Playing new demo update with suggestions

[PitterPatter]

I have been playing this game since the first Demo and I love it! The game keeps getting better and better. I still wish the Dev's would fix 1 thing. The Windmill. I really wish it would rotate with the wind. I have to keep destroying it to align it with the wind. Unless I'm missing something? I wouldn't even mind if there were 2 types of them and the one that rotates cost more to make. It not rotating really is a pain. Just the head needs to rotate.

Also 1 more thing... Wish there was a better way to deconstruct. I know I spoke with a Dev last time about this just wondering if it was coming in the future?

The Good.
Love the new corrupted islands. And they are a little harder. Exploding mushroom got me :)
Storms are great like the high winds and you can't see flying in them :)
Game play seems to be smoother. Less lag and pauses.

Suggestions:
1. Some sort of bag or backpack to carry animals off islands so we can fly with them.
2. Rotating Windmills heads.
3. Little hard to see eggs and feathers. I just remove the grass and put up a fence.
4. Sprinkler system to water plants would be cool. Pump could work off the wind.
5. Zoom in on map.
6. Be able to move placeable items.

Island creator works, but can't load island locks up at 15/15 and spins. I know this is new and is beta not complaining just letting you know. Also haven't been able to add trees. Still playing with it I'll know more later.

[rdbury]

You have a point about the windmills; they rotate irl so why not in the game? It's not really that bad though, since you normally only sail in the direction of the wind, just align the windmill to your helm and it will be pointed in the right direction most of the time. If a situation arises where it's not and you need the power, it easy to rotate the island; you don't need to rotate the windmill. Still, a "rotate existing asset in place" would be nice in general. It's seems silly to destroy the thing and recreate it in the exact same spot rotated 90 degrees. That comes up fairly often.

The deconstruction does take some getting used to. There are multiple steps involved and, although I think this isn't the only game to use this mechanic, it is unusual. My problem with it is that I keep missing the target by a pixel or two and end up destroying the wrong thing. I know that the thing to be destroyed is shown in red, but unless you have a steady hand on the mouse it can change without you realizing it just before you hit the button, and then it's too late. I'd propose a simple right-click and hold instead of using multiple mouse buttons.

To the good I'd add the music, and I'm wondering why there's no soundtrack available. We've been waiting a long time for it, and it was definitely worth the wait.

I like the storms too since they force you to change activities every so often. "There's a storm so I'll do things that don't require flying for a while." "The weather's clear so I'll explore a new island while I have the chance." I wish there was not just rain or shine but also fog; you'd think that if you fly into a cloud it would get very foggy, enough to be afraid of falling off the edge of your island. The weather also seems a bit predictable, just alternating between sun and heavy rain with light rain in between. I'm thinking it should be more random, so you don't know whether it's about to clear up or get stormier at any given moment.

I think the fact you can't fly with animals is by design, you actually have to figure out how to move them from one island to another instead of just picking them up and flying off. Once you have a bridge built to link between islands it's not that hard and there isn't much I'd change. However, right now the sailing controls seem to be optimized for going long distances, and using a bridge requires that you carefully "park" and that can be a bit tedious. As it stands I deliberately underpower my lifters and rudders so parking will be easier to manage. Also, animals often wander into hard to reach corners and that can make them difficult to pick up. (Btw, if you just jump off an island while carrying an animal the game will put both you and the animal on your home island. There really aren't any negative consequences for "dying" like this, so it's probably the easiest way to move animals around, assuming you don't mind that kind of thing.)

For the eggs and feathers, it sounds like the game already gives you a solution, so no need to change the mechanics. In general I think you're meant to come up with your own solutions to problems like this rather than have the game do everything for you; at least I hope so.

A sprinkler/irrigation system has been mentioned here before. I think it would be an improvement, but right now growing crops is mostly unnecessary anyway. In my current playthrough I planted a total of 6 crops and can gather all the food I need. Now I only really need to grow seeds to turn into bird food. So there are some balance issues with farming in general that should be resolved before a watering system is needed.

The map has also been mentioned before. The more I think about it the more I think there should be an "[E] to use" option to bring it up fill screen. Then once in full screen be able to zoom and pan around all you want until you exit. Some have suggested adding the map to you HUD, but I don't think that would fit with the other technology (or lack thereof) in the game.

Technically the game is in pre-alpha, not beta, so there may be more upcoming changes than you expect. You're right that it seems to have have a lot of potential, and I'll be disappointed if it doesn't become a "must play" and a live stream favorite once it's released. I'm not convinced that all the recent changes have been for the better though.