2020-12-05 12:31:08

@25, formidable, formidable! I am very grateful for your support. No need to use NVDA, thank you!

If you want to contact me, do not use the forum PM. I respond once a year or two, when I need to write a PM myself. I apologize for the inconvenience.
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2020-12-05 12:51:57

No dice, SAPI does not work. I have no speech output

If you want to contact me, do not use the forum PM. I respond once a year or two, when I need to write a PM myself. I apologize for the inconvenience.
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2020-12-05 12:59:05

Hello,
@Nuno, is it possible you may have downloaded an old copy? We accidentally posted before the upload finished. All testers verify that sapi speech works.
Please inform us if sapi continues not working for you.

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2020-12-05 13:05:22 (edited by PhantomCreations 2020-12-05 13:06:22)

@nuno and @28
It's been discovered that there exists a speech conflict. If your sapi speech voice is 32 bit, it will not work. We are researching the matter.
In the meantime, if you use 64 bit voices such as e-speak NG, Microsoft's voices and other 64 bit voices, the game will speak through sapi correctly
Kind regards

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2020-12-05 13:06:24

Hi,
thanks for your fast response speed. SAPI works, but stopping it with CTRL does not work. I guess that is a TOLK limitation, right?

If you want to contact me, do not use the forum PM. I respond once a year or two, when I need to write a PM myself. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Telegram: Nuno69a
E-Mail: nuno69a (at) gmail (dot) com

2020-12-05 13:29:36 (edited by sightlessHorseman 2020-12-05 13:37:27)

Hey.

At Phantom wow, I never had that much fun with any other game than this one in the last few years, dang good work, expect my 20 dollar backing at the start of next week. Here are some things that I have noticed.
The story is very wel written and detailed. I like that the characters act as normal human beeings and not the super hero type characters we often see in those games. You can really feel the connection between the peple and the small details in their conversations make this a really pleasant experience.
Sounds and music, well, i don't have to say anything about that I guess, awesome music, cracking sounds although I would love some more variation in the punching and kicking noises, but generally speaking, sounds awesome.
The platforming is also quite awesome, you need a lot of skill to get this weapon in lvl 1 act 1, I died multiple times trying to reach it.
Some comments about the game play, the momentum system when running or jumping is very well and something we haven't seen that often, only toom hunter rewrite had a basic system like that in place, platforming becomes an all new challenge with that system. The difficulty is also very good, it's quite hard at some points of the game which might keep some players away, but I like a good challenge in the games that I play, so I am also positive about that.
Although I have to say that I would like to see health packs or things like grenades and items that assist you next to weapons and ammo.


The biggest issue I'm having is one of the central systems of the game, the fighting mechanic. Don't get me wrong, the switch between maylay and weapons and the fact that you carefully have to look what weapon you pick up are awesome, but the maylay part needs to be redone in my opinion.
The enemys feel like tanks when you punch them and you need quite a lot of time to defeat them, sometimes it seams to me that only in rage mode you can kill those guys. Here is an idea. Rewrite the fighting system so you have a three button system. A button for light, medium and heavy attacks. This would open up the way for combos to be introduced, or knock back enemys into walls or objects behind them  for example this than having a stunning or damaging effect for them. For example, in lvl 1.2, you could knock an enemy into one of the storage containers of which he crawled out of, so you cause some stunn when you fling him against the container.
The way how rage works could be tweaked abit. Possibly, if the new fighting system gets introduced, rage could be build up by certain attack strings instead of rhythmic punching. Now, the rythm is quite easy to master, but still you take a lot of damage when you build up the meter. If you keep the current system, i would increase the speed you have to punch an enemy. I get that this would most likely end up in you having rage active all the time, but if it's just aa faster rhythm, that might help things.

Blocking attacks, especially punches or kicks would be good to have, including something like a counter system. So, you bloc an enemys punch and if you are lucky, you can directly counter and inflict more damage or stunn the enemy.

Some small issues. In story sequences I would like to have a key to read the last spoken line of text. For example in one of the levels, when i walked over a trigger that announced the storage containers, which I skipped by accident, so I would like to read it again.
Another issue, in my saved game, I don't get my 4 continues back, when I now die, I have to restart the game and land at the start of the level.

Also, aiming your weapon up and down would be a neat adition, so you could aim at enemys coming to you from above or if you are standing on a platform yourself, you could shoot down and pick of some enemys from a top position.

Also, controler support would be awesome to have, I love playing those games with a gamepad.

But generally speaking, keep it up, the thing is awesome already.

Greetings Moritz.

Hail the unholy church of Satan, go share it's greatness.

2020-12-05 13:49:42

Hi, this demo is really good. It's fast paced, and the atmosphere feels very different from what we've had before. But I can't pass through 1-3, with the two cars. I keep killing soldiers, but more come, and there's this machine gun that shoots at me at the most horrible of times, which I can't disable. But once I get my credit card situation resolved I will surely be backing this, too.

I used to be a knee like you, then I took an adventurer in the arrow.

2020-12-05 14:35:55 (edited by PhantomCreations 2020-12-05 14:48:37)

Hello all,
First of all I want to say a big thank you to everyone here who has played Scarlet Shells.
As of now, there is another build that adds 32 bit support available. This should let those of you who play games on mac using wine or other means get this up and working way easier now.
This also corrects an issue where 32 bit voices would not speak.

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2020-12-05 14:55:50 (edited by queenslight 2020-12-05 15:06:11)

Greetings!

I echo all what @31 said, the difference being I back via the $10 level.
That soundtrack is steller!

In addition, could there be a way where, when there's story text, pressing any key (that being a letter or symbol) will repeat what the story text said? It'd be more  for users of people who accidentally interrupt the story do to you getting a little carried away with fighting an enemy.

Update

I saw the shift command to go forward through story text. Could the backspace key go back through and/or the R key repeat story text?

2020-12-05 14:58:14

Other question. Since the game's output is done through text, have you considered allowing translations?

I used to be a knee like you, then I took an adventurer in the arrow.

2020-12-05 15:01:20

Hello,

I absolutely agree with @31. It's really sad to see a game with such an insane potential, great sound effects and a, for now, quite standard story line for beat 'em ups to be so lacking in the melee combat department. I am on the fence of backing the project, since I'd love to see it improve, and everything else is very nice from what I can tell.

The main issue is that you can mash the punch button, or just stand still, press the space bar in rhythm and basically beat up everyone when your meter is full. This really makes the melee combat static, and it becomes a chore, rather than something enjoyable.

The enemy AI is very basic, they move into range and attack whenever they can. I would really love it if they would run away when your meter is full, or if they'd surround you. At the moment, all I need to do is stand still, and button mash, the soldiers are just waiting in line to be beaten up ☺️

Combat should be as dynamic as possible. Having multiple keys to punch would make a lot of sense, but even with one key and a timer, you could make a pretty nice combo system. Forcing the player to move around, chase enemies, or generally crowd control are great things to have to improve melee combat as well.

Blocking and countering, as mentioned before, would be nice to have.

At the moment, I am not seeing any reason to use kicks, maybe their range is smaller than for punches, which should be the other way around.

Having said that, I really like the ranged combat with weapons, as well as having momentum, which is insanely difficult to pull off on a VM with keyboard lag btw, haha.

I am aware that this is a concept demo, which is exactly why I am looking forward to game improvements, as I believe that generally you are on the right track to create something truly unique.

As a sidenote, feel free to drop me a PM and mention here that you have, if you are interested in custom cinematic music for the game, or if you need testing or just want to throw ideas around, I would be happy to help.

Good luck and may you have lots of free time, I know it's not easy with life getting in the way! smile

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2020-12-05 15:16:00

Well, I restarted my run and buffed Dalia up to 10 attack and defence power, guess things will go a little easier from now on.

Greetings Moritz.

Hail the unholy church of Satan, go share it's greatness.

2020-12-05 15:17:17 (edited by keyIsFull 2020-12-05 15:18:02)

AN issue I have with the story sections. The pronouns keep changing from 3rd person to first person when talking aobut dahlia. ANd it's legit confusing, because it keeps changing, I have only finished the tutorial level but it's really confusing. It starts out with her waking up to a phone call in third person and then when she gets to the security office it's all in first person again, and then when she is talking to lex at the park it switches to third person midstream. Gameplay wise I really like it though. I do agree that even on that tutorial level it is really easy to get saturated with noise, and there are like, 40 enemies on that level or something, which seems ilke a bit too many.
Do you plan to have all of these scenes voice acted? It seems like a huge undertaking so I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't.

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2020-12-05 15:48:31

I can't take a weapon on the first level. this is when you need to jump from a tree. the one who was able to take this weapon, tell me how to jump, please.

2020-12-05 15:56:48

At Blackdog it's a bit tricky because you have to watch out for the momentum that carries you in the direction in which you jumped. When you jump from the tree to the platforms, always calculate that you will move one or 2 steps forward after landing. So, either let go off the left arrow a bit earlier if you like tight jumping, or do a longer run up till you jump.

Greetings Moritz.

Hail the unholy church of Satan, go share it's greatness.

2020-12-05 16:30:55

Hmm, I also run into problems with that first boss. I have the feeling that the soldiers keep regenerating and I can't get their numbers down. Any hints there?

Greetings Moritz.

Hail the unholy church of Satan, go share it's greatness.

2020-12-05 16:32:06

I really like this so far, but a few things. First, the story starts out in third person then switches to first person, which I find to be a bit odd. There also doesn't seem to be a way to repeat a section of dialog. If you're on NVDA no problem, if you have speech history, on Jaws though, I don't know what you'd do. Finally, I'm not able to build her rage meter. I've tried various timings but just can't get it to happen.

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2020-12-05 16:42:41

For 1-3, it's basically just a gauntlet. Keep killing them, eventually they'll stop coming. big_smile What also helps is the machine gun on the truck on the left... that thing is brutal. Blow all your PMC ammo though first.

"You know nothing of death... allow me to teach you!" Dreadlich Tamsin
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2020-12-05 16:59:31

At Blind Ninja, hmm, I never considerated the PMC to be that powerfull, given that you find it in the first level. So I just stand there and kill those guys? At least on the left truck, they constantly respawn.

Greetings Moritz.

Hail the unholy church of Satan, go share it's greatness.

2020-12-05 17:12:27

@37 hey, how are you raising your stats? I rage at enemies forever and a half, and nothing's happening.

I used to be a knee like you, then I took an adventurer in the arrow.

2020-12-05 17:46:42

I was able to get a weapon. thanks for the help.

2020-12-05 17:46:55

Has anybody managed to actually pass 2-2? lol I'm having no luck... if I just try to run, the momentum system usually means if I try to just skim past a mine, the running landing means I'll land right on it. If I try to be precise, I get shot to hell and back. Even with about 30 in both stats, something's actually doing pretty respectable damage, not actually sure if it's the turrets or the drones.

"You know nothing of death... allow me to teach you!" Dreadlich Tamsin
Download the latest version of my Bokura no Daibouken 3 guide here.

2020-12-05 18:01:44

At Blind Ninja any ideas on how many waves are on the trucks?
You see, I cleared the right truck, jumped down and got rid of some enemys there. Then I jumped back onto the right truck and cleared another few off there. how many times do those guys respawn?

Greetings Moritz.

Hail the unholy church of Satan, go share it's greatness.

2020-12-05 18:02:59

At Connor the trick is to punch in a slower rhythm, 1 to 1.5 seconds. When you are in rage mode, you can continue in this rhythm and you will extend your rage. This will raise your stats.
I am at first boss and have about 48 attack and 33 defence.

Greetings Moritz.

Hail the unholy church of Satan, go share it's greatness.

2020-12-05 18:09:45 (edited by assault_freak 2020-12-05 18:10:49)

@31 agreed with everythin you said. The only thing I would say that in a beat em up of this style,there's no need for multiple attack buttons. One attack button can be fine if the atacks are refined, like with a combo system or with each hit in the chain having different characteristics. Beat em ups have been doing that for years and are still fun as hell. smile A basic four hit combo with blowback at the end adds strategy with even just that. And of course, making the enemies far les tanky and make the same enemy you are hitting unable to attack you. Called combo stun.
Regarding rage, I don't think well timed punches should be the way to build it up... not in a fast paced game like this with this many enemies on screen. I would use either a kill count, or like with most games, after you reach a number of consecutive hits. Especially if a basic combo was introduced, that would make more sense. Land 10 combos without breaking that chain or missing punches to activate rage,  Blocking would be good, countering would be a nice bonus imo. But I would rather blocking, or even just better indications for enemy attacks so you can jump or back out of range. See BK 3 for an example of how evading attacks can still be fun without a counter system, with shields being the equivalent of blocking. But the main problem I hope is addressed is the end of space spamming.
I also agree on the writing and first and third person switching, but again, as this is a concept demo, I just assumed the writing would be looked through and improved upon. But I love the idea for sure and can't wait to see where it goes! May back as well, though I'm currently stil on the fence.

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