Post by daniel on Aug 9, 2017 21:20:27 GMT
This Text was written way before i knew about posting in these Forum and about keeping Feedback with keywords. Therefore i add a enumeration and below the original texts for anyone interested in my thoughts.
Cheers - PS: Has this forum a function to hide/expand text with a click? Would make it a lot easier for me.
Pros:
Cons:
Suggestions:
hey Ryan,
thanks for the key and the opportunity to playtest it!
From now on i try to give feedback to every minor or major thing i look at. To be honest i am someone who explain everything in wall of texts. I like to add my own thoughts to explain it a lot better. Atleast i hope so, haha.
If sth sounds weird to you please dont hesitate to ask me again because i am not nativ english - Every thing i speak about is just a suggestion and a delivery on my own opinion and its still up to you which suggestions you add to your pool even if i say "you should". Please keep it in mind that i wont like to offend you even it sounds a bit rough a sentence or two.
Although i am in love with PA i try to see this as a different game like it is but all my experiences belong to PA and i think this is a great way to make everything better what PA did not even if that are very minor details.
Starting at the main menu.
the game music is awesome. It represents a good mood
At the first sandbox game i started i was a bit irritated because the game appeared like a semi-translated game and i was like "oh, did this happen on purpose or not" even if you have a solid base doing that from now i wouldnt activate it until its done. The main priority should be at the features/bugs/optimization. Whatever you prefer to do this is no offense but i think getting the game done is much more interesting for you and the playerbase you will get in future. The main menu background represents really good what the game title stands for!
I recognized that you added a search field to the loading screen. Great for people who experiment a lot -to be honest it is a funny feature for me . I am very proud if i am able to keep one successful savegame and i just have a second savegame very barely.
Starting with the gameplay:
The first quest says that we should build some basic education rooms. Well, to be honest here we could start already providing more informations. As someone whos not native english and new to the game may doesnt know what to do. Every room is titled as a "classroom" even if i have to build 4 different.
so heres my suggestion for this:
The quest is displayed as a enumeration.
Every line starts with a big white dot.
Clicking on a line could expand the menu by some lines of text (like a drop down menu does)
This could be look like:
(big white dot)Freshman classroom
(smaller dot) For (kind of students)
(smaller dot)focusing on subject? for example
(smaller dot)needs tables/computer/student chairs instead of (same possible furnitures)
(big white dot)sophomore classroom (continue the same example)
Clicking on an expanded quest detail would hide the helpful tips again. Players should be able to expand every step from a quest without hiding the other steps again.
As i have been clicking through the building options i really appreciated that the furnitures are sorted by the rooms they will be placed in
but! please be sure that the furniture like chairs and so on who could be necessary to be placed in different rooms(by their requirements) are sorted in each category too. May i am wrong but i had the intention that atleast one furniture was missing in another category.
The next thing is a major thing i believe.
Building rooms without going the step constructing a foundation seems very strange for me. If i did it wrong please correct me but i just placed somewhere a few walls connected to each other placed some tiles at the middle of the walls and marked it as a class zone and it worked.
Even if i demolished some misplaced walls i could see whats below the wall. To be honest, this is like building on top of a park but the park still exists. This shouldnt happen. I think its like the reality where the industry comes the nature disappears. Even if i bulldoze everything it shouldnt look like before! Lets keep on building stuff: i like to mention that i cant drag and drop over existing objects. For example i want to make sure that every piece of a wall is build of concrete instead of wood i will select the concrete wall and click and drag and just want that the other objects will be replaced by the new one i have chosen now. We or better said you just have to decide which objects can be replaced by the right objects of the same category. Oh, and what if i forgot to add a door to my classroom? At the actual state i have to demolish a piece of the wall first before i can place a door. This is an object i like to replace easily. May you could find a solution with holding the ctrl key and then a left mouse click to prevent people from misclicking/ruin their own things.
i really appreciate some improvements of the building system. This would easily reduce the micro management on this. So far it is like having a small handicap because everything is slower than it should get done. In this case i would like to get every advantage i could get as a mouse and keyboard player/user.
Theres a dismantle button missing in the building menu, may you dont like this but its slowing down to to select the objects and confirm to dismantle it. If i just have to dismantle one object its fine but if i have to change several rooms ... fiddly situation ;/
Add more tiles to the game later - for out- and indoor zones = makes the game much more fancy than it is already.
After building and testing around i was like "oh, no comfort "undo-button"? and later i found out that its able by simple right clicking objects before they have been built. Very neat solution on this but should be mentioned somewhere.
After nearly hundred minutes already i experienced some kind of "bugs" but i wasnt able to reproduce them. At some point i had the same grant 3 times under the grants menu and the unlockable grants have been constantly scrolling down for no reason. I wasnt able to perform any actions too, the game wasnt paused or sth like that but i could "fix" it with a restart of the game.
i was also wondering why my staff was so lazy lying around on the ground even if there have been many open tasks - did i sth wrong? Are they following any daily schedule menu i didnt found yet?
Firing stuff shouldnt be confirmed i think.If i clearly clicked on the red X it should be obvious that they get fired then - but if i would try to fire a student because of too many penalties(dunno if this is sth you think about in the future) it would be necessary to confirm it especially because every schoolyear gets a result chart and a grade for the player. Its sth what could look like the parole/rule/behaviour system (the player sets during playing )from PA but still different with its actual state.
Now i have written a wall of text about all my thoughts during playing the first minutes i will just add a few keywords about things i like or even like to see added.
to add/suggestions:
-keybindings, esc=settings menu /numbers 1,2,3 for the game speed and so on for the most important things but not binding the whole keyboard
may give the player the ability to rebind everything if they miss any.
-scrolling the camera while holding the left mouse button but please keep WASD also.
-after saving a game the savegamé menu should close itself after confirming it with "ok".
-!!tell me please how i build the different classrooms then i can dive deeper into the game for more feedback!!
things i like:
-auto-save: everyone knows the bad "i forgot to save devil"
-fancy game/graphic style
-nice music
-undo tasks/jobs by right clicking objects before they have been built
-staff with different attributes/knowledge - very important to assign them to the right classes. Hope its already implemented.
-result screen at the end of every schoolyear hopefully keeps player away from idling around. (long
time motivation/replayability)
-zone resets with one click / sth that PA should had too. Good job!
-furniture/objects sorted in categories - PA look at here too!
-main menu represents great what the game stands for!
I hope you like the way i provided the feedback.
Thanks for reading. Its half past midnight here and i am tired now
I forgot one or two very minor things - damn
Cheers - PS: Has this forum a function to hide/expand text with a click? Would make it a lot easier for me.
Pros:
- Nice music and background in main menu(represents very good what the title stands for)
- Search field in load and save screen (good for people who try a lot things out-)
- Sorted items by their room categories(keep it
- undo button via right click with the mouse
- scrolling camera with WASD
- auto-save
- staff with different knowledge - but should get assigned to a special room/class and stay there(timetable)
- result screen at the end of every year - hopefully it is much longer motivating and a higher replayability / no player idling around
- zone resets with one click (with zone edit - thank god - PA look at here )
Cons:
- Semi-translated game(dont activate before finished, easier for fixing/talking about problems)
- basic education quest/grant had not enough informations(zone edit)
- Building rooms without constructing a foundation before. (natures lasts even if everything got bulldozed)
- no drag and drop for building larger areas/replacing a wall tile with a door for example
- experienced some bugs i couldnt reproduce
- (1 grant 3 times in the grant list/ unlockable grants scrolling the whole time/whole game locked - fixed with a restart)
- lazy workers who are laying down for no reason? open tasks have been available
Suggestions:
- expandable quest tasks for more informations(keywords)/hide with a mouse click again
- Building foundations (nature has to leave where the industy comes even if bulldozed-natures is gone
- Drag and drop for building larger areas/other material/objects replaces the old ones - if possible
- more comfort for us mouse and keyboard user - less micro - managment (optimizing the building system/dismantle button)
- undo button maybe? - right click is very neat but just for player who knows to right click(unfinished placements/constructions)
- more tiles for in and outdoor - we want more "fancyness"
- tips in loading/savescreen maybe?
- daily schedule/timetable for the students if not yet implemented(did not progressed further by the classroom "issue"/got tips)
- some kind of parole system for students/behaviour/granting their graduation
- Fire staff just with clicking the red X - no extra confirmation box - better the parole system - firing up bad behaviour students
- more keybindings for the most important options/functions but not flodding the whole keyboard pls/possible re-binding
- scrolling camera while holding left mouse button + WASD
- save game window should close itself after we confirmed the successful save popup-box
- re-thinking about the whole room sizes for more unique art. Does not look everything like a 0815 standard room. Atm, messy rooms all objects at one place
- objects without atleast one free block to each other should behave like obstacles. (for example 5 student chairs in one line without any space to access them, not good looking)
hey Ryan,
thanks for the key and the opportunity to playtest it!
From now on i try to give feedback to every minor or major thing i look at. To be honest i am someone who explain everything in wall of texts. I like to add my own thoughts to explain it a lot better. Atleast i hope so, haha.
If sth sounds weird to you please dont hesitate to ask me again because i am not nativ english - Every thing i speak about is just a suggestion and a delivery on my own opinion and its still up to you which suggestions you add to your pool even if i say "you should". Please keep it in mind that i wont like to offend you even it sounds a bit rough a sentence or two.
Although i am in love with PA i try to see this as a different game like it is but all my experiences belong to PA and i think this is a great way to make everything better what PA did not even if that are very minor details.
Starting at the main menu.
the game music is awesome. It represents a good mood
At the first sandbox game i started i was a bit irritated because the game appeared like a semi-translated game and i was like "oh, did this happen on purpose or not" even if you have a solid base doing that from now i wouldnt activate it until its done. The main priority should be at the features/bugs/optimization. Whatever you prefer to do this is no offense but i think getting the game done is much more interesting for you and the playerbase you will get in future. The main menu background represents really good what the game title stands for!
I recognized that you added a search field to the loading screen. Great for people who experiment a lot -to be honest it is a funny feature for me . I am very proud if i am able to keep one successful savegame and i just have a second savegame very barely.
Starting with the gameplay:
The first quest says that we should build some basic education rooms. Well, to be honest here we could start already providing more informations. As someone whos not native english and new to the game may doesnt know what to do. Every room is titled as a "classroom" even if i have to build 4 different.
so heres my suggestion for this:
The quest is displayed as a enumeration.
Every line starts with a big white dot.
Clicking on a line could expand the menu by some lines of text (like a drop down menu does)
This could be look like:
(big white dot)Freshman classroom
(smaller dot) For (kind of students)
(smaller dot)focusing on subject? for example
(smaller dot)needs tables/computer/student chairs instead of (same possible furnitures)
(big white dot)sophomore classroom (continue the same example)
Clicking on an expanded quest detail would hide the helpful tips again. Players should be able to expand every step from a quest without hiding the other steps again.
As i have been clicking through the building options i really appreciated that the furnitures are sorted by the rooms they will be placed in
but! please be sure that the furniture like chairs and so on who could be necessary to be placed in different rooms(by their requirements) are sorted in each category too. May i am wrong but i had the intention that atleast one furniture was missing in another category.
The next thing is a major thing i believe.
Building rooms without going the step constructing a foundation seems very strange for me. If i did it wrong please correct me but i just placed somewhere a few walls connected to each other placed some tiles at the middle of the walls and marked it as a class zone and it worked.
Even if i demolished some misplaced walls i could see whats below the wall. To be honest, this is like building on top of a park but the park still exists. This shouldnt happen. I think its like the reality where the industry comes the nature disappears. Even if i bulldoze everything it shouldnt look like before! Lets keep on building stuff: i like to mention that i cant drag and drop over existing objects. For example i want to make sure that every piece of a wall is build of concrete instead of wood i will select the concrete wall and click and drag and just want that the other objects will be replaced by the new one i have chosen now. We or better said you just have to decide which objects can be replaced by the right objects of the same category. Oh, and what if i forgot to add a door to my classroom? At the actual state i have to demolish a piece of the wall first before i can place a door. This is an object i like to replace easily. May you could find a solution with holding the ctrl key and then a left mouse click to prevent people from misclicking/ruin their own things.
i really appreciate some improvements of the building system. This would easily reduce the micro management on this. So far it is like having a small handicap because everything is slower than it should get done. In this case i would like to get every advantage i could get as a mouse and keyboard player/user.
Theres a dismantle button missing in the building menu, may you dont like this but its slowing down to to select the objects and confirm to dismantle it. If i just have to dismantle one object its fine but if i have to change several rooms ... fiddly situation ;/
Add more tiles to the game later - for out- and indoor zones = makes the game much more fancy than it is already.
After building and testing around i was like "oh, no comfort "undo-button"? and later i found out that its able by simple right clicking objects before they have been built. Very neat solution on this but should be mentioned somewhere.
After nearly hundred minutes already i experienced some kind of "bugs" but i wasnt able to reproduce them. At some point i had the same grant 3 times under the grants menu and the unlockable grants have been constantly scrolling down for no reason. I wasnt able to perform any actions too, the game wasnt paused or sth like that but i could "fix" it with a restart of the game.
i was also wondering why my staff was so lazy lying around on the ground even if there have been many open tasks - did i sth wrong? Are they following any daily schedule menu i didnt found yet?
Firing stuff shouldnt be confirmed i think.If i clearly clicked on the red X it should be obvious that they get fired then - but if i would try to fire a student because of too many penalties(dunno if this is sth you think about in the future) it would be necessary to confirm it especially because every schoolyear gets a result chart and a grade for the player. Its sth what could look like the parole/rule/behaviour system (the player sets during playing )from PA but still different with its actual state.
Now i have written a wall of text about all my thoughts during playing the first minutes i will just add a few keywords about things i like or even like to see added.
to add/suggestions:
-keybindings, esc=settings menu /numbers 1,2,3 for the game speed and so on for the most important things but not binding the whole keyboard
may give the player the ability to rebind everything if they miss any.
-scrolling the camera while holding the left mouse button but please keep WASD also.
-after saving a game the savegamé menu should close itself after confirming it with "ok".
-!!tell me please how i build the different classrooms then i can dive deeper into the game for more feedback!!
things i like:
-auto-save: everyone knows the bad "i forgot to save devil"
-fancy game/graphic style
-nice music
-undo tasks/jobs by right clicking objects before they have been built
-staff with different attributes/knowledge - very important to assign them to the right classes. Hope its already implemented.
-result screen at the end of every schoolyear hopefully keeps player away from idling around. (long
time motivation/replayability)
-zone resets with one click / sth that PA should had too. Good job!
-furniture/objects sorted in categories - PA look at here too!
-main menu represents great what the game stands for!
I hope you like the way i provided the feedback.
Thanks for reading. Its half past midnight here and i am tired now
I forgot one or two very minor things - damn