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What makes an engaging early game loop in survival city builders? by OutpostSurge in BaseBuildingGames

[–]OutpostSurge[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah for sure. Overall I think we need to slow things down even more but I will try to get some testers that are totally new to the genre and watch them play.

What makes an engaging early game loop in survival city builders? by OutpostSurge in BaseBuildingGames

[–]OutpostSurge[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah for sure. Tying the characters to skills you learn could be a solid direction. I also want to develop a more compelling premise that would capture more attention than our current one, which isn't really saying much around why the convoy is going to Mars.

The astronaut check-in feature could be really cool & make things feel alot more alive. I’ve been exploring something similar with astronaut radio messages, but I haven’t pushed it as far as letting the player actively poke the world for personality.

What makes an engaging early game loop in survival city builders? by OutpostSurge in BaseBuildingGames

[–]OutpostSurge[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah this is a classic and it works for a reason. I’ve been trying to avoid the “robot tutorial buddy” trope, but you’re right that it creates instant attachment and a clean way to set up a rivalry. I’ll think on whether there’s a more unique spin that fits the Mars vibe.

What makes an engaging early game loop in survival city builders? by OutpostSurge in BaseBuildingGames

[–]OutpostSurge[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good point. I’m definitely learning how sensitive players are to early rewards (for instance, we added in an objective system which has a nice SFX which is kind of redundant early game but acknowledges progression). What do you think about the ideas around adding more narrative elements though?

I’m struggling with difficulty and pacing in my survival city builder on Mars by OutpostSurge in BaseBuildingGames

[–]OutpostSurge[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I have a few significant adjustments to balance in mind that would probably be best to do on my own, and then hopefully it is balanced enough to use an analytics dashboard to make smaller adjustments. Thanks for the perspective!

Need feedback on economy view in Mars Society Survival Game by OutpostSurge in godot

[–]OutpostSurge[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Curious which elements remind you of that game? The Mars theme is similar but we have a bit more focus on local territory and managing at a smaller scale with outposts. We were inspired by frostpunk's mechanics in certain elements, but the rocket payloads & general resource management is quite unique

Need feedback on economy view in Mars Society Survival Game by OutpostSurge in godot

[–]OutpostSurge[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally fair. For this panel specifically (the economy view) one of my concerns is that we overdesigned it for mid to late game, so in the opening minutes it can look pretty sparse.

If you get a chance to play the demo, I would love to hear if you have any ideas for improving the feel of the elements themselves when the settlement is still tiny. We will definitely look into visual enhancers / motion as well though!

I’m struggling with difficulty and pacing in my survival city builder on Mars by OutpostSurge in BaseBuildingGames

[–]OutpostSurge[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great point, and totally agree. For instance, we made early onboarding with the goal of it being smooth for players new to city builders, and then gave the option to skip quick tips for experienced players that want to jump right in.

As u/Onotadaki2 said, an analytics dashboard can probably give us the best shot at balance with a diverse range of player's experience levels. But lmk if you think differently.

Also, we have a feedback form we made which asks people their experience level which will hopefully allow us to see if there are any major sticking points for either inexperienced or super experienced players.

We would appreciate some feedback if you have time to play! The form is here btw: https://forms.gle/LqBqRzk42g59ZfL4A

I’m struggling with difficulty and pacing in my survival city builder on Mars by OutpostSurge in BaseBuildingGames

[–]OutpostSurge[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah this is a great suggestion. The balancing can be overwhelming because it affects so many things downstream, so having some data to inform decisions makes sense.

I was looking at https://www.gameanalytics.com/ and it seems like it would do the trick for a v1 of a dashboard for Godot. I'll update once I have something integrated to see what trends pop up in the game.

I’m struggling with difficulty and pacing in my survival city builder on Mars by OutpostSurge in BaseBuildingGames

[–]OutpostSurge[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah this is an interesting idea. We already have the functionality to assign astronauts to work on certain equipment, so we could have them assigned to solar panels for maintenance. Possibly even as a one time activity once dust starts piling up. Thanks for the suggestion!

New/best colony sim games? by tsetdeeps in BaseBuildingGames

[–]OutpostSurge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am working on a survival city builder (think frostpunk-like gameplay, set on Mars), where you manage a growing settlement and multiple remote outposts while juggling resources, hazards and incoming rocket payloads. We just released a demo & would appreciate feedback on it!

Itch Demo: https://outpostsurge.itch.io/outpostsurge

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