(Self Made) Exploring Evil Doors 1
- ceejwrites
- Jan 21
- 4 min read
NOTICE: This is likely going to be perceived as self-roasting, but I promise, I'm my biggest fan.
Evil Doors 1 was the first game I made alone at the start of my master's degree; the objective was to make a game mixing different genres, so I chose to explore the FPS and puzzle genres.
TITLE: Evil Doors 1.
VERSION: 1.0
GENRE: Puzzle,Topdown Shooter, RPG, Horror
GAMEPLAY VIDEO:
NARRATIVE:
There isn't any! We are dropped into an office setting with the goal of surviving by killing zombies and unlocking doors. I found this part somewhat annoying; if I'm going to fight for my life, at least give me a premise. I do not like games without narrative (but he was a noob back then, and it was his first game). This game having no narrative doesn't absolve it from criticism for more subtle versions of "ludonarrative" dissonance, as that—to me—can exist without a narrative. All parts of a game is telling a story, from props to lighting, design, worldbuilding, and setting. If the elements do not feel cohesive, there it is; there's the dissonance.
GAMEPLAY
The core loop of evil doors is pretty simple. Solve the puzzles before time runs out while making sure to survive the spawning zombies.
LUDONARRATIVE DISSONANCE:
As earlier mentioned, I found some things missing in the gameplay.
There's a world outside; why does it feel like we're floating? Yeah, He had just started his journey as a dev, but c'mon.
2. The UI for the victory screen looks like it belongs in a match-3 game; why is it so calming and sweet? It doesn't fit into the aesthetic of a survival game in any way.
I could genuinely keep going, but I'm not his biggest hater, let's stop there.
DIFFICULTY:
The game, from its core loop, gets easier as one progresses with the protagonist having to deal with lesser amounts of zombies once a puzzle is done, but it strangely maintained its sense of urgency, and after playing repeatedly, it dawned on me how the cooldown timer is solely responsible for this sense of urgency; while the two doors are active, the character has more time, and after solving the first puzzle, it's elapsed enough to keep you engaged in its completion before the timer hits zero.
Not too difficult, but maintaining a sense of urgency that counters the opposing ease that's provided by solving a puzzle.
PROGRESSION:
There wasn't any progression in the game, as it was a vertical slice with one playable level. If the game had a second level and something to juxtapose with, more would be said in this area, but alas, the noob Dev didn't do it. In the level, though, progression mirrors difficulty as previously explained, getting easier but retaining its sense of urgency.
BALANCING:
While playing through the game it became glaring that didn't have good accuracy wouldn't be able to clear the level due to insufficient ammo boxes. Making more ammo drops and possible attaching the probability to the death of spawned zombie would have made for more interesting and well balanced gameplay.
UNIQUENESS:
The game mixes the puzzle genre seamlessly well with the Top down shooter genre quite well. While it doesn't do a great job at blending these genres in an interesting way, it is definitely promising and has the potential to be more in the future.
STRENGTHS:
Unique concept
Good audiovisual cues
Beginner friendly
Mixture of low poly props and world creates easy readability
WEAKNESSES:
Lack of narrative.
Lack fo weapon variety
No character progression
Lack of enemy variety
Flat and uninteresting levels
UI doesn't fit with the theme of gameplay (refer to image in ludonarrative dissonance)
BUGS (ANALYSIS, SEVERITY CLASSIFICATION AND REPRODUCTION STEPS)
1. Static Zombs:
Summary: In the level player doesn't get approached or attacked while staying in between the chairs.
Expected Result: Player should be attacked anywhere in the level
Actual Result: Player doesn't get approached by zombies when staying in the column of chairs
Reproduction Steps:
Boot the title "Evil doors 1".
Click to continue on landing screen.
Press start to open level.
Stay within the columns of chairs.
Severity: High
Technical Reproducibility: 5/5(100%)
Potential fixes: Clearly a level design error, space between columns should be able to accommodate the passage of enemy units.
Static Zombies
Telepathic Interaction
Summary: While playing the level the pillar can be interacted with from an unreasonable distance
Expected Result: Player needs to be close to the pillar to interact with it.
Actual result: Player can interact with pillar from afar.
Reproduction steps:
Boot the title "Evil doors 1".
approach pillar without getting too close
notice the display prompt for "E to interact"
Severity High
Potential fixes: Reduce interaction box that triggers the notification and event.
CONTROLS:
Control works really well, WASD to move, E to interact, Right click to shoot.
RELAYABILITY: On a rage of 1-10, its a 1, the gameplay lacks variety, not much to discover excite and it felt quite flat.
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