Version 0.1.2 released! Gameplay tweaks!

Starstruck Vagabond » Devlog
3 years ago by Yahtzee Croshaw (@YahtzeeCroshaw)
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Version 0.1.2 is now available for download! Quite a few big gameplay adjustments in this one, as well as squashing a few more major bugs. So, please switch to this version to continue testing. Again, save games from previous versions may not work. Mine certainly didn't. Not entirely sure why.

The most significant gameplay addition is the crate stamper. I was concerned that there wasn't enough for the player to do except sleep while waiting to get to the next crate delivery destination, so now, after you've completed a few deliveries, the freight company will "promote" you with more responsibility. You are provided with a stamping device and need to stamp all the crates before they can be delivered. It's just another layer of busywork to add to your planning.

Speaking of planning, another significant addition is that you can access the galaxy map from the PDA, and the map will also appear whenever you are offered a delivery mission. This is to help players plan their journeys better. Also, new icons now appear on the galaxy and system maps indicating more missions, as well as the locations of upgrade units, if you've been told where to find any.

Lastly, besides a smattering of little tweaks and alterations to sounds and timings for the sake of better catharsis, fixing your air cyclers is now a wrench job rather than a cleansing job. If for no better reason than because I was worried there were too many regular cleansing jobs.

Thank you everyone for your testing efforts so far, it's all been helpful, even if I haven't been responding to reports directly. Here's the complete list of changes for v0.1.2:

0.1.2

Bug fixes:

- Fixed lockup when trying to drop items in corners next to doors
- Fixed quest items reappearing after being recovered from planets (for real this time)
- Fixed rare mapsectorjobs crash (hopefully)
- Fixed upgrade units not appearing on derelicts
- Fixed rotation sound still looping outside of system map

Gameplay changes:

- Added crate stamping mechanic
- You now log onto your cockpit computer by pressing USE once rather than holding it down
- Air cycler fixing is now a wrench job, not a cleanser job (just because I felt there were too many cleaning jobs)
- Changed sounds and timings for wrench and ionic cleanser to be a little more cathartic
- Some loot now appears automatically on derelicts and planets without the need to break rocks / junk piles
- Adjusted random encounter rate
- Increased Oniris planet surveying reward to 2000 credits
- Increased breakdown quest reward to 800 credits
- Increased bonus credits acquired from dispersing space junk
- Stamina regenerates a lot faster while sleeping
- Added galaxy map to job dialogs and PDA (for better journey planning)
- Added additional mission and upgrade unit icons to maps
- Added skip function to long dialog sequences
- Changed door sound effect
- Added a bit to the end of the tutorial to let you know it's the end of the tutorial

Files

Starstruck Vagabond alpha demo 0.1.2 6.2 MB
Dec 21, 2020

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Starstruck Vagabond

Explore space. Deliver cargo. Make friends. Deliver more cargo.

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raggaaa3 years ago

General gameplay thoughts now that I've more time to play:

The scoops rotate on an oddly large increment. One tap will push it too far left, one tap the other way pushes it too far right, and there's no way to get it to line up just right without turning the whole ship.

I feel like space hazards are getting too easy now. I started hitting asteroids on purpose and even then there was very little consequences until I hit a few in a row. I'll take the game's word that the dust is actually doing something, because never never observed anything.

In general, I feel like the mechanisms of the ship itself are a nice and surprisingly deep part of the code, that the game has no interest in. I was pleasantly surprised to see details like the side thrusters, or the ability to move the scoops with the wrench from outside the ship, but those details never really matter. The most fun I was having in the demo was ramming asteroids until stuff broke, then hunting around for the damage. When I got the stamping machine I immediately thought, "Ooo how do I place this as efficiently as possible?" and brought myself back to the mindset of Incredible Poo Machine. Maybe I need to go play FTL instead, but I liked that fantasy of being a car guy who fixes his own engine and pimps his ride. I think there's something there.

If you pick up a delivery mission, the person waiting for the parcel is on the loading dock, and anything you buy gets dropped right on them by the robot arm.

If there is a way to replace lost coolant, the game doesn't give you any hints. 

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raggaaa3 years ago

Just found a bug:
1) Have goods to sell on loading dock

2) Go to trading post and open sell menu

3) Scroll up a bunch

I've been able to get it so the whole list goes away and it just says "hold to sell"

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kirito83 years ago

I cant wait to see how it this game gets

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idgbgdsbbg3 years ago

Really like this update (having played the game through installing the warp drive), especially for the atmosphere. That has been improved by the changed sounds. Makes actions more destinct from one another. The sleep-stamina change was also really nice, so I spend less ingame time doing nothing.

I didn't really look into what was changed when I saw there was a new update, so I was pleasantly surprised by the more streamlined cockpit comp access and the galaxy map showing me the planets/systems where I can still grab an upgrade unit.

There are two things I don't really like however.

1) The air cycler. Two things I dislike about the change from a cleaning job to a wrench job: For one, that makes the maintanence less logical. The air cycler cleans the air, so it makes sense that it gets grimey as any air filter system would. It isn't immediately clear why the cycler missaligns itself over time but stays squeaky clean. Reason number two is the change in activity momentum (mainly of concern for people who like to play the game fast). You could mash the cleaner to get the job done quite fast, taking only one or two seconds to clean a completely filthy AC. Now you have to wrench, wait. Wrench, wait. Wrench, wait. The waiting time adds nothing and since this is the object that you have to fix most frequently, it adds in annoyance. It makes sense that the generator needs to be slowly realigned when it got a hit in because it's a big machine and fixing it is important to get right, so the wait makes sense in that context.

2) The crate stamper seems a bit... unnecessary. It adds a task, which is nice, but from what I played and from the context for it provided in this update, it doesn't add enough to warrant its inclusion for me. That is because I don't sleep to pass time. I only sleep when my stamina is low. When I am traveling between planets, that's when I want to sleep the least, because there is a timer on my delivery, meaning every cycle I sleep to pass time also advances that timer. Instead, I could (and do) engage with the ship steering minigame to not only gain speed and cash, but to interact with this videogame I'm playing. Also, in earlier versions, when I slept I'd sometimes get hit by asteroids which I could've avoided by playing the minigame.
Which means that the crate stamper just eats into my stamina because I have to take the crates to and from it without much benefit and then get back to the part of the journey that is actually interesting.

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raggaaa3 years ago

Seconded on the air cycler. I just miss the dirty filter sprite for some reason...

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