Border Town Demo Suggestions & Critiques 2 Hours In

[Mr. Delightful]

So, I played a bit of the Border Town Demo, I found myself enjoying parts of it, like the Open World Exploration, the Hunting & Gathering for Goodies, and the soothing music, putting about 2 hours into the demo, but I feel something is missing.

I have some Suggestions & Critiques for you; please let me know if anyone thinks I’m off base with any of this.

First, I think I found a bug, a minor one.
Bug:
You can only attack / harvest bushes by hand by attacking the front side of them, it does not work when you attack the back of the bush! Works fine with the axe though.

Suggestions:

1. Speed Up Dead Time, Sleep Time!

A fast forward button when you character is sleeping would be handy, as it is currently dead time for the player, something that should be avoided.

2. Chests Should Feed My Crafting!

Stuff stored nearby in a chest should be useable for crafting; it’s a quality of life thing.
Say, materials in chests within 2 or 3 steps of the crafting station should automatically be grabbed for crafting.
That way, things still stay organized, but player time is still saved as well.

3. More RPG in this RPG Please!

In the Border Town Demo, there is currently no exp gained on killings, crafting, or building :(
There is the rep system for completing quests, and learning how to craft certain things, but it doesn’t feel like enough. :(
Consider a Skill system, where as the player uses tools, they get better with them, enabling a kind of RPG character progression; axes, pickaxes, bows, skills like that.

4. Active Use Abilities!

Think Special Abilities tied to the above suggested skill system, enabling players to have active abilities gained from their lvled up passive skills.
Think special Axe abilities, like a horizontal cleave, an armor piercing downward pickax blow, a rapid fire or double arrow bow shot, stuff like that.

It would certainly make the combat feel more engaging, as currently, it’s either a static hp “tank and spank”, or you dodge roll around a bit while plinking away with the bow.
More active use abilities, tied to a cooldown system, would breathe some more life into the combat here.

5. Gimme My Arrows Back Pincushion!

Having a chance to retrieve shot arrows would feel great, as it is immersion breaking that ALL of your arrows completely mulch after being fired.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing where you take Border Town in the future, and in playing it once it is able to satisfy all my RPG needs!
Thanks for the early look.

[大米]

Thank you for your suggestions. They are very valuable for reference. I will consider these issues in the future development process

[petraspring5]

Originally posted by Mr. Delightful:

So, I played a bit of the Border Town Demo, I found myself enjoying parts of it, like the Open World Exploration, the Hunting & Gathering for Goodies, and the soothing music, putting about 2 hours into the demo, but I feel something is missing.

I have some Suggestions & Critiques for you; please let me know if anyone thinks I’m off base with any of this.

First, I think I found a bug, a minor one.
Bug:
You can only attack / harvest bushes by hand by attacking the front side of them, it does not work when you attack the back of the bush! Works fine with the axe though.

Suggestions:

1. Speed Up Dead Time, Sleep Time!

A fast forward button when you character is sleeping would be handy, as it is currently dead time for the player, something that should be avoided.

2. Chests Should Feed My Crafting!

Stuff stored nearby in a chest should be useable for crafting; it’s a quality of life thing.
Say, materials in chests within 2 or 3 steps of the crafting station should automatically be grabbed for crafting.
That way, things still stay organized, but player time is still saved as well.

3. More RPG in this RPG Please!

In the Border Town Demo, there is currently no exp gained on killings, crafting, or building :(
There is the rep system for completing quests, and learning how to craft certain things, but it doesn’t feel like enough. :(
Consider a Skill system, where as the player uses tools, they get better with them, enabling a kind of RPG character progression; axes, pickaxes, bows, skills like that.

4. Active Use Abilities!

Think Special Abilities tied to the above suggested skill system, enabling players to have active abilities gained from their lvled up passive skills.
Think special Axe abilities, like a horizontal cleave, an armor piercing downward pickax blow, a rapid fire or double arrow bow shot, stuff like that.

It would certainly make the combat feel more engaging, as currently, it’s either a static hp “tank and spank”, or you dodge roll around a bit while plinking away with the bow.
More active use abilities, tied to a cooldown system, would breathe some more life into the combat here.

5. Gimme My Arrows Back Pincushion!

Having a chance to retrieve shot arrows would feel great, as it is immersion breaking that ALL of your arrows completely mulch after being fired.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing where you take Border Town in the future, and in playing it once it is able to satisfy all my RPG needs!
Thanks for the early look.

great suggestions, love the demo so far