Post by RoseTheFox in Deep in the Void comments

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Hey,

I did pick up this game while it was free. For a free game, it was worth diving into if you like base-building colony sims. I played for an hour before feeling like I was satisfied.

Strengths:
> Great aesthetic, how you need to search the map with your mouse to find things is an immersive (possibly unintended) feature. Instantly hooked in the first minutes.

> Tutorial will actually cover most of what you need to know.

> Automation is very easy to set up, no math or belting required.

> The design that defenses create pollution which creates more monsters that require more defenses is a natural escalation curve.

Weaknesses:

> The sound effects were great but the volume wasn't. Each package that gets delivered makes a beeping noise so when you sit next to the core... A lot of robots. And the alarm was really loud too.

> Tutorial did not cover how to properly use the factories, so I didn't know what the checkmark or production limit does.

> Needs a lot more upgrades and possibly legacy (upgrades that you keep forever) upgrades to work towards.

Other Dev Suggestions:

> Currently I don't think Oxygen does anything, so why am I stockpiling 1000s from Ice?

> The Production Limit also doesn't actually limit how many are made in total, so I spend most of the mid-late game babysitting factories for the right amount of stuff.

The effectiveness of a Furnace / Factory is based on how close it is to the core. A Furnace right beside the core feels twice as effective as a Furnace farther away. This may not be true, but that's what it feels like.

> This is an okay feature, as on paper the bigger your factory, the less efficient it will be. But you need to give players the ability to pick up their buildings after they become aware of this/expand.

> There should be some indicators such as a trail (only visible while placing the building) between the core & the building w/ a stat on how long it will take for packages to transport & the throughput.

A strength of this game is you don't need to be an electrician, wiring factory belts together to maximize throughput. However, this game will benefit a lot from being able to see the paths the deliveries take and the ability to manipulate them!

> Make it possible for the player to path the ore packages to the furnaces, then the furnaces to the factories. Should still be simple, shouldn't need to worry about paths overlapping the packages since they don't have a collision.

Whackland Studios2 years ago(+1)

Hello RoseTheFox,

thank you very much for writing such a great Review of the Game!

A lot of the Sound design is subject to change. We didn't want to leave sounds out in the early development process because it does give a lot of needed Feedback.

For the next Update I will find some way to introduce the Player better to the Recipe Mechanics, how you have said it's a much-needed Feature to help the player fully understand what to do.

I have already completely redone the whole Research System and i am now able to add way more upgrades. I will take a look in getting some Upgrades that you can constantly upgrade. It is a good solution of having a Resource drain.

Oxygen is a resource that is already there for a missing feature that will be also implemented in the near Future. There will be another variable for the player, which are "Humans". The player has to give his Population different Jobs, with that you are able to micromanage even more. So if you need more output on the Miners, Furnaces or Factories you can choose so. The new Logistic System which will also be coming soon needs Humans to Transport Resources between Space Stations.

I will take a look into the Production limit and see if it works as we intended it to do so.

The Effectiveness of the Factories depend on the Distance to the Emergency Station is going to change with the Logistic System. The Resources will not be transported automatically like they are now. The Cargo Drones will be a feature that the player could have in the End-Game. The Player will link different Buildings together and form a Space Station with those buildings, the resources are transported easily between the connected buildings. So what you will be ending up with is a lot of different Space Station, where each one in producing something specific. After that you will bring the advanced component to the Main Station where you construct things like new Buildings and other things.

In the end, you talked about that the strength is that you don't need to be an electrician to be able to play the Game properly.

The game will get more complex than it is currently, but we also try to not make it as difficult as it is in different games in the Genre. I think when the Logistic Update will come out, you will get a better view of what I was trying to explain.

I wish you a great Week and a lot of fun with our Future Updates!

itch.io

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