before anything: great game! very promising, glad I supported it in Kickstarter. quite a coincidence this demo came out just as I started playing FTL.
so, comments and suggestions:
1. the English needs a bit of editorial review in some spots. nothing serious,
it's all perfectly readable and understandable, just minor tweaking. examples:
"Great! You manageD to steal the Curiosity."
"Calling reinforcementS" (reinforcement is correct too, buy it's more typical in this context to use the plural)
2. faster tractor beam animations would be nice. same for crew movement.
3. unit selection and movement: I found the difference in movement selection between ship (left-click) and crew (right-click) a bit odd and counterintuitive, but easy to get used to. however, the crew selection still throws me off. have to left-click their icons to select them, but the icons have F# keys, which makes me think F keys also can select them, but instead they focus on the units, forcing one to zoom out to move them. I think it's more standard in games to have left-click and F# do the same thing (select them w/o focus) and double-click or double-F# to focus.
4. saving crew positions: I might be using this feature wrong (great feature, though!), but it seems that one has to switch the crew to the default (hallway) to create a new position, which creates extra clicking. example:
to create B if I already have A:
crew A:mitzi-weapons,biski-engine --> press B both go back to hallway --> move mitzi back to weapons and biski to cargo --> save B
desired:
crew A:mitzi-weapons,biski-engine --> move biski to cargo --> save B
I think this would become even more important as one gains more crew members.
5. The Curiosity computer looks an awful lot like the AI in Starcraft. coincidence?
I may submit more as I keep playing. keep up the great work! very much looking forward to its release.
personal question: do you have two cats named Mitzi and Biski? :)
ok i think this game is really good, i like ftl and xcom and the mix is really great. The only things that bothered me. Were
1. If, for example, a fire breaks out or someone breaks in and you fight it, you never know how many rounds it is now possible to extinguish it and so on.
2. Sometimes I have the problem that the catactors (characters) don't want to move.
idea
I also had a gameplay idea, e.g. in the 2nd system there are gas clouds where it is said that they are dangerous, why not lure the opponents into the clouds and fly out yourself and then shoot into the gas clouds and let them explode. Use the playing field.
But otherwise great idea and great game oh and sorry
for the google translator
One more item about INTERFACE I forgot:
- I would be more user friendly to have the ship move to the max allowed distance on the path when one selects a destination that is out of range. as it is now one cannot select a destination out of range (red) and is forced to select on the green. however, the path finding gets calculated either way (catpaw trail!) so why not have the ship move to the last green hex it can reach on that parth anyway?
[I edited this to mark what I think are BUGS, if you prefer to have them moved to the bugs forum section let me know]
Got to play the whole demo. More feedback:
COSMETICS
- the catpaw trails for the ship's path are cute and funny!
- Cathulhu system?! love it (HP Lovecraft fan)
- it would look nicer if the ship lined up with the path it takes when warping between systems, instead of the fixed diagonal orientation
INTERFACE & CONTROLS
- [BUG] I was dragging a hull armor mod piece from inventory to equip it on a ship gear slot and accidentally released the mouse button too early. I thought the piece disappeared, but turns out it was floating between the two panels. Pieces that dont get mounted successfully should snap back to their original spot on the inventory panel.
- which room has to be manned (or catted?) for the scans to be active? I think it's the bridge but that wasn't clear from the room descriptions. or maybe I just missed it?
- an optional, bigger map view would be nice, maybe top view. also the map limits should be somehow visible on the hex grid, to plan movement better
- it would be great to be able to switch tactical modes for the different systems from the main screen, not just within the rooms. maybe some interface mousing over or right-clicking the ability
- the inventory and ship gear panels cover most other controls, hiding the actions points (used to open crates and equip mods) and the crew presets (which might be needed to move someone to the cargo hold to open a crate). the quit menu (ESC key) is also behind these panels, and that should be at the very front of all displays
- the counters for gear in the inventory panel (lower right corner of each item) are white, which is hard to see on light colored items like the emeralds
- messages at the top of the screen disappear too quickly, sometimes cannot be read in time (example: the warning to clear all enemies before exploring the derelict ship in the nebula)
- [BUG] crew presets do not always match the actual crew positions. I had preset A (engine,weapons) then moved the engine cat to missiles for more firepower, but the preset indicator still highlighted A
- question: is there a turn counter timer on loot dropped by destroyed ships and artillery strikes (the red circles where the enemy missiles will land). I'm pretty sure some loot I didnt pick up disappeared after a few turns, and the artillery strike took several turns to land, but no clue when that would happen. at least for the artillery strike a turn countdown - maybe on the circles themselves - would be of tactical value
- I've been boarded only once, and the encounter was confusing. I could not quite tell how the turn cycle inside the ship worked with the turn cycle of ship combat. I also wasn't sure how my crew member that was taken down by the enemy intruder could be revived, although he came back after a while. I will have to get boarded again to give you more details.
MISSION SPECIFIC
Nebula System
- derelict ship: the text adventure mini-game exploring the derelict was unexpected and a nice surprise. I like it a lot. it would be awesome, though, if that mini-game was instead an actual ship exploration with your cat, same interface as when managing the inside of your ship. I'm sure that's a lot of extra work so I'm not asking for it as feature, just throwing the idea out there. the text adventure format works well.
- [BUG] I got a data log from the derelict, saying a cache location had been marked on the map, but I could not find any markers or cache, and I'm pretty sure I explored the whole map
Space Station
- [BUG] the Bar didnt work, although the button seemed functional (not darkened like the room management buttons). I could not refuel because I had a full tank I guess. does that refer to the Purranium?
- [BUG] I got Lizzy on my crew, but her icon does not show which room she is in, like the other cats
- [BUG] based on the hint from the previous map, I tried to sell the relic I found in the derelict at the Eros station, but got no credits. I tried several times, also buying and reselling a weapons mod I bought. No sales gave me any credit, and I ended up with multiple copies of the relic and that weapons mod on my inventory! looks like selling attempts duplicate the objects
- [BUG]the quest objective (Dock and refuel) remained stuck on every screen, on top of very display, even after completion (assuming I actually completed it, since I could not refuel). I think it disappeared after I warped to the next location.
Final Battle
- [BUG] this happened in other battles, but was worse here: the camera view sometimes re-centers and focuses on an attacking enemy, which forces one to zoom out and readjust the camera. in this map the camera sometimes jumped to a very close view of the engine, far away from the action.
- it was a bit hard to figure out which hexes to target to hit the hangar and engine, especially the engine.
Thanks Tom! no worries about opening a new post! its actually easier for me to track if its in new posts!
I am super glad you liked it and I will look into the font issue. The wetness? dunno if its bad =)
I don't want to open a separate post (I already made a separate one for the bugs) so here are the impression from the demo:
Puns: 10/10 The music in the warp screen is very FTL. The music in general is top notch. Some fonts don't really feel right (the "your turn" message and the merchant dialogue) so it kinda takes you out of it. Others are very cool though. The tractor beam thing is a great idea! Some of the asteroids look wet? I can't really explain it.
Overall the visuals are pawesome.
Thank you so much! this is great stuff and I am gonna open tasks for all the things you mentioned! this is way its so great to have people play it ^^
I am super grateful!
I used to have a cat named Lizzy! (she appears on level3) =)