No More Probes - Survival/RTS - [Greenlit]

DevLog# 12

After spending some time on making a tutorial I decided that I will leave it for future update. I guess making a good tutorial isn't an easy task.

• created a "How to Play" screen explaining some of the basic mechanics of the game

That is a pretty badass game.

You better be putting it on steam, way to good looking for a browser game.

Hey atomoso !

Your game seems pretty cool, but I can't play it really as an european player!

It's qwerty based. That's bad, cause I have an azerty keyboard. (well I can switch but you know.. Player won't switch.). Are you using the arrows in your game? Even if you don't have the time to make a full azerty alpha, just making the demplacement with the arrow too would make it easier for lot of people I think.

Anyway. I switch so here's what I think of the game, what I think should be better and everything:

Firstly.. It's really not intuitive. I mean, guys, I know there's a menu for explaining controls, but players won't read it, and.. I mean. I'm not english guys, there's some words I don't understand so I better "see" what to do, cause if I have read it I'm not gonna finish any lvl of your game.

I finished the 1st lvl without knowing that we could dig with E!!!! And without knowing that we could place things like turrets (or how to do it at least) around the central computer!! That's not supposed to happen!

So, what about an icon with "E" spawning and blinking when the player is near a thing he can dig. At least in the tutorial lvl.. I mean, the tutorial lvl didn't teach me anything. I felt lost with nobody helping me.

Same for turning off and on the computer.. And the player should easily be knowing why he'd have to turn off and on the computer.

Same for the things we can buy.. What about putting numbers on them so the player could guess you buy it with the 0-9 keys?

Being able to stop "crafting" something would be cool also. Because if you press a number without wanting it, or if you didn't know it would take that long, well you're gonna die dumbly. And it would be frustrating.

We can't pause the game. I think it's bad.

I'll check your game more deeply later cause it seems interesting.

But seriously, your game is pretty, and you seem to have a lot of lvls already.. But that will not be useful if players can't pass the first lvl (not adaptated controls, no easy tutorial, etc)

And maybe I'm just idiot and everyone think it's fine and easy to learn (I don't think I've read anyone here sayin' it was hard to understand.), so don't take this too seriously, but I think some players will be like me. Did you made any playtest sessions yet? Showing your game to some strangers, I don't know, your family or whatever?

The art is pretty great, the gameplay in itself seems pretty good. But it still need a lot of work to make people enjoy it I think.

Good luck with this anyway. That's still a pretty huge work.

Inversion

Thanks man, I hope to see your feedback after you have played the game!

regisRquoi

First of all let me just say one big thank you for your time and interest.

To be honest I didn't even thought about azerty keyboards. The arrow keys are reserved for the second gadget as you control simultaneously the main character with one hand and the helicopter with the other. I sure have to think about a solution to this, and I thank you again for pointing that out.

When it comes to the text itself my idea is do as much, as I can myself, but at a later stage I will seek assistance from a native speaker, so things sound right. It is another case if you think that the text is misleading you.

Can please explain how you have managed to complete the level without gadgets ( turrets, helicopters ) I am not sure which build you have played as I just uploaded the "correct" one. Maybe you've visited the homepage yesterday as I was preparing it for you guys? Anyway pls give it another try and see if this is still the case. You have to download it again. ( for some reason it takes some time for the browser to detect the new version, so my best advice is to Download it again )

Frankly I am with you on this one. What you have played is the first level and not a tutorial. I've started work on one, but later decided that to make a good one will take to much of my time and ended up with a HowTo screen. I will definitely make a tutorial level, but this will come in a future update. I was expecting that people will see it is an alpha and will look at it with understanding. Not in my defense, but I am the only one working at the game.

The idea with the small "E" "Q", icon over the character is brilliant. Thank you. I will implement in the next update! How haven't I thought of that is beyond me.

About the building time, my idea was to teach the player that it is only safe to build when there are no enemies near you, but I know what you are saying about the frustration part. A cancel order you say.... hmmmm

You can pause the game, use the pause/break button or start on a gamepad.

Well, not really. There are very few people around me that have played and tested the game. This is the first time I am sharing the game outside a small circle. I guess that explains a lot. Hahhahahaha...

Once again I want to thank you for you time you have put into the game and your suggestions. I will address most of them in the upcoming updates. The thing is that most of the time I am the only one that plays the game, and the idea of this public alpha build is to change that. With the help of you guys I will try and improve the game as much as I can.

At long last my first public Alpha Build is a fact. I will be more than happy to read your feedback guys.

You can visit http://www.nomoreprobes.com

Play it in Browser

or download it from Here

Not sure if I am an idiot or if it is just not working for me, but I can't manage to build anything.

• I gather supplies.
• I press 1 or 2
• nothing happens

I tried to do it in a variety of places and also tried with a 360 controller. Not sure.

Inversion

Well, I guess I am the idiot here. There was bug in the save system which prevented you from getting the first upgrade for free, but it is fixed now. Once you got the required resources ( 35 Junk, 15 Processors ) the first icon should become active and you can build.

Give it another try and let me know if you encounter some other annoying bugs. If you play it in browser you should look for build number 1.22.01 ( for some reason in browsers you will have to wait and refresh a couple of times before it recognizes that there is a new version ) The faster way is to re-download the executable version as it will be the latest one.

Thanks for playing!

Had a chance to play through it, everything is very smooth and fluid, well done.

But you will definitely need a tutorial though.

I'm with Mark here, this is an amazing example of C2s abilities.

—

Thanks for stopping by. I will definitely focus on making a tutorial very soon. Btw I've checked Star Nomad's greenlight page, and I must say I am impressed as well. You have my vote.

Leaufai

Comments like these keep me going guys! Thanks

atomoso

Cool cool, I'll redownload it after I get back from work.

Nice piece of art!

and also a fun way to face an apocalypse

I really like the look and feel you've got going here. I'm just a bit confused how to get those gadgets up and running. Being forced to stand still while constructing instead of still being able to manoeuvre is the bane in my hobo engineer existence

That or I'm doing something wrong here...

Just arrived here, this is excellent, great art style, but has some design issues.

First, as everyone mentioned, the game isn't intuitive at all. And forget about that Controls screen. You need to design a whole level (or several) explaining the mechanics of the game. While I like to discover mechanics, some of them aren't intuitive at all. I'm using a gamepad, besides.

One suggestion could be showing the (A) button when you're on top of Junk, so the player knows he can scavenge it.

You can also throw some text hints on the HUD (per example, when you've got enough Junk, you can show a text "Now you have enough to build your first turret, that will kill those bastards!")

You can imagine the rest, let the game teach the user, not otherwise.

Another suggestion might be take care with the language. You're doing an art style which is a bit "childish" (just a bit) so when the character says "FOCK OFF" it's a bit dissonant. Either balance the language or the art (I'd say the language is easier =P)

But then again, I can see the scope of this game, and I like where it's going. Good luck, mate!

One suggestion could be showing the (A) button when you're on top of Junk, so the player knows he can scavenge it.

You can also throw some text hints on the HUD (per example, when you've got enough Junk, you can show a text "Now you have enough to build your first turret, that will kill those bastards!")

You can imagine the rest, let the game teach the user, not otherwise.

QFE! This is probably the best advice for any game designer, games need to be intuitive. Learn by play so to speak