#Playtest: Opinion and suggestions

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

wraith raven Jul 6, 2023, 2:13 AM

Greetings to the Prideful Sloth team! 🤗
Sorry for my english (I used google translate)

First of all, I would like to say "good job" for all the work done so far, it is always long and courageous to manage to go all the way 💪
Then I want to say that whatever criticisms I share here then it is only about my personal and sincere feelings, I do not intend to hurt but to be as objective as possible to hope to help you

Condition :
General playing time = 4h30
Platform = PC (Maximum settings) / Xbox One controller

My opinion :
The "Go Go Town" project is interesting and promising, but at this stage I was missing the most important thing: Having fun... In reality we are very bored 😕
The beginning offers us an accompaniment that deprives us of freedom and gives the feeling of following the tasks to be accomplished to the letter
The handling is very light = The basics are missing for new video game players in general = Movement, menu, interface...
The management is too poor and limited, the gameplay is too repetitive and you don't feel like a Mayor here. And although there is currently no balancing, money and reputation remain "gimmicky"
The technology tree works but its content is not very interesting
The night is boring = An automatic transition from evening to morning would be more interesting

Regarding his strong point: The realization! Very cute and pretty, the animations and the universe are successful. Performance is good and no crashes or big bugs, backups work great. No problem with constructions (Move or delete)
The AI is quite good and the NPCs are interesting 👌

What makes me sad is the feeling I have for a lot of video game projects: It's this feeling of having prioritized production over gameplay. It would have been more interesting to define the multiple bases of gameplay that forge the experience
We therefore find ourselves for the moment with a magnificent but boring game
And I felt the same for "Grow" 🥺

Regarding the various additional remarks:

Not many parameters
(Urgent) Add frame blocker (FPS)
Add: When you are in the menu (Start): Press B (Xbox controller) to quit

So as I don't like easy criticism I'm going to try to guide me in the right direction: Prioritize game design = Gameplay/management tools
I think the overall experience should look something like this =
Start the experience with a tutorial that asks us to manage an already established city as an assistant. Then we get a completely empty lot with an old town hall to renovate (bring resources) and vegetation to clean/mow. The terrain always contains an entrance and an exit (road to the outside of the map). It is then necessary to place pitches for dwellings (provide resources) and propose a price (land + dwelling). Each type of accommodation would have needs (minimum resources to bring regularly = Food, drink, water, gas, electricity, leisure, objects...). The visual of the house and the buildings improves visually according to the technologies unlocked and the resources brought. The roads would need resources and carts to the truck to help bring all of this. The buildings have a maintenance gauge where it would sometimes be necessary to go and check the state of the building (with tools) to avoid the risk of degradation/fire. Add trade with other cities
Add the management of patients (injuries/medication) and care to be ordered, then build a hospital and act as an emergency physician. Add the management of offenses (theft/drugs) and police officers to hire and build a gendarmerie/prison and play the police

We can really go far 🙂

There you go, I hope I haven't been too cruel, again I'm honest and want to help make things better. I obviously believe in the potential of Go Go Town and its magnificent team. I cross my fingers and good development! 🙏

inland flume Jul 6, 2023, 9:41 PM

Hey Gosti! Thanks for the feedback—I'll offer a little clarity here in that this is a really, really early iteration of the game. We know things aren't balanced yet in terms of EGO and money, and it is very much a work in progress, but what we're focusing for this is the early game flow.

We're absolutely tracking all feedback, so thank you for this, but here are the questions we're prioritizing, if you have any additional feedback that fits under these questions:

How does the flow of the beginning of the game feel?
Do you have any questions about the tutorialization?
How well does the Tech Tree work? Where do you have questions?
Is it clear how to unlock the forest and mine? Fishing and farming?
Does save & load work as intended?
Does moving and deleting buildings and décor work as intended?

wraith raven Jul 6, 2023, 9:46 PM

Hi 🙂 Sorry Emily if I didn't follow the correct pattern. 🙏 I tried to answer all these questions at the same time in my analysis. Do you prefer that post following questions?

I am reassured if this is the beginning, and it is true that when I already see all the magnificent visual work that has already been done, then I tell myself that it may be too late to strengthen the base of the game (in the form of prototype)

inland flume Jul 6, 2023, 9:55 PM

It's fine in whatever format you prefer, it just felt like you were expecting more polish than there currently exists! 🙂 We've got a robust roadmap of things that we've got planned—see #📔│faq, but also a bunch of stuff we haven't shared yet 😉 so I'd say know that we've got more to come, and I do hope you keep playing!

I think what would be helpful is if you could clarify some of your criticism. In terms of say, the EGO and the Tech Tree feeling "gimmicky" and "uninteresting" - what about it feels uninteresting, for example? What actions feel too repetitive? "Gameplay" is a bit too broad for us to narrow it down 🙂

wraith raven Jul 6, 2023, 10:42 PM

I understand very well, and I actually wanted to go further in the analysis because I hope that Prideful does not go too far without a solid base (From my personal point of view). I've unfortunately seen so many games that prioritize graphics and content size over the main gameplay 😩
This may sound pretentious on my part, but I have a "hidden talent" when it comes to game data analysts. I was able to predict in advance successful games like Fortnite, The Forest, Sea of Thieves, Rust, Conan Exiles, 7 days to Die, Star Citizen, Valheim, Subnautica, etc... the 10 years on success indie games compared to AAA, and games that wouldn't work... It's been 2 years now since I left everything in my life to focus on game design for video games but with a purely constructive objective for the world. And so I also help to train myself for projects that I think deserve it

But it's always tricky to approach the subject, each studio and developer is different ^^ And I hate to hurt, but I also don't like to see projects fail for lack of strategy or pride. Of course that speaks of this in general on all of my experiences
I worked on dozens of game design and analysis
I also have my personal projects with which I would like to build with a team of developers (which I am looking for ^^)

But to return to the main subject: I will try to provide more precision regarding my current gameplay reviews 🤗

wraith raven Jul 6, 2023, 11:32 PM

Concerning the EGO: This should make it possible to unlock immigrants, external contracts (help associations), trophies, medals, titles, special cosmetics, unique objects.
Regarding the technology tree: Here we only unlock buildings without any real strategy or bonus and without thinking about cooperation. I think it is necessary to be able to add bonuses which are perfected towards several sectors: Transport, Production, farm, fishing, Loot, Construction, transport, Management, etc...
Then, visually it is difficult to see a general overview. I think what works well is an interface with multiple category tabs and freely distributing points (like 7 days to die), and this influences the overall experience to not always progress the same way.

The money is only based on the construction and the sale of product: I think that it is necessary to accentuate the management on the wages, the renovation, the taxes of the state, the safety, the foreign trade, the leisures/festivity.

Regarding the gameplay and the too repetitive tasks: Currently we have only one type of backpack, we manufacture boards in one way and very easily with a single tool and we manage too quickly to leave all this to our NPC workers. I think it is necessary to add a quality of tools (efficiency/durability) with yield and resistance statistics. For example, start with an old axe, and progress to the super chainsaw. I think we should initially pick up resources by hand, with a weight system, and be able to improve our endurance, encumbrance, several backpacks, carts, up to the vehicle.
I think that to transform into a board, you need different quality of workbench (efficiency/durability/storage). Workbenches should be able to be operated manually at first then with fuel and up to green electricity.
You can also, for example, choose a board size (among 3 sizes to be adjusted from the workbench) and have to hold down a button until you fill a gauge to the right size to meet the conditions.
Concerning the stone, one can imagine that it is necessary to regulate oneself the good temperature of the furnace during the good duration to obtain the good resource. We can also imagine the management of noise and pollution of the placement of workbenches according to neighboring buildings: After all, we play the role of mayor and the management of a city.
Regarding fishing, you have to add a mini-game (Stardew Valley way), for the farm you have to be able to respect a soil quality with different fertilizers to be applied: For example there would be 3 categories (humidity, nutrients, soil characteristics ) and this can be represented by gauges which evolve and influence the percentage of chance of obtaining a return.

I think for example that the more inhabitants there are in the city and the more the mayor gets a gauge which represents the major problems, and to balance this then the mayor must do certain tasks, or mini-games, negotiate with the state, etc.

I can always go further into the details but I would already like to know your opinion/position in relation to this and the direction planned for Go Go Town