A new top down stealth game

I like to present you the first progress of my new top down stealth game. A game like Commando’s, Shadow Tactics and Desperados with a twist. Right now there are no objectives, but feel free to play around and let me know your feedback. Please scroll down to see the latest release information.

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This is great - I love it!

Here’s a suggestion. Add invisible, static rigidbody collision objects around the room edges to make it impossible to fall off. At the moment, it’s quite frustrating to fall off and die like that. Obviously, only do that for areas that you consider to be rooms. For actual platforms with an edge, it should be legitimate to fall to your death. :slight_smile:

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Thanks for your feedback @will! I appreciate that! :smiley:

Basically they are platforms, but I am going to upgrade the player sensors to prevent you from falling off easily.

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New release!

I challenge you to play the game a few times and come up with a goal for yourself. For example, not to be noticed. Please check if the enemies respond well. You have to know that there is no pathfinding in the game. Enemies are completely controlled by sensors. This works well, but sometimes it happens that the enemy is going in the wrong direction because avoid sensors do their job too well. Let me know what you think and where I can improve things. Thanks a lot!

In this release:

Better enemy view system
A new view system makes it possible for the enemy to see everything in the sene like real eyes. In this release it is used to react when the enemy is see another enemy in combat or see a body.

Better player throw system
Now you can see where your throwing object is actualy falling. Unfortunately, this does not yet work perfectly on sharp edges. If you have a solution for this, let me know!

Throw grenades
Now you can throw grenades. With this you can kill or injure enemies (and yourself).

Upgraded player sensors
Extra sensors that prevent you from falling from a great height. Also the player can’t move under objects that are too low. You can try to crouch.

Weapon aiming
Enemies now aim their weapons at you. Even if you are at a different height. The player can now also aim his weapon.

Inventory
Left mouse button to select or deselect an item. Right mouse button to remove an item from the inventory and put it back in the scene.

Auto reload
Auto reload if you falling from the scene.

2 Likes

This looks great :slight_smile:
I am probably asking a stupid question, but how do you control the character? I first tried ‘point and click’, which didn’t work, then WASD, then double clicking allowed me to jump off the cliff :slight_smile: I’m out of options… probably not much gaming experience in my life to easily find the controls pattern…

Hi @LeXXik! To move your character you have to hold the right mouse button. If you click on your first inventory item (on the bottom of the screen), you get the instructions how to play the game. Good luck!

i would like if it had keyboard controls and sometime the mouse controls don’t work

Hello @the_loney_fisher! It’s my personal goal to keep things easy and only use the mouse. Can you tell me when it looks like the mouse is not working?

@Albertos ah, I got it. I think you meant holding the right mouse button :slight_smile:
Some feedback:

  • The character feels extra heavy. I think it is due to the delay between the right mouse click and the move start. It feels he is so heavy, that he simply cannot start moving immediately :slight_smile: I figured that you need that delay to understand if the player wants to sit (double click) or move (hold). But perhaps you could assign the ‘sit’ move to ‘hold left click’, since its free. It would free the right mouse solely for moving and you can get rid of the move delay.
  • It was hard to understand how to use the ladder. I was expecting him just to naturally continue his way up, while I was walking towards the ladder. When failed, tried to jump on it - had semi good results, with half of them jumping into abyss :slight_smile: I accidentally found later that I could use left mouse click to get onto the ladder, then using right hold to move up or down. Why the extra left click? If I am walking on to the ladder, it means I have a clear intention of getting on it - you can allow the automatic ‘get on’ the ladder.
  • A restart button would be nice! I know the game reloads the window, if you fall into abyss, but sometimes it is not. For example, if you fall down from the ladder and die taking fall damage.
  • If you have an overlay open, e.g. the paper item in your inventory, it is better to disable the mouse clicks as instructions to move the character, until the list is closed. I fell off the cliff by accident, trying to “muscle memorize” the controls, while reading it :slight_smile:
  • I cannot pass through the point of “climb up the ladder and jump to the side on the platform”. I just can’t :smiley: I honestly tried a good dozen of times ) I just barely graze the edge and fall down. Not sure how to jump there safely. I do the jumps by climbing up then double clicking the side platform. Tried to double click at different spots with no luck. Help! :slight_smile:

I mean the right mouse button indeed, sorry for that.

Thanks for your feedback! I will give an reaction step by step.

  • There is indeed a slight delay before the character starts moving. The explanation you give is correct. However, the left mouse button hold is not available. This is used in the game to use the weapon.

  • The extra left mouse button click to climb a ladder is needed in other situations. It is annoying if you walk next to a ladder and you are automatically cheered up while you simply wanted to change direction.

  • I have deactivated the automatic start after dying so you can take a look whats happening in scene after dying. A restart button and other menu options are for a later release.

  • For the next release I will ensure that the player does not move when the menu is open.

  • Your way of jumping is good, but you keep your mouse too far behind the character. The character must therefore turn too far back during jumping. Try to keep your mouse at the same height to the right of the character. Your character then turns to the right and lands on the platform while jumping. (I have already made a small change that makes you land on the platform a little more often with the way you did).

I hope you can now also test the rest of the game.

Thanks for the higher ladder :slight_smile: It is now easier to jump on the platform. I still occasionally fall down, but it is definitely easier )

Here are some notes of mine:

  • I want to get in to the chopper and shoot all those enemies from the air :smiley: Ok, maybe one day…
  • Of course I didn’t read the controls guide carefully and missed the point that I could rotate the camera. That ended in the situations, when the enemy appeared from the corner, or I couldn’t move, because a wall blocked the view:

Later, I read the instructions again and found that I could turn and zoom camera. I wish it would automatically rorate as well, to give a better view on the field, since it is not always convenient to run around, and rotate the camera to proper angle. Edit: some mouse doesn’t have a middle button :wink:

  • I can make the enemy lose me, just by jumping over them :slight_smile: In fact, there is no need to kill any of the enemies, since they are slow in moving and shooting.

  • I can jump on top of the chopper, but I cannot jump off, because I die from the fall damage. Death trap? :slight_smile:

  • What else… I feel like turning around is a bit too slow. Specially, if you are in a heat, when there is an enemy suddenly appeared behind you, and you start turning around like a turtle :slight_smile:

  • The delay before shoot and delay before move is a killer :frowning: Those are the main action moves in the game, so they should be responsive as much as possible. It is a stealth game, there are situations, when you are waiting for a window of opportunity to move somewhere. You want to get the the edge of some point to prepare for the move. You see there is still a bit more space, so you move a bit more. Then a bit more again, and again. Until you are at the optimal position. You can remember yourself playing games and how you adjust yourself for something bit by bit before taking the action. It is a simple mechanic, but with the delays before every move and action, it becomes a struggle. There is simply too much effort required for a small movement or a kill. And I am the laziest person out there, so I try to avoid the actions which are hard - I simply don’t make any small moves or kills :slight_smile: I just ran to the very end through everything, because it is easier :slight_smile:

  • The stone throw should not confuse enemies, if you are in their line of sight. It is funny though :slight_smile:

  • I still didn’t understand the purpose of the flashlight. I can see well enough without it. What’s the mechanic behind it?

Overall good progress! Keep it up :slight_smile:

Hello @LeXXik! Thanks! I will explain your points.

  • Flying in the chopper is not possible because your character can’t fly a chopper. ^^

  • I will create a better tutorial for you in the future. ^^

  • I will improve the enemies for the next release (but making changes can give good results for situation one but can be terrible for situation two. So it is very difficult to find the right balans).

  • You can walk off from the nose of the chopper or jump from a higher point if your health is oke enough.

  • I self have no problem with the delays but i will try to decrase the delays in the next release.

  • Throwing a stone will not effect an enemy in combat in the next release.

  • The flashlight is losing his function a bit sinds i have enlarged the visisibilty around the player. I will check if i can adjust this better in the next release.

PS. The ladder is not higher.

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New release!

In this release I present you my touch screen friendly version. There are also some minor improvements and bug fixes. By no means everything works as I would like, but the rest will come later. Please give your opinion!

Controls:
To move, you must hold down the right mouse button or keep your finger on the screen. Your soldier will move in the direction of your mouse or finger.

To jump, hold down the left mouse button or swipe your finger in the direction you want to jump.

To crouch, you have to left click on your soldier or tap with your finger on your soldier. (You can also double click with the right mouse button).

To use your weapon, you must double click with the left mouse button or double tap with your finger on the screen.

To rotate the camera, use your scroll button or use two fingers to rotate the camera and use three fingers to zoom in or out.

To see the field of view of an enemy, you can click with the left mouse button on the enemy or tap with your finger on the enemy.

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Looks great @Albertos! Mobile integration was done very well!

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