Beta feedback
Posted: 11 Jul 2012, 05:45
Hi, here's some feedback I've come up with in the last 2 days of playing:
Positive:
i think the new game modes are very good as strategies for winning go beyond "kill everyone on the other team and you'll win" and are quite easy for new players to pick up. For insance (in game-mode meeting point) the decision of "Do i take the risk of going fast to the pole and getting those extra points" or "I could hang back and ambush people when they try to go to the center". Nice risk-reward system there
The continuous reload system feels good as a game dynamic.
Menus are generally good (and shiny).
Things i think that need improvement:
customizable crosshairs: I think the crosshairs are quite stylish but i think quite a number of competitive players know what crosshair they prefer. (ie. some people might not like the triple-dot for the rail gun) Also white is often not the preferred colour as it blends into the environment too often.
launch ramps:
- They do not look like launch-ramps/-pads to a new player due to the air gap. There should be some kind of animation, such as arrows in the gap between the two poles, to indicate that this will propel you in the direction it's facing.
- When the pad is on a high angle, it is easy to fall into the gap and hard to get out. It's kinda frustrating when this happens. A small (maybe invisible) floor there would fix this
- For editing them, I think you could take inspiration on how the Portal 2 editor works with launch-pads, I found that one quite intuitive and flexible.
For the server browser, I like to just have a list of servers ranked by ping and have the ping displayed as a number.
Fast strafing back/forth feels quite bad as you seem jerk around and not move much at all. I noticed this on a australian server and i'm in new zealaind (in TF2 i usually get ~45ms ping to austalian servers btw)
the scoreboard should display ping for each player in actual numbers (no 4-out-of-5-bars or similar!)
Action-Platforms:
- It is not obvious what they do. When i first went onto a healing platform (on full health) i only noticed they took away my ability to jump. There should be some kind of indicator (such as a health icon) of what the platform does. For example see the medic overheal effect on players in TF2: http://nsa21.casimages.com/img/2011/12/ ... 187089.jpg
- They do not seem to be connectable (at least rail-gun platforms). It would be good to have the opportunity to make larger areas with them.
- It is hard to get off railgun platforms when the adjacent platform is on the same level. It doesn't seem right that their edges can't connect.
Why can't players sprint without having to jump? (as it is the same key) This seems really weird to me and i do not see the reasoning behind it.
With all of my suggestions, if the feature already exists, kudos to you guys and please point out what i have missed.
Just a note about me (for any bias): I'm a competitive TF2 player with 1000+ hours on it and a programmer by profession.
Positive:
i think the new game modes are very good as strategies for winning go beyond "kill everyone on the other team and you'll win" and are quite easy for new players to pick up. For insance (in game-mode meeting point) the decision of "Do i take the risk of going fast to the pole and getting those extra points" or "I could hang back and ambush people when they try to go to the center". Nice risk-reward system there
The continuous reload system feels good as a game dynamic.
Menus are generally good (and shiny).
Things i think that need improvement:
customizable crosshairs: I think the crosshairs are quite stylish but i think quite a number of competitive players know what crosshair they prefer. (ie. some people might not like the triple-dot for the rail gun) Also white is often not the preferred colour as it blends into the environment too often.
launch ramps:
- They do not look like launch-ramps/-pads to a new player due to the air gap. There should be some kind of animation, such as arrows in the gap between the two poles, to indicate that this will propel you in the direction it's facing.
- When the pad is on a high angle, it is easy to fall into the gap and hard to get out. It's kinda frustrating when this happens. A small (maybe invisible) floor there would fix this
- For editing them, I think you could take inspiration on how the Portal 2 editor works with launch-pads, I found that one quite intuitive and flexible.
For the server browser, I like to just have a list of servers ranked by ping and have the ping displayed as a number.
Fast strafing back/forth feels quite bad as you seem jerk around and not move much at all. I noticed this on a australian server and i'm in new zealaind (in TF2 i usually get ~45ms ping to austalian servers btw)
the scoreboard should display ping for each player in actual numbers (no 4-out-of-5-bars or similar!)
Action-Platforms:
- It is not obvious what they do. When i first went onto a healing platform (on full health) i only noticed they took away my ability to jump. There should be some kind of indicator (such as a health icon) of what the platform does. For example see the medic overheal effect on players in TF2: http://nsa21.casimages.com/img/2011/12/ ... 187089.jpg
- They do not seem to be connectable (at least rail-gun platforms). It would be good to have the opportunity to make larger areas with them.
- It is hard to get off railgun platforms when the adjacent platform is on the same level. It doesn't seem right that their edges can't connect.
Why can't players sprint without having to jump? (as it is the same key) This seems really weird to me and i do not see the reasoning behind it.
With all of my suggestions, if the feature already exists, kudos to you guys and please point out what i have missed.
Just a note about me (for any bias): I'm a competitive TF2 player with 1000+ hours on it and a programmer by profession.