Tamara
A downloadable game for Windows
This is a playtest demo so it's missing content, features and is not representative of the full game.
Who is this game for?
Well, if you played any of the classic style survival horrors and though to yourself: I enjoy the cinematic cameras and would love to play something like this but more focused on combat - then you might like what we did here. You get to explore, manage resources and pick your battles but the combat is the way to go most of the time. And you don't have to memorise the puzzle solutions for subsequent playthroughs. The action is the puzzle.
Tutorial is built into the demo and we managed to add some QOL features as well as nudity toggle.
Recommended input is the controller but we also included a keyboard layout as well as a mouse+keyboard combo.
Full game will feature additional gameplay mechanics, more weapons, more enemy types, more items and a bigger world to explore.
And Goblins. They are coming as well.
There will be an updated demo in the future
Be sure to deliver brutally honest feedback.
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Development log
- Update 0.1.15 hours ago
Comments
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This is a very enjoyable demo! I look incredibly forward for the finished product!
Some things that stood out to me is how noticeably stiff the movement works together with the camera. Since your character is restricted to a fixed 8 directions, this makes manoevering around very tricky, especially in tandem with the alternating fixed cameras. Trying to avoid incoming ranged attacks gets especially tricky when positioned somewhere the camera is guraranteed to switch, which can turn even your movement keys against you. In unprepared moments where you have to think fast, you may end up getting damage that could have been preventable as you try to wrestle against the controls to get outta dodge.
I've also had moments when I entered a new room or hallway where apparently an enemy was overseeing the door I just entered and didn't found out because the camera was facing away from everything completely, until I got shot from offscreen. Aiming has occasionally remedied this, but can become cumbersome if you encounter an enemy you'd prefer to face with a different weapon than the one you're currently aiming with.
That's currently all I have to offer for feedback! I'm looking forward to the rest of this game's development and I wish you good luck! My impression is overall good!
Love the power of weapons, emphasis on ammo conservation, item durability, aesthetic and animations
Very meh on the checkpoint system, and damn this game needs more audio. Not necessarily music, but more ambience like the hum of machinery, flowing water, etc.
Hate the movement system mixed with camera, lack of aim precision, confusing layout, and the truckloads of enemies.
I'm surprised the movement system is so bad because I thought it was just going to be tank controls which work fine with a jumping camera since your brain's logic works differently. Not sure if you intend to keep the free movement or not, but the cinematic camera angles don't work with the movement currently.
Oddly enough, there was a moment in time when I entered a doorway only to be met with some enemies roaming around and a big door in the way. Apparently I was behind the door and there was an enemy there with me. Speaking of, it's very difficult to tell when an enemy can/cannot see you or shoot at you.
The aim system isn't atrocious, but with so many enemies and asking you to react so quickly, it just doesn't work with the camera jumping in and out. There were so many times that I had to restart areas and just pull corners and snipe then retreat and reload checkpoint if I hit the wrong enemy. (Effectively going into a room, killing one enemy, then leaving to save) Which eventually I was at what I think is the final room slowly taking out enemies, leaving and then coming back after a good 'run of that room' and I actually hit 'restart game' and so I didn't finish. I dropped it at that point.
Also not sure how I feel about the shotgun doing additional damage to enemies behind the target. That feels like you want to emphasize player positioning, but enemy functionality where they just lock on and track you 100% + the shotgun short range just does not work. It felt more like a random bonus to discover dead enemies behind the target I was dumping shells into.
Map layout was very confusing. I had originally thought that blue and red were sectors and had some kind of logical layout at first. Like there is a red sector which might be connected to the blue sector which is connected to the green sector, but it does not appear to be the case. I don't know what the end goal is, but if a map won't come included then I'd recommend thinking about organizing map appearance to flow a certain way. Maybe I'm just dumb, but I really couldn't find a pattern. I also managed to miss the blue key right up until the very end which resulted in looking around for possibly an hour just trying to find the room with the robot in it.
I am just going to assume the rooms being filled to the brim with enemies was to provide a challenge.
Also final complaints but I was sad that the rocket launcher felt weak and that the laser cannon seemed to miss frequently. I assume the rocket launcher has been relegated to room clearing.
Hope this feedback is valuable!
It's super valuable! We're still working on the controls and camera - the cinematic presentation requires a lot of compromises but we're trying to ballance the game around it. It also feels different depending on the input - it was primarily designed for the controller where the analog stick works really well in adjusting the movement to the changing camera. We want to also include tank controls at some point.
Agreed on navigation and save system - it's still work in progress.
Utilising the shotgun takes some practice and is not always viable but I that's fair because there are cases where it can clear the entire corridor so It has to be difficult to pull off.
About the doorway with enemy - Yeah that should not be happening. Can you send a screenshot of the room?
As for the laser missing - that's on me - I should have communicated better that if you fire before the aiming animation is done playing - you will fire with lowest possible accuracy. This applies to all weapons. We might add an indicator for this.
I guess the RPG is a bit underpowered.
Thanks for the feedback!
Thanks for this playtest/demo!
So far so good overall most things feel proper. Only complaint I've got, you'll get a lot probably, and that's the tank controls and how disorienting some camera angles can be. This really messed with my sense of direction at times. Collecting clothing and swapping clothes around was cheeky! 👍
Thanks for the feedback!
Tank controls are on the way although they might make the combat more difficult so we need to take this into account. Wa're improving the camera system and the movement constantly.
cool
yep, fixing that with next update, thanks for reporting!
Should be fixed now!
This was enjoyable, I see a lot of potential here. the few issues I see is the movement cotrols don't react to sudden camera angle change if I keep holding the keys. It was also a bit unsual that I had to come close to an edge in order to jump, and also hold right click and then R in order to reload, perhaps there's a reason for two buttons to reload, but it was a bit uncomfortable, other than that I liked it
Thanks for the feedback!
Yeah, the fixed camera comes with certain quirks - reacting to camera changes would make the player turn in unexpected ways and sometimes even get stuck going back and forth. This method allows the player to keep moving in the same direction - the control direction resets to current after you stop moving.
Reload button is also used to cycle through available interactables so using combined input guiarantees you will do exactly what you want. - same with climbing and crawling: it's so you don;t accidentally climb when you wanted to pick up something
Yeah I suspected same buttons could be used for various interactions but wouldn't it be better to use a dedicated keys for specific functions?
but anyway, I'll keep my eye on the progress, wishlisted