Nathanl Feedback
Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 2:31 pm
Hey! I promised to give some feedback, so here it is:
What i like/dislike about the game:
- The idea behind the whole concept. Involving the players in the creation of their game world is a very nice thing and can lead to a strong and addictive connection between the player and the world he is playing in, IF done correctly.
I'm still unsure about your intention of this feature. Why is it important in your game that you can edit the world while playing in runtime? What distinguishes your game from all the other RPG-Maker games? If i understood it correctly, the GM editing of the world is not meant to be available for all players on a server. Only the owners/moderators/gms can change the environment and build a cool, enjoyable world for all the other players on the server. This takes a lot of the focus away from the 'Make your own world' gameplay and makes good 'traditional' rpg gameplay in your game necessary, as that is what the players are doing in the end. Please tell me if i'm wrong here.
-I like the overall visual direction this is gravitating towards. it's obvious that you are not placing big value on the final polish yet, you can definitely see that, it's going into the right direction in my opinion. The houses and some other stuff look (in my eyes) pretty unsightly and cheap. I though like the character model, i like the happy and positive atmosphere caused by the colorful visuals. i like it better than dark, serious settings. again, personal taste here.
What i would change for visuals/sounds/detailwork:
animation... your world would look much healthier and lively if there was some animation going on. No heavy over use of movement, just some animations and some particles maybe. Floating water, falling waterfalls, leaves falling from trees and enemies that actually react to being hit, die in a cool manner and make some sounds, add A LOT to the atmosphere and overall feel of gameplay.
-I too like the RPG elements, i don't really like how exactly these elements are implemented, but it is already nice to have them at all. There is much personal taste here, but i will explain that later in more detail.
- Your Quest system in the open world style gameplay. Quest system feels okay already, but players tend to not read anything at all. The fact that you have to do quests in the beginning of the game makes it reasonable for me that you want to have the quest system be compatible with as many players as possible. If you start a game, don't get what you have to do you get bored. And quit. Add some visualisation the quest screens. Some players dont want to read the whole text to know what they have to do. E.g. put a picture of the monster they need to kill, or the ressource they need to get and the amount somewhere. You will need to dumb it down a bit. You mentioned your little girl, who initially was the reason for you to make the game. She might be a bit older now, but try to let her playtest.
- I like how you implemented farming. It's always good to have something in the game that you are waiting for for while playing. That gives you a reason to keep playing. This also leads back to the RPG problems. Food, and items overall need heavy balance work. You need to find a way to make it harder to get food, also the chain of achieving gear does not feel good at all. I'm also working on a game and i prefer to have everything more planned. I don't add cucumbers just to have cucumbers added or because they are cool. If i decide to add them, then that is because they have a use in the game and are part of production- or achievement chains. I would scrap everything and start from scratch. You don't need to delete everything, just implement it when you find a reason for it.
You (again, my opinion) destroy the feel, yes maybe also the magic of your game with that. Same with your game world. Yes, its alpha but i would rather let my players play in a small environment that i'm happy with, that is polished, and most important: BALANCED. You can say i'm silly, but i strongly believe in the assumption that the player needs to feel that special 'magical' feeling that connects him with the game's world and makes him love to play in it. What you are doing with your endless dungeons of ores to grab without any dangers or obstacles to face, endless and empty beaches you walk along with nothing happening, and unlovingly dungeon design, is destroying that magic and giving your players a wrong feeling of how the game will be. (Atleast thats what i hope and there will be heavy changes) You could say that your official game world is not important, because the game is about players playing and making their own. But that's not how it goes. Most potential players will try the game on your public server worlds and see what you have built. If you fuck it up, they are mostly going to as well.
I like crafting. I also like the minecraft crafting system, but that does not mean i would copy it into my game. In my opinion it doesn't fit here. Minecraft is a very simple game that gets it's volume, scale complexity with it's crafting (and some other stuff, yes..). I can not, and also don't want to tell you where to put your game's focus on, but i can tell you that the focus on crafting is the wrong pick. It is good you implemented crafting, because crafting gives items utilities and the right to exist (to come back to that point). A minecraft 'inspired' crafting window is, in my opinion, not appropriate for your game.
Despite all my points of criticism, i still like your game and will curiously follow it's development! Keep going, you can make a great game out of this!
Kind regards from one of your first players,
Nathanl
What i like/dislike about the game:
- The idea behind the whole concept. Involving the players in the creation of their game world is a very nice thing and can lead to a strong and addictive connection between the player and the world he is playing in, IF done correctly.
I'm still unsure about your intention of this feature. Why is it important in your game that you can edit the world while playing in runtime? What distinguishes your game from all the other RPG-Maker games? If i understood it correctly, the GM editing of the world is not meant to be available for all players on a server. Only the owners/moderators/gms can change the environment and build a cool, enjoyable world for all the other players on the server. This takes a lot of the focus away from the 'Make your own world' gameplay and makes good 'traditional' rpg gameplay in your game necessary, as that is what the players are doing in the end. Please tell me if i'm wrong here.
-I like the overall visual direction this is gravitating towards. it's obvious that you are not placing big value on the final polish yet, you can definitely see that, it's going into the right direction in my opinion. The houses and some other stuff look (in my eyes) pretty unsightly and cheap. I though like the character model, i like the happy and positive atmosphere caused by the colorful visuals. i like it better than dark, serious settings. again, personal taste here.
What i would change for visuals/sounds/detailwork:
animation... your world would look much healthier and lively if there was some animation going on. No heavy over use of movement, just some animations and some particles maybe. Floating water, falling waterfalls, leaves falling from trees and enemies that actually react to being hit, die in a cool manner and make some sounds, add A LOT to the atmosphere and overall feel of gameplay.
-I too like the RPG elements, i don't really like how exactly these elements are implemented, but it is already nice to have them at all. There is much personal taste here, but i will explain that later in more detail.
- Your Quest system in the open world style gameplay. Quest system feels okay already, but players tend to not read anything at all. The fact that you have to do quests in the beginning of the game makes it reasonable for me that you want to have the quest system be compatible with as many players as possible. If you start a game, don't get what you have to do you get bored. And quit. Add some visualisation the quest screens. Some players dont want to read the whole text to know what they have to do. E.g. put a picture of the monster they need to kill, or the ressource they need to get and the amount somewhere. You will need to dumb it down a bit. You mentioned your little girl, who initially was the reason for you to make the game. She might be a bit older now, but try to let her playtest.
- I like how you implemented farming. It's always good to have something in the game that you are waiting for for while playing. That gives you a reason to keep playing. This also leads back to the RPG problems. Food, and items overall need heavy balance work. You need to find a way to make it harder to get food, also the chain of achieving gear does not feel good at all. I'm also working on a game and i prefer to have everything more planned. I don't add cucumbers just to have cucumbers added or because they are cool. If i decide to add them, then that is because they have a use in the game and are part of production- or achievement chains. I would scrap everything and start from scratch. You don't need to delete everything, just implement it when you find a reason for it.
You (again, my opinion) destroy the feel, yes maybe also the magic of your game with that. Same with your game world. Yes, its alpha but i would rather let my players play in a small environment that i'm happy with, that is polished, and most important: BALANCED. You can say i'm silly, but i strongly believe in the assumption that the player needs to feel that special 'magical' feeling that connects him with the game's world and makes him love to play in it. What you are doing with your endless dungeons of ores to grab without any dangers or obstacles to face, endless and empty beaches you walk along with nothing happening, and unlovingly dungeon design, is destroying that magic and giving your players a wrong feeling of how the game will be. (Atleast thats what i hope and there will be heavy changes) You could say that your official game world is not important, because the game is about players playing and making their own. But that's not how it goes. Most potential players will try the game on your public server worlds and see what you have built. If you fuck it up, they are mostly going to as well.
I like crafting. I also like the minecraft crafting system, but that does not mean i would copy it into my game. In my opinion it doesn't fit here. Minecraft is a very simple game that gets it's volume, scale complexity with it's crafting (and some other stuff, yes..). I can not, and also don't want to tell you where to put your game's focus on, but i can tell you that the focus on crafting is the wrong pick. It is good you implemented crafting, because crafting gives items utilities and the right to exist (to come back to that point). A minecraft 'inspired' crafting window is, in my opinion, not appropriate for your game.
Despite all my points of criticism, i still like your game and will curiously follow it's development! Keep going, you can make a great game out of this!
Kind regards from one of your first players,
Nathanl