Feedback My current gripes with the game (some major, some minor)

Honestly, @mollygos and@Tyi and in general @StarboundTeam.
It is great that you finally were able to release the game, I'm happy for it and for you, and while a few hiccups were to be expected, the game feels a lot more unique now and I'm sure it will gain a steady player- and fanbase. Great work and Congratulations!

The biggest issue the game has, besides bugs and glitches, is that there is way too few stuff explained. A lot of people are complaining about the toolbar, e.g., because at first try the toolbar just seems horrific to use. But if you actually find the use behind the on-hand off-hand combo and find out that you can switch to the second toolbar, it becomes a lot more usable. The hotbar is pretty useable if you carefully put your items into your slots and you know how it is best used. Just that you are never told any of this, hence the reaction people have now.
Same with other stuff like people actually not knowing to do after they landed on the planet. Hell I didn't even notice that there is a compass in the right top corner till I was actually on top of the point.
Or people being unable to build their dreamhouses because they don't know about the Shift-1-block function of the Matter Manipulator.
Or another prominent example is people not knowing that you can click on an item and then instantly use it. I mean, obviously, how should you KNOW that you can do that? It makes no sense to assume it, and if you don't get told that you can do this, you might only find out by accident or even never! I've heard a lot of people issuing the complaint that you have to put food into the hotbar to eat it.

I think a lot of things could already be solved by giving the player a "survival guide" codex or some sorts of at the start, that includes a lot of useful tips like what you need to farm stuff, how to get into crafting, the use of the GUI and the nuances of how the game is supposed to be played. Now when I think of it, weren't there even such a codex in the earlier versions?

And, to the heck of it, while I'm already on it, here are some other things that I still think should be changed/added, or that you should at least take into consideration (from a kickstarter supporter I might throw in):

• An option to scale the GUI is desperately needed, on low resolutions the elements overlap making them unreadable and unuseable. (Also being able to hide the short questinfo bar should be added)
• The Item details window that is shown when hovering with your mouse over it should be moved up if it would be out of window otherwise. Right now you have to move the whole inventory window if you want to read items on bottom.
• Taking all items from a chest should also be bound to a key, R preferably. Think of the newer Fallout games. Also a symbol appearing when you hover your mouse over an empty box would be fantastic, but that is not as important.
• ALL chests and inventories should have a sort button, not just some. More sort-modi, like after spoil-grade of food could also be helpful. Also ALL chests and inventories should have the "Take All" function.
• Instead of having three different difficulties with starvation tied into them, you should just be able to choose directly if you want to have starvation, and the difficulty should be based on no-pixel-drop, pixel-drop and permadeath
• Food needs a buff explanation, or make it that at first you don't know the buffs until you've eaten the food once
• Regarding food, I like the idea of it taking up space to make it more precious and hinder hoarding, but I think some early game food should be stackable, like the cans you gain at the start, even stacks of 5 would already be good enough
• When we are already talking food, the rotting system is great and balanced, but I think it show the status of how spoiled it is already on the inventory icon. Otherwise it is very tedious having to wait for the description of every item when you want to find the food that's spoiled the most.
• I recognized that unlocking one artifact unlocks it for all your other characters, I think quest progression should be tied to the player instead of the universe
• Seedmaker, there is already a mod for that but it should definitely be added to the game
• Also I also heard there are still some seeds that are not purchasable, like cotton. This is important because you need cotton for the teddybear, which you need to make when you want to buy ores and play a non-ore-mining style. Probably cotton directly should be buyable.
• I can understand why you removed the racial AI's (I think), but it would be great if you could bring them back as purchasable in the outpost.
• The workshop system is fantastic, only a few additions would be helpful. Like it is great that you can see all your activated mods in the starting menu, even greater though would be if you could activate/deactive them there as well! Another thing the workshop currently is missing is categories. The mod section categories on here are already great, so I suggest you just take those over.
• Some weapons could use a passover. Like, I really like the idea of the hammers, but it makes the weapon very frustating to use if you have to fully upload them to get of a shot. In some cases you miss your swipe or you are getting stuck in a pit with monsters, and then you desperately need the knockback of even a quick swipe. The shockwave alt ability of hammer is also very tedious to use, as the wave drops already on a difference of 1 block.
• It has been said already to death, but there needs to be more chat options, especially planet-restricted.
• I still find it sad that NPC-talk isn't saved in the chatbox, with how fast the bubbles oftentimes disappear, you have to click through all speech-options again just to reread them.
• In general a chatbox for "game messages" that saves things like pixel and items gained and npc speeches or deaths would be of good use, but that is definitely the least priority there is I guess.
• I still think pets should not be given at the start, and (or at least) that you should be able to purchase pets in the outpost. Again, there is already a mod for that and I think it is something that should be in the base-game.
• Healing-Salves should not be common, so they don't get dropped at your death. It is pretty frustrating when you die, you know you have to walk an eternity to your grave and a lot of monsters are on your way and that you recognize that you lost all your 200 healing-salves. Then you have to farm plants just to be able to get your other salves.
• A PAUSE FUNCTION. This is honestly the biggest gripe I have and I am still really disappointed that you didn't manage that to include into the game. Now, I don't know if you didn't do so because of the structure you build your game upon, but to not have such a simple thing is such a game is a bit of a tragedy. If you are unable to implement one, at least make it so that your character doesn't get damaged and doesn't get hungry when you press Escape. It is ridiculous that I've seen people carrying chairs with them so they could just go to the toilet while playing.
• More help codexes! In my opinion, for every feature there should be a help codex. Got a capturing pod? Here's a codex describing what it does! Found a upgrading module? Here's what you can do with it! Created a hoe? How to do farming! Such things, you get the idea. So people actually don't miss features or are dumbfounded or are using them wrong.

I've only played a few hours so far, but these are the things that I immediately recognized. A lot of them are probably debatable or just won't get added because of internal visions and philosophies, but I think a lot of these things seriously hinder the gameplay and changing them for the better with give players a better experience with the game. I could probably still think of some, but let's leave it here.
Best luck with the game, I'm sure you will find a way to make it an even greater experience!
--- Post updated ---
To give even more examples to how desperately the game is missing explanations, check out these comments on reddit about using the craftable flag as teleporter beacon: https://www.reddit.com/r/starbound/comments/4up7xn/psa_you_can_set_flags_as_teleport_markers/d5rmm91

The game basically throws you into the game "Here, have fun " throwing tools and stuff at you every second without giving you even the little finger. That is definitely not what a game that's supposed to be "released" should look like.

 

Yeah, hammers would be better if their right-click was the spin attack like the starting broadsword has. That way you have a quick attack you can use (for energy), and a strong regular attack for free.

Concerning cotton, though. I found some pretty easily on the starting planet just wandering around. Did you not have any on yours?

 

Nope, have visited 3 planets so far and no cotton for me. I've read the complaint also from other people.

 

procgen planets! sometimes they have cotton, sometimes they have plant fibre trees

my starting world had both

In either your base or (preferably) your ship, fill a container full of torches, medicine, non-perishable food (like rice), ropes, and wooden platforms. this is your Bug-Out Bag™ for when you need to get your stuff back after death

Also drop by here when you have a moment

 

So basically, 'git gud.'

There's a fine line between players needing to adapt to the game they're in, and the devs flat-out getting things wrong. On top of that, while I do think that the modders are going to be what end up making this game truly great, by the same token they shouldn't have to.

 

No.

basically, "subjective experiences are subjective and by no means universal but, fortunately you can mod this game almost any way you like."

 

Add this one:

The removal of the Engine Power Down at the end of FTL travel.

I'm pretty sure this is an outright bug that nobody bothered to fix since Koala, because the sky.config file mentions the sound file in question (hyperspace_end.ogg) but it just simply doesn't play. Unless you start a new character and Skip Intro Mission and THEN you hear it.... but only once.

 

Actually I just wrote a mod that gives me purchasable cotton and cotton seeds at the outpost, lol: http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/give-me-cotton.119490/

 

chucklefish killed the possibility of roleplay in their game by removing the multiple avenues of chat (Local/planetary and Universe). When most likely less than 10% (Or fewer... actually a lot fewer) Of their player base played the game to roleplay, not only with the old lore that wasn't watered down and drowned out with half baked jokes and had actual conflicts that resembled something interesting kinda feel ostracized. I can live with the lore changes, because they can honestly just be ignored. But without that separation in chat, we are going to have to wait for someone to make a decent mod that puts how chat used to work back in the game :s. If thats already a thing, then I guess I have nothing to complain about... but until then, what the heeeeeeell.

But I'm not a programmer or a person who has any say in anything. So, take it as you will.