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[opinion] state of the game at early access


zaru

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Dear Stray Fawn Studio,
I hope all is well with you guys.
 
I was a Beta Tester, played the Demo, bought the game on launch date and my humble opinion is as follows:   


1-  Congratulations on your release; I wholeheartedly loved the concept of Nausicaa meets Snowpiercer, the music, the graphics and everything else but the gameplay..

2-  Sometimes it is convoluted and full of micromanagement - for example: I have to turn off Onbu Doctors/Hornblower to free a worker for another building, then turn off that building to free the same worker for yet another building then repeat the process..
To reduce this, couldn't just any passerby execute the command the player asked for and then carry on? 
Let the Village Elder be the Hornblower forever?
Should you merge Feeding Trebuchet with Onbu Doctors so they are only one building and thus reduce the micromanagement?

3-  I find it a little difficult for the player to grasp what should be done next and what are the consequences of the decisions made - for example, Farms:
How many workers are needed?
How many plots of land?
What is the ratio between workers and plots?
Should I keep alternating between Planting and Harvesting?
Should I leave at both?
Should I set the farms to plant and have the Workers Guild harvest automatically?
Even with full employees, they wont tend to all the possible plots..  
I love that the game gives me options, what I feel the game doesn't give me is basis for decision making - maybe this can be solved by adding an efficiency meter on the farms or better explanation on the Elders Notebook.

4-  Villagers won't reproduce and you can only increase population by finding nomads; does that breaks immersion?
Should a Nursery and Cemetery be added in the future?

5-  Workers specialized as Carriers wont do anything else?
It is not clear for the player if it is worth specializing since the movement speed boost is small. 
Specialized Harvesters will also harvest on Farms, Berry Gatherers or only on map resources I ask to be harvested?
Shouldn't they automatically harvest crops on Farms?  (I really dislike the farms right now, sry)
What are Specialized General Workers? Will they build, harvest and carry as efficiently as a Builder, Harvester or Carrier?
If so, then what is the point in having more than one specialization?
The Elders Notebook provides no further clarification on the matter; sorry but Specialization right now is very confusing to me and maybe not worth it.

6-  I don't mind the single goal of the game being 'to survive' or 'to create a thriving village' but I understand what other players have said - as a suggestion, you could add a destination to be reached, a valley safe from spores where civilization can grow and Onbu can finally rest from all the walking.
This destination can only be found after many scavenging runs on ruins from the old civilization to find maps, get Knowledge points, researching and launching weather balloons etc. 
Maybe we could research an antidote to the Poison Spores..

7-  It would be amazing if the Hornblower could play music with the horn to pet Onbu; I had a 10 hour run where he would not accept any direction I asked and refused most of the commands even though I was petting him all the possible time, feeding, not harvesting all the spikes etc.

8-  It would be cool to see the village elder walking around, maybe being the Hornblower.

9-  Scavenging forests could also provide Herbs, Beet, Berries etc
 
10-  When Im out of Herbs and a Spore Cloud or Contaminated Forest is on the path, I would love to have a Town Bell to order all villagers to get inside.
 
 
TLDR-  The game gives me a relaxing and pleasing atmosphere of a Ghibli movie but the gameplay gives me a Stellaris vibe - to me they don't match quite well..
This was a terrible analogy but I couldn't come up with a better one  ^^'
 

I have read your Roadmap and I'm fully aware that the game is in Early Access; I apologise if I'm the only one that feels this way towards your game and I'm grateful for your time.

Best wishes to everyone!
ザル
 
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Hi zaru, thanks for the detailed post, good details there. Will share it with the game designer!

About point 6. Did you reach the event which happens at day 100? If yes, did that feel like a good ending or point to stop? Or do you wish something for a final ending, resting spot?

TLDR makes perfect sense, we have to see how to tune this in a good way.

Thank you for sharing and cheers,

Markus

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Hi Markus, thanks a lot for your time to read and reply!

 

To avoid the Spoiler Biome; yes, I had that event - my humble thoughts is as follows:

1-  It fits perfectly the game and what happens next makes total sense, I wouldn't change it.

2-  What I would change is the camera angle just a little bit because sometimes Onbu stands in the way, blocking the view and thus reducing the emotional impact of the event (my humble opinion).

3-  Going a little further; I would make it a 'cutscene' - time stops, you see the event from various camera angles, the Villagers go to the border of the plateau to see it better, the Onbu Doctors take flight to see it from the air, the Elder speaks, and then the game resumes.

4-  For replayability value, maybe it would be great to not lock the event to a specific distance travelled or days passed.

Im not sure if it is right now since I just started my second run, now on Adept difficulty.

5-  To me it felt like a milestone, a very important event indeed but not an ending point; I love that the game can be run endlessly but at the same time I think an End Goal could be added, so the player feels accomplished and victorious; just like when you reach a Safe House in Left 4 Dead.

Suggestion, maybe add two game modes:

SURVIVAL - you will see that event and maybe others, the game periodically increases difficulty (up to a point) by adding bigger Spore Clouds/ Contaminated Forests, larger Deserts so you have to store more water, food etc. The game ends when the player completes the Ultimate Goal; by reaching a Safe Valley, researching an antidote for the Spores etc.

ENDLESS - just like above but there is no Ultimate Goal, difficulty will reach a maximum point and only the most avid players will manage to keep going; just imagine a scoreboard for that  *Nudge Nudge Wink Wink*

 

Cheers  :onbu_wink:

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21 hours ago, zaru said:
Workers specialized as Carriers wont do anything else?
It is not clear for the player if it is worth specializing since the movement speed boost is small. 
Specialized Harvesters will also harvest on Farms, Berry Gatherers or only on map resources I ask to be harvested?
Shouldn't they automatically harvest crops on Farms?  (I really dislike the farms right now, sry)
What are Specialized General Workers? Will they build, harvest and carry as efficiently as a Builder, Harvester or Carrier?
If so, then what is the point in having more than one specialization?
The Elders Notebook provides no further clarification on the matter; sorry but Specialization right now is very confusing to me and maybe not worth it.

Oh, having specialized carriers is definitely worth it because it's a task most workers will ignore if there are more "relevant" tasks to attend to

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Hi Impersonation of cucumbers, thanks a lot for your input!

It makes total sense and I was able to see it in action on my first run - when I thought specialization was too complicated and decided to try with only Carriers
That being said, in order to see if my point was still valid, on my second run I decided to not have any specialization since the beginning, no matter what.. 


Results? 

On my first attempt I have a thriving village with 97 people, plenty of food, all researches done, 185 days played on Adept difficulty and no ending in sight. 


Sorry devs but I really don't see the benefits of specialization.


Humble suggestion:  change the Specialization building to a Workshop and build Wheelbarrows with the plenty of wood you have and can get on the late game. You don't need to change the animations or the characters, just place a note on their stats list.

Don't like Wheelbarrows? Give them Backpacks with a Cotton farm and a Loom. Too complicated? Build them a Gym and call it a day. As long as that building stands, everyone is faster, carries more stuff and resists more poison. 

 

Speaking about Poison..

 

Cottage is way more expensive to build but has the same poison resistance as a Hut, it makes no sense..

I understand they occupy more slots on the map but house less 2 people, they are more comfortable and give bonus to the workers but overall doesn't feel like an upgrade.

 

Also about Poison, I don't think Decontaminators are very effective right now; they use too much Biogas, are lazy to reach the contaminated area, more often than not they will leave that place to go clean another one on the other side of the map and guess what happens next? That first area grows back and gets bigger.

Suggestion:  they prioritize the closest Spore to their base at first and then the Spores closer to that one; they only go back to lunch when they run out o fuel.

 

Coldsnap and Heatwave are lasting way more than their icon indicates on the map, this does not apply to Storms or Spore Clouds; there is an inconsistency there.

Sometimes a single Heatwave can ruin a whole desert, no planting at all.

 

Cheers  :onbu_wink:

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