Comments - Yeastwood

"A standard film lens is 35mm, that's a fov of 55."

Except we're not watching a movie, let alone on a big movie screen :) Not only does using film as an example not apply here for that reason, but - if you want to use film as an example - (most) movies are filmed from a 3rd person perspective, not first person (like in the case of this demo, as even the title of the demo implies).

I will say that if you're playing this demo from more than a couple of feet away, say on a couch 15 feet away, for example, a FOV of 60 would be tolerable. But since this is on the PC, most gamers are probably sitting roughly 3-5 feet from their WIDESCREEN monitors. Not to mention some hardcore gamers love to run not ONE, but TWO or even THREE widescreen monitors side-by-side, playing simultaneously. The FOV on that would need to be adjusted even more accordingly.

Again since this is for the PC first and foremost, it should be reasonable to include settings where users can alter their FOV based on their own setup and personal taste. COD4 is a perfect example of this. While defaulted at 65, you could change it to something drastic and wide as 80, I believe. No complaints there :)

Switching gears here, have you contemplated how far you plan to expand this so-called demo? I think the metal shaders of the T-800's look pretty awesome. Have you considered hiring additional modelers/artists and such to do, say, an Arnold Schwarzenegger skinned, and/or battle damaged T-800 :D ?

Perhaps even expand this demo w/ a story backdrop. Maybe your mission, from John Connor himself, is to (somehow) capture a T-800 w/o damaging it too badly, so you can eventually bring it back to base, reprogram it, and send it back to 1991 to protect teenage John Connor! How cool would THAT be?

Good intentions behind this. Clearly there is still love for the Terminator franchise, and this demo proves it. However, there are some major problems here (alpha/demo be damned).

1. You're dropped in the middle of some battle, yet, what are you supposed to do? Where are you supposed to go? No HUD or explanations don't help matters. The design of the map should be nailed down before you even open up the UDK, let alone model and script.

2. Death comes too easy and too quickly. This is supposed to be a demo, right? Any casual gamer should be able to pick it up and enjoy it w/o getting frustrated. It reminds me of those old skool '80s, suck, NES games based on popular movie franchises(a la Friday the 13th, Knight Rider, Karate Kid) where a piece of paper flying through the air would 1-shot kill you.

3. Tone down the RECOIL and the MUZZLE flash. The recoil is absolutely abysmal. When aiming down the scope, it is nigh impossible to see, let alone properly aim and hit a moving target. Speaking of which, why do you have to HOLD down right-click on the mouse just to aim down? I also think a cross-hair system (toggle on/off for those who bitch) might be welcome.

4. As someone else pointed out, this really feels console-ish. Partially dealing w/ the above, the FOV sights are horribly constrained and feels too tight. This is the year 2010, where the vast majority of users and gamers are at widescreen 16x9, or 16x10 resolutions. The FOV should accompany this, at around 75+. Right now it feels like the crappy Call of Juarez sequel.

I know some will probably bash this post (so many touchy-feely kids these days...) and read it as a negative. But in truth it's critiques which were written w/ the best intentions to help guide the modder polish this alpha into an enjoyable demo. I really do think this has a lot of potential given the proper care and time.

Cheers and best of luck to ya.