Feedback Feedback Friday #83 - October 11-14, 2019

Feedback Friday is now open!

Want design feedback for your new game and need some playtesting feedback?

Then you've found the right thread! Feedback Friday runs from Friday to Monday every week.

What To Show

• Minimally Viable Product (MVP) - Core game play > everything else
• How To Scope Small (Unity tutorial)
• Post a link to a playable game, preferably WebGL. If you don't have a playable game, post something substantial, not just text.

How To Ask For Feedback

• Be concise.
• Specify what you want feedback on and what you don't.
• Resist the urge to write an immediate defense to feedback. Take the time to understand their points. Remember that your friends here are taking time out of their busy schedules to help you for free.

How To Give Feedback

• Be positive. Every game has some redeeming quality.
• Focus on the design, not the designer.
• Be specific and constructive. Don't like something? Explain why.

Let the feedback begin!


[PS - Feedback Friday #82 is here]

 

Somehow I always miss this feedbacks. Either don't remember, or never notice on new posts
But I deciede create one today. Haven't see any yet.
Since I do that first time, I hope, I did it right.

Since I am posting, I would like ask for a feedback indeed.
Here is first what to expect to see

I use this project, to test and prototype some features for my other project. Is heavily DOTS oriented.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hyMaA_8cnkOEM99KudYKrwYoR9tN4bwY
Approx 110MB zipped, 240 unziped.
Only Windows.

In following, I would ask for feedback in few areas.


Feedback Request


1. Antivirus (false positive): I use specific plugin for chromium. It has executable file, and some antiviruses seems don't like it. I am pretty sure it is clean, yet throws false positive (what I hope for). Yet if you brave to run app on desktop., please let me know, if your antivirus throws any messages. Make sure you scan it first, to be on safe side.

This may wage, weather I will decide to use this plugin, or not.

I also understand, this may be big stop gap, in terms of receiving any feedback. If so, so be it
Any thought, I could handle such matter otherwise?


2. Camera handling: I would like to ask for feedback based on camera handling. If not from the game, at least from the video.
Zooming in/out with scroll.
Right click moving camera toward dragging motion.
Middle mouse hold, local camera rotation, along own axis.

Known issue: When camera max zooms in, it misbehaves. Need twice scroll back (zoom out a bit).


3. Performance: Providing you have started application, I would like to ask, for CPU and GPU performance. Some graphs alike on provided video would be nice. Anything that shows CPU threads. Also, CPU and GPU type, if possible. If GPU can not be presented, then at least CPU.
Test should happen soon after game startup, when moving camera about, and maybe selecting instances.

There is also FPS counter on the bottom of game. Please drop me a screenshot of it too.

4. Optional: You can also throw something out of your hearth, if you think can be constructive to the project current state.


Thx in advance.

 

None of my antivirus checkers picked up any issues. (If you all don't hear from me for a while, assume Antypodish melted my computer. )

I would prefer if the mouse scroll zoom worked in the opposite direction.

No lag on an i7 with Radeon R9 290.

A little more information about what this does would be useful, although I understand that may come later in the form of a tutorial or something.

 

Uh that massive relief. Saying that, I still hope I get also feedback form others on that matter.

I assume, setting option to change direction would be sufficient?

Thats lovely to hear.

Yep, is a bit early to go into much details, as at current state mechanics is not intuitive to use as of yet. There is lack of fun factor. Need lots of adjustments. But in principle, is aim to be a life form simulator using DOTS, with (least important) determinism implemented.



Like in this screenshot, you see instances, which look like trees. They populate planet. They grow they die, they breed. Green parts are responsible for photosynthesis. They generate atmosphere, which later is used by herbivores. Higher amount of atmosphere (more O2, less CO2), makes life harder for plants. So thy may die out on their own, if can not adapt. However, at current state, each died life instance, returns resources to atmosphere.
So they stay in some form of balance, and can not produce infinite amount of instances.

Herbivores feed on plants bits. At current state is brown part. This part require much of work. Also herbivore don't move yet and are integrated with plants part. Also, I want to allow "animals", to be able have plants parts too, as hybrid. With some benefits and consequences. Herbivores search food nearby, and eat plants. Technically is possible to make all brow life form, but lack of balance make it a bit challenging. Again no fun factor



So in this screen, in the circle are selected family of life forms. They are sharing similar type of genome, within a tolerance and distance, from selected life form. You can edit each genes. At current, each life form evolves randomly, adding, or removing a bit of variate to current DNA of life form. Eventually, life forms should be much different, and specialized.

Top left slider, Intervals, is speed of simulation. Using 0.1s as base. 0.02s fastest, 0.9s slowest, and above pause.
I experiment here, to make sure, simulation is stable, when run on fastest speed. I have noticed, DOTS can be temperamental on that part. But I think I eliminated issues.

On the right is info, of currently selected life instance, providing is alive.

Resources are collected, based on sum of growing life forms. Later it will be used, to buy evolution points (see middle panel).

Pink color indicates current player. I want to add multiple AI players, so each should be different color at the base. This part is done in major. Here I want to add also another DNA trait, which will allow / prohibit to feed on same player life forms, or only opponents. For now just a thought. And of course, see, who will manage to take over the world, or if getting into the symbiosis

Thats it to it for now

 

Yes.

 

Just upload it to virustotal.com and see what gives false positives.
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file...0fda29908f37643e399ffe883fd310b328e/detection

Though I'm not sure if all the important stuff even is in the .exe of a unity game. I think linked .dll files would need to be uploaded individually as well, but I'm not sure really. Also there can absolutely be dangerous code in a game that no antivirus will pick up, imho.

 

Thx. This is very valuable feedback for me and made me curious.
I haven't used that virus checker before.

I am very cautious in terms of downloaded software and sources and in general I didn't had any issues with malicious software for long time. But we never know for 100%.
So I decided to investigate that matter.

• Firstly I dropped various of my other exe builds, from different Unity versions (2017-2019) into virus checker, to ensure, I have no escalated problem in different areas. These went clean.

• I of course dropped same exe file into the checker. Having same detection result as yours.

• I also rebuilt the game, just to ensure. But same detection, after virus checker.

• Then starting investigation, what could be causing it.

• I had two source codes, which made me thinking.

• One was with System.Info checks for testing including mobile vendor, which actually wasn't attached to anything, so was disabled. I removed it, just in case. I don't target mobiles in this case anyway.

• Second was source code, which was attached to disabled GameObject and related to profiling in Editor at runtime. It is 3rd party cs script. I should investigate now it deeper thought. I haven't used it further, since it does't work in builds anyway. Now I removed it too.

• Then I built game again.

• Dropped exe to virus checker.

• And went clean.

• I will check dlls as well, as far checker will allow me, do to sizes of files.

But that obviously rises awareness.

So thx @Martin_H again for that initial checks.

 

Honestly I wouldn't overthink this too much because you are trying to hit a moving target. What triggers a false positive today can be fine with the next update of some scanner, and vice versa. I would just try to find out what files you really need to scan, then just link the virus total scan result where you distribute your files and tell people to expect false positives from scanners x,y, and z. If a file only has 5 or less positives from scanners that I never heard of and they all classify as a generic hit, I'd still run the .exe on my system.

 

That are valid points.
At least I will know more-less, what to look at.

 

FYI: I have AVG anti-virus. It blocked your exe saying it was "infected with IDP.Generic" the first time that I try to run it. Confusingly I also get a second pop-up from AVG say "no threats found".

I have a Windows 10 I7-6700 with an NVidia GeForce GTX1050 Ti. I'm getting around 22 fps but the camera controls still feel pretty good and responsive. For some reason, though, it feels less like I'm in a game and more like I'm using some sort of application software. That may not be a bad thing depending on what you are going for.

 

Appreciated. I suspect, with latest changes, I should have no antivirus warnings. But I left original build in the first post as I think is a good reference point for this thread and since this thread getting close tomorrow anyway

Thx noted. Just rhetorical question for myself, why you getting only 22 fps? Something for me to keep in mind.

This is interesting and your camera feeling experienced makes me curious.

• Any idea, what may makes you feel like in software rather in game?
• Is kind of too much camera freedom?
• Or is the way, how camera travels along the planet, when dragging?
• Would for example forcing look at planet from distance, affect that feeling?
• Or maybe something, when camera is mid /close distance?

Sorry for firing much of questions at once