Working on a 3D Dungeon in AGS

[Vincent]

Over the past few weekends, I've been working on this project from scratch in my spare time. It's still very much a work in progress, but I'm excited about how it's coming together. The biggest challenges so far have been:

• Optimizing the raycasting to run smoothly in AGS
• Creating convincing 3D movement within a grid-based system
• Balancing the enemy AI to be challenging but fair

Still failing to create a proper dynamic lights source. But in the meantime I'd love to hear what you guys think! Any feature suggestions or technical advices are welcome!

[lorenzo]

Wow! As always, I'm impressed by what you manage to create with AGS.

Player's movement seems quite smooth to me. I don't know how it feels when playing, but from the video, it seems fine!

It's hard to understand how challenging the AI is, as you play too well in the video and never get shot Are their attacks hitscan, or projectile-based?
Maybe you could increase their alertness and make them shoot quicker, if you allow the player to dodge their bullet. Or they could be special enemies. I don't know, random idea

In general, I think the game would benefit from having different textures for walls. Otherwise, I feel the player would get lost quickly.

Another quality of life feature would be to make doors more recognisable. Right now, they all look the same. The only way to know you're interacting with door 3 and not door 1 is to read its description. Maybe you could have different colours (like in Doom) or the door number written on the texture itself?

Is it me or does the game have almost have a fisheye effect to the way the walls seem to curve? It's really cool.

Gameplay-wise, it seems like you're going for a more tactical, survival gameplay, rather than a fast-paced shooter. Ambushing the enemy, finding cover to avoid being shot at, having to ration the few bullets you have. It should lead to tense moments where you only have one bullet remaining, so you can't miss.
The radar mechanic is pretty cool and reminds me of Alien. It should also make the game feel fair (i.e. you don't get enemies appear out of nowhere).

Anyway, some rambling feedback here I think it's a really impressive project and it could be fun to play!

[Vincent]

Ciao Lorenzo come stai?   

Thanks so much as usual for the detailed feedback—I really appreciate you taking the time to analyze everything so thoroughly!

Movement & AI: Glad the movement feels smooth! The enemies currently use hitscan attacks, but I love the idea of introducing projectile-based enemies or varied alertness levels to mix up combat. Maybe a 'veteran' enemy type that reacts faster could add tension.

Textures & Doors: Totally agree about the walls and doors. I'll experiment with distinct textures (maybe subtle color-coding or symbols for locked doors) to help with navigation. Doom's approach is a great reference indeed! 

Fisheye Effect: Haha, yes! The raycasting gives it that slight curvature—it's unintentionally retro, but I'm leaning into it now for style.

Gameplay Vision: You nailed it—I'm aiming for tense, tactical moments where every bullet counts. The radar is meant to keep things fair while preserving that 'Alien'-style dread.

Your ideas are gold! If you're up for it, I'd love to bounce more tweaks off you guys as I refine things. Thanks again for the hype and insights—it's fuel for the dev process!

(And next time, I'll let the enemies shoot me in the demo... for science.) 

[Rik_Vargard]

Oh wowowow. You know, this kind of thing is, with all those others, why AGS can be so versatile and different even if it's not made for it.

I've seen tech demos created with AGS that went beyond what someone like me came here for.
So...
My first impression was that this wasn't AGS, then it was "How do you do this?!".
And then it was "Please don't answer I won't understand anyway." 

But this is fascinating and I can't start to imagine the talent to do this with AGS. 

[Vincent]

Thanks a lot you are very kind. I think AGS is like a Swiss Army knife: it looks unassuming until someone uses it to build a spaceship. Seriously though, your enthusiasm means a lot I have got higly inspired by this video which looks way better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjjB3R3Iac4