The Design of Consuming Shadow
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
(Slow Clap)
Bravo, dear Yahtzhee. Bravo. You've truly taken innovative ideas to game mechanics which, while not outright bad, definitely weren't as implemented as brilliantly as you made them here. I haven't heard the slightest about "Consuming Shadow" until this article, but the very way you describe how the sanity meter works this time (i.e., it makes imaginary enemies you waste bullets on, and even gives increasing odds of killing yourself) definitely makes me wish some other games try to implement sanity beyond "blurry placeholder for the 'raspberry jam' splatters of the FPS genre", or even the parlor tricks of "screwing with the fourth wall" (like in "Eternal Darkness", or the Psycho Mantis fight from "Metal Gear Solid").
Certainly looks to be a fun Lovecraft-style game. Can't wait to hear how the final product turns out!
Bravo, dear Yahtzhee. Bravo. You've truly taken innovative ideas to game mechanics which, while not outright bad, definitely weren't as implemented as brilliantly as you made them here. I haven't heard the slightest about "Consuming Shadow" until this article, but the very way you describe how the sanity meter works this time (i.e., it makes imaginary enemies you waste bullets on, and even gives increasing odds of killing yourself) definitely makes me wish some other games try to implement sanity beyond "blurry placeholder for the 'raspberry jam' splatters of the FPS genre", or even the parlor tricks of "screwing with the fourth wall" (like in "Eternal Darkness", or the Psycho Mantis fight from "Metal Gear Solid").
Certainly looks to be a fun Lovecraft-style game. Can't wait to hear how the final product turns out!
The dungeon sections are the deal breaker for me. They're clunky to control and I can't react quick enough with the input options given to me. Monsters take quite a chunk of health and need to be evaded but movement is neither quick nor easy. This means that any damage taken is due to awkward controls rather than my own lack of skill which is frustrating.
Bullets are sparse, which is fine, but the only remaining option is very close quarters melee attacks which WILL result in damage taken. We need more melee options including something with a little more range, maybe throwing items?
Also due to the random nature of the text messages I got about 3 in a row that reduced my sanity to stupidly low levels which eventuated in the accidental click of the "shoot myself" button. I say accidental in the loosest of ways because I was actually tricked: the buttons kept swapping places. This is not a "Ha ha you should be more careful" section it's basically a stonewall with a 50/50 chance of dying. Very unfair.
I do however love the car sections and movement around the world, the ability to choose location and what you do there.
Bullets are sparse, which is fine, but the only remaining option is very close quarters melee attacks which WILL result in damage taken. We need more melee options including something with a little more range, maybe throwing items?
Also due to the random nature of the text messages I got about 3 in a row that reduced my sanity to stupidly low levels which eventuated in the accidental click of the "shoot myself" button. I say accidental in the loosest of ways because I was actually tricked: the buttons kept swapping places. This is not a "Ha ha you should be more careful" section it's basically a stonewall with a 50/50 chance of dying. Very unfair.
I do however love the car sections and movement around the world, the ability to choose location and what you do there.
Has anyone ever run into the "You are Dead" screen right after clicking one of the buttons? This keeps happening to me. I don't think it's the "shoot yourself" thing because I don't even get the minigame. The screen just fades out and I see the screen telling me I died. This gets especially annoying when it happens right before I'm about to enter Stonehenge.
Is this part of the game or is it a bug?
Is this part of the game or is it a bug?
It's my understanding that a common complaint among even fans of EDSR that sanity loss would lead to a loss of camera control, which would maddeningly fuck up your attempts to deal with monsters.
Now, given Yahtzee's comments in what I believe were the same week's Zero Punctuation, I could see why that might not be considered a plus, but it does dovetail with Yahtzee's talk about consequences and not with how sanity played out in the game.
I mean, otherwise, fair enough. He doesn't like some features as they were implemented and appears to be attempting to implement them i ways that are more suitable. Sounds like a noble approach.
One thing I just noticed: The "shoot yourself" awareness checks you get when insane can help you to get out of undesirable situations.
Example: I get the "you are tired, do you a) take a nap b) drive against a wall c) drive around 2 hours looking for a coffee?" random event.
I (accidentally?) trigger the "shoot yourself", wrestle the gun away and I'm back on the road.
Example: I get the "you are tired, do you a) take a nap b) drive against a wall c) drive around 2 hours looking for a coffee?" random event.
I (accidentally?) trigger the "shoot yourself", wrestle the gun away and I'm back on the road.
This 'feature' is quite a double-edged sword though as it can also lead to losing out on chances to get new items or finish quests as you'll be back at the car after the mini-game with no way of getting back to the hardware store or suspicious place you found. It's annoying because those events often feel more interesting than the regular 'red cross' dungeons you visit.rofltehcat said: