Belphegor [On hold - 2nd Demo out!] (Video is up!)

[Anxt]

Just finished my playthrough, and here are my thoughts:

Spoiler below!

Atmosphere: 4/10. Not trying to be mean, but hear me out. I saw many, many, many lights shining through walls, flickering textures, areas with no ceiling, etc. and it can very quickly ruin the immersion of the player.

Story: 6/10. Again, not trying to be mean, but I truly don't know what my overall goal is. Why did I kill Herr? Why did I fall through the water and end up in some secondary realm? I think there need to be more connections between the gameplay events so the player has a sense of direction.

Level Design: In some areas, 4/10. In others, 9/10. The area I most enjoyed was the realm of reflections or whatever it is called because it was a very unique area. Going through different doors activated different things in the same room, and the player has to solve an overarching puzzle through using the different "powers". Other places, however, just didn't feel all that impressive, particularly the library. It just felt like several rows of bookshelves that would never have been placed that way in real life, and that was really all there was to it. I think going into greater detail to make unique areas (like the world of reflections) would serve you well if you did it all over rather than in just the one area.

Gameplay: 5/10. The monsters were unpredictable, yes, but a lot of times they didn't really make much sense either. For example, why is this grunt that has been walking in front of me the whole time now spawning behind me? Why is the brute on the other side of the breakable wall when there is no way for it to get in or out otherwise? Being unpredictable is good, but making no sense is not. Try to find a balance between the two. One doesn't just disappear randomly, there has to be somewhere for it to GO so it can pop back up again. Even if there are supposedly multiple monsters, having it disappear at a dead end makes no sense to the player.

Puzzles: 7/10. Not too many of the typical "use key on door" things, and a lot of puzzles were quite unique, particularly the entire world of reflections. However, that was really the only puzzle that stood out in my mind, as the rest were simply fetch-and-use puzzles which, although they weren't always keys, they did tend to work like keys. I think if you mixed things up a bit, you could accomplish a lot.

Overall: 6/10. There is still a lot of work to be done. However, you have done a good job so far in many areas, and other areas just need a bit of improvement. I hope you will finish this story, because I think it is definitely worth it.

Thank you for the feedback, I appreciate it. Yes, the things you speak of is mainly why I have put this project on hold. It has taught me much, but as it was the first map I ever made it had some missing quality. Making the player play through "half-good" to reach "good" isn't going to cut it for a map.

I've tried your map as well, but it didn't fit my taste. Perhaps we are different in our mapmaking & priorities. I gave up when you were looking for the orb pieces (going through long dark hallways, without much entities, all looking the same.. Uhm like repetitive). Didn't really want to post it, since I hadn't finished. I am guessing that as you are learning as well, chapter 2 is of better quality. No map will probably be "perfect" though.

But I enjoy that you actually took yourself the time to write such detailed information on my story. Qualitative feedback is always a basis for improvement

I don't want to be mean too! (with the negative feedback)

Yes, I am absolutely still learning. I know I have a lot of long dark hallways with little to separate them from others. I always tried to make the events unique though, such as the book event in the West Wing, and the monster chase in the Archives. I never meant to have so many long hallways, but that's just how things turn out sometimes. I watched a couple of friends play through my story recently and they kept shooting me evil glares at the dark hallways, so I think it is effective towards some people.

I would very much like for you to finish my map though and let me know what you think, I haven't gotten a lot of honest feedback (except for the few that took the time to tell me where I went wrong, and the majority of those were beta testers xD)

At any rate, I look forward to seeing more of your work