Feedback - 70 hours played
OoieGooie
Australia Join Date: 2016-03-27 Member: 214893Members
Australia Join Date: 2016-03-27 Member: 214893Members
G'day guys,
First of all great game and cheers for all your hard work. Some feedback for you after 70 hours of time I could be outside, in the sun getting cancer (thats Australia for ya!)
First Impressions:
Love the loading screen pic.
Very easy to start your game: Pick your game mode and off you go! I chose Freedom first, played about 40 hours and then started Survival. I'd recommend you put a warning on Creative for new gamers as it can ruin the first impressions and experiences this title has to offer. Or, make Creative active after you build a Seamoth (an achievement?).
The game looks great. I'll get into graphics later but overall I like where you're going on this. When I heard 'survivor game' I was thinking realistic textures and I hate that. I like the nice bright colours yet still feels kinda alien and fresh.
Animation is pretty good here. As an ex-3D animator it's great to see this. Bad animation can really turn me off a game faster than a few bad graphics.
FOOD
As mentioned I started with Freedom then Survival mode. Freedom was MUCH better and this was unfortunate. I liked catching fish and having a reason to collect and eat but it was SO tedious and boring at times.
Don't focus on food and water as bars on the screen that kill you. Let the hunger and thirst drop far slower so gamers can concentrate on what the fun element of the game is - Exploring, building and running away from big fishys!
Allow food to give a bonus such as Faster-Swim, Breath-Longer, Handy-Man (require less materials to build), Muscle-Man (carry more) etc etc. Don't allow a player to eat again until the hunger has naturally gone down that way they need to decide what would be best for eating (no stacking, overeating etc).
For hunger to go down they need to exert themselves with swimming, building and running. Sitting in a vehicle, standing around shouldn't decrease hunger (player might go AFK).
With the above mentioned gamers will have to eat less but have options on what to eat to gain various benefits. New cooking skills and foods will be there to learn yet not have to worry about starving every 2 seconds.
SHIPS
I played this without watching anyone on Youtube so everything was a nice surprise. The ships in this game are really fun and I love how they have various animations, panels for upgrades, power cells in the back to replace and custom paint jobs etc. The ships feel very real and 3 dementional. The SeaMoth is a perfect little ship which was fun to upgrade.
When it comes to speed I would like to see a considerable speed increase when on or near the waters surface. It would be a nice addition (for ships).
Cyclops
As far as compliments go this gave me the biggest nerdgasm in years. When I saw how big this thing was I got really excited. When I added the SeaMoth to its cargo I had another nerdgasm. This is a cool addition to the game.
Cyclops needs a better 3D display so I can tell how close I am to the game world. There really isn't much to view out that front window. I'd love to see some cool new funky HUD display over the SeaMoth.
It kills me to do this but.... unfortunately the Cyclops to me is not sea-worthy. I'm simply not going to hunt down materials to keep this sucker running. 6 power cells is just too many and I have literally stopped playing after driving it for a bit. As an early-access game I look forward to what you guys are going to do with this but seriously it needs to run on another power source or have solar power cells attached for the odd day you want to charge it up.
I'll leave comments there as I feel it is too early to really comment on this thing. Just know it was an amazing extra toy and game killer for me.
Disorientation
As an underwater game I get it, disorientation can happen but as a game it go's a step further. The more objects (rocks, creatures, walls, whatever) near the character the easier it is to lose your ship. A number of times I was in a cave or mushroom forest and I died because I just couldn't see the ship. Also the SeaMoth can be too dark at times. This is a lighting or texture issue.
To resolve this issue add lighting to particular parts of the game. Either a glowing object, texture or effect. If inside a cave add a glow at the entrance. If looking for the SeaMoth its lights should gleam properly through the water. Add blinking lights to the SeaMoth when its not moving. Things like that. The game Left4Dead used lighting as a subconscious way to get players moving in a particular direction. People focus on brighter objects. Use this to your advantage.
Object Rendering
A known issue I'm sure but it's bad. Zooming around the map creates lag on objects spawning. I don't want to move, wait, move, wait to collect and scan objects. Things need to load way, way quicker.
Crafting
It's ok, lots of materials, lots of items, I don't mind it too much. I would like to see the following rule however: The deeper you go, the more an object should spawn. In saying that, if you can find one copper near the waters surface there should be 10 copper 200 feet down (or something like that). It would allow a player to move on from older resources and feel like they're making progress. This however may require new materials to stack in your bag. Looking at you copper ore!!
Bases
Building bases is awesome. I love finding a new area and building a new base. Keep it up guys!
Islands
These are a love\hate area. The spiders are annoying and the islands on top seem dull to me. Try to add some better lighting\shadows or something? They're not very interesting places. Love the idea behind them though (floating) as it feels very alien.
Upgrades
A large part of the game is finding and scanning broken technology on the sea floor. This in itself is fine but how its implemented is not fun at all. A better system on what you scan and where needs a re-think if you want the game to be re-playable. I still can't find all the upgrades like the +50% armor suit. Seriously I just can't and it's not fun trying.
Create areas that have more broken ship parts. Allow players to scan the objects inside while trying not to drown or get eaten. This in itself is fun and scary at the same time. Have caves that actually have the parts we want hidden within.
Overall be careful with the random nature game companies like to throw into their games. It has backfired many times. Have some reason for players to go somewhere and find cool things to explore. Allow them to feel rewarded when they accomplish said thing (such as finding a new power source inside a destroyed ship\cave\toilet 200m under water).
If I have to scan one more safe I'm going to hurt a puppy (not really)
Weapons
Love the 'weapons'. Makes you think "how am I going to best use this" and hope you don't die still. Adds some creativity to the mix rather than mindless pew-pew.
Weather
I love the eclipse but it doesn't seem to do anything. This got me thinking on weather. Allow storms and the such and they can affect the tides. New fish pop up, visibility becomes worse, ship moves around more due to currents. A few free ideas for you to mix up the game world a little. This in itself turns one area on the map into the potential for a lot more due to some random weather.
Thats it...
Cheers for the game. Really looking forward to what you guys release next. Keep up the great work and thanks for the nerdgasms!
First of all great game and cheers for all your hard work. Some feedback for you after 70 hours of time I could be outside, in the sun getting cancer (thats Australia for ya!)
First Impressions:
Love the loading screen pic.
Very easy to start your game: Pick your game mode and off you go! I chose Freedom first, played about 40 hours and then started Survival. I'd recommend you put a warning on Creative for new gamers as it can ruin the first impressions and experiences this title has to offer. Or, make Creative active after you build a Seamoth (an achievement?).
The game looks great. I'll get into graphics later but overall I like where you're going on this. When I heard 'survivor game' I was thinking realistic textures and I hate that. I like the nice bright colours yet still feels kinda alien and fresh.
Animation is pretty good here. As an ex-3D animator it's great to see this. Bad animation can really turn me off a game faster than a few bad graphics.
FOOD
As mentioned I started with Freedom then Survival mode. Freedom was MUCH better and this was unfortunate. I liked catching fish and having a reason to collect and eat but it was SO tedious and boring at times.
Don't focus on food and water as bars on the screen that kill you. Let the hunger and thirst drop far slower so gamers can concentrate on what the fun element of the game is - Exploring, building and running away from big fishys!
Allow food to give a bonus such as Faster-Swim, Breath-Longer, Handy-Man (require less materials to build), Muscle-Man (carry more) etc etc. Don't allow a player to eat again until the hunger has naturally gone down that way they need to decide what would be best for eating (no stacking, overeating etc).
For hunger to go down they need to exert themselves with swimming, building and running. Sitting in a vehicle, standing around shouldn't decrease hunger (player might go AFK).
With the above mentioned gamers will have to eat less but have options on what to eat to gain various benefits. New cooking skills and foods will be there to learn yet not have to worry about starving every 2 seconds.
SHIPS
I played this without watching anyone on Youtube so everything was a nice surprise. The ships in this game are really fun and I love how they have various animations, panels for upgrades, power cells in the back to replace and custom paint jobs etc. The ships feel very real and 3 dementional. The SeaMoth is a perfect little ship which was fun to upgrade.
When it comes to speed I would like to see a considerable speed increase when on or near the waters surface. It would be a nice addition (for ships).
Cyclops
As far as compliments go this gave me the biggest nerdgasm in years. When I saw how big this thing was I got really excited. When I added the SeaMoth to its cargo I had another nerdgasm. This is a cool addition to the game.
Cyclops needs a better 3D display so I can tell how close I am to the game world. There really isn't much to view out that front window. I'd love to see some cool new funky HUD display over the SeaMoth.
It kills me to do this but.... unfortunately the Cyclops to me is not sea-worthy. I'm simply not going to hunt down materials to keep this sucker running. 6 power cells is just too many and I have literally stopped playing after driving it for a bit. As an early-access game I look forward to what you guys are going to do with this but seriously it needs to run on another power source or have solar power cells attached for the odd day you want to charge it up.
I'll leave comments there as I feel it is too early to really comment on this thing. Just know it was an amazing extra toy and game killer for me.
Disorientation
As an underwater game I get it, disorientation can happen but as a game it go's a step further. The more objects (rocks, creatures, walls, whatever) near the character the easier it is to lose your ship. A number of times I was in a cave or mushroom forest and I died because I just couldn't see the ship. Also the SeaMoth can be too dark at times. This is a lighting or texture issue.
To resolve this issue add lighting to particular parts of the game. Either a glowing object, texture or effect. If inside a cave add a glow at the entrance. If looking for the SeaMoth its lights should gleam properly through the water. Add blinking lights to the SeaMoth when its not moving. Things like that. The game Left4Dead used lighting as a subconscious way to get players moving in a particular direction. People focus on brighter objects. Use this to your advantage.
Object Rendering
A known issue I'm sure but it's bad. Zooming around the map creates lag on objects spawning. I don't want to move, wait, move, wait to collect and scan objects. Things need to load way, way quicker.
Crafting
It's ok, lots of materials, lots of items, I don't mind it too much. I would like to see the following rule however: The deeper you go, the more an object should spawn. In saying that, if you can find one copper near the waters surface there should be 10 copper 200 feet down (or something like that). It would allow a player to move on from older resources and feel like they're making progress. This however may require new materials to stack in your bag. Looking at you copper ore!!
Bases
Building bases is awesome. I love finding a new area and building a new base. Keep it up guys!
Islands
These are a love\hate area. The spiders are annoying and the islands on top seem dull to me. Try to add some better lighting\shadows or something? They're not very interesting places. Love the idea behind them though (floating) as it feels very alien.
Upgrades
A large part of the game is finding and scanning broken technology on the sea floor. This in itself is fine but how its implemented is not fun at all. A better system on what you scan and where needs a re-think if you want the game to be re-playable. I still can't find all the upgrades like the +50% armor suit. Seriously I just can't and it's not fun trying.
Create areas that have more broken ship parts. Allow players to scan the objects inside while trying not to drown or get eaten. This in itself is fun and scary at the same time. Have caves that actually have the parts we want hidden within.
Overall be careful with the random nature game companies like to throw into their games. It has backfired many times. Have some reason for players to go somewhere and find cool things to explore. Allow them to feel rewarded when they accomplish said thing (such as finding a new power source inside a destroyed ship\cave\toilet 200m under water).
If I have to scan one more safe I'm going to hurt a puppy (not really)
Weapons
Love the 'weapons'. Makes you think "how am I going to best use this" and hope you don't die still. Adds some creativity to the mix rather than mindless pew-pew.
Weather
I love the eclipse but it doesn't seem to do anything. This got me thinking on weather. Allow storms and the such and they can affect the tides. New fish pop up, visibility becomes worse, ship moves around more due to currents. A few free ideas for you to mix up the game world a little. This in itself turns one area on the map into the potential for a lot more due to some random weather.
Thats it...
Cheers for the game. Really looking forward to what you guys release next. Keep up the great work and thanks for the nerdgasms!