Hey! I just saw this project for the first time today. I don’t know the full context of the project so I assume that it’s a war FPS campaign game.
Do you have a playable prototype of just a sample area with guns, movement, NPCs, etc.? Or a synopsis of the story? I’m curious about the story but I’m currently not sure what it is based on these past devlogs aside from something about war trauma.
Nothing wrong with using Free Models. I made a story-based game for a university class’s final last year where most of the props were Free Models. A lot the mood for a game like this relies more on the mood of your lighting, sky, and interesting design in the terrain / blocky terrain (if any). In your case, you’re probably aiming to make a moody game.
Since I don’t know the rest of your project aside from the title screen, most of my feedback below will be for the title screen (i.e. first impressions).
Regarding your title screen UI: Good job on the camera movement and overall dark orange color palette. I love dynamic UI that doesn’t neglect the camera, especially for a game that is more “cinematic” and moody, you’re using these techniques well.
I think that the explosion sounds in the title screen are a bit corny and doesn’t really blend in with the mood of the game. Having explosion sounds play this often and loud makes it comical, and there are also no explosions in the distance to give context to the sound. For explosion sounds like this, I would recommend setting the Reverb (SoundService - Ambient Reverb) of your Place and also make the explosion sounds more muffled to make them sound in the distance. Right now the sounds seem too “nearby” even though there are no nearby shells. The explosions should also happen less often. If you’re looping the sound, you can possibly set a delay between replays to prevent the sound from playing too much, too quickly.
Regarding the piano music, I think it might be too overdramatic and stereotypical for a “war trauma” themed story. I think you might want to use a more subtle soundtrack, such as an ambient or low guitar soundtrack, or maybe even a slower piano soundtrack. There is a surprising amount of quality music in Roblox’s library but it may take some digging to find a more fitting, subtler mood so you may need to do strange searches. For example, I’m working on a moody game currently and I ended up using “Space” music because it has the subtle ambient feeling and haunting guitar echoes that I want. That is just a suggestion though.
For lighting and post-processing effects, the apocalyptic hot orange can pair well with a Depth of Field or Blur effects that you can dynamically Tween the intensities of. This will give an “apocalyptic war haze” or “vertigo” feeling, especially in the middle of an active battlefield. Dust on the screen (i.e. GUI) or large dust particles can also help with this effect when paired together.
Once again, good work with the camera movement. I have respect for projects that don’t neglect the camera like this. Small details such as the metal bullets on the floor and other metallic details can be helped with a Bloom effect, or simply a change in the location and direction of the sun in order to create highlight points (these will be seen best with Future Is Bright lighting from my experience though). In my illustrations, I work a lot with rendering metal armor and weapons, and one of the most intriguing details to me is the bright white shine on sharp tips or cylindrical parts. You can potentially play with that to make your title screen shots more eye-catching.
For the UI look itself, I can’t give in depth feedback currently since you will need to do your research and find what inspires you most. But my first impression is that the buttons are too cartoony for the type of game you are making, so you may want to find more militaristic or subtle UI styles. Game UI Database is a good place to start for finding references.
. Well there’s only one thing left to do… FREE MODELS 