well, I ran around, drove, shot, poked around for 15 minutes and honestly think that for a first impression (and for this, I guess, practically complete one) it's enough. obviously, I'll miss things that could have affected my opinion both positively and negatively
starting with the good part: the visual execution. not sure how optimized it is, tested on a 3070. looks decent and even with clunky animations, they somehow aren't too bad against the overall art style. though it clearly needs polish, but it's a game jam project after all
sure, maybe everything’s built on assets and there’s no point talking about placeholders, but I’ll pretend it’s not the case
after this, only mixed and negative points remain. I get it’s a game jam, whatever, but if the entire game is about beating zombies for almost an hour, then yeah, the gameplay is just meh. feels okay at first, but then you realize guns are useless, syringes (?) are pointless. you just spam your bat and the game turns into a zombie clicker. no sense of balance or counterplay in combat—this shows not only in fights but also in the environment. sure, I can blow up a barrel, but the result is negligible compared to the bat. overall, combat is boring, even though it seemed decent at first glance
this also relates to visuals, but while the graphics are definitely okay, the interface design, cohesion, and atmosphere are a problem. I assume you just based the game on some default unreal project. it’s not just “noticeable”—it’s obvious when you open the menu and see that the base is some multiplayer shooter with a deathmatch like splitgate. you cut out the actual game but left everything else. which feels very weird. for example, the pause not freezing the game could be a stylistic/design choice, but to me, it’s clearly leftover code from multiplayer that wasn’t removed
don’t think I missed anything major. if you consider that you spent about two weeks on this, well, kinda, somehow, barely, not bad. again, a game jam isn’t necessarily about how much time you spend developing, but I think you could’ve done better, way better in every aspect. except maybe the lighting, textures, etc.—it does look pretty decent
I also briefly checked what the jam theme was. can’t say much about the setting execution, but there are definitely games that will be just as cohesive/visually solid but also more engaging in gameplay, execution, and overall polish (not counting terrible games)
so, in conclusion, based on the current state—definitely not number one in the jam, but not the worst either. average. the impression is more like a pre-alpha-beta-0.01-build rather than a small game made in a couple of weeks
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well, I ran around, drove, shot, poked around for 15 minutes and honestly think that for a first impression (and for this, I guess, practically complete one) it's enough. obviously, I'll miss things that could have affected my opinion both positively and negatively
starting with the good part: the visual execution. not sure how optimized it is, tested on a 3070. looks decent and even with clunky animations, they somehow aren't too bad against the overall art style. though it clearly needs polish, but it's a game jam project after all
sure, maybe everything’s built on assets and there’s no point talking about placeholders, but I’ll pretend it’s not the case
after this, only mixed and negative points remain. I get it’s a game jam, whatever, but if the entire game is about beating zombies for almost an hour, then yeah, the gameplay is just meh. feels okay at first, but then you realize guns are useless, syringes (?) are pointless. you just spam your bat and the game turns into a zombie clicker. no sense of balance or counterplay in combat—this shows not only in fights but also in the environment. sure, I can blow up a barrel, but the result is negligible compared to the bat. overall, combat is boring, even though it seemed decent at first glance
this also relates to visuals, but while the graphics are definitely okay, the interface design, cohesion, and atmosphere are a problem. I assume you just based the game on some default unreal project. it’s not just “noticeable”—it’s obvious when you open the menu and see that the base is some multiplayer shooter with a deathmatch like splitgate. you cut out the actual game but left everything else. which feels very weird. for example, the pause not freezing the game could be a stylistic/design choice, but to me, it’s clearly leftover code from multiplayer that wasn’t removed
don’t think I missed anything major. if you consider that you spent about two weeks on this, well, kinda, somehow, barely, not bad. again, a game jam isn’t necessarily about how much time you spend developing, but I think you could’ve done better, way better in every aspect. except maybe the lighting, textures, etc.—it does look pretty decent
I also briefly checked what the jam theme was. can’t say much about the setting execution, but there are definitely games that will be just as cohesive/visually solid but also more engaging in gameplay, execution, and overall polish (not counting terrible games)
so, in conclusion, based on the current state—definitely not number one in the jam, but not the worst either. average. the impression is more like a pre-alpha-beta-0.01-build rather than a small game made in a couple of weeks