Splooshe Alpha #2

It has been nearly 4 months since I released Splooshe Alpha #1, and I've had some fantastic feedback from people that played it. I have been working at fixing the issues in that version and adding more content in my spare time, and I'm proud to announce the second alpha of Splooshe.

What is Splooshe?

Splooshe is a zombie apocalypse themed game, a linear story experience created, designed and voiced by me. I started work on it over the summer of 2011 after making a concept for the first map a few months prior, and have been spending time on it every now and then since.

It is far from finished, but now comprises of 4 (and a half) maps that are fully playable, and are hopefully enjoyable.

Download

So, first off, do you have Steam? YesNo (if you have no idea, hit "no")

Gameplay Video

If for some reason you can't play it, or you don't want to download it, here's a video of me playing through the game instead. You can give feedback based on that below too, anything helps.

I don't want to play, show me the video

Giving Feedback

As with the first release, I'd appreciate feedback on the levels I have created so far. Some example pointers:

• Level glitches, impassable terrain
• Out of place things in levels
• Places where the game is too choppy or slow to play
• Things in levels that aren't properly explained to you
• Places where you get stuck
• Suggestions
• ... and anything else that you'd like to comment on.

Feedback So Far

Some of the feedback below is from my thread on reddit.

• ✓ Possible incompatibility with ATI graphics cards on sp04thetunnel http://i.imgur.com/A2VuM.jpg, http://i39.tinypic.com/4jm7fb.png
• At the stairs: feels like an opportunity to play "the floor is lava" was missed.
• ✓ Boarded up gate caused one player to empty all ammo trying to get through
• One tester brought the plug along the whole train ride - Easter egg opportunity?
• Easy to get thrown off the platform at the end
• "For a storyline driven mod you haven't really given the player much motivation other to keep playing, he storyline is pretty much "oh look you woke up and also here are some zombies". you don't need to add a lot to make this intresting, you've already created a pretty intresting world. maybe give the player something that links them to the zombie apocalypse at the start and sudden;y the whole thing becomes more compelling."
• One tester noted that textures were too bump mapped.
• "A lot of the areas felt really empty and they could as well not have been there. Flesh out what you already have. An example of what I mean would obviously be HL2 where they send you to reach an objective that you only reach 30m-1h later, after having fought for it. Now in a mod you could reduce that to 10-15 minutes, but shorter then that and the feat loses meaning."
• One player wasn't clear why the train stopped
• "I don't know if you intend the game to be more about shooting, or the puzzles, or the story, but personally I'd de-emphasize shooting the zombies and make the gameplay about avoiding them whenever possible. Which is to say : 3-4 times the zombies in every encounter of the alpha, except the first 2 that you meet."
• Lever puzzle is too easy now
• Generator could've been a puzzle; one player disappointed it was already on
• ✓ Grenade section at the start is a bit gimmicky and over-the-top, and having it at the start contributes a lot to the tone of the rest of the game. suggestion: changing it up a bit, like making the player go another route or having the zombie walk off screen and not die, just to keep the player on the defensive? When the first piece of action the player sees is an exploding zombie, they feel a lot more confident that the zombies are weak and easily killable.
• mix things up a bit in the later levels with different and more difficult zombies though because you can't have a zombie game without a lot of shooting
• Needs more sound that adds to the atmosphere, some "dry" areas
• Projected texture buggy, http://i41.tinypic.com/34sgqxy.png
• ✓ Can see skybox seams (lines in the sky).
• Props in the first room at the dock are all too light. (Player can pick up any of them)
• The ladder in the first room is a bit hard to find
• One player was concerned about the guy in the cabin when they left to get water and couldn't close the door behind them.
• ✓ Jumping out of a tree over a fence that high would hurt.
• The train went too far for me and stopped inside the fence at the intersection, it also stopped partially inside the tunnel blocking me.
• The ammo in the fence control booth was a bit hard to notice.
• Won't the water in the sewer infect the player?
• If a player holds +jump and goes into the ichasaur pit they can float.
• Zombie blood is not red.

Items with a ✓ character next to them have been addressed, and will be fixed in the next version of the game. The version above however still has these bugs.

To give feedback, you can email me, comment below or message me on Twitter. It doesn't have to be technical - can be anything at all that you don't think is right.