2020-08-24 Automata Break, test #2 local multiplayer
3Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/richievr/automata-break-vr
0:00 Setup
3:38 Stage 1 (tutorial)
20:50 Stage 2
This time we played this in local multiplayer, but with the desktop player being remote through Remote Play Together on Steam.
First off, this reminds me of the asymmetric nature of BattleZone 2 when one player was building the base and the others pilots. It tickles my fancy something fierce.
Secondly, not as much to comment on now as when playing in a group it's hard to both be analytical, comment on things AND communicate with the other player.
# GENERAL
* It would be nice if both players have to press the ready button to avoid having to ask all the time if the other player is ready. Require both to have been pressed for the wave to start.
* The game was a bit loud for playing multiplayer, the desktop player could lower their volume, but in the headset I didn't have any easy way to do that, partially as I use VoiceMeeter so the SteamVR volume does nothing. Not sure if this can be made easier, perhaps a settings tab in the store menu?
* When going between Single Player and Local Multiplayer in the main menu, the ranking would stick for the selected level until navigating to another level and back again.
# MAP VIEW
* All the abilities could use a number to show what key to press, now we only see number four.
* After clearing a stage we saw Wave 9/8
* A bit unclear that energy was infinite in the tutorial level, but not too confusing.
# MECH VIEW
* I noticed that I got stuck on walls and world geometry a lot. Not sure if this was the case before? I kind of expect to slide along the wall, instead of being stuck.
* Getting teleported by the other player is a bit disorienting as there's no real good indicator that was what happened. Some kind of transition effect maybe?
* I keep missing how hurt I am. I'm not sure those two combined health bars are helping me much in the heat of battle. Are there any haptics at this point? I honestly can't remember, but if not that certainly could be useful to signal taking damage or being really hurt.