ELDER71'S PROFILE

author=NTC3
Nice pixel art! And well, those examples you mentioned all had one action figure type, right? It's probably best to do the same here, especially since action figures of our characters don't really make any sense in universe, unlike those examples you mentioned.

I would say an Enforcer Captain action figure would make the most sense, if it's actively produced to make the Solis forces look cool even to young children. Alternatively, tech worker one is my favorite, and can be justified as a way to ensure this otherwise unglamorous branch of Solis forces wouldn't get understaffed in comparison to regular Enforcers.

Yeah, my first wild stab at the idea was that they'd be a kind of meta-item, but something I'm very keen on is keeping everything linked tightly to the context of the world. It makes excellent sense for the Enforcers to market merchandise to children, extra-specially since they're all about non-aggressive ways to expand their power and jurisdiction.

There'll be a lot more Enforcer types in the finished game, I think having a collector's figurine for each one is a great idea. Maybe the Tech Worker could come with flavour text like: "New! Solis Tech Worker pose-able action figure, complete with real Diamond Laser and glowing Welding Torch accessories!"

EDIT
It wouldn't be an arbitrary, 100% completionist thing either. Maybe, if you've got 10/10 Solis Action Figurines, you open up a small sidequest involving a child or something.

Just spitballing at the mo.

Thanks for reviewing.
We've still got a lot to work on, but there are also a lot of new ideas, features and mechanics for telling the story planned for the Unity build and the full game.

Technical issues especially will be heavily polished. Since I can't code myself, I've had to use custom scripts pulled from the internet which I'm endlessly grateful for, but couldn't customise beyond included settings. There were also a few compatibility issues, so some scripts don't work 100% properly.

A fair, thoughtful review. For the most part, your complaints with the story are ones that I've grown to have myself over the past few weeks.

I agree almost universally with each point you raised, though I'd like to offer some responses:

1 - The mechanics.
I don't mean to offer this as a justification, but a lot of the game play was dictated by what I was capable of constructing with events and with tweaks to existing custom scripts. Now that we're moving into Unity, we've got the power to design everything from the ground up and really make it cohesive (as oppose to a collection of bits and pieces pulled together). The stealth section, for example, was included a) to add a little spice to the maglev area, but also b) to demonstrate that OMNIS wasn't going to be a 20 hour run/talk/battle affair.

2 - The battle system.
The battle system is being redone in Unity and we already have a lot of ideas for bringing a more interesting tactical/aesthetic flavour to it. Things, including the on-map enemies, are admittedly basic at the minute and I make no excuses for that, except to risk it and say: this project is still only in a rough, proof-of-concept phase and is destined to be drastically improved once we raise the funding we need.

3 - The story.
What I want to do most is refine the story, tighten the writing and rethink several (if not most) of the sequences. The third episode (train roof to finish) has felt rushed to me since it was included. It was included to add an area with a none-grey/brown palette to the demo and reassure players that the whole game wasn't going to be set underground.

Significant also is the option to choose which protagonist speaks. I don't know if you noticed, but your choices actually change whether it's Orphan or Skyler who stays behind to hold off the Enforcers while the other goes into the controller car aboard the Maglev. This is one, narrow example of a core mechanic we have planned, namely: player decisions altering key scenes and moments (and opening up optional bits and pieces).

One final note on the story is that, albeit for the worse, I had a lot of information about the setting/scenario that I wanted to work into the exposition. The problem is that I also wanted a fast-paced opening that didn't info-dump, and these two intentions haven't meshed well, which I can see and appreciate.

I'm very glad that you had 4* of enjoyment, though. I don't mean this to sound/feel pandering, but for the most part the things you liked are the things we're planning on keeping/polishing and the issues you raise are the things that I'm very keen to rebuild, restructure and refine.

Thanks for reviewing. You've got an excellent writing style. I genuinely hope you'll keep an eye on things and review again once we've made some progress.

author=NTC3
So... should I wait for the next demo, or would it be best for me to play the current build and then review it? That way, I could well give you some more things to improve on while you're incapable of fixing graphics.

Hallo there. Exciting to hear you're thinking of reviewing the demo!

The choice is yours. I am going to move like wildfire to get the bugs fixed, so a new version shouldn't be more than a day or two away. I think the demo is due a general review by me from top to bottom.

At this stage, changes will only be minor, so as long as you're aware of the bugs I don't think your experience of OMNIS will be much changed whether you try this version or wait for the next :)

Well, for what it's worth, it should have said Saturday 23rd.