I am so sorry to ask but how do i do anything i place like a blue print for things but Im not able to do more than that I have pressed every button i could and nothing Im sorry for not understanding
Are you asking how you place the blueprints or are you asking what you do after you place them? Most stuff you can get by talking to Sen by walking up to him and pressing "E" after you complete the tutorial, but the tutorial itself should guide you through building.
I found a way out of bounds in the cave. You can get up to the very top by using a couple Hab Walls to build an elevator offset from the stairs leading up to the top right most blocker crystal thing. I'd show you, but...I'm stuck out of bounds, and forgot to save at all during the entire cave segment. Like a dingus
Huh. I honestly never thought about that, guess I didn't think someone would go to the trouble of building all the way up! I'll have to put a ceiling on both areas.
I gave a pretty clear hint in the V0.10.0 patch notes, but if you want something a little less obvious there's only one place in the game you can enter text.
I'll be honest, I work on the game when my schedule and my motivation overlap, which isn't really conducive to even a rough update schedule. Could be next week, could be a few months, could be anywhere in between.
Just noticed a bug that happened, While I was paused and a floating slime was near me... the slime just started to... go through the ground? Though it's position would be... mostly corrected after this happens
Hey! Just got done with the game so far (v9.2). Overall a solid expansion of the first game! You seem well aware of the odd difficulty curve, which is about the only major issue I can see with the game so far. The characters, the dialogue, the art, and ESPECIALLY the sound design (the suit creaking is probably the best thing I didn't know I needed) are fantastic, as far I'm concerned. Really looking forward to playing the full release.
I could see an attack timer (or maybe a building or suit upgrade that gives you one) being a great addition, since I found myself waiting around for the next wave before starting any serious expansion projects. That and maybe more indication of things stats. Health bars for the slimes? Posted numbers for the attack power of defenses and the drone? Having energy consumption added to the description of every applicable building would be good, too, like the radio tower and teleporters. Just quality of life ideas. You've got a lovely game so far, thanks for sharing it with all of us!
(P.S.) Oh I nearly forgot! Sen seems to gradually lower throughout the playthrough. It must be very incremental, since he maybe halved in altitude over the course of 11 hours, which was when I finally noticed. I'm afraid I don't have much more info than that.
Huh, there must be a rounding issue with Sen's floating animation, that's funny. You're definitely right about the energy consumption numbers for the teleporters and the radio tower, I meant the put those in but I guess I just forgot. A wave timer might not be a bad idea either, I'll have to think of ways it could be incorporated into the UI. I want to keep the rest of the screen relatively clean, so I'm a bit opposed to adding more health bars and damage numbers, but putting that info in the build menu might help to compare relative values at least, I'd be willing to consider that.
Rather curious, as a general consensus, what is everyone's general methodology for going about setting up a manageable base?
For me, it's to go past the overhang, close enough where I can still get to the caves in a hurry, but far enough where I don't have to deal with getting ganged up on by the slimes. Especially since the left slime nest is like, 5-8 tiles away from the cave if you manage to get up there.
I then set up a metal mining job and energy generation so I can start mining crystals. Fun fact, you can mine crystals faster than the tier 1 and 2 mining machines so it saves resources and time. Not to mention it also means less buildings for the slimes.
I spend most of the time generating resources here, getting some upgrades and slowly pinching my way to the steam turbine. Then, that's when the real fun begins. Once I get the hab wall, it's wind turbines for days. In conjunction with the accumulator, it solves energy gathering pretty well for charging up crew members.
Though that forced me to have to make a freight elevator as it is the only thing that can carry the pilot and I am unable to to go to the ground. Due to there being less energy.
I then use hab walls to work my way to the overhang's top, the untouchable zone. The amount of effort to get here is kinda rewarding but at the same time not really. Due to how the wind turbines work, they count how many platforms are stacked under them, not the height layer of the map they are on. Therefore any turbines on top of the overhang don't gain the energy scaling which makes them better than most generators.
From there I feel like it would be smooth sailing if I did a run.
I kinda did the same thing, but I didn't bother with the freight elevator. I kinda just used the normal elevator to go up and fell offthe building to get to everything else I use that energy for.
Usually just for research and upgrades tbh. No reason to take that much energy up an elevator that way.
I like this game, I really do. I feel like it has a lot of potential. But I feel like you spend a lot more time having to fight off enemies instead of being able to build things without worrying about them destroying the stuff you've taken so much time to build so quickly. To me, it seems extremely net negative instead of rewarding when it comes to production in this game. Because not only are there so many enemies coming at once, but they can also very easily destroy stuff because of both quantity and the damage they can do no matter how upgraded your stuff is. It just feels like you are getting basically nowhere, and it makes it seem like the things you build is just a waste of time and resources. Setting up things to make other things be able to function while having to deal with enemies all at once... Very frustrating and just makes things like that seem pointless.
Beyond allowing for sprite replacement for the characters I don't have any plans for mod support. To be honest I'm not even sure how I would go about adding more in depth mod support.
Sorry for my poor English, I use a translator since I speak Spanish. I just hope the translation doesn't get the point across, because I don't want it to sound like just a complaint.
Um, I've read the comments, and I think it's clear that one of the main complaints is the slime issue. And, um, I think the slime generation is really a bit out of hand. While it's true that we currently have more defense tools, they are hampered by the energy issue, especially the entrance area into the cave. While I understand, as some mention, it was primarily planned as a trap, I still feel it's annoying having to go through that entire empty area and leave it mainly because of the spawn. I feel it's more an issue because of the energy lost during the transfer and the character change. It can be jarring to have to go through that empty area to get to the cave. While it can be corrected with structures late in the game, I don't know, it's somewhat jarring. Another point that, uh, found is the issue of red and purple slimes, the generation of mini slimes feels somewhat excessive, also in some cases even the red slime was far from the range of my turret, so I feel that putting a number that limits the amount of slimes that can generate is limited, also as many mention, the difference between past versions and version 0.9 is enormously felt, I spent the first game on hard difficulty and, in this one it is simply shocking, in late game I could barely raise my base, even moving further back from the cave, it was difficult to correctly plan the base or even raise it due to the slime issue, losing 2 mining points because the same slimes do not allow me to get close to them, I was lucky to be able to improve the suit enough so I could hold out, but it was still a problem, since in past versions the left spawn issue was a problem which made it necessary to go back to repair but, with some luck You could keep your base stable, but in this current version, no. It's no joke that slimes don't allow you to expand or improve things. I certainly feel like it's somewhat far from being at a "normal" difficulty level and feels more like playing on hard all the time.
I think I'll leave the game for now. However, I'll be on the lookout for new updates because I still love the game, the art and the mechanics. I have faith that it will be resolved over time. Because, as you said, it's part of balancing the game, and at the end of the day, these are things that take time. I'll anxiously await the day the difficulty selector is implemented. But at the same time, I don't want this to end on a sour note. I can only say that, even with its problems, it's a great game for something like feederism or fat fur. I really love the game, as well as the design of its characters. I've also followed your other games, such as the sowing and harvesting game. I don't intend to pressure you, just comment. I waited almost a year for an update. A few more months until everything is polished won't kill anyone, great game, keep it up
This game really needs either cables/wires, or option to make building generate energy to ONLY one structure, instead of always halving it and sharing with both structures - at its left and its right. There are places where i'd like to make my generator give energy to ONLY one thing and completely ignore something else. Like on this screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/iWi4P80 I really would do a lot for being able to make wind turbine next to left of my auto-miner, give energy to ONLY laser turret, because auto-miner is already powered by something else. This is crucial mechanic for game with so much micromanaging and i genuinely don't understand, why it's either missing, or it's never explained in game, how to do that.
It's mostly from me wanting to emphasize the difficulties the characters themselves are facing with power management through gameplay. No batteries beyond their own bodies, no cables for long distance transmission, not even simple distribution systems. I'll admit I would probably tweak some things now given my experience with developing this game, but those would require complete overhauls at this point, so the current power system is here to stay.
That specifically is probably doable with less intensive reworks of the code. I was more referring to automatically adjusting power given to buildings based on need. That would cause a whole slew of problems without a major rework.
press up ("w" by default). If you've played games where you had to move up to use a ladder, you'll feel silly when you try on the elevator (Unless, you've already done that by the time I tell you this, which'll make me feel silly.)
I want to love this, but I just can't in it's current state.
Played on 0.9.2
I've played Spacethumper 1 and enjoyed it a lot, so I'll be speaking from that baseline. Starting with the good, when I learned I got to play as 3 different characters I really looked forward to it! They've all got distinct designs and personalities and bounce off each other well, and it gives an immediate fun goal of seeing how big you can get all of them. Gameplay is also expanded massively in terms of what you can do - adding verticality gives you a whole new plane to build on, and there's not just a whole new layer of complexity added with them but multiple layers with the conditionals for the generators, solar does bad underneath platforms and caves, wind doesn't do great on the ground, elevators need space, and everything needs to be powered and needs something next to it, it's more than just using the power to create them in the first place now. It gives so much more to work with and around in planning your base and how you're gonna set up,especially when including how many more structures are now 2 tile wide, some 3tiles wide! Everything added and changed gives you a whole lot more to play around with compared to its predecessor, and I was really excited to try it all out
But, the game's just... irritating, to play, at least currently. On my first save, I took my time looking around a little, doing the tutorial, reading the dialog after hitting 200, talking with the people in the cave... when I left, I found my first slime. And this is where the trouble began.
I wanted to play whilst exploring what I'd been given. Building platforms, building wind turbines on them and seeing how well they worked, trying to build elevators and, mostly getting confused why they wouldn't work (I build the elevator underneath structures), and often switching characters to give everyone a turn. Eventually, what this resulted in was getting overran with slimes. As far as I can tell, they scale almost solely by how much time has passed, so taking my time with things and playing with all the new toys I'd been handed just came back to bite me until I ended up needing to run back and forth constantly repairing what defences I had, deciding then to just give up as I was making no progress and the waves were only getting harder. Two and a half hours on that save, a full research table, some suit upgrades, and I had to leave it all behind because I felt essentially softlocked.
I tried again tomorrow. Skipped through dialog as fast as I can, swapped straight to big green, and spent every single moment trying to build up as fast as I could. This time I was able to expand enough to actually explore a little, and realized that there was a lot more in both directions I had no idea about my first time around, especially to the right. Slowly I progressed up there, expanding my operation, and I think a little under 2 hours later I felt I'd done everything I could. Full research, full upgrades, and Mark III reactors with thousands of crystals all around with Mark III miners keeping plenty in surplus if needed. My defences were over the slimes' own nests and at this point, destroying them not long after I got there, usually only needing to replace the fortified wall placed directly over their nest and a few other repairs here and there. Things seemed simple now, and after an initial scan I decided to launch the wave.
Then the countdown started. I hadn't expected a countdown. I'd expected the scan to work like the first scan and be instant, though with this one summoning a wave from both ends as I was warned of aggrevating the local fauna. I'd set up defences and a teleporter so I could handle one on one end and teleport to the other to help with the rest, and suddenly my plan was moot because the second scan works differently without any warning. My defences couldn't handle multiples waves so close together and I lost everything, and I knew the slimes were still scaled up from how long I'd been playing. Trying to start from scratch would be next to impossible as I'd have no resource generation to help build, nevermind maintain, any defences of any kind. My save was too far back for me to care, so I quit once again, defeated.
It's very tempting to start up another run, but frankly, spending every single moment trying to build up as fast as you can is more stressful than fun, and I don't enjoy the pressure of feeling like I have to knowing that if I don't, my entire base will be destroyed and recovering it likely won't be possible as the difficulty will have scaled too much. Unlocking max elasticity didn't feel like a reward for hard work to be enjoyed, it felt like a requirement to have a chance of surviving the slime waves as they continued to get harder and harder. Even just getting the dialog for new weight thresholds felt mildly stressful as I'd seen before that it doesn't pause time, only stopping you taking in energy and stopping you in place. That's not efficient. That's a hazard against my base. Sure, I want to read it, but I want to get through it as fast as possible so I can be ready if an attack happens. How am I meant to enjoy the dialog, or any of the weight gain aspects of the game, if I have to spend every second trying to fortify myself as much as possible?
I know this can be something incredible. All the groundwork is there, and there's so much to experiment with that I imagine there are a practically infinite amount of bases that people can build. It's so full of promise, and I strongly, eagerly look forward to the next versions in hopes of seeing their improvement. But in it's current state, it's just too demanding of you to enjoy playing it. And no matter how much I daydream about playing it and what I could build, I've no interest in spending yet another evening feeling under constant pressure to keep moving else I lose everything. This is so, so close to being something great, there's just still plenty of tweaking to be done yet for it to get there.
Thank you for reading. I can't wait to see what you do next!
Played the newest update and I find it hilarious how wind turbines have become absolutely powerful but ironically impractical for mining except for one spot that requires so much micro management that it's comedic. Thanks to the all powerful energy accumulators it's possible to have an enormous amount of power in one specific spot. That's the area directly to the front of the cave with the crystal deposit. At the top of it specifically. This specific area I've noticed is... Let's just say awkward.
Okay, first let's start with how the crystal deposit is functionally a trap due to the fact that it is very close to the slime spawner on the left side. By very close I mean you're going to have slimes dropping on your head if you don't move away from that area asap. Not only is it unlikely that you'll be able to generate enough power to use the area effectively, but in the beginning of the game you can harvest crystals with your laser without having to get a mining drill. I like the design of this trap even if it is likely unintentional.
Note that I specifically say it is a trap and not a trap just for players. It is also a trap for slimes due to how their AI functions. The gap between the plateau and the cave roof is about three buildings in size. Due to this, if there is a building on the overhang, the slimes will become confused and attempt to get to that building even if they physically cannot get to it. So effectively it functions as a carrot on a stick only it's just hanging there, taunting the slimes.
Now getting there is another issue entirely. Which makes it even more awkward due to the fact that it is so close to the slime spawner and requires two hab wall layers to even get there. So this might be a reason why many players early game are having trouble, as most would be inclined to have their structures closer to the cave. At least this is how I see it. Just my perspective.
Can someone explain to me why every time there's a comment on the game's difficulty or someone asking for a peaceful mode, it gets downvoted to hell? I thought feedback and bug reports were greatly appreciated and all
I can't speak definitely for anyone since I usually ignore the votes on comments, but if I were to hazard a guess I would say it's because I give the same answer to the question every time so it gets a little repetitive if you're the kind of person who reads through the comments and gives them votes. I personally welcome the feedback as long as it's not "ur game is bad" type commentary.
This Game is lots of fun, glad to see you're updating it again, i still wish that there'd be a peaceful mode for this game like the previous one, since setting up a base instead of defending it all the time is the way i like to play it the most
Been enjoying the game so far! It has nice graphics and I like the ideas and game loop.
My main grievance is that the slimes seem to be too powerful and numerous at times. Also, is it possible to turn the turrets around? Whenever slimes attack from the West, I need to go eliminate them myself since the turrets won't turn around.
The turrets should be turning around when there's an enemy in range even if they all start out facing right. Is this happening for the gauss turrets as well or just the lasers?
It was happening with the regular turrets, but I found out the problem was I wasn't supplying them with enough energy with the windmill generators, that was my bad. Thank you for checking.
One thing I would like to suggest are icons above structures to let you know if they aren't getting power, it would make a good way to quickly know if you need to build more generators.
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very great game, i played longer than i thought over *cough* 3 hours *cough*
When are different modes like easy or hard going to be added?
Probably next update, thought I don't have a timeliness on when that's happening.
I am so sorry to ask but how do i do anything i place like a blue print for things but Im not able to do more than that I have pressed every button i could and nothing Im sorry for not understanding
Are you asking how you place the blueprints or are you asking what you do after you place them? Most stuff you can get by talking to Sen by walking up to him and pressing "E" after you complete the tutorial, but the tutorial itself should guide you through building.
I found a way out of bounds in the cave. You can get up to the very top by using a couple Hab Walls to build an elevator offset from the stairs leading up to the top right most blocker crystal thing. I'd show you, but...I'm stuck out of bounds, and forgot to save at all during the entire cave segment. Like a dingus
Huh. I honestly never thought about that, guess I didn't think someone would go to the trouble of building all the way up! I'll have to put a ceiling on both areas.
If you are looking for where to enter the cheat code, try entering the code in the key bind in the controls setting.
What codes exist? I will not tell you, beat the game first.
What is the "end of the game" in this
Building and using the radio tower starts the end game sequence of events.
Is there anything else after I complete the scan?
Not to sound condescending, but are you reading the dialogue?
Nope.
I played the game so many times, I started skipping the dialogue.
Could I get a hint atleast on where the cheat codes go?
I gave a pretty clear hint in the V0.10.0 patch notes, but if you want something a little less obvious there's only one place in the game you can enter text.
Anyone have a good defense setup to deal with these waves?
there is no good defense. there is only slime.
What is wacatac.B!ml?
False positive that windows defender flags, it's a pretty common issue for gamemaker games.
RIP spacethumper2 v0.10.1.zip, slayed too close to the sun, got thundercunted by windows defender
thank you my liege
Im begging pls, where do I enter the codes straight up pleeeeeease
I made a meme to vent my stress in a 9+ hour file...
You are doing some illuminati shit to Dax. A+
in the background I did (in order of drawn references):
1. Starwalker ("being a rock is pissing me off")
2. sans' skull shape (I kinda didn't feel like making the full face with the shading)
3. Bill Cypher (funni trigle)
(cannot insert the bg asset, as I saved it as a .webp file :sob:)
also, sorry if it sounded insensitive. I was just unsure if you got those references or not :(
I didn't even realize sans was in there lol. I did suspect starwalker and bill though.
that's neat to hear
the background looks like trollface
i hope it's been long enough for me to ask, but what is/are the code(s) for the cheat(s)
The codes themselves or where to enter them? Right now you can get one for getting to the end of the game if that helps.
I think they're referring to the codes themselves, but now you got me curious about where to enter them as well.
the codes themselves yeah, unless you don't want to then nevermind
I've got some ideas in mind for how I'll be rolling those out, probably going to be a reward for beating certain difficulties or doing certain things.
when will the next update come out? just a rough estimate would be nice
I'll be honest, I work on the game when my schedule and my motivation overlap, which isn't really conducive to even a rough update schedule. Could be next week, could be a few months, could be anywhere in between.
ah, i see. great to know.
Just noticed a bug that happened, While I was paused and a floating slime was near me... the slime just started to... go through the ground? Though it's position would be... mostly corrected after this happens
Hey! Just got done with the game so far (v9.2). Overall a solid expansion of the first game! You seem well aware of the odd difficulty curve, which is about the only major issue I can see with the game so far. The characters, the dialogue, the art, and ESPECIALLY the sound design (the suit creaking is probably the best thing I didn't know I needed) are fantastic, as far I'm concerned. Really looking forward to playing the full release.
I could see an attack timer (or maybe a building or suit upgrade that gives you one) being a great addition, since I found myself waiting around for the next wave before starting any serious expansion projects. That and maybe more indication of things stats. Health bars for the slimes? Posted numbers for the attack power of defenses and the drone? Having energy consumption added to the description of every applicable building would be good, too, like the radio tower and teleporters. Just quality of life ideas. You've got a lovely game so far, thanks for sharing it with all of us!
(P.S.) Oh I nearly forgot! Sen seems to gradually lower throughout the playthrough. It must be very incremental, since he maybe halved in altitude over the course of 11 hours, which was when I finally noticed. I'm afraid I don't have much more info than that.
Huh, there must be a rounding issue with Sen's floating animation, that's funny. You're definitely right about the energy consumption numbers for the teleporters and the radio tower, I meant the put those in but I guess I just forgot. A wave timer might not be a bad idea either, I'll have to think of ways it could be incorporated into the UI. I want to keep the rest of the screen relatively clean, so I'm a bit opposed to adding more health bars and damage numbers, but putting that info in the build menu might help to compare relative values at least, I'd be willing to consider that.
Rather curious, as a general consensus, what is everyone's general methodology for going about setting up a manageable base?
For me, it's to go past the overhang, close enough where I can still get to the caves in a hurry, but far enough where I don't have to deal with getting ganged up on by the slimes. Especially since the left slime nest is like, 5-8 tiles away from the cave if you manage to get up there.
I then set up a metal mining job and energy generation so I can start mining crystals. Fun fact, you can mine crystals faster than the tier 1 and 2 mining machines so it saves resources and time. Not to mention it also means less buildings for the slimes.
I spend most of the time generating resources here, getting some upgrades and slowly pinching my way to the steam turbine. Then, that's when the real fun begins. Once I get the hab wall, it's wind turbines for days. In conjunction with the accumulator, it solves energy gathering pretty well for charging up crew members.
Though that forced me to have to make a freight elevator as it is the only thing that can carry the pilot and I am unable to to go to the ground. Due to there being less energy.
I then use hab walls to work my way to the overhang's top, the untouchable zone. The amount of effort to get here is kinda rewarding but at the same time not really. Due to how the wind turbines work, they count how many platforms are stacked under them, not the height layer of the map they are on. Therefore any turbines on top of the overhang don't gain the energy scaling which makes them better than most generators.
From there I feel like it would be smooth sailing if I did a run.
I kinda did the same thing, but I didn't bother with the freight elevator. I kinda just used the normal elevator to go up and fell offthe building to get to everything else I use that energy for.
Usually just for research and upgrades tbh. No reason to take that much energy up an elevator that way.
Usually for me it's not so much as taking that much energy up an elevator, it's usually down an elevator that I try to do it.
How does one access the cheat code?? I have been fumbling around to try and find it.
Try looking in the settings for somewhere you can input letters
Is there a cheat code??
Yeah, you have to beat the game first, there will be someone telling you the code, though Idk where to put it.
Its where you can "INPUT" letters, lol
holy crap i finally found it. thats really cleaver way to use the cheat codes!
I like this game, I really do. I feel like it has a lot of potential. But I feel like you spend a lot more time having to fight off enemies instead of being able to build things without worrying about them destroying the stuff you've taken so much time to build so quickly. To me, it seems extremely net negative instead of rewarding when it comes to production in this game. Because not only are there so many enemies coming at once, but they can also very easily destroy stuff because of both quantity and the damage they can do no matter how upgraded your stuff is. It just feels like you are getting basically nowhere, and it makes it seem like the things you build is just a waste of time and resources. Setting up things to make other things be able to function while having to deal with enemies all at once... Very frustrating and just makes things like that seem pointless.
I think that one thing you could add is difficulties, like V1
For those who do not like fighting and want to do this without obstacles
do you have mod support? if not, would you want to add it?
Beyond allowing for sprite replacement for the characters I don't have any plans for mod support. To be honest I'm not even sure how I would go about adding more in depth mod support.
Sorry for my poor English, I use a translator since I speak Spanish. I just hope the translation doesn't get the point across, because I don't want it to sound like just a complaint.
Um, I've read the comments, and I think it's clear that one of the main complaints is the slime issue. And, um, I think the slime generation is really a bit out of hand. While it's true that we currently have more defense tools, they are hampered by the energy issue, especially the entrance area into the cave. While I understand, as some mention, it was primarily planned as a trap, I still feel it's annoying having to go through that entire empty area and leave it mainly because of the spawn. I feel it's more an issue because of the energy lost during the transfer and the character change. It can be jarring to have to go through that empty area to get to the cave. While it can be corrected with structures late in the game, I don't know, it's somewhat jarring. Another point that, uh, found is the issue of red and purple slimes, the generation of mini slimes feels somewhat excessive, also in some cases even the red slime was far from the range of my turret, so I feel that putting a number that limits the amount of slimes that can generate is limited, also as many mention, the difference between past versions and version 0.9 is enormously felt, I spent the first game on hard difficulty and, in this one it is simply shocking, in late game I could barely raise my base, even moving further back from the cave, it was difficult to correctly plan the base or even raise it due to the slime issue, losing 2 mining points because the same slimes do not allow me to get close to them, I was lucky to be able to improve the suit enough so I could hold out, but it was still a problem, since in past versions the left spawn issue was a problem which made it necessary to go back to repair but, with some luck You could keep your base stable, but in this current version, no. It's no joke that slimes don't allow you to expand or improve things. I certainly feel like it's somewhat far from being at a "normal" difficulty level and feels more like playing on hard all the time.
I think I'll leave the game for now. However, I'll be on the lookout for new updates because I still love the game, the art and the mechanics. I have faith that it will be resolved over time. Because, as you said, it's part of balancing the game, and at the end of the day, these are things that take time. I'll anxiously await the day the difficulty selector is implemented. But at the same time, I don't want this to end on a sour note. I can only say that, even with its problems, it's a great game for something like feederism or fat fur. I really love the game, as well as the design of its characters. I've also followed your other games, such as the sowing and harvesting game. I don't intend to pressure you, just comment. I waited almost a year for an update. A few more months until everything is polished won't kill anyone, great game, keep it up
Difficulties are coming soon, I've almost got the regular balance ironed out.
This game really needs either cables/wires, or option to make building generate energy to ONLY one structure, instead of always halving it and sharing with both structures - at its left and its right.
There are places where i'd like to make my generator give energy to ONLY one thing and completely ignore something else.
Like on this screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/iWi4P80
I really would do a lot for being able to make wind turbine next to left of my auto-miner, give energy to ONLY laser turret, because auto-miner is already powered by something else. This is crucial mechanic for game with so much micromanaging and i genuinely don't understand, why it's either missing, or it's never explained in game, how to do that.
It's mostly from me wanting to emphasize the difficulties the characters themselves are facing with power management through gameplay. No batteries beyond their own bodies, no cables for long distance transmission, not even simple distribution systems. I'll admit I would probably tweak some things now given my experience with developing this game, but those would require complete overhauls at this point, so the current power system is here to stay.
Even being able to make power source transfer energy to only left/right side would require complete overhaul of energy system?
That specifically is probably doable with less intensive reworks of the code. I was more referring to automatically adjusting power given to buildings based on need. That would cause a whole slew of problems without a major rework.
I found the problem, looks like elevator is allowed to be built partly in cave, but then it won't work.
How do i use elevator? Pressing e does nothing, my elevator IS powered with more than required optimal power.
press up ("w" by default). If you've played games where you had to move up to use a ladder, you'll feel silly when you try on the elevator (Unless, you've already done that by the time I tell you this, which'll make me feel silly.)
I want to love this, but I just can't in it's current state.
Played on 0.9.2
I've played Spacethumper 1 and enjoyed it a lot, so I'll be speaking from that baseline. Starting with the good, when I learned I got to play as 3 different characters I really looked forward to it! They've all got distinct designs and personalities and bounce off each other well, and it gives an immediate fun goal of seeing how big you can get all of them. Gameplay is also expanded massively in terms of what you can do - adding verticality gives you a whole new plane to build on, and there's not just a whole new layer of complexity added with them but multiple layers with the conditionals for the generators, solar does bad underneath platforms and caves, wind doesn't do great on the ground, elevators need space, and everything needs to be powered and needs something next to it, it's more than just using the power to create them in the first place now. It gives so much more to work with and around in planning your base and how you're gonna set up,especially when including how many more structures are now 2 tile wide, some 3tiles wide! Everything added and changed gives you a whole lot more to play around with compared to its predecessor, and I was really excited to try it all out
But, the game's just... irritating, to play, at least currently. On my first save, I took my time looking around a little, doing the tutorial, reading the dialog after hitting 200, talking with the people in the cave... when I left, I found my first slime. And this is where the trouble began.
I wanted to play whilst exploring what I'd been given. Building platforms, building wind turbines on them and seeing how well they worked, trying to build elevators and, mostly getting confused why they wouldn't work (I build the elevator underneath structures), and often switching characters to give everyone a turn. Eventually, what this resulted in was getting overran with slimes. As far as I can tell, they scale almost solely by how much time has passed, so taking my time with things and playing with all the new toys I'd been handed just came back to bite me until I ended up needing to run back and forth constantly repairing what defences I had, deciding then to just give up as I was making no progress and the waves were only getting harder. Two and a half hours on that save, a full research table, some suit upgrades, and I had to leave it all behind because I felt essentially softlocked.
I tried again tomorrow. Skipped through dialog as fast as I can, swapped straight to big green, and spent every single moment trying to build up as fast as I could. This time I was able to expand enough to actually explore a little, and realized that there was a lot more in both directions I had no idea about my first time around, especially to the right. Slowly I progressed up there, expanding my operation, and I think a little under 2 hours later I felt I'd done everything I could. Full research, full upgrades, and Mark III reactors with thousands of crystals all around with Mark III miners keeping plenty in surplus if needed. My defences were over the slimes' own nests and at this point, destroying them not long after I got there, usually only needing to replace the fortified wall placed directly over their nest and a few other repairs here and there. Things seemed simple now, and after an initial scan I decided to launch the wave.
Then the countdown started. I hadn't expected a countdown. I'd expected the scan to work like the first scan and be instant, though with this one summoning a wave from both ends as I was warned of aggrevating the local fauna. I'd set up defences and a teleporter so I could handle one on one end and teleport to the other to help with the rest, and suddenly my plan was moot because the second scan works differently without any warning. My defences couldn't handle multiples waves so close together and I lost everything, and I knew the slimes were still scaled up from how long I'd been playing. Trying to start from scratch would be next to impossible as I'd have no resource generation to help build, nevermind maintain, any defences of any kind. My save was too far back for me to care, so I quit once again, defeated.
It's very tempting to start up another run, but frankly, spending every single moment trying to build up as fast as you can is more stressful than fun, and I don't enjoy the pressure of feeling like I have to knowing that if I don't, my entire base will be destroyed and recovering it likely won't be possible as the difficulty will have scaled too much. Unlocking max elasticity didn't feel like a reward for hard work to be enjoyed, it felt like a requirement to have a chance of surviving the slime waves as they continued to get harder and harder. Even just getting the dialog for new weight thresholds felt mildly stressful as I'd seen before that it doesn't pause time, only stopping you taking in energy and stopping you in place. That's not efficient. That's a hazard against my base. Sure, I want to read it, but I want to get through it as fast as possible so I can be ready if an attack happens. How am I meant to enjoy the dialog, or any of the weight gain aspects of the game, if I have to spend every second trying to fortify myself as much as possible?
I know this can be something incredible. All the groundwork is there, and there's so much to experiment with that I imagine there are a practically infinite amount of bases that people can build. It's so full of promise, and I strongly, eagerly look forward to the next versions in hopes of seeing their improvement. But in it's current state, it's just too demanding of you to enjoy playing it. And no matter how much I daydream about playing it and what I could build, I've no interest in spending yet another evening feeling under constant pressure to keep moving else I lose everything. This is so, so close to being something great, there's just still plenty of tweaking to be done yet for it to get there.
Thank you for reading. I can't wait to see what you do next!
Ik this will never happen, but i hope one day the elasticity increases. 🤞
Played the newest update and I find it hilarious how wind turbines have become absolutely powerful but ironically impractical for mining except for one spot that requires so much micro management that it's comedic. Thanks to the all powerful energy accumulators it's possible to have an enormous amount of power in one specific spot. That's the area directly to the front of the cave with the crystal deposit. At the top of it specifically. This specific area I've noticed is... Let's just say awkward.
Okay, first let's start with how the crystal deposit is functionally a trap due to the fact that it is very close to the slime spawner on the left side. By very close I mean you're going to have slimes dropping on your head if you don't move away from that area asap. Not only is it unlikely that you'll be able to generate enough power to use the area effectively, but in the beginning of the game you can harvest crystals with your laser without having to get a mining drill. I like the design of this trap even if it is likely unintentional.
Note that I specifically say it is a trap and not a trap just for players. It is also a trap for slimes due to how their AI functions. The gap between the plateau and the cave roof is about three buildings in size. Due to this, if there is a building on the overhang, the slimes will become confused and attempt to get to that building even if they physically cannot get to it. So effectively it functions as a carrot on a stick only it's just hanging there, taunting the slimes.
Now getting there is another issue entirely. Which makes it even more awkward due to the fact that it is so close to the slime spawner and requires two hab wall layers to even get there. So this might be a reason why many players early game are having trouble, as most would be inclined to have their structures closer to the cave. At least this is how I see it. Just my perspective.
Can someone explain to me why every time there's a comment on the game's difficulty or someone asking for a peaceful mode, it gets downvoted to hell? I thought feedback and bug reports were greatly appreciated and all
I can't speak definitely for anyone since I usually ignore the votes on comments, but if I were to hazard a guess I would say it's because I give the same answer to the question every time so it gets a little repetitive if you're the kind of person who reads through the comments and gives them votes. I personally welcome the feedback as long as it's not "ur game is bad" type commentary.
This Game is lots of fun, glad to see you're updating it again, i still wish that there'd be a peaceful mode for this game like the previous one, since setting up a base instead of defending it all the time is the way i like to play it the most
Been enjoying the game so far! It has nice graphics and I like the ideas and game loop.
My main grievance is that the slimes seem to be too powerful and numerous at times. Also, is it possible to turn the turrets around? Whenever slimes attack from the West, I need to go eliminate them myself since the turrets won't turn around.
The turrets should be turning around when there's an enemy in range even if they all start out facing right. Is this happening for the gauss turrets as well or just the lasers?
It was happening with the regular turrets, but I found out the problem was I wasn't supplying them with enough energy with the windmill generators, that was my bad. Thank you for checking.
One thing I would like to suggest are icons above structures to let you know if they aren't getting power, it would make a good way to quickly know if you need to build more generators.
Yeah the turrets have weird tracking. Have to check the difference from the previous update and the latest update.