itch.io

Yep, I can confirm this.  Equipped the sensor then unequipped it and it dropped to 400m.  

No inconvenience at all, I'm having a blast :D

Hey,  I just ran into another glitch.  I decided to restart and do a bit of a challenge run until release.  So I clicked Reset Save in the menu, it restarted me, everything was running normal until I got access to the map, I noticed my visual range was massive.  I can't really compare it to my old one but I don't think it reset my scan range.  I'm at 1.6km and I'm pretty sure its supposed to be 400 meters at start.  1.6km was my upgraded scanner range.  I do not have an item to increase my visual range (can't remember what they are called at the moment)

I interestingly had a bit of a different experience.  I found that using spinners with repeaters worked really well extremely early, and that very naturally flowed into using Bio, disposables at first but then getting some cells upgraded let me move that to being more passive energy while I worked on salvaging and other things since I just had to refill them now and then.  Eventually I've gotten to where I am now which I consider 'end game' for the demo, where I have a lot of scavengers highly leveled pumping out metal and a fuser pumping out rare metal with energy cells powering it all in the positives, everything on updaters so its all just getting more powerful passively.  I still have a bio engine, but its mostly to just burns what I harvest from POI's, since harvesting creates items I can sell, using what I sell to buy whatever resources the NPC's have to speed things up. I think my experience really covered the whole game in one flow.  I feel like going straight to bio would have been painfully slow since you have to salvage and then swap out the containers constantly, which defeats the point of an idle incremental like this.  

Haha, Yeah I kinda figured you were already on top of a lot of this stuff since I've looked at what promotional material you have out and I can see in some of the images a lot of it looks really well thought out.  Like I said, I just wanted to toss my thoughts in incase you hadn't thought of it. 

Again, great work so far, super excited for the full release!

I don't generally comment publicly on things but I don't see an email I can send this to so sorry if its a little awkward.

First, Let me start by saying this game is fantastic, the mechanics and theme are great, the game loop is engaging and fun, and I can see where you are going to add things that I cannot wait to mess with in the full release. I'm already wishlisted and will be one of the first people grabbing it when you release.  So below are some minor critiques about improvements to an already great game.  What you have made so far is wonderful. So much so that I haven't been able to put it down for over a week straight now and that is only the demo on itch.

Second, I know you are working on a bunch of stuff and have probably taken some of what I am about to critique into consideration.  I am just putting my thoughts and observations down incase I mention something you missed, so you can consider them before release.  

# Basic Glitches

## Multi Fire

- Collectors - For some reason, when you have multiple ready to fire, they will sometimes all fire at the same time, wasting all but one of them.  I have seen this happen with as little as 2 of them equipped.

- Upgraders - If you have multiple Upgraders hooked to multiple objects that are the same type and level, they will also occasionally multi fire and only consume the resources of upgrading one.  For instance in my case I had 6 Energy Cells along the bottom row of my grid and 3 Upgraders staggered so all six were being upgraded.  Occasionally if Energy Cells that are hooked to 2 different Upgraders are the same level.  both Upgraders will fire, consuming only the upgrade cost of 1 upgrade but upgrading both Energy cells.

## Running With no Resource

For some reason, when I was running Harvesters they would start pumping like I was at a POI even though I was at a site that had no biomass.  They would consume energy like you would expect them to if they were running, but they had nothing to grab which would normally shut them off or turn them yellow like Salvagers do.  I observed this at NPC sites, Spires, Reactors and the Terminal.  For reference my setup for them was - (if you consider the progress bar being at the top as upright)  1 Decomposer upside down hooked to the left energy rail, then 3 Harvesters in a chain hooked to the Decomposer alternating upright, upside down, upright.

# Game Mechanics

## Economy

Now I know this is a demo, so again, I'm just mentioning this incase you haven't considered it even though you probably have.  The prices of things sort  of seem like place holders to me, so I think you may already have this in mind but here it is anyway.

The economy in this game doesn't really make any sense.  There are 2 factors that really should dictate the value of an object when selling or buying it.  One of which can be safely ignored in video games without most people really caring too much.  

1. Rarity - How difficult is a thing to acquire.  This is number 1 because it is what most players notice.  If it took them 10 hours to get something and it sells for 100 energy, they are going to be a little disappointed and feel like they wasted their time.  On the reverse, if they find a thing that takes 10 hours to get but 100 energy to buy, they are going to feel a little cheated that they spent that time.  Or super excited because they can skip that time if they get lucky and notice the price first. 

Right now an empty Materials Case sells for 75000, that is way higher than any other item in the game that I can find.  A full one seems to just sell for 75000 + the individual price for the parts in it, which is fine, but when compared to the empty price its underwhelming.  The player put in a lot of work to fill that case, and they are selling it because they need a different resource, or they need the inventory space, they want to get the value of that time back in some way.  Now I'm not saying raise the price, I'm saying actually to lower it.  A Material Case is pretty easy to get, just go harvest a Ruin.  Instead the base sell price should be lowered and then multiplied by what is in it.  So say an empty one is 7500, but if its full it gets an x10 multiplier divided by how full it is.  (7500 x (10 / x)) + y  Where x is a number from 0 to 1 representing how full the container is.  And y is the total value of the items in the container.  This gives the player a real sense of value of their time because all of a sudden their 7500 metal container is worth 75000 plus some extra.   

I think you may have considered this with things like the Biotanks because an empty one is 4000 and a full one is 79000, but it needs to be spread to any container of anything, Scrap, Cadavers etc.  Another example being Disposable Bio Cells.  They sell for 400 energy flat empty or full, no change.  But if you burn that cell through a Bio Generator, regardless of level, it gives you 1000 energy (10 bio mass = 1000 energy since upgrading the Bio Generator improves consumption and energy output at a linear rate, you are just getting to that 1000 faster), which means I can just burn through a disposable and then sell it and get 1400 from it.  Which is a lot for a disposable item.  

2. Need - This is the one that can safely be ignored because MOST players will not notice or miss it if it isn't in, but appreciate when it is in.  Vendors will buy and sell for different rates based on how much they need a thing.  Now I'm not saying you need to go so far as to create like a variable market system that changes over time so the player has to check what the prices are and can become a merchant running from one place to another to buy low sell high.  That is cool and all and if you want to implement it, I will totally do a run like that at some point, but again, not needed for a game like this.  

What I am saying is that people that use a lot of Biomass (the guy covered in blood) should pay more for bio mass, they should also sell at a higher price to show that they value it.  Same thing with metal, Mr Robot Wall guy should 100% be buying and selling Rare Metal at a higher price in both directions even normal metal, because he Needs it.  On the flip if they don't use something ever, like they don't run their power on bio mass, then they should buy and sell it at a really low price, for them its nice to have but they don't really want it, maybe they can sell it to someone else passing by, but it mostly just takes up space for them.  This adds life to the characters and makes them more than just pretty art with a vendor and some side quests strapped to them.  Of course if you are going to implement something like this, keep in mind number 1.  If a Bio Tank is empty at 4000 but full somewhere that doesn't use bio mass, maybe it only sells for 50000.  That is really noticeable to a player, it makes them take a closer look at the character, and consider why they aren't paying as much.  Then they notice, "Oh the person on the screen in the Enclave has a little number on their cheek, and a perfectly straight line under one eye, maybe they are an android and don't burn bio fuel."  A simple static modifier for each vendor would add a lot of unspoken story telling and allow players to run around buying low and selling high if they so wish, I think it would add a lot of depth.

I have other thoughts, but I've already written you a book in a comments section so sorry about that, but I do game QA in my free time so I try to be verbose when talking about this stuff.  Anyway, Seriously FANTASTIC game, all of this is only meant as constructive criticism because I really think you are on to something great here, and I cannot wait for it to come out so I can really sink my teeth into the world you have built. (If you want me to test the beta let me know lmao I would be super excited.)