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.

Currently every star system feels the same, and there is no difference between locations around stars.

Could we have varying enviromental conditions, such as higher temperatures in light when closer to a star, more radiation hazards and such?

Also, different star systems should vary in parameters, like there could be more active and unstable stars that could cause their own problems, like the probability of solar flares that would heat up the ship and radiation bursts that could knock sensitive electronics out (and fry the crew outside the ship walls)?

There could also be other enviromental random events, like meteor storms, that could puncture the hull if you don´t have shields up, and risk the crew outside of the ship.
You could have some kind of warning before the events, to try to get the crew inside to safety.
With higher risk could come greater rewards, like in Star Control 2, where the best mineral deposits were usually around hotter stars.

Also, maybe you could attemp to "farm" aliens and alien eggs for food or resources? The risk would be ofcourse an alien outbreak on the ship.
And could we have a possible alien infection for the crew members that were captured by aliens, the longer they were captive the higher the risk of having an alien growing inside them, and that could be detected and attempted to be removed by surgery, that would also risk them dying depending on the doctor´s skills.

Like it said in another space game, "space isn´t a friendly place, in fact it is unfriendly to the extreme".

Just letting my mind run wild here;
So we have a lot of features for interior design of the ship but they're still just blocks externally, would it ever be planned to have external design that allows players to customise their ship on the outside to actually look like a ship? You could even put uses onto random designs such as having armour pieces or maybe satellites that increase communications, maybe even solar panels to harness power from the various stars in each system. Furthermore, (although this may play with internal weapons designs also) you could have turrets that poke out the sides of your ship rather than out the top.

Additionally, clearly you can expand the hull horizontally to make them look huge, but its all one floor. Would it ever be plausible (albeit time consuming im sure) to allow hull expansions vertically? This could open up a lot more opportunities for the player to make their ideal ship whether it its an intangible mass of bits and blobs all over, a mothership from the Homeworld series or the flat ships this game offers. It could allow for better organisation as i know i would format a ship to have engines at the bottom floor, essential systems in the middle where its safest (making combat a more interesting dynamic regarding how you most safely place your constructions) and guns at the top deck. Would these be ideas that could ever be plausible or am i rambling like a madman?

Either way this is very impressive work from such a small dev team. I wish i could help with the development of the game myself! thank you

Patch Notes for Alpha 8:

[version] 0.8.11

Saves are supported from 0.8.10, but not earlier versions 0.8.9 and below.
Added a new hyperspace travel effect.
Improved all translations.
Various smaller polish.
Added tooltips to sector information icons.
Added new tutorial objectives.
Fixed some issues with cloud save.
Improved graphics of shield generator.
Fixed bugs.

[version] 0.8.10

Saved games are not supported from previous versions.
Fixed Recycler working/restrictions area.
Crew will sleep 1 hour less by default.
Fixed bugs.

[version] 0.8.9

Polished Graphics for Power Capacitor.
Quick bug fixes.

[version] 0.8.8

Savegames are not supported from previous versions.
Prisoners can now be recruited, and there is a chance prisoners might rebel in the process.
You can now attack and kill enemy crew members who have surrendered, or are your prisoners.
Crew member found alive in hypersleep chambers are now drafted by default.
Rebalanced trading prices for resources to represent overall availability and value in a better way.
Plastics and steel plates are now used to create weapons.
Chemical Refinery can produce plastics.
Crew members will now clean up blood splatter.
Added some new notifications.
Improved UI elements.
Improved translations.
Fixed bugs.


Use the in-game update in main menu to get the latest version. Be sure to check known bugs in the bug report menu before you submit If you have reported a bug before and it's not fixed or listed no need to report again, we have a back log to fix! Have fun playing and have a great weekend!

Bugs are best submitted through the in-game bug report menu, which can be accessed quickly by pressing F11 when playing. Please check known bugs in the same menu before submitting, and please use the feature with consideration.



Want to join in on Alpha? Read more and get it at: http://bugbyte.fi/spacehaven
Register to not miss the official release: http://bugbyte.fi/register

Wishlist and Follow on Steam: Space Haven on Steam
Wishlist and Follow on GoG: Space Haven on Good Old Games
Chat with us on Discord: Space Haven on Discord

Bzzt...bzt.. This is Bugbyte mission control. Houston, we don't have a problem, we have a date. Repeat, we have a date! We have a Steam/GOG Early Access release date! Bzzt...Bzt... Over and out. Space Haven will be released on Steam and GOG as Early Access on Thursday 21st of May. Let's make this rocket launch a successful one together!

Story time. We recently attended a small game dev gathering here in Turku, Finland. When asked to introduce ourselves we eagerly told our story, and how Space Haven was looking very promising to be our best game yet.

We continued on to say one of our game dev related dreams out loud, which would be to have the number one spot in the "global top sellers" list on Steam. One of the attendees burst out laughing, thinking it was a joke. Well, to be honest. We didn't mean that Space Haven would stay up there forever, even a minute would be a dream come true for us =) It's honestly a dream we have and they say it's good to have goals in life!



"I have a dream... That one day... For one minute... Space Haven would be the number one top seller on the "Global Top Sellers" - list on Steam"

It is once again time to rally up, Backers! Let's make Space Haven soar through the skies and reach the number #1 on the Global Top Sellers list, even if just for a minute! =) This would be something to tell our grand kids about.



What can I do to help?

• Start beating the Space Drums, tell your friends and family, yell it out in every Discord channel and forum you can and tell them to Wishlist Space Haven on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/979110/Space_Haven/
  
• Tell your favorite streamer to contact us at: [email protected] - Let's invade YouTube and Twitch!
  
• Be there with us on launch day Thursday May 21st, and help new players with their questions if you can! =)
  

• Discord: http://discord.gg/spacehaven
  
• Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceHaven/
  
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpaceHavenGame
  
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spacehavengame/
  
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BugbyteGames/
  

Patch Notes for Alpha 8:

• Alpha 8 - Saves from Alpha 7 should work.
  
• Build Menu overhaul - Improved and polished the Build Menu.
  
• Polished translations.
  
• You can now bind shields, scanners, and turrets to groups.
  
• Modified the abandoned mining station to have storages close to the airlock.
  
• Added missing characters for some languages.
  
• Fixed a bug which stopped NPC ships from jumping away.
  
• Fixed bugs.
  

Use the in-game update in main menu to get the latest version. Be sure to check known bugs in the bug report menu before you submit If you have reported a bug before and it's not fixed or listed no need to report again, we have a back log to fix! Have fun playing and have a great weekend!