The Hollow Era: Outlands - Sandbox Demo

I'm pretty sure it's just because of my janky Dell Latitude e6420's framerate, but when I try to do what I'm assuming is the first wall jump challenge, I can hardly get up to the platforms because Tikal acts like he is landing on a flat surface before he reaches the opposite wall and then falls. I have been able to get around this by spamming jump around that time, but mostly I fail.

What I have been able to play of this game has been very fun and interesting, but I just wanted to throw this comment out there in case it's not just my PC causing the issue. Thanks! :')

EDIT: 

P.S. Also combos are practically impossible with my janky framerate. I'm able to defeat the hog thing but the robot is nearly impossible. (I say "nearly" because I was able to get it's health almost halfway once)

Saw the trailer and really wanted to try out the demo, but whenever I launch it. It just shows the credits and turn white. So is it my computer or something else?

Every time i open it it shows the credits and stuff but then after everything fades away and turns into a infinte  white screen 

Hey again! Finally managed to beat the robot (and thus the game), and I have a few more suggestions.

Firstly, while I agree with a lot of what gruevy said, I would disagree about the camera speed... kinda. The problem is that while the camera is indeed a bit too slow to turn after wall run turn, it's also too responsive for very fine adjustments (such as when you're trying to line up a jump along a narrow walkway). (Not sure if this would be as much of a problem using a controller, but it definitely is for a keyboard.) One thing I considered was having the camera auto-rotate after a successful wall run turn, but that might just end up being too disorienting for players who've otherwise had far more camera control.

Also, the first wall run turn puzzle feels a little broken to me. With ever other parkour puzzle (including the second wall run turn puzzle), I know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. With the first wall run turn puzzle, all I can do coming out of the turn is launch Tikal at the platform to the right and hope he makes it. Sometimes he climbs up to the platform; sometimes he wall runs up to the platform. One time he even went through the middle and ended up on the next ledge along (I have no idea how, and also that meant that I'd missed the checkpoint, so had to do the whole thing again at the next death). It just feels like there should either be a ledge at wall-running height to just drop onto, or a climbable wall at the end that can just be run into.

Regarding fighting, one of the tips said that you can stun your enemies after three consecutive hits, and it would be nice to have some kind of visual signifier of this (e.g. cartoon stars over their heads), because I have definitely managed three consecutive hits against the pigwolves and they just look like they're still fighting.

On another note, I really liked the final cutscene, although I was a little disappointed that Tikal changed back to the default outfit for it. Also, in my game, Tikal had almost died facing the robot, and his "I'm hurt" noises were still audible after the cutscene had finished.

Thanks for reading! Good luck with the rest of the game!

Thanks a ton for adding an inverted camera option. Much appreciated. 

Made it through the game. Great stuff. Some good puzzles, etc. Dunno where you got the character animation set from but I dig it. Tikal's visual design is excellent, too. He looks great and I like the voice.

I like the blood and bruises you added. The 'look at this toof' animation made me grin.

The boar animation needs work. It's hard to tell whether they're growling or biting you, causing you to take damage when you can't anticipate it. Also, the jump up and crash down thing doesn't really look right. Maybe they can turn and try to kick hard with the hind legs instead?

It'd be nice if the costume stayed as whatever you picked after you die instead of resetting to default. 

The forward roll hits a bit too hard. It feels like the kid's made of cement.

The 'second jump is higher' thing is okay, but it doesn't look right. There's no reason his second jump should be higher, other than that it is. It doesn't make logical sense and there's nothing going on visually when you land the first jump that makes it make sense. It's not bad as a puzzle mechanic, but there you go.

It'd be nice if we could increase the camera speed. It can be a little slow.

The controls on the last puzzle with all the wall running are making it way harder than it should be. It took me longer than I want to admit because I couldn't get Tikal to do what I wanted him too. IMO, changing direction when you hit a corner in a wall run should be automatic, not a timed button press camera move. Also, this is where I noticed the camera is too slow. I'm still not quite sure how wall running works, because sometimes he jumps off and runs up straight and other times he doesn't. It doesn't seem like he just goes wherever I'm aiming with the stick. I dunno but it's hard to control.

The fight mechanic isn't bad, but it occurs to me that having the timer bar takes your eyes off the enemy and the action during a fight. Maybe a pulsing light on Tikal would work? Just a thought.

Are there only three costumes?

What's with the kid sticking out of the sand on the edge of the map?

That's all my feedback for now. Again, good stuff. Impressive work for a solo hobbyist. Keep it up man :)

Not to be a pest, but any idea when the next update might drop? Still having trouble with the camera control. Can't quite beat it.

How do you invert the Y camera? My brain isn't wired to play this

This is certainly a very good looking demo; the graphics are good and movement feels very natural.

I have to echo a couple of points made so far: the pickup prompt appears after your first death (and doesn't appear if you find an item before that); it tries to launch Discord on startup; and there seems to be no way to access the pause menu (I'm using keyboard).

The tutorial text is fine, but they're not necessarily located in the best places; I had fallen to my death several times before I learned I could roll, and I lost a further life to the monster before I discovered I could lock on.

One negative thing I would note about the graphics is that the lack of borders to platforms can make it difficult to see where the edges are, when the edge and the ground are both the same colour.

Unfortunately, the one thing that really didn't click with me was the combat. The strike-timing combo itself is fine, although I never could tell why some times a "hit" would still break the combo instead of continuing it (what I assumed to be an energy gauge next to the health bar never changed). More annoyingly, starting a combo will lock Tikal in place until the combo ends, while the enemy is free to attack; I've seen other people mentioning the ability to dodge, but I couldn't find any key that would let me do this, as both movement and jumping were disabled. This meant that it was usually better to attack twice to immediately break the combo than to play it the way it was actually intended to be played.

I think that one improvement that would mitigate a lot of these issues would be to have the key bindings visible (and maybe even changeable) from the start menu. Also, it would be nice to have opponents who are somewhere in difficulty between the immobile targets and the monster and robot.

Thanks for reading, and good luck with the game!

why demo isn't for free?

Errr... I launched it via the Itch.io launcher and when I run it displays the intro screens (up to the twitter handle) - and then it launches Discord for some reason? 😅😅😅

Mirror's Edge meets Dark Souls couldn't be more accurate! Between Tikal's fluid combos between his hand to hand and spear combat to the wall running and platforming he can pull off the game feels like a love letter to both series while still bringing it's own unique feel to the table. The voice acting and physics are phenomenal as well, I was blown away truly. Keep up the good work Dylan!!

Spoiler alert: definitely worth a look! This game has two main components to it, here are my thoughts:

The combat is fun and engaging: it rewards you for staying in focus and trying to get reads on your opponents, but without becoming super sweaty or technical. The way in which stacking attacks works took a bit to grasp but they way it's implemented allows for some very satisfying combos! While enemy variety is limited for this demo, each enemy engagement felt distinct and required you switch gears in a way that would definitely keep you on your toes if more enemy types/density get added.

Now, the parkour: I have... something of an aversion to jumping puzzles so when I saw this part of the game made the bulk of your objectives I was caught with a bit of apprehension. "Puzzles" is the right word here; the game slowly introduces you to a host of movement abilities and you're expected to string them together into a movement "combo" that solves each part of the puzzle.

To my relief, while some of the puzzles are unforgiving and give you only a short window to figure out what to do next (especially before the patch), they weren't terribly punishing. Aside from occasionally spoon-feeding me adrenaline, completing them felt rewarding and navigating through them just plain looks COOL. While I did find myself fighting with the inputs at times a bit of patience got me through.

TLDR: The game has its sights set on high and definitely has a lot of care put into it. Fun engagements, cute voice acting and animations and a lot of cool little secrets to find. Do give it a chance!

Awesome Demo!
The demo consists of two types of challenges, which are platforming puzzles and Combat. The platforming is quite good, where you have to utilize a combination of wall runs and wall climbs to reach the end of the puzzle. Although my only gripe with the platforming is that sometimes it is difficult to execute a wall run because the character can accidentally do a wall climb instead of a wall run if the angle is just slightly off. Aside from that, the platforming gave a decent challenge that was fun to beat.

Next is combat, which for me is the highlight of the demo. The combat is unique where it sort of requires proper timing like a rhythm game instead of button mashing to win. Players have to lookout for their stamina, knowing when to back off from attacking when their stamina is low rather than just going all in on the enemies. The AI of the enemies is good, being able to sometimes predict your attacks. Dodging also feels fantastic, reminding of bloodborne where you have to be kind of exact with the timing while giving you a little bit of invincibility frames, which adds to the intensity of the fighting.

The Demo also has really neat details that at first did not seem necessary but were greatly appreciated. For example there is a photo mode in the menu, which is of course a staple of many game nowadays but it really adds that creative aspect for players that like that kind of thing. Tikal's animations and facial expressions also change depending on when he is injured or not, and to me, extra details like that show that developer really cares about attention to detail, especially towards making his characters feel like actual characters.

Overall, the demo shows features that hold the potential for an awesome full game experience, and so far, this is an excellent foundation for a fun adventure game!

Had lots of fun! Pretty sure I threw in at least 5 hours into getting everything done and unlocked, tho must say that before the patch the last obstacle course beat me up so bad I did begin getting a little annoyed, BUT, this patch fixes that perfectly! Doesn't make it too easy or any easier really, just makes it a bit more forgiving when you fail, so it's still very much a challenge.

The combat was hands down one of my favorites of recent memory, getting the red gauge filled up via combos and dodges was so fun! Absolutely one of my favorite parts of the game!

And my favorite part has to go to the amazing character model, voice acting, and the character's design overall! A game can be great but without a good protagonist to root for and play as it can dampen the experience, but in this demo we get the lovable dummy that is Tikal! Just hearing him and seeing him get excited when picking up the collectables and cheering when he beats an enemy made the experience so enjoyable.

Highly recommend this demo! I see an amazing future for this game dev, can't wait to see what he does next!

This demo was fantastic!  It was easily the most enjoyable demo I have played in awhile.

Pros:

1. Animations were amazing!  They were smooth and responsive.  Much better than I expected.
2. The cutscenes were well done and camera angles were great.
3. Parkour was very well done and more in-depth than I thought it would be.
4. Voice acting was superb.
5. The fighting was challenging and rewarding.

Cons:

1. Walking felt a little odd during some of the obstacle courses.  The character would do small U-turns like a car instead of pivoting like a normal human.  This was not an issue while running around or fighting, but did make some of the obstacles harder than necessary.
2. Hand-to-hand combat was great along with the spear combat.  But the hand-to-hand combat was sometimes hard to use against smaller opponents.
3. Wall-running around corners was sometimes too precise.  It should be more forgiving.
4. Death screen is a little long.  Getting hurt by falling was also a little too long.  Perhaps both animations could be quickened just a little bit.
5. Camera sometimes would shift downwards over time.  It may have been issues with my controller, but I don't have any drift with my controller when playing other games.
6. Getting down from completed obstacle courses could be made easier.

Overall Verdict:

I would suggest that everyone try out this demo.  It is fantastic and well worth your time.  It shows promise in becoming a full game one day.  The combat is solid, the animations are great, cutscenes were well done, and parkour was very fun.  There were a few cons as mentioned above, but the pros far outweigh the cons.  Most of the cons are easily fixable as well.

I would give this demo a 9/10.

Certainly more my type of gameplay! Its fun trying to parkour round the different challenges, finding the secrets, battling the enemies, and so on! Definitely worth the $2 to just grab a feel for the game, and I’m looking forward as to how you can add on to this! Keep up the great work Dylan!

……And btw, Tikal’s best boi, anyone that says otherwise is clearly lying to ya lol.

I may not have found all the secrets yet, but this is a really fun game you’re making Dylan. Can’t wait to see what you add in the future 

OMG it's so cute. Your characters look so great.

Hey - looks great!

I'd love to get a clarification:

what we're purchasing here is going to stay a demo, or is it eventually going to raise in price until it gets fully released? (so early supporters are going to end up with the full game - not just a sandbox?)

I don't bother but - some people would love to know if that file is for Windows, WebGL, etc. 

We don't mind playing a demo or supporting the game, but since it's not free - we'd love to know what we're getting right now. I love reading about the story but - setting a price sort of requires at least a couple of words about the product. (man, I'm making it sound so bad...)

I got a bit confused by the "Outlands Release v1.rar" filename - makes it feel like a finished product  :P

Sorry for the trivial questions - the game looks promising!
Got a bit worried when I read: demo of a Sandbox, Status: Prototype, duration: half a hour, as you wrote in the details. 

(definitely not deprecating any effort! - I can't know what you're going to do with the sandbox demo - definitely feels like a prototype for a Steam game but - who knows? :) ) 

How can I disable invert Y axis?