2021-12-18 15:59:21 (edited by Noah Molteberg Lundén 2022-03-25 19:23:40)

Hi! It's been a long time coming, but it's finally here! The beta of blind survival big_smile

Edit: Beta 2 is now also out, and you can download it through the same links!

I made a small trailer about how the new version has a lot of new features/content, I hope you think the video is funny. But most of all I hope you enjoy this release and that there aren't any game breaking glitches in it big_smile

You can play with a controller, keyboard and mouse or just the keyboard! Personally I like playing with a controller best.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/Kvwym5t8YcA

Try the tutorial online: https://blind-survival.com/play/index.html

Get the game here:
Itch.io: https://blind-survival.itch.io/blind-survival
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/blind_survival
Website: https://blind-survival.com/

Join the discord: https://discord.gg/872YFDjd

2021-12-18 17:03:02

Played around with it a bit with the main story mode. For future versions, can you please have everything narrated by human voices? The TTS reading everything can get annoying very quickly (if that's possible, of course).
Will play around with the other game modes later today.

Greetings and happy gaming, Julian

If you say you never lie, you're a liar.
Oh, and #freeGCW

2021-12-18 17:17:46

Juliantheaudiogamer wrote:

Played around with it a bit with the main story mode. For future versions, can you please have everything narrated by human voices? The TTS reading everything can get annoying very quickly (if that's possible, of course).
Will play around with the other game modes later today.

Hmm. It's something I've been thinking about. But right now it would be too time consuming for me to do it considering the game probably has over 100 lines that the TTS speaks already. I might make it a goal on the patreon, but I don't think it would be anytime soon unfortunetely. There might be a way to choose your own TTS voice tho if I make a setting for it.

2021-12-18 17:59:00

Well it would depend on the voices.
If these are static voices and well all that sort of thing, I could probably make those for jack.
But tts is certainly better for a dynamic game.
Good speech engines are affordable anyway, atguys has vocaliser and eloquence.
And some games handle with different tts voices.
Ie eloquence is good for arcade games because of its 8 bit nature, vocaliser is good for action games and the like.
Espeak and some of the more robotic voices are good for cyberpunk style games.

2021-12-18 20:15:37

no, you don't need to remove tts. This mode will help those who use nvda translation add-on.

2021-12-18 21:29:52

Was almost sure this wasn't a priority (that's no problem), but great to hear this might come later.

Greetings and happy gaming, Julian

If you say you never lie, you're a liar.
Oh, and #freeGCW

2021-12-18 21:49:49

I have a question.
Which controller I must use to play this game? Gamepad?

Ja volim samo kafu sa Rakijom.

2021-12-18 22:35:11 (edited by Noah Molteberg Lundén 2021-12-18 22:36:11)

Giovani wrote:

I have a question.
Which controller I must use to play this game? Gamepad?

It should work with almost any controller since it uses the standard input system. Gamepad is just a word I use instead of controller sometimes haha.

2021-12-18 23:42:15

So just completed the demo, and it’s pretty good. I can definitely hear the improvements in the audio and panning, and I like the extra story.  one thing I would like to see is more realistic sounds. The sonar sounds aren’t bad at all, but I think some more realistic sounds, such as when you sneak up behind a zombie playing a brutal stab sound effect instead of beeping would add a bit more atmosphere to the game. Also, I think a sprint mechanic would be nice, because it would give you a chance to get away from a zombie if it was very close to you, and you didn’t want to fight it in a knife battle. Finally, I think a clip and reloading system would be really good. For example, The pistol could have six shots in a clip, and when you shoot six times, you would have to reload by pressing the r key to shoot again. I really like where this game is headed, and I can definitely see it has a lot of potential. Keep up the great work.

2021-12-19 00:33:38

Some background music would also be nice to be honest.
And something I also noticed was that the signal that you are close enough to a zombie for a sneak attack is too quiet for me. Could you increase that?

Greetings and happy gaming, Julian

If you say you never lie, you're a liar.
Oh, and #freeGCW

2021-12-19 01:22:19 (edited by stewie 2021-12-19 01:24:50)

So I've played a bit of this. Is there a chance you could just have everything speak via screen readers instead of the current tts? There are unity plugins to do this, like this one.

I think I may have broken the game also. As soon as I picked up the gun, the knife just no longer does anything. If I equip the gun in slot 1 it doesn't work, however if I equip it in slot 2 it does (the knife does nothing equipped in any slot). I'm also wondering what the point of the melee combat mode is, as there already is an fps engine working for ranged combat. I would honestly prefer it just to let you attack up close using that. I also think the game needs some kind of health system as you die immediately upon touching a zombie. The volume of sounds at a distance also doesn't seem to change much with distance, so a zombie 30 steps away doesn't sound too different from one 10 steps away.

Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic.

2021-12-19 10:45:00

Weston wrote:

So just completed the demo, and it’s pretty good. I can definitely hear the improvements in the audio and panning, and I like the extra story.  one thing I would like to see is more realistic sounds. The sonar sounds aren’t bad at all, but I think some more realistic sounds, such as when you sneak up behind a zombie playing a brutal stab sound effect instead of beeping would add a bit more atmosphere to the game. Also, I think a sprint mechanic would be nice, because it would give you a chance to get away from a zombie if it was very close to you, and you didn’t want to fight it in a knife battle. Finally, I think a clip and reloading system would be really good. For example, The pistol could have six shots in a clip, and when you shoot six times, you would have to reload by pressing the r key to shoot again. I really like where this game is headed, and I can definitely see it has a lot of potential. Keep up the great work.

Thanks for the feedback! I've thought about the sprinting mechanic a lot, but I haven't come up with a good way to make it balanced yet. I think in scavenge mode it could be a sort of hunger system, but not sure how it could work in the story.

2021-12-19 10:46:34

Juliantheaudiogamer wrote:

Some background music would also be nice to be honest.
And something I also noticed was that the signal that you are close enough to a zombie for a sneak attack is too quiet for me. Could you increase that?

Making the heartbeat sound louder shouldn't be a problem smile

2021-12-19 10:58:27

stewie wrote:

So I've played a bit of this. Is there a chance you could just have everything speak via screen readers instead of the current tts? There are unity plugins to do this, like this one.

I think I may have broken the game also. As soon as I picked up the gun, the knife just no longer does anything. If I equip the gun in slot 1 it doesn't work, however if I equip it in slot 2 it does (the knife does nothing equipped in any slot). I'm also wondering what the point of the melee combat mode is, as there already is an fps engine working for ranged combat. I would honestly prefer it just to let you attack up close using that. I also think the game needs some kind of health system as you die immediately upon touching a zombie. The volume of sounds at a distance also doesn't seem to change much with distance, so a zombie 30 steps away doesn't sound too different from one 10 steps away.

1: The screen reader thing is one of the most requested features, thanks for the link, I shall look into it. But sadly the current system is so embedded into the code at this point that it would take me weeks to somehow implement both I think. The game uses a plugin called "Crosstales RTVoice" which then has 2-way communication between TTS and the game. For example RTVoice tells the game when it's finished speaking and ends the cutscene.
2 Interesting glitch, so the knife stopped doing sounds? And didnt even sound when you equipped it?
3 It makes for more interesting combat situations, instead of players just using a gun all the time, which would get boring really quick for many. 4 I've planned that there will be health upgrades that you can get in the story, I agree that it's unfair that you die immiedetely from little mistakes.
5 Tuning the rolloff of sounds has been a difficult thing, because the player needs to be able to hear them clearly even when they are pretty far away, so I think it's something that will be improved as time goes on!

2021-12-19 16:41:10

So I've been playing, and I have to agree, melee combat with a zombie is really... not fun at all. It's slow, doesn't really make sense, and kinda takes me out of the experience. I don't think in a zombie horde you'd stand there, stabbing slowly away at one zombie, and I don't think a zombie is fast enough to step out of the way of a random stab. It really feels out of place.
Minor Story Spoilers ahead.


So a bit ago, I found the bridge before I found my tent again, and now I can't find the bridge again to get across the river. It's like... vanished. What am I doing wrong? There's no beacon for it or anything.

Heroes need foes to test them. Not all teachers can afford to be kind, and some lessons must be harsh.

2021-12-19 16:46:28

I really like where this is going too!

I haven't bought the itch.io build yet so I don't have Scavenge mode. Is it designed to become more difficult somehow as the game goes on, so that if things start out too easy, you can look forward to harder moments? Or is the difficulty setting supposed to directly control how hard it is?

Also, have you decided if scavenge mode is eventually going to be part of a bigger bundle, or will it stay as its own thing? I'm just trying to avoid a situation where I've bought a whole bunch of things, only for it to be consolidated into a bundle which has everything for a much lower price.

Not trying to be a cheapskate big_smile I  just want to get a better sense of what's to come. If a ton is coming and pricing will go all over the place, I'd just prefer to wait until it calms down.

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2021-12-19 18:47:17

is there a way to increase the  speech rate?

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2021-12-19 19:24:42

spiderManiac wrote:

So I've been playing, and I have to agree, melee combat with a zombie is really... not fun at all. It's slow, doesn't really make sense, and kinda takes me out of the experience. I don't think in a zombie horde you'd stand there, stabbing slowly away at one zombie, and I don't think a zombie is fast enough to step out of the way of a random stab. It really feels out of place.
Minor Story Spoilers ahead.


So a bit ago, I found the bridge before I found my tent again, and now I can't find the bridge again to get across the river. It's like... vanished. What am I doing wrong? There's no beacon for it or anything.

That part might have been pretty unclear... Its not "across" the bridge. Its the opposite side of the bridge. So if the river is to your left, the building is to your right. If you don't like the melee combat you can just use your gun for everything. The melee combat isn't supposed to be used in a horde but rather against single targets and as a last resort if you fail the critical hit.

2021-12-19 19:43:34

musicalman wrote:

I really like where this is going too!

I haven't bought the itch.io build yet so I don't have Scavenge mode. Is it designed to become more difficult somehow as the game goes on, so that if things start out too easy, you can look forward to harder moments? Or is the difficulty setting supposed to directly control how hard it is?

Also, have you decided if scavenge mode is eventually going to be part of a bigger bundle, or will it stay as its own thing? I'm just trying to avoid a situation where I've bought a whole bunch of things, only for it to be consolidated into a bundle which has everything for a much lower price.

Not trying to be a cheapskate big_smile I  just want to get a better sense of what's to come. If a ton is coming and pricing will go all over the place, I'd just prefer to wait until it calms down.

So that's why I was hesitant to make it availible on itch.io to avoid this sort of confusion. I had only planned for the paid content to be availible on Patreon, where you can pay a monthly fee to get content from a creator.. So each time I release something like scavenge mode or new parts of the story they will be given out to those who pay a monthly fee via patreon. But people didn't like the idea of it being a subscription and said they would rather pay once to get the content on itch.io, But this has as I imagined only led to more confusion sad 
Patreon is good because you can get a personal connection with those who pay and it's good because then you also know how mcuh interest there is to buy a product. But people don't seem to understand that you could just subscribe for a month on patreon and download the thing you want, and keep a backup of it and have it forever, just like you can on itch.io. 
So seeing your message makes me realize that I probably shouldn't have listened to that particular feedback and only kept it on patreon, to avoid the confusion.
To answer your question, the next version will also have a special edition, but that one will also contain the next part of the story and scavenge mode.
People could also wait until the full release in probably 6-9 months, however the full release will probably cost 15€, which is the cost of being subscribed to the patreon for 8 months but spread over a longer time.
Now I'm not really sure what to do to be honest.

2021-12-19 19:44:11

LordLundin wrote:

is there a way to increase the  speech rate?

Not right now, but I think I can add an option for it in the future!

2021-12-19 20:06:34 (edited by Noah Molteberg Lundén 2021-12-19 21:20:18)

After thinking about the patreon and itch.io thing some more. One other option I could have is to have it available as "Early access" on itch.io and steam. Where you pay the whole price now and get all the beta releases and the full game when it's released. But I don't want people to pay for something that isn't complete and if accidents happen might never get complete. That's why having it be available on early access for full price now feels kinda bad for me. But idk that might be a solution for the confusion?

Edit: The thing is, I kinda need to know how much interest there is to buy the game, because if I just released it as a full release in 6-9 months and no one would buy it then I wouldn't be able to keep developing games and would have to find another occupation. Having people pay monthly or for early access is good because then I could know how much budget/time/energy I could put into the development, and people could also give feedback on things they like and dislike so that it in the end would become a better game!  But it's also hard to do a montly fee or early access payment fair. So that's my main dilemma with the game development.

2021-12-20 00:46:22

Hi:

I want to try this out, but I have a question. I don't have a controller, so what would I be missing out on if I just used my laptop's keyboard?

Also, I think going for early access is the best option here. Once the beta is fleshed out enough that you can sell it as a full beta, I would go for that option. Not everone is a patrion subscriber, and not everyone can afford to pay monthly fees. Lots of people , however, use itch.io and Steam and those are probably the best way to reach a wider audience if you go for the early access option.

When the wandering fire strikes the heart of stone, will you follow? Will you take ... the longest road?
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2021-12-20 01:59:08

@Noah Molteberg Lundén yeah the knife just does not work at all. I've even hit attack while the heartbeat sound is playing and my character just stands there doing nothing. Is there a way I can send you a save file if that would help?

Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic.

2021-12-20 10:08:45

tayo.bethel wrote:

Hi:

I want to try this out, but I have a question. I don't have a controller, so what would I be missing out on if I just used my laptop's keyboard?

Also, I think going for early access is the best option here. Once the beta is fleshed out enough that you can sell it as a full beta, I would go for that option. Not everone is a patrion subscriber, and not everyone can afford to pay monthly fees. Lots of people , however, use itch.io and Steam and those are probably the best way to reach a wider audience if you go for the early access option.

Thanks for the idea!
To answer your question: Your not missing out on anything if ypu play with just a keyboard smile

2021-12-20 10:23:27

stewie wrote:

@Noah Molteberg Lundén yeah the knife just does not work at all. I've even hit attack while the heartbeat sound is playing and my character just stands there doing nothing. Is there a way I can send you a save file if that would help?

That would definetely help! The safe file is a bit hard to find though.
Type "%APPDATA%\..\LocalLow" without the quotes in windows search and that should take you to the local-low folder. In the local low folder there is a folder called "Zyfiel"(which is my username on other platforms)
and under that there is a folder for blind survival. The file you want to send is "beta1.file" and not the other files (they are created automatically by unity). You can send it to me in PMs, but it doesn't have any personal information so if you want you can send it here.