First impressions, general comments/suggestions.

from Offworld Forums

So I couldn't resist buying this game. Unfortunately the UI is too demanding for my laptop, but I still wanted to give you some first impressions of the game. I haven't been through the forums to read everything, probably a lot of what I mention is known/being worked on. Just take it as a +1 :)

Overall my impressions are super positive about this game. I would continue playing the way it is right now :D I liked the fact there weren't any real tutorial. Having to figure out things for myself. Once you start playing, you actually recognize some Civ concepts, which is quite nice and "reassuring" somehow. Like "Ok, I know this, I recognize this mechanic" and it sets some groundwork for the game.

Clarity:

I think the only real gripe I have is general clarity. For example, the tooltips would be clearer for beginners if the required ressources where "ordered" and 1 on each line, for example.

tooltip example

 

I don't suffer from color blindness, but I don't have good eye-sight. I have real issues in identifying which tiles are mine, which are the "enemie's" and what color they are. I'm sure this is planned, but bigger more apparent color borders would really help.

Finally, the resource icons are very small. If they are 1 unit wide right now, I would vote for 1.5x to 2x bigger :)

Overall the game is awesome, and I can't wait to be able to play more ^_^ Good job!

5,227 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from Offworld Forums Top

Thanks for all the great feedback! I like the layout of the tooltip you made. That is a better way to organize it.

When you say the resource icons, do you mean those in the tooltips or those that appear in the game world?

Thanks again!

-Scott-

Reply #2 from Offworld Forums Top

I like the layout as well.

To add on to clarity though, I wish the hover that shows when you try to place a structure but can't due to lack of funding (it'll say something like "need $2000" would show every time you place a structure regardless, so you can more easily tell when you have the resources for a building vs when you need to buy resources to place a building.

 

Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from Offworld Forums Top

Yeah, that's something that I'm not sure exactly how to communicate. Here are the states that a building can be in:

You don't have the money/resources. That one is pretty easy.

You have some of the resources and enough money. Should we show how much you're going to pay? How much the total value is?

You have all the resources. Should we show the value of the resources your consuming? Sometimes a building isn't worth the money in resources your consuming.

I don't want to overwhelm the player with information that they don't need. I feel like most of the time, the players don't need the information and it's bothersome and the current solution (showing nothing) is clean and easy to play.

-Scott-

Reply #4 from Offworld Forums Top

I would like to see how much money I'm paying. It's disorienting to have the money amount disappear as soon as you have enough.

Also, Lots of newbies will buy lots of buildings even when it costs them 50k, showing the money cost over the cursor could fix that.

Reply #5 from Offworld Forums Top

To answer you Scott, I am talking about the ressource icons on the map. I like to play zoomed out as much as possible and that is when the game map starts to be a bit unclear. But even zoomed at "medium" the icons don't pop out. Now, it may be that a thicker border and more saturated colors would help in identifying resource icons, or something I haven't thought of.

Many good ideas/issues being brought up. I think that recognizing when it is not optimal (resource-wise) to add a building should be left to the player. As that is a game mistake which can loose you a game. Though having a hover over the map tile you want to build, clearly showing how much money and resources it will cost you sounds like an elegant solution. I can't think of anything else right now.

Thank you for engaging the community btw :)

[edit] These guys 

 

Reply #6 from Offworld Forums Top

Speaking of that, the icons and fonts could be relatively larger. The build progress ??/20 or ??/40 is only as large as the tile, which is TINY compared to the rest of the UI (which feels a little too large sometimes; an option to adjust UI size % in the future?) when you play zoomed out. Having it scale with the zoom so it never goes below a certain minimum font size would be easier on the eyes.

If there is a hover, I would prefer it stay the same size regardless of how zoomed out I am.