Feedback!

[Zedd]

...where did my morning and afternoon go?! Curses!
Suffice to say, I'm bloody loving it. Never been happier to throw some money at a little labour of love. Thank you to the dev for sharing this little gem of geeky joy with me.

-I'd suggest to separate the tutorial message flow from the normal start of the game. You get both the tutorial and game start messages in your inbox, and when you're just figuring things out and have to pause your train of thought to go read what the mayor wants this time, it's distracting. Would suggest to only start the main story messages upon completion of the tutorial to limit emails at the start. (for example, delay the start of the first rock show)

-Also on tutorial: Would suggest adding a "continue" button to the engineer's emails, when ever he's about to hand controls of another variable to you. This way you can practice as long as you want (if needed) while he still takes care of some variables. If suggestion one is followed, it shouldn't mess with the storyline either.
Would also implement a failsafe in the form of a repeated email after a few days just in case you've missed the message or button to press.

-I've made it through the start (after one retry due to overextending builds before upgrades) before the difficulty settings were changed, but it felt quite natural to me. Will try extreme later I think.

[TheDude1972]

Totally agree, the number of messages to me is very frustrating. I actually stopped playing because it was so annoying to stop time see messages about things like population when you're still trying to get the hang of just running the engine without it falling apart.

The tutorial really needs to be separate and should let you try as long as you want before giving the next step.

Current release you're just trying to keep an eye on everything unlocked (in my case the last thing was I think fire) and you have to stop time like every minute (if not less then a minute) to read another message which I started to ignore as it was to much info/story at the beginning.

I just wanted to get a good feel for the controls before taking the next step but the game just keeps steamrolling forward giving you the feeling of being under that steamroller... splat...

OP suggestions says it all, please take this feedback onboard as he has made some good points. Separate the tutorial from the story and let new players get used to just keeping up with all the dials and controls of this complex machine. Then when you graduate from engineering school the city can hire me and flood me about money, people and everything not related to the control of the engine.

[Revo]

Yep, totally agree with the OP. I have been trying to get a grasp on all the controls just to keep the boiler from blowing up all the time! All the messages are very unnecessary! I'm playing on the easy mode, I can only imagine how hard the remaining levels are. Easy mode is not easy! Just my 2 cents!

[SteelPulse]

$0.02 --> Not fond of being someone's alarm clock and should be more sound options. Pretty neat little sim, though!

[Ektorom Software Inc.]

Thanks for the feedback. I think that the simplest option is to have the tutorial occur in isolation from the rest of the story and then continue with the game normally after the tutorial is over, or after the player is ready. It will take some time to implement though.

[Zedd]

Yep, that'll do the job! I'd call it fairly low priority too- bit of streamlining, nothing urgent. Couldn't find anything else to nitpick at.

Loving the little town display btw. It's cute! It's slick! And it hides a bunch of info when you click it!

-I'd like to add to previous comment- the alarm clock event. I like it, though it does pop up often enough to make you want to buy him a new clock. Would suggest, low priority, to add more events requiring the use of the steam whistle, on the same cycle as, and thus taking place instead of, the alarm clock. Worker's lunch break... Big wedding... Start of a race... Teaching a nosy neighbour a lesson... Scaring the pigeons off of the mayor's statue...