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Honest opinions to turn VO into a "Serious" game
I hunted Vendetta out today after a long search for a really good space combat/trading sim. While downloading it I read through the backstory, which is fantasic. It painted a clear picture of opposing factions, which held different ideals. So this was the first let down upon logging into the game and my first gripe with it.
Art Direction; There isn't any. Theres no clear definition between Factions (apart from a couple of not very well designed logos.) There's no visual indication of a players character, not even a basic male/female selection, it's hard to relate to a character if you can't see them or even read a physical discription. Even the ships have no real direction in terms of style or design, and some of them look like they were modelled and textured by a programmer. If you are working and planning on VO 2.0, Get a a talented, multi disciplined Art Director/Conceptual Artist involved and do it right...While your at it redo The website (It's terrible and will always give your first impression) and The UI;fonts need to be THAT big..? It makes it feel like your too close to the screen. No intro sequence for that amazing story too!?
Gameplay; Plays really really well in fact, I was suprised, I like it. Not much to add onto that. Maybe options for outter ship views and a wider FOV, but thats more UI stuff. Crashing into things, should feel like crashing into things aswell.
Audio; Fair enough theres no sound in space, but it adds to atmosphere and the general feeling of the game, and plink plink noises when you hit something with weapons...no, just no, change it. Music's good, liked that, abit more ambience would be cool though.
Overall it just feels like playing an early stage alpha and the product just doesn't feel polished enough for me to subscribe. Fine your independants and might not have the resources but you shouldn't be selling yourselves short on this either. I think you hold in your hands the next Elite or Eve.
Que the flames from dedicated "Fans" but as always, loyal players will always defend from outside attacks regardless of the information or opinions. I hope my opinion is in some way useful to the Devs and I'll be keeping my eye on this after my trial is out.
Uly
Art Direction; There isn't any. Theres no clear definition between Factions (apart from a couple of not very well designed logos.) There's no visual indication of a players character, not even a basic male/female selection, it's hard to relate to a character if you can't see them or even read a physical discription. Even the ships have no real direction in terms of style or design, and some of them look like they were modelled and textured by a programmer. If you are working and planning on VO 2.0, Get a a talented, multi disciplined Art Director/Conceptual Artist involved and do it right...While your at it redo The website (It's terrible and will always give your first impression) and The UI;fonts need to be THAT big..? It makes it feel like your too close to the screen. No intro sequence for that amazing story too!?
Gameplay; Plays really really well in fact, I was suprised, I like it. Not much to add onto that. Maybe options for outter ship views and a wider FOV, but thats more UI stuff. Crashing into things, should feel like crashing into things aswell.
Audio; Fair enough theres no sound in space, but it adds to atmosphere and the general feeling of the game, and plink plink noises when you hit something with weapons...no, just no, change it. Music's good, liked that, abit more ambience would be cool though.
Overall it just feels like playing an early stage alpha and the product just doesn't feel polished enough for me to subscribe. Fine your independants and might not have the resources but you shouldn't be selling yourselves short on this either. I think you hold in your hands the next Elite or Eve.
Que the flames from dedicated "Fans" but as always, loyal players will always defend from outside attacks regardless of the information or opinions. I hope my opinion is in some way useful to the Devs and I'll be keeping my eye on this after my trial is out.
Uly
lol
lol indeed
I third the "lol" motion.
Violates the first rule of troll club.
Huh. I didn't know trolls, save our local ones, had the attention span to type that much..
On the slim chance this ISN'T trolling:
If you read the website and the wiki at all you would have all your answers, from the fact that 'YES, IT IS A GAME IN DEVELOPMENT,' 'VO has no artists on the 4-MAN dev team right now,'
All the way to how to type out /set fov 90 or whatever crazy degree you like.
On the slim chance this ISN'T trolling:
If you read the website and the wiki at all you would have all your answers, from the fact that 'YES, IT IS A GAME IN DEVELOPMENT,' 'VO has no artists on the 4-MAN dev team right now,'
All the way to how to type out /set fov 90 or whatever crazy degree you like.
Actually he has a really good point about the artwork in VO. It sucks, and if Guild software wants to get to a point where they're actually making from this game they are going to have to take out a loan and hire an artist. It's as simple as that.
The fact that there are currently no artists on the team and the fact that the team consists of only 3 members currently (come on now, you can't count a1k0n as a member of the dev team if he hasn't been around for at least a year now) is entirely irrelevant. People don't buy games because they pity the dev team, they buy games because the games are enjoyable to play.
The fact that there are currently no artists on the team and the fact that the team consists of only 3 members currently (come on now, you can't count a1k0n as a member of the dev team if he hasn't been around for at least a year now) is entirely irrelevant. People don't buy games because they pity the dev team, they buy games because the games are enjoyable to play.
it's spelled "cue" as in to give direction or indication.
"que" is Spanish for "what(?)"
"queue" is a long line.
That is all.
"que" is Spanish for "what(?)"
"queue" is a long line.
That is all.
Trolling?
Even if it is that he is pretty much right on all accounts, never mind that it was all said more than a few times.
Even if it is that he is pretty much right on all accounts, never mind that it was all said more than a few times.
Even the ships have no real direction in terms of style or design, and some of them look like they were modelled and textured by a programmer.
I suppose Waylon, Luis and John would either pop a vein out of their neck upon reading that, or laugh themselves silly.
Granted some of the art in VO is crap, like the Centaur, but overall the one shining example of excellent artwork, modeling, and craftsmanship are the ships. I mean look at the Raptor or the Teradon and show me a more kickass ship from any other game, past or present. (Apparently this clown Ulyessa thinks decent AD's grow in gardens like cabbage patch kids or something, too.)
Like toshiro said in another recent thread:
"Welcome to VO; mind the bridges."
I suppose Waylon, Luis and John would either pop a vein out of their neck upon reading that, or laugh themselves silly.
Granted some of the art in VO is crap, like the Centaur, but overall the one shining example of excellent artwork, modeling, and craftsmanship are the ships. I mean look at the Raptor or the Teradon and show me a more kickass ship from any other game, past or present. (Apparently this clown Ulyessa thinks decent AD's grow in gardens like cabbage patch kids or something, too.)
Like toshiro said in another recent thread:
"Welcome to VO; mind the bridges."
Thanks for the flames and spell checking so far. (There will more be more probably.)
From what i can gather, one of these Devs is a talented artist then and should focus on that. Theres more than one way to get artists involved. Alot of this seam community driven, why not get some art competitions going for each Faction. Choose a style and follow it.
We can all agree (I hope.) that the engine these guys have made is fantasic, that itself combined with the gameplay is a winning factor for hugely popular space trade/combat sim, and lets face it theres not many good ones around compared to say the myriad of WoW rip-offs.
From what i can gather, one of these Devs is a talented artist then and should focus on that. Theres more than one way to get artists involved. Alot of this seam community driven, why not get some art competitions going for each Faction. Choose a style and follow it.
We can all agree (I hope.) that the engine these guys have made is fantasic, that itself combined with the gameplay is a winning factor for hugely popular space trade/combat sim, and lets face it theres not many good ones around compared to say the myriad of WoW rip-offs.
yeah cause two ships one which is a piece of shit in combat and the other you can't fly make up for everything else thats wrong
None of the OP's opinions are really news - these are all known issues that have been on the back burner for quite some time. We've all discussed these issues long before. I think that people are reacting to their own perception that the OP is being presumptuous in posting all this without having read back in the forums (regarding player-created artwork, for instance).
The value of his post for me is that a new player can recognize that the game has a good foundation, but is put off by the art, sound, and lack of story integration. Good to know. There are functional issues that are being resolved at the moment, and these are taking precedence for the moment.
The value of his post for me is that a new player can recognize that the game has a good foundation, but is put off by the art, sound, and lack of story integration. Good to know. There are functional issues that are being resolved at the moment, and these are taking precedence for the moment.
"yeah cause two ships one which is a piece of shit in combat and the other you can't fly make up for everything else thats wrong"
Yeah well said. And those two ships are very in design similar too.
"Alot of this seam community driven, why not get some art competitions going for each Faction. Choose a style and follow it."
A very good idea. Saw one or two nice concepts in the player designed ships section on the VO wiki too. I know that collission models are needed too, but it's a start.
Yeah well said. And those two ships are very in design similar too.
"Alot of this seam community driven, why not get some art competitions going for each Faction. Choose a style and follow it."
A very good idea. Saw one or two nice concepts in the player designed ships section on the VO wiki too. I know that collission models are needed too, but it's a start.
"Apparently this clown Ulyessa thinks decent AD's grow in gardens like cabbage patch kids or something, too." - LeberMac
Actualy, Art Directors are just the same as a regular artists, but they are appointed to keep the direction and feel of the overall art design in the same direction, the guy others goto and say "Hey does this look right? Do you think it's in keeping with the original concept?"
"A very good idea. Saw one or two nice concepts in the player designed ships section on the VO wiki too. I know that collission models are needed too, but it's a start." - Restyvien
It needs to start from the ground up really, and that is defining a look and feel to the factions/races. The ships would just follow that direction. As would stations, weapons and cities for example. Half the job is done, as the briefs for each one could be easily pulled from the backstory.
Actualy, Art Directors are just the same as a regular artists, but they are appointed to keep the direction and feel of the overall art design in the same direction, the guy others goto and say "Hey does this look right? Do you think it's in keeping with the original concept?"
"A very good idea. Saw one or two nice concepts in the player designed ships section on the VO wiki too. I know that collission models are needed too, but it's a start." - Restyvien
It needs to start from the ground up really, and that is defining a look and feel to the factions/races. The ships would just follow that direction. As would stations, weapons and cities for example. Half the job is done, as the briefs for each one could be easily pulled from the backstory.