The Cronus Camp for Wayward Boys - Stealth Horror Game 1.0

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ImpieTwo
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Re: The Cronus Camp for Wayward Boys - Stealth Horror Demo

Post by ImpieTwo »

I've got a working build for the full game if anyone can playtest and give feedback. Once I hear back from a few people and fix any gameplay issues or glaring errors, I'll do an official 1.0 release.

Basically it's nowhere near youtube ready, but it's functional enough for testing and feedback.
Jarewill
 
 
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Re: The Cronus Camp for Wayward Boys - Stealth Horror Demo

Post by Jarewill »

Did a quick check on it, and I'm still getting the "scoped is an unknown actor class" errors.
They appear when the "Developer message mode" under HUD options > message options is set to at least error mode.

I'll go test it out more later when I have more time.

Edit: Alright!
That was tons of fun!
Though I have some things to mention:
Spoiler:
Overall, this was a blast to play through! :D
Last edited by Jarewill on Mon May 11, 2020 3:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Captain J
 
 
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Re: The Cronus Camp for Wayward Boys - Stealth Horror Demo

Post by Captain J »

Seems like this is the year of survival horror genre! I'm seeing quite plenty of horror doom TCs and mods and this one is spot-on TC. Tho i'm not really a big fan of being underwhelmed, but you actually get some weapons to defend yourself. So it's okay.

And well, i could give complete feedback a go. I beat the whole levels but i had to noclip through because it gets much more complex and cryptic later in the game:
Spoiler: gonna spook ya
ImpieTwo
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Re: The Cronus Camp for Wayward Boys - Stealth Horror Demo

Post by ImpieTwo »

Jarewill wrote: - The intermissions screens mention a "watchdog", which I don't believe I have seen, which made it even more creepy.
Until I got to the Trenches and saw the intermission say something about "watchdog's homeworld", which lead me to believe that I have missed them.

- In the final boss fight, the first time I pressed the switch, my GZDoom froze.
It only happened once and I was able to beat the boss on second try.
The watchdogs are the giant, flying polypous monsters.

As for the freezing, I have no idea why that would happen. If it didn't happen again, it must've been a one-off glitch.

I was sure I got rid of the "scoped" error, which i don't see in Captain J's screenshots. I don't know if that's your gzdoom or what. Scoped doesn't appear in the pk3's script files, so I tried recompiling them into acs and hope that solved it. Can you re-download in about ten minutes and take a look?
Captain J wrote: - Is it me? Or the player looks very small compared to other NPCs in the game? The intro supposed to be normal as possible, but it's outlandish thanks to it.
Your character is a child between 10 and 12 years old.
Captain J wrote: - A Fire Extinguisher has very low ammo and the projectile just fills up your screen and is just... Very awkward to use.
I've tried tweaking it so it's not so blinding, but no such luck. It's supposed to have low ammo so it doesn't become a broken stun weapon you can abuse on every level--kind of an emergency weapon when you get spotted--but maybe I can make it fire fewer projectiles per burst.
Captain J wrote: - I genuinely got stuck at the level: Hypostyle. So i got the rune key, and what am i suppose to do now? I pressed some switches but nothing really happened but raised some bars.
You can swim in the canals. The rightmost canal is an optional shortcut to circumvent the central area, but forces you to deal with slither rats. The left-most canal (or the air vents) is how you get to the upper level of the pool on the west side of the central chamber--beyond the pool is a skull switch that requires the key.
Captain J wrote: - The overall stealth mechanism in the game is quite... Sensitive. I'm not saying that they're unfair to fight, but they give you a literal zero chance to do something and eat your face up. Some momentum or alert state after they see you might be merciful, at least.
When the music changes, a monster has entered "search" mode. If you're still visible or making noise while they're searching, they're more likely to enter their "chase" mode. Even when you're hiding in darkness it's not a 100% guarantee they won't notice you, but usually they might walk right past you.
Captain J wrote: - The final battle wasn't so frustrating. But it's confusing to navigate the switch i already pressed because they all look the same. Plus they're most likely being covered by the wall unless you pull the switch, so it's hard to tell.
Each switch shuts off one of the screens on the floor, specifically to the left of the switch you pulled. That's the trick, is figuring out the orientation you need to switch all four off, which gets more difficult the more you deactivate.
Jarewill
 
 
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Re: The Cronus Camp for Wayward Boys - Stealth Horror Demo

Post by Jarewill »

Yep, the errors are gone now.
ImpieTwo wrote:The watchdogs are the giant, flying polypous monsters.
Oh! So those were the watchdogs?
Stupid of me to not think of that.
I just called them the Loremasters from Strife due to their hookshot-like attack and flying nature. :lol:
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undeadmonk354
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Re: The Cronus Camp for Wayward Boys - Stealth Horror Demo

Post by undeadmonk354 »

Who is the pigman?
ImpieTwo
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Re: The Cronus Camp for Wayward Boys - Stealth Horror Demo

Post by ImpieTwo »

undeadmonk354 wrote:Who is the pigman?
What do you mean?
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Captain J
 
 
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Re: The Cronus Camp for Wayward Boys - Stealth Horror Demo

Post by Captain J »

I guess monk is mentioning the anthromorphic pigs with rifle and diaper in the game.
ImpieTwo
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Re: The Cronus Camp for Wayward Boys - Stealth Horror Demo

Post by ImpieTwo »

Captain J wrote:I guess monk is mentioning the anthromorphic pigs with rifle and diaper in the game.
I know that, I'm just not sure what he's asking. Where they came from? What I made the sprite from?
ImpieTwo
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Re: The Cronus Camp for Wayward Boys - Stealth Horror Game 1

Post by ImpieTwo »

Haven't heard any more feedback, so I'm releasing version 1.0 and calling it a day. Have fun getting the pants scared off you, guys and gals.
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Rex705
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Re: The Cronus Camp for Wayward Boys - Stealth Horror Game 1

Post by Rex705 »

The only thing I would say so far is maybe only give a few bullets so players don't just run and gun making it all pointless. I could just walk around and shoot everything for no challenge but I choose to sneak and avoid.
ImpieTwo
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Re: The Cronus Camp for Wayward Boys - Stealth Horror Game 1

Post by ImpieTwo »

Rex705 wrote:The only thing I would say so far is maybe only give a few bullets so players don't just run and gun making it all pointless. I could just walk around and shoot everything for no challenge but I choose to sneak and avoid.
I tried balancing that more. Pigs will on occasion drop more ammo, and the rifle gives less ammo when you pick it up. My playtests left me keeping the rifle as a last-ditch emergency weapon if i got spotted or cornered, but i was less inclined to abuse it. Not sure if it's a "your mileage may vary" situation.
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ZikShadow
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Re: The Cronus Camp for Wayward Boys - Stealth Horror Game 1

Post by ZikShadow »

Played the entire thing from the start to the finish last night. Wonderful mod, would recommend to others, though some things did scratch at the back of my mind:
Spoiler:
ImpieTwo
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Re: The Cronus Camp for Wayward Boys - Stealth Horror Game 1

Post by ImpieTwo »

Hi Zik. A lot of what you listed is stuff I couldn't fix either because it's a doom limitation, or a bug/limitation of the stealth engine itself. I noticed a lot of this stuff too while testing, like the one jitterhead in the first otherworld map who spots you no matter what--no idea what causes that. or the pigmen coming after you on their first appearance even when they don't see you: that's a bug of the "thing_hate" mechanic where they wouldn't attack the guard unless i used a setting where they then pursue you after killing him. If you manage to hide long enough they seem to eventually wander off the scent.

I don't remember setting a rune key to kill all enemies on pickup though. dunno what that's about, unless i'm misunderstanding you.

Having two tracks for alert and chase is doable, just convoluted. i got it to work for another wip, but only with a single monster chasing you Ao Oni style. Ultimately this game needs to be made from scratch with its own engine, rather than hijacking doom with a stealth hack.
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ZikShadow
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Re: The Cronus Camp for Wayward Boys - Stealth Horror Game 1

Post by ZikShadow »

Not on pickup, I meant when I used the rune key itself on the skull slot. The first time I used it in Hypostyle, I was surprised to find all of the enemies suddenly dying, replaced instead by 2 polyps. 1 guarding the area that then leads to the exit lowering switch (that I had to run around 'cause sneaking past polyps are impossible due to how unpredictable their patrols are, also doens't help that the room itself is tiny), the other patrolling the core area. In Labyrinth, the moment I used the first skull slot I found, all 10 enemies just all of the sudden went silent and died (including the polyp I just released to nab the key from!). I was able to just run around the area pressing the rest of the switches, searching for supplies and what not, then exiting the map without a hitch. Was that not an intentional thing?

I see. I suppose trying to turn the otherworld into a full on stealth section that's similar to the camp sections would require constantly fighting the limitations of the Sneaky Doom core. Most unfortunate. Perhaps then it's possible to not have the inventory wipe or even place more supplies to none-too-subtly tell players to not attempt to sneak run a section? I was actually really enjoying myself up until The Trenches, where everything just fell apart and I got a pinch irritated 'cause I kept getting gunned down no matter what stealth approach I used be it slow or fast. Coulda used the 17-18 rifle rounds I've been saving there, but then it all went away the map before.

I was glad that I could do a full stealth run all the way to map06, 0 kills until the Pigmen's sudden out of nowhere spot. Yes, I waited a good 5 minutes until the music stops. While the music did stop, the moment I walk out they still just see me in the dark and opened fire. There's no pleasing those guys.

Oh, yeah. Noticed that the rat counts as a kill if it transforms into the eldritch version. I had to full on sneak around their initial munching state to avoid causing any kills. Pretty much ruined any 0 kills run after map06 where they start appearing more often.
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