Forums » Suggestions
Some suggestions for improvement
Hey everyone, I've only been playing VO for a few days but I have a few suggestions that might make things a little better. None of this is intended as a put down to the game in any way, I love the game play now, and have become quite addicted I must say =)
User Interface:
1. Character Info.-
Would there be any way in which you could creat a status bar that represented the totals needed for next lisence. It rather annoying to have to stop everything to click k and bring up a window leaving yourself completely vulnerable to attack while you check. Yes you can fly to a safe zone but that seems a bit much just to check your progress.
2. Target Info Window.
I don't like this window very much. Constatly having to look up in the corner while I'm flying to check life meter of the target and taking my eyes off of the target. Would there be a way to incorperate the color of the selection box around the target to reflext about of life left?? Or, perhaps place a bar under the target. Also, I've notice that some of the larger named bots names gets cut off by my screen. Since I can not personally adjust where any of the windows sit I have no way of fixing it.
3. Cargo Graphics
All the little icons in inventory window/equipment window are all very similar, and while they look good, I personally have a hard time remembering which one is for what resource. Perhaps placing a name next to it or possible make a whole different window for viewing cargo (I'll get to that in a second).
Other Game Suggestions:
1. Cargo
Obviously cargo is important in this game. You need it to make runs and to sell to stations for cash, but, it's not very easy to tell what you have. Right now, there are only two ways that I can figure to determine what you have in your cargo bay. One, remember ever icon for all the resourse there are in the game and look at the icons on the left of your UI, or, Two… Dock at a station and view your cargo in the "Cargo" tab. Instead of having to fly all the way back to a station to confirm that you have 18x Scrap Metal, wouldn't it be night to just bring up a cargo window and see the same info while you were still at the asteroids, make the decision there if you had what you needed and then fly back to the station. Also, at the moment, there is only one way to dump unwanted cargo, which is to dump ALL cargo and retreave just what you want. Now again, that is extremely annoying. You should just be able to selectively dump the unwanted, lesser valued cargo to make room for more valuable cargo without having to go to a station, especially in hostile territory. I believe a cargo window outside of station tabs would solve that problem.
2. Camera Views
The provided camera angles are horrible. half the time I'm looking at my ship from a 3/4 perspective of the bottom of the ship, and always froom the rear. I like to be able to view my ship from any angle I want, especially since this is a space based game and there is no up or down. I hate to reference another game to make my point but EQ's camera control is awesome.
3. Insentives
As I see it now, the game play is directed in one direction. Everything you do comes back to improving your licence ratings, which in turn give you access to stronger/faster/larger ships. While that's all fine and dandy, I think that this game has the potential to be much more robust in it's end results for every mission. Perhaps there could be missions where you work for a specific upgrade, such as a new engine battery, or a special cannon, or even a special ship model that can't be purchused. Also, while killing collector bots to sell there resourse for cash is great, perhaps there could be a why for us to learn some skills that would benefit us more in the later game. A few that I can think of are skills like: Engineering(for in-space ship repair), Mining (for figuring out what resources can be used for what), Navigation (allowing you better odds of avioding ion storms in more likely sectors). And there could be many more, those were just a few. Also, I think that being able to do more then save up for ships and then have ships at every port, wouldn't it be nice to have your own small space at a station that you could invest your time and money into, perhaps have an actual graphic that was added on to a station to represent your addition to there happy home. This would give areas that were less travel more reason to be visited if they were populated by players. Could also be used as there own personal cargo hold/bodyshop for selfrepair.
User Interface:
1. Character Info.-
Would there be any way in which you could creat a status bar that represented the totals needed for next lisence. It rather annoying to have to stop everything to click k and bring up a window leaving yourself completely vulnerable to attack while you check. Yes you can fly to a safe zone but that seems a bit much just to check your progress.
2. Target Info Window.
I don't like this window very much. Constatly having to look up in the corner while I'm flying to check life meter of the target and taking my eyes off of the target. Would there be a way to incorperate the color of the selection box around the target to reflext about of life left?? Or, perhaps place a bar under the target. Also, I've notice that some of the larger named bots names gets cut off by my screen. Since I can not personally adjust where any of the windows sit I have no way of fixing it.
3. Cargo Graphics
All the little icons in inventory window/equipment window are all very similar, and while they look good, I personally have a hard time remembering which one is for what resource. Perhaps placing a name next to it or possible make a whole different window for viewing cargo (I'll get to that in a second).
Other Game Suggestions:
1. Cargo
Obviously cargo is important in this game. You need it to make runs and to sell to stations for cash, but, it's not very easy to tell what you have. Right now, there are only two ways that I can figure to determine what you have in your cargo bay. One, remember ever icon for all the resourse there are in the game and look at the icons on the left of your UI, or, Two… Dock at a station and view your cargo in the "Cargo" tab. Instead of having to fly all the way back to a station to confirm that you have 18x Scrap Metal, wouldn't it be night to just bring up a cargo window and see the same info while you were still at the asteroids, make the decision there if you had what you needed and then fly back to the station. Also, at the moment, there is only one way to dump unwanted cargo, which is to dump ALL cargo and retreave just what you want. Now again, that is extremely annoying. You should just be able to selectively dump the unwanted, lesser valued cargo to make room for more valuable cargo without having to go to a station, especially in hostile territory. I believe a cargo window outside of station tabs would solve that problem.
2. Camera Views
The provided camera angles are horrible. half the time I'm looking at my ship from a 3/4 perspective of the bottom of the ship, and always froom the rear. I like to be able to view my ship from any angle I want, especially since this is a space based game and there is no up or down. I hate to reference another game to make my point but EQ's camera control is awesome.
3. Insentives
As I see it now, the game play is directed in one direction. Everything you do comes back to improving your licence ratings, which in turn give you access to stronger/faster/larger ships. While that's all fine and dandy, I think that this game has the potential to be much more robust in it's end results for every mission. Perhaps there could be missions where you work for a specific upgrade, such as a new engine battery, or a special cannon, or even a special ship model that can't be purchused. Also, while killing collector bots to sell there resourse for cash is great, perhaps there could be a why for us to learn some skills that would benefit us more in the later game. A few that I can think of are skills like: Engineering(for in-space ship repair), Mining (for figuring out what resources can be used for what), Navigation (allowing you better odds of avioding ion storms in more likely sectors). And there could be many more, those were just a few. Also, I think that being able to do more then save up for ships and then have ships at every port, wouldn't it be nice to have your own small space at a station that you could invest your time and money into, perhaps have an actual graphic that was added on to a station to represent your addition to there happy home. This would give areas that were less travel more reason to be visited if they were populated by players. Could also be used as there own personal cargo hold/bodyshop for selfrepair.