Impressions of Alpha 4 Release 114

Gameplay
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Hi again! Given that I posted a number of bug reports and suggestions again, I thought I’d make another overview, like I did last time, including some overall thoughts and impressions. I made two videos this time, as the first one was a bit short and I thought I might be able to find more. EDIT: and then I made a third as well!

Videos:

BUGS

OLD BUGS THAT REMAIN

SUGGESTIONS

PRAISE
Well, I have many fewer bugs to report now than last time, which can only be a good thing. I’m sure part of it is how hard other users of the forum have been working to report bugs as well, but that can’t be all of it. As before, only a single crash bug, so that’s pretty good (if not perfect, obviously). Also, the added gameplay features are really starting to make this feel more like a game and less like a concept being tested to be a game later on. And I love the new trapper!

There are little things as well that I liked. The way the parts of a building you’re designing are now edited in their own tabs, for example (e.g., you can change the roof that you’ve already placed live, in the roof tab, without having to go to a dedicated edit tab; feels much more natural this way). The new farming animation. And then there are small things with big impact, like the ladders being added. I have plenty to be happy about for this release.

GENERAL THOUGHTS
Aside from what I mentioned under praise, already, I had one or two final thoughts. One is the suggestion that the head bug linked above is probably the one that deserves the most immediate attention, if you ask me. It’s broken both games I’ve tried pretty quickly. Sure, you can get a sort-of workaround by just saving a lot, but of the two times I’ve saved, it’s happened both times. Also, I hadn’t been playing that long, so I don’t think it’s so unnatural to not have saved until that point. Finally, what with the UI freeze bug, I was almost forced to save and load right away, exacerbating the problem. The bugs! They’re learning! They’re starting to work together!! :open_mouth: :frowning:

More generally, and more in keeping with the praise given above, I very much like the direction the game is headed in. From the get go, I’ve loved the interaction the developes have had with the community, and the sensitivity to our feedback. It’s been said before, by me as well, but I think it’s worth repeating: I can’t remember having had a better experience before in terms of following along with the development of any game.

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I completely agree. Also, what made it really good for me was that for some reason it was much quicker. I have a very old, slow laptop and with r110 I found it quite difficult to play because it was so slow (the laptop’s fault, not the game’s, of course). With r114 it was much quicker and I was really able to enjoy the cute graphics.

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That’s true, actually! It’s gotten very smooth. r110 was already a bit of an improvement in the sense that one particular bug was squashed that caused framerate issues, but overall r114 feels quicker still.

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Hey @Phagocytosis,

I’m sure it’s been said before by someone else, but thanks so much for your amazing bug reports. They are so organized, detailed, and professional. It’s honestly like having an in house QA tester with us. You have no idea how important the work is you’re doing for us.

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Wow, now I’m really wishing I could like posts again. Thanks for that! I’m very happy to help.

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See, @not_owen_wilson, people really do notice when you improve the framerate by a factor of two. :slight_smile:

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Hi Guys

I would like to add my insights on the latest release here as well:

First of all I very much welcome to be able to climb to elevated places as you provide with the new ladder tool :smile:
Also I was really surprised by the new class the weaver which I am eager to try out.

Unfortunately I am not really able to play this game for more, then lets say 20 mins.
Not that it is boring or so, no there is a simple reason for it. By this time my village usually gots raided by armed goblins which kill my entire population without one of them dying. (Yes I put my guys on red alert, but they dont stand a chance).

This let me think, it might be best to build a wall around my settlement first, so the Goblins wont be able to come in. I was proven wrong, Goblins might as well take the same door my citizen take, enter my villige and steal my good without my guards fighting them (but this was already reported).

Anyways, also this time I got raided by an armed Goblin Army, which just happened to appear withing my wall, near the edge of the map and also in the visible area, raiding and killing my entire town again.

You might imagine this is quite frustrating especially when you are not able to save nor load a game anymore (wasn’t able to do so even after several restarts).

Please guys I would ask you to adjust the Goblins a bit, or maybe get a setup where you can just test the new features you put into this great game. As mentioned at first, I am really eager to try out the weaver but never came that far (Goblin Army)

PS: There was a last thing I noticed. Once I built a house to close to a stonewall and my workers weren’t able to build the scaffoling, because the wall was right at the stonewall. This lead to the house not being finished because the roof couldn’t be attached. This is not really a major issue, because you get aware of this circumstance, but maybe it is possible to deny the player to build that close to another object, or even better, make the workers build the scaffolding from the inside.

All in all, I still enjoy this game especially waiting for the multiplayer (I am aware this might take some time). So please keep up your great work :smiley:

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oh yes, he’s been thoroughly gushed over and praised … but he’s absolutely earned that title!! :smile:

hey there @Xium… here’s a protip (courtesy of @sdee): if you let the little thieves steal your goods, and not actually kill any goblins, you won’t have any pesky raiding parties visiting your peaceful settlement…

pseudo “peaceful mode”… :wink:

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pffft peace mode. here’s a reeeeally short video of how to stop the goblins

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how did you mange to time that?

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good old fashion luck

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wow, now if you only had a nametag and… oh, wait…

good work! :smile:

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Hi Steve

Thank you for the tip, maybe I am just too selfish when it comes to my produced good :wink:

Will try that.

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Guys, I’ve got an update.

Just was playing another round, trying both, Steves and Deakons, suggestions, here what happened:

First I let the goblin pass and steal my stuff, guess what first thing he stole was the trapper-knife :smile:
After a while I wasn’t that pleased anymore and tried to build him in, as shown by Deakon, what I actually managed to.

Meanwhile a settler, or lets say a footsoldier joined my village and obviously killed another stealing goblin, which led to an Goblin Army attack in which, of course, my carpenter died.

I was able to defeat those two Goblins but soon after another Army arrived, for which my footsoldier didn’t show ANY interest, so at the end the sole survivor of this raid was the girl which was bugged on the campfire doing nothing all the time.

I seem to have alot of luck with those Goblins :wink:

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Seems deleting the goblin’s stockpile is the easiest means of dealing with thieves. Once you get the alert / spot a goblin, pause the game, find it and delete it. The poor old goblin might take an item to his stockpile’s spot, but he’ll then hang around your town without causing any problems.

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Bit of an exploit, but if it becomes too big of a problem otherwise, that does indeed seem like a good solution.

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then after a while the game will crash :smile: if you are as lucky as me

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Wow, this one is beautiful. Just got to say you did a great job Team Radiant!

Really a great next step.

What I like:
Smooth
Few errors
Goblins actually make me worried I might lose a villager in the early game.
Great new things in the game, units, items, etc…
Never felt like I needed to save not to lose my game (HUGE improvement!!!).

Things I don’t like:
Right click and WASD at the same time kills scroll speed.
Pathfinder seems to have limited range (The initial lighted space is too large to cross).
Guards fall asleep next to goblin (within three voxels).
Still don’t seem to be able to COMPLETE a building - always something they never finish (windows right no even though I have plenty crafted).
Always maintain X items does not work…

I just want to keep saying how cool this build it, how smooth, and playable!!! So awesome.

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Updated my original post in this topic with a small number of new ones and a new video. I made another one because I keep feeling like there should be more to find—probably because I feel like I found more, or worse ones anyway, last time around—but I guess there’s just either less bugginess this time, or some of the ones were just reported in previous builds already, or perhaps the other members of the forum have been more active in reporting them or something. Anyway, there are two or three new ones anyway, although mostly not entirely new.