Constructive Feedback from the Demo

[AlanOC91]

- Map is called Drone. I find this one strange. I think it should be called "Map" since that's the universal identifier of what the function does. Don't try re-invent the wheel by calling it something else.

- If the tool menu is opened, it's shown on the map. The map should overlay all windows.

- Tooltips are getting stuck on the map. If I hover over something, the tooltip will remain until the map is closed and re-opened.

- Main Menu should have settings option. I don't know if I missed this but I had to wait until I was in-game to change resolution settings. This was particularly awkward as I am on an Ultrawide monitor and the game was stretched.

- More visual feedback when interacting with the world would be a nice bonus. For example, when chopping wood. Some sort of effect on wood hit (leaves falling for example) would immensely improve satisfaction of gathering.

- It didn't take me long to get lost and not know what to do. I chopped wood, it said something about vacuuming on the beach then. I can't find the beach and now can't find any log to bring up. I keep getting "Get your own house up and running first" for various functions which is confusing.

- Game tells me I am tired and need to sleep but it hasn't really been explained to me.

- When standing next to a vehicle, there should be a visual indicator that it can be interacted with (make it glow maybe). I accidentally entered one without knowing I could.

- Ok, I found by bed. Same point as above, I need some sort of visual indicator that the item can be interacted with.

- Some sort of message log would be fantastic so I can look back on conversations or messages that have appeared.

- I like the animation of the bridge making the path but I fear many users would glance at it and believe it was impassible.

- What is the purpose of being able to delete messages when you open the envelope? It seems odd and there should always be a history of past messages.

- I found the elevator. I can see that I can only click floor 1 and the rest are greyed/disabled. I think if I click one of these disabled items there should be some sort of error/disabled jingle sound to give the player further feedback. A little shake animation on the button could potentially be a plus too.

- I think there could be a better way of demonstration what you currently have equipped besides changing the mouse cursor.

- The stats screen should be a visible UI icon. I shouldn't have to hit ESC to check the controls to then hit TAB. This needs to be represented better.

- Music is great. I'd love some sort of in-game music player to change tracks as I am moving about but this may go against the design philosophy of the game. Maybe a mid/end game unlock.

Overall, there is definitely room for improvement but there is also a TON of potential here. I hope this isn't disheartening! In my own line of work, constructive criticism has really really helped me ship better products in the long run.

[ZenLand Games]

Thanks Alan, our music guy will be very happy anyway ;) Its really great feedback and I think we can definitely incorporate a lot of this into our next update. Its much appreciated and genuinely thanks for taking the time to go through and compile this list.

[fodder]

so... there was a quest progress tab, i guess, on the right side of the screen... somewhat covered by the wishlist banner.

i closed it and can't figure out how to get it back...
afaik.. there are no settings beyond volume..

i found the beach.. as i'm guessing there are no other places to go to go to the south (south east really).. pretty unclear.. probably should be some indicator on the map.

vacuuming sand... totally unclear where i can do the hoovering or why...

i ko'ed myself in the mines from exertion... XD

the dialogue skipped a bit too much.. i was clicking it to display all the text in the same sentence quicker, but it just skipped the whole sentence.

the whole toolbox thing... haven't people figured out universal tools yet? i mean, sure if you can do more than 1 type of action on a particular object, i don't know, dig rock to get stone or blast it into powder.. but if all you can do is dig it... just have 1 tool and have it do all the interactions without picking anything. you could obviously have different modules to signify the varying levels of each type of action... (eg... bronze woodcutting, silver in digging or whatever) but 1 click should do the job without all the faffing around selecting tools.

[zenlandvg]

Hey Fodder, thanks so much for this it helps a lot. I think you make a good point about the toolbox, I guess my original idea was to keep the tools out of general inventory but in doing that it looks like I've added an extra clunky step to actually select a tool 🫠 I wonder would adding hot keys like 1...9 to each tool help?

The zcleaner was one of the last tools we developed and I reckon there's still some tweaking to be done. It's usually possible to vacuum sand on any beach area but...if the zcleaner overheats (going too far up the scale) you may get more sand but then it won't work for a few secs. I think we really need to tell the player about that punishment....I mean ....feature 😎

I think a map is needed for sure, the drone is maybe too limited at the moment.

You work all day down the mines and whaddya get? KO'd and dragged off by Endo the "helpful" med bot with questionable ethics.

The kinda-quest bar can be recovered by clicking on the house or building and pressing the pin button. However I think we do need a general quest log and it's on my list!

Also the dialog skip code needs to be visited again I think as we've heard about it now a few times.

I reckon the next update could feature the tool hotkeys and a quest log. Also maybe I can squeeze in the zcleaner indicator.

Thanks again Fodder, it means a lot that you have taken the time to write your feedback and more is most certainly welcome!

[Megalomaniac166]

I'm with OP on the bridge thing -- I ended up getting frustrated and quitting a few times because I couldn't find a way to where I needed to go because it looked like all the bridges were down. Since this is a building game, it's not a stretch to assume my character would have to build those too. So while the bridge effect is cool visually, the typical player would likely dismiss it as something that needed fixing later and move on. If you wanna keep the cool effect, maybe have a short cut scene in the beginning with one of the characters walking up to it and using it, so the player knows what to look for.

That's really the only thing that broke my immersion. And I admit it's likely due to being easy to frustrate. That being said, I love the concept and I expect big things from you guys. And don't get discouraged if some folks are a bit more harsh and rude than we are about suggestions. Remember -- it's the message that's important, the delivery has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the person sending it.

Can't wait to play the full release.

[zenlandvg]

Thanks Megalomaniac, its funny I never would have thought of how the bridge could be viewed as disabled, but it makes sense now that I think about it! I was thinking that maybe Ted could have a word with the Town Planner and tell them that the bridge is working. ! also thought of having the bridge already formed but then this issue could occur again with later bridges. So maybe that solution is just a bridge too far....

Seriously though, thank you so much for your encouragement, it really means a lot to us as Ekoh Beach steps into the big world!