Super Melee beta feedback

Like many of us, this week’s beta was my first hands-on exposure to the game. Overall, as an old dude who’s a fan of the previous 3 SC games, I’m impressed. I think you’ve got the “feel” and a good start on things. Here’s a few specific observations:

 

The Good:

-Theme music. Spot on.

-Immediately playable by veterans of the series. I didn’t need a tutorial and was able to jump right in. That says a lot about the work you’ve done to stay faithful while modernizing.

-Whatever you’re doing with camera angle/zoom feels fine to me. It never got in the way, meaning I never stopped to examine exactly how it was working. 

-General approach to graphics. They still need work, but I like where you’re headed.

 

The “doesn’t feel quite like Star Control”:

-Part of the victory ritual for me always involved waggling around in a little taunt or dance while the music played. The beta, however, locks out flight controls after the fight ends. Please give us control during this timeframe (also genuinely needed to avoid planets, etc. that could still destroy you before the next match begins)

-Everything feels slightly sluggish to me, as in not quite as hectic or immediately responsive as the older games. I can’t tell whether this is an intentional choice, a natural byproduct of the newer engine, or simply my hardware trying to keep up with the beta software.

-Since the human ship in this universe seems to be identical to earlier versions, both in design and weapons configuration, it feels wrong to only be able to fire one missile when the round begins. That ship could always immediately fire two on a full energy meter. I’d say rebalance the missiles, if you have to, so it can fire two. File this under “throw the old guys a bone.”

-Absence of screen wrap vs the reality of fleeing enemies. Discussed elsewhere on the board, not going to get into it here. It’s a real issue during play… not sure how you’re gonna pull that one off.

 

The bad:

-Crew dots as a bar graph. The current approach of representing linear damage incurred as fractionally disappearing crew dots is, well, psychotic. It’s neither good data visualization nor good immersion. If you want a linear graph, fine — call it something like “hull integrity,” ditch the units, and make it a bar graph. If you want crew, keep the dots but quit partially dismembering the little guys.

-Needs more/stronger visual/audible feedback of weapon damage occurring to opponents. Many times, I had to look away from the action and watch the HUD to learn whether my enemy was actually taking damage from my attacks, especially since I didn’t know how the weapons worked yet. Black holes, for example — I felt like the CPU was flying right through unharmed until I noticed his green graph was dropping. Better feedback (creaking hulls, venting compartments, loosened bits, explosions, etc.) if successful weapon impacts across the board would’ve aided in discovery and playability.

 

Overall, it’s a hopeful thumbs up from me, team. Feel free to merge this into a master feedback thread if one materializes. Thanks for the beta.