Alright, I finaly got to sit down and play Battleship forever!
At this point of the game, I don't have alot of comments since it has something good going on. This doesn't mean that I will not grind the game soon-ish (I hope) but rather that those are rough comments based on only a few hours of gameplay.
The comments are somewhat random...
-Since most pop-up hints are long, it may be a good idea to put them in a fixed box somehwere on the screens. It's not a major issue but the hints usualy cover up more than one option when they are displayed on the screen.
-Always confirm an exit, even when clicking on the "Exit" button of the menu. I think the confirmation is there in most cases but it's not on exiting from the main menu
-It would be fun to have a button to exit the read-me file accessed through the game since it's the only menu page you can't go back by clicking on something.
-The pop-up windows (like exiting confirmation) are rather timid compared to the other menus. They are smaller and use a simple font. Also the buttons are some what small compared to the othe rbuttons found in the game. It would be a good idea to make those pop-up windows look more imposing since they feature importnat messages.
-The mission select screen needs a title so we know what we are choosing. Are we choosing a map? A type of game? A campaign? A race? This has to be clear for the player and a title will do the trick.
-The unselectable ships in the ship selection screen would need to be alot more greyed out. I find the colors of the "locked" ships still too bright for something unaccessible.
-A nice add-on that has nothing to do with gameplay. A nice intro of the game would be nice since when we start the game, we go straight into the main menu. A splash screen with the game or creator logo or a small animation would be a good way to smoothly bring the player inside the game. Or perhaps it could be a fullscreen loading screen. As I said, this is optional since it doesn't affect gameplay and it already works
-It would be a good idea to add one or two more tutorial campaign and make the tutorial slighlty more slow-paced so the player can truly grasp everything you throw at him. Right now, I feel like the game is trying to tell the player too much stuff at the same time within a very short time period. Since this is a technical game and there are alot of information to interprete, I don't think it would hurt the game to add one more step to it in order to allow the player to learn the basics.
-Something has been bothering me for a while. Why do the ships get unselected when we click in space? I can understand when clicking on debris or enemies but, clicking space shouldn't unselect something. It's easy to missclick and it becomes frustrating in times of stress.
-When the mission ends, it would be fun to have a clickable window so we could choose between "Keep playing" or "back to menu" instead of having to press a button. I feel like the game's main control is the mouse so focusing on using the mouse as much as possible would be a good idea.
-A bit of un researched nit picking... I feel like finding our own ships what somewhat annoying. Perhaps, if we don't have cases where we have too many ships, all ships could be indicated in the menu bar on the right so find your ship would simply double clicking on its icon in the bar. I'm not sure if this idea is clear enough, if not, I'll make up some images to show you what I mean.
-In general, I feel like the game is somewhat passive. I feel like, even when there is alot of action going on-screen, the player always has the same thing to do: select a ship, make it attack. in itself, this mechanic feels pretty complete. You can control alot of different aspects of the ship, some that I still don't completly understand but I haven't played that much either, but besides that, I feel there's nothing more to support the mechanism. I believe the game would be enhanced if it featured more environment-based strategies: let the player use the elements around his ships to create new strategies.
I feel like, right now, is purely statistic based: one ship mixed with another will equal the highest chance of winning. I feel like there's not enough possibilities for the player besides the ship selection. I feel like adding more strategic elements to the game , like using the playground, upgrading ships in-game or change strategies during the game (such as changing ships or warping) could be interesting. As of now, I know the game allows the player to find new ships and be able to repair ships somehow when playing, but I think more elements would help. Right now, I have no inspiration but I can try to think of something if you don't understand what I mean.
In general, I think it would be a good idea to allow more user customization besides the ships. This would basicaly add alot of strategic elements which will allow alot more experimentation throughout the game.
All in all, I think the game has alot to offer but seems to focus on only one type of player. It's not bad in itself, I simply feel like the game could be more than what it is right now. I feel like I have alot of things to learn in the game but haven't been able to corretcly grasp every notions yet. Like, for instance, I can't figure out how to use the nano matrix to repair my ship. I try to use it but I can't see if I'm doing anything at all.
The game also offers many game modes which is great.
So that's pretty much it for now, I wish I'd have something more pertinent to say but I haven't had time to really play with the game yet.
Hope this helps a bit!
BTW, anyone who hasn't played this yet should give it a spin!
Take care!
Developer
