Week 33

Week 33:

Play-Testing -- Peer Reviews:

Elliot White:

“Sean has made a very simple game in a similar vein to that old Slender game. The format is
simple, you explore a forest and collect pages. But instead of Slenderman, Sean has added “killer
teddys” that wander around the forest and chase you when they spot you. The graphics are alright,
but the music is really loud and can get really annoying. I think he could have done the controls better
too, as I found moving around on the keyboard a bit awkward and difficult to escape when being
chased. The mini-map could also be a lot smaller.” – Elliot White

Matthew Flanagan:

“Monster Bear is a horror setting game within a forest not too much unlike the setting in Slender or
Naughty Bear and has an eerie tone to its atmosphere. The objective is to explore and collect the
pages scattered throughout the forest while the player has to avoid the line of sight from the monster
bears which will chase them down relentlessly until they can take shelter in a safe spot and wait for
them to leave. The speed of the enemies appears to be the same as the player’s run speed giving
them enough time to out manoeuvre and escape, but they can’t slow down for nearly anything when
escaping pursuit. The heavy footsteps the monster bears make gives a sense of adrenaline and suspense, and it is quite effective in showcasing how important it is to evade them. Once the player
manages to collect all the pages the enemies become inactive and the entire arena is lit up revealing
the area in better detail in which the player wins the game.

If I were to give some points of improvement, I’d say the game could give you another two levels with an increase of bears and different maps to make the game a little longer and have the difficulty ramp up. Also, some variety in gameplay additions such as having obstacles you can slide under to
temporarily stump the bear pursuers by making them have to go around them during the chase or
being able to climb some objects to add some safe places could be nice to give different options.
Maybe even have it so if every five minutes a new bear is beamed down adding to the enemy count
as a sort of punishment for the player taking too long to increase the suspense and urgency. And to
top this off a Big Boss Bear character at the end of the final level that can step over obstacles to
challenge the player to avoid them much more than the normal bears until they collect all the pages.”