Finally made it to 100 villagers - Some thoughts after 20 hours of play

[elwood612]

Hello all!

I have been thoroughly enjoying my time with The Wandering Village and Onbu. Took me a few tries but I finally got up to 120 people and the end game. This is hella impressive for an Early Access game, and I can't wait to see how it evolves!

Here is some feedback, in no particular order:

• I realize development focus might be shifting to consoles at this point, but I think some form of edge scrolling would be appreciated for PC users.
• For first time players, it would be helpful to know what biome you're currently in. Those colors, while pretty, aren't super clear the first time around, and it doesn't say what biome the pinkish zone is supposed to be until you enter it.
• Also for beginners, adding a meter for Onbu's happiness would be helpful. The tail wag and strut is a good idea, but there's no indication of how much I'm affecting his mood by petting him, drilling into his back, etc. This feels off, because for every other "state", you get not only a current level, but how much it's changing by. Maybe adding another circle next to "Hunger" and "Sleepiness" could work? I get not wanting to overwhelm the UI, but this just doesn't feel consistent with how much info we get elsewhere.
• Speaking of which, the UI feels unpolished. No offense, like I said I enjoy the game very much! But if you're going to do a top bar, commit to a top bar. The UI keeps encroaching on the screen, and a lot of the info is stuff I rarely need to see (I don't know if I've ever needed to know the time of day...). Different information for different camera views is a good idea, I think it should be enforced more strictly. A lot of Onbu's info could be relegated to the Onbu view, and the "Day 12" counter could be relegated to the world view, down by "distance traveled." The resources tab could stand to be a bit more organized (could you do some visual grouping perhaps? Food in green, resources in brown, that kind of thing?), and it could possibly take up the entire top bar instead of spreading downwards? The UI is both overwhelming and sometimes not specific enough (see Onbu happiness), it deserves an upgrade.
• The dirt road texture is too similar to the stone road texture.
• I'm sure this is planned, but just in case: please let us upgrade roads directly, instead of tearing out the old roads to make better ones. It's not realistic, it's not fun, and this is the only city builder I can think of that does it this way.
• The priority tool is handy, but limited because you can only go up to level one. What if clicking the same object multiple times with the priority tool incrementally increased priority? I would no longer have to click on the object and manually set priority to 3. Less menus = much yay!!
• Love a city builder that makes good use of warehouses. Could we get some more functionality for them? Some sort of "Get" state, where carriers will prioritize bringing materials here. We could maybe click the resource once to set it to "Accept", then again to set it to "Get" and give it a green ring or something. An "Empty" state (as opposed to just "Refuse") could be useful too, although that may already be how the game behaves, I couldn't tell.
• On that note, what if warehouses had a single inventory, instead of per item? So a warehouse could hold 500 items: could be 500 wood, could be 50 of everything. Would help us stay organized easier, and would lead to more strategy concerning supply routes and distribution.
• Made a bug report about this, but the "Poison Forest" song consistently cuts out for me for a split second at the end of the track, then repeats. Really a shame, because those poison forests are hugely immersive and scary.
• Speaking of audio, there was a bug that happened once (didn't make a report when it did, sorry!!) where all the music cut out, and it didn't start playing again until I entered a new biome. Couldn't replicate it. But it was actually really cool!! It made me appreciate the sound work that already exists, and made me wish for more ambiance! More village noises, different nighttime ambiance... Most importantly, I really think you should incorporate some silence tracks in your soundtrack. Even just 10 or 20 second ones would be super immersive for players. Especially right after a toxic storm! Feels weird to just return to normal biome music. Your music is awesome, don't get me wrong, but after 20 hours anything gets repetitive.
• Why is the "Large Mothertree" smaller than the "Mothertree"?
• Even at a population of 120, my village still feels mostly agrarian. This one is more big picture, but maybe some more late-game industrial buildings could help separate the mid-game from the end-game? Let us make bricks, they would look great on those cottages. Make the Decontaminator bigger and more of an involved process to use. Have more late-game buildings require iron (I only ever build one foundry, and assign one citizen to it, that's more than enough) and glass.
• How do you feel about push-carts? It feels weird to me that the village never evolves beyond Kevin balancing 3 rocks on his head. Carts could be a "tool" option at the Worker's station, similar to compost at farms, and they could carry up to 10 of an item, but would only work on roads. Would further incentivize roads, and would help make the end-game look more advanced.
• The tech tree feels like a missed opportunity for some lore. Could we maybe be reading the constellations? Or perhaps flipping through ancient tomes? It just feels like the tech tree is there because other games have it. Everything in the Wandering Village feels so unique and refreshing, the tech tree should too.

Anyhow, I've blabbered on long enough. As you can tell I quite enjoy this game! Thank you for your dedication and hard work, it's truly inspiring!

Edited September 21, 2022 by elwood612
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[zaru]

Hi elwood612!

Nice ideas and even nicer village, so cozy and organized.

 

The way you talk about music immediately made me remember what happend on The Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild.

I totally understand and agree with you but these guys explain it way better than I could:

1. In Defence of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's Soundtrack - Game Score Fanfare
2. "Invisible" Sound Design in Breath of the Wild - Scruffy
3. The Music of Breath of the Wild | GMTK Extra - Game Maker's Toolkit

[elwood612]

Yes, 100% agree about Breath of the Wild, a lot of space in that soundtrack. Another game that does this surprisingly well is Skyrim. Sure, we all remember the great Skyrim soundtrack. But when is the last time you actually played it? You'd be surprised at how many silent tracks there are, which lets the whole world breathe, and ensures you don't get sick of the music.