a multiplayer game of parenting and civilization building
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I can't be sure that no one destroyed the landing strip in the meantime, but I should have landed back at base after takeoff No1 if there was no landing spot available, right? I wasn't the first person to take off from that town, but I was the first not to come back immediately (I do think they took off in the opposite direction though). Also, it seems kind of unlikely (albeit possible) that there were literally no other landing pads on the server at that time.
My understanding of the system is that it goes rougly like this:
If there is an active landing pad in the direction of the takeoff, land there.
If there is not an active landing pad in the direction of the takeoff, land on a landing pad near the takeoff direction.
If there is no landing pad in the direction of the takeoff OR near the takeoff location, crash land on the Eve spiral.
I had the same experience as Tarr, and I can confirm that they don't really work how I expected them to work. They probably work fine in a testing environment and on small servers (they worked fine for LostScholar on server15), but they don't always work properly on a real server.
I lived to fly a plane once, and in that life I had four total take offs. Each time I would crash land further and further southeast of my original departure point, no matter the direction I took off in. There was definitely a landing strip in my original town, and even if there wasn't, there were other landing strips somewhere on the server.
I was streaming at the time, so I have video examples of planes not working how I expected them to work. They might be working as intended, but it doesn't seem right to me.
Takeoff No1 (heading east) + crash land No1 (7.3k tiles away to the south) - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/374559763?t=37m
Takeoff No2 (heading north) + crash land No2 (9.9k tiles away to the southeast) - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/374559763?t=53m25s
Takeoff No3 (heading west) + crash land No3 (11k tiles away to the southeast) - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/374559763?t=59m49s
Takeoff No4 (heading east) + crash land No4 (11k tiles away to the southeast) - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/374559763?t=01h05m45s
The reason I didn't head west after my first crash landing was that my home marker was pointing straight north, so I figured that gave me better odds of getting home. But even so, heading north and landing 1k tiles to the southeast makes no sense. And besides, the way I understand it you're only supposed to crash land when there are no other pads on the server.
First of all, I want to preface this by saying that this is all just my opinion. Many might disagree with me, and that's ok!
I feel like the past few updates have had very little effect on the overall game. While they did add a crazy amount of new items and recipes, those items are usually just crafting ingredients for the main item of the update. And while the main item of the update is usually cool and different, it doesn't really add anything to the game, which means the gameplay loop is exactly the same as it was in the previous version. The main item of the update takes a lot of time and effort to make and is usually made by one or two people, but is only made once to see the new shiny thing and then never touched again. I feel like this applies to every update that came out since the Jungle update in one way or another.
Just to clarify, when I say gameplay loop, I'm talking about the things that you do regularly across multiple lives. This includes core mechanics such as watering the crops, planting new ones, cooking, making compost, etc. It's the things that serve an actual purpose and have to be done by someone, or the village dies. In most of your lives you're going to do at least a little bit of some of those things. My definition of gameplay loop also includes non-core mechanics that are not crucial for a town's survival, but that give a town personality, and might come with some benefits. These non-core mechanics include building roads, building buildings, crafting core items such as buckets or carts, burying people, etc.
Let's do a quick and simple analysis of every update that came out after the Steam release, starting with the Jungle update.
Jungle Update, November 19th
This update added a new biome, which completely changed the Eve gameplay. Jungles have perfect temperature and plenty of food, but they are potentially dangerous, especially for inexperienced players. This biome affects players at any stage of the game, be they an Eve looking for a settlement location or a member of a big city exploring the world for resources. This update also brought us the ability to upgrade carts to carry two more items. While this is not a very 'interesting' thing by itself, it is very useful and fully worthwhile to do. I think that, long-term, the Jungle update is one of the best updates the game ever received.
Turkey Hunt Update, November 22nd
A smaller holiday update. A new wild animal and several new foods, also new hats. Turkeys don't really change the gameplay loop, but this was a holiday update and it did what it was supposed to do - add something thematic. I personally was expecting no update at all that week, so this was a pleasant surprise.
Newcomen Atmospheric Engine Update, November 30th
I was personally disappointed with this update. The Newcomen Atmospheric Core parts are, in my mind, weirdly simple to make. One Hour One Life items often require many steps to make in order to be as realistic as possible, but the Newcomen parts are made by just hitting some iron bars with a hammer. The Newcomen Pump Tower itself is also just some wood on some rocks.
Building the tower doesn't take very long, and once you finish building the tower, your reward more water - not very interesting. The fact that you need to use charcoal to get water is cool though, and I really enjoyed mass producing charcoal for the short time that it was relevant. The tower doesn't really change the gameplay, in fact it makes it worse - previously, when the village ran out of water, people would have to band together and bring water from the surrounding areas. Now water is infinite, so running out of water is much less likely to happen. This update didn't really change the gameplay loop, except that every now and then someone will make a Newcomen Pump.
Black Gold Update, December 8th
A whole set of machines and recipes! Oil! Kerosene! All cool stuff, but they're all just crafting ingredients for the Kerosene Newcomen Pump, which gives you more water than before. More water is good, I guess, but it doesn't really change the gameplay loop.
Internal Combustion Update, December 15th
This update was all about the Diesel Engine. Once you make it, it's used for two things. The first of them is yet another water pump. It is the best water source in the game, but since water is already infinite it's not a very important item to make. The second one is an advanced cart that is faster than your average cart and also requires fuel. While it is cool to drive it around, it's just a faster cart, and your time and resources are probably better spent elsewhere. You might make this once just to see if you can.
Yuletide Together Update, December 21st
New character models! While they don't usually affect the gameplay, new character models make the game look different and I think they are great! We also got snowballs and snowmen, which can be used to cool down hot areas and disarm people. We also got some cosmetic holiday items, but I feel that they take way too many resources and effort for the fact that they only last a few minutes. It takes thirty-four milkweed to light candles that glow for two minutes, which is a bit much.
Apocalypse 2.0 Update, December 28th
Ugh. I think the Apocalypse is a horrible idea. This update adds the Apocalypse, nothing else. Hopefully it never triggers. I do find it kind of funny that the update the week prior talked about how there will never be magic in the game, and then we get an update that's exclusively focused on magic right after it.
Population Stabilization Update, January 5th
Bug fixing update, no new content.
Radio Telegraphy Update, January 12th
The update that got me thinking about making this post. This update adds the radio, an item that is fairly complicated to make that allows you to send and receive signals to other people on the server that also built the radio. Communicating with other towns is not very useful in this game. You have no way of knowing where they are, and even if you did, what would you say to them? You barely have enough time to talk to the people around you, why would you want talk to someone on the other side of the map? This might just be me, but this seems so uninteresting and opposite of what I want to do in this game.
Also, you have to use Morse code to communicate, which makes it even more pointless. This update added a crazy amount of items and recipes, but it's just crafting ingredients for the radio. Probably the most meaningless content update so far.
Romeo Charlie update, January 18th
Same as last week, except you don't have to use morse code anymore, making the previous week's item completely obsolete. Communicating via radio is still pointless. Also, this update seems to be broken at the time that I'm writing this, as the radios don't appear to work at all.
I think the problem with the updates is that the game feels almost exactly the same as it did the week the Jungle Update came out. Not many things have changed. We got a bunch of new well upgrades (and the only reason they're even remotely worth it is because the old wells got significantly nerfed), and that's about it. Also, I do realize we got a bunch of code changes and bug fixes, and that's great! More of those things, please! My problem is not that we're not getting enough content updates, it's that the content we're getting isn't very interesting. I feel like I would enjoy the updates a lot more if they weren't all focused on just one Big Item and the ingredients to make it.
A jungle is mostly trash. Why would you bother building there, and having to deal with permanent yellow fever for a few early bananas? The only resources there are super late game stuff, that you don't really need much of anyway. What happened to high risk high reward? That is gone now. Honestly jungle would be a better area if it had no mosquitoes and no bananas, at least then you could have warm tiles without the hassle.
The Jungle is still by far the best biome in the game by a large margin IMO, even after the banana nerf. The perfect temperature is so good, you need only 3 food per minute to survive in a Jungle, compared to 20 food per minute in the Grasslands. One berry bush can sustain you for 12 minutes in a jungle, compared to two minutes in other biomes. If you eat better foods the difference is even bigger.
The mosquitoes are a tiny downside, and they're almost irrelevant once you know how to avoid them.
Hotfix for infinite bananas, slowing down wild egg production, and shrinking the Eve spawn spiral by a factor of 2x (Eves are closer together, meaning more chance of village interaction).
First of all, I want to say that I have massive respect for Jason, and that I love this game.
But I don't think making bananas not respawn is a good change. Giving them a super long respawn timer, I can get behind with that, but making them not respawn at all is both too much and not enough at the same time.
Banana trees are still super common, which means that the first few generations can still live off of nothing but bananas. Once all the initial bananas are gone though, that village will never see them again, which feels kinda bad. I think a better change would have been to make them 1/4 as common, and make their respawn timer ~4 hours. That way every few generations you'd have a rich banana harvest and that would be a cool special moment, but they would be rare enough so you couldn't rely on them - they would be a decent starter food, and also a special treat every few generations.
Prior to bananas, getting a settlement up and running was a knife-edge challenge (which is great!). A hopeless task for a newbie, but just barely doable with some experience. The main dynamic is that until you get a well-run farm going, you have JUST ENOUGH natural food to carry you through - but you can feel the time pressure as you see it running out. You have to go further afield to get what you need, which itself adds to the time pressure since it takes you longer to get anything done.
Every now and then you run across a sizeable cache of food - a cluster of cacti with fruit, a new grasslands area with berry bushes - and a wave of relief passes over you as you realize you've bought a little more time. Getting the kiln up and making plates opens up omelettes and marks a major milestone; you're not out of the woods, and it has trade-offs, but it represents a big breakthrough and grants a well-earned respite.
This is awesome gameplay.
Bananas are so filling, so plentiful, and so quick to regrow that it basically takes all the pressure off. It's no longer a knife-edge challenge. And you can take advantage of it immediately without any precursor technology (like plates). This is not awesome gameplay.
I wouldn't want to see a nerf to berries, cacti, eggs, and rabbits, or to the quantities of the non-respawning foods. They seem to be just right. Bananas are the outlier to be fixed. I like that they're high-reward and high-risk, or at least are supposed to be. But we the players have figured out how to minimize the risk while reaping the reward, which makes the mosquitos annoying and disruptive rather than dangerous. I'm not sure how to fix that.
+1
I think the key is not a direct nerf to bananas, but rather, "long term" nerf to them. For example, simply make bananas not respawn.
I personally don't think making bananas not respawn is a good solution. Increasing their respawn timer, sure, but they should still respawn from time to time.
I think other wild food sources are fine.
The problem with bananas is not that they are an endless food source, that part of it is great. The problem with bananas is that they are so common and plentiful that they're several orders of magnitude better than any other food in the game. If you wanted to, you could easily survive for generations on bananas alone, without ever having to farm or cook anything else.
Mosquitoes alone are not enough to balance this, as you can easily avoid them by standing on an item. You can even cover the entire jungle in bananas and make it very safe to be in.
I mean, you guys are complaining jungles are deadly AND they give too much food. I feel like this is exactly the intention of the dev -> create a biome where food is much better, but which is much deadlier.
Currently, most good players rarely die to wild animals except for the occasionnal mistake. But yellow fever is a real threat.
I feel like its fun to get a biome which is higher risk reward than the other zones.
Yellow Fever isn't very dangerous, it's just a slight annoyance. As long as your food bar is decently full when you get stung you'll be fine, even as a child.
I agree that there is not enough surface iron right now, and it's going to get even worse when we get the Jungle biome this week (unless the Jungle has iron as well).
This does technically make the game more difficult, but in reality I don't think it means much as it doesn't really affect or change how the average life is played out. It only affects the maximum lifespan of a village, and that doesn't really mean much to an average play experience since only what happens in the one hour of your life matters.. The only time I think it will be noticeable is when you're playing as an Eve/Eve's child and you're frustrated by the lack of iron.
Why don't we get some kind of change to the railways instead (or in addition to this)? I remember being super exicted about carts when I saw the update gif, and then being incredibly disappointed when I saw them ingame and realized they are nothing like that gif. Imagine having to build a railway that goes into an iron mine and comes out with a massive iron chunk that has to be taken back to the village for processing. The mine carts as they are right now are completely useless - it's more efficient to just carry the things yourself or use a horse. At least make the carts move more than one tile at a time if they can't be smooth.
How about new biomes? That could shake up the meta. A biome that doesn't have iron means there's less iron on average per square mile. They could even have a mix of old things and new things in them - imagine a tropical biome that has mango trees, cinnabar and lapis deposits, big limestone deposits, and water deposits of some kind (without geese). Or a forest biome that has a lot of trees, occasional rabbit holes, rare ponds, etc.
I think new biomes would achieve the same end goal of reducing the amount of nearby iron, but in a more interesting way that would change and improve the overall feel of the game.
EDIT: +1 for pitchforks, they could also be used to make dung piles!
My two cents - griefers don't cause 'drama', they just make my experience worse and make me want to stop playing.
Putting aside the lack of tech advancements and the fact that the 'meta' hasn't really changed, I really feel like my enjoyment of an average life went up since the introduction of Donkey Town. I honestly think that was the best update so far and I would be really sad to see it removed without a suitable replacement.
In my experience the people who boycott Early Access games are a tiny but vocal minority. Just look at Factorio or Slay the Spire. Both of those games are very polished and fun as they are right now, but since they're still being actively worked on they are in the Early Access program.
I believe the best way to do it would be to mark it as Early Access now, and once you decide you're done with updating the game and adding new content you can do a big 'full release' push. One Hour One Life is a bit unique and I don't know if you'll ever consider it to be truly finished - it draws inspiration from real life and there's always more things that can be added. That being sad it has more in common with Early Access games than with fully released games.
As I said Early Access does not necessarily mean that the game is buggy, it just means that it's actively being developed, and that's exactly what OHOL is. I'm afraid that if the game releases without the Early Access tag some people might feel deceived or disappointed, as they're probably expecting a fully finished package.
In the end it's your game and your call, but I truly believe that not marking it as Early Access is a mistake.
I can't help but notice that the game is not marked as Early Access. I don't know if this is just a quirk of the Coming Soon store page that we don't see it, or if it's really not marked as such. If it's a quirk feel free to ignore this post completely.
Not marking One Hour One Life as Early Access would be a mistake. It's a game that does not yet match your final vision, and it receives new content on a consistent basis. It is a game that you are still actively working on every week. That there is the definition of Early Access.
Non-Early Access games are games that are generally not expected to receive any new content updates, and when they do receive them they are usually smaller things that do not affect the overall game.
Early Access does NOT mean that the game is a proof of concept, that the game is super buggy, that the game needs heavy balancing (although it can be those things). Early Access means that the developer is still working on the game and that the developer intends to add or tweak features.
I know you said you plan to actively support the game for two years. It has been seven months so far, which means there's seventeen months of new updates and new content remaining. If that is still the plan, OHOL should be marked as Early Access.
If the game is not marked as Early Access you can't really modify the core mechanics or the metagame without upsetting people. When people buy a non-Early Access game they expect a game that is pretty much set in stone. Most OHOL updates add new features or change things in a meaningful way, and they do not really belong in a non-Early Access game.
The trailer that is currently on the Store Page shows things that are not yet in the game. People often buy the game expecting to encounter those things, and they get told 'Oh yeah the game is still in development, those things haven't been added yet.' If I were a person that saw OHOL and its cool trailer on Steam for the first time, bought it, and then realized that the game is still in development despite not having an Early Access tag, and that those things are not there and that they might never be added, I would feel betrayed and would probably ask for a refund.
I truly believe that not marking One Hour One Life as Early Access is a colossal mistake. Steam defines Early Access games as "games that evolve as you play them, as you give feedback, and as the developers update and add content." Is that not what One Hour One Life is? The One Hour One Life of today is very much different than the game I bought back in March. It's going to be different seven months from now as well. Fully finished and released games do not change that much over the course of seven months. Early Access games do.
I know I just keep repeating myself, but I really believe this is extremely important. It's the first thing that I felt was so important as to make a forum account. I was against the Apocalypse, but I did not make a forum account to comment on it. I disliked the first implementation of decay, but I did not feel it was important enough to make a forum account to discuss it. There are many aspects of the game that I have my thoughts on, but I never felt inclined to discuss them on the forums.
Not marking the game as Early Access is bigger than all those things, so here I am.