☼ Hedon 1.5.2 (Now on GOG) ☼

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Zan
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Re: ☼ Hedon (0.4.a - New Demo Release! - 12 Dec.) ☼

Post by Zan »

Not sure what's the best way to go around it.

So far, the text is centered and I try to keep the lines equal in length to keep it as much as possible in a rectangular block.
If you have any ideas on how to deal with the formatting, let me know.
Gez
 
 
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Re: ☼ Hedon (0.4.a - New Demo Release! - 12 Dec.) ☼

Post by Gez »

Just discovered this through Doom Mod Madness:



Looks very neat, I hope you keep it up!
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Zan
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Re: ☼ Hedon (0.4.a - New Demo Release! - 12 Dec.) ☼

Post by Zan »

Hah, I was surprised to see that video myself.

Thanks, getting close to releasing some more alpha testing material these weeks.
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Zan
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Re: ☼ Hedon (0.5.a - New Demo Release! - 24 Mar.) ☼

Post by Zan »

BUMP. New map is out, guys, what do you think? ^^
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RockstarRaccoon
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Re: ☼ Hedon (0.5.a - New Demo Release! - 24 Mar.) ☼

Post by RockstarRaccoon »

So, some things I've noticed from a design perspective.

- Items are kind of hard to spot, especially when you have decorative ale-mugs and wall textures with food, while your health items are often food as well. All the pickups kind of blend in with the map in general. You should consider removing the decorative food items, and maybe add a FULLBRIGHT effect to things you want the player to grab.

- Enemies don't have enough delay between telegraphing an attack and making it. This is a common mistake for less experienced game designers which I also noticed in early versions of Blade of Agony. You should make a bit more delay with the attacking stuff, and make the knives flying at the player much clearer, maybe with some sort of effect of light flashing off of the blade.

- That above issue of damage being hard to properly avoid makes the strategy of throwing the axe into enemies and just chasing it around as you move quickly, which is probably the most fun action that I've ever seen in a ZDoom game, much less useful than it should be. Seriously, anything you can do to make throwing that axe and chasing it about less of a damaging action, you should: it should be your main method of melee combat.

- The polyobject doors would feel MUCH better if they swung away from the side they're being used from, rather than one direction.

Other than that, and some graphical shortcomings with the cultists, I'm really liking what you have here. It's probably one of the better ZDoom projects I've seen, and I especially like that you've done something that not only has a fresh, fun look, but also deviates highly from the typical Doom-like game. :3
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Zan
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Re: ☼ Hedon (0.5.a - New Demo Release! - 24 Mar.) ☼

Post by Zan »

- I've worked a bit more on mugs and wine jugs and made the edible ones more saturated/adjusted the graphics a bit, so now they should stand out. Other than that, I won't change much. I've already made the fullbright compromise for quest items and keys because they're required to progress, but other than that, it's up to the player to explore.

- Fair enough. I guess few extra ticks would help balance some monsters. Thanks for the heads up regarding the axe too, I'll give it some thought from now on.

- Not a huge fan of that type of door. Also, it would break the logic of the hinge texture, and the door would clip into the threshold given the way it is anchored, so not going to change anything here, sorry.

Aaand yeah, I often ask myself what the hell am I doing for having gone all hand-drawn-animated monsters, but oh well, it's kinda late to try something else right now. Plus it fits the whole "handmade" aesthetic of the game so...
Anyway, thanks for the input!
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Mere_Duke
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Re: ☼ Hedon (0.5.a - New Demo Release! - 24 Mar.) ☼

Post by Mere_Duke »

I like colors and environment. Notes. Exploration. Very good concept and realization. Can't find any flaws :)
Don't abandon it plz, it's one of the best projects I've seen recently.
PS So far I've finished 1st level without any crashes/errors.
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Zan
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Re: ☼ Hedon (0.5.a - New Demo Release! - 24 Mar.) ☼

Post by Zan »

Thanks, will 100% sure keep working on it, although I expect to take me well more than an year to finish it. But I'm posting regular development updates. :^)
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RockstarRaccoon
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Re: ☼ Hedon (0.5.a - New Demo Release! - 24 Mar.) ☼

Post by RockstarRaccoon »

Screwed around with it more. These are notes from Map03

- You know what might really improve that axe? A wider hitbox. Sometimes I feel like it sails right through enemies without harming them...
- - I just had a glitch where my axe looked like it had gotten stuck in the wall... You should make it so that can happen normally!

- Around -2750, 1000, up on that second floor, there seems to be a texture bleeding through beneath the windows. Maybe you accidentally gave them a 3D floor?

- Speaking of that area, you really should do something to set your usable doors apart from your fake ones... Like, chains, or graying them out, or something... ...Or just not having them. Seriously, what is with everyone else and fake doors these days?
- - In this specific case, you have a bunch of fake doors and then one real one. I can see a player getting confused here, thinking that they're all fake and missing the real one. Have you considered making the 2 doors open out onto a balcony with a secret below it and making the other one a closet?

- Also, these sandbags that hang from the ceiling by ropes would make satisfying punching-bags or destructibles...

- Not sure why the room at 777, -1670 is a secret: it's behind a normal door...
- - The healing hotspring in this room though is a great idea in a game with long maps like this. I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for more!

- I like how you tease Map04: The Forge in a note halfway through the level...

- This big arena fight in the bathhouse feels a bit less epic and a bit more sloggy than you probably meant for it to... I suggest you add a few axes around the room and maybe have less knife-throwing guys spawn in that second wave part...

*Goes to bed*
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Zan
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Re: ☼ Hedon (0.5.a - New Demo Release! - 24 Mar.) ☼

Post by Zan »

- Increased the radius from 5 to 8. Let's see how this works, so far it doesn't seem to mess up with the +RIPPER and balancing I've done, which is good. I'm not a fan of a wall-stuck mechanic, because it's an extra way you might lose your axe/not be able to reach it.

- Thanks for the spot, I've fixed it, for some reason this texture clipping didn't happen in previous versions of GZDoom, so now there might be a bunch of spots glitching out. I did fix some others I found while randomly testing stuff through maps, but there might be more.

- The unusable doors are greyed out, but for this particular area, I think it would indeed be a good idea to use one of the metal-framed doors to signal it better.

- I also think they'd make good destructibles, but I'm planning on dealing with destructile actors a bit later, in a general update.

- Because it's locked, although the key is right next to it in the bush. It's still not a place you'd run in right away, so it makes sense for it to be a secret.

- Yeah, I do enjoy to tie up the levels like that, there will be plenty of this kind of stuff.

- Adding an extra axe there sounds fine, and I guess I could replace some Cultists with Initiates in the spawn waves too.

Thanks for the notes, keep 'em comin' :D
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RockstarRaccoon
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Re: ☼ Hedon (0.5.a - New Demo Release! - 24 Mar.) ☼

Post by RockstarRaccoon »

Zan wrote:- Adding an extra axe there sounds fine, and I guess I could replace some Cultists with Initiates in the spawn waves too.
Or just rework the cultists, like I said. Right now they're so dangerous because they have a tiny hitbox, fire without warning, and have near-hitscan like reliability. If you reworked their attack a little, they'd be far less threatening.

Right now, I'd say they're more dangerous than the spellcasters, just because they're harder to avoid. I know this is all relatively minor in the grand scheme, but I feel like it's a rough edge in a game that's otherwise coming along smoothly.
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Zan
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Re: ☼ Hedon (0.5.a - New Demo Release! - 24 Mar.) ☼

Post by Zan »

I've made some adjustments to them. Being hitscan-like/high threat enemies is part of their design. They're intended to be squishy but hard to hit/spot, and the player should put priority on killing them.

I've extended the "warning" duration before they throw, and also made the spikes a bit slower and brighter to pop up more visually. I've also reduced their accuracy a bit, but I'm still trying to stick to the initial design. They are meant to be weak-but-dangerous enemies.
Diode
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Re: ☼ Hedon (0.5.a - New Demo Release! - 24 Mar.) ☼

Post by Diode »

Be careful tweaking those cultists.

The recent complaints about them echo my own from months ago, but their reaction times and accuracy were never something that bothered me much. I maintain that the primary problem with them is their visibility - both of them and perhaps more importantly their projectiles.

Visibility is honestly a recurring problem in Hedon, from difficulty spotting important items to difficulty discerning which keys open which doors - the map changes have fixed the door problem, but the other problems remain as troublesome as ever.

All that said, though, I've been kept interested enough to download and play every new level you've posted, so you're doing something right.
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RockstarRaccoon
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Re: ☼ Hedon (0.5.a - New Demo Release! - 24 Mar.) ☼

Post by RockstarRaccoon »

Yeah, I'd agree: partially due to pixelation, a lot of it blends together in such a way that it's hard to pick out stuff when things are moving fast.
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Zan
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Re: ☼ Hedon (0.5.a - New Demo Release! - 24 Mar.) ☼

Post by Zan »

I'm working on it, or at least trying to think of a smarter way to handle visibility.
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