More Immersive Game Beginning

It's not that the rifle is underpowered, it's that it has not been balanced yet. At I49, the team felt that Joe Public playing the alpha stuff there were having too hard a time fighting regular monsters, so before the Yogscast demo, they buffed the sword, but did not adjust the gun.
As it was in the demo, I could see the dissonance of a rifle doing less damage than a sword (but strangely still strong enough to uproot bits of ground) but I doubt that it will stay like that for the final product.

as for the other suggestions, a coat/medpack sounds good, flares instead of torches sounds good (race dependant) and a knife/E-tool rather than a sword would make more sense to me as well.

 

Except the devs flat-out said guns are bugged right now and won't be doing that kind of damage to the ground? So that statment is kind of a moot point, remember that the planet they were on was also a TL3 planet, instead of TL1 meaning the monsters were that much harder then what they would be just starting out, again we'll see how balanced it is when the game comes out.

As for a knife/e-tool I'd rather the option be left in, as I personally won't be using ranged much if I can help it, and having a melee weapon can be better in some circumstances (Remember guns use energy, I'd imagine a gun that does more damage is going to eat energy faster etc) May pay to have a melee weapon around more then just a knife, again we'll see how the devs handle it though.

In the end, I'm worried the way it's going now, they will make it to easy for people, many of these suggestions go along those same lines, a coat/jacket to stave off the cold? That's one of the big things to worry about early on isn't it? A medpack to start? It means you don't have to be as careful when you first beam down, because you have what is (At least int he stream) a full heal waiting to be used. Sorry but, don't make it this easy that's just silly in my opinion, sure I get the "well you don't HAVE to use it right?" that is true, I still feel as if it takes away from the early parts of the game where survival and resource management is key.

 

Yep, I don't disagree, but I feel I should clarify my stance a little:
The guns being bugged to damage the ground and the disparity of damage between the two starter weapons, I'm not taking either as representative from the I49 demo, there's still plenty time for balancing to be done, but we know from dev comments after the fact that it was not right.
The coat/medpack I like the idea of but can see why you wouldn't want them, so agree to disagree (maybe when you choose game difficulty before you start - easy gets you the extra equips)
The knife/e-tool I meant only as a skin, because a sword seems a little out of place for me for the Humans, but it's race dependant. I can totally accept a sword on a Glitch ship, for example.

 

I'm glad you laid this all out. From a storytelling point of view, the way the game starts the player out is a bit lacking. You just appear in your ship and a quest description pops up, which hardly gives the impression that you just narrowly escaped your homeworld. Things should be flexible for the player, but I'd still like to get a sense of being stranded.

The game's still very incomplete though, and they'll probably improve it in the future. The 'About' page talks about taking on "the role of a character who’s just fled from their home planet, only to crash-land on another." So maybe at some point we'll start the game on the surface of a planet in a ship wreckage, and we get a new one when we construct the distress beacon. No idea, but I'm looking forward to seeing where they go with this.

 

The devs said that they took out all lore features for the I49 demo. I'm assuming things related to the lore stuff were also removed / not implemented yet.

As to the suggestions.. I completely agree, except for a few things:
> The Matter Manipulator shouldn't be used to repair the ship, but a completely different thing altogether. Though, using the Matter Manipulator to move some in-the-way wreckage to get to the bit you have to repair?
> Wood-torches should be used. Even basic resources have to be used in an emergency - and I gather that an emergency is what those wood-torches are there for.
> Jacket and Damaged Tech shouldn't be used, for reasons previously stated by other people.
> Snacks and a First Aid Kit should be used, opposing the people who says they shouldn't. What kind of ship doesn't have emergency food and medical stocks? Plus, it'll ease the burden on new players, as the hunger bar "time limit" will no longer be so strict. The single medkit would allow the player to get used to the game without worrying too much about immediate death, while surviving is still a strong point, as you only have one medpack.
> Rifle and Sword should stay as they are. The gun's pretty weak anyway, and I'm pretty sure the sword is race-dependant. They allow the player to get a hang of the different weapon types right from the start.

 

While there are plenty of fair points in here I guess it all boils down to interpretation. Of course there could be an autopilot function where it just takes you to anywhere (in fact, I believe that's very much the case). However, the fact that it's a civilian inside the ship does not mean that labels appear above things to explain to him what said things are. It's not "o hai, apparently you're new to this ship, let me turn the giant flashy labels on" come on ! Like, there's your logic. And yes it is immersion breaking to me. Doesn't mean they have to change it because of that. I'm not trying to be absurd. But I guess there's no point to debate on all this, I was simply sharing my opinion. And it's ok if you don't agree with me.

Funny, but missing the point.

 

My ideal 'immersive' starting survival set would be race-specific, but for humans it would

• A shotgun.
• A machete OR hatchet.
• A small tent.
• A small camp-stove.
• A supply of flares.
• A supply of rations.
• A First Aid kit.
• Firestarting tools/supplies.

Edit:

• Some sort of environmental gear, be it cold-weather clothes or a rebreather or what-have-you.

 

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I will try and reply to what I can. I am glad many others have thought about similar things even if we don't agree on everything.

I agree the first tier should be primitive - which is why I am suggesting that the starter gear is damaged to work inconsistently. Basically meaning, because it only works sometimes, it is better overall to make 'primitive' weapons. The starter weapons are only supposed to hold you off until you can create something better.

I think it would be easier to code as a cosmetic overlay such as cracks that appear over the hull or animations of sparks which are erased as the Matter Manipulator repairs the structure.

I fine with a combat knife, machete, ect for immersion purposes. However, I tried to think of an idea which would fit for starter gear. Having a high composite steel combat knife doesn't seem to fit into tier 1. But a broken advanced weapon that barely functions better than a rock hatchet does in my mind.

Currently the game starts with an automatic rifle which looks futuristic, has a high rate of fire, but does less damage than a pellet gun. I guess I would rather take out ranged weapons altogether from the starter gear, than have what is currently there.

I would rather be forced to craft a knife/sword/dagger/machete than start with one. That way I dont start the game with an overpowered future combat knife. The stun stick is only supposed to hold the player off until something better (and primitive) could be crafted.

The idea is not to have much of a bonus but lead the story with what is possible in the future (a .2 second dash might help a bit, but I dont think it would be enough to break gameplay of the first tier).

Thanks for the work you put into your reply. I wouldn't be upset if nothing changed, just wanted to say how I would like things and get ideas from others. Who knows maybe the devs will like something that someone posts.

I agree; the game already includes a ranged weapon from the start; which is why I proposed having damaged weapons. I like the idea of them breaking in a short period. I think that might be hard to judge how long until they break. That is why I like the idea of them working inconsistently.

I keep a jacket in my car... it is nice inside with the heater going, but if I get out, I want something to keep me warm for a bit without having to go back to my car. But I also get your point.

 

Perhaps they should implement a kind of series of questions like they did in daggerfall or other games where you can answer some questions and you get different starter items based on them, one of them being a jacket or some torches instead or a tent etc. I think that would be kind of cool for a start up thing. It would also give reason to have an 'ancient katana' or blade or whatever and it would also allow a choice between a gun and a blade, etc.

 

Or just let you choose X number of items out of a list with the matter manipulator being the only required item.

 

Love it! but maybe make the stun stick a Battered Machete.

 

My comment was serious, i agree with the rest of your comment, but the point about labels struck me as odd.
I guess it's just another example of varying tastes when it comes to immersion.

More on topic:
Unless i missed some news, we don't yet know how the game begins. For all we know, we might start on the planet next to the smoldering wreckage of our ship. Which would be awesome. In the demos so far, it looks like you can just beam back up to that safe haven whenever you want. Which would probably make things a bit too easy. Having your ship half destroyed to start with would fix that problem, it would explain damaged or missing equipment, and make it feel a lot more like an emergency situation:
You've crashed. You're outside. You're hungry. You're freezing. There are enemies everywhere. Find shelter, quickly!

Whatever they do, i hope it will be a real challenge to stay alive the first few days.

 

Interesting... I am glad they are already considering different ways of starting the game. Would make things a lot more challenging if your ship had crashed. Which would make starter gear even more important.

The problem with having some labels is that people get used to them and expect labels on everything. Sounds time consuming when there are other ways. Glad you liked the ideas.

I agree. Having a collapsible shelter (tent) would make more sense to have in the ship locker rather than finding an early mining dungeon. I like the idea of a pry-bar for a melee weapon.

I like the idea of having races have different starts in equipment? How would you have the other races start? I think difficulty level could also impact starter gear for people who want more of a challenge in surviving. Or like Milan Mree's idea of answering questions to get certain gear sets.

 

Maybe there could be random aspect to it. Like you could get a Machete or it could be a beaten up crossbow. You could get rations, or a campfire to keep you from freezing. So that its different.

 

It would be an interesting way to orient players to the hot and cold system of the game. As it is now, a fire looks more like a cooking item than heating item (unless you have been paying attention to development). Also I am not saying that the jacket keeps you warm or warms you up. Only that it takes longer for the cold bar to drop (and only slightly at that) -it's not supposed to be an effective item against the cold... more of a learning tool.

 

I haven't really put much thought into what the other races could have?
Another idea though, there be different types of 'starter package.' Like a 'settler package' or a 'space pirate' package ect ect. Obviously the 'emergency package' would be one.
Or between the intro playing and the game proper starting, have a prompt that pops up and says something like "You need supplies in uncharted space!" and then lets you pick 10 or so items off of a list of useful gear, leaving you to decide what would be most useful or best for roleplay for you.
Or give everything on the list a pixel value and give them X amount of pixels to spend on starting gear so every selection is balanced.

 

That is quite a valid point. We really don't know how the game will actually start you off. And yeah I also hope it will be a real challenge. In fact, if there will be a hardcore mode I'll jump straight into that and play it sort of like a roguelike. Permadeath would also be amazing in that scenario.

 

High-tech torches maybe? >_>

The thing is, flares don't produce heat, so torches actually have a lot of utility that flares don't.

...What if the Matter Manipulator could be used as a weapon?

Maybe you've played Dead Space? There's that telekinetic ability (I forget what it's called) that let you hurl stuff from the environment at enemies. It's really useful. If we could do something like that, we wouldn't necessarily need a weapon from the start. We could just dig up blocks and fire them as ammo. >_>

Actually, that sounds more like the Rock-it launcher from fallout. Either way, same general idea. And it would probably be about as improvised and "man I really should look for something better" as possible

Eh, I dunno. It doesn't seem like something that would fit, even though it would be very nice to have.

I'm hoping they just come up with a really low-tech jacket we can craft, like one made out of plant fiber or something.

Now this I would like, but again I feel like it's something we should find. Possibly as part of a really early-level quest.

 

I actually like the ideas in this thread. It seems more appropriate.

 

While this would probably increase the immersion of the beginning and I can agree that the game could need such a thing, I don't think it would be a good idea, mostly because quests are there to introduce you to game mechanics, at least in the beginning, and doing a specific thing such as repairing your ship at the beginning which then turns out to be a one-time only thing goes both against the function of quests and adds some stylistic inconsistency to the game.

This is, of course, unless you meant adding repairing ships as an actual feature, which by the way would go great with the planned-for-post-release space battles thing, whenever that comes.

Are you kidding me, I love the mixup of futuristic and ancient. Besides, it's supposed to represent (I'm assuming) how after you leave the planet you oughta start from zero, save from your ship, even in the technological aspect of your life, since you're on your own.