Sticky Initial Feedback

its fun, but needs a turorial because i was really frustrated in the beginning about what i was doing, and the controls are very weird

I think that the game is great, I just haven't been able to figure out all of the controls yet, and I'm pretty sure that by tomorrow I will have made a castle worthy of staging a huge battle with the debug mode.

I find the camera controls can be a little clunky. Perhaps use WSAD or the arrow keys to move the camera?

I'm not happy with the camera controls to be honest. Having to keep space pressed down all the time is very annoying and I'm sure there are better ways to do it.

We're also in desperate need of a removal tool for misplaced blocks, it's easy to make a mistake and it seems like a pretty crucial function.

ok, I'm having fun with this, I'll agree that the controls are definitely not intuitive, but it hasn't turned me away from the game. I do wish there was a way to save the game tho

I like the prototype, the music is fine, controls are fine, camera is fine. But the thing I really dislike is the fact that the miners and mines are so bugged. Miners suddenly stop to work, even if there is still space. You are not able to delete a mine zone, which is very frustrating (all these icons appear on your island). I also dislike the fact that you need to drag someone to a new group in order to assign a new task for the bricktron, I mean why such a control group system? I think it's way better that you can assign a bricktron to different tasks very fast by just one right button click.

In my opinion, this prototype was released to early. These bugs were quite obvious and if you test the game you should have seen these things. But overall, it's a nice game and of course it's still a prototype.

I think it's fun, it has a ton of potential, but just needs to be ironed down a bit. The controls were hard at first, but after a few minutes of playing around with them they actually work pretty good. There just needs to be a tutorial on how to use all the controls.

Yeah. An interactive tutorial when first starting it would be great.

i can see me spending a great deal of time in this game. However, it needs 2 things a tutorial and a scaling system of some kind, either metallurgy and/or exp something to reach for and strive. The base and general idea of this game is PERFECT and worth every penny

Hmmm I am under the impression that whatever version they used for the initial kickstarter video or Dev "Let´s Play´s" is the same they released to public (although those seemed more stable). I would like to see them building the Castle from Video-Island without dev-tools only by utilizing the means of the prototype... should be hilarious and enhance my knowledge of Canadian-swearing.

I´d say the prototype is broken to the point of unplayability (especially the many save/load issues). Still the game that shines through it looks fun and entertaining.

What I dont see yet is some kind of core gameplay. You dont build any infrastructure / industry. You dont have quests or any kind of motivation, and the current combat doesnt care if you build a castle or simply fight on empty plains. So I am really interested what they will pull out of the hat from here to beta to make this litle sandbox into a game. As of right now it is a dumbed down RTS-Minecraft and in any way inferior to even the really early versions of Minecraft.

On the other hand I did not expect anything else so I am not dissapointed or crying, still I was hoping for more due to Team Sauropods great ability of sharing their vision and enthuisasm (blinded by marketing?)

i need some sort of guide.

i managed to figure out how to cut trees, but i don't know how to do anything else. i once got them to dig a mine, but i'm not sure how i did it. they also stopped once they had a full pouch.

I think its awesome. I love the concept and I love the way it looks. I agree a control tutorial would be helpful. Overall the game is amazing all 3 of my kids (4,5,7) kept bouncing back and forth between my Husband and I to watch the game as they think its awesome as well. They eventually kicked us off and tried building so now are islands are covered in blue blocks.

The whole idea of a prototype is to put out a very early build that lets people interact with some basic game mechanics. Definitely submit bug reports and suggestions for improvements, but please don't expect the majority of the game systems to be in place or functional. Sauropod will be iterating on the development for many months before a beta released, and only at that point should folks expect all the basic parts of the game to be functional.

To be frustrated at the early stage of development in this initial release -- to complain about a missing tutorial or quests or that it was released too early -- is to misunderstand the very definition of a prototype (wikipedia has a good write up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototype).

Have fun with what's there and encourage development in constructive ways.

That said, I agree that I'd love to see a more standard set of camera controls, where WASD pans without the need for a modifier, and QE rotates.

Thanks Sauropod!

p.s. the wiki has a short description of the controls: http://wiki.castlestoryonline.com/wiki/Controls

The game is great and controls are ok, once you get used to them. I wouldn't expect anyone to get used to them without a tutorial. I just think there needs to be all the bugs fixed, and it needs to be easier to manage bricktrons for their tasks. I find it hard to make them switch mid-task, they usually don't want to. And building is really slow but still pretty cool. The bricktrons are a little plump so them going places is difficult because they run into each other. Also the path-finding is not too good.

The game is kind of unplayable at first because of all the bugs, but once you figure out how to get around them it is lot's of fun. The graphics are beautiful, the music is good, and the gameplay is quite fast, once you get used to it.

I find creating castles is a little more complicated than I originally thought, maybe have a tutorial on how to build one, or show how each block works? Also right now the only purpose of the game is to build and destroy your own castle. It is still fun IMO, but there needs to be more gameplay, such as goals to reach, enemies to destroy, Technology to discover, and multiplayer gamemodes for even more fun. I know you(the devs) are already plan on doing this so I am not worried.

All in all, quite a good game.
I have been looking forward to it for a long time.
I know the devs will fix any of the bugs they find.
They will continue to make this game better until it reaches it's full potential.
Thanks Sauropod!

Enjoyable, but a bit unstable. After several restarts and such I feel I am able to understand the controls and make the Bricktrons do what I want to do. I even got as far as building quite a large castle, before I had to head out and do my shopping. Save doesn't seem to work so the work is lost, but no worries. I make a new one.

Ability to turn of the ambient sounds would be nice, tooltips, like on the catapult for example. How much does it take to make it? Also didnt find a way to actually load it, even if I had rocks and barrels galore, but it is more of a bug then not, so thats for another section.

I dont consider it to be broken to the point of unplayable. And I am able to make a castle. It might take a few hours, but it is quite doable.

Obviously there are bugs, it's a bit clunky in places and the controls are less than intuitive. I gave up playing until people had released a few tutorials online.
BUT
The game's huge potential just shines through all that. Yes it's buggy but the prototype is still really exciting. I can see how some things are going to work, can picture a few new ideas that would fit well into what's already there (like rope for bridges, balustrades) . I think the original idea is good enough that this game will be able to incorporate lots of new ideas - not just for beta and final release - but beyond that.

On the whole I think sauropod have done (and continue to do) a great job!
Things will only get better from here

Setting aside the bugs I think the game is quite fun. The controls took a bit to get use to but now I can move around quite fluidly. I would still suggest making wasd move the location even without space being pressed. I also think putting in the ability to move the camera location by moving the mouse to the edges of the screen may help people migrating from other RTS style games.

Since I'm not sure it's a bug I'd like to add that while brick construction is great, wood construction is less impressive. For instance while I've been able to make complex and large floor areas using planks you have to build each side up before you can even place the blueprints for the middle planks. The same is essentially true for horizontal logs. I can stack vertical log blueprints as high as I want but I have to wait for a horizontal one to be placed before the next can. Well unless it's on the ground.

Still it shows a lot of potential. Keep up the great work!

I am having a lot of fun. I think the biggest thing right now is to allow the game to run when the window isn't active. I would like to be able to set up the blueprints for my structure and then go browse the internet while my guys are working in the background.

It is entertaining, once you get your controls down. After your 4-5 time playing around, a person can start figuring out how the blocks are put together. The 5 time I figured things out (with the help of a few other livestreams) I built a decent little castle and played around with the explosion/physics mechanics.

Understanding its alpha and a prototype, looking over bugs, my only gripe is the controls... especial camera controls. Took a bit longer to grow comfortable than other games. But then again, its only a prototype. So no biggie.

I'll be happy playing with the sky sandbox while the team works on the bugs and other aspects. Keep up the good job, Sauropod Studios. :3