My third trip back to the game, finally posting thoughts.

Discussion in 'Design Suggestions' started by chawpped, Nov 4, 2016.

  1. chawpped

    chawpped Member

    I had this listed as a mega list on the bugs forum, and realized that this forum was more appropriate for the items that weren't really bugs.

    The assosciated bug thread: https://community.gaslampgames.com/...ug-any-debug-help-would-be-appreciated.18538/

    B1. The grinder is hard to integrate into my automated 'supply chain', since it seems to just grind forever. As it is... it seems to grind infinitely when I set it to 'maintain a minimum of 2 ground stone'? It'd be nice if the grinder would grind any of my excess stone. So I could set the grinder to grind stone if I have MORE than 150 of them. Meaning when you click 'switch job type' it could say 'maintain a maximum of X ground stone'. This would make it pretty self explanatory / intuitive. Fits in well with the existing mechanics.

    B2. In the module menu, items should list what building module and building are used to build the item. I've spent too many hours digging through all the recipes in all the different modules, looking for a specific recipe. Then when I fail to find the recipe in the modules that I currently have built, I assume the recipe is in one of the more advanced modules that I haven't built yet. I then refocus my game strategy to build all the modules in that building, and hope to get lucky and build the module that holds the recipe for the item I want to build. (BUT WAIT, then sometimes you find out that even after you build every module for a workshop, the recipe still isn't listed in any of those modules! Because you haven't researched it yet. See #B3.)

    B3. In the module menu, items that require research should indicate whether or not you currently have the item researched or not. I can't tell you how many times I've placed a module and then had to go digging around in the workshop recipe lists to try and find the item in the list. I'm re-reading each list meticulously trying to figure out what in the fizzbiscuit I'm missing. I eventually get to thinking it must be a bug, I google it and find out that it's just hidden from the workshop recipe list until I research it. If you're going to hide it in the workshop recipe list, maybe we could also hide it from the module window, or at least put the aforementioned warning up.

    B4. When you 'Maintain a minimum of X <item>s' the window doesn't need to state the <item> name, the item name is already listed right below that text (in the recipe selected). You could just list 'Maintain a minimum of X'. That would also save you from having to deal with the sloppy UI bounding box problems that crop up. Like when I try to 'Maintain a minimum of 20 Improvised M...s' and the text is so long it doesn't fit cleanly within the UI.

    B5. When you hover your mouse over a built module, you get a tooltip telling you what that module is. But you don't get a tooltip if the module is not built yet. I find that I sometimes have an unbuilt module 'ghost' sitting in a workshop for days, and I kind of forget what module it was that I was trying to build, and what the recipe called for. It'd be nice if the tooltip for an unbuild module would be the same as the tooltip that pops up in the 'build module' menu.

    B6. When you click on a building on the main screen, the walls seem to count as 'clickable'. I'd suggest making only the 'foundation' part of the clickable area. Having the walls be a clickable portion of the building makes things weird when I 'lower walls' on the UI. (It makes it even more weird when I also build two things next to each other. Sometimes I build a really small building behind another building, and it becomes quite tiresome to have to rotate 180 degrees any time I want to click on that building.

    B7. The minimap doesn't have the same angles as the main play screen. By that I mean, north is straight up on the minimap, but it's diagonal on the main screen. It makes it quite disorienting to navigate via the minimap. I don't know the solution to this, but I can think of quite a few other games that had minimaps that conquered that issue.


    B8. I almost forgot two of my biggest gripes: For some reason, farmers aren't considered as 'in a workshop' from the overseer menu. They should be updated to include the little 'zoom to workshop' button. And they should be given a little background image on their overseer pane. I keep thinking that they are 'lollygaggers' and accidentally assigning them to other workstations. Then I realize that I'm not farming like four days later. ;\

    B9. Please allow us to somehow rearrange the overseer list. I want to be able to order and group my overseers logically.

    B10. When you click on a person, there are two little buttons listed "zoom to colonist" and "change colonist name". Would it be possible to add the "zoom to workstation" button to the row?
    Sorry this got so long, I didn't realize how many things I was 'skirting around' or 'dealing with' until I started writing them down and remembering them one at a time. ;\
     
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2016
    mcnostril, Trygve and Exile like this.
  2. Nicholas

    Nicholas Technology Director Staff Member

    (B7 is now fixed, the minimap is oriented at 45 degrees)
     
    chawpped and Exile like this.
  3. chawpped

    chawpped Member

    Nice!
     
    Exile likes this.