Review: Coats

[Ocedic 249]

Title: Coats

Author: Anothergoblin

Version: Phase One v2

Review by: Ocedic

 

Note: This project has been updated since this review; this review may or may not reflect the current state of the game.

 

Introduction

 

Coats is a sci-fi survival game that focuses on resource management and character-driven narrative in a post-apocalyptic setting.

 

 

Presentation

 

In terms of graphics, Coats does a fine job. Visuals are consistent and fit the modern-day theme of the game. There are splash screens littered throughout, and they look great (see above.) The tilesets and mapping are used competently. That doesn't mean there aren't areas that could be improved. A few mapping bugs exist here and there, notably in the observational building where you can walk on blood-stained tiles such as the tables. In general, objects like beds and couches should not be passable in my opinion. It just looks really weird. And while the game looks fine, it doesn't stand out visually which I believe may be the reason this game hasn't gotten as much attention as it could. However, what is there now looks fine and if the author is not interested in taking the graphics up a notch, there's really no pressing need to.

 

 

Musically, the game has good music and it's used well. Silence is thrown in when appropriate, and the music matches the tone and mood of the game for the most part. I will say that I was a bit surprised by the traditional fantasy RPG style of the music though. I was expecting more sci-fi sounding tunes. Though I think the music works fine, like the graphics it doesn't necessarily stand out or distinguish the game from others. Also, the music almost always feels a bit... hopeful. Which is great if that's what the author is going for, but considering the nature of the setting, if the author intended a more desperate or dreadful feeling, the music should be looked at.

 

Verdict: Good audio and visual

 

Gameplay

 

Coats is essentially a base management game in which you are the head of a research facility. You must maintain adequate levels of food and ammo while keeping your defenses fortified and all the while still making progress on researching the disease. It's certainly an interesting concept and I like the direction the game is headed, but there's definite room for improvement. The first issue is that there's a lack of player choice in general. These types of games should be focused on choices, usually the difficult kind in which there are several areas of resource tension. The most well-done resource tension in this game is ammo vs security vs food. You have a quartermaster who creates ammo every day, but if you want to keep your security up you will have to use ammo. You can also choose to cut into food supply to make your soldiers well-fed and increase security, but this compromises your research time. However, the system lacks nuance and after a few in-game days it becomes very management.

 

 

There needs to be more variables to make things more interesting. For example, perhaps you need to monitor Skin activity outside your facility, Doing so will give you an idea of how much damage the skins may inflict that day and factor into your resource allocation. Or there could be a pest infestation that raids your food stores. Basically, things kept proceeding at a steady and predictable rate, which doesn't seem to reflect reality and more importantly, isn't very exciting. Another issue is the lack of gameplay variation. Besides managing supplies, you also do a fair amount of talking with your staff. I'll go in more detail on that later, but it does an okay job of breaking up what is otherwise a numbers management game. However, it's still not enough. About an hour into the game, you gain access to this Skin-shooting minigame:

 

 

The game needs more stuff like that. For example, the above-mentioned pest infestation could require the player to catch the rats. Research could be more interactive. You could choose to take an active part in the defense of the facility, etc. Even something completely distracting like an arcade minigame in the living quarters. It also factors into the player choice thing. Right now, it doesn't feel like the player directly influences the situation of those in the facility other than making some decisions that change numbers. By getting the player more directly involved, it will help create the feeling of immersion. It would also let the player experience the tangible dangers of Skins, which is something that is currently lacking. We see a lot of talk about skins but other than the research section and taking pot shots at them from the rooftop, the lack of encounters doesn't help to give the player an idea of what they're up against.

 

 

Having said that, what is there is an impressively put-together set of mechanics that makes the player think about at least some of his or her decisions. I found myself anticipating each new day to see what the game would throw at me (usually the usual, but there are days of special events spread out.)

 

Verdict: Needs more interaction, choice and variety, but base idea and design is solid

 

Story

 

Coats takes place during a zombie apocalypse in which you and your team of scientists must find a cure to the epidemic while surviving against the onslaught. The setting does differentiate itself from normal zombie design by making them be skinless creatures known as Skins. It closely resembles Romero's Day of the Living Dead, in which a team of scientists and soldiers tries to survive the zombie apocalypse. Maybe I didn't get far enough, but Coats seemed to lack the science-vs-military theme of that movie. The story itself is interesting; like many zombie stories the reader is interested in finding out more about what happened, why it happened and whether or not the survivors will make it (some or all of these questions are often left unanswered.)

 

One criticism I have is with the introduction. I feel that in a plot like this, you basically have the choice of an impersonal, almost omnipotent perspective such as the movie Contagion, or a personal story that follows one person (and by extension his immediate 'group') and how he or she comes to terms with and adapts to the situation, such as The Walking Dead. The story's introduction kind of mixes both, which I feel weakens the narrative. The main issue is with the pieces of exposition by an invisible narrator that basically tell you what is going on. These really aren't needed and the author should rely more on showing rather than telling. I know he is skilled and capable enough to do so, as the way most of the story is written is well-done. It's just those beginning bits of narration that I take issue with.

 

 

The dialogue is pretty good, though a lot of characters seem to have cloned personalities, and almost everyone is friendly. A big theme in zombie survival stories is that in spite of the flesh-eating monsters roaming the world, man is still his own worst enemy, and I don't really get a sense of that from this game. Also, some characters completely lack interaction, such as Randall who I thought would be a character you saw much interaction with considering how he was introduced, but he ends up having the same two lines throughout the game. Meanwhile, a character whom you find and take in says the same thing day to day and does nothing else (up until an event involving that character occurs.) Other characters seem to have a large variety of interaction, so I think the author really needs to pay more attention to the lesser-explored characters or cut them. Is Randall really necessary? The soldiers also say the same thing; I get that they're just generic character soldiers but it would be interesting if what they said reflected the current situation and status of the facility.

 

There are also a few typos here and there; the author really needs to export the dialogue (there is a script for this) and proofread the work. There's not that many which is impressive considering the amount of dialogue contained in this project. Another issue with the writing itself is that dialogue sometimes has an inordinate amount of pauses. For example:

 

 

That piece of dialogue, for example, could be condensed to at least 50% of what it is. The author seems to add a lot of random, unnecessary clauses that could be cut out. Nothing breaking, but just ways to improve the flow of the writing.

 

Verdict: Compelling story, well-done dialogue, some characters are flat or need to be fleshed out

 

Recommendation

 

I definitely recommend this project to those who are interested in story-driven games that try something new, or those who are interested in zombie or survival stories. Though there are certainly improvements to be made, it's still a robust and engrossing game that is well-crafted and well-written. I'm personally looking forward to future updates to this game, which is actually fairly rare for me.