Source
r/FracturedSpace•
crowblade

Ideas of what this game needs to make it easy for starters -> thus drawing more people to it.

Idk if devs read here or not, but I just had some thoughts trying out FS for a few days and comparing to a lot of other (very successful) MOBAs my thought on whats's needed: Accessibility.

The classic "easy to learn, hard to master" thing. What makes FS difficult are the following things IMHO:

  • Visual

  • Ships.

The ships for example look great. Great attention to detail, but tbh they all look pretty much the same. Ofcourse there are differences, nuances you notice if you play the game a lot, but from a distance they all look the same. Especially as a new player.

And especially the small pictograms when killing someone. How tf am I going to tell which ship killed which one?

Now ofcourse this is difficult for spaceships. But atleast don't make em all "aerodynamic" because you really don't need that in space. People have to be able to separate them by seeing them from the distance. Make a ship that's more vertical designed than horizontal. Make em round, like circles with a core, idk. Diversity!

  • Names

And yes, it shows their name but that's the next problem. They sound the same. You have a persecutor, executioner, destroyer (that's like the most bland name), a.s.o.

I watched a vid by EeZeE and was like "alright, he plays persecutor, was that the ship with the gauss cannon?"

The name sort of does tell what the ship does, but its hard to tell apart.

  • Menus

This is a big thing. They are bloated. Especially the ship selection when entering a game. If you bought the armada pack you have this excel-style screen of ships that all look the same. How am I gonna choose from this?

Every other MOBA does this right. You pick a hero and you see him BIG in the center of the screen. So you can atleast connect to the looks of the hero/ship to make your choice.

Like Dota, we could have a scroll-through thing at the bottom that goes through all the ships you have. Maybe even by manufacturer, but thats not really needed and if you click on it, it shows the ship BIG AND CENTERED in the middle. And not like the homescreen where you can't see half of the ship. Zoom out!

Even EeZeE had a hard time finding the ship he wants to play once. That should not happen.

Also what's with those countdowns when playing a game? Why do I have to wait for 4 different countdowns before it actually starts? Get me in the game already for f*cks sake.

  • Helpmenus

I'm referring to overwatch again. At anytime in the game I can hit F1 and it shows me in short words what my hero does.

In FS all I have is the name of my weapon. It says "propulsion bouy" on the bottom. But what does it do exactly?

I want to hit F1, an overlay comes up that says "Places a bouy at your ships location that speeds up all ships in its radius". There. Done. Same for all the other abilites of your ship.

  • Game itself

  • Maps

Please make more maps. Probably already happening, and I know dota and LoL lived off of their one single map for ages, but these times are over. Atleast make gamma not always look the fucking same. Do a different station. Same for the homestations. Why is it always an earth-like planet we are defending? Why not Mars or Saturn-like?

  • Pregame team infos

While selecting ships give us a minimap of the sectors or atleast lanes, where we can indicate which lane we want to go. This is not really an accessibility problem, but at the start people are just randomly jumping sectors. We should be able to jump with proper ship-combos.

And no, people are not gonna start typing this in chat. They are not like that, you need to take them by the hand and make it as easy as possible.

This is the key thing every software always needs (talking as a software developer and designer), easy easy easy. If you want a lot of people using it, make it fucking easy.

I don't wanna shittalk here, don't get me wrong. I'm just trying to give ideas of what should be changed/improved to make this game big. Because it really deserves it. There is no game like it and its really fun!

Posted Sep 29, 2016, 8:21 AM UTC · edited

736
KamahlFoK•

There needs to be a HUD element showing current armor values. Nothing large or fancy, hell just a damn 3D rectangle that stays in the same alignment as your ship currently is on screen would be nice.

100% armor on a given side? Green. Then progressed to yellow at damaged, then orange at medium, red at critical, then blinking-red at 0. Much easier to see than checking for fire on your ship (especially since you can't see all sides at a glance). Just color the outlines of the rectangle, I dunno - point being, armor needs a HUD!

4
Silentway47•

If you get shot on one side, consider your armor gone on it. The executioner for example will strip all armor in 1 shot on any ship for the most part. The moment I take any hp dmg I know my amror is gone.

1
KamahlFoK•

You still take hull damage through armor, but I believe you only take 75% damage. When the armor is gone, it's double. Plus ships with high armor values on specific sides like the Brawler could really use that information.

2
Morgsz•

Does armor come back? i have no idea and wouldn't know except for the audio cues...i thought it took a lot more.

1
SiigariMV3.Siigari•

Honestly some really good feedback and suggestions here.

A few things:

  • This is not a moba, so please do not compare it in kind
  • Alpha/Beta maps are not (usually) going to stop a very good team from making left/right decisions at the start. They're just for variety.
  • Having Gamma be different means it could punish certain types of ships unfairly for what is considered probably the most important contest of every game

I like your ideas about making search more apparent (honestly though how can you have a difficult time finding the ship you want to play, just type it in) and featuring the ship when you select it. I also think a little more home background variety could be nice. :)

3
Aquavolt•

What makes you think FS isn't a MOBA?

4
SiigariMV3.Siigari•

Nevermind, their store page calls it a moba so I don't really have any ground to stand on.

I just generally dislike the idea that people think it's a moba because I can't tell you how many times people think in lower mmrs that continuing to push is the right choice, especially right after kills at level 0.

There aren't any artificial stops in place to keep youj from pressing forward, but there is every reason to stop pushing at the beginning and just hold.

I tens to call this game "moba-like" because there are indeed some elements of moba gameplay but the core mechanics are very different.

Edit: devs agree this is not a moba. Omg please make up your minds guys https://steamcommunity.com/app/310380/discussions

6
crowbladeOP•

To be fair, "MOBA" is just a buzzword these days. Everything that includes heroes with special abilities online is a MOBA for people. There was a time when everyone jumped on MMORPGs, now its MOBAs.

People just like naming stuff.

5
GTKnight•

I just generally dislike the idea that people think it's a moba because I can't tell you how many times people think in lower mmrs that continuing to push is the right choice, especially right after kills at level 0.

There aren't any artificial stops in place to keep youj from pressing forward, but there is every reason to stop pushing at the beginning and just hold.

I couldn't agree more. I've never played with another person or a full team so most of my experience is with randoms. Only have 100 hours but been playing on and off since early alpha. Most of the issues I see is people think they are invincible or main goal is get the most kills. I would see people charge into 3-4 enemy ships and die at the beginning after being told NOT to do it and wait for more people.

At this point I just wonder if voip will make the team play better or just worse. I personally hate typing mid game but I can also see people being aids too. I love this game and hope they come up with a way for beginners to understand the game more.

2
crowbladeOP•

VOIP will at mostly make it better. Ofcourse there will be people spreading their salt over voicechat, but overall I think it'll make it better. If you talk to them properly without calling them out, I guess - especially new players - will listen.

At my MMR range I get triggered everytime someone picks a Ghost, because I know for sure they will fail.

1
vonBoomslangNoo oone hugs like Brawler, no one ganks like Brawler...•

No creeps. Mind you, I do think FS is a MOBA because (much as I hate the term) I find in-match level progression a vital part there

1
crowbladeOP•

You're right about gamma and balancing in that case. I forgot to mention that all visual changes should obviously not affect the balancing.

Like new homestations shoudl be same in infrastructur (or similar) because of the turrets. But the background could be different. As with gamma, the station could be the same, but atleast a different background, so it feels different. Just like the lanes.

I probably had a difficult time finding the proper ship because I didn't know what half of the ships do. Maybe that is a factor aswell and it wears off.

But you're right. It shouldn't interfere with balancing. Thanks for the nice words :)

(If not a MOBA, what is it then? :o)

2
SiigariMV3.Siigari•

Sure, and I agree with you. Adding additional backgrounds for variety would be great! Maybe even adding some to the store (oooooo!) that are really done up could be fun.

As to the whole moba thing, why do you feel the need to attach an acronym to the game? FPS, MOBA, MMO, RTS, 4X, etc. Just because there are acronyms to use doesn't mean we need to assign it one.

I call it Fractured Space, the fun competitive space game.

Honestly I'd throw it into a blender with World of Tanks/Warships/whatever and call it a "TPCC" for "third person competitive combat ."

2
Neon_Yeti•

I'm not gonna lie, I was insanely confused on how to actually get a new ship (thinking it was in the shop because I'm pretty sure it says ships on the button) and it took me a good 10 minutes to realize where they were

2
ZenSatori•

I just got this game last Friday after watching The Mighty Jingles' video on it. I have been playing wargames and computer games since the Pong days of the 70s. So, when I say this game lacks a UI that provides information and feedback, I speak from experience.

  1. As others have mentioned, first and foremost, is the lack of any UI element that reflects you and/or your enemies armor levels. That information is critical to combat efficiency.

  2. With 31 Ships and at least 4 unique abilities each it is very hard to remember what each does, what the max/optimum range is, how deployables deploy, etc. As far as I have found there is no way to get that information while actually in a match.

  3. Without outside documentation there's really no way to judge what the various crew stats do and the relative impact of each.

2
crowbladeOP•

Number 2 is key, while someone mentioned you can see it in the loadout, yes I can.

But I want to remind myself ingame what the chosen ship does with a fast glance, not reading entire texts! :)

2
Juan_Golt•

Half of the unique abilities aren't unique. Fighters/missiles for example. IMHO we could use more 'large' variations and fewer 'small' variations. Six types of smart gun, but all ships have the same point defense and the same jump drives.

31 ships and not one has a fancy point defense?

1
atlasraven•

That's brings up a question: Does the Pioneer have a faster recharging jump drive? It is an exploration ship after all.

1
Morgsz•

Agreed,

even simple symbles like.....this ship is brawler, sniper, healer, cloaky annoying thing.

1
CompanyCallsEpilogue•

As someone who is pretty new to the game and isn't at all familiar with the different ships, having that info in-game would help immensely. It would be awesome if, when I targeted an enemy, it would say 'healer' or 'cloaker' or whatever, so I have at least a broad idea of what they might be trying to do.

2
GATTACABear•

Not sure if native english, but it is spelled symbols, fyi

1
Richard_Darx•

So much yes to all of this. We definitely do need more

V

E

R

T

I

C

A

L

I

T

Y

edit: what I would also suggest is placing the favorited ships to the top during ship selection.

2
lovebus•

I would love a way to review my loadout in the middle of a game. I just want to be able to see exact numbers on the propulsion buoy or to double check the projectile speed/ optimal range for my guns.

1
Silentway47•

There is a test range for that..

1
lovebus•

yeah I know what the values are at some point when I bought the ship and tested everything out, but it would be nice to be able to double check those numbers in the middle of a match.

1
Silentway47•

Hmmm, I suppose, for me I just take it to the test range real quick to double check then start a match up, especially if I am unfamiliar with it.

Easy fix could simply be adding a tool tip over the weapons on the bottom. Allow you to mouse over them to bring up a description and numbers. I think this is common in most games and could easily be added.

1
lovebus•

exactly this. I just want tooltips

1
Morgsz•

THe tips screen should also be new player focused for those under level 10. for a couple matches i thought the ship being advetized was mine somehow...

Would be cool to get a better indication of what the ships i'm fighting or fighting with do.

1
Morgsz•

be really cool if players under level 5 or so where restricted to the same 4 or so ships...i have no idea what these strange other ships do.

1
atlasraven•

Honestly, it would make my day if they would replace the EDGECASE GAMES white logo screen. It's blinding after staring into the black void. Dark grey or black would be fine.

1
Silentway47•

It sounds like you are very new to the game. So some of the answers to your questions can be discovered by simply playing the game but I will try and help.

I agree that the visuals of ships look amazing but I disagree in that they all look the same. Granted some ships look similar such as the executioner and the raven or the collosus and the destoyer but all you have to do is zoom your aim to look at a ship. I've only played this game a couple days and I can easily identify all ships at range.

To help with this, go into the firing range or whatever it is called and pull up every ship and play it and look at it. Takes like 10 minutes so familiarize yourself with each ship type. I did this to determine what kinds of ships I wanted to play. You can test your ships out against any of the other ships as well. Its a great tool and I love that the devs let you try a ship before buying.

The pictograms are the same, you can easily learn what they are but for me it doesnt matter most of the time. I don't care what ship killed what, what matters to me is where it was killed and how secure is the sector.

I don't mind the menus, I can easily find any ship I want to play, the challenge is more about what ship to play rather than finding it. Again this can be picked up easy after a few matches. You probably shouldn't buy the Armada pack until you familiarize yourself with the game first, just my opinion.

As far as what your weapons and stuff do. Open the loadout on the ship on the main screen and read about them..This is pretty simple. I mean if you want to know what a propulsion bouy is, open the load out and read it. This is not something that should be read about in the middle of a match. Do your research on a ship before playing it.

Pregame: The maps are the same, we really dont need a minimap, after 3 battles you should have this figured out. Every battle I have been in there has been some mild coordination and for the most part people react to one another. I don't need to know where everyone is going as long as I do my job. and YES people do type in chat all the time.

I find the game exceptionally easy as is, making it more easy would essentially dumb it down so much I'll look for something else more stimulating to play. Games today hold peoples hands entirely too much.

-1
crowbladeOP•

You got me entirely wrong. I know that pretty much all of this can be learned by playing the game.

But that is not the point. The point is to keep new players in the game. And someone who is really new (why I wrote it from that perspective) is overwhelmed by the information at the beginning and is probably closing the game right after the tutorial, only to never open it.

You need to catch people with a niche game like this, hence why it needs to be easily accessible.

And even if, the information in the loadout is way to much. Pretty much TL;DR :D Textwalls on every component. No ones gonna read this. They just wanna jump into the action, and if they like the action, they will take time after a few games down the line to check out the details.

As for your last paragraph. I tend to agree with you, the question is, what do you want: an easy accessible game that gets a lot of players (even if they're dumb) but finances your game or hard to enter but gets abandoned after a year because no players are playing it (not even talking about queue times here).

Personally I think, some small changes would make a big difference that wouldn't hurt current players like UI changes.

2
Silentway47•

I'm a new player. Started playing just a couple days ago. I didn't know there was a tutorial. I saw a bunch of ships I could buy and knew none of them so I spent the first few minutes learning what each ship does, what their ranges were, what abilities they had and the ones I liked the most I set a goal to acquire.

I can't speak for others but the game is incredibly easy to pick up and play and learn. If you are overwhelmed by how simple and easy it is to learn then you have issues or you are basically a mindeless drone clicking away.

People like me who take a few minutes to learn a ship enjoy the game more than someone who doesn't. Why? Because I exploit their ignorance and spend most of the match seal clubbing, then they cry hacker and cheats, and leave the game because they not the devs, but they didnt take the time to load a ship up in the test range and learn to play it.

Think about this, games are made and purchased. The devs move on to other games, if no one plays the game after a year, it doesnt matter since their salaries were paid they made profit and are working on the next project. Games aren't made anymore to last years...

We can agree to disagree. You think there should be changes and I do not. I love it as is.

-1
crowbladeOP•

Damn, someone is butthurt :D You really like a game to be played by a circle of elitists, don't you?

Well, maybe it works out for FS. I just want this game to become really big so the bills pay off and the keep doing it or games like it.

I can hardly believe FS paid already for itself with 2000 active players. So there is still a need to make money.

3
Silentway47•

Theres more than that. I don't know about elitists but I'm highly competitive and love really competitive matches. I have little patience for people who don't take the time to be as competitive.

0