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[MisterX]

I've just played through the game yesterday. I think it's a good idea you added the enemies and especially that chase was really tense. It was actually the only time I had to really use every instrument in the cockpit. The map to see where the enemies are, the radar to be able to quickly tell if I am moving towards or along a wall and that rightmost screen to evade the "shots", while still constantly fiddling around with the throttle. It wasn't easy, but I liked it
The same counts for the level with the current, as I had some trouble staying on course without driving into a wall when the "ship" constantly shakes and rumbles

My main problem in these cases was controlling the throttle, as under pressure I felt it was too hard to turn quickly without oversteering, and I constantly messed up the whole movement by accidently not grabbing both levers, but only one of them, thus spinning out of control and having to readjust again.
I'm not quite sure how that could be avoided. As someone else already said, it would of course be awesome to have real levers on the desk :D But maybe, while a bit confusing at first, it could work to use one mousebutton for each of the levers. So, if you hold the left mouse button, you'll only control the left one, if you hold the right button you only move the right lever, and whenever you press both buttons both levers will be moved simultaneously.
Anyway, the control scheme obviously didn't ruin the game or anything, after all I managed to beat it without really getting frustrated

[moi]

On these two levels you mentioned (enemies and pressure) I just set the two throttles at the max then drop one or the other down for turning.
 Makes things easier

[agj]

This was great! I finished it. My favorite entry. Also, it wins the prize for best use of the cockpit: all the displays were useful in some way (well, maybe not the numbers, since I didn't figure out what those were for). The controls are simple and intuitive, despite all the cockpitness. It also communicates a pretty nice sense of discovery.

But maybe, while a bit confusing at first, it could work to use one mousebutton for each of the levers. So, if you hold the left mouse button, you'll only control the left one, if you hold the right button you only move the right lever, and whenever you press both buttons both levers will be moved simultaneously.

I like this idea. Either this or making the sliders bigger could go a long way to making the experience more accessible.

[muku]

On these two levels you mentioned (enemies and pressure) I just set the two throttles at the max then drop one or the other down for turning.
 Makes things easier

Yup, that's what I always did myself, and expected people would do too

I like the left/right mouse button idea. I'm bad with interfaces...
But keeping it mouse-controlled was a conscious choice so that the rumbling would actually affect how precisely you could control the vessel.

[0rel]

this game really impressed me by the well done tech features! many interesting techniques were tried out and applied well, including working collisions (i'm afraid of all sorts of collision detection... ), and the concept of playing inside a "closed interface", and still being able to perceive bits of the complex outside through various channels (sound/displays/radio...) also works for me. there's an intense atmosphere going on inside this vessel, really, maybe exactly because of the hidden outside... the rumbles and the ambient sounds add a lot to it too, i think...

for me, though, it was simply too hard to play. (but i'm quite a weak gamer these days..). i've only made it into the 4th level... the stearing with the two controllers was special, but i had problems playing on my darkish 17'' monitor to see properly what's going on on the subscreen. i don't know if the other displays have a real function in the higher levels, but i had problems to "multitask" there... and also to mention is that i had only enough time to follow the text log on the beginning (audio messages over the radio could have solved this very well, i thought... that would be difficult to do though...). the other big screens were mostly ignored while playing here, but maybe i did something wrong there...
what would have been cool, was to make the gameplay kind of "multi phase". read where to go on the text screen. receive new logs/insructions depending on position. drive on the map screen. stop. shoot/defend/use tools on an other screen. scan areas for items, treasures, enemies on another... so that the player really has to switch screens/gameplay style along the way. probably that was the idea, but i had problems to play it like that... that only as honest feedback, tough...
nonetheless, really nice work! i hope you will keep up the strong dev spirit for new stuff! ...also it's kind of cool you're using D as a language =), seems to be a pretty solid way of doing games... intersting.

[muku]

Thanks for the feedback! Again, sorry for the difficulty; maybe an easy mode would be a good idea for those struggling with it.

what would have been cool, was to make the gameplay kind of "multi phase". read where to go on the text screen. receive new logs/insructions depending on position. drive on the map screen. stop. shoot/defend/use tools on an other screen. scan areas for items, treasures, enemies on another... so that the player really has to switch screens/gameplay style along the way. probably that was the idea, but i had problems to play it like that... that only as honest feedback, tough...

What you describe is basically what I had in mind when I first planned this game. I really wanted to have many more screens with more diverse functions, and above all more interaction. The gameplay as it stands now is just the result of ruthlessly cutting back everything that I didn't find absolutely, strictly necessary so I could get a finished game out before the deadline. Had I known earlier that the deadline was extended by a week, I might have done more, but alas. When I learned about it, my mind had already made its peace with the game, so I couldn't bring myself to add anything fundamentally new to it.

It's not all bad though: the extra "free" week allowed me to do some polishing which I couldn't have done if I had gone crazy with new features. Besides, I have to say I'm growing quite fond of this "reduce to the max" design philosophy.

In the end, I'm very happy that I made a complete game with a level progression, narrative and all that stuff that is a definite step up in scope from my previous (finished) efforts. Without cutting so ruthlessly, I guess I wouldn't have made it.