Repost from discord feedback thread, but I want more eyes and opinions on this.
I actually think this game has been on the 'up' lately. New stuff is always good and exciting but the UGL was a huge miss.
1. It doesn't look, sound, or feel good. The 'nade swapping' is literally just text at the top of your screen. No UI element. The right click sounds like a normal blaster (no GL thwoomp). It has a lazy sniper animation. It continues to click and flash even when out of ammo. The grenades don't come out at any interesting trajectory they just spawn out of your eyeballs.
2. It has horrible gameplay consequences (explanation below...)
There's a reason that, normally, grenades have a very deliberate animation where they are HELD OUT IN THE OPEN with every characters hand: "Hey look what type of nade im about to throw at you!"
And there's a reason that grenades make a very distinct beeping noise as they are being primed.. it's a warning that "Hey, see this nade? Heads up, I'm about to throw it at you!" It gives the player time to react and plan their response.
When grenades randomly get shot out of a box at max speed and explode INSTANTLY ON CONTACT WITHOUT WARNING, !!AND!! you don't even know what type of grenade is going to come out?? That is just bad game design.
The M5 Pulse Grenade Launcher works because if you see an M5 you know it can only shoot pulse grenades. There is no mystery about what is going to be shot out at you. Likewise, because they come out 'instantly', they have a smaller explosion radius as a downside. They do less damage and have a smaller radius than when thrown manually. They also stick to surfaces and have a very substantial timer (BEEPING) until they explode! They do NOT blow up instantly or in mid-air!!!
The UGL shoots a mystery nade out and explodes instantly without warning. This is not interactive at all. There's no way to know what grenade is going to come out, if they even have ammo left, if you're going to be instantly knocked down by concs or instantly sonic'd or instantly shocked by pulse grenades. It's just bad game design. The concs and sonics are particularly bad. Threats in a game like this either require obvious counterplay or some kind of warning: a sound or an animation to let you know that something is coming. The UGL has none of this. There is nothing else in the game I would say this about, so I'm sorry, but I really think it should just be totally removed. Maybe the primary function is fine, but it still has all the problems from my 1. point, while also still being a mystery about what type is going to fly out. But the problem reaches an apex of 'bad' with the secondary click which explodes on contact.
I actually think this game has been on the 'up' lately. New stuff is always good and exciting but the UGL was a huge miss.
1. It doesn't look, sound, or feel good. The 'nade swapping' is literally just text at the top of your screen. No UI element. The right click sounds like a normal blaster (no GL thwoomp). It has a lazy sniper animation. It continues to click and flash even when out of ammo. The grenades don't come out at any interesting trajectory they just spawn out of your eyeballs.
2. It has horrible gameplay consequences (explanation below...)
There's a reason that, normally, grenades have a very deliberate animation where they are HELD OUT IN THE OPEN with every characters hand: "Hey look what type of nade im about to throw at you!"
And there's a reason that grenades make a very distinct beeping noise as they are being primed.. it's a warning that "Hey, see this nade? Heads up, I'm about to throw it at you!" It gives the player time to react and plan their response.
When grenades randomly get shot out of a box at max speed and explode INSTANTLY ON CONTACT WITHOUT WARNING, !!AND!! you don't even know what type of grenade is going to come out?? That is just bad game design.
The M5 Pulse Grenade Launcher works because if you see an M5 you know it can only shoot pulse grenades. There is no mystery about what is going to be shot out at you. Likewise, because they come out 'instantly', they have a smaller explosion radius as a downside. They do less damage and have a smaller radius than when thrown manually. They also stick to surfaces and have a very substantial timer (BEEPING) until they explode! They do NOT blow up instantly or in mid-air!!!
The UGL shoots a mystery nade out and explodes instantly without warning. This is not interactive at all. There's no way to know what grenade is going to come out, if they even have ammo left, if you're going to be instantly knocked down by concs or instantly sonic'd or instantly shocked by pulse grenades. It's just bad game design. The concs and sonics are particularly bad. Threats in a game like this either require obvious counterplay or some kind of warning: a sound or an animation to let you know that something is coming. The UGL has none of this. There is nothing else in the game I would say this about, so I'm sorry, but I really think it should just be totally removed. Maybe the primary function is fine, but it still has all the problems from my 1. point, while also still being a mystery about what type is going to fly out. But the problem reaches an apex of 'bad' with the secondary click which explodes on contact.
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