Hello everyone, MadLad224 here with my most polished game yet - Left 4 Pop! Delve in to hordes of inflatable infected and try to save yourself from the expansious fate of the infection! The game includes many achievements, upgrades and cusotmization!
33 Likes
As someone who doesn’t even like inflation, I have to say:
That was ridiculously fun. If instead of inflation it was weight gain I would lose my shit, but regardless I lost quite a bit of time doing nothing but playing the game on repeat. It uses the theme well and it plays nice, excellent work overall.
19 Likes
Very good.
Good Stuff: Overall package is good for the stage of development it’s in. Stats and cheevos are nice, along with upgrades.
Issues: The grenades feel somewhat useless. Arm cannon enemies feel like they always hit you. Can’t pick stuff up mid animation, might be intentional though. Hard to tell enemy types apart until they attack.
Requests: Different body types, like spherical. More customization/enemy variety. Some more maps and enemy types. And pip dream tier, multiplayer.
Will add more as it comes to me.
1 Like
I had a feeling that either Madlad224 was either busy with Real Life, or busy with a big project. Looks like the latter. I’ll certainly be checking this out later when I get the time.
1 Like
This game works rather well, the only problem I have with it are how hard the grenades are to use effectively, if they worked more like the pipebomb did from left4dead then maybe I could get better use out of it. In it’s current form though it sorta sails right past most enemies and it’s usually luck that determines if it blows up near anyone.
I find the gas grenades to be super helpful early game, it would be nice though, if you could just do like a little toss or to drop them. The game was super fun and I found that I really like the ar
I’m impressed with the weapon and other first person animations.
Like what LordOfDeez said,
I can tell already this is a solid game, just wish it was more about weight gain then inflation, but objectively, solid job!(Albeit I assume you’d prefer for me to say this game is gas)
Love everything about this! If I were to sit here and list off everything I liked about this game we’d be here all day and we’d have a second thread on our hands, so here’s some notable things:
Weapon variety is nice- I love the thumper, but it’s simply too inconsistent. I have a feeling you’re using a raycasting system and checking how many of those rays hit a collidable entity to determine who gets damaged and for how much. While that might work for Minecraft’s TNT, I think the Thumper and grenade mechanics would be imrpoved like this:
-Grenades should instantly explode if they directly hit an IFZ. (Inflation zombie, in short hand)
-Both explosions should calculate using a distance modifier that, first, checks for all the colliders within a certain distance, and then deals damage based on how close they are to the explosion.
Does the sniper rifle use a different bullet speed? Because I think it’s moving slightly too fast for your physics engine- I have trouble landing shots that I definitely hit on smaller models, most likely because the bullet is clipping through the model due to how fast it’s moving. Either slow them down, or increase the length of their hit box to hit even if it clips through an enemy, or make it hitscan- Click an point adventure game time.
In the last few stages, even if I’m doing really well, You really just can’t rely on non-explosion based weapons- When IFZs get swollen, they get in the way of other IFZ’s from being hit- meaning you basically have to pop every single IFZ as fast as possible to be able to survive- their numbers are simply too much, especially on wave 10, and not to mention the animation where they’re about to pop and simply become bullet sponges. To fix this I would remove collisions from IFZ’s who are already in the popping animation so bullets can pass through them.
Last one here, I promise, The Blimp IFZ’s can get, sadly, Too big. Not that that’s an inherent problem, as much as the fact that on the “Bank” map, the buildings are high enough that they get stuck and collide between two buildings, causing a HUGE amount of frame loss and lag. To fix this, I’d limit their collisions per second to… like 10. And exclude bullets from being ignored by this.
Edit: OH also autofire when you hold down the mouse button would be cool.
1 Like
Likewise to other posters this definitely isn’t my thing from a fetish perspective. That being said, it looked cool so I wanted to try it out regardless. And yeah it’s actually a lot of fun!
I do have some feedback, on things that I think could be improved a bit. Starting with just some presentation stuff:
- Most of the sound effects in game are actually pretty good! That being said the dart shot sound is, clearly being done with someones mouth, and it was a little distracting at first. Regardless of if darts are being shot, these are guns shooting them, I’d expect something a bit more mechanical.
- I don’t really understand why you can’t customize the colors on your character more. Like honestly just give the player a full RGB slider, it felt pretty limited, and I can only assume it was because it wasn’t a focus.
- Character models are nice overall, more variety would be great, but I think especially enemies need to be more visually distinct. Hazmat enemies are perfect, no notes, but the two projectile enemies are incredibly hard to tell from the crowd(I know the spray ones have a hose thing but it’s pretty hard to notice when the enemies are crowded up.).
This not only leads to moments where you get blind sided by enemy fire, but it also removes some potentially interesting gameplay decisions, if I knew there was projectile enemies, I might go out of my way to fight them first. - Not really feedback, but you seem to have left a forgotten interaction highlight on a door in the first map. I would assume at some point there was plans for that to actually be interactable, whereas in the game now it’s not. Just letting you know.
That’s about it for presentation feedback, outside of “add more cosmetic items!” I think the game is solid in its looks and sounds. Now I do have some feedback regarding gameplay as well:
- Picking up items is a hassle. I kind of see the dilemma, you limit how far down you can look so you don’t clip into your body, your body is visible because this is a fetish game. So you added the icons above drops that can also be clicked, that was a solid idea, that being said if you approach it from a non-straight angle it can still be a pain to grab. I’d recommend making the hitbox for grabbing drops larger and separate from their mesh, or rotating the icon towards the player somehow. Also yeah not being able to grab things when reloading is a bit of a pain, I got used to that at least though and took it as some intentional player game friction.
- Not a criticism, but I’d appreciate a jump button, sometimes I just wanted to hop around. I do get that that would change how you route so I understand if you decide to not do that lol.
- This one’s more of a response to previous comments? I think the grenades are good, I got a lot of use out of them and after 2 matches I had the achievements for 100 pops with both. I think the only thing is that it isn’t clear how long they’ll take to explode initially, and your only option is to full force throw them. A small toss would be a nice option too. In terms of raw functionality though, once you learn their timings, they’re great.
- The charms are great and they made me wish there was more stuff to unlock.
That’s about all I think I have to say as for feedback. The games good, I honestly like it quite a bit! If you chose to develop this further I’d absolutely play it more, I’d say I’d even pay for a fuller version. Cool stuff!
5 Likes
Ok this one I REALLY Love, I may not be the biggest fan in air inflation but the games is very fun and solid see many more things coming from this one!!! Keep up the Awesome Job on this one!!!
Feedback:
Sounds are pretty good and work well for the game too, I image more will be add but the work well. Not going to lie some music may help too but dont stress yourself with that lol
Character models look great as well, adding more variety like make some have bigger belly to butt to breast. Guess this also counts to Customization, having a RGB Slider can help as well maybe add in options for the legs even though we cant seem them
And Biggest of all More Customization options & Charms too
Fixes:
Picking up Items, idk why but most items are hard to grab, Soda seems some fine but other items to have to look directly at to pick it up.
Nothing again having the Body cause that VERY good for a Fetish game and you did add in outlines to easier see them, just maybe a bigger hitbox for items can help
Grenades & Explosives, They should have some kind of timer that tells the player when is about to explode & let the player hold them until throw or exploded.
At the very less to make it different from Thumper to use
Weapons Missing & Balance, For most if not all weapons there is moment where with Assault Rifle/AR I would miss most shots even if I know I’m hitting them in the head or arms.
As well some weapon balancing, after Unlocking the Sniper Rifle I had no reason to use the other weapons, It can be used on Long & Close Range and takes out enemies in one shot, so weapon Balancing needed. As well add Alt Fires can give more utility and play for them even if its simple Aim Down Sight
Enemies Should be more Stand out, With some enemies like Sprayer & Spitter its hard to tell them in the crowd even with small details as well to make them different from the players
Stuff like glowing colored eyes, giving the Spitters and messy shirt and hands to makes Sprayer have Helmet & Large tank
And I think it has to be said, the Blimp REALLY needs to stand out more, maybe make them bigger then others and give them something else to stand out
Possible Updates or Added Features:
More Customization Options for Players ranging for Models, Clothing, Colors & Charms
More Enemy Times, besides having Common, Boomers, Sprayers, Spitters, Hazards & Blimps adding in some extra Enemies to spicy things up
More & Bigger Maps, Options to player and more options to move around and Exploring
More Weapons & Items, Options to player for more unique play styles
Like Having Landmines or Flash Grenades as items
Give Players more then Just Shotgun, AR, Sniper & Thumper for Primary weapon, As well give the Melee, Revolver/Magnum or SMG for Secondary besides ONLY a Pistol
Different Inflations/Fetish Effects and Weapons, I like how your weapons & enemies have green which = to Air inflation, this can be used to give more replaying and options for both players and enemies
Air Inflation = Green, Cause Enemies to Float in the Air before popping
Water Inflation = Blue, Cause Enemies to Bloat blocking your path to move before popping
Juice Inflation = Red, Cause Enemies to Change color, have chance to spread more when popping effecting ONLY players
Weight Gain = ??? Not really an Inflation nor I know who that would work but still an options
Overall, I really like this game its has solid gameplay, gives you stuff to go for and mess with, its very fun & Gives reason to play more to unlocking stuff
4 Likes
I agree with much her some fixes and more stuff to use in game, but overall Great Game
All in all, I’m just so happy to see another real game on here. I’m, not meaning to offend RPG maker users? but it’s a little oversaturated on the site, and I’m frankly just a huge fan whenever someone comes up with some new media!
2 Likes
I binged the game last night right before bed (All achievements, woo!), and now I’m writing this review with a little distance to it all. Sorry if this comes off a little rambly, I’m typing things off as I remember them.
There is little for me to add to what has been said before. I love the concept, and I think the bloated but not popped enemies give a good challenge to work around. At least, until you upgrade your weapons enough that you pop them quickly enough anyway. In the beginning I stuck to the shotgun, because it was the easiest to get to one-hit-pops, and later I switched to the AR once it got fast enough to be called a proper machine gun.
I agree that the customization options are quite limited, but with such simple graphics and in an FPS it doesn’t really bother me that much.
I was a little confused by the mechanic used to end the round. I first thought I didn’t watch my health close enough, and only on the second win noticed that what happened was actually scripted for the round end.
The idea that the soda permanently increases XP gain is interesting, but it quickly spirals out of control. While in the beginning I struggled to pay for one or two upgrades for my guns, later runs were bountiful enough to pay for unlocking and fully upgrading the Thumper. From the tutorial I imagined that the soda’s effect would only last during the round, and not carry over for the rest of the game, especially since the health drain is indeed only temporary.
What I have to mention is that I had severe problems with the hit detection. The sniper was the worst offender, where I at time shot more darts through the enemies than into them, but all the others showed these problems too. Even with the shotgun I sometimes saw enemies behind my target bloat up instead, and the AR was shooting fast enough once that one dart hit the one before it, and I got left with a handful of darts stuck in mid-air. Finally, even the slow-moving Thumper grenades phased through enemies more often than not, and I started shooting at the ground before them instead to have the splash damage hit them. The results were quite random between barely immobilized enemies and instant pops.
Speaking of the Thumper, I used it for only one round to test it out, and got obliterated by a hazmat enemy because it seemed completely unaffected by my shots. After two direct shots phased through it, five more to its feet weren’t even enough to make it visibly bloat. I doubt that I shot that badly.
The item system is quite finicky as well. You seem to have two equal slots, but one is reserved for grenades and the other for consumables. Okay, fair enough. I can also somewhat live with the fact that you immediately switch to an item you just picked up. What really grinds my gears though is which slot gets picked after you used an item, namely your chosen weapon for consumables, and your backup pistol for grenades. I’d rather have my good gun out in both cases, or even better: If the switch was from picking up an item, after using the item I should then switch back to the previous slot. Having my little pistol in hand suddenly was one of the more aggravating things during my play.
In terms of picking up items, I have to agree with the others that it should be made easier. Especially items on the ramp on Bus Stop are hard to grab.
I also noticed that the hitbox for the sprayer enemy’s gas cloud both is hard to judge and appears too early. I had a game where I saw one of them raise their arm, with me barely in range for the attack, and as soon as the first puff of green appeared I was already hit (and KOed). I hoped the gas could would at least somewhat resemble the area I had to avoid.
The regular grenade is a little hard to use for me because I didn’t learn to properly estimate when and where it would go off, many of my attempts not hitting anything. The smoke grenades on the other hand are mighty handy if you throw them directly into a spawning portal, as the you can be sure there won’t be coming any enemies from there for a while.
I like the inclusion of physics into the game. Mobile enemies bounding their bloated companions around, or getting completely blocked by them, grenades getting caught between legs and getting kicked around, etc. Where it gets a little silly is when I shoot and strafe, and suddenly get a boost upwards because I stepped onto the empty cartridges my gun was spewing out. I guess it would be best to have a hierarchy of which object may push which other one to prevent silliness like this.
I also noticed that Bank in particular has a couple issues with the player getting bounced around. It occurred to me several times that I got wedged against a wall, suddenly got boosted upwards dramatically, and then the out-of-bounds detection teleported me to the map’s spawn point. Bonus for contingency here. One time was different however, because I was pushed against the building opposite of the bank. I wiggled around a little, and suddenly clipped into the building itself. I could see out still, dispatched the crowd of enemies from the safety of the building, but then had to get new ammo and after some wiggling also got back out again. Maybe simplify the collision geometry to prevent things like this.
One more thing I noticed is that weapon reloading is behaving really strange. The shotgun seems to sometimes reload a shell right away, and sometimes it runs out and goes through the motions of filling the entire magazine. The AR automatically triggers a reload the first time I run out of ammo in a round, but every subsequent time I have to manually reload. I only played once with the Sniper, but it seems to be the same as the AR. Also, I should maybe mention that the reload animation for the shotgun is way too fast for how slowly the shells are actually loaded according to the HUD.
Alright, rambling over.
All in all, I would say that this game is a solid foundation. There are a couple of rough edges here and there, but the core principles all work out great. I’d love to see where this goes from here.
3 Likes
Best one you guys have made yet!! A lot of fun! This has a lot of potential, I really hope you guys build more on this one!
1 Like
While I’m another person here who at their core wants to say “I love weight gain! This game would be better if it had weight gain!! XOXO”, I am a fan of inflation too (and coincidentally non-spherical/full body being favored by me) so this was very pleasant. The bigger surprise for me, is I’m not a big fan of shooters, but I still found this very fun (I played on easy, i am not good at these). If dart inflated bellies was all it took to get me to play an FPS, Valve should have done this years ago!
There’s not much others haven’t said, including wanting more of this, but I do have things I would like to chime in on.
Others have mentioned it being hard to tell which enemy is which. I also had issue with this. Perhaps applying a simple repeating pattern to their clothes (such as checkers or plaid) could fix this without being too involved of an addition?
Another thing is it being very hard to tell when a wave is over. You kind of just know after a while, but the cooldown time between waves is very useful. It would be great if there was an indicator of some kind for when the next wave will start.
Lastly, and is also going to sound extremely lowly of me and to request but, this game ran an average of about 30fps on my borderline ancient computer (if I am correct in what I assume the number in the top left while playing is). Would it be possible to have a resolution toggle added? I think that might be enough to fix it.
2 Likes
Update v0.2 is here with technical improvements as well as new content!
-grenades can now be tossed using RMB
-special infected are now easier to recognize
-improved dart hit detection
-added “next wave” skip button
-added new secondary gun - sawed-off shotgun
-added screen resolution setting
-added option to choose at what height infected should get removed to improve perfomrance
-added reload speed upgrade for shotgun and sniper rifle
-sniper rifle now uses raycast instead of physical game objects to determine hits
-pick up icons now face player
-overall script optimization
-buffed pushing enemies back with main weapon
-after throwing a grenade, the main gun is automatically selected
-improved the way infected pop, exploding them immediately once certain size is reached regardless of animation state
-adjusted exp progression
-adjusted upgrade prices
-fixed smoker attack collision
-changed some audio
-shell casings no longer collide with player
-fixed issues with achievements on 2nd map
-boss no longer drops Carbon Pop
-changed grenade explosion time from 3.5s to 2.5s
-“Nade Out!” and “Biohazard” achievements now pop up when earned in play
-small UI improvements
-changed shotgun dart spread
7 Likes
uh, the carbon pop got stuck in the machine after turning the machine on and I can’t pick it up. this is after wave 10, so now I’m softlocked
also, I tried the AR, and it’s not reloading for some reason
edit: tried the AR again, and now the reloading worked this time
edit2: later that round, didn’t reload
Loving the new quality of life updates here! Not gunna lie the item icons now facing the player are a HUGE help. The special infected being more visible helps a lot too.
Hello!
Cool game
Only real issue is that whenever I loose the game freezes, only once did I loose normally
2 Likes