The Visitors (Game Idea) - Feedback Welcomed

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[Shattered Sponge]

  Good read.  I'd just to make a few random comments and criticisms, if you don't mind; just my opinion, but I hope it'll prove helpful.

 Well, for a start it's great to see some new ideas in terms of game mechanics; the idea of having a character with a sensitive heart is a good one, and although the system sounds quite similar to the Fear Factor games, I am intrigued as to how you would execute the idea in an adventure.  Giving the main character poor vision is also an interesting way to create obstacles for the player, however you must be careful how such obstacles are set out; you don't want to stack the odds to high against the player.

 I like the idea of a limited inventory; once again, however, it's usage would have to be balanced carefully in order for it to work well.

 Having some situations where it is a good idea to do something and others where it is a bad idea (i.e. illuminating a shadow with your torch/flashlight/whatever - perhaps accidentally alerting an alien, perhaps finding something useful) is dangerous; you must make sure that the player has some way to ascertain whether they should do something or not, as otherwise it just comes down to chance, which rarely makes for good game design.

 You'll have to be very careful if you're dividing the game into segments in which certain things must be completed; you'll often find with games that do this (for example, Gabriel Knight) that the player has no idea what they are to do next; this is particularly bothersome when they have to travel through every available location in order to find out if there's anything that they could be doing -  a most tiresome process.  This isn't necessarily a bad idea, I'm just pointing out that there are some problems that you may have to work hard to avoid with it.

 The limited save points idea combined with the ability to die could be a good way to create tension, but it would have to be balanced very carefully to avoid becoming frustrating or even unfair.  Another concern with such a system is the likelihood that a player may want to leave the game for some reason and come back to it, but would have to wait until they arrived at a save point, or even lose all of the progress they had made up to that point.  I think the approach that Shenmue took could be helpful here; the player could make as many saves as they wanted at a certain defined point (their home, to be specific), but they could also make a 'temporary' save at any point as they were quitting the game; once the save is loaded up again, it is deleted.  A little hassle to code, perhaps, but worth the effort, I feel.

 Going through the whole process of getting into the car, putting the key into the ignition et cetera may get a tad tiresome if you have to do it regularly, so I would suggest either simplifying the process or only making the player go through it the first one or two times, afterwards simply moving straight to the map screen when they Use the car.

 A context-sensitive control system should work well, but it would be an idea to have some sort of indication on, say, the bottom of the screen as to what action a mouse-click would perform.

 So, in summary; plenty of great ideas, but you'd have to plan the whole thing out quite meticulously in order to be sure that you end up with a well-balanced and fair game - if that starts to feel like too much work, then don't fret about cutting down on some elements; a simple, well-balanced game is highly preferable to a complex, poorly-balanced one; if, on the other hand, you are confident that you can get it all to work, then the best of luck to you - it should make a fantastic playing experience, if executed well.

[AGA]

This seems like a really cool idea, definitely worth continuing with. I really like the health/fear bar idea, while it's not totally original, I think it would work very well in the context of the game.

I can't really think of much else to say, but it seems as though it'll be a very atmospheric and tense game, like 'survival horror' should be. Just make sure you actually make it