[RELEASE][FIXED]Deterioration - Total Conversion

[BonesTheRabbit]

What I liked:

Spoiler below!

Personally, I found the ability to inspect everything to be a fantastic addition to the game. It gave the place a lot more feeling and life. Still, can't help but wonder why I couldn't at least drag those wine filled barrels. Hehe.

Having to jump down the pit was great. Though it was a bit of a challenge to try and figure out the irrelevance of the door, when it explicitly said I had to find out what was on the other side of it. I mean, that actually dissuaded me from jumping more than anything, because my focus was on the door. Still, the whole ordeal was suitably eerie.

The feelings I got when I woke up in that red map really got me uneasy and on edge. It was extremely ominous, and really set the mood for grim things to come. The insanity situations made my head hurt, but in a good way which made them all the more dreadful.

All in all, the story's progression was absolutely fantastic.

What I did not like, and possible improvements:

Spoiler below!

Don't be alarmed by the length of this section. Most of this is just suggesting tweaks, and the story has more swagger than flaw. The majority of this falls into the category of gameplay, with minor points about aesthetic choices.

Move the key to your room from beneath the father's desk. If you light the lamp on that desk, it makes it quite literally impossible to see unless you move your mouse randomly over the shadows there (and if you don't move the chair, why would you?) It's just far too well hidden, and most players seem to get stuck - and consequentially frustrated - at this point in the story.

Alternatively, if you want to keep hiding the key, drop a hint in the way of 'hot and cold' as was present in Daniel's room, on the original game's story. Obviously it doesn't have to be a flashback, but anything should help more than nothing. Take tips from your own clues in the switches puzzle.

Speaking of the switches puzzle, the puzzle itself felt a bit boring. Maybe have the lighthouse illuminate only after you've read all three notes, and then make each of the areas more decrepit and corrupt on the return trip. Also, you absolutely want to adjust the pixel hunting present in the reading area in this point. The dissolve effect is stinky, and I'll touch on that more at the end.

Most of your writing is very well done. It's believable, lacking obvious typos, and doesn't feel stilted. This trend of quality ends abruptly with the lighthouse, and quite frankly, leaves most players - by my own observation as a self-proclaimed intelligent man, and the posts of others here - extremely confused. Tidy up your explanations of the lighthouse workings, and then give it to an outside party to read over. See if they can reasonably understand your directions. Currently, I find it to be jumbled and highly confusing.

As well, I'd personally adjust the grunt's difficulty. Since this is very late in the story, and you're using a restart from scratch situation, you need to balance accordingly. Personally I'd make some sort of reference towards the stairs running clockwise as an introductory part of the map's puzzle.

The crank at the middle generator would also give you a hint, in that it punishes the player for turning it counter clockwise. This will quickly enforce the mentality of clockwise movement for the player. Then simply have the grunt pat all the way around the balcony in a full clockwise manner, so that if you go counter clockwise, you're punished, just like you were with the crank.

And of course, keep the grunt from coming into that room (or seeing into it) after the initial appearance. Use a blockbox which you can walk through if you have to, but he glitches far too much in there, and there's nowhere to hide. This will allow the player to watch for him patting past the doorway, and give an idea of where he is on the map, since he can see you pretty clearly in the darkness.

Finally, for cosmetic changes, I'd simply avoid spawning things in front the player. The dissolve effect is really shoddy at best, and kind of kills the scare for me. The statues are a major example of this. Players are going to notice the change even if they don't see it happen, simply because it's a drastic one that screams for attention. Make it happen when examining the door or levers. Same goes with making your father vanish.

Finally, I'd say remove the stairway cat scare, or maybe replace it with something less out of place, like a mild earthquake. Maybe give a warning at the maw of madness, too? It's a little frustrating outright dying to that for being a little too curious about it. Particularly because you're actively drawn to that particular point, and it implies necessary approach rather than avoidance. This one's pretty mild, though.

Other than these changes, the story is perfect as is.

P.S. What does 'salad dressing' mean?