Purification Overhaul

[x4000]

I don't think that slight atmospherics make the difference between a 6/10 and an 8/10 game, but I'm not going to argue the point.

[MouldyK]

In terms of extra expenditures of resources for "nice to haves," I can safely say there is no amount too small for us to not be interested in that at the moment.  I am literally having to go into debt in the five figures to get the current batch of projects finished without laying off Josh and Erik.

Really I'd be happy if we just saw storms instead of grayed out tiles outside of our movable area.

We considered doing this, but there's no way to do that without making it almost impossible to see what is going on out there.  You need to be able to visually interpret those tiles to know where you want to travel.

Why not just make it "almost impossible" to see the black areas if you can't do that. That might aid the stormy effect without hurting the player.

[Pepisolo]

I don't think that slight atmospherics make the difference between a 6/10 and an 8/10 game, but I'm not going to argue the point.

I think you misunderstood my point a little or maybe I didn't express it correctly. I wasn't referring to just this one idea. A few of my other ideas have been broader, there is one on the forum about a prologue level for example. Also there has been quite a bit of  feedback sent via email to Josh that has also included broader ideas. I just meant that with the knowledge that your finances are extremely tight I will now narrow the focus of my beta-testing entirely.

[x4000]

Our finances were not that tight until the holiday sales failed to live up remotely to what we had come to expect from past years with fewer products.  Marketplace is getting more crowded or more topheavy or spending is down or something.

[LaughingThesaurus]

Good luck to you guys, then. Focus on the most important stuff, not silly things like making stormy tiles more distinctive or whatnot. I had no idea about the holiday sales thing.

[madcow]

The fact that steam didn't put any up as a daily deal/flash sale likely didn't help. Despite the fact that these games are -at- daily deal/flash sale prices, people probably won't find them unless they look for them.

[chemical_art]

The holiday sale had some good  ideas, but for me it felt there were way too many sales going on at once. The result being an overall overwhelming feeling. In addition, the market in general is getting crowded Indie level while the latest sale had a lot of big discounts from aaa games. From pure anecdotal evidence, more and more gamers have more games then they can possibly play, so are cutting back.

[x4000]

Never say never, I guess:

* The way that the windstorms and windstorm generators are handled are now completely different.  As you approach the windstorm generator in a given chunk, then clouds start to roll in (covering the moon and sun, even, which is cool).  Rain or sandstorms or snowstorms or whatever pick up, and the wind starts howling.  When you destroy the windstorm generator, the storm visibly abates.

[MouldyK]

The holiday sale had some good  ideas, but for me it felt there were way too many sales going on at once. The result being an overall overwhelming feeling. In addition, the market in general is getting crowded Indie level while the latest sale had a lot of big discounts from aaa games. From pure anecdotal evidence, more and more gamers have more games then they can possibly play, so are cutting back.

Don't forget the fact Steam repeat the same games on Flash Sale, Daily Deal and Community Choice, offering little variation and sameness all around really.

[chemical_art]

I noticed that too. It didn't interest me enough so I didn't buy anything.

[chemical_art]

Happy to hear that Chris. Little things that help immersion like that change add up to a big impact.

[madcow]

Awesome!

Now the petition for a bunch of animals to jump out and dance around while we give a thumbs up after destroying the generator. Teasing on the last line of course - but seriously small atmospheric things like visible storms can add a lot to a game.

[x4000]

There's a line somewhere there, and too many players tend to assume that we have months and months left on the project to just kind of fiddle, so a lot of stuff falls on the wrong side of the line.  But when there is a clear model and the result is reasonable and quick, then I'm always happy to do this sort of thing.  My biggest problem with this initially was not being able to picture what this would even look like or how that would involve the code, etc.

[zespri]

From pure anecdotal evidence, more and more gamers have more games then they can possibly play

I certainly do have more games than I can possibly play, this is true.