Alpha V0.40 Demo Feedback Thread - CDF Ghostship

Wow, just wow. That is incredible. You've outdone yourself again, Shaun. Also, thank you for the honorable mention!

Everything, literally everything has been improved upon heavily. Story Mode plays differently now (I'm personally happy the fire scene was removed as it really helps to build tension without it; I was literally jumping at shadows trying to figure out when the first land-walking alien would come at me) and I like it.

Feedback:
PROS:
-> Weapon models look extremely futuristic now. I like the boxy shape for the laser weapons and the sleek refined metal look with the Holographic/red dot sights for the Plasma weapon (I'm unsure if it is the Plasma SMG or Rifle MK3)
-> Noticed higher overall performance throughout the entire ship. Deck 1 was a bit lower framerate but it was still sufficient for me to peg enemies in the head with ease.
-> Aiming with the Plasma weapon is a lot easier and more reliable with the Holographic Sight.
-> I noticed no framerate drop from firing the plasma weapon in full automatic.
-> Lots of nice details added; I particularly liked the windows shining in light from outside the ship on Deck 1. Overall brighter in many areas, though not too bright.
-> I liked the writhing egg sacs. I didn't know if they were simply cosmetic or enemies waiting for the appropriate time. So I shot them :)
-> I liked the intro scene with you in the cockpit of the fighter. Nice touch.
-> I liked the miniature explosion from the crashed fighter in the Hangar. Nice touch.
-> Accessing consoles is a lot easier and I had no issues whatsoever with using the RAT or the Captain's Console.
-> I like the new zombies look. Looks really good. Particularly the horns.
-> I liked that new enemy type. I was like dafuq is THAT? I won't spoil it for those who haven't played yet.
-> Its a lot easier to tell when you are hitting zombies in the head. Though in the demo there was like 20 of them in one spot so... ya... (I walked around them and got to the airlock fyi)
-> Overall atmosphere was superior in all respects. I was kept on my toes the whole time wondering where the first enemy would come from.
-> The laser rifle finally got moved from the stasis chamber :). I mention it as that laser rifle was in the same spot since V0.33 - V0.36, whereas other weapon spawns changed.
-> No issues getting into the ventilation shaft.
-> Graphical fidelity on actors and the environment had improved heavily, and as I stated earlier overall performance has also improved.
-> Mists and fogs don't cause AS big a FPS drop as they used to. Or maybe it was soft shadows? Either way, less FPS drops.
-> Plasma pistol looks good and functional. I like it.
-> Monster AI seems to be a bit better. Didn't notice aliens bumping into objects as much, getting stuck on objects or running into doors/walls, or clipping through the floor when they die, or spasm irradically for no apparent reason or skyrocket into the ceiling at death. Great work Shaun!
-> I didn't find any weapons being held by chewed off arms/hands, like I did in previous versions.

CONS:
-> I had an instance of enemies materializing out of nowhere directly in front of me after lifting the lockdown from the RAT and I had went over to the cargo area to investigate the area there and about 7 of those things that I don't know what they are popped into existence in front of me.
-> When I picked up the plasma weapon next to the captain's console I didn't get any ammo and it produced an error stating something about a missing actor. I had actually found a different one in a different place FIRST before finding that one. Seems the issue of converting a plasma weapon into ammo when you already have the weapon is still being problematic.
-> Some framerate issues. Most of my old framerate issues no longer exist and I'm happy about this. The biggest hit was on Deck 1, but it was still manageable (ie 10-15 FPS, rather than 1-10 FPS)
-> Laser weapons still get stuck sometimes at a specific number and wont recharge (I know its a listed bug in the readme, but thought I'd mention nonetheless)
-> When I approached the Comms area on Deck 1, I got another error, something about a missing main sequence or something (I wasn't paying too much attention as I had a horde of 12 zombies behind me and no more plasma ammo which was distracting me at the time.)
-> When I was in the cockpit landing sequence there was a gun next to a corpse that disappeared when I got out of the cockpit. It was where the plasma pistol USED to be in V0.33 - V0.34 (next to the deadguy leaning against the launch pad)

Can't wait for the V0.40 Full release in November. I'll play some of the onslaught mode and give some feedback on it as well!

Played the demo a second time.

I can confirm that monster spawns are more randomized now. The first time I played it, I barely got attacked by biters at all; the second time I got swarmed by like 8 of them. Item spawns are not randomized (are they supposed to be?) and found all the same ammo, health, armor, and weapon pickups in the same spots.

When I nicked the first plasma weapon and turned around I was shocked to see two zombies enter the room, and was like... dafuq you two come from?

Got the same error picking up the plasma weapon at the captain's terminal on deck one.

Did notice some monsters running into walls, but it wasn't as bad as it used to be. They also are better at hitting me when I'm strafing and dodging. Good touch.

I take it the spawns of monsters in huge groups is simply to deter exploration in the demo yes? I mention this because I explored to the end of the Main Access corridor on both ends and found little of interest except tons of enemies. Also because I managed to explore all of the comms area even though there was like 50 enemies in there (quite a bit of weaving and dodging to manage that). I managed to edge around the nasties and simply found more nasties and no goodies, so that leads me to believe that you are shepherding people to the captain's console in the demo. I'd take it in the full 0.40 alpha, that won't be the case. Probably. Also depends on what you mean by full 0.40 release... is that full as in the entire ship or most of the ship, or full as in the rest of the ship that we had access to in V0.33 - V0.36?

EDIT:
Tried out onslaught, Hangar 2 and MedLabs. Did better on hangar 2 though with 46 kills and survived to wave 3. I had manageable framerates throughout Hangar 2 and MedLabs without issues with lots of enemies active. MedLabs used to provide a massive framerate drop.

Got to try out the Advanced Laser Rifle, Plasma SMG, and I think the Plasma MK4. Advanced Laser Rifle handles extremely well now. Plasma SMG and Plasma MK4 I can fire at full auto and have no framerate loss. As I used to not even be able to fire the Plasma SMG without causing massive stuttering this is a massive improvement. Don't know what you did, but it worked.

Got to see several new enemy types in Hangar 2 Onslaught. Liking the looks of several of them. Some just look plain grotesque. Very good.

Of note: I'm using the same computer I tested out V0.33 - V0.36 on, just for reference. Now I'm going to try out those challenges...

EDIT:
Attempted Colony Challenge twice.

Got cornered once and died to a swarm.

Second time, though, the game crashed. I had just run through the base entrance, turned around saw about 20 biters right behind me, I was running away and then it crashed. No explanation given.

Feedback on Challenge and Onslaught Modes:

I found that in Med Labs, as you have less area to dodge, and it is incredibly dark, it is far harder to survive onslaught here. I think that in Med Labs it should start off with fewer enemies in general as you will have to search REALLY hard to find weapons in the dark when your most powerful weapon doesn't have a flashlight attached (namely a Plasma SMG). Since it is harder to dodge, even having less enemies will make it a challenge, as you will have to jump over obstacles more often and occasionally get stuck in a doorway, slowing your progress.

I found that the Colony Challenge mode starts off calm and easy and then jumps in difficulty in less than a minute. In the span of 1 minute I saw over 50 enemies spawn, and more kept on spawning, in very large groups. This made searching for food (of which I have no idea what it is supposed to look like to begin with) impossible. What does the food look like (I'm not looking for a spoiler of where it is, more of what does it look like so that I know what it is when I see it)? Having hordes of 10+ Biters, 5-10 Stalkers, A Big One, as well as large groups of zombies and egg heads chasing you when the most powerful weapon you have is a Laser Rifle (Normal Rifle), makes it a bit too hard. Consider either: Toning down group sizes, OR Making it so that the truly nasty monsters spawn only far later in the game. I'm not saying remove stalkers, zombies or Big Ones; what I'm saying is that they should spawn far later in the challenge to entice people to complete the challenge faster, or hunt down the most powerful weapons faster.

NOTE: I tried out Onslaught (both maps) in V0.34 and had terrible framerates and only killed like 1 or 2 enemies. I tried out the Colony challenge in V0.36 and got massacred as I couldn't find any weapons other than my laser pistol. I'm happy to see that both these modes have come along nicely and are really starting to shape up!

EDIT:

Tried out End of the Hall Challenge and survived. Woot!

Tried out MedLabs Onslaught again. Again, enemies are far too numerous, the deck is overwhelmingly dark, and you get stuck on far more objects than you do in Hangar 2, making it nigh impossible to survive for longer than a minute.
Suggestions:
-> Reduce enemy population dramatically for the first wave so that the player has a chance to stock up on weapons and supplies before the main force arrives.
-> Start off with weaker enemies first and slowly over several waves, increase the variety and number of enemies
-> Perhaps remove objects lying around in the corridors and rooms, such as crates, boxes, dead bodies, etc... It will reduce some immersion, but as Onslaught is more about surviving massive hordes (in later waves), aethestics can be a bit more spartan (or sparse), but at the same time will make it easier for players to navigate around and avoid getting stuck on objects.

Tried out Hangar 2 again. Enemy variety and difficulty quickly scales up to being very hard. As I recall Onslaught mode (or the equivalent) from UT 2004, the first two waves were relatively simple, so that a player could get some much needed supplies BEFORE the really powerful monsters came. Consider maybe doing this here as well. I also found an easily exploitable area to defend where the monsters cannot get you, but you can get them. Its over by the end of the Hangar (not the caged area, the other end) where there is those turbine/air cooler looking items and if you jump on top of it, nothing can get to you. Monsters will however clip through the walls of the turbine making them easy targets too. Maybe consider looking into that.

BF4 had eaten away my download quota for last month so I'll be able to download this soon to check it out.
Looking forward to it!

Lord_Porksword wrote: BF4 had eaten away my download quota for last month so I'll be able to download this soon to check it out.
Looking forward to it!

Alpha 0.45 is available for members, be sure to give that one a try