Monday, June 9, 2014

OCEAN Demo - Mega-FAQ

Q: How can I disable Sean's head bobbing?
A: Go to the console ('~' key), type movebob 0 and hit Enter. There won't be success messages, but it should be reduced. To restore it, open the console, type movebob .25 and press Enter.

Q: How do I interact with items/people/Kristina on the first map?
A: Please make sure to bind and use the Use/Open key (Spacebar by default, but it's recommended to rebind it to E).

Q: Once the demo loads, I have to wait an hour before the texture-related messages stop!
A: I know what causes this issue, and it will be addressed in the 1.1 Demo.

Q: I am not an official tester, but I'd like to provide feedback. Can I?
A: Of course! It's a community project, and it doesn't have dedicated QA resources. So please go ahead and voice your opinion! Thank you.

Q: I have some concerns about the controls. Can you please help me out?

A: Here is the preferred control scheme that I personally use. It's not necessarily the best, but the most comfortable in my opinion. All these can be set up in Options > Customize Controls menu:
  • W - walk forward;
  • S - walk backwards;
  • A - strafe (step) left;
  • D - strafe (step) right;
  • LMB - fire;
  • E - use/open;
  • LCtrl - crouch;
  • R - swim up;
  • F - swim down;

Q: The enemies damage an awful lot - I normally play DOOM and its mods on the fourth difficulty level, Ultra-Violence, but it was impossible to beat the demo that way because if even one enemy managed to ambush me it meant almost certain death.

A: Yes, I admit the enemies are very unfair - I've tried way too hard to pursue the 'stealth vs. brute force' gameplay. In the working builds, they were actually worse; I had to weaken them a lot before the release. And, like I said in the release notes, I still feel they're way too overpowered, so I'll definitely rebalance everything.

Q: The robot ladies are specially difficult since their attack is continuous and once they touch you it's highly probable they drain a good 20~25 of your health before you can escape, I suggest a decrease in the damage they do.

A: Alright, I'll definitely consider that and see what I can do!

Q: The second stage 'Hypotermia' is a cluster of commands, swimming though damaging points, crouching and even one jump. Since that's the first stage with some real action in the game maybe you should spare the player some difficulties for later.

A: The feeling of disorientation and 'what's going on?' for the player is actually what I was pretty much going for - it's supposed to be sort of like a training area that makes you familiar with all the gameplay quirks and twists (dialogue, swimming, environmental hazards, Diving Mode, points of interest, one enemy type). However, if you have concrete ideas on how to rebalance it, I'm all open!

Q: The maps are a little small but that's okay.

A: Those are actually my first 'serious' DOOM mapping attempts! Interesting fact: maps 'Licence To Kill', 'Exposition' and 'Marina' are VERY enhanced remakes of three maps from my old unfinished and abandoned WAD, Project Savior; and 'Fear Of The Dark' is a polished version of three test maps I've built specifically for OCEAN, stitched together. Pretty much, only 'Semper Fidelis' and 'Hypothermia' were done completely from scratch and intended to be 100% OCEAN maps from the very start.

Q: Stealth vs brute force emphasis? It helps the immersion in the gameplay, still a bit of balancing would be great.

A: I know that DOOM and old-school shooters in general are about anything but stealth, but I was more thinking games like Deus Ex, which can be beaten 'traditionally', but sneaky tactics are way more rewarding. Speaking in movie terms, I've tried to make the action less like Rambo 2-3 and more like Die Hard - after all, Sean himself is not a bodybuilder, so it would just shatter the suspension of disbelief if he would go out in the open with M60s in both hands!

Q: Talking abouth stealth, 'Fear Of The Dark' is pretty overwhelming during the first battle, it doesn't give the chance to finish the enemies quietly.

A: It actually has a not-really-hidden switch at the very beginning which activates a trap and makes things dramatically easier! And there're 3 such switches on 'Licence To Kill', too.

Q: I understood just fine your intentions and as a fact I think it's a good idea to introduce the player with the commands, I just feel many people might get frustrated, let's hope I'm wrong.

A: Well, I take all the negative feedback into consideration just as much as the positive; probably I should add in more hints and points of interest, just so the player would be 100% comfortable. I'll rebalance it in any case, don't worry!

Q: I noticed a detail about 'Licence To kill' - the whole map is designed to look for three switches across the stage, but if you crouch in the second room you can reach the back side of the console and interact with it, thus breaking the sequence and being able to continue to map 4. Maybe you designed it on purpose but maybe it wasn't intended.

A: If rebooting all three relays is not mandatory in this case, I'll look into it. Thank you for finding this bug!

Thanks to Eon-Sonny for the questions!

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