Frictional Games Forum

Just had a go of the game, so some quick, random thoughts...

* I've only played up to opening the door with the iron bar. I'm having some technical problems & I occsionally notice some script issues but the interface is nice, the physical interaction is FANTASTIC and so far the puzzles have been logical.

* My system specs...
System Manufacturer: NVIDIA
System Model: AWRDACPI
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon™ XP 2200+, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.8GHz
Memory: 512MB RAM
Page File: 475MB used, 678MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode
Card name: RADEON 9500 PRO / 9700
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: RADEON 9500 PRO AGP (0x4E45)

Unfortunately that puts me below your minimum spec...
'nVidia FX / ATI 9600 or above' =)

* I'll need to take some pictures to highlight the main technical issues - basically, polygons are disappearing, reappearing, stretching and groups of vertices are attaching themselves to random points. This problem also seems to affect the lighting. It's entirely possible that is is due to my 3D card.

*Is there any chance you might release a version of Penumbra with lower res textures for us peeps with lower spec systems? =)

* There are some problems with your written script - using 'where' instead of 'were', etc... If you'd like I can give your text a proof read - doesn't hurt to have somebody else check it out.

Right - I'll get back on the game later.

All the best,

--RoB

It would be great if you could take screens or even better fraps em. Right now I have been up for 36 hours straight but on monday I can fix some test apps so you I can try and get more feedback on the error. I really wanna support as many systems as possible.

And thanks alot for the feedback so far.

PS: Just to make sure, do you have the latest drivers?

Okay, I've played a little more and so far I'm really enjoying Penumbra. Further compliments...

* The intro. The crossfading slides and zooms work really well - understated and efficient. The scenario isn't complicated or original, but it's servicable - I'm curious to find out about our hero's father. Unfortunately, I still think you could really do with getting somebody to proof your script - the language is quite stiff and it does read as though written by somebody who isn't entirely familiar with english ('on Greenland' reads a little strangely - 'in Greenland' is more appropriate, I'd think).

* I love - LOVE - your implementation of physics. Love it. I love opening doors with an appropriate movement of my hand in real life, I love finding that doors are locked - by rattling them... I loved when I realised that I didn't need to bring boxes into the room to reach the petrol can - I could just tug on the shelves and bring down the whole contraption... =) FANTASTIC.

* I appreciate the way you're slowly introducing the elements of your interface - though I think you could possibly give a better demonstration of the glowstick - I spent a few minutes carefully rationing my flashlight batteries before I read the 'infinite light' note for the stick. Possibly leave a pre-cracked stick glowing on the ground for players to find, or leave it surrounded with used sticks... something to indicate its true use to the player.

Oh, when you get the glowstick working it's great, by the way. I really like your separation of infinite glowstick / finite flashlight...!

* Inventory and numbered slots - very nice. It's a little intrusive, but at least it's a selection of icons projected onto the main screen - not like the Dark Corners inventory which takes you completely away from the action.

* I really appreciate having a 'lean' function - I appreciate the fact that I can be blocked from leaning by the walls even more...! =)

Moving into criticisms...

* I'm impressed by the way you're using several textures per wall to keep things random and fresh - it's good to see that implemented. However, I might suggest that you increase the size of your grain texture - in well-lit areas it can be a little noticible. The lighting and shaders can seem a little sharp - but I assume that this is part of the engine and not something to worry about at this stage.

* Still not too keen on the icons. They're efficient, but would it be possible to lighten objects when they're selectable (ala Thief)? Or possibly add a level of transparancy to the icons? Or a combination of both methods?

* Erm... so I installed the new drivers (erk... =) and started Penumbra up again. There seemed to be a slight improvement - unfortunately as I moved into more complicated areas (passing doorways on the second level, the second floor of the third level) the framerate dropped from its average of 30fps to 8 and even 5 fps. The worst framerate (5) was when I walked into the generator room - my machine really did NOT enjoy that challenge...!

Just around here, I started to encounter the same graphical errors I mentioned to you before... slowly they spread across the level and could later be found on previous levels.

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/5571/...t012ka.png
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/1053/...t027bp.png

As as side note, I've encountered this glitch in Doom 3 and the HL2 level editor.

I've decided not to play the game further until I get a new computer, sadly. It's too much fun to experience in a less-than-perfect fashion - but I'll be sure and get all my friends to try out the game.

Any further requests, lemme know.

All the best,

--RoB

PS: Ah. Just realised. You wanted the Fraps screenshots to include the framerates, didn't you? Erm... is what I've posted okay? If you need to get the screenshots redone post it up...

Thank You for the detailed feedback! Great.

As we are all swedes we are not "entirely familiar with english" :)
If you like to read through and edit the text you can find everything in the file called english.lang located in the config folder.

I think we cleaned out all the test texts but if there is an entry with Test something skip it.

If you do read and edit the text you can simply .zip the file and post it here!

Cool...! My connection is down at the moment (I'm in an internet café) - but I'll check over the text with a friend of mine and get it back to you as quickly as possible.

All the best,

--RoB

Does the demo end to the 2nd floor access? I've played it there and i think i hear "thump" and then all goes black and game ends.

DragoonJ:

Contragts, you have reached the end :)

Hi, I finished your demo over the weekend and I really enjoyed it. Here are some comments/suggestions:

Intro/story: I really like the intro, it's simple and effective, and proves you don't need a 3D rendered scene to get the mood and story across. However, as mentioned by Reverend Speed, some of the English is slightly off, 'on Greenland' instead of 'in Greenland', and the sentence structure for the first few lines was not varied enough. (i.e. changing the sentence subject and verb structure around to avoid repetition).

Physics - my favourite thing in games today is physics. It can change so much and turn a mediocre game into a great one if implemented well. Your use of physics is astounding. Interacting with everyday objects, shaking locked doors, throwing objects about...I love it!!

In places the manipulation of objects is a little awkward. Such as the steam valves. It was hard to turn them.

Also, it was odd that certain objects that looked like they should be moveable weren't. Like the small box that's sitting by the door where the broken key is in the lock.

Graphics: Very atmospheric - most textures are very detailed I found, perhaps that's due to the bump-mapping. Lighting is of course great and the game relies on it, and the shadows to create that forboding atmosphere.

Performance wise though it's a bit of a system hog. I had to drop the res to 800x600, turn off bloom and motion blur. There's not much in the way of graphic options to improve the framerates, but where other games let you turn off dynamic lights and shadows etc. I can see that doing that in this game would completely ruin the games mood and main theme. Darkness and shadows.

Perhaps an option to turn off bump-mapping would improve perforamce, though the visuals would suffer.

Here's my system specs:

Operating System: Windows 2000 Professional (5.0, Build 2195) Service Pack 4
System Model: K8N
Processor: AMD Sempron™ Processor 3100+, ~1.8GHz
Memory: 512MB RAM
Page File: 164MB used, 1850MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200
Chip type: GeForce FX 5200
Display Memory: 128.0 MB

The shadows in places seem a little sharp, still looks great, but there's no penumbra in most of them - which comes to mind considering the games name... :-)

I'm interested in how combat (if any) will be done, in the demo I only had the enviroment and the dynamite to protect myself, my character felt so vulnerable (which is great really, because it scares the hell out of you when you think a creature could be close) - but feeling so helpless for the entire game might be a drain for a lot of people. The use of the environment for protection is potentially a great way to solve it, as you proved with the electic wire over the door, but I don't think a constant flow of 'handy' area's to kill or trap creatures would work for the whole game. Just curious what percentage will be exploring/combat/puzzles.

Bug: In that room where the key was stuck in the door, your character hears a noise and turns around. When I did, I could hear a creature flapping about, but it was actually trapped 'under' the floor. I could see the tips of it's wings popping up through the floor. Not sure how that happened.

Overall I loved it, and hope to play the final game when it's released. Is there a final release date in mind? Keep up the good work.

Has anyone been able to get the fuel can into the inventory, haven´t been able to do so

If I remember correctly, its on the top of the shelf in the room beside the generator room - shake the shelf until the can topples, then just pick it up.

If the fuel can is on the floor, then crouch first before trying to pick it up.