September Thoughts
Published on Monday, October 17, 2016 By
Better late than never...
Thoughts on the September Update
Reading down the PDF from top to bottom, my thoughts are as follows:
Alpha Centauri III UI screenshot – Love the look so far! Orange is a prominent color in this. Will the final color be customizable? If not, please not this orange. J
I echo my peers in calling for dots to represent crew throughout the game vs. a bar.
I really like that you focus on the planet and upper atmosphere in this screenshot. I think it’s a great source of perspective, and will allow for lots of neat graphics. I like the level of zoom here!
I agree with the note about listing resources over 10% (x%).
Overall, I just really, really like this UI so far! It’s got a lot of info, but it’s not presented in a cluttered fashion (See Master of Orion 3). One of the best parts of planet exploration on SC2 was the useful-at-a-glance planet UI. I’m glad to see that is being continued! I even really like the mostly empty lower-right quadrant. It’s nice to have some of the blackness of space showing through. Again, adds nice perspective/ambiance.
I would like to hear even the basic arguments for bypassing this screen when a lander leaves vs. not. My main question is why you would go back to it if you’ve done what you came for? If there will be repeated landings on the same world for some reason, then by all means, make this the default return screen!
The Planet:
Talking about shadows or not, I’d say don’t waste the effort on them if they’re that much trouble. There is so much more to do, and it will help lower-end systems too. If the lander floats, it should have a shadow. If a critter floats, it could have a shadow right below it. Other than that, I really don’t care, and wouldn’t even notice.
Aliens: The comment box says “Place holder test. Every alien will have its own text.” I assume you mean “Font” instead of “text?” If so, then hooray! The different fonts are very important in establishing the character of a race.
Again, ditch the orange UI. Thanks! Blues/metallic/greys are always a good place to start.
I’m not going to be a die-hard on extensive 3-d backgrounds on the aliens. There have been so many good games in the last few years that make great use of 2-d. (See: Banner Saga, Battlefleet Gothic Armada, FTL/Halcyon 6 have no 3-d speech anywhere but play amazingly and with good story!) I’m good either way.
Resources:
I am in LOVE with the glowies!!! I really like how they light the surroundings – see the red one in lower left of screenshot. I like the glow, the sparkles that are above some of them, and the lighting. The colors could be different though. Instead of doing all bright, consider what glowing maroon would look like, or plum, or others. Don’t go more pastel, but you could go less bright colors and more jewel tone on some of it.
In regards to the camera angle and shooting critters, if you can nail the curved shooting represented here, I’d actually love it! It would be different enough, and really set this gameplay apart. I don’t think people would generally have a hard time with it either. Sure they’re curving, but your brain still draws a straight line across the globe to the actual target. I am so excited to play this part, even if you bundle it on its own!!
(P.S. don’t make it possible to shoot at and destroy the resources! That always bugged me about SC2!)
As for the screenshot as a whole, I really like where it’s going!!! Day/night side! Planet looks big enough to really be fun exploring, but quick enough. Love the clouds/atmosphere (something SC2 lacked). Kicking up a little dust behind the lander adds to the realism too!
Shadows in this picture look really nice, though I just got done saying how they aren’t needed. I’d still like the pic without them as long as the day/night stays, and you could probably get away with omitting most of the shadows if you have a dynamic enough atmosphere. (Playing World of Warcraft last night – I got lost in the skyboxes and distant weather! Looked amazing to me. I’ve never once looked for my own shadow, or that of a tree or critter in that game.)
Critters:
Grey sketches on a grey background aren’t the best for showing off differences, but there’s some good structural differences between many of these. Will they be hard to put into the game though? The scale of detail on some of these seems rather intricate, and I guess I have the celery monsters from SC2 stuck in my head, but how are you going to get all that detail into the critters?
Game Development:
I want some of those juicy stories you speak of!
The Great Debate Camp#1: Not a fan of the solar system idea, but that’s mainly because I was SO fond of the SC1/2 method. I’ll be happy to try both though, of course. Could the camera angle be less extreme than 45 degrees? More like vertical minus 30 degrees? I like the idea of the other ship being off the screen sometimes. That’ll be dangerous, and allow for some fun off-screen kills, I’m sure!
In regards to the edge-bounce, is that re-considerable? How about a slight discoloration to visually indicate the edge of the field, and instead of bouncing off of it, if you enter it, your battery drains incredibly quickly and you slow down say, 75%? That way it’s not an artificial bounce, but more of a natural drain on resources that would make you WANT to keep away from it, while adding a slight strategic layer in possibly forcing your enemy out into that sometimes.
The Great Debate Camp#2: I love the idea of other objects besides asteroids!!! Please do this regardless of the camp. Not tons, maybe 2-3 at most per map, but do it!!! As mentioned, I’m a fan of camp 2 because it’s all I’ve known.
Ships:
1: Very cool, sleek, and I like the non-connected parts!
2: LOVE this! Might be favorite! It projects personality all by itself!
3: Glowy-center is nice, vertical alignment is a good change of pace. Will it turn on the axis of the glowing center? Would be cool if it did!
4: Ok. Interested to see what alien inhabits it. Not too memorable just from the picture.
5: Assuming 1st stage human ship? Reminiscent of the original, so good job there!!!
6: Fully decked out human ship? Not a fan of the rotating rings in all of sci-fi (I realize the irony that it’s actual contemporary science though!) but if you have to do it, then this is pretty nice. I like the mismatched colors on all of the modules. Don’t homogenize them!
7: Big. Scary. Red. I am going to want to play this! Looks like a counterpart to 15, which might also be related to 3. If so, neat! It’s a nice contrast to 15 as well, especially the colors. Keep those colors!
8: My least favorite, honestly. Reminds me of the cab from “The Fifth Element.” Lelu Dallas Multipass!
9: Not quite sure what to make of it, but it’s not bad. (massively helpful comment, I know! 
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10: Odd. In the spirit of Arilou? I’m very interested to see what this will actually do in a fight. Like taking a Porsche on a convoy mission to Iraq!
11: Stinky Space Garbage Ship? That’s what I think of, and I like it!
12: Symmetry, geometry and obvious engineering, it’s a great contrast to the others!!!
13: Almost didn’t see that little guy in there! Hope it makes a big impression in combat though!
14: Another vertical ship? Nice! Hard to tell enough details to make a more substantive comment.
15: Big. Scary. Purple. I am going to want to play this too. Mostly to destroy 7, who is obviously a red-tinged-finless-ninny! I’m going to grab a few 3’s to escort me and kick some space-butt! Love this ship!
In summary, 4, 8, 9, 14 are ho-hum in static 2-d. The rest are amazing and so distinct from each other! I still want to see a giant block of hematite as a ship…would make for an awesome and stealthy foe in a space battle.
Thanks for a more detailed update! I look forward to what comes next!
P.S. wallpapers are nice for early-stage. Nothing much to say on the .mov except that I look forward to seeing more fleshed out when the time comes.
-Maogan