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Post by rob on Sept 17, 2012 14:15:42 GMT -5
Greetings Brave Testers, Tim and I just pushed build 20 live to grid12.com. Changes include: * Disabled mouse wheel scroll in chatbox * Revamped pane system to fix bugs with town/creep panes colliding and creep not decaying properly * Smooth out movement of other players * Fix other player "sliding away" bug * Made HUD tooltips take precedence over ground object tooltips * Accept apostrophes and semicolons in chat * Wrap long town names * Fix inaccurate building wealth in tooltips * Fixed bug with extrnal useless prism poofs showing up in the wrong place * Make server use nonblocking sends * Cooldown bonus is now really a rate of fire bonus (100% bonus = double fire rate) * Add 2000 additional town names * Add facing arrow; change drag-to-orient arrow to match * Make socket deposit rate scale with socket level instead of ramping (5 seconds of depositing to level up) * Use prism poof code for lens and crystal splinter poofs * Add menu of tanks * Zoom player tank labels, up to a point We decided to wipe the player table in order to get feedback on the tank unlock process and the new tank menu. As always, thank you so much for playing Grid 12. Please post bug reports, comments, suggestions, etc below. Most of the changes in this build were made as a result of player feedback. Rob |
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Post by dturka on Sept 19, 2012 1:43:27 GMT -5
Okie dokie - here we go - - I didn't really feel like I "got" the game until I gave birth to my first town, at which point I was hooked. Is there some way that this could be worked in earlier, possibly in the tutorial?
- If you destroy an enemy with the Homer missles, remaining missles meant for that enemy can just sit there and spin. Also, there's a noticeable, regular "hiccup" that you can see when you have a whole long chain of them firing in a straight line (it's always there, but just more noticeable)
- Bringing up the tank menu while a shield is in the process of recharging (not just low) causes the shield being recharged to be drawn on top of the tank menu
- When you die, there's no indication, so it can be confusing. You're cruising along, with full health and shields in a bad neighborhood, and then, suddenly, the screen goes black and you're back at the origin. Some sort of death sequence would be good.
- The ground fortress mine explosions expand out very far, but the only place you really get their effect is right next to their origin. I got to think that they were harmless until I stood too close and was killed instantly
- Is there a functional difference between Extractors and Labs?
- Also, not so clear on the function of Victory Points
- Occasionally, there will be a blaster sound that's distinctly louder than normal
- Not sure if this is a feature or an unwanted side effect, but when you switch tanks (or even bring up the menu and select the same model you're currently using), you get full life and shields. If enemies are nearby, you can keep "recharging" yourself in this way as long as you want, just sitting there, blasting them, and refreshing your tank.
- The tutorial tends to jerk momentarily when new things are being added or new sections are reached
- While I know that much of the fun of getting a new tank is discovering its talents, I think that there should be some level of description for the different models in the tank menu, even if it is unrelated to its function (some snippet of made up history related to the model or something)
- It might be nice to be able to set a waypoint/goal marker, so that, if you're heading for a far off town, you can avoid having to constantly zoom out to reorient yourself
- An outline of the shields' full size might be helpful, both to show you when its low and to bring their function and deprecation to the attention of new players
- As has been said elsewhere, the color scheme needs some tweaking, as I still think certain buildings look like enemies (reds and dark purples register as enemies)
- When firing on an enemy, I often notice that, instead of the color of my blaster hitting the enemy, the blast is red and some distance before the enemy (looks like I'm hitting a corner when I'm using the Tesla). I'm guessing I'm hitting an enemy's invisible shield. Could the shields be visible instead?
- I noticed a few times toward the beginning of play that a blank gray hovertext box would appear. It only happened two or three times early in play of this build - could not reproduce after.
- I've gathered that when a prism shatters, it's because it's not as good as what I've already got. Perhaps this could be made more clear?
- More enemy types would definitely be good.
- Not sure how much the starfield is adding. If it were moving ever so slightly relative to the player, rather than pinned to their location it could look really good, though
Overall, looking great! Keep up the good work! |
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Post by rob on Sept 19, 2012 7:43:04 GMT -5
Thanks Dave! This is fantastic feedback. The tutorial is super barebones right now. Teaching people to build stuff with gridshards ought to be in there. Maybe they should build the teleporter. Homer missiles were built months ago and haven't been touched. Yes, they are buggy.  We agree, Ground fortresses are due for a revamp. An extractor is worth it's level times the town's level of resources. Labs are just worth their level. You need both to increase the global level of research. This needs to be explained better. VP's are awarded at map victory time. They'll be used for something -- bragging rights maybe, or maybe you can buy stuff with them, or unlock things. Not sure yet. The loud sounds are many simultaneous explosions, like if you are using the Bluto tank and its cluster bomblets all hit the same target at the same time. This is annoying and should be changed. Tank menu tooltips with stats and lore are coming in a future build. Waypoints are a cool idea. Perhaps you could share them with clanmates or other nearby players somehow? Some enemies have shields, our current display for this is lacking. Blank gray hovertexts are empty tooltips on things like missiles, and they should be nuked. Maybe more detailed notes in the prism tooltip would help explain the shattering? You got it right; it's because you already have 2 better ones. Mike is working on some more enemies right now. |
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linkshot
Intrepid Tester
Always go fast.
Posts: 102
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Post by linkshot on Sept 19, 2012 11:47:38 GMT -5
The shotgun explosions aren't just "loud", they really drag down the performance rate. If you set two or three nearby Ground Fortresses to their pinch phase and then have a Bluto nearby farming an Enemy Building, the game will crash and send you back to Origin (not a death). Not a specific situation that happened, but seems to be the max capacity for bullets on-screen. 100% cooldown reduction Bluto was a surefire way to get respawned.
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Post by dturka on Sept 19, 2012 18:45:12 GMT -5
Oh - and, of course, the ability to log in to your character would be super-nice  |
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Post by sarune on Sept 19, 2012 18:50:31 GMT -5
So in playing this new build I have some more feedback. (Yay!) Here it goes:
-If its feasible, I'd like to be able to see other players when I zoom out, unless I just have not been near anyone when I tried.
-I think it would be cool if labs gave an increase to the global research pool kind of how the extractors do, like lab lvl x town lvl instead of 1 to 1.
-I feel like there are too many kinds of lenses or maybe when you post the explanation it will make more sense but the rewards are too hard to predict.
-When global tech level increases there should be a notification of some sort. Like in Realm where when someone kills an event boss Oryx says their name and something. Maybe the name of the player and a something they discovered that unlocked the next research level and pushed back the blight.( IDK)
-I think this is a bug but when I loot a prism I already have I dont get any gridshards for it, though it displays a number of gridshards, from 100-800 depending on the prism, over my head. I think I got the shards for them before.
-After I used the Ash tank, leveling back up through the tanks was just kind of frustrating, though this may be personal preference. I don't find the other tanks worth using, even at 100% globals. though if you add customization with the shards then that might change things.
-It would be nice if the wilderness buffed enemies dropped shards in accordance with their buffing. like the 2x damage and health enemies drop (on average) 2x the grid shards.
Just some thoughts...
More to come later, thanks again for a stupidly awesome and addictive game.
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linkshot
Intrepid Tester
Always go fast.
Posts: 102
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Post by linkshot on Sept 20, 2012 11:00:43 GMT -5
So in playing this new build I have some more feedback. (Yay!) Here it goes: Commencing reply sequence. -If its feasible, I'd like to be able to see other players when I zoom out, unless I just have not been near anyone when I tried. +1 -I think it would be cool if labs gave an increase to the global research pool kind of how the extractors do, like lab lvl x town lvl instead of 1 to 1. Maybe resonators can get a heavy nerf and a hefty amount of Lab Levels in a town can buff them back up to current strength, instead. Extractors extract the nearby resources, and Labs would increase resonator power. -I feel like there are too many kinds of lenses or maybe when you post the explanation it will make more sense but the rewards are too hard to predict. I always get Lenses and Prisms confused. If you're talking about the buffs, then you get two per and Triple Star (Pulchritudinous) is the best and you can get two per. If we're talking about the five slots in the bottom, it goes by how strong the colour is. A full set of 255s will net you 21k (which is odd because I expect 25k). They each have their own modifier to some base amount, and it's weaker as the colour is grayer. -When global tech level increases there should be a notification of some sort. Like in Realm where when someone kills an event boss Oryx says their name and something. Maybe the name of the player and a something they discovered that unlocked the next research level and pushed back the blight.( IDK) I don't think we should shout individuals, but a calling of the Research level would be nice, too. -I think this is a bug but when I loot a prism I already have I dont get any gridshards for it, though it displays a number of gridshards, from 100-800 depending on the prism, over my head. I think I got the shards for them before. Nope. Sometimes Gridshards are just thrown into the loot bag with whatever else. Yellow is 50 to 150, Green is Star to Triple Star, Purple (from Ground Fortresses) is 500 to 2000, Pink (tanks) is 100 to 250 + Shards, Orange is 250 to 1000 + shards, Red is Star to Star with Three Lines. (correct me if I'm wrong, Rob. These are just the observations I remember) -After I used the Ash tank, leveling back up through the tanks was just kind of frustrating, though this may be personal preference. I don't find the other tanks worth using, even at 100% globals. though if you add customization with the shards then that might change things. Each one suits a different playstyle. Tesla is amazing early game, but when the offenses start to pick up, Mustang kicks into gear for farming. Homer is the best at ploughing through wilderness to discover new towns. Ash can do anything it wants, so it can change jobs on the fly, but not quite as efficient as all the others. -It would be nice if the wilderness buffed enemies dropped shards in accordance with their buffing. like the 2x damage and health enemies drop (on average) 2x the grid shards. Might encourage not increasing the research level, so that Wilderness is always close to spawn, instead of having to look for a new town to teleport to every time the map levels up. Just some thoughts... More to come later, thanks again for a stupidly awesome and addictive game. After responding to his lab stuff, I have an interesting proposal. Resonators only extend a certain distance out from their town, but have stronger potency. The numbers on the left will change based on the combined buffs of where you're sitting. The Lab level of a town would increase this radius. So that Extractors aren't left behind, the Extraction level of a town can give its buildings a health buff. Thoughts? |
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zuboki
Very Brave Tester
Posts: 16
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Post by zuboki on Sept 20, 2012 12:45:49 GMT -5
I believe "shattered" prisms work as Sarune described, with a consistant return dependant on the shattered prism's level. I'm unsure as of whether or not the player is actually awarded the bonus gridshards, though. I also dislike how your knowldege of a player's location completely disappears as soon as you drive offscreen from them. If you want to cooperate with someone, you need to be right next to them in order to not lose them. Thanks for the info on Lenses; I've found them frustratingly obtuse. I usually just pick up every one that drops because I don't want to waste the time and energy to figure out the best combinations, especially when it involves an oppurtunity cost from leaving lenses on the ground. If you could hold more and then redeem at towns in selected sets of 5 for shards, then it'd be worth figuring out. It'd still be annoying to some, though. At first I thought it'd make more sense to limit Resonators to only effect the surrounding areas of towns, but I feel that would limit exploration. As it is now, the choice is to - invest in Resonators and increase the stats you depend on,
- invest in labs and extractors to improve research levels and give you more area to explore, or
- invest in town sockets to increase the available options for the other two.
If you weave labs directly to resonator effectiveness, you destroy the decision of "Do I optimize gridshard farming or expansion (more territiory)?" and change it to "Is this town worthwhile to improve, or should I find somewhere else to farm?" To farm optimally, then, you'd have to find which city has the best "suburbs" to farm in thanks to its resonator/lab level, which could take quite a bit of time, and then you'd have to put up with diminished power levels while out exploring for new towns... I just think it's better to keep it as a global buff. |
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linkshot
Intrepid Tester
Always go fast.
Posts: 102
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Post by linkshot on Sept 20, 2012 14:39:28 GMT -5
Yeah, that's a fair point I was considering, Zuboki, about the resonator distance. We could just make it really generous (the distance) so that if you farm in the crossfire of a lot of town's resonators, you have an extremely intense buff, and if you invest in a wilderness edge town, you get a nice solid resonator buff while looking for other towns.
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Post by sarune on Sept 20, 2012 15:59:48 GMT -5
I believe "shattered" prisms work as Sarune described, with a consistant return dependant on the shattered prism's level. I'm unsure as of whether or not the player is actually awarded the bonus gridshards, though. Yeah what I am saying is I used to get the number of gridshards it would display but I don't anymore. At least I am pretty sure I used to... |
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linkshot
Intrepid Tester
Always go fast.
Posts: 102
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Post by linkshot on Sept 20, 2012 21:25:13 GMT -5
Current average resource level: 6.6 (253 across 33 towns)
Ratio of [required] Extractors to Labs: 1400 to 400.
After average: 212 to 400.
The number of required labs is grossly overestimated.
Oh hey that Ground Fortress glitch again. Guessing there's some coordinate overflow going on?
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Post by dturka on Sept 21, 2012 4:16:00 GMT -5
Oh, by the the way - with the tank producing buildings, I've noticed that even after their destruction and disappearance, tanks can still appear within a short period afterwards. (If it's a network latency thing, you could just have a more drawn out building death animation that's long enough to cover the majority of such cases, as an idea).
Also, I'll sometimes be cruising around and notice a cross building with no corresponding tank (mainly I recall seeing this when I get way out there). Not sure if this is a bug, but thought it was worth mentioning.
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