The suggestions thread Thread - Waves

Post any suggestions you might have here.

During the hour I played the game I noticed that the X1-pads are still useable for a couple of seconds after it has faded out, is it a feature or bug?

That would be a graphics bug. They are alive for the correct amount of time but the last half second or so they are faded out. Will go on the list.

A little list of suggestions/remarks:

• Menus are too blurry (at least for me), in the current state, it's a bit unpleasant because hard to really "focus" on it
• The pause menu is not contrasted enough with the game, it's hard to read what is on it
• The "how to play" is not complete enough for now, but I guess this is a work in progress.
• But typically, I see there is a key for bombs but I have no idea how to activate them, what charges them, etc. I see three dots on the left, but I'm not sure if they are related or what is their use. I think that at some point I activated some bomb, but I'm not really sure.
• The slow-mo mechanic is great, easy to use, and nicely "visible", giving a nice feedback (with graphics fading, music slowing down, etc).
• The in-game interface is a bit unclear, there are things on it that I don't really know what they are for, like the 3 dots on the left, or the 4 icons at the bottom
• Very minor interface point, when using a gamepad in menu, when you choose "time attack", the selection should jump to "play". For now, I have to "get there" with the directional pad, it's breaking the flow a bit.

Besides, the game is pleasant to play, smooth, and the shooting is satisfying (even if a bit confusing at times ), so great work so far!

"Very minor interface point, when using a gamepad in menu, when you choose "time attack", the selection should jump to "play". For now, I have to "get there" with the directional pad, it's breaking the flow a bit."

I would also like to second this opinion, I always miss to go to the right every time and it takes a second or two for my brain to connect the dots. The first time I completely missed it as well, took a little while to figure it out. Also, having red as the selected item makes it look like it's unavailable, that also took a little while to figure out.

Another thing is that when the gamepad gets disconnect, the game does not pause; it would be preferable if it did since I'm guessing that the game is supposed to be played with a gamepad.

"since I'm guessing that the game is supposed to be played with a gamepad."

Actually the game supports both mouse/keyboard and gamepads and honestly both have their pros and cons (I find you can change aim direction quicker with the mouse but movement is better with the pad).

EDIT: There is an annoying UDK thing where if you have a pad plugged in it blocks the mouse. I have no idea if I can stop it doing this as it seems to be at the engine level.

The menus were actually designed for a mouse interface and then retrofitted to the pad. I originally had it switching to the play button when you selected a mode but it felt odd in the full game since if you wanted to change your mind you had to go back.

This is all good feedback especially about not knowing how to get bombs. Am I right that you know when you have a bomb just not what you did to get it?

Gnoupi wrote: Very minor interface point, when using a gamepad in menu, when you choose "time attack", the selection should jump to "play". For now, I have to "get there" with the directional pad, it's breaking the flow a bit.

I've changed this behaviour internally now so that selecting a game mode to play will bounce the selection to the play button. A double tap of A will start the new mode. If you want to change modes though you have to move back to the list. I may need to find a better way to handle this menu with gamepads.

Edited by: SquidInABox

I did notice that mouse and keyboard works, I was just assuming that a controller was prefered since they mostly are in this type of game.

I'm a bit curious to why having an extra step to starting a gamemode (with the Play button)?

I'm also not sure on how the bombs regenerate, from what I've noticed while playing it has to do with the current Combo you have... am I somewhat close?

Dvorak wrote: I did notice that mouse and keyboard works, I was just assuming that a controller was prefered since they mostly are in this type of game.

I'm a bit curious to why having an extra step to starting a gamemode (with the Play button)?

I'm also not sure on how the bombs regenerate, from what I've noticed while playing it has to do with the current Combo you have... am I somewhat close?

The extra step is there because the panel on the right will eventually contain more information on each game mode than it does right now. If it was a console only game and just used a gamepad I'd change the right hand content when you move up and down the left hand menu and pressing A would start the mode directly. However with a mouse you can mouseover the modes very easily and accidentally mouseover a different mode when trying to interact with the right hand content. So with a mouse you have to click to select the game mode and then click play.

It's harder than people think to make an interface that works intuitively for both gamepad and mouse.

You get a bomb when your combo hits x10. The next bomb charges when you get your combo ten points higher than when you used the last one. If your combo ends then you lose the bomb.

I basically ripped off the Batman Arkham Asylum combo system.

Ah, well it makes sense if you have to interact with the right box, otherwise with only the top scores on the right I thought only hovering over a gamemode would work.
I would think making an interface work for both to be hard... hell, making good interfaces in itself is hard.

SquidInABox wrote: If your combo ends then you lose the bomb.

Oh! That explains why a bomb didn't go off at one time. Otherwise it seems I was kinda correct in my assumption, though seems like a pretty hard thing to figure out without any help. Is the final version going to have a help-screen that covers all this or is it assumed that you are supposed to figure this out?

Dvorak wrote: Oh! That explains why a bomb didn't go off at one time. Otherwise it seems I was kinda correct in my assumption, though seems like a pretty hard thing to figure out without any help. Is the final version going to have a help-screen that covers all this or is it assumed that you are supposed to figure this out?

This is what the beta is for I wanted to see how much people figured out on their own and what needed clarification. The bombs seem to be a fairly constant source of confusion so they need work either on the HUD or in the How To Play screen explaining them.

SquidInABox wrote:
I've changed this behaviour internally now so that selecting a game mode to play will bounce the selection to the play button. A double tap of A will start the new mode. If you want to change modes though you have to move back to the list. I may need to find a better way to handle this menu with gamepads.

The usual way it works with gamepads is that the A button will select, and the B will take you one level before.
That said, I have to give it a try with mouse, since it seems you implemented "the right way", showing the cursor, and targeting exactly where the cursor is (and not forcing some insane "just consider the mouse is a stick wheel" that I have seen in games like burn zombie, burn or the latest alien breed games)
About bombs, it's indeed not clear what gives you a bomb in the first place, but I was also unable to tell when I had one, aside from repeatedly pressing the bomb button

I'd also want to add that the voice is very hard to hear... I can *almost* make out when it says "Buffer full" and "Bomb ready", but I do make mistakes. I understand that you don't want a very prominant voice that gets annoying after a short while but maybe a little bit more clarity would help. Though, it might just be me, I've noticed before that I have trouble hearing words at times.

Dvorak wrote: I'd also want to add that the voice is very hard to hear... I can *almost* make out when it says "Buffer full" and "Bomb ready", but I do make mistakes. I understand that you don't want a very prominant voice that gets annoying after a short while but maybe a little bit more clarity would help. Though, it might just be me, I've noticed before that I have trouble hearing words at times.

The voices I think are mixed too low compared to all the other sound effects. I'm also not convinced I'm getting 100% volume from the game as if I have music playing outside the game it easily overpowers the game sounds even when they are at 100%. Yet another UDK thing that is entirely undocumented