Immersion.

[Valiant70]

These days Starmade seems to almost give me a headache when I try to play it. My brain is trying to be immersed, but fails utterly and it's just unpleasant to the point that I can't enjoy the game. I want to like this game. I really do. Right now a combination of things just makes it unpleasant for me to play. I've written down things that I think contribute to my headache in hopes of improving the game.

I think at least part of the issue is the lighting system. Every block in the game has the same weird shine to it, and there are weird edges and light rays and triangles in the windows... agh. Oh yeah, and everything looks like the same ugly kind of semigloss plastic, which is most noticeable with hull plates and terrain... which are the most common blocks in the game.

Another likely culprit is the character movement/interaction. It feels unnatural in every possible way. Space doesn't feel like space. I feel sluggish and clumsy on the ground. I can't sprint. I can't crawl. I also can't see my hands, helmet, or anything that gives me a sense of presence in the world. I'm a clumsy, disembodied camera, and existence is pain.

Sounds are probably a factor, although I know a sound system is being worked on. All we have are a few (rather unpleasant I'm afraid) menu sounds that just make my headache worse. At the very least, we need some footsteps and some smoother, more pleasant beeps and chirps for menus and interfaces.

Oh right... doors. No apologies. Starmade's doors suck. The only alternative is building rail doors everywhere, and they're too bulky for a lot of places, especially for the small, cramped interiors that I prefer for many of my ships. Headache level increased. We need a new solution for doors.

 

[happahappa]

"Star Gates" - could be used a lot more for immersion, if you would actually exit the gate, you are coming through at that gate and not at some random position in the system. I understand, why this is a problem for ships, but for player characters (just the player, no cores) things might be easier. This way you can put your gate room to better use.

Would also be awesome, if you could store a list of target destinations in the gate computer, you can then pick from.

 

[jayman38]

There have been a great many suggestions to help with these issues, that have largely been ignored. What's the suggestion? Just a general stab at better immersion? Better lighting? Those jetpacks we were promised? The sound system we were promised? Do you have any specific suggestion for better compact doors?

 

[Valiant70]

There have been a great many suggestions to help with these issues, that have largely been ignored. What's the suggestion?

It's a compilation of several suggested areas for improvement.

Better lighting?

Yes, because apparently lighting hurts my brain.

Those jetpacks we were promised?

If by jetpacks, you mean the character flies in space rather than... whatever he does now, yes. I don't want or care about flying within gravity.

The sound system we were promised?

I'm aware that sound is currently being worked on. In the OP, I suggested a couple of things to make sound more pleasant.

Do you have any specific suggestion for better compact doors?

In concept, I like the idea of building your own doors out of moving parts. In practice, rails are too bulky for a lot of builds to do this. It would be helpful if a builder could define a number of blocks as a door, then have them slide and phase into the surrounding blocks. I'm not sure how best to implement something like this though.

Unfortunately, I doubt there will be any changes other than lighting until beta, and we may not see the lighting changes in release branch until 2020.

 

[MacThule]

Sprint would be nice. And very easy to do, I believe - we already have 'sprint' while in advanced build mode.

 

[Ribbons0121R121]

i think more sounds for certain events or ambient sounds/music would make more immersion, and perhaps usable console screens and such to replace the need for tags on display modules(shield stat monitor, reactor monitor, etc.).

 

[OfficialCoding]

Idk why people hate the lighting system. I love the lighting system. It looks sweet.
As for sprinting, yeah it's something i would love to have, and i hope we get it.

 

[Valiant70]

Idk why people hate the lighting system. I love the lighting system.

The best way I can explain it is that when you place a light on a wall, the resulting areas of light and shadow often do not make sense, particularly around angles and details on the walls and ceiling. It makes interior spaces unpleasant to look at.

 

[OfficialCoding]

The best way I can explain it is that when you place a light on a wall, the resulting areas of light and shadow often do not make sense, particularly around angles and details on the walls and ceiling. It makes interior spaces unpleasant to look at.

Yeah that is a little screwed up, I wish they'd fix wedge lighting but for the most part it's cool

 

[Dr. Whammy]

The best way I can explain it is that when you place a light on a wall, the resulting areas of light and shadow often do not make sense, particularly around angles and details on the walls and ceiling. It makes interior spaces unpleasant to look at.

Agreed. Lighting in this game does look a bit "off". Not to mention the fact that the shadow effects make absolutely no sense; regardless of how you configure them.

 

[Ckeeze]

Also can I just say how underwhelming it is when i shoot a big rocket or cannonshot at an enemy is when instead of a big boom all i see is a stupid number and some blocks vanishing? I don't even need a detailed explosion just a bright flash that covers the vanishing blocks for a bit. I know it's also worked on, everything is worked on and nothing is achieved....

 

[happahappa]

coordinated fleet jumps

if fleets would be able to use/ coordinate the use of jumps drives, you could sit on the captains chair of one of the fleet ships, give the fleet movement order, lay back and observe how your fleet, including yourself would jump together to any given destination.

atm the experience is very inconsistent, since fleet ships don't jump at all and just go at max. speed, as long as they are loaded/you are on board of a ship. and going alone, although you are supposed to be part of the fleet, is also strange.

 

[Ribbons0121R121]

cctualy, yes, you should be able to control your ship without having to lose the ability to wander the ship.

 

[Edymnion]

cctualy, yes, you should be able to control your ship without having to lose the ability to wander the ship.

I'd like to see a comms panel that would let you issue fleet commands as if you were in the core.

 

[Ribbons0121R121]

I'd like to see a comms panel that would let you issue fleet commands as if you were in the core.

not wuite what i ha din mind but maybe like a way to control the ship from like a chair and calibrate systems with consoles.

 

[Edymnion]

not wuite what i ha din mind but maybe like a way to control the ship from like a chair and calibrate systems with consoles.

Command chairs have been on the dev's radar for ages. Devs had said they're coming, so they're probably going to be in the universe update.

Since you can already access weapon control computers while on foot, just seems logical that we should be able to do things like access a fleet control interface to say recall mining fleets while sitting in the mining processing area.

 

[happahappa]

Command chairs have been on the dev's radar for ages. Devs had said they're coming, so they're probably going to be in the universe update.

Since you can already access weapon control computers while on foot, just seems logical that we should be able to do things like access a fleet control interface to say recall mining fleets while sitting in the mining processing area.

we can access weapon control computers on foot? how? since when?

 

[Edymnion]

we can access weapon control computers on foot? how? since when?

Huh, just tested it and it doesn't work. I swear I remember being able to access a weapon computer like it was a core and being able to fire the associated gun. Did I dream that, or did it just change at some point?

I remember going "Neat, but can't move the ship to point the gun so not really useful..." and never looking at it again.

 

[OfficialCoding]

Huh, just tested it and it doesn't work. I swear I remember being able to access a weapon computer like it was a core and being able to fire the associated gun. Did I dream that, or did it just change at some point?

I remember going "Neat, but can't move the ship to point the gun so not really useful..." and never looking at it again.

I think that was removed, during the weapons update.

 

[falco708]

Do you have any specific suggestion for better compact doors?

Why not make them garage door ? Quick and easy to setup without being initiated to logic system.
Also a good sound is the key to make a door credible (and it would be nice if we could make our own sound for logic door).