Thoughts and Ideas General

Mr.Gomez · Mar 31, 2015

OK first impression from me, (played examina for an hour) I really like the physics. I spent 5 minutes running into things just to watch the character fall over, trip up etc. Also I never knew that physics enabled doors were missing from my gaming life, very satisfying.

Trying to get my head around combat took awhile, very sloppy lol. But I think I'm getting the hang of it. On my current play through I've taken out 4 zombies with minimal health loss, and I've just found the sledgehammer. I haven't had a chance to use it yet but I can't wait to see some smashed zombie skull lol.

So yeah looking really promising, I can really see the potential to the horizon and beyond, I'm excited and 2 thumbs up so far!

Murf · Mar 31, 2015

@Mr.Gomez Glad ya are liking it. Wait till ya try the sledge, another nice thing about the physics and combat is each weapon behaves differently, very cool, but makes it tricky to get the hang of each one

Mr.Gomez · Mar 31, 2015

Yeah I can tell, even just from the limited time I've spent, the handaxe was a lot faster than the wooden board with nails. So far the hand saw has been the best mix of impact and damage.. But yeah I kinda squealed when I saw the sledge on the wall.. Got some weird looks in the lunch room

RobG · Apr 1, 2015

Not sure if this has been suggested already and not sure what to search to find out but anyway....

how about user written mundane descriptions. Instead of having 100 empty bottles with a little dust at the bottom, open a thread titled 'describe a bottle for the game' nominate a mod or whatever to filter through the posts and feed the useable ones to the devs, potentially end up with 100 different interesting descriptions for empty bottles. Could add some real depth to the world maybe. Could be done for sooo many mundane things in the world gravestones, flowers, insects etc etc.

Fawz · Apr 5, 2015

RobG said:
Not sure if this has been suggested already and not sure what to search to find out but anyway....

how about user written mundane descriptions. Instead of having 100 empty bottles with a little dust at the bottom, open a thread titled 'describe a bottle for the game' nominate a mod or whatever to filter through the posts and feed the useable ones to the devs, potentially end up with 100 different interesting descriptions for empty bottles. Could add some real depth to the world maybe. Could be done for sooo many mundane things in the world gravestones, flowers, insects etc etc.

That's a really good idea, and one I'd very much like to see implemented. Hopefully the devs see your recommendation and think it worth looking into.

Haxyl · Apr 16, 2015

Venom said:
Things I want included:

- Gore / broken limbs
- Modding tools (I'm sure I'm not alone in this)
- Since humans are the only playable race, a very large array of options in appearance customization
- Limitations in magic use ( mana or whichever resource is used to cast spells depletes in a way that you can't abuse spell casting to win all the time [problem like this is seen in Demon's Souls] )
- Others which I shall add after I have seen other ideas...

Gore for sure, I was thinking to myself that the game needed some edge to it. More blood, or when I crush someones head with my mace it sorta f**** up their face.

Faelivrin · Apr 20, 2015

I have a idea to implement a feature that is often requested by new players, and while may not be a feature that everybody consider necessary, i think it could benefit it by lowering a little the levels of frustration at the early stages of the game survival-traineeship. It would be a hopefully simple way to implement several 3 game modes that would allow different difficulty.

Few days ago Madoc came by to Murf's stream and stated we better get ready for what lays after the 3rth level, things will get tougher and even more deadly (yay!). Agnes had the idea to make a checkpoint where the game currently finish:

the portal

I don't know what you guys think, to me this sounds fair enough. But i think it could be not everybody cup of tea, and i started thinking that this is where the several game modes could also benefit to hardcore players. So the mechanisms for the different modes would be:

1. Easy mode:

A checkpoint on each level.
When the character health bar reach 0, but not all the damage is red, the character is knocked down but dont die. Once he recovers there could be some penalty (your attacker steals your weapon/armor etc).

2. Normal mode:

A checkpoint on the third level as planned.
High chances that your enemy finish you if you are knocked down and worse penalties if you are spared.

3. Hard mode:

No checkpoints.
No dark yellow bar, every damage is permanent.

Murf · Apr 20, 2015

I like that but think they should have the normal mode be the way it is now.

Faelivrin · Apr 20, 2015

I thought so too, but if this knocking down mechanic gets implemented would be a waste not to use it in the mode that most people would play. It would add richness and make gameplay more interesting, but would make it a little easier i grant you that.

Yoji · May 2, 2015

Hi all, (it's a translate English, sorry if it's not very good)
Personally i hope developers will stay faithful with their game and their ideas, and not changing the challenge of this game because one or some players don't love that.
One rule, one difficulty, one challenge, one experience, like "Demon's souls" for an example.

If the game is easier, the player haven't the same experience, and i think developers want make a game for players who want immersive experience (one life, no regenerate life, rarely item for life, two shots for die or for kill, no GPS, no highlighted items/doors/chest ..etc..), i think the present difficulty is really good.
A game like that is extremely rare, please change nothing, if players want an easy game, they can find everywhere.

Faelivrin · May 2, 2015

Yoji said:
Hi all, (it's a translate English, sorry if it's not very good)
Personally i hope developers will stay faithful with their game and their ideas, and not changing the challenge of this game because one or some players don't love that.
One rule, one difficulty, one challenge, one experience, like "Demon's souls" for an example.

If the game is easier, the player haven't the same experience, and i think developers want make a game for players who want immersive experience (one life, no regenerate life, rarely item for life, two shots for die or for kill, no GPS, no highlighted items/doors/chest ..etc..), i think the present difficult is really good.
A game like that is extremely rare, please change nothing, if players want an easy game, they can find everywhere.

I know i proposed different difficulty level few days ago but.. i like your post. I was concerned about the steam release and about the reception, it still make me have mixed feelings. I truly want this game to be a success, and that most people as possible get to experience what i did with this game, but on the other hand making it any easier would be conflict with that. Watching the "very positive" reviews makes me think it is on the good path ^^

Yoji · May 2, 2015

Yes i have read your post Faelivrin, i think it's not a bad idea, but i think stay with only one difficulty not a bad idea too, i don't know what the best way for a game, maybe it's egoist to make only one difficulty, or maybe it's better to propose only one experience for all players.
Again for example, look the souls series (Demon's souls, Dark souls 1 & 2, Bloodborne), many players love challenge, and i think developers are rich now ^^

Like you, i am afraid with opinion of players, i'm afraid players want an easier game, and developers say :
"ok you're right, we do an easy game now".

If it's just for propose few new difficulty like your idea, and stay with current difficulty unchanged, why not, i want too the success of this game, and i hope i can continue to play with current challenge.

And yes, for now it's a very good news, 80% (131 user) of Steam players opinion are positives

Johnssonhill · May 2, 2015

Just throwing this out there: Anyone have any thoughts on cosmetic moves like taunts and such? Be nice to see opponents banging swords against their shields or doing a (for lack of a better word) wristspin with a weapon.

Ruusunpuna · May 3, 2015

Currently enemies who want to fight with you just blindly follow you and try to kill you. I thought it would be incredibly cool to have a "stalker" type of enemy that plays a bit differently. The stalker follows you around from a distance and tries to hide and surprise you. It fights you for a bit and then runs away into the shadows and starts to stalk you again. Would be really terrifying and fit perfectly in Exanima! Maybe you decide to run after it and have a crazy little chase in the dungeons, you both trip over stuff and other enemies start attacking you...

Pitstop Head · May 4, 2015

Ok so I have very much enjoyed this game so far even though it bloody hard but here is what really stands out for me:

This is am amazing combat simulator. Having spoken to the lead developer about this he has revealed there will be a lot more in the Arena and I am so looking forward to that! Imagine 6,7,8 or 10 players in an all out fight in the arena. Or just a simple 1 v 1 game. The fights are currently epic but when it comes to player vs player then it will be beyond epic and we'll talk about them for a long while no doubt! Excited and thrilled with the physics!

Oona · May 4, 2015

I need new customization options, a photo mode, and progress info on Sui Generis. Pluuuzzz

ShaolinG · May 5, 2015

http://www.baremettle.com/forums/index.php?threads/feedback-and-thoughts.2089/

Oona · May 5, 2015

ShaolinG said:
http://www.baremettle.com/forums/index.php?threads/feedback-and-thoughts.2089/

You make a good point about the WASD controls. Exanima takes getting used to because we're not used to up not meaning up on the screen. Our brains don't naturally work the way Exanima's controls work.

But Exanima's controls allow more precision than the traditional ones.

Personally I don't play with precision in mind. I'm reckless and I still get the job done. So what you suggest is something I'd like to be optional. No matter how much Exanima I play, my brain still has a hard time getting used to "up" not meaning "up" on the screen.

Murf · May 6, 2015

Oona said:
You make a good point about the WASD controls. Exanima takes getting used to because we're not used to up not meaning up on the screen. Our brains don't naturally work the way Exanima's controls work. But Exanima's controls allow more precision than the traditional ones.

Personally I don't play with precision in mind. I'm reckless and I still get the job done. So what you suggest is something I'd like to be optional. No matter how much Exanima I play, my brain still has a hard time getting used to "up" not meaning "up" on the screen.

Took me a long time to get used to it as well, there are still times, when I get ambushed or panicked that I revert back to using the spacebar to get the camera back behind me. Only thing that can fix that is more cow bell (playing more)

John Woods · May 7, 2015

I think a big reason why the camera takes so long to get used to is that 1. it is not mandatory outside of combat. (meaning most people don't use it much) and 2. the movement isn't very responsive during combat, to say the least. That makes it very hard for your brain to synchronize with the input without the presence of a feedback loop.
I would definitely try a system where holding the key makes short continuous steps in any 8 directions, while double tap dashes stay the same.

My biggest suggestion after playing Exanima for 10+ hours is to control the camera more. It would be great to zoom closer on the combat and environment, especially with the grey and brown palette where stuff is hard to distinguish. Supporting bit lower camera tilt would be great to. That would probably need "transparent walls" where the wall that would hide vision is cut to show the room, but that would be really great.
This game has a really nice atmosphere and tone, but the camera doesn't do it justice.

Camera is also very important for social promotion. Right now, all my videos and screenshot look like grey boxes on the thumbnail. It's a real problem when there is no visual to associate with the game, even though the graphics are definitely top notch.