objectives I was caught with a bit of apprehension. "Puzzles" is the right word here; the game slowly introduces you to a host of movement abilities and you're expected to string them together into a movement "combo" that solves each part of the puzzle.
To my relief, while some of the puzzles are unforgiving and give you only a short window to figure out what to do next (especially before the patch), they weren't terribly punishing. Aside from occasionally spoon-feeding me adrenaline, completing them felt rewarding and navigating through them just plain looks COOL. While I did find myself fighting with the inputs at times a bit of patience got me through.
TLDR: The game has its sights set on high and definitely has a lot of care put into it. Fun engagements, cute voice acting and animations and a lot of cool little secrets to find. Do give it a chance!
Awesome Demo! The demo consists of two types of challenges, which are platforming puzzles and Combat. The platforming is quite good, where you have to utilize a combination of wall runs and wall climbs to reach the end of the puzzle. Although my only gripe with the platforming is that sometimes it is difficult to execute a wall run because the character can accidentally do a wall climb instead of a wall run if the angle is just slightly off. Aside from that, the platforming gave a decent challenge that was fun to beat.
Next is combat, which for me is the highlight of the demo. The combat is unique where it sort of requires proper timing like a rhythm game instead of button mashing to win. Players have to lookout for their stamina, knowing when to back off from attacking when their stamina is low rather than just going all in on the enemies. The AI of the enemies is good, being able to sometimes predict your attacks. Dodging also feels fantastic, reminding of bloodborne where you have to be kind of exact with the timing while giving you a little bit of invincibility frames, which adds to the intensity of the fighting.
The Demo also has really neat details that at first did not seem necessary but were greatly appreciated. For example there is a photo mode in the menu, which is of course a staple of many game nowadays but it really adds that creative aspect for players that like that kind of thing. Tikal's animations and facial expressions also change depending on when he is injured or not, and to me, extra details like that show that developer really cares about attention to detail, especially towards making his characters feel like actual characters.
Overall, the demo shows features that hold the potential for an awesome full game experience, and so far, this is an excellent foundation for a fun adventure game!
Had lots of fun! Pretty sure I threw in at least 5 hours into getting everything done and unlocked, tho must say that before the patch the last obstacle course beat me up so bad I did begin getting a little annoyed, BUT, this patch fixes that perfectly! Doesn't make it too easy or any easier really, just makes it a bit more forgiving when you fail, so it's still very much a challenge.
The combat was hands down one of my favorites of recent memory, getting the red gauge filled up via combos and dodges was so fun! Absolutely one of my favorite parts of the game!
And my favorite part has to go to the amazing character model, voice acting, and the character's design overall! A game can be great but without a good protagonist to root for and play as it can dampen the experience, but in this demo we get the lovable dummy that is Tikal! Just hearing him and seeing him get excited when picking up the collectables and cheering when he beats an enemy made the experience so enjoyable.
Highly recommend this demo! I see an amazing future for this game dev, can't wait to see what he does next!
This demo was fantastic! It was easily the most enjoyable demo I have played in awhile.
Pros:
Animations were amazing! They were smooth and responsive. Much better than I expected.
The cutscenes were well done and camera angles were great.
Parkour was very well done and more in-depth than I thought it would be.
Voice acting was superb.
The fighting was challenging and rewarding.
Cons:
Walking felt a little odd during some of the obstacle courses. The character would do small U-turns like a car instead of pivoting like a normal human. This was not an issue while running around or fighting, but did make some of the obstacles harder than necessary.
Hand-to-hand combat was great along with the spear combat. But the hand-to-hand combat was sometimes hard to use against smaller opponents.
Wall-running around corners was sometimes too precise. It should be more forgiving.
Death screen is a little long. Getting hurt by falling was also a little too long. Perhaps both animations could be quickened just a little bit.
Camera sometimes would shift downwards over time. It may have been issues with my controller, but I don't have any drift with my controller when playing other games.
Getting down from completed obstacle courses could be made easier.
Overall Verdict:
I would suggest that everyone try out this demo. It is fantastic and well worth your time. It shows promise in becoming a full game one day. The combat is solid, the animations are great, cutscenes were well done, and parkour was very fun. There were a few cons as mentioned above, but the pros far outweigh the cons. Most of the cons are easily fixable as well.
Certainly more my type of gameplay! Its fun trying to parkour round the different challenges, finding the secrets, battling the enemies, and so on! Definitely worth the $2 to just grab a feel for the game, and I’m looking forward as to how you can add on to this! Keep up the great work Dylan!
……And btw, Tikal’s best boi, anyone that says otherwise is clearly lying to ya lol.
what we're purchasing here is going to stay a demo, or is it eventually going to raise in price until it gets fully released? (so early supporters are going to end up with the full game - not just a sandbox?)
I don't bother but - some people would love to know if that file is for Windows, WebGL, etc.
We don't mind playing a demo or supporting the game, but since it's not free - we'd love to know what we're getting right now. I love reading about the story but - setting a price sort of requires at least a couple of words about the product. (man, I'm making it sound so bad...)
I got a bit confused by the "Outlands Release v1.rar" filename - makes it feel like a finished product :P
Sorry for the trivial questions - the game looks promising! Got a bit worried when I read: demo of a Sandbox, Status: Prototype, duration: half a hour, as you wrote in the details.
(definitely not deprecating any effort! - I can't know what you're going to do with the sandbox demo - definitely feels like a prototype for a Steam game but - who knows? :) )
Valid point! This will stay a demo. The full game in general will be an episodic "released in chunks" experience. That would likely all have their own entries and individual prices on here. However, there are plans for this demo to receive another update or two down the line that gives it more gameplay.
But yeah, you're right, the page could probably use a bit more info. I'll look into that.
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Saw the trailer and really wanted to try out the demo, but whenever I launch it. It just shows the credits and turn white. So is it my computer or something else?
im not sure whats causing this to be honest!! seems like its having trouble loading the next level of the game!
maybe i can try making another build of it with the updated engine and see if it helps anything.
Every time i open it it shows the credits and stuff but then after everything fades away and turns into a in
fintewhite screen:( me sad boi boi
that's super weird! i'm honestly not sure what could be the cause since this is the first time i've heard that
are you running it on an older computer?
well its a 2021 pc :0
hello, i've the same problem here.
i've also noticed that GPU skyrocketed to 100% usage.
i'm using windows 11 on HP pavilion laptop with nvidia gtx 1650
I'll look into making a debug build of the game and maybe we can get it figured out! This is extremely strange but I'm curious as to what it is!
can i try to download an earlier version of the game? if it works, it can be a hint
if you ever decide to expand the game a bit I'd love to contribute some ideas actually...I had a concept for a similar game but I was having trouble getting into the flow of coding and have since chosen to do my idea as a novel
Hey again! Finally managed to beat the robot (and thus the game), and I have a few more suggestions.
Firstly, while I agree with a lot of what gruevy said, I would disagree about the camera speed... kinda. The problem is that while the camera is indeed a bit too slow to turn after wall run turn, it's also too responsive for very fine adjustments (such as when you're trying to line up a jump along a narrow walkway). (Not sure if this would be as much of a problem using a controller, but it definitely is for a keyboard.) One thing I considered was having the camera auto-rotate after a successful wall run turn, but that might just end up being too disorienting for players who've otherwise had far more camera control.
Also, the first wall run turn puzzle feels a little broken to me. With ever other parkour puzzle (including the second wall run turn puzzle), I know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. With the first wall run turn puzzle, all I can do coming out of the turn is launch Tikal at the platform to the right and hope he makes it. Sometimes he climbs up to the platform; sometimes he wall runs up to the platform. One time he even went through the middle and ended up on the next ledge along (I have no idea how, and also that meant that I'd missed the checkpoint, so had to do the whole thing again at the next death). It just feels like there should either be a ledge at wall-running height to just drop onto, or a climbable wall at the end that can just be run into.
Regarding fighting, one of the tips said that you can stun your enemies after three consecutive hits, and it would be nice to have some kind of visual signifier of this (e.g. cartoon stars over their heads), because I have definitely managed three consecutive hits against the pigwolves and they just look like they're still fighting.
On another note, I really liked the final cutscene, although I was a little disappointed that Tikal changed back to the default outfit for it. Also, in my game, Tikal had almost died facing the robot, and his "I'm hurt" noises were still audible after the cutscene had finished.
Thanks for reading! Good luck with the rest of the game!
Haha, I'm glad you enjoyed the game and the final cutscene!
I did play with the idea of an auto turn camera during parkour. And perhaps in the next iteration I'll explore that a bit more. Though, I did intend for camera control to be part of the challenge. Still, I'll see what feels more natural. I just know that if I do implement it, there's gonna be people that want an off button for it. So it's a tough juggle.
As for the first wallrun challenge, ahh I'm having some trouble visualizing what exactly was giving you a hard time with it, but -- this was technically my first stab at making a unique parkour puzzle out of the established game mechanics. There is definitely still plenty of work to be done at making Tikal best match the player's intentions, it does seem that some were left fighting the mechanics rather than working with them, so I still have more to experiment with and flesh out so Tikals actions better match what the player expects, for sure.
And perhaps I didn't explain it clearly enough in the game but -- the stun only works if you get three consecutive hits while your damage multiplier (the curved white/red bar) is maxed. And then you'll definitely know when an enemy is stunned, they go ragdoll.
I'll definitely take a look at that injured noises bug! Thanks for mentioning!
Thanks for playing my game and your valuable feedback, I'm taking in all I can!!
Okay, this is the specific moment at issue:
I think maybe I'm supposed to be running up the right wall to the orange platform, but it's too high to be easily reachable, and generally Tikal will run under or into it, and will fall. I wouldn't mind the difficulty if intent was clear, but there are several other ways to solve it, for example, if I jump at the exact right angle almost immediately after the turn, I can climb up the near side of the wall:
And while I definitely don't think there's anything wrong with having multiple solutions to a problem, here it feels like the game should be more clear about what solution it has in mind. (For comparison, the next wall-running section is very smooth, once you get the timing down, and it's very obvious what you should be doing at every point.) Does that help?
Oh, and on the topic of screenshots, I like the camera mode for being able to set up nice images (and also for scouting for secrets), but I have no idea where those images are saved to; is this a feature that's still in development, or am I just missing something obvious? Part of me would also like it if Tikal could be posed in the camera mode, but I realise that that would probably be a lot more work.
And, looking at the text in game, I see that it does mention more than just "the third strike", but I don't recall it ever really going into how the damage multiplier bar works, unless I missed the tutorial note about that. EDIT: I managed to get the stun, and it is obvious when it happens, but it looks like unarmed attacks are far better at filling the bar than spear attacks are. Is this intentional or a bug?
Thanks for your reply.
Oops, meant to respond to this earlier!
I see what you mean I think. Now when making environmental puzzles, I do feel there's some importance to making the solution perhaps slightly ambiguous. Using world geometry to hint the solution but not make it obvious. But as with all things, there's a balance there, and some people are just going to happen to have a harder time with the puzzle because of how their game experience went. But yeah, people trying for hours to solve a puzzle the wrong way is also no bueno, so obviously striking that perfect balance is something worth working on.
Just in case you never figured it out, you can see in this video how that particular puzzle was intended to be solved.
In the latest build, photo mode images save in your "My Pictures" directory! I probably should've mentioned that somewhere.
It is fully intended that unarmed attacks raise your attack multiplier far more than your spear attacks do, since they do less damage. This is meant as an encouragement to use both armed and unarmed attacks intermittently.
Okay; that's definitely one way I've managed it, but most of the time, jumping there just gets me into another wall run, which takes me under the overhang. I've never found it easier or more intuitive than, say, running up to the top of the left wall and jumping over:
To be clear, it's not a big issue (as I said, I've solved it several different ways), but it does feel like there should probably be one solution that (once you know it, at least) feels like the obvious solution. At least for the main storyline puzzles; secret puzzles can be as obscure and non-intuitive as possible.
And yeah, that makes sense about the attacks; would it make sense to have a tutorial popup about them?
Oh, I guess this doesn't really have anything to do with the demo, but I was wondering if you were planning on adding swimming as a mechanic at some point later on?
Thanks for your reply.
Thanks a ton for adding an inverted camera option. Much appreciated.
Made it through the game. Great stuff. Some good puzzles, etc. Dunno where you got the character animation set from but I dig it. Tikal's visual design is excellent, too. He looks great and I like the voice.
I like the blood and bruises you added. The 'look at this toof' animation made me grin.
The boar animation needs work. It's hard to tell whether they're growling or biting you, causing you to take damage when you can't anticipate it. Also, the jump up and crash down thing doesn't really look right. Maybe they can turn and try to kick hard with the hind legs instead?
It'd be nice if the costume stayed as whatever you picked after you die instead of resetting to default.
The forward roll hits a bit too hard. It feels like the kid's made of cement.
The 'second jump is higher' thing is okay, but it doesn't look right. There's no reason his second jump should be higher, other than that it is. It doesn't make logical sense and there's nothing going on visually when you land the first jump that makes it make sense. It's not bad as a puzzle mechanic, but there you go.
It'd be nice if we could increase the camera speed. It can be a little slow.
The controls on the last puzzle with all the wall running are making it way harder than it should be. It took me longer than I want to admit because I couldn't get Tikal to do what I wanted him too. IMO, changing direction when you hit a corner in a wall run should be automatic, not a timed button press + camera move. Also, this is where I noticed the camera is too slow. I'm still not quite sure how wall running works, because sometimes he jumps off and runs up straight and other times he doesn't. It doesn't seem like he just goes wherever I'm aiming with the stick. I dunno but it's hard to control.
The fight mechanic isn't bad, but it occurs to me that having the timer bar takes your eyes off the enemy and the action during a fight. Maybe a pulsing light on Tikal would work? Just a thought.
Are there only three costumes?
What's with the kid sticking out of the sand on the edge of the map?
That's all my feedback for now. Again, good stuff. Impressive work for a solo hobbyist. Keep it up man :)
You're welcome! Thanks for playing my game. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
About 20% of the animations were from a motion capture library and the other 80%, were done by hand. And yeah Tikal's voice actor totally rocked it.
And huh... I would say you and I have some different thoughts on working game mechanics but I appreciate all the two-cents nonetheless.
There are only 3 outfits for now. More in the next iteration.
And haha oh you found that huh? It's actually a running joke, the kid sticking out of the sand is the protagonist from my main game, Vacuulus. Frozen/petrified since I hadn't worked on his game in a few months.
Thanks again for all the kind words! This game was a 4 month labor of love while working a full time dayjob and I'm glad it could bring you some joy!
Not to be a pest, but any idea when the next update might drop? Still having trouble with the camera control. Can't quite beat it.
Actually I finally got a chance to open up the project again today. So I'm hoping to have the 1.3 update out sometime in the next few days!
Sweet, I'll look forward to it. Thanks!
The update is out! Thanks for being patient!
How do you invert the Y camera? My brain isn't wired to play this
I'll add an option for it in the next update!
Thanks, I'll look forward to it. Do you happen to know if itch will email me when it's released?
This is certainly a very good looking demo; the graphics are good and movement feels very natural.
I have to echo a couple of points made so far: the pickup prompt appears after your first death (and doesn't appear if you find an item before that); it tries to launch Discord on startup; and there seems to be no way to access the pause menu (I'm using keyboard).
The tutorial text is fine, but they're not necessarily located in the best places; I had fallen to my death several times before I learned I could roll, and I lost a further life to the monster before I discovered I could lock on.
One negative thing I would note about the graphics is that the lack of borders to platforms can make it difficult to see where the edges are, when the edge and the ground are both the same colour.
Unfortunately, the one thing that really didn't click with me was the combat. The strike-timing combo itself is fine, although I never could tell why some times a "hit" would still break the combo instead of continuing it (what I assumed to be an energy gauge next to the health bar never changed). More annoyingly, starting a combo will lock Tikal in place until the combo ends, while the enemy is free to attack; I've seen other people mentioning the ability to dodge, but I couldn't find any key that would let me do this, as both movement and jumping were disabled. This meant that it was usually better to attack twice to immediately break the combo than to play it the way it was actually intended to be played.
I think that one improvement that would mitigate a lot of these issues would be to have the key bindings visible (and maybe even changeable) from the start menu. Also, it would be nice to have opponents who are somewhere in difficulty between the immobile targets and the monster and robot.
Thanks for reading, and good luck with the game!
Hi there! Thanks for the detailed feedback!
Okay, I'll definitely look into that pickup prompt issue. I am certain its another Unity input system bug that's causing that issue, but there are workarounds I can do in the game logic end to make sure that doesn't happen. Noted for a future update.
Hmm, yeah, this isn't the first time someone has said something to the effect of the controls half working which is just odd to me. It seems to be a computer to computer basis on that. It does make sense that the combat didn't exactly do it for you because the dodge is a very integral part of it. Because without the dodge you're a sitting duck, which is by design. I'll try to look into this but unfortunately, as this seems to a be a bug of Unity's input system itself, I'm not super sure where to start, but I'll look into it nonetheless. But just in case you simply couldn't find it, the binding for the dodge is left Ctrl, which you can only do while holding a direction. (though, that's something I could also fix in a later update, making the dodge work regardless.)
Key bindings are also in the pause menu which you get into with Escape, but if that doesn't work for you... then that is troubling. I guess in the mean time I'd recommend maybe trying to hook up a controller. PS4, Switch Pro, and Xbox controllers are all fully supported.
The Discord integration was a fun experiment but it seems to be causing nothing but issues for most so that will be removed in a future update.
Either way, thanks for playing and thanks for the constructive comment!
Hmm, that could have been the problem. I tried the direction keys on their own, and I think I tried Ctrl too, but didn't think to try multiple keys at once. I would definitely suggest making it only the direction keys, as that feels far more intuitive.
But, yeah, I did definitely try Escape to pause, and that didn't work. Unfortunately, I don't have any controllers. I know a lot of games use P to pause; do you think that would make a difference? (I don't think it should, but you never know.)
Thanks for your reply!
Edit: I just played again, and the dodge does work, but it is very finnicky to have to press both buttons together. Sadly, Escape definitely doesn't work to pause.
Hi there! Just wanted to let you know in this latest patch I did get to the bottom of all of these bugs and they should now all be fixed. I also made changes to the dodge based on your suggestions. Thanks again!
Thanks! Both P and esc work for the menu now. The pig-wolves are a lot easier to beat with the new dodge, although I wish I could say the same for the robot... (I would suggest having more easier enemies to practise against to get the timings right, but I realise those are not going to be easy to code.)
One further suggestion I have is that it would be quite nice to be able to see the collected tutorial notes from the menu, as I got one just before falling to my death, and thus missed whatever tip was written on it.
Also, I see that there's an option for changing outfits? Are these implemented in game, and if so, would it be all right to know how to unlock them? Thanks!
Good to hear!
One is unlocked by finding a secret area. Another is unlocked by finding the six mysterious symbols.
Would like to play it but:
My mouse is always on screen and I don't know if this is meant to be so or not because the camera can be controlled with the arrow keys and I don't know if you can control the camera with your mouse (I hope you can because controlling it only with the arrow keys would be kinda terrible). Also I can press every button but "A" is not working at all so I can't move to the left :/. And what I really don't like is that the game has no sound slider because it's so insane loud and my windows sound is already on 2% because my pc is dumb :/.
Well I hope I can play it soon because it looks so good. (And yeah the issues still exist after a pc restart or starting the game as an administrator)
will the game have Mechs?
why demo isn't for free?
For what it actually is, the word demo may be somewhat misleading, but I couldn't think of a more fitting word. Perhaps "experience"?
Despite working a full time job, I spent nearly every waking moment of my free time working on this for 4 months straight, and legitimately tried my best to make it a fun, entertaining and memorable experience for everyone. I'd hope that would at least be worth $2. :)
Errr... I launched it via the Itch.io launcher and when I run it displays the intro screens (up to the twitter handle) - and then it launches Discord for some reason? 😅😅😅
I renamed Discord.exe - and indeed it tries to launch discord?
But, at least after renaming it I can play the game!
And nope, I have no viruses on my PC. So - I have no idea. Maybe there's some integration library you're using that's firing it at launch?
also if you fall and die at the very beginning, a pickup prompt appears and stays permanently there ^^"
(it stays there even during fadeouts or even after picking up an object)
I tried to exit to the main menu or restart the level but there's no action mapped to start/escape. It could be useful if it's still in alpha phase.
...I was about to ask if you used Unity - I guess I got my answer here :D
Hey sometimes you need a neat looking robot model stat and Unity delivers!! It's pretty much the only model in the game that I didn't make or have my prop modeler make. I did change his proportions and completely re-rig him from scratch though! XD
Haha so it has Discord rich integration in it! But it shouldn't do anything if you don't have discord open, much less launch it... I'll have to run it on my end with the itch launcher and see if I can recreate it as well as the UI bug, never seen either of these bugs!
Also there is indeed a pause menu mapped to the start button. I think the input system may have issues with your controller? Which are you using and how is it plugged into your computer? USB or Bluetooth?
Hope you enjoyed despite these issues though!
I'm using Xbox One controller, tried USB and Bluetooth and no menu is shown when pressing start button.
Super weird. Thanks so much for the feedback!
If I can help somehow plase let me know
Hi there! As of the 1.3 release, the game has updated and now Discord rich integration has been completely removed! (it was a stupid idea in the first place, sorry about that)
The other issues you brought up like lack of pause button and the pickup prompt getting stuck have both also been fixed as well! Give it a try when you get a chance! Thanks!
Yay! Apologies if I've been a bit harsh at the time - I realised I mostly focused of what I didn't like and... as a dev I should have been a bit more empathetic ^^
Trivia: I forgot I renamed Discord so at some point I was completely clueless about why it wasn't running anymore :P
2 months have passed and... I'm hopefully going to be able to defeat Jedi Kyle :P this time - I saw you got tons of feedback, which is nice!
I'm quite curious to see all the changes! :)
Mirror's Edge meets Dark Souls couldn't be more accurate! Between Tikal's fluid combos between his hand to hand and spear combat to the wall running and platforming he can pull off the game feels like a love letter to both series while still bringing it's own unique feel to the table. The voice acting and physics are phenomenal as well, I was blown away truly. Keep up the good work Dylan!!
Thank you so much! :>
Spoiler alert: definitely worth a look! This game has two main components to it, here are my thoughts:
The combat is fun and engaging: it rewards you for staying in focus and trying to get reads on your opponents, but without becoming super sweaty or technical. The way in which stacking attacks works took a bit to grasp but they way it's implemented allows for some very satisfying combos! While enemy variety is limited for this demo, each enemy engagement felt distinct and required you switch gears in a way that would definitely keep you on your toes if more enemy types/density get added.
Now, the parkour: I have... something of an aversion to jumping puzzles so when I saw this part of the game made the bulk of your objectives I was caught with a bit of apprehension. "Puzzles" is the right word here; the game slowly introduces you to a host of movement abilities and you're expected to string them together into a movement "combo" that solves each part of the puzzle.
To my relief, while some of the puzzles are unforgiving and give you only a short window to figure out what to do next (especially before the patch), they weren't terribly punishing. Aside from occasionally spoon-feeding me adrenaline, completing them felt rewarding and navigating through them just plain looks COOL. While I did find myself fighting with the inputs at times a bit of patience got me through.
TLDR: The game has its sights set on high and definitely has a lot of care put into it. Fun engagements, cute voice acting and animations and a lot of cool little secrets to find. Do give it a chance!
Thank you! Definitely will take the input feedback in consideration for next time!
Awesome Demo!
The demo consists of two types of challenges, which are platforming puzzles and Combat. The platforming is quite good, where you have to utilize a combination of wall runs and wall climbs to reach the end of the puzzle. Although my only gripe with the platforming is that sometimes it is difficult to execute a wall run because the character can accidentally do a wall climb instead of a wall run if the angle is just slightly off. Aside from that, the platforming gave a decent challenge that was fun to beat.
Next is combat, which for me is the highlight of the demo. The combat is unique where it sort of requires proper timing like a rhythm game instead of button mashing to win. Players have to lookout for their stamina, knowing when to back off from attacking when their stamina is low rather than just going all in on the enemies. The AI of the enemies is good, being able to sometimes predict your attacks. Dodging also feels fantastic, reminding of bloodborne where you have to be kind of exact with the timing while giving you a little bit of invincibility frames, which adds to the intensity of the fighting.
The Demo also has really neat details that at first did not seem necessary but were greatly appreciated. For example there is a photo mode in the menu, which is of course a staple of many game nowadays but it really adds that creative aspect for players that like that kind of thing. Tikal's animations and facial expressions also change depending on when he is injured or not, and to me, extra details like that show that developer really cares about attention to detail, especially towards making his characters feel like actual characters.
Overall, the demo shows features that hold the potential for an awesome full game experience, and so far, this is an excellent foundation for a fun adventure game!
I'm so happy you enjoyed! Thanks so much!
Had lots of fun! Pretty sure I threw in at least 5 hours into getting everything done and unlocked, tho must say that before the patch the last obstacle course beat me up so bad I did begin getting a little annoyed, BUT, this patch fixes that perfectly! Doesn't make it too easy or any easier really, just makes it a bit more forgiving when you fail, so it's still very much a challenge.
The combat was hands down one of my favorites of recent memory, getting the red gauge filled up via combos and dodges was so fun! Absolutely one of my favorite parts of the game!
And my favorite part has to go to the amazing character model, voice acting, and the character's design overall! A game can be great but without a good protagonist to root for and play as it can dampen the experience, but in this demo we get the lovable dummy that is Tikal! Just hearing him and seeing him get excited when picking up the collectables and cheering when he beats an enemy made the experience so enjoyable.
Highly recommend this demo! I see an amazing future for this game dev, can't wait to see what he does next!
I'm really stoked you liked it!! Thanks so much!!
This demo was fantastic! It was easily the most enjoyable demo I have played in awhile.
Pros:
Cons:
Overall Verdict:
I would suggest that everyone try out this demo. It is fantastic and well worth your time. It shows promise in becoming a full game one day. The combat is solid, the animations are great, cutscenes were well done, and parkour was very fun. There were a few cons as mentioned above, but the pros far outweigh the cons. Most of the cons are easily fixable as well.
I would give this demo a 9/10.
I super appreciate the detailed feedback and am definitely absorbing it all, thanks a ton and I'm stoked you enjoyed it!
Certainly more my type of gameplay! Its fun trying to parkour round the different challenges, finding the secrets, battling the enemies, and so on! Definitely worth the $2 to just grab a feel for the game, and I’m looking forward as to how you can add on to this! Keep up the great work Dylan!
……And btw, Tikal’s best boi, anyone that says otherwise is clearly lying to ya lol.
Thank you dude!! :>
I may not have found all the secrets yet, but this is a really fun game you’re making Dylan. Can’t wait to see what you add in the future
Thank you!!
OMG it's so cute. Your characters look so great.
thank you so much!
Hey - looks great!
I'd love to get a clarification:
what we're purchasing here is going to stay a demo, or is it eventually going to raise in price until it gets fully released? (so early supporters are going to end up with the full game - not just a sandbox?)
I don't bother but - some people would love to know if that file is for Windows, WebGL, etc.
We don't mind playing a demo or supporting the game, but since it's not free - we'd love to know what we're getting right now. I love reading about the story but - setting a price sort of requires at least a couple of words about the product. (man, I'm making it sound so bad...)
I got a bit confused by the "Outlands Release v1.rar" filename - makes it feel like a finished product :P
Sorry for the trivial questions - the game looks promising!
Got a bit worried when I read: demo of a Sandbox, Status: Prototype, duration: half a hour, as you wrote in the details.
(definitely not deprecating any effort! - I can't know what you're going to do with the sandbox demo - definitely feels like a prototype for a Steam game but - who knows? :) )
Valid point! This will stay a demo. The full game in general will be an episodic "released in chunks" experience. That would likely all have their own entries and individual prices on here. However, there are plans for this demo to receive another update or two down the line that gives it more gameplay.
But yeah, you're right, the page could probably use a bit more info. I'll look into that.
How can I disable invert Y axis?
I don't have an option for that implemented yet! But if others share the same question I'll add one in the next patch.
Ok, nor thru commandline?
Not yet I'm afraid!
Just a heads up to say the game has now been updated with an option to change the Y axis! Thanks for waiting!