Back to Starship?

[Haxus]

If Hazeron ever sold 10,000 copies in a 24 hour period, I would be blown away.

[Rockinsince87]

If Hazeron ever sold 10,000 copies in a 24 hour period, I would be blown away.

Yeah that would be incredibly exciting. It's not impossible. It would just require good marketing and exposure prior to release date.

A well written description with nice screenshots, a trailer, game play, new videos on the YouTube channel (with a simple to the point tutorial series of videos) and so on would definitely help drum up excitement.

[asphere8]

I worry about how accessible Hazeron is in its current state. Maybe it's rose-tinted glasses, but I feel like a lot of the older systems that were replaced over the years were simple and easy to use. While the new ones offer more freedom they are much harder to learn, and that will make it a much harder sell. Like all things, there needs to be a balance to have wide appeal. I *still* haven't had the time or energy to figure out how to use the new designer, and it's been around for years at this point. The Sims-style designer was one of my favourite parts of the game when it was around, and I spent countless hours playing with it.

[Rockinsince87]

I worry about how accessible Hazeron is in its current state. Maybe it's rose-tinted glasses, but I feel like a lot of the older systems that were replaced over the years were simple and easy to use. 

Yes, the designer conundrum. Of all the changes, this is the only one players have a problem with. This brings up the "average" player discussion.

I know Haxis has stated many times that the designer is not fully finished. With that said, I have been pondering this for quite some time too. Yes the old designer could be used by literally anyone. Easy to use, hard to master. Once mastered you could build some epic designs. The Aurora design for example was boundary pushing.

The new designer can create marvels. Yes it takes a lot longer to create designs naturally but worth it. 

My thought was to have a compromise. A basic mode and an advanced mode. Advanced mode being what we have and a basic mode that is similar to the old designer but fits with the modern planet/ship systems now. Yes, basic designs would obviously not look as polished but honestly most won't care. The steam workshop will take care of the rest because there are some seriously talented people out there. They just have to share their designs for the community's benefit.

Looking at games like Space Enginners, Empyrion, NeoStarship, and so on; the player base have created amazing designs. The same will happen here.

Haxus did state he planned on making some more designs to fill out some missing ones and have a base set of ships and that is a good idea.

So honestly, as of now yes there is work to be done but having fun pre-made ships will definitely help. Honestly Haxus should take all the current blue prints and use them in starship. Debug/Fix any design errors or issues first of course. The one thing that would also help, is letting players know right away if they have all the requirements to build a ship before actually trying to build it

[asphere8]

snip

I wouldn't say it's the only barrier to new players, but it is easily the largest one. City construction for example; the current system has a lot of advantages, but the old system was more streamlined. Technology progression is another one; it really isn't easy to understand without referencing the wiki in its current form. The biggest draw to Hazeron for most people I know that have played it was the ability to create everything yourself. Overcomplicating the creative aspect of the game is a drawback, even if it does allow for more freedom.

[Rockinsince87]

Ah. My bad. I immediately went to the designer. So yes cities used to be very very easy to plop down; You're right. The new job/workshop system did take me a city or two to fully get. Once I did get it, it was just like the old system perhaps a bit faster.

Yeah I would have loved it if there was an easier way to understand it in the beginning. 

The new tech system is interesting. I actually like the new system a lot. With the old system you absolutely had to have all the Tech Level 24 items to get Warp 1. That was a lot of work. The new system you can acheave warp drive with the resources in just one system (with only a small bit of luck). Sure it's probably only QL139 or something low but you can pull that off in a week or so. 

Again, yes you are right, a better method to explain the system would help.

Basically to overcome this, a updated tourial series of videos. Just 5 minutes or as needed would go a long way and help complement the wiki. Followed buy a in game tech tree that also shows (with icons) what resources are needed at each research item.

[Kami]

I worry about how accessible Hazeron is in its current state. Maybe it's rose-tinted glasses, but I feel like a lot of the older systems that were replaced over the years were simple and easy to use. While the new ones offer more freedom they are much harder to learn, and that will make it a much harder sell. Like all things, there needs to be a balance to have wide appeal. I *still* haven't had the time or energy to figure out how to use the new designer, and it's been around for years at this point. The Sims-style designer was one of my favourite parts of the game when it was around, and I spent countless hours playing with it.

I started playing this game maybe a year or 2 ago (nothing much has changed since I started, at least) and I can attest that learning the game was a giant slog. If it wasn't for the people in Galactic chat and on Discord, I probably would've given up because the tutorial wasn't helpful. Many questions were just not answered anywhere I could find and they were often things that would stop me from progressing.

With that said, I'll add my personal, completely uneducated, and biased opinion that now is the PERFECT time to release a game like this. Games coming out now all suck ASS and I think people are craving something with some actual depth and a learning curve now.

Again, yes you are right, a better method to explain the system would help.

Basically to overcome this, a updated tourial series of videos. Just 5 minutes or as needed would go a long way and help complement the wiki. Followed buy a in game tech tree that also shows (with icons) what resources are needed at each research item.

Yeah there's not much online where it comes to gameplay tutorials. Ironically, it was easier for me to learn the basics of the designer than learning the actual game simply because of Haxus's tutorials on YouTube.

[Rockinsince87]

Yeah there's not much online where it comes to gameplay tutorials. Ironically, it was easier for me to learn the basics of the designer than learning the actual game simply because of Haxus's tutorials on YouTube.

Same for me. The videos were actually really helpful. I built a ship while watching the vids. Turbo lifts were a bit tricky but after watching the videos over and over again it just clicked. 

If there are more of those, that would be perfect. If they are kept small or specific, they can be easily updated without having to shoot the whole series all over again.

[Deantwo]

Turbo lifts were a bit tricky but after watching the videos over and over again it just clicked.

Doesn't help that that video is outdated, as Haxus changed the way you have to make turbo lifts not long after making the video.

[Rockinsince87]

Turbo lifts were a bit tricky but after watching the videos over and over again it just clicked.

Doesn't help that that video is outdated, as Haxus changed the way you have to make turbo lifts not long after making the video.

Well some how my turbo-lifts worked after following it to the letter. However if that's the case, yes an update would be needed to the videos.