I didn't get to see much of how well this works since I was the only person there, so I just roamed a bit and discovered the map is really about that big -- the entire map is 30x30 tiles. It should also be noted that I couldn't fit the entire HUD on my screen at standard 32x32 view, and my screen resolution is 1280x960. It loses points for presentation already, since a bit of simple math could fix my need to use stretch icon mode, and using flags like NORTHEAST for screen_loc would keep HUD items in a static location for everybody. The developer is also relying on the antiquated notion of giving host verbs to the first person that logs in, which is why I have a host tab. There's also apparently the need to reboot the damn server to restart the game and make it able to be joined -- there's no reason it should be any body's responsibility to manually refresh the game status.
After rebooting the server, I get the opportunity to join.
How quaint. At this point, it dawns on me that I have no idea how to play, and there isn't a help file to be found. Oh well, I'll hit "yes" and hope for the best.
Well, I done joined, but what the heck? (temporarily set to 32x32 icon mode for detail):
My damn nametag takes up three times the horizontal space my mob does, not to mention I'm a Newgrounds flash game character whose name eludes me. The trademark of BoxHead is... well, the boxy characters, so why make a BoxHead clone and assign player mobs an icon of an unrelated character? Anyway, I hit "start game" and see what happens.
What crazy soul thinks clicking in a top-down shooter kills things? Silly me. Now, in my mad dash to not die, I'm frantically searching for something that will make the zombies dead-er than they are now. I found a quaint shoot verb, but it does absolutely nothing until you purchase a weapon, then click it onscreen to equip it:
So now I have me an uzi.
Now as I was cropping these screenshots up in Paint.NET, I was certain I was going to be fine -- I had a "next round" verb and, given I had to start the game manually, I assumed I had to progress it manually as well. I was wrong. When I got back to the Seeker window, I was dead, and now I have to reboot the server again. Let's see if I can get anywhere this time. (I later discovered there's a countdown timer in the Stats tab. This could be promising, as there runs the threat of multiple waves spawning on top of each other if you're not quick enough.)
Apparently, each gun has a set amount of ammunition, the uzi having 30 rounds and the pistol having 20. You run out of ammo a lot. Fortunately, you gain "coins" for each kill, so you can (usually) buy another one and replenish the ammo supply. Unfortunately, because of how irritating the purchase window and its' resulting yes/no prompt are, it's spectacularly annoying to purchase ammunition mid-round. At least it adds x rounds per purchase to the total ammunition count instead of just resetting to the default maximum rounds, I have to give him credit for that much.
Now, what this game really needs is sound. It needs gunshots, zombies moaning, and all other manner of good stuff. The sound is half the feeling, and this game felt wholly incomplete without it, considering all that's left is one mobile sprite and two cheap turf tiles.
In a nutshell, the following can make it better:
-Click-to-shoot (or, wasd and its surrounding keys to fire potshots in any direction independent of your current dir)
-A damn helpfile (explain that you need to purchase and equip a gun to kill things -- it's not nearly as obvious a concept as you'd think)
-Sounds
-HUD object screen_loc flags (use NORTHEAST instead of 23,23 -- one screen size does not fit all)
-Put the price of each weapon on the buy screen and remove that "are you sure" prompt
-Sound!
-Refresh the game without rebooting
[Re-review: 3 November, 2008]
After seeing the game has a download link, I tried the game again in single player mode, and I must say that it's oodles better than it previously was. I filled up a notebook page with thoughts, and I'll try and organize them in a logical form.
I must state how much better this game is with sound. Aside from a few things like the pistol sounding like a shotgun (which the developer states on the hub page he'll deal with soon), the sounds contribute loads of playability and immersion to the game. I also like the amount of blood splatter and bodies laying around, but despite how cool it looks, there has to be cleanup at some level -- I could notice the game starting to bog down a little around level 7 when you get attacked by an entire kennel's worth of zombie dogs. The overlays of blood on the standard zombie are quite helpful, as well, serving as a meter of how dead they are when you're unloading on them. The addition of the potshot system and click-to-shoot also makes a load of difference.
However, there are several issues that cropped up this time around that don't detract from gameplay, but should be addressed somewhere down the line. The first I managed to notice was that the "inf pistol" does actually run out of ammo. I later discovered that you restock this weapon by continuing to click the button for more ammo, but this shouldn't be necessary to begin with -- the "inf pistol" should have no ammo count and keep firing (likely with a reload delay every X shots or other similar delay). The ammo pickups are also a source of confusion -- they don't cause a refresh of your ammunition count by themselves, and I couldn't figure out how it determined which weapon benefited from the pickup.
I also noticed a few HUD issues. In the screenshot above, you can see the corpse of a dead dog sitting on top of the weapons list, but beneath the weapons on it. The weapons list HUD should be set up to the same level as the rest of the HUD, with the firearms set to a layer above that to keep them where they're supposed to be. The individual weapons should also have mouse_opacity set to 2, since the only way to equip a weapon is to click directly on a non-transparent area of the image, which is quite annoying when you have to focus attention on your heads-up to do something as simple as swap a weapon.
And finally, a grab bag of random issues. The "Upgrade to professional weapons" button should go away after you do so, since it creates the "I thought I did that already" self-questioning. I also noticed that if I clicked specific objects trying to fire, I couldn't do it -- this leads me to believe a few select objects have Click() events programmed instead of client/Click overriding them all. I also noticed that after I died, Dream Seeker went Super-Latent and was taking up 50% or better CPU, so this means the game is trying really hard to do something and failing after the player dies. The only thing I can come up with is that the hoard of monsters that were chasing me no longer have anything to chase, but that's only a speculation.
I'm not sure why this game isn't going to be a generic shooter instead of a clone of a generic shooter, but it has certainly improved since the last time I played it.
Another "in a nutshell" issue list:
-The "inf pistol" should not run out of ammo, and also should not have to be manually restocked.
-The ammo pickups should force a refresh of the ammo HUD.
-The weapons list HUD bar should be moved up so items on the map remain under it.
-The weapons themselves should be set mouse_opacity=2 so it's not required to click directly on them to swap to it.
-"Upgrade to professional weapons" button should go away after the upgrade is purchased.
-Click shooting should override at the top level, such as client/Click or atom/Click.
-Repair of the huge memory leak after the player dies.
A wish list for the future:
-Flamethrower made into a spread weapon (currently it only fires in straight lines)
-Some manner of shortcut for weapon swapping (the number keys 1-6 for each slot would be awesome)
Good jorb.