First Impressions

[racarate]

Hey gang!  I backed the kickstarter but only now am getting around to playing the game.  It's pretty cool to see the increase in popularity of dorflikes, and simulationist designs in general.

Anyways, I like to play a game just without reading instructions first just to be a little contrarian.  So, giving that I was playing intentionally naive, here's a quick breakdown of my first impressions.

- It was really late and I swear the planet on the title screen was rotating.  Apparently, it is not.
- I couldn't read any of the tooltip text for the life of me.  It gave me flashbacks to CEGUI.
- The first thing I checked out was the options menu.  I entered some names but they weren't used.
- I started a game.  It took me a minute to understand the camera moves but I liked the speed.  I especially liked the zoom-in and zoom-out, but the acceleration on mouse-near-edge felt janky.
- I was reminded of Jagged Alliance when looking at everybody's stats and started to wonder if I would have colonists who intrinsically hated each other.
- I decided there were too many stats to keep track of for the moment and started to treat each colonist individually.
- It took about ten minutes to realize I had to hit 'F' to make things unforbidden.  This was sort of the first thing that bummed me out.
- My guys collected some stuff, then I started to build.  I found the solar battery and made some cannons, Protoss-style.  I also made a wall but it never got built.
- I just realized this is the most boring post in the world!  Sorry, I love to give and hear first impressions.  Long story short, first two games I understand how to move the camera around, build cannons and advance time.  I have no idea how to feed my colonists.  I thought I build at nutrient thing, connected it to electricity and placed a hopper next to it but both games ended in dying of starvation.   I look forward to playing again.  The highlight of the experience was definitely fending off a raider with auto-cannons.  Also the weather effects were strangely poignant.  The lowlight was the frustration of do-nothing right clicks (had to hit F), dying of starvation and reading letters about what was going to happen after it had in fact happened.  It could be that I was spamming the fast-forward buttons though.


-Nick

P.S. Is there a game-replay-save-file stored anywhere?

[Rokiyo]

This certainly wasn't boring to me! When I'm developing software, I find these sorts of first impressions invaluable: It's pretty much impossible to pretend you don't know how your own product works and see it through the eyes of a first time user.

These comments in particular really stand out to me:

• I entered some names but they weren't used.
• It took about ten minutes to realize I had to hit 'F' to make things unforbidden.
• I have no idea how to feed my colonists.
• The lowlight was the frustration of do-nothing right clicks (had to hit F)

They speak to what you personally find intuitive, and how you expected the game to react to certain input. This is feedback that could be used to make the game more intuitive, or to to improve upon the topics the ingame tutorial system can cover.


Also, I think these are both great ideas:

• I swear the planet on the title screen was rotating.
• ...started to wonder if I would have colonists who intrinsically hated each other.

[Rokiyo]

Oh, and a couple of tips for your next game:
Look in the Zones menu, and create some Growing Zones. Your colonists will plant potatoes there (by default, you can click on the zone to change what they'll plant there), and will eat them when they get hungry.

Once you're producing raw food, that's where the nutrient paste dispenser comes in: Put a hopper next to a powered paste dispenser, and your colonists will put potatoes in and get meals out.

I believe the list of names in the options relate to various named colonists that were created for the Kickstarter backers. You can pretty safely ignore that option while you get on your feet.

Last but not least, if your colonists aren't building something, it's generally because they're either too busy (sleeping/mining/etc), or you've run out of metal. Mine the orange speckled rocks to get more metal.

[Tynan]

Were there yellow messages popping up and telling you things?

[racarate]

Yes, although l think I stopped paying attention because like the letters they would tell me something after I had already done it.  I haven't figured it out yet -- is there a replay file saved anywhere?  I'd like to watch how I played too.  It was very late at night!

[Tynan]

I'm just curious how you interacted with the tutor messages. They shouldn't tell you anything you've demonstrated knowledge of. They should have told you how to forbid things. Unless you did it first.

[autohost]

My first game under Alpha2, I told it to reset tutorial messages, and during the game it often displayed tutorial messages for stuff I'd already done in that game.

[OobleckTheGreen]

- I just realized this is the most boring post in the world!

I thought it was a great post 

[Tynan]

I should get back to doing some evidence-based design soon. It's been a while since I watched a playtest.

[daft73]

Anyways, I like to play a game just without reading instructions first just to be a little contrarian.  So, giving that I was playing intentionally naive, here's a quick breakdown of my first impressions.

This alone will make your day more difficult...but to each their own

- I couldn't read any of the tooltip text for the life of me.  It gave me flashbacks to CEGUI.

...possibly try to adjust your Res?..small or off screen?

- The first thing I checked out was the options menu.  I entered some names but they weren't used.

...have not figured this out either.

- I started a game.  It took me a minute to understand the camera moves but I liked the speed.  I especially liked the zoom-in and zoom-out, but the acceleration on mouse-near-edge felt janky.

...are you using W,A,S,D to move the map..it's much better(more responsive) for screen move.

- It took about ten minutes to realize I had to hit 'F' to make things unforbidden.  This was sort of the first thing that bummed me out.

...this is plainly noted as you select said items.

Happy building mate