Initial thoughts and problems

[Minithra]

Overall, I like the game - something I'll keep my eye on and perhaps purchase in the future.

It's not a "yes, 100% buy as soon as it comes out!" because there are some pretty big (to me) issues:

- the breathing headbob when standing still. It's amazingly irritating - that's not how a human being perceives the world, since our brainmeats compensate for all the involuntary small movements.
- Mouse sensitivity. The first time I tried to select the Quantum Control in the wheel I almost quit the game, I got so annoyed. Also, why is there no actual mouse cursor in that screen? It looks adapted from a controller scheme.
- Vegetation doesn't get hidden/removed when building things. Unless you place in a clear spot, the grass and things will merilly sway in your firepit or water collector or what have you.
- Pinning recipes doesn't actually work. All it does is pin the basic shelter in the survival category, even if I had another recipe selected at the time.
- At some point, a marker appears - looks like a house, points to a... teleporting? half-dome. I dunno. Why does it appear? Can I turn it off? Can I place my own marker? The same-ness of the environment means I lost my tiny camp several times when trying to explore and gather materials.
- The guided meditation - this might be a sign the game isn't for me at all, because guided meditation instinctively makes me tense and puts me off.

[MangoNacre]

I'd have to say I agree with much of what you're saying here. One more thing I'll add: You have this amazing tech device that can start fires, mine gems, tell you when you're sick or poisoned -- or when you need to meditate :-) -- but it can't find magnetic north? The lack of any map or even a basic compass is a major issue for a game like this, IMO.

[dshelander]

I totally agree with the Quantum Control wheel. I'm guessing it's just a glitch issue they need to work out. Also, the meditation part of the game was not what I was expecting. I was thinking it was going to simulate what an actual breathing pattern would be during meditation. The "breath in" and "breath out" timing is totally off. That is not meditation. I would like to see a 4 second deep breath in and a slow 7 or 8 second breath out. I do this with my own patients so when I heard psychologists were working with them on the game I assumed this would be part of the game play. I haven't seen it yet. I'm still going to give them time to fix things before I make a final judgement. They have a lot of potential once they work out all the issues. I'm sure they did the 30 days of demo to pinpoint all the issues.

[Merder]

I thought the demo was fairly average. The graphics are good but nothing groundbreaking. The water caustics are a bit overdone and don't look natural. The lizards walking around don't really look like they are walking on the ground and I'm pretty sure I saw one walking on top of the water.

I was low on health, frantically waiting for some mushroom soup to cook. I looked at the pot to see if it was ready and when I didn't see a % status I left clicked and BOOM -- apparently I demolished the pot along with my soup and promptly died of starvation. In general, you shouldn't die of starvation that fast anyway. (Yeah, the game says you were medically extracted but it's the same as dying in the context of a video game.) Before I got the cooking pot I tried to cook some mushrooms on the campfire. I waited for it to get to 100% before taking them and when I picked them up they were still just "mushrooms" instead of being "grilled mushrooms" or something.

I think OP may be on to something when he said thought it might be adapted from a controller scheme. In the cooking pot menu clicking an entry (i.e. "Mushroom Soup") has no effect. You have to press the enter key. Very unintuitive, especially since there are no on screen instructions telling you you have to press enter.

Default mouse sensitivity is too high. There doesn't seem to be a way to adjust in game. Maybe it's at the main menu, but settings should be available during play without going to the main menu.

I'm a little worried that this game may be too boring. I'm kind with OP on the meditation aspect. For me, playing a game is a way to relax. I don't really need a meta game to do that. It's kind of dull just sitting there doing nothing for the minute or so it takes to meditate.

I don't like the whole "quantum manipulator" thing. Is there a way to turn it off after activating it? The hum is kind of annoying. It turns off after a bit but you shoudl be able to shut it off manually. I'd just rather have regular tools. It's very strange that you are placed out in the wilderness to survive but you have this sci-fi whatever-it-is-thingamajig. I get that maybe the developers are trying to do something different than a stone hatchet and stone pick but it seems like a gimmick.

I made a spear but it wasn't clear how to equip it. Perhaps the game needs a bit more on-screen guidance. For example, after you craft your first spear/bow/whatever, there should be an prompt that says, "Do X to equip your spear/bow/whatever".

The computer voiceover is hard to understand. If you look at real world technology the goal for voice synthesis is to make it sound realistic, not to add a needless vocoder effect that screams, "I'M A ROBOT!" Take a cue from the movie "Her". An advanced AI would probably be indistinguishable from a human speaking.

Anyway, I'm not trying to tell the devs how to make their game. These are just my own observations after spending a little over an hour in the demo.

[MangoNacre]

I don't like the whole "quantum manipulator" thing. Is there a way to turn it off after activating it? The hum is kind of annoying. It turns off after a bit but you shoudl be able to shut it off manually....

I made a spear but it wasn't clear how to equip it. Perhaps the game needs a bit more on-screen guidance. For example, after you craft your first spear/bow/whatever, there should be an prompt that says, "Do X to equip your spear/bow/whatever".

It's kinda the opposite of your thinking, actually. "X" is the Quantum thingy key, turning it on and off (and silencing that ridiculous hum). And "R" will activate the tool wheel, from which you can select the spear, if you're lucky enough to click when the too-fast mouse movement flies by it. :-)

And we absolutely can tell the dev how to make their game - by not buying it if they don't address these issues that several of us (and probably more) agree on. Their $ loss if they don't listen to the reasonable feedback.

Someone in another thread mentioned The Forest. After playing this demo, I reinstalled it and wound up spending the rest of the day playing it. I don't think this game should be the same as that one, but it definitely doesn't have these problems, and it's fun to play.

[justinhosford35]

Originally posted by Minithra:

Overall, I like the game - something I'll keep my eye on and perhaps purchase in the future.

It's not a "yes, 100% buy as soon as it comes out!" because there are some pretty big (to me) issues:

- the breathing headbob when standing still. It's amazingly irritating - that's not how a human being perceives the world, since our brainmeats compensate for all the involuntary small movements.
- Mouse sensitivity. The first time I tried to select the Quantum Control in the wheel I almost quit the game, I got so annoyed. Also, why is there no actual mouse cursor in that screen? It looks adapted from a controller scheme.
- Vegetation doesn't get hidden/removed when building things. Unless you place in a clear spot, the grass and things will merilly sway in your firepit or water collector or what have you.
- Pinning recipes doesn't actually work. All it does is pin the basic shelter in the survival category, even if I had another recipe selected at the time.
- At some point, a marker appears - looks like a house, points to a... teleporting? half-dome. I dunno. Why does it appear? Can I turn it off? Can I place my own marker? The same-ness of the environment means I lost my tiny camp several times when trying to explore and gather materials.
- The guided meditation - this might be a sign the game isn't for me at all, because guided meditation instinctively makes me tense and puts me off.

hello! 1. The idle head bob has been removed. 2. We have given full mouse control to the tool wheel. 3. We will potentially add this to the pipeline but is not a priority at the moment. 4. Known bug that we are fixing for launch. 5. The home icon appears at last place slept. 6. We added an option to exit the guided meditation when your spirit meter is full a few seconds into the meditation. Thanks for the feedback! We are working tirelessly to make fixes that the community wants

[justinhosford35]

Originally posted by dshelander:

I totally agree with the Quantum Control wheel. I'm guessing it's just a glitch issue they need to work out. Also, the meditation part of the game was not what I was expecting. I was thinking it was going to simulate what an actual breathing pattern would be during meditation. The "breath in" and "breath out" timing is totally off. That is not meditation. I would like to see a 4 second deep breath in and a slow 7 or 8 second breath out. I do this with my own patients so when I heard psychologists were working with them on the game I assumed this would be part of the game play. I haven't seen it yet. I'm still going to give them time to fix things before I make a final judgement. They have a lot of potential once they work out all the issues. I'm sure they did the 30 days of demo to pinpoint all the issues.

Hello! thanks for the feedback and we have adjusted the breathing speed for launch. The tool wheel will also have full mouse control. And yes the point of the demo was a brief early access QA push :)

[justinhosford35]

Originally posted by MangoNacre:

I don't like the whole "quantum manipulator" thing. Is there a way to turn it off after activating it? The hum is kind of annoying. It turns off after a bit but you shoudl be able to shut it off manually....

I made a spear but it wasn't clear how to equip it. Perhaps the game needs a bit more on-screen guidance. For example, after you craft your first spear/bow/whatever, there should be an prompt that says, "Do X to equip your spear/bow/whatever".

It's kinda the opposite of your thinking, actually. "X" is the Quantum thingy key, turning it on and off (and silencing that ridiculous hum). And "R" will activate the tool wheel, from which you can select the spear, if you're lucky enough to click when the too-fast mouse movement flies by it. :-)

And we absolutely can tell the dev how to make their game - by not buying it if they don't address these issues that several of us (and probably more) agree on. Their $ loss if they don't listen to the reasonable feedback.

Someone in another thread mentioned The Forest. After playing this demo, I reinstalled it and wound up spending the rest of the day playing it. I don't think this game should be the same as that one, but it definitely doesn't have these problems, and it's fun to play.

Hello! we are taking in every ounce of feedback from the community and making adjustments around the clock. Most of the feedback in this thread has already been addressed :)

[MangoNacre]

Originally posted by justinhosford35:

Hello! we are taking in every ounce of feedback from the community and making adjustments around the clock. Most of the feedback in this thread has already been addressed :)

Excellent, justinhosford35! Thank you, much appreciated. Sorry if my comment came across as criticism - it wasn't, as there hadn't been much time for you to respond at that time. I was just pointing out that reasonable feedback should be considered by developers as potential improvements to their games. As you clearly do!

I'll give it another spin this weekend! Looking forward to it!

[Frigidman]

That terrible control wheel ui, and the whole 'meditate' thing, is what put me off.

For one, I absolutely loath mouse-flick select-a-wheels. They are terrible, in every game that has had them. I'm on a pc, not a console. Simply said.

The meditation thing, sorry... I dont meditate while gaming ;-)

[Alrun]

Originally posted by Frigidman:

That terrible control wheel ui, and the whole 'meditate' thing, is what put me off.

For one, I absolutely loath mouse-flick select-a-wheels. They are terrible, in every game that has had them. I'm on a pc, not a console. Simply said.

The meditation thing, sorry... I dont meditate while gaming ;-)

I agree regarding the control wheel, but I love the meditation thing!

[MangoNacre]

Originally posted by justinhosford35:

hello! 1. The idle head bob has been removed. 2. We have given full mouse control to the tool wheel. 3. We will potentially add this to the pipeline but is not a priority at the moment. 4. Known bug that we are fixing for launch. 5. The home icon appears at last place slept. 6. We added an option to exit the guided meditation when your spirit meter is full a few seconds into the meditation. Thanks for the feedback! We are working tirelessly to make fixes that the community wants

I'm confused. I started a new demo game, but I'm not seeing the changes that you said had been made here. Notably the idle head bob.

Also, are you going to add some navigational help? If not a map, at least a compass would make a huge difference.

[illgib]

Originally posted by MangoNacre:

Originally posted by justinhosford35:

hello! 1. The idle head bob has been removed. 2. We have given full mouse control to the tool wheel. 3. We will potentially add this to the pipeline but is not a priority at the moment. 4. Known bug that we are fixing for launch. 5. The home icon appears at last place slept. 6. We added an option to exit the guided meditation when your spirit meter is full a few seconds into the meditation. Thanks for the feedback! We are working tirelessly to make fixes that the community wants

I'm confused. I started a new demo game, but I'm not seeing the changes that you said had been made here. Notably the idle head bob.

Also, are you going to add some navigational help? If not a map, at least a compass would make a huge difference.

I think they addresed those for the final release.
What really puts me off, here and many other games, the fact i simply can't sleep whenever i want.
i sleep whem i'm tired, not when the sun goes down and i have alredy terminated the daily tasks around 14pm.
It goes boring pretty fast, and it's always one of the first mod i look for.

[Decker07]

Immediate story dump in the form of a long cutscene at the beginning,when the game is supposed to be a long term survival game is bad. You've got an entire game to push the climate change narrative. Beating us in the face with it right away when all we want to do is play your game is boring. Uninstalled.

[MangoNacre]

Originally posted by illgib:

I think they addresed those for the final release.
What really puts me off, here and many other games, the fact i simply can't sleep whenever i want.
i sleep whem i'm tired, not when the sun goes down and i have alredy terminated the daily tasks around 14pm.
It goes boring pretty fast, and it's always one of the first mod i look for.

Hmmm... Well I suppose having them fixed for the final release is great, but that kinda defeats the point of the demo, IMO. How am I supposed to really evaluate the game if it's going to play differently than the demo? If I buy it, and I don't like it even with the changes, then I'm going to refund it.

And I agree with your "sleep when you want" point as well. Actually ran into that last week when playing The Forest. I ran around for almost the entire day, so when I finally slept, I woke up to pitch black nighttime with no way to skip forward to the daytime and actually get anything done. Torches are fine for cave exploration, but a PITA when running around otherwise.

[illgib]

Originally posted by MangoNacre:

Originally posted by illgib:

I think they addresed those for the final release.
What really puts me off, here and many other games, the fact i simply can't sleep whenever i want.
i sleep whem i'm tired, not when the sun goes down and i have alredy terminated the daily tasks around 14pm.
It goes boring pretty fast, and it's always one of the first mod i look for.

Hmmm... Well I suppose having them fixed for the final release is great, but that kinda defeats the point of the demo, IMO. How am I supposed to really evaluate the game if it's going to play differently than the demo? If I buy it, and I don't like it even with the changes, then I'm going to refund it.

And I agree with your "sleep when you want" point as well. Actually ran into that last week when playing The Forest. I ran around for almost the entire day, so when I finally slept, I woke up to pitch black nighttime with no way to skip forward to the daytime and actually get anything done. Torches are fine for cave exploration, but a PITA when running around otherwise.

But it's indeed the goal of a demo, showcase the game and let people give their feedback.
Maybe they'll put out an updated demo, who knows.
I think post release review will tell us.

For the Forest i had the same problem, plus the sleep time move forward everytime you go to sleep, making at one point impossible to sleep for a couple of days, i solved with a "sleep everytime and choose when wake up" mod.
I even hated it back in Farming Sim 19, im'm glad they removed it in 22 :D