Goonhub
05-26-2021, 01:12 PM
I've just participated in the second round of this, and I'm quite pleased with the whole thing, especially in how it combines the weird specificity and jank of goonstation mechanics with the simplicity of the "capture points and bonk the enemy team" formula.
I don't have that much to elaborate on the good stuff (I want to note that I'm pretty positive overall), but here's the issues I've had:
1: The whole thing lasts longer than it probably should. This round came in at 96 minutes total, and as I understand the first one was also very long. I thought that an NT vs SY gamemode would take maybe 45 mins at most. I skipped reading the whole scoring thing because I thought we had to rush like hell, but the scoring system seems to take quite some time and the 10k health pools for the critical systems are daunting.
2: Pod Wars requires knowledge of a lot of different game systems . Off the top of my head I can count:
-Mining in general, both how you do it and the matsci aspect (with the dinghy pods seemingly unable to mine?)
-What different
-Building pods (fairly rare in regular rounds)
-Controlling pods (not that hard but none of that shit is intuitive or has feedback)
-Some understanding of combat and meds, though not a lot
None of this is an issue for seasoned players, but I honestly have no idea how one would guide a complete newbie in that environment. Genuinely a throw-your-hands-up situation. I disagree with some of the others about different weapons and stuff, keeping the combat straightforward in favour of focusing on the teamwork aspects.
3: I'm sure this one is most easily fixed, but some stuff could really do with custom assets. We've had apparent issues with the syndie team friendly firing on the blue-with-red-flames syndie pods this round. The critical systems at the moment are disgusting to my snobby little spriter tastes, although they're pretty much fine as placeholders. Also a sound for one of your pod shots hitting something else is sorely needed in dogfights.
4: Minor thing but maybe the bases could do with some more robust lighting. As a syndie I noticed two of the dinghy fabs had lights on them and those would inevitably get removed by misclicks. In any case, some neons to outline some of the main geometry would be nice once stuff gets dark.
I don't have that much to elaborate on the good stuff (I want to note that I'm pretty positive overall), but here's the issues I've had:
1: The whole thing lasts longer than it probably should. This round came in at 96 minutes total, and as I understand the first one was also very long. I thought that an NT vs SY gamemode would take maybe 45 mins at most. I skipped reading the whole scoring thing because I thought we had to rush like hell, but the scoring system seems to take quite some time and the 10k health pools for the critical systems are daunting.
2: Pod Wars requires knowledge of a lot of different game systems . Off the top of my head I can count:
-Mining in general, both how you do it and the matsci aspect (with the dinghy pods seemingly unable to mine?)
-What different
-Building pods (fairly rare in regular rounds)
-Controlling pods (not that hard but none of that shit is intuitive or has feedback)
-Some understanding of combat and meds, though not a lot
None of this is an issue for seasoned players, but I honestly have no idea how one would guide a complete newbie in that environment. Genuinely a throw-your-hands-up situation. I disagree with some of the others about different weapons and stuff, keeping the combat straightforward in favour of focusing on the teamwork aspects.
3: I'm sure this one is most easily fixed, but some stuff could really do with custom assets. We've had apparent issues with the syndie team friendly firing on the blue-with-red-flames syndie pods this round. The critical systems at the moment are disgusting to my snobby little spriter tastes, although they're pretty much fine as placeholders. Also a sound for one of your pod shots hitting something else is sorely needed in dogfights.
4: Minor thing but maybe the bases could do with some more robust lighting. As a syndie I noticed two of the dinghy fabs had lights on them and those would inevitably get removed by misclicks. In any case, some neons to outline some of the main geometry would be nice once stuff gets dark.