Matrix Games Forums

Hi everyone, I'm new [:)]
Hope you'll understand my poor english, 'cause I'm from Italy.
Carve out some sense from my ramblings.

Downloaded StarShatter demo 3.9.0.
Had a good look at it (what's with the installer btw? Had to suffer an headache or two before extracting everything)
I must say I'm impressed! Never seen so many good ideas put all together in the same game!
I recognize things from Freespace, TAW, Wing Commander, etc... lot of potential.
Just when you think nothing good is about to happen, you discover a new gem [8D]
Yeah, the graphic won't be cutting edge, but WHO CARES?!
This game has something more important than mere graphic: replayability.
Too many games nowadays orbits exclusively around their being eye-candy and stunning, rushing to reach previously unseen poly count... and all of them follow the same fate: gather dust on your shelf after you finish them once or twice.
StarShatter is different [:)] Looks very promising.
It is detailed, it is innovative, it has the numbers to rock for the time being.
No kidding.

Only few things disappoint me so far.

About sound effects.
The game is almost... mute (no, I'm not speaking of music)... the few sounds available should be louder than that, and should be more complex, more... exciting.
When you fire laser is ok, but when you launch a missile, it's so-so.
Same for the engines, whether I'm going full speed or I engage the Quantum drive... they do not induce me to pump up speakers volume. Not at all.
Take the afterburners for example. They get istantly engaged.
Would be cooler to hear some sort of warm-up sound coming from the engines, before they activate.

Communications between you and someone else.
Requests and responses get istantly displayed... only a computer could answer that fast.
Adding a random delay would help to simulate a human being.
If you don't plan to include voiceovers (for the communications) is ok, but you may provide a sort of -bip- to better draw player's attention on the radio comms going on (ala Freespace, for example).

Pre-launch cutscene.
When your fighter gets in position to be launched, it moves from the taxi spot with very sharp movements.
They aren't cool too see, they only remember you it's a videogame.
Same for when you engage the autopilot, it maneuvers using very sharp movements.
Would be much nicer to see smoother and softer maneuvers with accelerations and decelerations. Just like the real thing [;)]

About the ILS.
In SS the ILS markers are too much visible. They're meant to look futuristic, but they are... too much visible.
Shape is ok, perhaps they shouldn't be so bold.
Dunno if I can explain this, but they give me more the idea of a solid object actually existing in the sky, rather than a virtual object drawn on my HUD.
Always about landing on runways, I couldn't find any vertical speed indicator displayed on the HUD to let me understand wheter I was going down like a free-fall rock or landing properly.

I finished.
Please, take this as constructive criticism. I do want this game released as much as you do! [:)]
Waited so much for this, now I want it!

Best regards,
Ciao [:)]

ORIGINAL: Comet

Had a good look at it (what's with the installer btw? Had to suffer an headache or two before extracting everything)

It's free.

ORIGINAL: Comet

they only remember you it's a videogame.

This is computer game.

ORIGINAL: Comet

Waited so much for this, now I want it!

Should be available in Matrix e-store shortly. Next month maybe.

Gee, Matti, you impress me as the type of person who crosses their "t"s and dots their "i"s too much. Relax, enjoy the posts and resist the urge to correct the universe. Just makes you look... fustrated.... [:-]

Matti and Comet,

I'll be available this week for downnload, that is the complete game.

Hay comet. How is the weather in italy?

Thanks for pointing those this out. Your the first to point them out. Good eye.

Anyways, welcome to the Ss family.

*Comet opens the fridge*
*brings out his nose*
blaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh it's hhhhoooooooooooooooot
*rushes back to the fridge and gulps a load of ice*

Man we're having unspeakable heat, you cannot dare and step outta the shadows [:(]

Thanks for the "good eye". I always liked details and so I pay special attention to them.
We can say details are a good measure to understand the amount of work put into a project.
However, SS is already great as it is [:)]

Umm, speaking of details, I noticed another little thing.
When piloting a fighter in space, the HUD doesn't report your current heading.
Not a big problem, really, but still a problem when you want to understand where your wingman is going.
When my wingman announces his target, he gives a vector for the enemy he's going after, saying something like "..... heading 176 for 14 KM".
That's correct, yes, but where should I turn to face heading 176?? And what is my current heading?
Such information would also help you to set the course to RTB (without using navpoints).
Only workaround I found so far, is to switch to an external camera and select my own fighter so to have heading informations costantly displayed.
Would be very helpful to have a heading indicator on the Space-HUD too [:)]

Best regards,
Ciao [:)]

ORIGINAL: Comet

Umm, speaking of details, I noticed another little thing.
When piloting a fighter in space, the HUD doesn't report your current heading.
Not a big problem, really, but still a problem when you want to understand where your wingman is going.
When my wingman announces his target, he gives a vector for the enemy he's going after, saying something like "..... heading 176 for 14 KM".
That's correct, yes, but where should I turn to face heading 176?? And what is my current heading?
Such information would also help you to set the course to RTB (without using navpoints).
Only workaround I found so far, is to switch to an external camera and select my own fighter so to have heading informations costantly displayed.
Would be very helpful to have a heading indicator on the Space-HUD too [:)]

I concur. I would like a way to figure out where to go when given a vector to engage (as in tasking from Request Picture). Even a datalinked arrow to the proposed target vector would be a welcome addition.

Great job overall on the game. Blows me away!

About the ILS.
In SS the ILS markers are too much visible. They're meant to look futuristic, but they are... too much visible.
Shape is ok, perhaps they shouldn't be so bold.
Dunno if I can explain this, but they give me more the idea of a solid object actually existing in the sky, rather than a virtual object drawn on my HUD.
Always about landing on runways, I couldn't find any vertical speed indicator displayed on the HUD to let me understand wheter I was going down like a free-fall rock or landing properly.

Originally these were just a wireframe box, but newer video card drivers were refusing to render them. So milo changed them to the textured quads that are used now. I like the new version though.

There is no vertical speed indicator, but you can use the altitude indicator to get an idea of how fast you're descending. The flight path pip can also help you determine your vertical speed and where you're going to touch down.