List of my frustrations on my 1st playthrough

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(This post was last modified: 05-22-2020, 05:18 PM by MathieuG89.)

Hello everyone,

I bought this game yesterday afternoon and am enjoying it a lot so far. I think the developers spent a lot of time and efforts into this early access release and it really shows they've poured their hearts into this game. There is a lot of potential and am excited for what the future might hold which is why I left a positive review on Steam. I strongly believe the first 60 minutes of a game is the most crucial time frame into making a good first impression. Here's my list of frustrations on my 1st play through as a new player with no prior play time beforehand.

MY 1ST PLAY THROUGH:
TOOLS FACILITY
When the game first starts you're greeted with an information window that tells you to build a Tools Facility. That's great but as a newcomer I struggled for a few seconds before realizing which button to press on the UI to bring up the build menu. And when I finally did, the information window indicating where the Tools Facility was located disappeared and left me struggling because I couldn't remember that I had to go through BUILD MENU > OBJECTS > RESOURCE > TOOLS FACILITY. I ended up clicking on ALL and going through the list until I found what I was looking for.

ROTATING
Once the Tools Facility was finally selected my first reflex was to rotate the object. Unconsciously, I pressed Q and E which didn't work at all and only added to the confusion as the screen started changing view modes. The problem is that the UI is so daunting at first and there's so many things going on that my brain involuntarily got conditioned into ignoring most of the interface which made me miss that tiny info box on the bottom of the screen that ironically instructed me to use the F and G keys to achieve what I was trying to do.

LINK POWER NODE
As I built the objects that were requested of me in the tutorial I was soon prompted to expand the power network which I did. Then, came the part where I had to link the power node I had just created. My first instinct was to click on the big red flashing icon above the power node but that didn't work. Then, after scanning the yet again daunting UI, I finally found the links button on the bottom of the screen which brought forward the link interface. Somehow, I couldn't grasp the concept of linking stuff together, no matter how many times I clicked the power node and the power generator nothing would happen and I was starting to get irritated until it finally dawned upon me that I had to click on the small green electrical cord icon. Seeing as how clicking on the icon previously didn't work I felt this was kind of counter-intuitive.

BEDS AND A TOILET
The next part of the tutorial was to build lights and then expand the ship's hull which I honestly think isn't a critical necessity this early in the game. The issue it brought, is that by the time I got to beds and a toilet I had spent so much time fiddling around trying to follow the tutorial that half the crew were sleeping on the floor, shat themselves and were now at minus hundreds comfort. It should be considered that newcomers take much longer to do stuff versus a seasoned player who already understand most of the mechanics of the game.

COMFORT
Regrettably, I buit the crew quarter right next to the room which enclosed the power generator. The beds were now nullified because of negative comfort. Understandably the wall weren't thick enough to stop the noise it made and so it seemed very logical to make them thicker which I did. Unfortunately, that didn't make the tiniest of difference and so I had to relocate everything to my dismay which prompted me to start a new game instead.

MISC: 
SOUND EFFECTS
There are no sound effects! Where's the humming of the generator, the metallic clanking of the footsteps as the crew walks around or the sound of welding tools they're using as they build stuff around the place for example? The lack of sound effects really has a negative impact on the immersion and overall game experience. Hopefully this issue will be prioritized in the next patch.

Hopefully this thread can inspire some changes to make the experience a little less challenging for new players. As always, thanks for reading.
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List of my frustrations on my 1st playthrough - by MathieuG89 - 05-22-2020, 05:16 PM



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