Welcome to the Mall

terristen 2020-04-21 03:34

Note: Zombie Bob's AI has some issues in WebGL. I HIGHLY recommend the Windows version. Thanks.

(edit) I've removed the WebGL version as it does not represent the game-play as designed. Something in the AI code (I believe it's the coroutines it runs in) doesn't like WebGL.

Thanks for your reviews and input! Have fun!

synoxgames 2020-04-21 05:23

So many cubes! I think the idea is really interesting and I had fun trying to guide him through all the damn falling cubes, the aesthetic was really good!

drachmor 2020-04-21 05:31

Didn't think much of it until I tried the windows version - you were definitely right! Now seeing the game fully, the main gameplay mechanic is very interesting. It dawned on me a little late my first go through that I had to both place boxes and be conscious that I wasn't thereby trapping the character. The aesthetics also served the mood very nicely.

ricna 2020-04-21 05:37

Not sure... WebGL seems bugged and the Windows version is weird. Zip it before to upload and try to fix the WebGL. Not rating. Seems a good game btw :) Good Luck! I'll back! Ping me ;)

fabien-parisot 2020-04-21 06:17

I love the atmosphere in view of surveillance camera. and lead this poor puppet

bulent-altinay 2020-04-23 11:52

Can't download the zip file!?

terristen 2020-04-23 14:26

@bulent-altinay Maybe a hiccup with Google Drive? It was slow to respond for me, but it did download. If anyone else has issues downloading please comment here and I'll find an alternate hosting option.

sciman101 2020-04-23 14:48

I think this game has an interesting idea behind it, but a few things sort of held it back in my mind. Figuring out how to control Bob took some getting used to, and even then the pathfinding wasn't always great, meaning it felt kind of awkward and clunky to move him around, not to mention how slowly he moves. The idea of dropping boxes so you need to avoid not trapping the character is good, but some way to quickly restart or go to a checkpoint in case you _do_ trap them would have been nice. Lastly, the cannon trap was so loud it practically jump scared me when it went off, especially since there was no other audio. That said, I still think it's a cool idea, and the visual presentation works really well in the game's favor.

whatnamegames 2020-04-23 16:10

A little unclear on what to do at first, but it's a neat concept and the presentation is pleasent

terristen 2020-04-23 16:52

@sciman101 Valid points. Obviously I'd loved to have provided a lot more polish. Doing this solo I had to make compromises at every step as to how polished I went on each feature;you'll see below that the feature list was huge. As for Bob's control, you're not really controlling him. The mechanism of his control is more nuanced, but not where I eventually want it to be. For one, I had some difficulty with the navmeshagent not wanting to path around obstacles, so I had to settle for simple pathing. Probably another hour to iron that out would have been good if I'd had it. /Sigh

The Bob AI itself, as well as Tom's if you find him, is based on a limited memory of time-attenuated sound strength. So the effect of a larger box on his attention will get less strong the longer it has been since he heard it. Also, when he arrives at a sound source that turns out to be just a box, he forgets it happened. On top of that, he has a radius in which he can hear things. Also important to bye that a small box landing may not be strong enough to distract him if he recently heard a strong sound. Pushing boxes also make sounds and is most effective on small boxes.

The features yet to be implemented are: * corrected pathfinding * a display showing the size of the next box and the one after that * notification of win state * box tossing instead of dropping * wider hallways by a meter * more sounds * more trap types * ambient soundtrack * more furniture and fixtures in stores * more animations including run, feed, attack, etc * dynamic random starting Bob and Tom positions * random mall configurations * noise meters showing the noise effect Bob hears, so you can intuit his reactions more easily

I knew I wouldn't hit all these in the Jam, but if there's enough interest in the concept, I may expand to the full game feature list. I had a lot of fun building this, and hope someone will eventually catch the humor in the story and gameplay. 🤫

arjenous 2020-04-24 04:17

Took me a while to understand the mechanics. The atmosphere behind the security camera idea was a nice touch

lestat 2020-04-25 05:51

Cool idea, well executed, it fits the theme. Good job!

reisn 2020-04-25 21:53

Awesome concept and pretty impressive implementation for the time :) I got in many situations where I got the zombie stuck because I had to surround it by many (sometimes pretty big) cubes to lead the pathfinding. It's an interesting balance, you need to drop cubes to lead the zombie but those cubes also hinder the zombie at the same time. Right now there is too much blocking and being stuck in my opinion but could become interesting with some polish. Also the first time the canon fired after I was basically still reading the tutorial text, it was very loud and unexpected. Had to drop down the volume a lot.