User Experience Problems

[Zarkonnen]

I want to like this game, but I currently don't. It's reminiscent of Into the Breach as a tight turn-based game, but where ItB does a lot of work carefully showing you what you can do and what will happen, Overland has been very frustrating:

The selection and action UI is confusing. Left click to do things and right click to select seems backwards. The game doesn't auto-advance to the next character and in fact has no indication that additional characters can still do actions. There's no character roster. There's a lack of tooltips. Does a potted plant do anything?

It's unclear which actions can get "merged" into moves and which can't. So sometimes you can do more than expected - picking something up seems to be free if you have moves left, for example? Sometimes you can do less than expected.

Tad is in the car. Tad needs first aid. A first aid kit is in the car. Can I use the one on the other? If so, I have no idea how.

[SemtexMan47]

Turn on the restart level option, play a few trial runs and you can test for every question you have. Don't know what the plant is for yet but you can probably use it for trading.

[Harris @ Finji]

SemtextMan47 provides some good tips, the level restart function is an incredibly powerful tool that we're going to emphasize in future updates. Some more tips!

- The potted plant can indeed be used for trading
- Free actions (that don't take AP) include merging gas cans, turning on/off your car, and handing items between characters or vehicle
- The first aid kit on your car is attached to it, not inside it! Hop out of the car, grab it off the roof, and then heal up Tad!

[FroBodine]

A tutorial would be nice to explain the game mechanics. A game without a tutorial is like Frosted Flakes without the frost.

[Grrrth]

Originally posted by FroBodine:

A tutorial would be nice to explain the game mechanics. A game without a tutorial is like Frosted Flakes without the frost.

I agree with you on a having a basic tutorial. Perhaps a few maps where there is only one way to get through to force you to learn the basics. However, something like "what do I do with this plant" in my opinion is best left to trial and error. The discovery of new things to do is a large part of the fun in most survival games, and to simply point out all of the available options would not be nearly as enjoyable, at least for me.

[Grrrth]

To the OP, I actually agree that the controls are the biggest problem with Overland. Once you get a feel for them they do get better, but if the "undo" button didn't exist I would be f****d constantly. Night time (where you can't undo) is currently my biggest struggle, but I'm guessing that Finji feels that this is just part of the challenge. If I had to bet, I think that the devs will be tweaking the controls in the future. They are certainly being receptive to feedback thus far.

[Adam Atomic]

Quick update - tonight's update to build 608 fixes the Level Restart issue where it wouldn't work in those out-of-gas scenarios.

[zippythezip]

I agree a few pointers would be nice, I feel I just collect gas and die. Uninstalled and now hidden.