Some Questions and some Feedback

[MS Ocean 11]

First things first, some intro and some questions:


The genres I have most experience in are RPG, Action-Adventure, Strategy and Puzzle. Shooters of any sort I stayed away from until a few days ago (I'm just rubbish at aiming and ducking especially when there's a whole lot of enemies) when by chance I stumbled upon a game named DarkStar One.
Since I've been tired of ever the same type of story line and game play with ever the same type of controls I've encountered in the hundreds of RPGs I've played, I though I'd give it a shot (no pun intended) despite it being a shooter. I fell in love with the concept of the game, but as it's rather repetitive I soon was browsing for games with a similar concept, which lead me here.

I love the graphics and what I've read and seen of this game so far in reviews and gameplay videos, but I'm wondering:

* Is there a healthy amount (and variety) of people still playing it? And is it easy for someone new to find people to run some multiplayer sessions with?

* Is the game still supported by the devs in terms of updates / new content, bug fixes and support?

Thanks in advance for the answers.


Now the first glance feedback after just trying the tutorial. (I failed to find a suggestions box here in the forums so I'll just add it here).

Things to improve (in hope the devs still bother with it):

* The first thing that sprung in my eye (or rather missed it) was the tiny font (just like in some parts of the the online help file where it's an astonishing 7pt!!) as well as the lack of better distinguishable headlines in the controls settings.
I have excellent eye sight, but that font just makes my eyes watery and I don't want to imagine what it must be like for people with visual impairments.
In the options I've only found a setting to change the font type but not the size, so if there's no such option I highly suggest to add it.

* While it is great to find an in-game tutorial in first place, especially with audio, I must say it's rather a lot to take in at once and also way too fast.
Being able to go back and forth between sections is helpful but also a tad annoying as he starts reading it out again and there is no way to pause his speech in longer paragraphs to have some time to take in what was just explained.

* Seeing that not everyone has a laptop with numpad or is using a desktop pc keyboard, I find it a bit of a nuisance to see it being used for basic movement and eiher having to fn+ all the time or go to the settings and mess about with the controls when I don't even know yet which are essential and which aren't.
In addition to that, I noticed (or failed to see) that there is no hotkey to toggle between mouse controlled steering and clicking the UI which makes it all the more difficult when you have a non17+ laptop keyboard.


For now, I relieve my first frustration about the tutorial by playing some more DarkStar One and maybe returning to this game later on and giving it another try.

Should anyone have a solution to the problems I encountered so early on already, the help'll be much appreciated.

Cheers.

[Vice]

Keep in mind, there is more than one game available here. It helps when you post comments, feedback, and questions to include the name of 'the game' you are referring to. I'll continue on with the understanding that you are probably referring to Evochron Mercenary.

Questions that I can offer some somewhat objective answers to:

* The first thing that sprung in my eye (or rather missed it) was the tiny font (just like in some parts of the online help file where it's an astonishing 7pt!!) as well as the lack of better distinguishable headlines in the controls settings.
I have excellent eye sight, but that font just makes my eyes watery and I don't want to imagine what it must be like for people with visual impairments.
In the options I've only found a setting to change the font type but not the size, so if there's no such option I highly suggest to add it.

It's interesting that you say the text is too small. Most feedback on in-game text sizes indicates most people that think the size is off think it's a little too big and generally use the available alternate in-game text mode for a smaller font. As for the html format document, perhaps you have your default Windows DPI/font setting(s) at a non-default value that is effecting such text sizes, requiring you to increase them to see them better? Could be that you are also just running at a very high resolution relative to the size of your display screen, or both perhaps.

* Is the game still supported by the devs in terms of updates / new content, bug fixes and support?

A new update is likely rolling out tomorrow. I currently still plan to continue to provide update support for bug fixes and improvements. As with anything, as long as it remains feasible to do so. You can follow the update history of the game on its official website here: http://www.starwraith.com/evochronmercenary/about.htm

* While it is great to find an in-game tutorial in first place, especially with audio, I must say it's rather a lot to take in at once and also way too fast.
Being able to go back and forth between sections is helpful but also a tad annoying as he starts reading it out again and there is no way to pause his speech in longer paragraphs to have some time to take in what was just explained.

If that's a problem for you, just forget the speech or trying to repeat the stages, just let each stage complete and use the message log to review anything you need to. Everything in the training stages is presented in text format as well, so you can re-read anything you like in the message log at whatever pace you are comfortable with. Use the mouse wheel to scroll through the log and mouse over to the scroll bar of the left side of the message log and use that as desired.

* Seeing that not everyone has a laptop with numpad or is using a desktop pc keyboard, I find it a bit of a nuisance to see it being used for basic movement and eiher having to fn+ all the time or go to the settings and mess about with the controls when I don't even know yet which are essential and which aren't.
In addition to that, I noticed (or failed to see) that there is no hotkey to toggle between mouse controlled steering and clicking the UI which makes it all the more difficult when you have a non17+ laptop keyboard.

This game isn't really designed for such reduced keyboards. There are just too many needed game functions and not enough keys to put them on. It's also why a few keys, including Alt, are locked so they can be used for alternate functions along with primary functions since the control options can exceed the limits of some keyboards. If you're stuck with a reduced keyboard, a gaming mouse or joystick can help provide additional input options. Otherwise, this game may not be the best fit for the system you're using if it's too much of a hassle for you to use a function key based numpad on a laptop/notebook.

If you want to toggle between mouse point and flight control, press both alt keys. Repeat to return to the original mode.

This game is mostly geared toward gaming systems, whether laptop or desktop. Hence, it requires things like a dedicated graphics system with dedicated video memory, a full keyboard is recommended, and for some people, a larger display is also recommended as certain details, including text, work best with them. So if you had a gaming laptop, say like an Asus G53, which features a complete keyboard, dedicated video system, large display, and plenty of performance, this game will likely be a good fit for it. If a laptop is geared more towards casual entertainment or business, it will likely be lacking in one or more of these areas and may not be a good fit for this game. If you want complete control access via the keyboard only, you'll likely need to play the game on a system more suited to its needs and yours or plug in a keyboard via USB with the individual keys you want access to.

[MS Ocean 11]

Thanks for the fast reply and my apologies for the (near) confusion. I came across the EM through another website, so I was not aware there were more than one game available and the forums also did not differentiate enough for someone not familiar with either (or just one) of the games.

As for the font: It is at default both for for the windows display as well as for my browser and the screen resolution is at the recommended setting of 1366 x 768 for a 15" display, which to my knowledge is not too high. Your website is the only one where i have this tiny font. I even bothered copy pasting the paragraphs in question into Open Office to see what size the font originally is, hence how I know it's 7pt.
So seeing those points in relation and applying basic logic and trouble shooting, it's not my system that has a faulty setting, but simply the font being too tiny and people not considering that not everyone has the means to have a home cinema projector to view websites or play games on.

As for the controls of the game: I've never owned a 'gaming system' yet i've been a gamer for over 25 years and never had any issues no matter how many controls a game required thanks to key combinations with alt, shift, tab or ctrl (or even regular key combos).
Though seeing that you imply that I'm incapable of playing the game on my laptop, I shall heed your advice and would like to request the deletion of this forums account.

Nevertheless, it was refreshing to see that there is staff who take the time to actually read what was said instead of just flying over the lines and applying the first pre-set answer they seem fit.
Do not take offence to my remarks and simply see them as food for thought.

Thank you and good luck.

[Marvin]

In all my years of perusing this and other forums, never have I seen anyone post using size 4 font. Wow. Nonetheless, most of us "four eyes" do okay.

[-splosives-]

why don't you decide which controls are useful for you, and replace them with controls that you don't use. I surely don't use all the controls available in the game. For example: I don't use augment shields, i only use equalize because I think it is more efficient, so I rebound the key to left ctrl so I can use it while operating my thrusters.
If you do this and rebind IDS scale to something else, you pretty much don't need the numpad anymore. Throwing a game away because you don't have a numpad is a bit silly IMO, you can easily do without.

[NLS]

btw a USB num pad is like $10 or something