Monster survival (AI Monster round based hiding) - Game feedback

[The_Immortal (Invictus)]

I am writing to request feedback on my newest game, which is a simple, fast-paced horror game. The game as of this time is only about 2 days old, but the main gameplay aspects are complete.

Monster Survival

Game Information:
Each round a new monster invades the house, and the player can hide from the monster in cupboards and other places order to avoid being caught. Most monsters can be hidden from, yet some advanced creatures will still be able to find you regardless.

Image 1: Hiding from a monster makes it stop chasing you

Every monster has unique abilities such as speed, damage or being able to dim the lights for some time.

Possible future updates:

• There are currently four (4) monsters as of writing this, and I hope to add around 25 in the finished game.
• More maps may be added depending on the feedback I receive here.

Did you enjoy playing the game?
Did you think any gameplay features were lacking?
Would you suggest any improvements (More maps, Changes to monsters)?

[Intended_Pun]

Honestly it’s not that great— and that’s from a gameplay perspective. Literally all you need to do is hide in the cupboard and you’ll win. Otherwise the monster glitchily chases you around, and that’s pretty boring.

Needs some gameplay improvements.

[mistrustfully]

I wish instead of just stating negative things, you gave constructive criticism.
Most people learn more from someone giving them constructive criticism than just them saying everything wrong with a game.
This comment literally is just bringing someone down.

For instance:

The game currently is a bit boring from a gameplay perspective. Cupboards allow you to win easily, seeing as most things (if any) can’t find you in there. Possible update that to make cupboards harder to get into or less overpowered. The monsters chasing you should look more smooth, and possibly add music when the monster is chasing you.

As you can see, this comment would be way better. It gives SUGGESTIONS, not just blatantly saying you did terrible.

[Lua_Basics]

I see it differently, as Intended is giving his own personal true opinion (true as, it’s not sugar coated or anything.) This allows OP to get an idea of what people actually think about the game, and the thoughts of the players. It’s better to be honest and upfront, and personally it helps me get a better understanding of how people feel and think things through.

Now, the monsters don’t really seem to roam as they just stand around and sometimes move.

The doors NEED to have a proximity key base; you press a key if you are close enough to open the door and a button for mobile users.

Add stamina to the game for the running, and the normal walking feel unsatisfying and sluggish.

There is no interaction with the hiding elements, I want an open and close animation that locks the player on these, and makes a sound and triggers the monster to head there immediately. The monster should stay at that location for 5 seconds, and the player should get exactly 5 seconds of “breathe” where they don’t make any sound, otherwise they breathe and trigger the monster to their location. Allow players to hold a key to “hold breathe” with a 10 second full-refill cooldown, OR automatically do it of 5 seconds of no breathing and 5 of breathing for the monster to hear.

That would allow players to have some interactions with things, and I could go on and on but I won’t. The monsters, they aren’t really special and don’t really do anything, I want camera effects where say the OGRE’s movement within a range of the player causes a slight shake and big stomps. Make it so the player gets extremely scared, they gain extra stamina (on a cooldown) but are extremely audible and breathe loud for the monster to hear. Stuff like this.

Also doing these short 25 seconds rounds and stuff just doesn’t feel good. Also, do a proximity range damage for the monsters as they rarely actually hurt you.

There’s a lot to work on for this game, and this is my full honestly. It all depends on what your goal is here, but you really want something to keep the player busy and keep it really tense. Make it easy for players to understand where the monster is, but make it feel like the monster is always around the corner. I’d say focus on getting your concept and mechanics down before anything else, and really flush that out.

I wish you luck on your game, and that this really works out for you! This is just my own opinion and advice on how I’d do things and as a player what I expect from games. I want to always be occupied, to feel like I’m doing meaningful things, even if I am not.

[yelowfat (yeIIow)]

The whole “hiding from a slasher” game is a fun idea, but very hard to do with AI’s. In my experience, it’s been nearly impossible to create a good looking monster AI that can successfully pathfind around a complex house at quick speeds. I feel like with the rake and all the other multitude of other slasher games this may seem a bit stale. If you want this to be successful and rise above the other slashers, It has to have a great implementation with good visual/audio FX. Audio is half of a horror game and is super important

[xonae]

Gonna be 100% honest, in this early stage it’s not the most fun or exhilarating game. It gets repetitive very quickly and hasn’t got any unique twists, it’s basically just like any other game of this genre.

If you want this to take off and do well, you need to have some sort of twist in the game. Make something players will find exciting and fun, something that makes every round different.

[ScholarOfZoghoLargo (ScholarOfZL)]

I honestly found the game a bit boring. As people said, if you hide, you win. When walking around you felt slow like if you had to drag around a 100 pound weight. The monsters never really moved around too much and it made it easy to hide (and basically win). Overall, I was more chill than I was on the back of my seat. I think a cool thing to do was while you hide, you lose oxygen. This way, people have to keep moving and so that way it’s intense by not know if the monster will catch you while you try to find a place to hide. Another thing I would do is if you want people to keep running to hiding spots, make sure people can run. That way they have some way to outrun the slasher. A punishment for running though is some light breathing which if the slasher is around will make it easier to find you. That’s what I would do to make the game a bit more interesting.

[0xMonstrosity]

I noticed that you have to wait for the round to end even if no one is still alive. Also, I earned a ‘survival’ even though I died. And as others have said, the monsters are glitchy and get stuck a lot… The idea of the game is cool, but it needs a lot more work.

[madattak]

It seems to me making the monster player controlled by a random user each round would significantly improve the game, instead of attempting to use AI