Hi there,



i got attracted to this game by the steam news. It looks very promising so i watched some lets plays but was not able to find enough time and motivation to preorder the game. In the let's play videos i saw some things which are looking a little bit immersion breaking in my eyes:



1. The Seemless Zoom.

You can zoom out and see the whole galaxy. Then you zoom in to see your part of the galaxy. But then, when you click on your star system, you see only a planetary overview screen. I think this destroys the immersion of ruling a empire in space. I would like to see and feel the galaxy AND the star systems because the fascination for this theme is the reason i play this games at all. It would be really nice to get a beautifull star system overview, with asteroid fields, anomalies, planets, floating around the sun... The overview goes a little bit too much in the direction of a excel sheet. Dont get me wrong.. its beautiful and helpfull, but just not immersive enough to get sucked in entirely.



2. The Planetary View.

I would love to see some buildings there, too. At the moment you have a planet and some icons. I really would like to see what i just build or created. At least SOME visual progress would be nice. Like some cities spreading over the planetary surface(think about the city planet coruscant in star wars). Or a visual feedback of a ongoing terraforming process or war up to the complete destruction of a planet.



3. More Drawn Icons, less Schematic Icons.

Please take a look at the research tree. Or the navigation menu. Or the ship building menu. There are schematics everywhere. I think there are a little bit too much of them at the moment. Especially in the research trees it should feel more like something that is special. Something that is worth the work you put in. A little shiny icon for every research would increase the feeling that i got something special.



4. More Names for Planets, Asteroid belts, Nebulas, Anomalies!

If you think about my first idea and how it could look, its propably more interesting to not just name solar objects after the star system, for example URSA 1(Gas Giant), URSA 2(Asteroid Field), URSA 3(Earthlike Planet). More name variation or the possibility to rename them would be really nice. This is also an possible idea for a level above the star systems. For example... think about the "Orion Belt". It consists out of many star systems. If you zoom out to a level where you don't see any star system names anymore it would be a nice touch to replace them with such nebula or constellation names. It would also stimulate the players fantasy in terms of personal property. For example you could strive for the possession of a whole constellation: "This is the orion belt! The home of my civilization!" I think this would be a nice touch.



Well that is about all I thought of after watching the let's plays. I hope you find it usefull.



Best Regards,



Kulin

Kulin wrote:
Hi there,



i got attracted to this game by the steam news. It looks very promising so i watched some lets plays but was not able to find enough time and motivation to preorder the game. In the let's play videos i saw some things which are looking a little bit immersion breaking in my eyes:



1. The Seemless Zoom.

You can zoom out and see the whole galaxy. Then you zoom in to see your part of the galaxy. But then, when you click on your star system, you see only a planetary overview screen. I think this destroys the immersion of ruling a empire in space. I would like to see and feel the galaxy AND the star systems because the fascination for this theme is the reason i play this games at all. It would be really nice to get a beautifull star system overview, with asteroid fields, anomalies, planets, floating around the sun... The overview goes a little bit too much in the direction of a excel sheet. Dont get me wrong.. its beautiful and helpfull, but just not immersive enough to get sucked in entirely.



2. The Planetary View.

I would love to see some buildings there, too. At the moment you have a planet and some icons. I really would like to see what i just build or created. At least SOME visual progress would be nice. Like some cities spreading over the planetary surface(think about the city planet coruscant in star wars). Or a visual feedback of a ongoing terraforming process or war up to the complete destruction of a planet.



3. More Drawn Icons, less Schematic Icons.

Please take a look at the research tree. Or the navigation menu. Or the ship building menu. There are schematics everywhere. I think there are a little bit too much of them at the moment. Especially in the research trees it should feel more like something that is special. Something that is worth the work you put in. A little shiny icon for every research would increase the feeling that i got something special.



4. More Names for Planets, Asteroid belts, Nebulas, Anomalies!

If you think about my first idea and how it could look, its propably more interesting to not just name solar objects after the star system, for example URSA 1(Gas Giant), URSA 2(Asteroid Field), URSA 3(Earthlike Planet). More name variation or the possibility to rename them would be really nice. This is also an possible idea for a level above the star systems. For example... think about the "Orion Belt". It consists out of many star systems. If you zoom out to a level where you don't see any star system names anymore it would be a nice touch to replace them with such nebula or constellation names. It would also stimulate the players fantasy in terms of personal property. For example you could strive for the possession of a whole constellation: "This is the orion belt! The home of my civilization!" I think this would be a nice touch.



Well that is about all I thought of after watching the let's plays. I hope you find it usefull.



Best Regards,



Kulin

I suggested the same myself, immersion needs a bit more love, it is a key parameter in a 4X game. Cant agree more with your entire post.



EDIT: Here is a paint suggestion I made about a more immersive system screen (it is far from perfect, but you see the idea...) :

> /#/endless-space/forum/29-archives/thread/13230-suggestion-more-immersive-system-screen-solar-system-type

Kruos wrote:
I suggested the same myself, immersion needs a bit more love, it is a key parameter in a 4X game. Cant agree more with your entire post.



EDIT: Here is a paint suggestion I made about a more immersive system screen (it is far from perfect, but you see the idea...) :

> /#/endless-space/forum/29-archives/thread/13230-suggestion-more-immersive-system-screen-solar-system-type

You are right. Immersion is a key factor for many of us. I love space games because my fantasy is going wild when i just think about the never-ending possibilites in "endless space" and universes.



So this will always be a balancing act between information access and immersion. And there will always be one playerfaction who loves excell sheets and another who just want to explore and conquer the stars. Dreamers vs. Realists. I think atm this game goes a little bit to far into the excel sheet direction. But i also think you can change this. In the core my idea is not too much, i think. Some new Icons, a new star system view, a slightly different planet name generator, constellation names who are doeing nothing else than ... well... naming a constellation. And a few slighty altered planet skins. For example to change an desert planet in a gaia-type planet. Or a low population planet into a coruscant-like city planet.