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Feedback for May Update Video

#2
Hey Josh, just wanted to say that when I originally backed this project, I did so feeling that LT was the most promising Kickstarter among those projects I take an interest in (read: games). With each progress video that belief of mine is cemented further, and as a bonus I get the feel warm in the comfort of being right. Keep up the excellent work!

Here's some feedback regarding the video:

* Don't know what you did with the ship textures, but it did look better and sleeker to me than the previous outing. Also, am very fond of how the ambient light gets reflected on the ship's hull. Cool work!
* Nebulae are also great, with one large (IMO) caveat: They look washed out, with the color gradient breakpoints being very noticable, reminding me of that time we used to work with 16-bit color. I doubt it was video artifacting, as I watched the video in 1080p, but correct me if it was. I would suggest an increase in the number of colors (and/or resolution?) either way.
* Similarly for planet textures, I would suggest a slight increase in resolution. Also, the dark regions do look somewhat uncanny. Maybe add something like city/urban area lights for the dark regions, at least for terrestrial (and sentient-species populated) planets? It's what people would expect. But then you've probably already thought of this.
* Will there be auto docking for the er, trade lanes? The current implementation of it looks kinda adventrous to me, slingshotting you across space. Also, there should be some kind of mechanism to prevent the occasional accidental warp, comical potential notwithstanding.
* Also noticed that the weapon hardpoints go haywire during the slingshotting process. Again, you're probably aware of this...
* Jump nodes look exactly as I expected, coming from a Freelancer nut : )
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Re: Development Update #5: May 2013

#4
Hiya,

Feedback on this months video Josh....

Ships look markedly improved and a step in the right direction.
Backgrounds are very believable and pretty impressive! I think how i would put it is that the first one I saw looked lighter and less nebulous - I like a 'dense' system to visit but less dense space compliments it nicely.
Planets are also impressive, very happy with those :)
The jump gate animation makes me feel dizzy with the pulse of a gate coming at you :S - think you might need hyperspace/jump drives/zero point drives too?
Anyway - clear, great progress especially considering you shipped the prototype.

Nice :)
fraggdya's list of unreasonable demands!
1. I would like a tannoy in my ship that plays 'Ride of the Valkyries' on repeat.
2. A replica of the Icarus II ship
3. A shrubbery
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Re: Development Update #5: May 2013

#6
It's been a while, hasn't it?

The game is shaping up nicely, at least as far as the visuals go. Can't really say anything about the handling (I'll get to that once the beta starts), but what I've seen and heard so far things don't look to be too bad.
I'm not quite happy with the ship's textures (I understand that they're a work in progress), as right now they don't convey any sense of scale. The raster texture seen in the older vids is particularly egregious, as it makes the ships look like cheap toys. Hull shapes seem wierd, too, but I'll complain about those if necessary once they reach a more finalized state.

Tactical interface, UI and system maps look top-notch compared to the horrors I had to dig through lately. Having suffered through the Kinetic Void and Drifter betas, I cannot stress the importance of a unified and workable UI/control interface enough. What I've seen so far already seems leaps and bounds beyond the rest. However, seeing Josh's repeated navigational failures in the video, I think an intra-system map which shows the trade lane routes seems like a necessity and not just like a good idea.

So far, I'm rather pleased with the way development is progressing, though I feel the worst hurdles are yet to come, namely getting all of the elements to interact in a meaningful way with each other. I'll be watching.
Hardenberg was my name
And Terra was my nation
Deep space is my dwelling place
The stars my destination
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Re: Development Update #5: May 2013

#9
I love the shinies! My preciousssss...

However, not to ruin the mood, but I feel that planets feel...puny. Especially the shot where you could see the asteroid in the background and the planet is there for size comparison...

Are there plans to increase the size of planets later down the road? I liked the X series' way of showing you the scale of size. Planets are huge and you're unable to fly past them quickly; instead, a fly by of a planet in the X series takes quite a while. :)

Still, very very good progress! You can see the transition between the night areas and the day areas on planets and it's beautiful. Ships now look amazing! And I believe this isn't the final version of it yet, right? Nebulaes are so pretty and they have an equally beautiful backdrop of stars to keep them company. Keep up the good job Josh! :clap: :thumbup:
In Josh we trust.
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Re: Development Update #5: May 2013

#10
Great video! :thumbup:

However, yes, the planet seems to have more or less the same size of the asteroïd base, and the planet fly-by is too fast. I hope the planets and the solars systems will be much bigger :geek:

Personally, I would like an organisation similar to EVE Online: Big systems, a few points linked by acceleration lanes, but generally you need to warp to travel from a planet to another.

Acceleration gates are great, but the shouldn't be found betwwen each and every space object :oops:
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Re: Development Update #5: May 2013

#11
Hey Josh! Do you think planets will be a little bigger later on? From what you showed us in this video, they seemed a pretty good size, but as a personal preference I would like to see just a little bigger for that class of planet. Maybe it's just the fact that you flew around it so quickly... I am totally for being able to get around quickly in the system, but it seemed to belittle the planet a bit. Suggestion: Maybe if you made them bigger you could use the warp lanes to get around them? They could be curved around the planet with different intersections leading to different places! (if not curved around the planets, then in a polygon shape around them maybe?)

I may be wrong and it isn't the planet size but it's the ship speed that made that runaround so fast. If that is the case then maybe my suggestion won't work so good. But, I hope you think about this!

PS: I'm so glad you added free camera mode! I will probably use only that when I finally get to play! :thumbup:
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Re: Development Update #5: May 2013

#12
Not much to show this month, huh?

In what terms?!

I've followed this project from the beginning, and this video more than any other has given me a "feel" for the character of the game and hints at what it might just end up looking and playing like. Those backgrounds.. wow. They made much more of a difference than I was expecting. Amazing stuff.

As far as system scale (planet size, lanes, asteroids, overall system size, ect..) goes, since this is all procedural I'm sure those are just a variable nudge away. Josh'll just have to spend some time tuning the dials once all the dials are built and in place.

Ships needs a little work; but Josh definitely mentioned in the video he's aware of it and that's forthcoming eventually.

I was blown away, Josh. Keep it up!
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Re: Development Update #5: May 2013

#13
Fives wrote:As far as system scale (planet size, lanes, asteroids, overall system size, ect..) goes, since this is all procedural I'm sure those are just a variable nudge away. Josh'll just have to spend some time tuning the dials once all the dials are built and in place.
Yep.
Balancing is totally not a feature of the LTP.

If planets need to be 100 times as big, that's 2 more zeroes. Zeroes are cheap.
There is no "I" in Tea. That would be gross.
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Re: Development Update #5: May 2013

#14
Great job on your work Josh! It is coming along very well so far. Much of what I wanted to say has been previously stated.

One thing I figured I will mention that hasn't is that I am excited about the free camera now and much larger range for aiming/shooting, however, when you get a chance, look at a way for designing the turrets so as not to have the barrels disappearing inside the ship when shooting downward or more towards the sides and back.

Also more noticeably, the targeting system would pull the turrets up when passing through each acceleration gate.
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