| Author |
Outsider Feedback |
randomized
Joined: June 23, 2008
Posts: 1
|  Posted: 2008-06-23 14:47
Hello, I came across your game site and was interested in trying the Game, I'm very much a Sci-Fi fan. If your interested I've written some feedback regarding your website and the first impressions I got. I understand you may be quite busy. I may try the game later tonight or tomorrow and if your interested would be happy to give you some feedback on my first impressions of the game as well, should you think it could be helpful.
Darkspace: Outsider review
As a Sci-Fi fan, I'm often looking for new games to play, personally I have always prefered the RTS factor of a game over FPS so I'm often limited to normal RTS games. I'm a great fan of the Starcraft universe, as well as that of Homeworld and have often wondered what it would be like to play a version of Homeworld as a MMO, as I am in these years a die-hard MMO player. I felt that information provided about DarkSpace on mmorpg.com led me to believe some of the features of your game would appeal to me. I came across your game from http://www.mmorpg.com, the description seemed quite good and the screenshots were ok, I felt like some of the graphics looked a little old but felt this was more of an intended feel rather than a limitation.=0A=0AWhen looking for a new MMO to play, there are several key things I always look at first.
- About/Features
Find out more about the game, how it works
- Screenshots
How does the actual in-game footage look? how good are the graphics and also the user-interface
- FAQ
What sort of questions are there, helps give an idea of general complication of the game and how large it is
- Forums
The most important, how busy are they, how up to date, what forums are there, is it some cheap share-ware forum system.
- System Requirements
Many MMO gamers are experienced ones these days, for me personally I will use the system requirements to judge the games quality.
First Impressions
Initially from reading mmorpg.com I was interested and saw several good things, it was a 3D space environment, the graphics were o.k. So I decided to visit the website. There we're some good things and bad things. The multi-lingual support in the bottom left came across as professional, the fact the game is setup for multiple language makes it look large and worked on. I'm not sure if the game is offered in all the same languages but this at least gives a good impression.
Most of the links on the main menu are clear and had the main things I was looking for readily accessible, About, News, Forums Screenshots, FAQ.
There were some immediate factors which put me off quite quickly. Firstly, the instant show that there were only 3 servers, with 70 odd players online instantly reduced the feel of the game for me, knowing how few people were playing, it was also unclear what purpose the 3 different ones served (apart from the newbie maybe being for new people?)
The same information showing the server cap, instantly shows the limits of the servers and also removes some of the 'giant open space' feel you expect with a spaced-based mmorpg. The same goes for the player count, I don't feel its necessary to announce how many players you have, if that had not been posted I would have had no idea if you had 10 players or 100,000, often you can get an impression of the scale (true or false) from the website and I feel that an appropriately configured website can give the impression of a large scale popular game regardless of its current status, something which can draw further people in.
Detailed Feedback:
overall the site is extremely dark, I understand the space setting but some some lighter colours such as silvers could add much more to the site view giving it a more welcoming feel that it currently has as well as the quite small fonts (considering current resolutions and monitor sizes)
News
I think your news section needs to be split up, currently its mixed between both official news, such as maintenance, updates as well as in-game news (such as the article about Scientia Laboratories), splitting these would allow for easier reading, especially for someone looking in from the outside such as myself.
About
The first four paragraphs could be revised to explain the game in a simpler view, I don't feel there is a need to start the very first explanation of the game in regards to the rank system and lore, how the game plays, how you can interact with other players, what paths you can choose in the game, is there any type of research/professions, can you control more than one ship at a time? how big is the playing universe?=0A=0AI found the features quite disappointing, 18 unique ships seemed extremely limited and doesn't sound like it offers a huge amount of re-playability. exclamation marks after every point also seems unnecessary.
The number of ship modifications also sounds limited. The Features page does not go into any detail on how someone may play the game, whether or not it supports multiple playstyles, such as combat, traders, manufacturers, researchers etc, giving the impression this is solely a combat game, which greatly limits my interest but I don't even know if thats true at the moment.
Forums
The forums page instantly put me off, there seemed to be a huge amount of forums, not all entirely needed, this thins out the posts and the front page also seems too cluttered with 2-3 entire pages of forums, the cluttered feeling could be reduced by removing some of the information such as listing the moderators for every forum on the main forum index. I think it would also be much better as the different language discussions only showed up depending on which language version of the website you were looking at, rather than having to find your language in yet another long list.
The support category looks as if it could be compacted into fewer forums, for example, Bug reporting, client issues general support and website issues could all be made as a single 'Technical Support' forum, which I feel would look much better and clearer for people to use.
Also a Compensation Requests forum seems unprofessional and acts as a ward for people outside browsing your site 'wow, why do these guys need a forum dedicated to asking for compensation?' I feel that such things should always be handled privately so that you are never hanging out your dirty laundry to potential customers.
It would also be better if the private forums (such as your 'private staff discussions') were hidden from outside viewers. I personally feel it would also be better to remove/hide the Archive forums as well as its not something outsiders need to see.
Screenshots
I feel that screenshots are one of the most important things a game site can have, again for me, these are one of the first things I will look at and want to picture 'can I see myself flying/controlling that, playing with that interface' Some of the screenshots shown on your site do not entirely flatter the game, for example: http://darkspace.net/shots/050503/00000007.jpg shows the dark model of a ship barely visible from the backdrop.
FAQ
I think the FAQ could be much better if split into two separate pages, one, a general FAQ for people looking at trying the game, or new people (such as how to play, information the game) and then a separate support FAQ linked separately with information on subscription, payment, technical issues, installation.
System Requirements
The system requirements also gave me a very quick let-down in regards to previous expectations, a game which still runs on a Windows 9x machine and a 300mhz processor feels old and out-date. The 150mb install, 64mb RAM, definitely not worthy of the 9.99 a month that some modern MMO's charge for much larger content and graphics.
Staff
I check this page some times to get an idea of the scale. There are some upcoming MMO's which when you visit their staff page for example, you find its being entirely made by 4 people in their spare time.
Whilst your staff page has a sizable staff, the page feels unprofessional with all the slang names and 'comic' positions. I think listing real names with serious positions '3D Programmer' 'Level Designer' 'Community Manager' etc would also add a much more professional tone to the website overall.
Summary
Overall I hope this feedback finds its way to you with good intentions, I'm considering giving the game a try and might do so soon, whether or not I do, and if i subscribe will of course be largely based on my playing experience. I feel that there are many things taken from my feedback above could have driven more more towards a greater initial interest and likely hood of trying your game.
Much greater system requirement would give a better impression of the game, I know this may sound silly, but asking for a XP/Vista machine, a 1gig process, 512 recommended ram and 500mb install would substantially add to the expectations of the game, better more choice-chosen screenshots highlighting some of the best parts of the game and its interfaces would also help a lot.
Kind Regards,
I'd be happy to receive any response on my feedback via my own email if you like 
[ This Message was edited by: Gimboiduk on 2008-06-23 14:53 ]
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Deltabacon
Fleet Admiral
Joined: August 17, 2007
Posts: 395
From: Liverpool, Great Britain
| Posted: 2008-06-23 15:55
welcome to Darkspace 
i hope you sign up and enjoy your stay here
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Drafell
Grand Admiral
Mythica
Joined: May 30, 2003
Posts: 2449
From: United Kingdom
| Posted: 2008-06-23 19:41
That is a very detailed review of your first impressions, and it is much appreciated.
I have to admit that the About page and system requirements are out of date. I would actually be very surprised to see anyone being able to run DarkSpace on a 300mhz machine these days, and we do need to reevaluate the system specifications. Unfortunately there is only so much that the Development team can work on at any one time.
Hopefully I will be able to compose a more detailed response soon.
Many thanks.
[ This Message was edited by: Drafell on 2008-06-23 19:42 ]
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It's gone now, no longer here...Yet still I see, and still I fear.rnrn
rnrn
DarkSpace Developer - Retired
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BackSlash
Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 23, 2003
Posts: 11183
From: Bristol, England
| Posted: 2008-06-23 20:41
Last I got it to work on was a 400 Mhz P2, 512mb, with a Geforce 2 MX - but that was majorly 'optimised', and DarkSpace had all the settings wacked way down.
Was just about playable. Realisticly, I'd say 800 Mhz, 512mb memory, and Geforce 4/ATI 8*00 upwards.
The feedback was very well organised, thoughtout and explained. Thank you for your time and effort. As Drafell said, the development team is very small, and limited with time constraints - we do as much as we can, when we can.
[ This Message was edited by: BackSlash *Jack* on 2008-06-23 20:44 ]
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