What happened to this game?

[jo_cool69]

I remember playing the earlier versions of Astroneer and while it had less stuff and depth the promise of this game was great (just to add more) but now I can't figure anything out. Its like they thought they improved things and now its a convoluded mess as what you need to do and how to get things to work. Its rare that you see a game go so far back when it is trying to improve! Sad.

[4evernomad]

Calm down Donny! The game grew up, play the tutorial, read the guide, get back up to speed, enjoy!

[Mharr]

They lost their co-founders back in the early days of pre-alpha. Paul Pepera died, and lead designer Jacob Liechty left game development to help prevent Skynet eating the solar system IRL. The vision of the game has inevitably changed course twenty degrees or so.

RPS interview with Jacob about the thing that is missing now:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/01/13/how-astroneer-makes-crafting-fun

"This gives a novel clarity to Astroneer’s crafting system. It doesn’t need to tutorialise it, making your first play a self-driven exploration of both your world and the system, which is neither obtuse nor hand-holdy." - That's gone now, there's a standard issue tutorial instead. It's disappointing.

[4evernomad]

Mharr, I feel it's more down to the average player than a single person leaving the company. Have you seen how many people ask the simplest of questions, so many answers on here are just "pick it up and move it a bit", "yes the same button you use for rotating everything else", "It's in the vehicle bay", or "you have to power it".

You could copy/pasta those responses in almost any thread around here and you'd probably help someone every time.

Forcing us to complete the old tutorial on every save became annoying as hell when you make even a few saves per update. Having a standalone world makes far more sense, some people will still ignore it and get stuck and ask simple questions they could have answered themselves by pressing f1 or playing the tutorial. But it does allow SES to update it without messing everyone else around, it makes it skippable and they can make it as detailed as they need to and we don't have to care.

I far prefer the current system over the previous one.

[Buddha]

Originally posted by Mharr:

"This gives a novel clarity to Astroneer’s crafting system. It doesn’t need to tutorialise it, making your first play a self-driven exploration of both your world and the system, which is neither obtuse nor hand-holdy." - That's gone now, there's a standard issue tutorial instead. It's disappointing.

I remember that fresh look and simplicity. I loved the game because it was so relaxing, had a nice cartoony vibe and required almost zero mental effort.

This is what happens when there is plenty of technical skill but no vision. All the effort goes into details, and the game ends up becoming lifeless and pointless.

[whippleofd]

Originally posted by 4evernomad:

I far prefer the current system over the previous one.

Agreed!

[Mr. Fibble]

If you want convoluted and obtuse then ask the devs to roll back to the old research system of an RNG that spat out resources instead of the tech you were after.

Driving has improved a ton since then. Small rover might seem to be a waste due to no storage pips but it's a great little scout that can climb some ridiculously steep inclines when asked to.

[Mharr]

It's the general UI that lost its charm, not the expanding mechanics of the vehicles or research system. Jacob had this great idea where everything would always be a physical object in the world with no abstract interface or inventory windows, then whatever the modules can do, use and create was projected as context sensitive holograms.

There are still echoes of that in the existing game, but it's being drowned in abstract windows, popup control panels, and that infernal 'Hold E to tech the tech' console control scheme.

Case in point, check out this guy having his first Medium Fabricator experience.
Warning: frustrated language, swearing, blasphemy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8MktRXoLEo&t=21m30s
UI disaster begins at 21m30s

[Bull Bulkowski]

the game has improved in my opinion, greatly at that. Performance especially. Thanks System Era for this

[Stardog]

Originally posted by Mharr:

It's the general UI that lost its charm, not the expanding mechanics of the vehicles or research system. Jacob had this great idea where everything would always be a physical object in the world with no abstract interface or inventory windows, then whatever the modules can do, use and create was projected as context sensitive holograms.

There are still echoes of that in the existing game, but it's being drowned in abstract windows, popup control panels, and that infernal 'Hold E to tech the tech' console control scheme.

Case in point, check out this guy having his first Medium Fabricator experience.
Warning: frustrated language, swearing, blasphemy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8MktRXoLEo&t=21m30s
UI disaster begins at 21m30s

The new controls are a disaster.