First off let me say that I think this game has great potential. I just got invited to join the beta today and I am leaving town for a wedding this weekend, so these will be my only comments for a few days but I wanted to go ahead and get some up:
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Hardware Specs:
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I am running this on the higher end version of the XPS 13 Dell Ultrabook. Intel i7-2637M CPU @ 1.70 GHz (dual core). 4 GB Ram. With integrated Intel graphics (I know, not good).
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How the Game Runs:
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As a general matter, all of the game's functions seem to work. However, there is substantial lag doing anything. It's not a dealbreaking amount of lag but it does significantly detract from the experience.
This ultrabook tends to run hot and in high fan mode when it plays even mildly demanding games (e.g., Civilization IV, Galactic Civilizations II, etc.). While running Pandora, the computer did run hot but not as hot as with many other games and the fan seemed to stay in one of it's calmer modes.
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Interface Suggestions:
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--With the tutorial tips, maybe instead of having to click "okay," the next tip could be displayed automatically when the thing you're supposed to do is done. For example, if it says: "click on the button in the upper right" it would progress to the next tip when you click on the thing in the upper right, instead of having to click OK.
--Consider making a press of the "c" key center the view on the currently selected unit or city, as is does in many similar games.
--Consider making an "enter" press move the game to the next turn, as is done in many similar games.
--When you try to enter another player's territory, you am not allowed to (for obvious reasons), but it would be helpful if a screen would popup asking if you wanted to declare war on the player or something. In other words, don't just block progress; actually give the player some idea of what's stopping his or her progress and give him options like declaring war.
--Consider explaining the consequences of proposed actions when you hover over them in diplomacy view. For example, if I enter into a trade agreement with another player, how much will it boost my trade?
--Clicking on another player's units should take you to the diplomacy screen for that empire.
--Unit creation in the workshop is somewhat awkward and counterintuitive in the sense that if you want to create a unit of a particular type, you have to select that type BEFORE pressing the "new" button. This should be changed, I really think so that one clicks "new" first and only then selects the ship type, etc.
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Bugs:
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--One of the tips refers to the "task" button on the right side of the screen but there is no such button (at least it isn't labeled as such).
--When you hover the mouse over the research and wealth icons in the top left of the screen, one of the words is "Cumulation" but it should say "Accumulation" (if you're talking about a verb) or "Total amount" (if you're talking about a noun) or something similar.
--While the English was generally pretty good, it could use a minor polish here and there.
--Even after I die, the game still continues. I can keep ending the turn and going on ad infinitum.
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Other Suggestions:
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--Please, please, please add a scoring system and hall of fame feature. I know some scoff at this sort of thing but I think it really adds a lot to a game's challenge.
--The ocean tiles appear to be too green. Is there a way to make them bluer?
I will be back with more suggestions later. Thanks for making what could be an amazing game!
First Couple of Comments
Moderator: Pandora Moderators
Re: First Couple of Comments
Thanx a lot for the feedback, we will take it all into consideration when adding and tweaking features but i would especially like to hear you elaborated on your scoring and hall of fame suggestion. Should this be a online hall of fame of how different players did when playing the game or a overview of how the different factioned faired at the end of your game? And please let us know wich stats you think we should track and display.
Re: First Couple of Comments
Others may disagree, but what I would like to see most in this area is a hall of fame that is player/machine-specific. I like to know how I fared in one game vs. another. While a score may seem somewhat arbitrary, it gives people like me something to aim for and a quick means of comparing one game from the next.
Regarding what to track, I don't know how other games calculate their high scores so I don't really know how to advise on that front, but I will think about this some more. I imagine the way most games to this is by weighting various factors to get a total score. For example, 30% of the score might come from territory controlled, 30% from population, 20% from the number of techs researched, and 20% from conquering other players (I'm just making this up, but you get the idea....).
Regarding what to track, I don't know how other games calculate their high scores so I don't really know how to advise on that front, but I will think about this some more. I imagine the way most games to this is by weighting various factors to get a total score. For example, 30% of the score might come from territory controlled, 30% from population, 20% from the number of techs researched, and 20% from conquering other players (I'm just making this up, but you get the idea....).
Re: First Couple of Comments
I played for a few more hours this evening and here are some additional points:
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Bugs:
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--Initial loading of the game is very slow (this probably reflects my hardware)
--In at least one instance, I captured a colony but was not prompted to set its production for several turns.
--If you and another player are simultaneously attacking a third player's colony and the other player captures the colony, the colony becomes owned by that other player and your units get stuck in the player's territory. You can't move those units anymore.
--I'm not sure if this is a bug per se, but at one point I had no food, no minerals, and no credits and I didn't notice any negative consequences. Am I just missing them or have they not been implemented yet?
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AI Issues:
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--There appears to be little rhyme or reason as to why a particular player attacks, offers nonagression treaties, etc. In other words, it doesn't happen when one is particularly vulnerable, crowding other players' space, etc.
--Sometimes peace is declared and then war declared by the player the very next turn. This seems odd.
--The AI sometimes seems to fail to take into account my moves. For example, I will tell a unit of mine to move, then when it moves the next turn, the enemy will nonetheless approach the tile my unit was on as though it was still there. It's as if the enemy unit doesn't understand the order in which the players take their turns.
--I've noticed that sometimes colony ships will engage in kamikaze missions, moving right next to colonies I've got mechs parked in.
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Interface Issues:
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--When in the help menu (which I assume you all will add to before the game is released), the arrow keys move the mapview still instead of allowing you to scroll through the help topics. It would be nice if pressing the up or down keys would make the topics scroll up and down.
--With the icons in the upper left of the screen, the totals are listed followed by the component parts of the totals. By listing them side by side, it makes it look like they are all contributing to the total when in fact one of them is the total. Perhaps put the total in bold font? Or instead perhaps you could just put a space between the total and its component parts.
--At the beginning of a turn, when research discoveries are announced, the diplomatic interface often pops up at the last second. So you think you're going to click to dismiss the research screen, but at the last minute you accidentally say something to another player. It might be a good idea to require some sort of action (button press?) before the research discovery screen leads to the diplomatic interface.
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General Gameplay Comments:
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--The game is fun, but the world does not yet have that feeling of being a living world. I'm not 100% sure how you produce this effect but I think adding more random events would help. The sky is the limit here really. You can just make things up that would add to the spice of life to this world (e.g., a traitor defects and brings you enemy research, a comet falls on your land and brings flesh eating bacteria with it, or some sort of ultra rare mineral that gives you an advantage, a gamma ray burst fries one of your cities, a religious revival helps or hurts moral, you get the idea).
--Another thing that detracts from the achievement of a "living world" feel in the game is the fact that many of the games concepts feel transparently linear. For example, for a long period in the game, there is basically one type of ship, one type of plane, etc. and your job is to just equip it with the most recent equipment in a relatively small three categories (gun, device, armor). It's very linear. Contrast this with a game like Galactic Civilizations II, where there are tons of different things you can equip a ship with and where you have to make serious compromises between firepower, space, range, etc. Similarly, in games like Civilization, you might be next to any number of different resources that affect the game in numerous ways. In Pandora, by contrast, the differences in one's surroundings generally only impact the extremely short list of credits, minerals, food, and research. I realize that with most TBS games, the variety of the game world really boils down to behind the scenes variables being changed, but at this stage of development, I think Pandora makes this too visible and it detracts from the dynamism of the game experience.
--If you happen to not have access to one of the four resources in the game (minerals, food, research, or credits) it seems to be almost impossible to get them even with related buildings (e.g., mines for minerals, etc.). The unpredictable location of resources is of course a hallmark with games like this but in most of those cases, a particular resource doesn't necessarily mean you are up a creek without a paddle. For example, in Civilization IV, if you don't have copper nearby, you might have iron and so you're not going to be completely without metal. But in Pandora, there aren't many resources and so it can really screw you up if you don't have, say, minerals.
--The accumulation of operations (planetary bombardment, etc.) seems odd. I was able to hold off invasions simply by using the planetary bombardment's I'd unknowingly saved up. Is there a reason that they are stockpiled? I wonder if it might not make more sense to not have them stockpiled but instead to have nonintrusive buttons for each one that are located somewhere and that are greyed out when you can't use them and are in full color when you can. This could even be a dropdown menu or something.
Keep up the great work. Really excited about this game.
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Bugs:
*******
--Initial loading of the game is very slow (this probably reflects my hardware)
--In at least one instance, I captured a colony but was not prompted to set its production for several turns.
--If you and another player are simultaneously attacking a third player's colony and the other player captures the colony, the colony becomes owned by that other player and your units get stuck in the player's territory. You can't move those units anymore.
--I'm not sure if this is a bug per se, but at one point I had no food, no minerals, and no credits and I didn't notice any negative consequences. Am I just missing them or have they not been implemented yet?
***********
AI Issues:
***********
--There appears to be little rhyme or reason as to why a particular player attacks, offers nonagression treaties, etc. In other words, it doesn't happen when one is particularly vulnerable, crowding other players' space, etc.
--Sometimes peace is declared and then war declared by the player the very next turn. This seems odd.
--The AI sometimes seems to fail to take into account my moves. For example, I will tell a unit of mine to move, then when it moves the next turn, the enemy will nonetheless approach the tile my unit was on as though it was still there. It's as if the enemy unit doesn't understand the order in which the players take their turns.
--I've noticed that sometimes colony ships will engage in kamikaze missions, moving right next to colonies I've got mechs parked in.
********************
Interface Issues:
********************
--When in the help menu (which I assume you all will add to before the game is released), the arrow keys move the mapview still instead of allowing you to scroll through the help topics. It would be nice if pressing the up or down keys would make the topics scroll up and down.
--With the icons in the upper left of the screen, the totals are listed followed by the component parts of the totals. By listing them side by side, it makes it look like they are all contributing to the total when in fact one of them is the total. Perhaps put the total in bold font? Or instead perhaps you could just put a space between the total and its component parts.
--At the beginning of a turn, when research discoveries are announced, the diplomatic interface often pops up at the last second. So you think you're going to click to dismiss the research screen, but at the last minute you accidentally say something to another player. It might be a good idea to require some sort of action (button press?) before the research discovery screen leads to the diplomatic interface.
************************************
General Gameplay Comments:
************************************
--The game is fun, but the world does not yet have that feeling of being a living world. I'm not 100% sure how you produce this effect but I think adding more random events would help. The sky is the limit here really. You can just make things up that would add to the spice of life to this world (e.g., a traitor defects and brings you enemy research, a comet falls on your land and brings flesh eating bacteria with it, or some sort of ultra rare mineral that gives you an advantage, a gamma ray burst fries one of your cities, a religious revival helps or hurts moral, you get the idea).
--Another thing that detracts from the achievement of a "living world" feel in the game is the fact that many of the games concepts feel transparently linear. For example, for a long period in the game, there is basically one type of ship, one type of plane, etc. and your job is to just equip it with the most recent equipment in a relatively small three categories (gun, device, armor). It's very linear. Contrast this with a game like Galactic Civilizations II, where there are tons of different things you can equip a ship with and where you have to make serious compromises between firepower, space, range, etc. Similarly, in games like Civilization, you might be next to any number of different resources that affect the game in numerous ways. In Pandora, by contrast, the differences in one's surroundings generally only impact the extremely short list of credits, minerals, food, and research. I realize that with most TBS games, the variety of the game world really boils down to behind the scenes variables being changed, but at this stage of development, I think Pandora makes this too visible and it detracts from the dynamism of the game experience.
--If you happen to not have access to one of the four resources in the game (minerals, food, research, or credits) it seems to be almost impossible to get them even with related buildings (e.g., mines for minerals, etc.). The unpredictable location of resources is of course a hallmark with games like this but in most of those cases, a particular resource doesn't necessarily mean you are up a creek without a paddle. For example, in Civilization IV, if you don't have copper nearby, you might have iron and so you're not going to be completely without metal. But in Pandora, there aren't many resources and so it can really screw you up if you don't have, say, minerals.
--The accumulation of operations (planetary bombardment, etc.) seems odd. I was able to hold off invasions simply by using the planetary bombardment's I'd unknowingly saved up. Is there a reason that they are stockpiled? I wonder if it might not make more sense to not have them stockpiled but instead to have nonintrusive buttons for each one that are located somewhere and that are greyed out when you can't use them and are in full color when you can. This could even be a dropdown menu or something.
Keep up the great work. Really excited about this game.
Re: First Couple of Comments
Ok wow, thats a lot of great feedback! Regarding the AI not accounting for your moves, the game has simultaneous turns and all orders are executed at once so the AI didn't know u were moving your unit and had already given the order to move to the tile your unit was on, when you click end turn your unit moved and the AI simply missed it. Good job keep the feedback coming!
Re: First Couple of Comments
It would probably make more sense if each building can provide up to a maximum of 1.--The accumulation of operations (planetary bombardment, etc.) seems odd. I was able to hold off invasions simply by using the planetary bombardment's I'd unknowingly saved up. Is there a reason that they are stockpiled? I wonder if it might not make more sense to not have them stockpiled but instead to have nonintrusive buttons for each one that are located somewhere and that are greyed out when you can't use them and are in full color when you can. This could even be a dropdown menu or something.
Rok Breulj
Designer and Programmer
Proxy Studios
Designer and Programmer
Proxy Studios
Re: First Couple of Comments
I played around a tad with the 0.12.0 version this evening. Here a few quick remarks:
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AI Issues:
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--If you block the way of another player's units, the unit just sort of sits there rather than walking around. This isn't a problem per se, but it seems weird.
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UI Issues:
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--The tips (which are a great addition, by the way!) are temporarily covered up by the horizontal strip that tells you your players name, the year, etc. at the beginning of each turn.
--If I'm sailing around looking for unexplored land, why can't I tell my unit to go into terra incognita? In other words, I am only allowed to direct my unit to enter territory I've seen. Why couldn't the unit progress in the direction I want it to and then stop only if an obstacle is encountered?
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Bugs:
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--There are still times when I can create a city but am never prompted to decide its production. At one point, I had three cities and in two of them I wasn't building anything and I wasn't being prompted to select anything. Eventually (like 30 turns later), I was all of a sudden randomly prompted to start producing something.
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Gameplay Issues:
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--I really think that the game is at a point where what really needs focusing on is adding variety to the game experience. Everything still feels far too linear (i.e., unlike a truly unique experience every time you play). The research feels linear (and progresses too quickly, relative to how long it takes to build units), the types of units one builds feels linear, and the lack of resource variety, diplomatic events, and random events in general is the largest thing limiting the game's potential. I'm sure that you all will get there, but I just wanted to reiterate the point that it would be a shame if you all put so much work into the game without then going the extra mile to add the variety that allows one to have a different experience each time it is played.
--I think that other player colonization proceeds too quickly. Once I'm boxed in by other players and start exploring the map, I almost always find that there are no undiscovered islands or land masses. This seriously detracts from the thrill of exploration.
--I'm assuming you don't want me to refer to issues and suggested fixes that I've set forth in earlier posts in this thread, but many of them I think still need work.
Keep up the great work!
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AI Issues:
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--If you block the way of another player's units, the unit just sort of sits there rather than walking around. This isn't a problem per se, but it seems weird.
**********
UI Issues:
**********
--The tips (which are a great addition, by the way!) are temporarily covered up by the horizontal strip that tells you your players name, the year, etc. at the beginning of each turn.
--If I'm sailing around looking for unexplored land, why can't I tell my unit to go into terra incognita? In other words, I am only allowed to direct my unit to enter territory I've seen. Why couldn't the unit progress in the direction I want it to and then stop only if an obstacle is encountered?
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Bugs:
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--There are still times when I can create a city but am never prompted to decide its production. At one point, I had three cities and in two of them I wasn't building anything and I wasn't being prompted to select anything. Eventually (like 30 turns later), I was all of a sudden randomly prompted to start producing something.
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Gameplay Issues:
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--I really think that the game is at a point where what really needs focusing on is adding variety to the game experience. Everything still feels far too linear (i.e., unlike a truly unique experience every time you play). The research feels linear (and progresses too quickly, relative to how long it takes to build units), the types of units one builds feels linear, and the lack of resource variety, diplomatic events, and random events in general is the largest thing limiting the game's potential. I'm sure that you all will get there, but I just wanted to reiterate the point that it would be a shame if you all put so much work into the game without then going the extra mile to add the variety that allows one to have a different experience each time it is played.
--I think that other player colonization proceeds too quickly. Once I'm boxed in by other players and start exploring the map, I almost always find that there are no undiscovered islands or land masses. This seriously detracts from the thrill of exploration.
--I'm assuming you don't want me to refer to issues and suggested fixes that I've set forth in earlier posts in this thread, but many of them I think still need work.
Keep up the great work!