Survival Closed Test: Second Impact

[tsunamayo]

So I want to do a second run on the survival now that I have more components (power cell, warp, achievements and help). I will open the access to more people.

Please anwser to this post with your steam Id number and I will add you to the beta. (You are automatically enrolled if you where part of the first test). Please keep in mind it is not for you to have fun (as it likely will be frustrating at this stage), but rather to help me improve the game! If you dont plan to actively report issues and post feedback on the github then it is better for you to wait for a more fleshed out version to come out.

Points I would like to focus on:

1. As always I need to track down more bugs, I know especially I should have a few relative to inventory that are hard to reproduce but unfortunately game breaking.
2. I would also like to assess the impact of a limited player inventory. How painful is it really, considering we have the mineral scanner? I still want to clarify if we really need hovercraft at a lower tech tree or not.
3. This time we should go deeper into space, get some pearl on the starting system and warp to a new system. Which means I would like to know of what gets in the way in term of dealing with spaceship and navigating space in a survival context. I expect there will be quite some work improving this

Cheers Francois

[Dangamerspace]

Ola quero participar dessa grande evolução segue meu ID Steam: 76561198065212196

[Prometheus1998]

I'm interested in participating, my Steam ID is 76561198172248261

[Tisdejan]

I would also like to participate. My steam ID is 76561198839039812

[thanatha]

auto-docking on NPC ships' landing platforms needs to compensate for the NPC-ship's own speed (i.e. be a bit faster than the NPC-ship's own speed)

[kerbalcmdr]

@tsunamayo I would be interested in testing for bugs and improvments to survival. My steam id is: 76561199092186288

[tsunamayo]

@byo13 there is a survival progress tab with a check list on what to do fist, with just that, and then a few help section on how to setup things. I need to display a message so players are aware of that.

[tsunamayo]

@Crimson-Artist @tsunamayo So I'm still working through the checklist for Second Impact and writing down all my feedback, I'll post the whole thing once I've finished, but I just wanted to chime in here:

without deliberate progression roadblocks such as a research tree there is very little reason to not develop towards a ship right away. The moment I had a assembler up and running I had planned on using power cells to power my first ship.

I don't see that as a bad thing. Arbitrarily restricting the player to a specific route or specific scale is not enjoyable to a lot of the playerbase for games like this. I actually think a research tree would be a mistake; if the player has the resources to build a thing, they should always be able to build it.

If you really want the player to progress in a certain order, then you need to structure the order in which they can acquire the resources, not impose an artificial limit like a research tree. Requiring the player to go to asteroids from the starting planet is an excellent example of the right way to do this: you literally can't get them without building a space ship first. Similarly, if the game is set up so the player always spawns a long distance from water, building a hovercraft to get to that water to refine fuel is a natural way of channeling them to build a hovercraft.

But if I want to build a space ship and I have all the resources to do so, but the game says "But Thou Must Build a Hovercraft First," it's going to really annoy me.

I am aware that there are a lot of players that have a goal-oriented mentality, and need a Thing to work towards, and that they'll enjoy a very structured approach to the game. However, a huge portion of the playerbase that this game naturally appeals to will have a much more process-oriented mentality, and they're going to want to play Survival without those kind of arbitrary restrictions. I'm one of them, and a research tree sounds like an arbitrary goal at the expense of fun.

We are on the same page, I dont want something too artificial like a tech tree. I have plenty of option on how enforce a progression. Tech tree might be useful though but for a different reason: to make the game less overwhelming for newcomers. But @Crimson-Artist initial feedback is very valid nonetheless, what I dont want so a situation where hovercraft are completely useless as players get to ships in not time, so I will address this. I think the problem now is that the scanner is too strong, and you can mine everything too close from the base. So I will tweak this and mare sure some of the resources needed for ship (likely cobalt) are more scarce and require a bit of scouting to be found.

[Crimson-Artist]

@tsunamayo the survival check list could come in the form of a mission that appears in our mission tab. Much like the tutorial mission we see at the start of creative mode we have a tutorial mission for survival. The mission could end after we have crafted our warp core or lightcruise engines, depending on when you think the player is ready to be set loose and take on the galaxy.

Another option to make hovercrafts viable is to lower the bar to entry for them. I had the idea to give hover pods their own thrust capacity in order to remove the need for thrusters so all you need to make a hovercraft is a yoke, hovercraft computer and a few hover pods. The idea is that if you have the ability to build thrusters why would you make a ground vehicle rather than a flying one. Thrusters can still be placed on them to do what they currently do but they are merely enhancers and not a requirement.

Also consider changing the way hovercrafts control. the current tank controls make no sense for something that moves without friction. Giving them the east style controls from mechs would make a lot more sense; that being the ability to strafe and turning to face wherever the player's mouse is pointing. That and give them the weapon gimbling for mounted weapons we see on ships since the entire hovercraft would become essentially the turret. I got the idea from this video on hovertanks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCYwcZy0AdE

Another thing I thought about is ore types and placement. Perhaps you should consider just adding a dedicated silicon ore vein since so many people are confused as to how to get silicon. You can still keep the idea of refining stone into other ore types. maybe down the line we get access to a special assembler style block that has crafting recipes for ore types. every ore will require stone but the amount will differ per type.

Ore types should also have different spawn conditions. right now every ore type just spawns randomly. I had the idea that certain ore types could spawn depending on ground elevation. A ore may only spawn high on top of peaks and others only spawning low usually at sea level or perhaps under the sea. This will prompt more exploration on the players part.

[thanatha]

@tsunamayo have you concluded your invitations to the survival closed beta (therefore closed it)? Since you have not made any remarks about that you have added other people, as you did last week.

[thalys93]

SteamID 76561198035551342

It will be a pleasure to be able to contribute to improving this game that has great potential

[IrilethPryde]

id be happy to help heres the steam id 76561198020775216

[Mrmurray442]

I'm down! 76561198022794738

[EmyLightsaber]

I'm interested! 76561197981006880

[FinnPearson]

Sign me up! 76561198289031394

[PokkeFe]

Hi Tsuna! Would be down to bug hunt and provide feedback if still needed. SteamID: 76561198036661949

[blaster77145]

So I want to do a second run on the survival now that I have more components (power cell, warp, achievements and help). I will open the access to more people.

Please anwser to this post with your steam Id number and I will add you to the beta. (You are automatically enrolled if you where part of the first test). Please keep in mind it is not for you to have fun (as it likely will be frustrating at this stage), but rather to help me improve the game! If you dont plan to actively report issues and post feedback on the github then it is better for you to wait for a more fleshed out version to come out.

Points I would like to focus on:

1. As always I need to track down more bugs, I know especially I should have a few relative to inventory that are hard to reproduce but unfortunately game breaking.

2. I would also like to assess the impact of a limited player inventory. How painful is it really, considering we have the mineral scanner? I still want to clarify if we really need hovercraft at a lower tech tree or not.

3. This time we should go deeper into space, get some pearl on the starting system and warp to a new system. Which means I would like to know of what gets in the way in term of dealing with spaceship and navigating space in a survival context. I expect there will be quite some work improving this

Cheers Francois

76561199084837279

<3

[M0ssley]

76561199023956776

[AimbotIRL]

I've been playing since the game came out. Massive fan of it and the progress that's been made and I would love to be a part of it! 76561199003602868

[Doom13x]

I would like to help test Survival mode please. my steam ID 76561199565427036

[AKKypher]

It would be awesome to help test survival here is my steam ID 76561198197681670

[CoronaryLilim]

"I would also like to assess the impact of a limited player inventory" While for most purposes fine, it seems that once the inventory fills it becomes... broken in a strange way. You can pick items up just fine, and have no limit on carrying capacity, but only so long as you don't need to maneuver items around in your inventory-- in fact, i didn't realize i was over limit and asked the discord for help because i couldn't figure out why i couldn't put things in my hotbar. I think instead of having a hard cap, your on-foot movement speed should reduce the more you're carrying down to 0% at a defined hard cap, but you should still be able to manage inventories within reach: picking up an entire crate's worth of contents and moving it to another crate within reach is one of the useful things i can think of to do with that system. It also provides a more noticable feeling of 'your bag's full bro': I legitimately didn't know i had a full inventory for a while.

However, all those observations were made on the 'creative+survival' settings on a public build. Since i'd like to test on a 'proper' build, my steam ID is 76561198182970009 if you've got the time to add me.

[Danston-Phoenix]

would love access

Steam ID: 76561197990446350

[TheDrunenFROG]

Would love to participate.

Steam ID: 76561198066734312

[BigBadBobUttley]

Love to participate as well.

Steam ID: 76561197992415959

[Pignouf-Axel]

hi, i would like to try the survival and help find those nasty bugs

Steam ID: 76561198062182689

[ptidoc]

hi i'll be glade to participate to the adventure! : here is my steam id: 76561197996785419

Thanks a lot ! and btw, good job

[superqwerty11112]

76561198851439185 Here is my steam id. Thank you for this opportunity

[efjnsamdg]

Is this still happening or am I late? Steam ID: 76561198850890262

[BuckleyMad]

If this is still happening I would love to help. 76561198361811935

[GR0B]

Please add me too 76561198054435209

[Quailow]

I would like to participate in the survival test. 76561198077023960

[Axlerod12]

Id like to help 76561198949354063

[TenshiGeek]

I am interested in the survival id: 76561198012501799

[GR0B]

Do we need to change to the beta/experiment branch to enable survival mode?

[777eza]

Steam ID: 76561198032163082 would love to playtest

[Mayhoof]

Sign me up please: Steam ID 76561198023401708

[YukoKyoden]

Would love to join this sign me up Steam ID: 76561198094821984

[Muddledde]

Please sign me up! 76561197980030994

[Antonyvw]

Thanks for the invite. As Ive only recently bought the game Im excited to help out. My id is 76561198044923830

[bvierra]

Steam ID: 76561198001442783

Thanks!

[GR0B]

Survival mode does not appear active for me, is there something we are meant to do to be able to access Survival mode in game?

[Boneaboo]

Steam ID: 76561198066897793

Would love an invite, been following since around 2017 and love how far its come!

[14z0r]

Hi, my Steam ID: 76561198129597841

[AttackHeadphone]

Steam ID: 76561198351510943

I would love to be in the demo to help out. I started playing the game around 2021 and it looks amazing.

[DB4L-stevo]

I would very much like to help out! 1,274 hours in. What is a few more :-)

Steam ID: 76561198931505570

[homemonster]

I would very much like to help out! Steam ID: 76561198046459364

[Gulses990]

Hey I'd be iterested in taking part in the Survival Test. Steam ID: 76561198310090556

[Theamericanpilot]

Hello, I recieved an invitation and would like to partake in the Survival test

Steam ID: 76561198152392205

[chisper]

Hello - I saw the invitation and would like to participate in the survival test.

Steam ID: 76561197964324675

[M1styAI]

HaiiiI!

Got the invite and I'd be interested trying it out. ^w^ SteamID: 76561198434510354