13 September Update

this kind of interface only appear when necessary. if you want to teleport you without taking your equippement then it pop, and disappear immediately after you take your equipement. See every game you own on pc xbox ps3 like "spore" it works the same way and are totaly game friendly. I do not even understand why some of you diseagree as you have probably seen that dozen times on your games and perhaps don't even notice it.
Why a sandbox game should be different ?

 

Since you've got both the ship model on hand as well as the new 'help text' ships, maybe the ones with the painfully obvious text appears only whilst doing the first initial quests pertaining to finding the gear when first playing, then you can just have the pretty other ship back afterwards.

 

Of course. I agree.

 

This is a good ideas but doesn't solve the probleme. Why if in the planet and we need to explain another mechanics ? This is why i expect devs to have a true tutorial model that can be use anywhere in the game for those who needs it and that can be enable./disabled in the menu.

 

We can upgrade ships after a while right? If that's the case, the noob ship can have the giant text, and after that the upgraded ones will not have the obvious text.

 

Ohhhman, please do not let these text get into the game. This is the uglyes design decision i seen so far in the game

 

TL;DR #5 is my favorite solution.

1. In a game like starboard, players should know to explore their surroundings. As comment said, the opening quest told you to check your locker first, can't get much more obvious than that (see #4). Also, there is already a lore system, so the indicators for the ship items should just be part of that.

2. The graphics for the important ship parts could also be a little more obvious - the louvered blinds of the locker for example could have a combination lock nearby. ( similar comment)

3. The text signs, if they remain in the game, could be removable items and just be part of the customization of your ship, like comment. So once you figure out what they are, if they bother you pick them up. Personally I feel like a spaceship would always have labels, like an airplane, since you never know who you're going to pick up. Maybe make the text a more subtle part of the background?

4. Highlight or color the item name in the quest dialog so you know you're supposed to interact with an object. Including the graphic in the quest dialog, maybe off to the side, could also be helpful (if not overkill).

5. Interactive items should glow and pop up a label when you press a hockey, a la Diablo (and comment). Hold ALT, all items on the screen are instantly recognizable. Should go for things you can pick up, switches, etc, too. Then have an option for this to always be enabled, start new characters/installs with the option on, and mention this in the opening tutorial / quest.

 

ummmm, duh, why not just disable beam down until they have completed that quest? seems pretty obvious to me

 

I have to say, if someone wants to play a game and doesn't even take 10 seconds to read the basics or look a bit of the surroundings, then he DESERVES to being confused...

However yes, just disable the beam until they progress with the quest, maybe add a notification like "You must pick up your gear first". No need for huge neon text over all the items.

 

Big shiny bouncing quest arrows.

 

You want to build this game off of... Spore? One of the... most disappointing games of all time?

In this era, the development of games—not to mention to a tremendous degree, indie games—is entirely about innovation. Your goals are not to imitate what's happened before. That is not your holy grail, and I can barely comprehend as to why you'd think of it that way. It's uncreative and extremely boring to hinge on what's gone before as the ideal way to go out.

You do not build game mechanics off of how many times they've been used before. You build game mechanics off of how much they make sense and how well they work.

 

Simple. Don't allow the player to beam to the planet. Maybe there is a message from the ship computer with highlighting the locker. No text pls above the boxes

 

I like it. but I think you should have the option to change later in game!

 

How about just making the text temporary, showing up during the tutorial only?

I'm sure someone already mentioned that.

 

Honestly I think this is one of those things where you could design the lockers how you like and then just disable beaming down until they've got their starting gear. Locking people out of stuff is not always preferable (especially for returning players making a new character) but it's quick to do anyway and prevents a lot more hassles.

Though I do like the kinda retro sci-fi LOCKERS display, though it'd probably look nicer with more than one locker under it.
But small thing anyway, love how the game is coming along

 

Yea. That was the first thing that came to my mind. There is no need to Borders for everything. Just a few quests about important stuff and do their names highlightet to first interaction.

 

This inspired me to make an upgrade

 

Well, that's just too bad. The game's not for them.

All in all, if tutorials are made to make the game as open to as many people as possible, they should be made as optional as possible. It's one thing to create supplementary tutorials, but its yet another to smash glaciers of tips into each and every human being's face at mach V speeds every single second to make sure your hand and whatever is left of everyone else's hands is as mandatorily held as possible.

I don't like the text.

 

I don't like the "Texty" look.
Why not make it so it will only appear for new players. Once you use that part of the ship, the text goes away, or is replaced by an icon.

 

Absolutely dislike the text idea.

What those three things on the ship do is something you need to learn only once in the entire course of the game, so having it written on top permanently in huge letters is total overkill and ruins the look of the ship.

Why not make the first "quest" about taking everything from the locker and pointing to it with an ostentatious arrow, while keeping the teleporter disabled until players get their gear.

As I understand it, the quest storyline is that your ship is out of fuel.
So the idea is to get your gear out of the locker, teleport down to "tutorial" planet and get some fuel there to visit the next planet (to prohibit players from visiting planets that will crush them in be beginning and let them play on a tutorial planet that teaches the basics I assume).


Maybe it should go like this:

Quest 1: "Get the stuff from your locker!" --> A green arrow, maybe even with the word "locker" bounces above the locker.
Once the players get their stuff, the quest should be completed and the players get a pat on the head.

Quest 2: "Check your fuel level!" --> A green arrow with the word "fuel" bounces over the fuel hole.
Once the player checks out the fuel inventory the quest completes with something that makes clear, that there is not enough fuel for a jump left.

Quest 3: "Seems like I'm stranded on this planet until I find some fuel, I need to beam down and look for it" --> Green arrow bouncing over the teleporter


Maybe the main quest is the search for fuel, but in addition to that you could give players "sidequests" like getting food, getting a fire going, sleeping in a tent etc.
It may also be a good idea to tease the player with the next planet, which the player wants to visit for reason XY ("An old friend lives there who'll surely help me out") to remind players what the main objective is (get fuel).