Jazz and Azul

*English not my first language. I hope development goes welll inshallah* There is good theme and concept to the game, from the posters on the wall to the split in both sides of the wall. However it is still that a concept, but with a lot of good thought and world building I'm sure it will be great. I especially like the concept of this evil ghoul on the other side(Keep your kids at home after dark vibe), but then switches to IRA style partition wall with the posters on the other side. It feels awfully disjointed.  The detail where done has been done well, the trees were unique and i had a giggle when I found a tree stump. The world could do with some more detail in it. The music is good and unique but far too loud and needs to be turned down, it becomes annoying rather quickly. It drowns out any ambiance or natural environment sounds that would compliment alongside it as background noise. Then jump to no noise in the maze is odd. Without the context given or a small intro, you take in more of the game which is good. And makes you appreciate the design more.  However the initial room you start in feels doesn't feel like that of a child, which I assume you play as. It feels empty and cold and lacks character. I would definitely like to see more of the house, with things to find like a flash light. Which can be used in the maze. With the goal of getting to a secret/abandoned connecting hatch. The speed at which you walk is painfully slow at the moment, and when you strafe with W A you move twice as fast, making movement itself feel unnatural.  The first stage of the game is to dark, all the detail and effort put in is not done justice at all.  I adored the statues, and love them as they follow you as you move around. Falling of the map, from a variety of ways most my own ways of seeing if I could glitch it out. But when you reach the second stage if you don't stick on the path you will just fall.

Movement feels slow, although combining movement on the X and Z axis increases it, i.e. holding W and D. Strafing like this into corners makes the player climb the wall until it hits the world ceiling.

Collision with statues in the maze whilst doing the above leads to clipping through walls, or falling under or through the map. Controlled use of this allows for clipping under walls in order to skip the maze entirely. It is also possible to end up standing on the statues as the move to follow the player.

Lighting on the Azul side of the map is too dark to see details and colour contrasts and the design of the town suffers for it. It’s a shame because the house models are well built and interesting, but the lighting just defeats the work put in. Also, finding the maze was difficult because of the lighting; it blends too well into the trees.

The maze walls for me were a solid black with no shading, maybe something to do with the direction of light into the map instance? Also, when put into the map instance it is fully possible to walk the opposite direction and fall off the map.

On the Jazz side much of the forest floor has no collision. Other than that it’s beautifully made, but could perhaps do with some performance review as there seems to be FPS issues.

Being able to explore both sides of the map is great, and I’m looking forward to seeing more being added!

The 3D art is beautiful in the game and it makes the world feel very interesting.

Some feedback:  (I couldn't find the maze in the first section so i only have the blues feedback..)

• Couldn't figure out where the maze was in the azul(darker) side, I might have missed some visual queues or it isn't clear
• the background music in the azul side seemed a bit out of place as it reminded me of a bar instead of a town.
• The lighting seemed really dark in the first section (probably also dark in the second)  even though the sky is clear and blue

Looking forward to where the game goes :)

Hi developers,

I playtested this build of your game this morning - firstly I would like to say I feel extremely curious and interested in the World you are building here.

It was particularly beautifully detailed in the way the buildings and environments were modelled after instruments, I found myself staring at the intricate architecture of the houses. I also really enjoyed seeing the Posters that were placed around the Map.

As for some useful feedback that you can hopefully use as development continues :

- As others have stated, I think the player character may need to be taller and the sizes of the NPCs would need reducing

- Player movement could definitely benefit from being faster, or perhaps you could add a Sprint option?  I struggled to find my way around the Maze and felt the walk speed was slow enough that it hindered my progress

- I fell through the map at one point near a curb on the colourful side of the wall

- The Guide on screen could be slightly larger or perhaps the font Bolder 

Hope this feedback can help your team. 

Overall I felt excited by this concept though, and forgot to mention how much I enjoyed the music within the game too! 

Do you plan to add tips on finding the Maze or the man eventually? 

I will be following your game and shall check out the next build as soon as it’s ready!

Hope this helps

i love the music and the surroundings! It's a great game and though i didn't get to play much because it was laggy on my pc, it looks like you are going in the right direction!

Hi guys,

I really enjoyed the game so far! It looks awesome and I can’t wait to see what’s to come!

I love the jazzy music and the contrast between the 2 towns. Really made me want to explore both of them.  I enjoyed the maze also, but I did find a bug in the game. There’s a statue in the maze that I walked into and it took me under the floor which changed the colour of the floor to white. 

Though I enjoyed the mysterious feel of the dark maze, I found it a little hard to see in there! I’d recommend adjusting the brightness.

Amazing game, good job!!! 

i have a tip, if you make such an open world. make it that you cant walk through uildings. also, make a short tutorial. so the people can undersand the game better. i have one last tip make a title and pause screen . hope my tips help. ( :

Hi!

I think this game has a lot of potential, and I can't wait to play a later build of it! I didn't play though the whole game (I fell through the floor really early on the Jazz side, and can't bring myself to do the maze again), but I loved both the environments (especially the little I saw on the Jazz side! The colours and design are BEAUTIFUL and so interesting to look at!), an the music is great! I think it's a super unique concept overall, I just love the idea of it, and how everything just ties together so well.

Here are some buggy things/notes I took while playing through. Mind you, I went out of of my way a bit to be thorough, but I did my best to be helpful. :)

Blues Side:
- The colours on the Blues side are very dark. It may benefit to brighten it up a bit.
- The book at the beginning- What is the text about if? Tester? Texte? I can't tell what it's supposed to say.
- NPCs will stop dead in their tracks, or walk on the spot/crash into each other and keep walking in place.
- If you stop at any point on the stairs, you slide all the way back down to the bottom.
- Curbs can be hard to get over, like they're too high.
- You can go through the NPCs (not sure the age of the character, but I also feel rather short next to them... Like I feel like I go up to their bellybuttons. Might be intentional).
- Can also see through NPCs and see their outlines if you get too close.
- Speed of character walking is a little slow (though you do seem to go faster if you move diagonally).
- Not sure if this is intentional, but one of the buildings near the beginning (down the street from where you start and to the right, beside three garbage bags) has a staircase without a railing at the top. You're able to repeatedly jump off the side of the platform (again, maybe this is intentional).
- ^^^ same building but on the left at the very end (and later in the forested area).
- You can walk through the brown structure in the forested area (with the two men facing each other at the door, with the different colour pebbles leading up to it).
- You can walk through the trees.
- There is no depth to the pit of instruments- You float over top of it to the other side.
- Maybe a water sound effect and/or a slower speed for walking in the river? Just to differentiate between land and water.
- The statue in the maze rotates to face you wherever you move. Maybe would want to make it stationary in a later build, so it's less confusing when going through the maze (ie. landmarker- I came at the statue facing this way when I walked by it the first time.)
- The maze is VERY difficult right now. I almost gave up.

Jazz Side:
- The first house on the right- The person outside is floating above the ground.
- I tried going up to said floating person and I fell through the ground. :(
- Camera seemed a like glitchy when I was walking on this side.

Overall, great first build! I'm excited to see where this goes! :)

Hi there! Great start to this game! I hope these quick point form notes help you in your process. Can't wait to see the next steps!

-Need a running function, or a faster walk speed. Current travelling speed is too slow.
-Could an indicator be added to turn on the light?
-Playable character seems to be quite short in comparison to surroundings.
-People are randomly stopping dead while walking, mid-animation. They also walk into walls, and each other. I found several staring at a door to a house, not moving at all (this was near the pit on the Blues side).
-I can pass through trees and people.
-Blues side is too dark, even with screen brightness turned all the way up… it’s really hard to see.
-All textures, sound, lighting disappeared upon entrance into the maze (likely intentional)
-Maze is somewhat difficult, with no hints/map/trail to follow.
-I wished the Wall had a distinctive texture to it, to differentiate it from the buildings, etc.
-I was unable to complete my first playthrough because I fell through the floor. This was on the Jazz side, moving into a forested area near two red stop signs, at the end of a dead-end street.
-Music is excellent!
-Jazz side looks great, very vibrant, easy to see. Could use even more people so it feels more bustling to increase the energy further.
-Camera movement is glitchy... sometimes I can move it and observe while walking, sometimes I can't.
-I get caught on the curbs... too high?
-If you get right up against the maze walls, they glitch and you can see through them.

Fun ! Cool music... I solved the Maze ! 

Please update with more!

 - Tim

For some reason, the vertical mouse sensitivity is lower than the horizontal. Not sure if on purpose but I would at least like it toggleable.

I like the darkness but it is a bit harder to see.

I didn't play for long but I couldn't find whatever green maze thing the directions were talking about. I'm also not very observant though.

Hey guys, I just finished playing through the build.

REALLY love the game world and the environment. The music is beautiful and makes you feel immersed in a fantastic world. 

A couple tiny points of feedback:

- The NPCs seem a little large for their houses? May need slight tweaking :)

- The player character is a little short compared to the desk and bed at the start of the game

Overall I thought this was a really refreshing game and I love the idea.

I see a lot of potential in this game and can’t wait to try more as it progresses! 

great game! i really like the concept. brilliant environment design!! i found a bug, when i walked close to the fire pit it threw me into in the air. the prospects of the game seems really promising. looking forward to the next build. :)