Played a few hours.
Thoughts
-Really liking the sense of weight of the mech, namely when landing from a jump.
-Maneuverability feels like a good ratio between walking and boosting. Not too plodding, not too boosty.
-liked the sense of exploration once the map opened up, as well as delving into the tunnels.
-liked the switching between primary and reserve weapons, i think it's a good mechanic.
-liked the infantry variety and the various hazards
-there is a lot of potential here
Things i would personally like to see
-more inertia/recoil type effects when it comes to weapons. both on you and your targets. gives the weapons more feeling of oomph if they actually knock your aim and/or slow you when you shoot/get hit by them. currently hard to tell when you get hit if you aren't watching your HP bar.
-wider open areas with more opportunities to flank/be flanked and engage in a greater variety of ranges. Right now it's very constrained
-defensive/tactical abilities for you and your enemies to change the pace of combat and change the ideal tactics needed to defeat the opponent. Like if popping smoke countered lasers. if missile defense systems countered missiles and rockets. Stealth systems. Shields. etc.
-Crunchier damage system. Would be nice, i think for sense of difficulty and sense of gravitas of damage, if repairs were manually initiated and took a little time, instead of being automatic on item pickup. Additionally if there were more locational consequences to damage, to provide the drama of being peeled apart/peeling an opponent. Limping. Losing fuel/jets. coolant leaks. etc. Especially if it resulted in visual consequences like glitching visuals.
-progression system being less about linear progress, and more finding a deeper niche. like being more armored might mean less jumpjet fuel efficiency and vice versa. other variables like accuracy, walk speed, repair costs, and others could factor in, with any benefit meaning sacrificing something else.
looking forward to the next update!
Viewing post in Scraps Of The Machine - Pre Alpha Demo comments
Wow! Tremendously appreciate the write up and feedback! I'm glad the weight of the mech feels solid and fun.
I've been working on additional hit reactions, staggers, and other animations as non-placeholder assets are added.
As for deeper progression and part abilities, those were planned for early on but ultimately put on hold for a simpler experience for this title simply so I would have the capacity to actually release it in a timely manner. But it's absolutely something I want to look at and try again after release to make something better. This title is more about laying the ground work, seeing what interest is there for this type of game. And if it does well I'll do more and go deeper!
yeah, like i really appreciate the difference between feathering my jets to have a smooth landing, vs the times when i have to land hard, and there is that hard impacting lurch, and pause before being able to get moving again. Things that remind you that you are driving a big chunky machine, instead of a weightless camera on skates, i will always applaud.
I eagerly look forward to future updates on this and where it goes. :)