Comments on: Ready Trek: Space Exploration: Serpens Sector

By: Rowanthepreacher

Rowanthepreacher — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:55:56 +0000

I’ve already played and left feedback, but yeah, if it had an extra layer rather than extra planets, I would never sleep or talk to another real human being ever again. The layers were something I liked so much in MOOII (Master of Orion 2). And if this evolved into a multilayered game, I would go nuts for it. That would also relax the whole “I must reach every planet” thing, because it would be a vast achievement just to entirely ma out one!

By: LeBomb

LeBomb — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:02:40 +0000

I just “completed” the game, by that i mean managed to explore every planet…and to be honest it was an anti-climax…don’t think i can go back and play it now…it’s better for being incompletable, it’s that continual failure that makes it a repeat player, much like rogues style games with their random dungeons, you are just forging on until you die and the unpredictable adventures between start and finish are what make it worth while.
Now if there was a landing on planets mode which turned into a rogue style planet surface exploration on top of that then you could beam me down forever!!

By: Monele

Monele — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:54:33 +0000

Sweet! Very promising. A “Weird Worlds with depth” is something I’ve been waiting for for quite some time :D

By: marilena

marilena — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:40:16 +0000

Hi David, in case you’re still reading.

I think that perhaps the initial system, where you had a set time and you knew it from the start (which is also the system that SAIIS and WW use), made the end feel less like a failure. It made it clear that your goal was to get the best score in the time you were given, while the fuel system makes you feel you didn’t use the fuel well enough.

To be honest, I do wonder if the whole idea of limiting the player’s time in a map is so great. You always feel rushed and dissatisfied with not knowing what was one the planets you missed. I don’t see what you gain by putting this limit in. I would consider allowing the player to see everything in the galaxy, adding some more mobile entities (like the commerce alien guys) and perhaps an end-game event that sets off in certain conditions (tied to the player’s progress somehow).

By: David Christie

David Christie — Sun, 10 May 2009 04:50:50 +0000

Well, I just finished playing a few games and really enjoyed them. I like the randomness and I actually like not getting to choose your crew, it seems like the game is really about making do with what you get given. In my third game I thought “oh damn I didn’t get an archaeologist” but then I found one on a planet who wanted to join my crew, it was great!

I do feel like a sense of accomplishment is missing from the game, and that I keep “losing” when I run out of fuel. Ideally I’d like to see each game be larger, perhaps with multiple HQ points, but I guess that depends on how much content you can generate. Another idea is to give the player accomplishable goals ie explore x amount of planets; reach this planet; make peace with x amount of alien civilisations.

By: David Stark

David Stark — Sat, 09 May 2009 14:09:44 +0000

Hi, this is the developer of SE:SS, who has been watching this thread with interest.
A number of people have told me that to them, it feels that if you don’t reach all the stars, you have failed – which is totally not the idea. You’ve failed if your ship blows up, or if you do so badly your score is negative.
But I understand that the game gives the impression that you have to reach all the stars – hence, a lot of feedback I’ve received also says that there’s not enough fuel. But I feel that if the game always gave you enough fuel for everything, it would not present much of a challenge anymore.
Hence, I would like to ask you if you have any suggestions on how to better impart the idea that reaching all stars is a, er, “stretch goal”, and that reaching half of them and finding some good artefacts still constitutes a win?

By: Xhumar

Xhumar — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:47:11 +0000

This game is really good, though incomplete. I really think more people should take a look at it

By: marilena

marilena — Fri, 08 May 2009 06:52:50 +0000

@LionsPhil
Yeah, it’s very similar. Not as professional looking, but better is some ways.

@Mad Doc Mcrae
I don’t know if it’s difficult or it misrepresents itself with the way you keep ‘losing’.

By: Mad Doc MacRae

Mad Doc MacRae — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:52:01 +0000

This game is unflinchingly difficult. :/ Or I’m just unlucky.

By: LionsPhil

LionsPhil — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:58:35 +0000

The concept seems familiar to Strange Adventures in Infinite Space.

By: marilena

marilena — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:49:39 +0000

Agreed Cian, selecting your crew would also be nice.

I don’t agree as much about the fuel, because there are no guarantees you’ll find a source, or anything interesting on the planets, for that matter. And it just feels like you always fail. Apparently, it used to have a system where you were simply limited in time, which you knew from the start, so you knew when you were getting close to the end. That seems much less frustrating to me.

By: Cian

Cian — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:21:09 +0000

I agree with Marilena for the most part, but I think the fuel dynamic is supposed to encourage you to find an alternative source of supply. In my last game I could trade big buckets off gold for a decent amount of fuel in a planet I found early on.
I like the game alot, I wish I could select crew in a similar way to Dwarf Fortress though.