Beta Features

The reason why I am calling these "Beta" features is because I'm not sure about keeping these features. They are in this version to test if they should be kept in or removed. Of course, they can be kept in and improved upon.

Several of these I did not want to implement as they have some downsides in my mind, but after hearing player feedback I realized I needed to give them a try.

Sliding

Some basic sliding off objects while player is moving is implemented. This is pretty basic and there might still be some spots to improve - I haven't tested running into every single object in the office yet, ha.

Also, there are a lot of flat/parallel surfaces - the walls, cubicles...well that is most of the office - so there isn't any sliding there.

8 Direction Movement

I have enabled 8-direction movement for the player. 

There is still only 4 directions of animations, though. The feedback I'm looking for is if this seems odd to have the 4 animation directions but able to move in 8 directions.

For those that don't know, I have like 50+ characters drawn in this art style. I struggle to even get a lot of the faces finished in profile. So if I were to try and get all of them in 8 directions, that is essentially doubling the amount of art and animations needed. Something I'm not willing to commit to at this time.

Fading Text Bubbles

Text bubbles will not fade in and out instead of disappearing. Hopefully this makes it easier for they eyes to track when reading.

I was initially reluctant to do something like this as it seems common for players to spam button press through text, which a fade just makes it take longer to go away. I set the fade time to a very short duration to avoid it staying on screen too long.

Turning LOS

Chatty Cathy only walks in 4 directions so previously her LOS arc was set to the direction she was facing. Several players gave feedback it was harsh when she turned since the LOS would "jump" from one angle to the new one. So I made it that the arc turns to the new angle instead of getting set to it.

Though, I'm not sure this will really help the players out much with their stealth attempts as it is such as quick turn. I'd love for it to be a slow turn so the player has time to react when they see the turn starting. Chatty Cathy moves so quickly and turns abruptly that I can't have a longer time as sometimes she will turn again before the LOS catches up.

At some point I can look into the pathfinding to see if I can get it to make less turns as needed. The other thing that would help would to start turning the LOS shortly before the turn. But that is why this is a Beta Feature, to get any player feedback before diving into it deeper.

NOTE: THE CONTENT BELOW IS NOT USED IN THE GAME CURRENTLY

Also, I want to add in some scanning at some point:

I have the feature setup, but not used anywhere at the moment. Chatty Cathy is walking most of the time and this seems like a standing still look to me. I might add it when she is looking around at the computer. Or I could try to have her do this while walking, but she does walk so fast that it might just look so sporadic.

I'm just showing this as I do want to see what else I can do with the LOS arcs. You might not be aware, but there was a "Stealth Prototype" I was working on at some point to test out more gameplay with stealth. I want to get back to that sometime after I'm done with this level.

Feedback

To wrap up, please give any feedback on these new changes. 

I am happy to roll some of them back - as in remove them and put it back to the way before - if the response is negative on specific ones. So feel free to give a quick comment of approval even if you don't have any insightful points to make, or even if you aren't sure why you like it or not.

Thanks! Bagel Out!