first off i love this game and have already sunk quite a bit of time into it^^
but some things nagged at me a little so i figured i might start a thread like this

first suggestion: since the pyro is very much plasma focused it would be nice if it had a plasma weapon instead of energy to start with from both a thematic and a gameplay perspective

second suggestion: not sure if thats intended or a bug but blueprint unlocks are always shown to me as requiring 2 of the same weapon to build it... would be cool if they either displayed the correct items or show a questionmark or sth like that to indicate that the second component is hidden/unknown

third suggestion: a stat tracking page in general...especially for the unlocks it would be nice to be able to see what your overall kill stats and whatsnot are
on that topic maybe third and a half... a craftbook in the main menu with all recipies you have found so far would be cool too
its not much of an issue for me because i pretty much memorized all my favorites but well...its still nice to track what youve seen so far ;)

anyway you made an amazing game and im gonna play the hell out of it =) keep rocking guys

Agree. What are the Unlocks for? I know about unlocked Gunships for when you start, but - every other Unlockable? Where do I see them?

As for Suggestions:

1) Movement is too harsh for accurate Aiming.
There NEEDS to be a Sensitivity / Deadzone Setting for the Controller, just like Sensitivity exists for Mouse.
As it is, you NEED that Autocannon to be able to hit Enemies and survive because of it's Aim Correction Feature. A Flamethrower instead may be okay as well, though you need to be almost within Melee Range for that to hit. The Crosshairs either overshoot the Enemy or don't quite reach far enough, and they're constantly moving as well, so you can't just stop and aim for 5 Minutes with extremely tiny and slow Movements, they'll be gone by then.

2) When you quit, the Game is WAY too unclear about what will happen.
In a Day and Age where every Game ever asks you, "Are you sure? Any Progress will be lost", and four Times in a Row at that, this one is quite the Oddity. If you quit the Game mid-Mission, which is ~1h long each, you'll have to restart at Level 1 again. You can't suspend your Game and come back later if something has come up, nor can your Game mess up in any Way without you losing everything.
It needs to either tell you that you'll have to start a NEW Game if you quit mid-Mission, or rather allow you to save and quit mid-Mission. Wouldn't change a Thing about Permadeath or Rouge-Like, just give us an Option to continue later if something happens that prevents us from finishing a whole Level!

Things I would like to see:

1. More info about what we've unlocked on the main menu, under like a "stats and progress" page.

2. Allow us to save in the middle of a level! That way if we have to get up and we want to come back to the same place we don't have to leave the computer on the whole time we're gone. Do it like they do on the Wii's virtual console: create a save when someone quits, and then delete that save when its reloaded when they come back to the level.

3. Small health powerups. I'm swimming in bullets, plasma, energy, and missiles. It would be nice to get 1 or 2 health points off of a big drop here and there.

4. Some way to grind unwanted stuff into useable materials. Like a launcher could break down into a missile or two, a gun breaks down into ammo, hulls break down into some health, etc.

5. An in game list of all available blueprints so we know what we need to find/craft in order to craft a good gun and don't have to pick up every rusty peashooter and see if "new crafting available" pops up.

Yes! Breaking Stuff down into usable Stuff would be awesome.
Kinda like in Megabyte Punch, where you can break down Parts into Bits.

Craftable Repair Kits?
Being able to craft Repair Kits out of a big Amount of Nanos would be nice, too.
Though it's gotta be so expensive that it's a last Resort kinda Thing.
Taking away from the Nanocard Bar, so it's balanced.
Either Nanocard at the End, or play it safe without.

Also, yeah, Nanocards.
Don't you HATE it when there's NONE that you like?

One reduces the Damage of your primarily used Weapon Type.
So, Plasma does more Damage, but I never use them. So, no thx.

The next: Ammo Regen has a longer Delay but then fills up faster.
So if I'm low, I have to wait longer, to get the same Amount. Just later.
Would have needed half of that Ammo like, about 3 Seconds ago.
Now I'm dead because I've been out of Ammo and got cornered.

And the last Option reduces ALL Weapon Damage for increased Chance to stun.
Thing is, now I can't one-shot Enemies with my Railgun anymore, and stun almost never happens.
Great! Now I'm wasting double the Ammo and it takes twice as long to kill Enemies, too.
While they're shooting me to Bits!

I don't want ANY of that, yet I still HAVE to pick one and make my Life harder! I've tried everything to just pass and not use up my Nanocard or just discard it, but nope Son, you better pick one. Ever since I picked the Stun Card, I thought about just restarting the Game instead of always copying back my Backup Save after being killed for the bazillionth Time because my friggin' Rail Guns are USELESS now.

Yeah the nanocard screen really ought to have more options. Something positive that would give a damage bonus to the primary weapon type you used most on the level should always appear after the first level.

Maybe just make it a list of all available nanocards and make the best ones unlockable?

And craft-able repair kits...that would be nice. Say 250 nanobots + any engine or hull.

How about advanced repair kits? Repair kit + ship part + 350 Nanobots = Repair kit that heals 50 damage points and takes up one slot?

We're planning some tweaks and additions in the near future which will hopefully address most of this! This ranges from simple things (like saying 'quitting will lose your progress' etc on the quit dialogs) to bigger things (like a screen on the main menu showing unlocked blueprints etc). Thanks for your patience!

-Luke

Earlier this year I was looking at a Rogue-lite game called Delver and had the thought that it would be interesting if somebody made a game like that but inspired by Descent. This is that game. I didn't even know this existed until last month, so the wait was short.

You've made a great game guys, actually enough to be my first purchased PC game in a decade.

I read that you were looking for feedback on the game, so here are some of my suggestions:

1. The map sometimes loses its centering on the ship when opened. This seems to happen if the map is opened while still moving. Setting a pause after opening the map before key input is registered or cancelling the current key input until pressed again can help.

2. The menus seem to be set up with having a controller in mind with the first box always highlighted. This could be changed for mouse users so that the only box highlighted is the one the mouse is over.

3. I like having a set idea on what is "down" within each map, and I usually set this as what was below the ship at the beginning of the level. It helps me to orient myself within the level, but this can become time consuming as I keep returning to the map to check where "down" would be based on the starting room. Would you be interested in adding something like an airplane's attitude indicator to the ship's cockpit? It could even be merged in with the current hit detection sphere.

4. I feel like the enemy encounters would be a bit more profound if the drone sounds and shot sounds were a little louder.

5. Some form of indicator to tell when a homing shot (missle/laser/etc.) is locked on to your ship would be useful. The hit detection sphere could be incorperated into this.

6. Scrollbars could be added to the inventory and crafting menu so the text doesn't need to keep getting smaller.

7. The option to not select a Nanocart and save it for the next level.

8. I have noticed on the Made with Unity page for Sublevel Zero and various Youtube videos that there is an option for French, German, and Russian languages. The version I downloaded has these languages missing, the option isn't even present. I have an interest in languages and was interested in using the game to help learn as an added bonus. Could the language packs be made available to download, or is there a bigger legal reason they are absent?

9. The red X used to represent unused doors could be changed to something more immersive to the setting.

10. Not really necessary, but it would be interesting to be able to slide up/down/left/right while boosting like in Descent.

11. When two weapons of the same type are set to both slots (such as Dumbfire and Dangerous Dumbfire) they will both display as Dumbfire which makes it difficult to tell which is being used. A more specific nametag would be useful.

After playing some more I have some more basic suggestions

1. Allow Roll to be used when rotating the map with your joystick. I can use all 5 other axes (yaw, pitch, thrust, slide X and Y), why can't I rotate my POV with Roll?

2. Allow for setting separate buttons for the pick-up and pick-up-and-use/equip functions, or at least make the hold length a little longer. Despite pretty much just tapping the use button, I find myself equipping a gun I just wanted to stick in my inventory, or using a repair kit when I've already got full health and just wanted it in inventory. Leave the current combined control in there for people who want it, but give those of us who want slightly finer control the option to separate the pick up and equip/use functions.

3. How about some hud customization options? I wouldn't mind being able to make the health bar a little brighter so I could see, at a glance, approximately where my health was instead of having to look at the numbers. Also having the total nanite count on the hud somewhere would keep me from having to open my inventory after every fight to see if I've finally got enough to craft that badass gun of kickassery that i've been saving up to craft. Would also love to have the other 4 ammo types quantity listed somewhere near where the current weapons are displayed. Let us toggle these options on and off in a menu.

4. Would love it if each ship had its own unique model to look at on the hud, much like how you had a Pyro, Phoenix, or Magnum icon on the hud in Descent 3.

5. The Pyro needs to start with a plasma type weapon, likely in place of the pulsar. I suggest the firebolt, or make a gun that only shows up when flying the pyro that boils down to a slightly weaker version of the plasmacaster.

6. How about a tier 3 plasma weapon? Something fully automatic and rapid fire much like Doom/Doom 2's Plasma Rifle?

7. Introduce a higher difficulty and give the AI the ability to lead their shots on this difficulty as well as slightly more HP and agility.

8. Infinite play mode! I'd love to see how many sublevels I could make it through before everything finally runs dry. Make nanocart regen work slower and slower each sublevel, and do not grant any more nanocards after sublevel 5.

9. If we don't like any of the nanocarts offered between levels, maybe let us have a 1,500 nanite payout instead that doesn't count toward the next nanocard?

10. Reverse engineering? If we screw up and craft something we don't like, let us undo it and get our two items back but only 50% of the nanite cost back.

[Continued from previous post]

12. An audio and/or visual indicator of what type of shot (Double or Ripple) is currently selected would be useful. Something more noticeable than the current ammo indicator.

13. The keys are often very close to the doors that they are meant to open, sometimes even in the same room. There could be a limit to how close the keys are to their doors, like no closer than 3 rooms (not including hallways).

14. Certain enemies could have strengths and/or weaknesses to certain ammo types and/or ramming, and have an audio and/or visual cue to indicate so when hit.

15. I once had a map that was twisted around a small area and interconnected rather than more spread out and linear. Generating maps like this more often would be great.

16. An encyclopedia of the enemies and items in the game that can be viewed from the main menu, something similar to the introduction screens for each drone in Descent. It could contain base stats for each enemy and item that the player has encountered.

I just wish that the HUD model of the ship when using the Pyro was of a Pyro-GX.

Downloadable soundtrack, please...

Hrm. Would be nicer if it was an included perq.

Double-hrm: Will Bedford's soundtrack is also available on Google Play (although, it must be noted, Google Play doesn't offer FLAC downloads): https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Will_Bedford_Sublevel_Zero?id=B4l4qzvea5e7cth6473tk7unmmm

A small list of what I would add to the game if I were the developer; All could be activated or deactivated in an options screen in order to keep everyone happy.

-Wandering enemies: All of the enemies are pretty much 'sitting ducks' I mean some of them chase you down after they see you, but they don't actively hunt you. I kinda miss that. So making the arenas more circular ( a closed random loop) and enemies wandering around would clearly pump the adrenaline even more.
- Water. Adding water to the caves or even fill some rooms with water which then pours into another room as you open doors while both you, enemies and powerups get washed away...
- Portals. Portals that can teleport you or enemies from one end of the arena to the other. Watch out though, before using the portal, is the destination safe or not ?
- Multiplayer: This game really cries for multiplayer.

- A good idea would be to make a second identical game to Sublevel Zero, called Sublevel Zero Gravity with three major changes in gameplay:

1)You are a trooper in a spacesuit that can be upgraded; you can walk, run, jump or use your jet-pack (that recharges overime) to get to difficult to reach places, a bit like ISAAC the engineer in another scary game...
2) Player is subjected to gravity.
3)The arena spins periodically (every five minutes or so) around a random axis (x, y or z) changing the direction of gravity accordingly.

What a great little time waster.