Criticize Us Here

[Revage]

I find this project's lack of potatoes disturbing.

[BloodyNex]

My main criticism is that modding hasn't gotten much support. Aside from a few extra values here and there, the construction set is pretty much the same as it was when I first started playing. We still have no map editing, no in-construction-set building and item placement (or even previews), and no ability to alter the behaviors of things (outside the adjustment of certain AI values and the assignment of hard-coded behaviors). This game could explode in interest if it had a scripting engine and a map editor, and the extra mods could give players much more to do while they wait for new updates.

Also, regarding the roadmap, Chris has explained already why there isn't one; if he (or another dev) were to state when something might get done and it happens to get delayed, they would catch more flak from players than simply not making any guesses at when it will be done. I'm paraphrasing, but I'm pretty sure that was the gist of it. It's worth noting, though, that it would take a lot of extra time to update the roadmap every time something is implemented or a suggestion is used or a bug is found or fixed (which would take out of development time since only the coders know when most of these changes occur).

[WCG]

I don't mean to digress too much from the topic, but I wanted to express that I feel the idea of kenshi as a money scam seems absurd to me.

Me, too. Admittedly, I haven't had time to become frustrated while waiting for updates, because I only bought the game a month ago. But according to Steam, I've played Kenshi for 138 hours since then! So I've already received plenty of value for my money.

Sure, Kenshi is buggy - very buggy, especially when it comes to building walls and other structures. (Most other bugs seem to be easily overcome by importing into a new game.) And no doubt that's frustrating to long-time players.

But what we've got so far is great. Eventually, I'll undoubtedly stop playing, then pick it up again months later to see what has changed. After all, I've been playing Dwarf Fortress and UnReal World for years doing that.

So no, I don't have any rants. Criticism is valid, especially in a thread which invites it. "Money scam" seems wildly, ridiculously, demonstrably off-base, though. I'd be perfectly happy with my purchase if this was all I ever got out of it (which I do not expect).

[Tolwrath]

There's no Nekuman / catgirls, yet. Seriously?! Other people I know like the idea once I explain it to them. I went through the trouble of writing up backstories for the species. I went through the trouble of describing their appearance to create a unique looking version of them, that appearance even being hand picked to blend in with the setting of Kenshi . I even delivered a philisophical thesis-like rant when questioned on it by Otto, which he was actually impressed by from the sound of things. I'm especially tired of hearing arguments against them that label them as clichè, followed by the arguer not even being able to name 5 games with zoomorphism (as opposed to anthropomorphism) catgirls.

But what really hurts is that Chris has only made two posts on the Feature Request forums since November 13, 2012 (which includes the one he made that day). That's pretty much just 2 posts since I learned about Kenshi's existence. Does anyone read any of it anymore?

And about Lumi's idea for having two people to a section. Sometimes it does help, and sometimes, it really doesn't. As my team lead (I'm a software developer) says on occasion: "Just because 1 woman can have a baby in 9 months, doesn't mean that 9 women can have a baby in 1 month. Just adding more people to a task doesn't necessarily contribute to the amount of man hours needed to complete that task."

...This may have been more akin to airing grievances than criticizing. I still love the game and eagerly await every patch.

[ultima888]

The "Dogs" are way too powerful for their name.....either name them helldogs/wolves or make them a little weaker...not only they are strong, they mostly appear in a huge pack...They run fast, attack quickly, appear in numbers...My squad can clear up a pack of beakthings, but they will die in front of a couples of dogs....

But this is merely a balancing thing I guess, so no big deal. Other than the lags and crashes and building bugs and the path finding bugs....no big deals here

[Zeal]

And about Lumi's idea for having two people to a section. Sometimes it does help, and sometimes, it really doesn't. As my team lead (I'm a software developer) says on occasion: "Just because 1 woman can have a baby in 9 months, doesn't mean that 9 women can have a baby in 1 month. Just adding more people to a task doesn't necessarily contribute to the amount of man hours needed to complete that task."

I'm not sure you read what i said, tbh. It wasn't just about splitting the work between people, but it had more to do with multiple people being able to see different things, and if a certain one programmer gets frustrated to no end and has to do something else, there is atleast someone to fill the gap. So no, your analogy doesn't quite fit in, as a babies growth isn't about conscously recognizing what's wrong, and programming can definately be split up between multiple people. (a dev team of 9 will output a game faster than a dev team of 1. not sure how you could even begin to argue that).

[Tolwrath]

It's true that having multiple people view an object being worked on can provide new insights to it. What I was saying is that having two people try to build a single object (don't think of the game as a whole, but rather the individual build items within the game) will not always allow it to be built faster. However getting additional devs, and giving them their own tasks certainly would allow for guaranteed faster development.

My analogy was about assigning multiple people to to a single task. What you said in your comment was "Lofi seems to have one person working on each part of the game and I think even just two would make a MASSIVE difference..." Now to be fair, having more than one person on a task when that task is fixing notorious/impossible bugs is one of the places where they can be really effective. Building new content... not so much.

And also: my vote is still that they be named "Yodeling Ratdogs" after a particularly whiney greyhound my family adopted at one point, which always looked like a giant rat while laying down. If you look at Kenshi's "dogs" (at least the in-game version) they seem to have some very rat-like creatures. Either that or "Lokum" due to a certain thread on these forums.

[Koomatzu]

Sorry, backtracking here.

But what really hurts is that Chris has only made two posts on the Feature Request forums since November 13, 2012 (which includes the one he made that day). That's pretty much just 2 posts since I learned about Kenshi's existence. Does anyone read any of it anymore?

I promise we do still take note of your requests, even though we're a little... quieter. Chris is just somewhat elusive these days as he has a lot on his plate. I feel bad there hasn't been much feedback from us though.

And sorry for the lack of catgirl love.

The "Dogs" are way too powerful for their name.....either name them helldogs/wolves or make them a little weaker...not only they are strong, they mostly appear in a huge pack...They run fast, attack quickly, appear in numbers...My squad can clear up a pack of beakthings, but they will die in front of a couples of dogs....

I expect the wolves may still be balanced in the future, or have their AI changed so that you can at least avoid them more easily.

[dietpills42]

Game devs usually show progress in spasms. Some stuff take way longer to conclude than others. Kenshi is still building a good solid base on which they will expand upon. I remember some people raging at the Zomboid forums for a while because they weren't releasing any new updates for a few weeks, some even asked for their money back, but now they're on a pretty good rhythm and the storm has passed.

But that's just what I think after lurking around for a few months or years or something.

Something you guys may lack though is transparency. Like, who are you people? What are your hobbies? Post us a picture of you guys working. Post us a picture of you guys working naked. Post us a picture of you guys naked roasting potatoes on the office fireplace.

[Zeal]

Post us a picture of you guys working naked. Post us a picture of you guys naked roasting potatoes on the office fireplace.

I can understanding loving Kenshi, but.... that's probably taking it a bit far...

... it should be smores..

[Koomatzu]

Something you guys may lack though is transparency. Like, who are you people? What are your hobbies? Post us a picture of you guys working. Post us a picture of you guys working naked. Post us a picture of you guys naked roasting potatoes on the office fireplace.

You know what, I would actually love nothing more than to stalk and instagram pictures of the team eating their lunch everyday (not sarcasm) but I don't think they'd all be down with that, which is cool, just some people like to be private. But have you seen our About page? It has a tiny bit of info, and Sam and Oli's avatars look pretty spot on if I do say so myself, although I know it's nowhere near as transparent as you'd like it to be.

I'm gonna save your eyes from naked potato-roasting (or smore roasting) Koomatzu pictures, and I know I'm not exactly a programmer or artist, but hey for what it's worth I'll totally share some random info with you. I'm 29. Before I worked for Chris I used to work as a Bollywood movie extra in Bangkok. I like gyming and I have a very unhealthy woman crush on Massy Arias. And I like Gandalf. And cider and cake :3

But perhaps one day I will manage to trick the team into some sneaky photos for you *rubs hands together*

[Alafff]

Hello everyone, let me rant too , because it seems we're free to do so

Experimental : As the name implies it is not fully approved , it can crash , can corrupt , can send you in depression over a corrupted savegame or strange bug . Well it's experimental. But it seems experimental is now to me a kind of a beta version test more than a crash testing version , Fell like we been forgotten for our self proclaimed role of rantings testers . For normal version i don't know if there is still people who hope to see a new update soon or if they all switched to experimental.

So give us new broken things to test , to help you improve to give feedback , even bit by bit like the Rust guys do (One new piece of armor , one new half bugged animal that will probably fly and get stuck in a mountain , One new merchant script that will crash your game and corrupt your save ) Well you know, things , It"s experimental , We are masochists guy that want to help , So you can use us

My second thing i like to rant about is pathfinding near mountains , that will probably get resolved by range weapons ("probably"). About bandit getting stuck on mountains with a whole garnison under them , unable to kill them.

My third thing is Last tier walls pathfinding that seems to be non existant, mean second floor don't exist and you can't go from one wall segment to another. Can probably add the fact that to do a corner you need 4-5 wall , but for that we don't really care , as it don't bug and because thoses are short segment don't cost as much.

Finally my biggest rant (and an almost useless one) is about squad size, It went from 20 to 13 so moving people back and forth made the fact of commanding 3 squads to go somewhere pretty hard . I WANT customizable size squad or just 50 size squad , and everyone will fill them like they want

Thanks for reading this useless wall of text

[Butta]

Finally my biggest rant (and an almost useless one) is about squad size, It went from 20 to 13 so moving people back and forth made the fact of commanding 3 squads to go somewhere pretty hard . I WANT customizable size squad or just 50 size squad , and everyone will fill them like they want

You can mod the squad size to whatever you want!
See my post here: http://www.lofigames.com/phpBB3/viewtop ... 637#p43410

And your rant is not useless, but appreciated to improve further on the game.

[Zeal]

Hello everyone, let me rant too , because it seems we're free to do so

Experimental : As the name implies it is not fully approved , it can crash , can corrupt , can send you in depression over a corrupted savegame or strange bug . Well it's experimental. But it seems experimental is now to me a kind of a beta version test more than a crash testing version , Fell like we been forgotten for our self proclaimed role of rantings testers . For normal version i don't know if there is still people who hope to see a new update soon or if they all switched to experimental.

So give us new broken things to test , to help you improve to give feedback , even bit by bit like the Rust guys do (One new piece of armor , one new half bugged animal that will probably fly and get stuck in a mountain , One new merchant script that will crash your game and corrupt your save ) Well you know, things , It"s experimental , We are masochists guy that want to help , So you can use us

I'm not sure i understand what the gripe is here. If you're wanting to crash test things, find bugs, etc, then hop onto the experiemental. The mainbranch and experimental use is to provide the means for people who are less tolerant and just want to play the game to still be able to do so on a more stable version. Lots of people would throw a fit if Kenshi launched a new patch and suddenly their beloved game crashed the moment they hit the start button. This is to ensure that doesn't happen.

I do understand your concern that early access is itself a testing stage, and this sort of deterrs from that, but the honest to god truth is that 90% of people that jump on an early access game do not consider that as what it's meant to be. So if their game is unplayable they will throw a fit, rather than calmly submitting bug reports.

The options are there. You can stick with the main branch, or you can hop onto the experimental. Nothing is stopping you from choosing one or the other other than a few clicks in the properties

[Chompster]

I'm not sure i understand what the gripe is here. If you're wanting to crash test things, find bugs, etc, then hop onto the experiemental

Not sure how you missed it but that's exactly what he's talking about.

He wants the experimental version to be updated more regularly with experimental content for people to play around with and test regardless of state, instead of these almost quarterly "massive" updates.

Leave the main branch as it is and only update when concrete progress has been made, but update the Exp every month of so with whatever piece of content they have in the works(and that doesn't outright crash the game) for testing purposes.

Is what i got from his post at least.

[Zeal]

I'm not sure i understand what the gripe is here. If you're wanting to crash test things, find bugs, etc, then hop onto the experiemental

Not sure how you missed it but that's exactly what he's talking about.

He wants the experimental version to be updated more regularly with experimental content for people to play around with and test regardless of state, instead of these almost quarterly "massive" updates.

Leave the main branch as it is and only update when concrete progress has been made, but update the Exp every month of so with whatever piece of content they have in the works(and that doesn't outright crash the game) for testing purposes.

Is what i got from his post at least.

Ah... yeah. ok. i guess i did mis-understand. I'd certainly agree... RELEASE THE KRAKENS

[Tolwrath]

Hey so uhh... speaking of being more transparent, whatever happened to screenshot Fridays? It at least gave as a weekly "something is being worked on" sort of update, kind of like what Project Zomboid does on Mondays.

[Butta]

Hey so uhh... speaking of being more transparent, whatever happened to screenshot Fridays?

Seems like our favorite community manager Koomatzu forgot about it.. again

[Rikter]

General Info Updates
I think a once-a-week update would be great. I doubt that it's difficult to take 5 minutes to ask someone what they're working on, how its going, and progress in their eyes, while recording it. The total words per individual interview could be around 50-100 words each and be satisfying. Maybe include some screenshots.

Screenshots
Screenshots in my eyes aren't even necessary, but should be relatively simple. Let's say a developer is doing their stuff, working on whatever they're doing. Suddenly they get to an interesting part, and decide to take a screenshot. They would then email that screenshot to the public relations person. How long would that take? 30 seconds to a minute.

Keep It Simple

Developer Being Questioned:

Question 1: What project are you working on?

Question 2: What current detail are you completing?

Question 3: Compared to last week, how much progress has been made?

Question 4: Would you like to share anything specific?

Question 4.5: If no to question 4, when do you expect to reach a significant benchmark that the players should look forward to learning about? (And then check again with that developer when the time has come)

_________________

If the progress implies that once a week is too much, then screenshots should replace the interview to know that work is diligently being done. An explanation of the screenshot would also be expected.

Conclusion
We don't need to know what the developers eat, wear, or do in their spare time. We don't even need to know what they really look like.
What we do need to know, is what's going on behind the currently half-closed doors that lead to information regarding the game. I do not intend to insult, but one to two informational updates a month is 25-50% of a real effort. (Four weeks in a month )

Edit: January was a good month of updates, but they were so packed together that it seemed like there were only two. Maybe try spreading them out to once a week to create a constant flow? Gather info for one week, then post on it. Gather info for the next, then post on that... etc.

[Koomatzu]

I think a once-a-week update would be great. I doubt that it's difficult to take 5 minutes to ask someone what they're working on, how its going, and progress in their eyes, while recording it. The total words per individual interview could be around 50-100 words each and be satisfying. Maybe include some screenshots.

I did try this once before actually. But it didn't last long... actually it lasted like 1 week on Steam ha. But I'll heed your advice and have another crack at it from a different approach, sure. I'll just have to crank up my nagginess. Thanks for the feedback.

Since Butta and Tolwrath requested resurrection of the screenshot Friday thing, sure I'll get back on that too. Sorry for abandoning it, but now I know that it's missed, I'll keep at it. And if I ever forget one week you can berate me and call me names...

...wait don't do that, that would make me a sad panda


Alafff I'll pass on your thoughts on Experimental updates being too spread out for bug testers