by Damocles346 » Mon Dec 28, 2015 5:19 am
Heyo, I found this game through Etalyxs' youtube channel, just so you know, and I knew I was going to love it as soon as he started describing it. Followed the bread crumbs, and here I am. You guys seem to want feedback, so I am going to throw some down.
First off: LOVE IT! It's a great direction, and a hit. The color scheme is fun and playful. The gameplay feels tactile, the world, while a bit sparse, has the potential to be super vibrant.
#1: SLIME BREEDING: I think the slime breeding system, as is, is shallow, and needs a complete rework. The way I am envisioning it in my head is that instead of creating hybrid slimes, you breed slimes together to make completely new ones, which you breed to get even crazier ones. To me, the largos as they are right now are a bit boring. I think largos should be the sole product of the pink slimes, as a way to get more of a specific type of plort. Each slime needs a reason for being bred, right? So right now, once I get to the moss blanket, I can just throw out all my slimes and get tons of honey slimes. They give me a good return guarantee, and since money is the only reason to get plorts right now, that's about all there is to the game. Reasons for breeding slimes comes in at #2 even more.
#2: VIBRANT ECOSYSTEM: So this one kind of follows from 1. I think the heart and soul of this game is discovery. You get plopped into this world and told to ranch slimes, and you're like "what even is this... do... oh look, cute!" and the game just runs with it from there. I think a priority should be creating awesome interactions to discover in the world and with the slimes. Here is a dumb example: Keeping honey slimes near your fruit trees makes them produce more fruit, as the honey slimes attract insects to pollinate the fruit. That's a dumb example, and I don't care for it one way or the other, but the point is that this is an interaction that wouldn't be listed anywhere in a manual or the slimepedia. As the player goes through the world, they get to learn all these little tricks to being a slime rancher, and soon that totally made up and sill title comes to mean something to them. Taking phosphor slimes out on the third day of each week makes them change colors, or if you make a largo out of two slimes and then take him out into the world in a certain area he attracts slimes out of the ground that the player has never seen before, or whatever, I think you get the idea.
That's all I have right now. There are lots of things that need to be improved of course, but I am pretty sure you know about those, and that they just take time. Loved the hour or two I was able to sink into the game. I will for sure come back every time you even hint at dropping an update. Super excited to see this game grow up and become even more amazing than it already is!