RazorianFly

A couple of weeks ago Sean from SourceITSoftware tipped me off on his new adventure game, Zombie Mansion. Consequentially, he also asked me if I would design it’s icon for him - the artwork for which can be seen above.

Hitting the App Store shortly, Zombie Mansion is set in a maze-ridden haunted mansion filled with zombies of every variety. Your aim? - escape Zombie Mansion, alive. Over the weekend, Sean threw RazorianFly an advanced copy of the game, and agreed we could show it you before it’s initial release onto the App Store!

GAMEPLAY VIDEO (BETA 3): NOW AVAILABLE

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Important: Zombie Mansion is still in it’s ‘beta’ development stages. As a result screen shots and video material of actual game play may be unfinished, and/or unpolished, until stated otherwise by it’s developers. Zombie Mansion was initially reviewed at ‘Beta 1′.

” The game is all but complete. What remains is bug fixes, tidying and polishing.”

- Sean (SourceITSoftware)

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[Beta 4 Seeded]
Responding to the bug reports fairly rapidly, Sean has released yet a further build of Zombie Mansion to us. Beta 4. Changes include:

• Doors open more easily

• Only player can pick up keys

• Trapdoors make you fall in the next level

• Fix for walls disappearing when you get too close

• Reduced cracking

• If you tap the jump button over and over, the tapping of the button triggers the jumping sound.

• Now saving properly

• Bitmap graphics look better a long distances

• Saves weapons and health power ups

• Left/right turning is more progressive

• Right side extends further

• Fixed texture mapping on many rooms

• Remove monsters after death

• Fixed lighting for models

• Black textures on healthon ground floor

• Screen flashes red when hit

• Lots of map changes

• Controls still getting stuck (maybe fixed)

• More enemies early on

• Staff no longer disappears into walls

• Fixed jerky movement around exploding walls

• Newgame should reset player turn

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[Beta 3 Seeded]
Sean has released yet a further build of Zombie Mansion to us, Beta 3. Changes include:

• Fixed skins for guards (shields were wrong)

• Tidied strafe controls

• Not so dark

• Explosions emit light

• Onscreen controls more transparent

• Performance improvements

[Due to technical difficulties on our part, we are re-evaluating Zombie Mansion at Beta 3]

Sean and the team say there is at least one more beta to coming, if not more, and we should expect to receive that over this weekend.

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[Beta 2 Seeded]
This morning (12th) Sean has released beta 2 of Zombie Mansion. Changes include:

“Title screen now shows the title [Confirmed]
Fix for touchscreen, becoming unresponsive (buttons sticking on or off) [Confirmed]
Only shows score details while touching score [Yep - this needed fixing] [Confirmed]
Fix for exploding walls not exploding [Confirmed]
Better AI, monsters should no longer be baffled by slopes [Didn't have trouble with this]
Removed door sound for exploding walls [Confirmed]
Shows strafe controls (needs a bit of work here still) “

[Feedback / Suggestions]
I’ve replayed the game, and there are a couple of further things I think I can suggest, need improving.

[Feature Suggestion] - Introduction of a ‘against the clock’ (timed) game play mode
[Feature Suggestion] - Possibility of making doors swing inward/outward
[Feature Suggestion] - Introduction of ‘forward roll’ character movement
[Feature Suggestion] - ‘Pause/Settings’ button more noticeable (possibly use a pause symbol?)

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There are plenty more features planned for the final shipping version, including more in-game sound additions and minor graphic enhancements/tweaks. This post will be updated continually (with notice) when features / glitches and/or bug fixes are released.

Basics and First Impressions
The first thing I noticed about the game was the fluency of movement. I was expecting it to be slightly jagged for a game which uses 3D profiles - but it wasn’t, the character and camera movements were very smooth indeed. Throughout the game you’ll meet a variety of zombie’s and ghouls - some of which appear to come from nowhere!

Gameplay
The aim of the game is for you (the character) to escape Zombie Mansion, alive. Gameplay is quite addictive, but more importantly fun. The game is set in a maze-based environment, and with the directional controls, even aiming your energy surges right becomes that of a challenge in itself. You’ll also find a mirage of twists and turns, locked doors, wells, prison bars, gates and other obstacles which will stop you from escaping. Gameplay is extended by the use of locked doors. Hidden in the levels are keys, and you must find them, unlock the door, and continue to escape. What’s even more enthralling about this is, the game gives you no sense of direction. None. There is no map. Which is a good thing. Are you going the right way? Have you been here before? Maybe your going round in circles? - Maybe not, but you wouldn’t know, which is what adds to the fun.

On the gameplay screen you’ll see the p-pad in the bottom left, and in the bottom right a few other essential controls which we’ll get into a bit later.

Its clear Sean and the team has spent a lot of time perfecting this, even down to the texture of the walls and surrounding objects. It’s fair to say at this point that I did experience a few graphical glitches (i.e my characters cane disappeared into the wall), but as we’ve stated Zombie Mansion is in it’s beta development stages, so glitches (on some level) were expected.

Screenshots (Actual gameplay)

Controls
As you might expect, your character movements within Zombie Mansion are controlled by a 4-arrow directional pad. You’ll find this on the bottom left of the screen in game play. In the bottom right there are two further controls, shoot and jump. See that cane your holding? - Well, tap that round button and you’ll shoot a ball of energy, just aim at your enemies, and watch them squeal … and then, well … die.

Secrets & Pick-ups
During and throughout the game you must collect items which will aid your escape, the most prominent being keys. Some doors you approach will be locked. This is signaled by the text:

Locked. Find the key!

As well as locked doors and finding the right keys to fit them, you’ll also be subject to finding health packs when your running low, and shields to prevent further loss of life. Weapons can also be upgraded, just look for the pickups with a blue cross on them.

Visuals / Sound
Did anyone ever play Thief? (uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/thief3/index.html) - it kind of reminds me of that a bit. Boasting 3D rendered graphics and surfaces, the surroundings of Zombie Mansion fit in well with game-play. Character graphics are fine as they are, very detailed, but again I’d advise for the cleaning and/or smoothing of edges to take place.

Price
The retail price of Zombie Mansion is yet to be confirmed. Sean has hinted to me at placing it anywhere between $1 and $10. After playing it, and seeing what the game entails, the level of difficulty, and extended features, I’d say it’s well worth $4.99, if not more.

Improvements / additions I’d like to see
As always, I and Chris like to provide you with the best possible, honest reviews here at RazorianFly, and after experiencing what Zombie Mansion has to offer, there are a few things which I picked up on which I thought need improvement, and also some feature additions I’d like to see added.

• [Priority Fix] Graphic glitches (occurred on walls in corridor x=117 y=75)

• [Priority Fix] Directional movement was taken over automatically. Character stuck going backwards (occurred in dungeon located at x=33y=79)

• [Feature suggestion] Introduction of a ‘against the clock’ game play mode

You can expect to see Zombie Mansion in the App Store very shortly. We reviewed Zombie Mansion at beta 1.0. This post will be updated continuously until its release, and we’ll be sure to post a full review of Zombie Mansion, in it’s final state, when released. Before that happens, Sean is looking for every little bit of feedback he can get - So if you like what your seeing post your suggestions, critique or praise in the comments below! - and I’ll be sure to see that he gets them.