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Cargo Commander |OT| In Space, No One Can Hear You Salvage
- Thread starter Alex Connolly
- Start date
Winnie the Pimp
Member
getting a slight Rochard vibe from this, i put it on my Wishlist 
MrTeachwell
Member
I picked this up almost blind, after seeing Blizzard's giveaway. I'm in love. The gameplay can be simple or challenging depending on how I want to play. I really enjoy the solitary space mood of the game too, and the small details like how the music comes from your container and dims as you zoom out or move into other containers.
The multiplayer aspect is nice too, being able to compare scores with friends and visit worlds they've 'created' (randomised).
The multiplayer aspect is nice too, being able to compare scores with friends and visit worlds they've 'created' (randomised).
Alex Connolly
Member
Blizzard is well and truly GAF's Cargo Corp, giving many folks the chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure.
Kudos to you and your philanthropy, sir.
Kudos to you and your philanthropy, sir.
I'm slightly starting to feel this as well unfortunately. There should have been a greater emphasis on cool unique loot and upgrade-able equipment via crates you find, because it's getting a bit samey. The core mechanics are still fantastic, but it feels a bit empty if you play for too long.
Alex Connolly
Member
Fair call. I at most play for around half an hour to an hour per session. Kinda like FTL or Weird Worlds.
Something like this or Hotline Miami before bed.
Something like this or Hotline Miami before bed.
YianGaruga
Banned
Is there actually a difference between dying and ending the day? Doesn't seem like it, so there really is no risk involved in just going further and further.
Well if you die you lose the cargo you have collected but not brought home yet. Otherwise yeah, it's the same. The pillars beneath the gameplay really are a bit underdeveloped, e.g. the quantity of cargo actually doesn't seem to matter except for paying for the parcel delivery, only if you find new cargo you get your rank experience.
And other than having to hurry back chased by space jellyfish it also doesn't matter if you're inside a container when it's being destroyed by a wormhole...makes it less risky/tense as well.
YianGaruga
Banned
If this game had something you could do with the cargo, like a crafting system wherethe rarity of the materials actually matters, this game could really be addictive. Right now it's just a fun distraction. The NEOGAF sector is pretty cool btw.
EDIT: I wish you could change the music in the ship to something different, like a playlist on your PC. The song gets old fast.
Mute it in your audio tray and turn itunes on?
YianGaruga
Banned
That would be great if I wanted to change all of the audio in the game and not just one specific song that plays on a radio in the hub area.
Can you not just turn off the music? (I'm genuinely curious; I don't own the game)
YianGaruga
Banned
Yes I can, but that's not what I want. There's a radio in the game and I want it to play different song from time to time.
Day 16
Salvage is hell. How much longer must I endure this angular purgatory? My left knee's about to give out, half my beard is singed, and I'm coming down with a nasty case of hypoxia. If I have to eat another damnable can of apple sauce, I'll lobotomise myself with this freakish claw before that endlessly looping song finishes the job for me.
But then who would polish the charming porcelain squirrel atop my fusion reactor mantlepiece? Ah, such is life. At least the neighbours are friendly enough, always happy to see me and eager to embrace. I respond in my own, casual way with a half dozen nails centre mass and a shotgun blast or 12 for his comrades, impatiently waiting for their hugs. It's nice to be so popular.
I get to travel alot, though the variety of scenery is somewhat lacking. Plenty of fresh void and exercise and ample time to tinker with this ingenious drill slash gun thing fused to right arm. The caps my friends keep leaving me are surprisingly versatile, although I'm still not entirely sure how I managed to fashion a cold fusion device for my drill from them. Best not to question these things, perhaps.
I'm getting tired and I need to be up bright and early for my trip to the cumguzzler sector. Hopefully I can find one of those cubic pigs I keep hearing so much about.
Thanks Blizzard!
Salvage is hell. How much longer must I endure this angular purgatory? My left knee's about to give out, half my beard is singed, and I'm coming down with a nasty case of hypoxia. If I have to eat another damnable can of apple sauce, I'll lobotomise myself with this freakish claw before that endlessly looping song finishes the job for me.
But then who would polish the charming porcelain squirrel atop my fusion reactor mantlepiece? Ah, such is life. At least the neighbours are friendly enough, always happy to see me and eager to embrace. I respond in my own, casual way with a half dozen nails centre mass and a shotgun blast or 12 for his comrades, impatiently waiting for their hugs. It's nice to be so popular.
I get to travel alot, though the variety of scenery is somewhat lacking. Plenty of fresh void and exercise and ample time to tinker with this ingenious drill slash gun thing fused to right arm. The caps my friends keep leaving me are surprisingly versatile, although I'm still not entirely sure how I managed to fashion a cold fusion device for my drill from them. Best not to question these things, perhaps.
I'm getting tired and I need to be up bright and early for my trip to the cumguzzler sector. Hopefully I can find one of those cubic pigs I keep hearing so much about.
Thanks Blizzard!
I haven't gotten far enough to give advice about combat. Does anyone else have combat tips for conserving ammo?So big thank you for Blizzard for gifting me this game! I've played for a couple hours thus far and its very good and addictive. I couldn't quite make out what was happening in the YT video, but after playing I really like the platforming/puzzle element of having the containers gravitational direction being random and having little warning before needing to evacuate to the ship. Theres some great risk/reward in deciding when to abandon that last crate. Haven't actually being stuck in space yet though.
The combat so far is OK but I can never find enough ammo, especially since some enemies are bullet sponges and the melee, even upgraded, seems too weak. Also the flying drones when you're out in space are annoying/scary as all hell. Controls are good except it can be easy to lose the cursor. I think it would probably play well with a controller (presuming the cursor stays locked).
Will definitely be playing it a lot more.
I have some questions though, is there any point to sectors apart from having different items/leaderboards? Likewise is there a reason to go to sleep to end the day? Since if you die you still keep your score.
Also I keep collecting magbombs, how do I use them?
Currently the king of NEOGAF sector of space with an embarrassingly low score
About sectors, I think the differences are just supposed to be that the deeper you go into space, the harder the containers and monsters become, and the more rare the salvaged items are, as you try to collect them all and reach your max rank to win the game (if I'm understanding the glossary/help text correctly).
I think this is a fair assessment of the negatives. If we could somehow get in touch with the developer and suggest the following:
1. More songs on the radio (would take paying a music person though, so it might not be feasible), or -maybe- the option to play music from some folder you specify.
2. Difficulty option(s) to make getting caught in space if your container explodes more risky, such as maybe lowering your score, or making your oxygen run out much faster. But, keep the current mode as an option for people who don't want it to be TOO hard.
3. Have some sort of crafting/blueprints for items or upgrades based on the cargo you discover, so you get some of the addictive factor of loot-hunting games, instead of it being a collection game where the salvage doesn't do anything special. In this case I don't know whether the new things you crafted should go away once you die or not...maybe like FTL, you could unlock new blueprints for weapons by meeting certain loot combo conditions? And then in all subsequent lives, you could buy/use/whatever those particular blueprints.
At any rate, I don't know if the dev will have funding or time, but those aspects probably could really add to the longevity to the game. I agree that playing for half an hour or an hour at a time might be more enjoyable for now, however.
Agreed on all points except the first; I think having the same song play is an essential element of the game's narrative. It highlights the repetitiveness and loneliness of Cargo Dad's work, at the same time it's like a beacon that makes you feel at home when ever you return from a lengthy trek. And maybe even Cargo Dad is sick of hearing it, but at the same time, it's the only "human" thing he's got (except for the drawings). If you take that away or make it exchangeable, I dunno, for me it would just take away from the game's vision. I think it's a subtle, clever element.
But yes, you're very much right on the other points. This game needs more meat because the idea and gameplay is so good. But the loot badly needs a proper purpose, and the risk-reward mechanic is underdeveloped.
But yes, you're very much right on the other points. This game needs more meat because the idea and gameplay is so good. But the loot badly needs a proper purpose, and the risk-reward mechanic is underdeveloped.
That's a good point about the music, so maybe that's fine. Also, I was curious about getting in touch with the dev and/or studio, and I checked the Steam game hub...apparently at least one of the devs posts there:
*edit* Another thing I just learned from community is that there is another game mode that unlocks at rank 5, called Journey. It apparently focuses more on survival than the time running out mechanic.
Alex Connolly
Member
Shoot 'em some feedback on their Facebook page as well as the Steam page, I'd say.
I talked to the dev for a bit. He seems nice and apparently only recently found out about NeoGAF, and now he's hopefully aware of this thread too.
Oops, I sent them an e-mail about this thread too. Well, I expect nothing less than an announcement of Cargo Commander 2: GAF Has Spoken tomorrow!
From what I've read about the Journey mode unlocked at rank 5, it merely removes the wormhole mechanic. But I'm not sure if it changes anything else or makes things harder. I like the wormhole mechanic though, but it just have more negative consequences for players still inside of containers. Or maybe less available air in space. The jellyfish things are just annoying though.
From what I've read about the Journey mode unlocked at rank 5, it merely removes the wormhole mechanic. But I'm not sure if it changes anything else or makes things harder. I like the wormhole mechanic though, but it just have more negative consequences for players still inside of containers. Or maybe less available air in space. The jellyfish things are just annoying though.
MagicWithEarvin
Member
Just started the game (thanks again, Blizzard!)
I lol'd at clicking the left stick in-game. That's a nice way to get rid of stress. Also, the music is awesome.
I lol'd at clicking the left stick in-game. That's a nice way to get rid of stress. Also, the music is awesome.
I hope Maarten doesn't mind if I post his response to my e-mail here, but I think it shows that they care a lot about the game and we can help them make it better by spreading the word.
I've been following that thread, and I understand the comments about lack of content completely. We really want to make an update with more environmental variety, enemies, weapons and things that you can buy with the collected cargo; there are so many plans that couldn't make it in the final version (the fact that we're with just 2 guys has quite some advantages, but content creation is of course much slower than with a larger team).
Whether we can work on an update soon depends mostly on the sales; we're practically broke at the moment, so if Cargo Commander doesn't do well, then we probably have to focus on other things first. Stupid money..
Alex Connolly
Member
Bodes well. Hope it does well for them. Cargo Commander/Serious Brew deserves to succeed.
YianGaruga
Banned
I am now seriously addicted to this game. There are systems which don't get revealed until you are rank 7 or 8 I think, which makes the hunt for cargo a lot more fun, IMO.
You get a limited amount of scanners, which you can put on any item on the cargo grid which is displayed after a mission, and from that point on, when you look at sectors in the navigator screen, it tells you if that item is in that sector. Once you complete a group of items which fit together thematically, you get another scanner.
Now it seriously has the "one more sector" quality. Thanks again Blizzard, this is a fantastic game.
You get a limited amount of scanners, which you can put on any item on the cargo grid which is displayed after a mission, and from that point on, when you look at sectors in the navigator screen, it tells you if that item is in that sector. Once you complete a group of items which fit together thematically, you get another scanner.
Now it seriously has the "one more sector" quality. Thanks again Blizzard, this is a fantastic game.
That's great to hear, and I do hope things work out for them. I hope that they are able to keep making indie games including updates to this one, since I know it can be tough starting out until you get successful or have media attention on a specific game (after which you can possibly focus on that fanbase and publicity for future games).
Alex Connolly
Member
Guess it'll just be a word of mouth thing for the time being. A Giant Bomb quick-look wouldn't go astray...
Looking forward to a few evening sessions this week - just can't find the time to sit down and do marathon sessions of any game these days, but damn if the indies aren't reigning supreme this year.
And yeah, the later level stuff shows Cargo Commander has some great legs on it. While I can understand the want for crafting and all that, I think it's a very pure experience as is. There's certainly room to grow (imagine co-op in the middle of a field of drifting containers, using base-anchored harpoons to grab and snag derelicts etc., environmental effects like meteorite showers), but goddamn I love this game.
Looking forward to a few evening sessions this week - just can't find the time to sit down and do marathon sessions of any game these days, but damn if the indies aren't reigning supreme this year.
And yeah, the later level stuff shows Cargo Commander has some great legs on it. While I can understand the want for crafting and all that, I think it's a very pure experience as is. There's certainly room to grow (imagine co-op in the middle of a field of drifting containers, using base-anchored harpoons to grab and snag derelicts etc., environmental effects like meteorite showers), but goddamn I love this game.
Thanks again Blizzard for the gift
I ended up playing 10 hours this week end.
The game is simply great. As simple as it may seem, the gameplay mechanics are polished enough to be enjoyable, and the scoring system is well thought-out.
The fact that you can join sectors where friends have been is genius, I love trying to beat them, and being notified that someone just got me out of the top 50. In conclusion, the competitive aspect is appealing.
You can also create your own sectors, or enter random names and see if anyone has already been there. Obviously NeoGAF existed, but we weren't that many ! I set up the scores in some other community named sectors, waiting to be beaten.
On to the game itself. I am currently rank 8, with about 40/80 (don't remember the exact numbers) cargo found. The fact that you can set up scanners on certain items is key but a little confusing at first. My experience so far has been great, I still want to play, even after 3 unsuccessful tries to get a Sector Pass (I was getting hard rooms, like the one where you have to blow up the platforms to get the enemies down at your level, then the pass itself).
As I said, the gameplay is fluid and responsive, and the upgrades system is nice although a little limited. But that's easily expanded. Like everything else in fact. The type of rooms (I'm starting to know them all by heart), the kind of hazard, the ennemies... Everything can be expanded, there is a lot of potential there.
Complaint : the graphics are a little underwhelming, could get a nice lifting.
Other complaint : the Journey mode gets too hard too quickly. I would like a game mode where I can really take my time, and strolling through the rooms, without removing the urgency setting of course. What I mean is that the rooms get impossible really fast, at about 10 or 15 cargos there are so many ennemies (especially the ones whith astronaut helmets on) that I end up most of my time running past them or even going into space.
Well, maybe another game mode unlocks at rank 10, I don't know.
But so far so good, and so much potential for being even better that it blows my mind. I really hope the dev expands his game a lot more, this could be my indie GOTY.
I ended up playing 10 hours this week end.
The game is simply great. As simple as it may seem, the gameplay mechanics are polished enough to be enjoyable, and the scoring system is well thought-out.
The fact that you can join sectors where friends have been is genius, I love trying to beat them, and being notified that someone just got me out of the top 50. In conclusion, the competitive aspect is appealing.
You can also create your own sectors, or enter random names and see if anyone has already been there. Obviously NeoGAF existed, but we weren't that many ! I set up the scores in some other community named sectors, waiting to be beaten.
On to the game itself. I am currently rank 8, with about 40/80 (don't remember the exact numbers) cargo found. The fact that you can set up scanners on certain items is key but a little confusing at first. My experience so far has been great, I still want to play, even after 3 unsuccessful tries to get a Sector Pass (I was getting hard rooms, like the one where you have to blow up the platforms to get the enemies down at your level, then the pass itself).
As I said, the gameplay is fluid and responsive, and the upgrades system is nice although a little limited. But that's easily expanded. Like everything else in fact. The type of rooms (I'm starting to know them all by heart), the kind of hazard, the ennemies... Everything can be expanded, there is a lot of potential there.
Complaint : the graphics are a little underwhelming, could get a nice lifting.
Other complaint : the Journey mode gets too hard too quickly. I would like a game mode where I can really take my time, and strolling through the rooms, without removing the urgency setting of course. What I mean is that the rooms get impossible really fast, at about 10 or 15 cargos there are so many ennemies (especially the ones whith astronaut helmets on) that I end up most of my time running past them or even going into space.
Well, maybe another game mode unlocks at rank 10, I don't know.
But so far so good, and so much potential for being even better that it blows my mind. I really hope the dev expands his game a lot more, this could be my indie GOTY.
Alex Connolly
Member
I'm going to have to visit the NeoGAF sector!
I played it yesterday. After doing the first tutorial level and getting a Steam achievement, the game crashed. It didn't respond to any controller or keyboard input. After trying in vain to get the game continue for a minute or so, I had a hard time killing the game process because of the low res Windows desktop and the fact that the mouse wasn't visible when I move it to the Windows 8 task manager.
Coincidence or is this a buggy game?
Coincidence or is this a buggy game?
Castor Krieg
Banned
Thanks Blizzard for the gift! Steam clock shows 20 minutes only, but something seems to be busted. Anyway, first impressions:
Graphics: Nothing to mention here, the graphics are very functional and not obstructing the gameplay. Easily getting 60FPS with max settings.
Sound: Can't comment, I am terrible when it comes to evaluation music in games. The music is pleasant though.
Gameplay: I have to say the gameplay is a blast, easy yet engaging.It is fun to fly around from container to container. I would've liked it items to pick up would be highlighted better, they are easy to miss if you rush to try to get to the last container. It would also help to evaluate if you need to spend your time to drill through the wall or can go and get something else.
Also, the game has TERRIBLE technical problems. The screen hangs for 5-10 seconds when you try to skip opening credits, and upon changing the screens the game hanged a few times. Once you get to the gameplay there aren't any problems, but getting there is challenging by itself. I read quite a few people are having technical problems, let's hope the developers will release a patch soon.
Graphics: Nothing to mention here, the graphics are very functional and not obstructing the gameplay. Easily getting 60FPS with max settings.
Sound: Can't comment, I am terrible when it comes to evaluation music in games. The music is pleasant though.
Gameplay: I have to say the gameplay is a blast, easy yet engaging.It is fun to fly around from container to container. I would've liked it items to pick up would be highlighted better, they are easy to miss if you rush to try to get to the last container. It would also help to evaluate if you need to spend your time to drill through the wall or can go and get something else.
Also, the game has TERRIBLE technical problems. The screen hangs for 5-10 seconds when you try to skip opening credits, and upon changing the screens the game hanged a few times. Once you get to the gameplay there aren't any problems, but getting there is challenging by itself. I read quite a few people are having technical problems, let's hope the developers will release a patch soon.
YianGaruga
Banned
Yep, had quite a few crashes myself. Had to replay a sector 3 times once because it crashed when I wanted to end the day.
Alex Connolly
Member
Yeah, I can't say I've had any technical issues. ATI mobility card, too.
Still, shunt those bugs to Serious brew.
Still, shunt those bugs to Serious brew.
ATI 5850, Windows 7 64-bit home premium, haven't seen any crashes but I haven't played as long as some of you. Anyone with crashes could try reporting them on the Steam community page (or emailing the dev if they have an email available? I'm not sure which is the preferred option)
It sounds like with the low res Windows desktop you weren't playing the game at full resolution, by the way. If you click around in the video options, you should be able to get the game up to your native monitor resolution.
I'm glad to see that some people have been enjoying it despite some crashes.
*edit* I also noticed that the intro screen stuff takes a while. What I SUSPECT is happening is that game resources are being loaded in the background behind the intro animations/video, and if the video is cancelled the game appears to hang because the loading is still going on.
Alex Connolly
Member
Just as an aside, I asked Serious Brew about the number of user-created sectors at this point:
There are 1844 arcade sectors and 309 journey sectors
I was playing the game in 1920x1080. When the game crashed, the screen didn't update anymore, there was just the music continously playing.
Same deal here, crashing when I die and forcing me to manually kill the program.
Fullscreen 1680x1050, Windows 7, Radeon 5850 with the latest Catalyst drivers. Great game, though! Except for those swarming squid-drill monstrosities. Those things are a special kind of annoying
HadesGigas
Member
Just played the game today, after Blizzard gifted it to a bunch of people.
I liked the feeling of not having much of any of the mechanics fully explained to me, figuring stuff out on my own (didn't look at the glossary). And the rush to get back to safety once the wormhole appears.
I would be still playing right now but the game crashed on me right as I was about to end the I guess 2nd day it was? The first time you get to keep going as many times as you want until you decide to go to bed.
I was playing with a controller, seemed to work pretty well. Kind of an odd taunt/easter egg happens if you press the left stick button:
I liked the feeling of not having much of any of the mechanics fully explained to me, figuring stuff out on my own (didn't look at the glossary). And the rush to get back to safety once the wormhole appears.
I would be still playing right now but the game crashed on me right as I was about to end the I guess 2nd day it was? The first time you get to keep going as many times as you want until you decide to go to bed.
I was playing with a controller, seemed to work pretty well. Kind of an odd taunt/easter egg happens if you press the left stick button:
Alex Connolly
Member
Fellows, just got an email from Daniel, one of the devs, in regards to the NeoGAF salvage workers. As he's not yet approved for posting, let me pass this on.
So there you go, folks. Cheers for the feedback and honest opinion. Hopefully Cargo Commander does well so these lads can build upon the foundation.
Daniel Ernst said:I wanted to thank the people for their feedback! Could you perhaps tell people that we are reading the topic and wish to thank the people for giving suggestions and sending the log files? If so that would be great!
If the forum people want, they can also post some ideas of what they would like to see in possible DLC. Since we are only two people and my colleague is hard at work to fix the bugs and crashes some people experience, we can' t make promises to implement all suggestions
So there you go, folks. Cheers for the feedback and honest opinion. Hopefully Cargo Commander does well so these lads can build upon the foundation.