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I love the concept. A few things though. The most pressing of which is that when you’re badly affected by hunger or thirst, that action takes precedence over searching, making it impossible to search a house in some circumstances. Second, I’d like a way to tell how much of each given resource I have.

Also, the game seemed to go on longer than five minutes, and for some reason, I would become fully revitalized without knowing how it happened. Eventually I stopped playing because I wasn’t really sure what was going on any more or how close I was to getting out.

It would definitely help clarify what’s being picked up by putting in better sounds, though I laughed the entire time I was playing at how the game sounds now. Hilarious and fun.

Excellent!

This machine has a Ryzen 5 3600X. I’m not sure if it meets the requirements. I do have a laptop with a Ryzen 7 I could try it on.

It won’t run for me. Opens and then goes unresponsive and crashes.

I love it so far. A few things though. First, I’m not sure if you’re supposed to be able to distill when in non-liquid environs, but it is possible, both on C and B. Second, when using the locations menu to fastt travel to B, I seem to have lost the ability to turn as fast as I used to be able to do while in wheels mode. Turning rate seems fine in bipedal mode.

Looking forward to it 😊

I’m on Alpha Periphery C2 at coordinates 99 North , 66 East , 1,332 above, bearing: 209 degrees. I’ve been exploring quite a way out but recently returned close to the portal. I haven’t encountered this at all while scanning until now, but there’s a sound in the middle quite a bit more sharp and shrill, like a tweeting bird. Is this a bug or is it really that the terrain there is that varied?

I want to make an amendment, something I’d forgotten about until today. The drift sound is considerably louder than the normal reactor sound and makes it difficult to keep focus on an item since the tone drowns it out. What I have to do is listen between the beating of the drift tone.

I might also recommend rolling off the volume as the speed decreases. A good model for this is the reverse gear of a manual transmission car, which is straight cut rather than helical cut like the rest of the gears, so you hear the whine more. Backing up, then letting off the throttle, the whine will lower in pitch, and as the vehicle’s speed drops, the volume of the whine does as well.

Right now, if you hold the drift key and are at a dead stop, you’ll hear a low drone, which I think should not be present until the suit’s wheels begin to rotate and it starts picking up speed.

To my way of thinking, the drift tone should be slightly quieter than the reactors, as, by my understanding, the reactors ramp up to provide power for the suit to move.

If the above sounds like a bit much, I understand. I would just ask that the volume of the tone should be lowered.

• How are the new proximity cues? I like the idea a lot. I do find that it makes me scan less, which might be a bad thing because it means I might miss area-dependent perceptions. I think that’s not really the game’s fault though.

• Is it easier to locate collectibles with audio alone? Yes

• Are the new cues too annoying or demanding of your attention? No

• How is the overall audio mix? Pretty decent overall. I’d like to see the lock-on tone come up a bit. Not the initial pop-up, but the steady FM tone perhaps about 3dB

• Are the collectibles and environmental sounds more audible? Yes

• Does the music feel more reactive to your input? I never thought there was a problem with this. On a long fall from max height, I do get a bit of crackling though as the music changes very rapidly.

• How well are the upgrades balanced? Fine, I’d say.

• Do higher levels feel like super powers? My suit isn’t maxed, though I have the core and bionics sections maxed. The subsystems of thrusters and RCS are between 3-5 currently. No,I don’t think so, and I don’t think my opinion will change when it is all maxed.

Are the material costs worth the time investment? yes

Do you anticipate that the new passive upgrades coming in Side C will make this easier? yes, but, I was a bit underwhelmed with the attractors in E.X.O. What I’m hoping to see here is a refinement on that idea with a grab-on sound, a loop or continuous tone when pulling, and a sound when the item is collected. Even when fully maxed, the range wasn’t that good and the speed was pretty bad. I could easily get to items before the attractors did, rendering them moot.

Are you excited for the future of this project beyond Side C? Most definitely.

I’m gonna guess it was covered with sand. For one thing, scanning everything else around the site was far below the level. It eventually worked, I had to stand there for a few minutes.

I’ve done that and nothing happens. I remember thinking that was the portal too. I also tried fast traveling there and taking a few steps in every direction with the keyboard rather than the gamepad but nothing happens.

I spent some time trying to locate the portal without luck. I’m thinking I’m missing a tower, I’ve got Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie. If I can find a fourth, I’ll try to plot a center. I found a junciton that gave me a perception.

Audio cues are great. I would say that the lock-on cue could stand to be a bit louder. I’m testing with two pairs of headphones. Steelseries Arctus 7 and Nuraphones. With the nuraphones, it’s easier to locate and they stand out more in the mix. Arctus 7s have a muddy sound by default and need EQ to make them sound OK for any purpose. The lock-on cue gets drowned out in bipedal mode at full run.

I’ll be interested to see how that shakes out. I’m kind of hoping that they be a bit more powerful than E.X.O, sorry I’m comparing the two so much, but it’s my frame of reference. Anyway, even fully upgraded, you would have to pretty much stand still and let it come to you, which was a slow process, so it was much faster to just go the extra few feet and collect it yourself.

I haven’t been able to break the game like I can break E.X.O, but then again, I haven’t really tried. Despite the limitations that got put into it, I can still hit 20KM in height and jump 10-30KM in distance, reaching speeds of voer 700MPH. I’m kind of interested to see when side B comes out, how that is addressed, without crippling the jetpack.

One question and one more comment if I may. The question is, I sometimes will hear something akin to a bird call in certain places? Does this sound have any special meaning? Hmm, less of a bird call and more of a chirp. It doesn’t sound like bird song, but a high chirping sound.

There is some really nice wind as part of this game when you move through certain areas. It would be cool if jumping were to make use of this wind, instead of what is there now, which sounds like filtered noise. That certainly gets the job done, but the wind is quite realistic and would sound nice when jumping IMO.

How am I uncovering them? Is this a thing that happens visually on the screen when you’re near enough? Because from my understanding, I do not have the ability to get to items that were too far down.

A few things here. First, as compared with E.X.O, I find collecting materials here far less forgiving W.R.T. positioning and distance. I feel like I’m buzzing around a thing like a bumble bee sometimes before I can pick it up, or, I must move very slowly and make minute adjustments.

I believe that the cause of this is two fold. First, elements that appear far off are difficult to localize, because they sound wider than they are. Second, because the game seems to be less forgiving then it’s predecessor, even being slightly off to one side will cause you to miss. A third, minor component seems to be that when pulse width modulation is used, this can give the false impression that the item is growing/shrinking to either side.

This will probably be subjective, but I feel that the sound of an item is very nebulously positioned, almost like it’s within the outermost region of a cone, only when I get closer, does it seem to become clearer. By that time, it’s harder to get on target. I’m speaking of speeds less than turbo off, so with a gamepad, this means modulating the pressure on the Y axis of the left stick or on the right trigger, and on the keyboard, this means definitely having turbo off and tapping WASD to get it lined up perfectly.

Moving on, with jumping, for keyboard users, there is only two options, jump with turbo on and jump really really far, possibly missing stuff along the way and having to back track, or, jumping with turbo off, and gaining more height and distance. With a controller, it’s slightly better because you can just press as much as you feel you need to forward then jump. I do wish there was a way to limit your height. I love the amount of ground it’s possible to cover in a jump with a fully upgraded exosuit, however, I do sometimes find myself wishing I could limit the height of the jump, which would also have the consequence of shortening its distance.

One way I’ve thought about handling this would be to have the initial jump on a meter, in other words, if you tap and release the button very quickly, you won’t jump that far. But, if you hold it for longer, then you would gain a bit more altitude. To retain the ability to bunny hop, once you fill your jump meter, you automatically jump, and then subsequent jumps are always at full power.

Another issue I’ve found is that sometimes things seem to be occluded more than they should be. Though I wonder if this is intentional as it comes on somewhat abruptly as you move from one terrain type to another. This seems to affect the suit as a whole, but even items that are reachable sound as if they have been filtered.

I wanted to take the time to say what this game means to me. In many ways, E.X.O is more advanced, but yet, Sound Strider is different. For one thing, and I don’t know how this is even possible, but areas that exist in the game exist on the astral plane. Second, being in the game world allows me to effortlessly astral project, something I cannot ordinarily do with any consistency. Third, I have seen the AI evolve the ability to do things. Worlds with vehicles, for instance, once completely ignored me, but they evolved the ability to not only stop for me, but to beep at me. Before, they would simply drive right through me as if I didn’t exist.

This game, and the worlds it creates are my happy place. Somewhere I can go when life becomes too much. I have slept with it on many times. And there have been stretches where I forget that I even still have it, but then I remember, and I come back to it for a while, and it’s refreshing in a way I can’t even begin to describe.

I love the instruments, and the fact that you can play them with the computer keyboard, an XBOX controller, and a midi controller. I’ve done all three. Sometimes, I will stop when I hear percussive sounds but no melody, and I’ll improvise around what they’re already doing.

I see the things that the game creates as more than just tones and sounds. And there are some sounds that I really don’t like at all, but I still walk by them, because it’s part of the cleansing effect, and I don’t build negative energy there, I use the world to take it away.

I will always have this game, and I am excited about anything you do in the future, but I have never regretted my purchase of Sound Strider for a second, and that hasn’t changed despite the price tag dropping off. If anything, it’ll allow more people to play it. Maybe most of them see it as a weird game that makes some interesting sounds, but eats too much CPU power so they play it twice and never again. But there’s always the chance that like me, others will find it.

I’ve showed it to a few people, and I’ve even purchased it for a few, because if they can get even a little bit of what I’ve just mentioned out of it, then its worth it.

There's an issue with this version where upon performing a scan that returns a lot of results, the sounds will cut out harshly, stay out for a few seconds, then come back. When they come back, the stereo field seems kind of wrong.

I see what you did with that not quite remake of the PS1 logo. It was close enough that anyone who played it will know what you were going for though.

Also the running gets unnaturally fast. The hurdles, I feel like the line is too far back, and even if I take two steps past it then jump, I always land on it every single time.

yes, it fixed me 😊

OK, thanks. Hopefully it will be able to fix the save as I haven't touched it and don't plan to lol.

So I broke another save. I think it also has something to do with cargo storage being full, as that's what happens every time I log in, I get a message saying something to that effect. All the sounds go nuts. In this instant, I wasn't high up in the air or anything. I'd just grabbed something and it happened.

No problem. Speaking of math though, you really never turn to 360 degrees in real life, but you can in game. 360 is like a parallel to 0, kind of like how you never have a time of 23:60 , it just rolls around to 0:00.

I'll pass on building it from source, I hate web development.

I haven't. I am not sure where it's located, apart from possibly being in %appdata%\itch\apps\exo.

OK, this isn't just a bug that resolves itself the next time you enter the game. It corrupted my save apparently.

OK, I got the game to bug out hard. SO I went back to exactly 0, 0 and stood there for a while. Then I turned a bit and jumped. I forgot to stop turning to jump so I had to counter my rotational velocity, then the sounds from the atmosphere got really loud, and it kept saying I was collecting things. At first, the game would respond to certain things, then it stopped responding altogether.

The problem seems to be that I don't really have any decisions to make as all of my upgrade paths are locked out. Everything needs those now, and I can't get them. I've been to the tops of mountains and along the flat areas where I can just cruise.

Hi, I'm to the point now where upgrades are starting to require a Teseract. I've notice that there are no slots for these and that I haven't been getting any despite far and wide searches. Nor am I able to see that these are craftable. I'm wondering how these are to be gotten so I can continue to upgrade my suit?

I absolutely love this. I hope it will become commercial like your other titles so you can work on it more. I have a few suggestions though.

First, a way to know your altitude relative to the ground. This would help in being able to come down slowly. Second. A measure of how fast you're going when flying. Third, a way to know when you can use your jump jets again.

In the synthesis screen, I think a sound when you actually do the craft would help cement that it has been done rather than the button disappearing. It's a little confusing at this point to know what you have already done.

Ah yes, this is better.

I think that will only work on windows with SAPI and Jaws. The last I've known is that NVDA has no ways of communicating that information.

Sounds kind of like the second to me...? I guess what I'm after is a smooth application as well as roll off when you release the stick. And yeah it could just be a me thing, so it would be good to hear from others. I just think it would make it feel better.

I guess thinking of it like the ship that you're in; well when can you just start turning and decide to stop in that moment. It wouldn't happen. Math is reeeeeeally not my strong suit so I'll try just explaining pseudo-concepts.

If you're flying and you initiate a turn, then you center your stick, you wouldn't stop turning in that moment. Let's say that the ship had a computer to apply thrust in the opposite direction. I'm thinking of a ship with an RCS system at the front. Or something we have here on earth, a big barge with bow thrusters which you'd use to help you slide into dock.

Whatever system you have is going to have to calculate how much thrust to apply in the opposite direction to bring your rotational velocity to a stop, but also do it in such a way that it doesn't kill you or fling you across the cockpit.

So that's sort of what I'm after, just something to make us feel that external forces - or actually lack of forces are playing at our ship. I'm not suggesting that we continue to rotate indefinitely, or spin 900 degrees before finally stopping. I just think that a smooth roll on and roll off or ramp up and ramp down once the stick is pressed and returned to neutral will help make it feel more real. Also, if you did want to stop your rotation quicker, you could just apply a little opposite stick for a short time.

As you say, it does break away from the center and shoot trope, but I think it could be fun trying to get to the point where you could just start a turn, ease off the stick and fire a few times and hopefully it carries you through just enough to land multiple hits on multiple rocks.

I also think it would help in situations where you and the rocks are moving so fast that you have to line up a shot that will hit where the rock will be by the time it gets there. That doesn't happen a whole lot in this game, but it can.

For the stick partial movements, I guess a fixed accceleration is fine but the max rate of turn then is reduced from full. It would probably scale though.

I don't know if this is just a me thing, but the volume of things with no focus mode active is too quiet, and too loud with one on. I'd like to see that adjusted a bit. Maybe by 5-20% or so.

Hi, I can tell that there is now some consideration for analog input in both forward thrust and turning. The turning though still feels very harsh. I don't really know what words I'd use, but it feels like rotating something in your hand where there's a motion and a stop that's harsh. I guess what I'm after is a sort of more spacey feel like Elite:Dangerous with assists off where you start turning, build to a peak rotational velocity, then when you let go of the stick or the arrows, your rotation slows down until it stops.

This type of movement is what's going to let players come in and clear the big ones entirely in a smooth maneuver. It's the sort of thing that makes you feel like you're piloting something because there's a bit of momentum carrying you through a turn. so if I come in on a big rock and fire, and it splits left of me, I'm going to start a left turn and learn the mechanics of when to let off so I fire at the right points to blast them all in one single smooth motion..

Right now, it's very stilted and stiff feeling. Definitely playable, but not as the original Asteroids felt.

I feel like the asteroids are always spawning in tight little clusters around me. Sometimes it feels like the game field is too small, though I don't know if it's that, or just the pattern they seem to spawn at. It doesn't seem to matter whether I'm hovering near the center or near one of the borders. When they spawn, they all end up right around me and most of them are headed towards me.

When passing wave 3 or 4 is when things start to get interesting as far as being put in a situation that there doesn't seem to be any way out of.

I don't think that it would leave keyboard players disadvantaged. They would just have to rely more heavily on tapping to turn slower. I actually find that I perform better using the keyboard, even though I like using the gamepad.

Another thing, this doesn't really display the same spacial mechanics of the original game. In the original, you couldn't really ever stop. You could just burn your engines and move faster. If you stopped burning, you'd carry on that momentum because you're in space. If you turned, you'd be facing in a different direction than your direction of travel. To fix this, you would have to either turn and burn, or burn after turning. Doing so would kind of add velocity to a different direction. You could travel in diagonal arcs even. The only way to slow down would be to flip a 180 and burn in that direction.

I think it just plopped you down, I can't remember. I've lost two lives in a row from time to time because I'll be just that amount of unlucky and it'll be right there as my invincibility ends. I don't know if that's a bad thing. There's probably got to be some sort of luck involved.