Things the community thinks is needed before the steam release

[therimmer96]

With the steam release around the corner, everyone is naturally very excited, but we should take a second to slow down and think it out. What do we need before the steam release to hold onto players? Over 1 year ago the game got a huge swarm of new players, but very few stayed. This would stain the games reputation if it happened again and potentially ruin its chances of getting big. No one wants that.

Here is my personal list, feel free to add your own below and I will do my best to maintain this list.

• Graphical main menu. The first thing a new player will see is the menu. Lets not scare them off too early.
• Missions/quests. The game is very boring unless you are silly creative or like shooting people, missions could even help those who skipped the tutorial with a learning curve.
• Shipyards. They are going to be a huge gameplay mechanic, they should be in before more players arrive to bitch about change.
• Docking updates. Another major mechanic everyone agrees needs an overhaul, and should be changed before too many people can bitch.
• Faction Security - lots of new members coming, lets keep our stuff safe.

Spoiler: Disclaimer

I am making this thread because I like the game. Like... alot. not spreading hate, not death warning, just I worry for the games future. Please do not use this thread to add random pointless suggestions that are not NEEDED.

 

[Criss]

At the very least I want those shipyards. New stations are coming soon. Also maybe getting at least one capital ship system too just so players can expect the rest.

 

[Keptick]

shipyards, obviously.

Oh, and servers locking up when a single client stops responding, if that hasn't been fixed already (I don't think it has) then it ABSOLUTELY HAS TO BE before a steam release.

 

[therimmer96]

shipyards, obviously.

Oh, and servers locking up when a single client stops responding, if that hasn't been fixed already (I don't think it has) then it ABSOLUTELY HAS TO BE before a steam release.

It was fixed

it still might happen for a bit, but its basically just the server being under load, unable to awnser pongs, (pong are still received, but because pongs are agnoledged in the main thread, and the main thread might be frozen because of something being slow, the threads that handle the client connections put out the "waiting for pong" message)

 

[ToyotaSupra]

Agree with every thing here. Another minor thing some people might notice missing is...well...chairs. Actual pilot chairs. Sorry, but I had to say it. Some douche is gonna repeat it over and over so it might as well be me.

One thing they should put in is a title in the start saying 'THIS IS AN ALPHA GAME, ALPHA GAMES ARE INCOMPLETE AND ARE MEANT TO BE TESTED THROUGH PLAY, THEY ARE NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE FINAL PRODUCT.'

 

[therimmer96]

Agree with every thing here. Another minor thing some people might notice missing is...well...chairs. Actual pilot chairs. Sorry, but I had to say it. Some douche is gonna repeat it over and over so it might as well be me.

One thing they should put in is a title in the start saying 'THIS IS AN ALPHA GAME, ALPHA GAMES ARE INCOMPLETE AND ARE MEANT TO BE TESTED THROUGH PLAY, THEY ARE NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE FINAL PRODUCT.'

well the steam early access tag thing should say that anyway, so its only really needed on this site.

Personally i don't think chairs are a necessary gameplay mechanic, or such a big change it needs doing ASAP. cool as hell yes, but not needed.

 

[Criss]

Agree with every thing here. Another minor thing some people might notice missing is...well...chairs. Actual pilot chairs. Sorry, but I had to say it. Some douche is gonna repeat it over and over so it might as well be me.

One thing they should put in is a title in the start saying 'THIS IS AN ALPHA GAME, ALPHA GAMES ARE INCOMPLETE AND ARE MEANT TO BE TESTED THROUGH PLAY, THEY ARE NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE FINAL PRODUCT.'

That never helped in the case of Dayz. Regardless of alpha, people will think they know what should be happening in development. It will only sort out the complainers from people that are patient and reasonable but they will all still be around to argue it out.

Also, we should technically be closer if not IN beta by then so maybe we will see the basics of all planned systems implemented soon.

 

[FunnyBunny14]

Chairs? If they add another control point, then yes, definitely.
The GUI is already being changed, and I'm almost 100% certain of my guess that schema will make sure that it is in the game before the release.

Wait... How could you forget about the hp system?

 

[xlBlackhawklx]

or faction permissions! lol

 

[Lecic]

HP system, definitely. Along with the stuff mentioned in the OP.

 

[Incap]

Faction security
Faction security
Faction security
Faction security
Faction security
Faction security
Faction security
Faction security

Did I mention Faction security?

 

[DivineEvil]

Shipyards are top priority. Without their inclusion, or rather replacement of ship credit purchace, economy is basically non-existent. Resources and crafting are mostly scrapped to produce goods for sale, rather than building materials, to purchace ships, rather than building them, which leads to credits extinction. Even when used to build ships, resources are much easier to be cloned trough the same means, rather than produced on demand. It can leave a lot of negative impression when the part of the core game mechanics as vast as mining, crafting and general economy is undermined by the outdated sandbox substitute. Asteroid spawning code also should be corrected to make resource gathering balanced.

UI is secondary. It's way too raw and chaotic. Visual part can be performed by other members of the development team, and even without visual update, UI can use some smarter hierarchy to move things around in such a way a regular players would be able to navigate and wouldn't have to see all the possible features until he's specifically looking for them. Large PLAY button, smaller Update, Options, Help and Community buttons and a progress bar is the only things player should see on a launcher window, until he needs to access more specific functions. Same goes for Game Launch window - Options are definitely out of their place.

Anything else, aside from most significant bugs, leftover items, and any possible performance improvements, can wait for later.

 

[Sha3es]

Make owning systems worth more than just faction points in both online and offline play.
This could encourage the use of shipyards if you were given resources from the surrounding to use for the ship building process.
Also, it would encourage the formation of AI inhabited space stations and colonies.

 

[jorgekorke]

Faction security
Faction security
Faction security
Faction security
Faction security
Faction security
Faction security
Faction security

Did I mention Faction security?

Damn straight.
One entire year have passed from the CR homebase destruction and they have not placed any mechanic that allows us to restrict access of faction ships/stations, even with I always remembering them every month. They could work using the rank system we've already got. I think this is the most urgent feature; aside from the launcher visuals - and I won't be opening my faction for recruitment until this is solved.

 

[jayman38]

I think NPC quests would be a good thing for all the new players. Beginning quests could auto-start some of the tutorials in-game, so that the tutorials feel more game-native to new players.

 

[kikaha]

Quests would add to the game nicely i believe.

The economics, buying ships with blocs is well at its place. I mean its normal to do so in a game where you have to mine ressources and use them to build things. Its much more realistic and in keeping with the game basic idea. Mining, ressources, materials... Credits should be kept for bounties :p

 

[Ithirahad]

Relevant armor, faction security, shipyards (coming), atmosphere rendering fixes (Including proper binary star support), transparency/rendering order fixes, quests, more default skins. Everything else can come later, though a few extra shinies wouldn't hurt.

 

[Mariux]

Doesn't matter, it happened :p

 

[therimmer96]

Doesn't matter, it happened :p

 

[Andir]

AI that actually trades with player shops, spawned factories setup to generate various goods that create demand that the trade guild ferries between stations. For example, a processing station buys ores and crystals. It generates capsules and grids and sells them. The trade guild has ships that see this supply and sends a ship to buy goods to sell to a factory in the next sector that generates various hull pieces and demands paint/hull components. This of course causes the advanced armor station 3 sectors away to buy up hull to create Armor...