Improvements For Archwing!

[ninjalord131]

I love Archwing! Its the most fun I've ever had in a free to play game. I do however have a few ideas for improvements on Archwing. Just some things I think would would be fantastic and would really drive home the feeling of truly fighting in space.

 

1) I still get a feeling if what is up and what is down. I consider this to be an honest problem! If we are in space, there should be no sense of direction. Right now we have, up, down, forward, backward, left, and right. Perhaps if the implemented the ability to roll, my up could be down, vise versa, or whatever! I should be able to do barrel rolls for days instead of the just the "roll out of the way dodging mechanic" they currently have. Its space, it almost feels like space, and I feel that the simplicity of the movement controls undermines the game's true immersive potential.

 

2)We NEED a Navball. If you don't know what a navball is, it is a sort of "compass" that can be used to still have a sense of direction even when you don't know which way is technically "up". Kerbal Space Program is an excellent example of how a navball should work in a space game and something similar would work great for Archwing. I recommend and demand (in the most friendly way possible) this be implemented soon. The current flat map as of 10/30/14 does not work well with Archwing fighting. With normal combat on foot, it works decent. However right now with Archwing, I can be chasing after an enemy or waypoint using my map but totally lose my way when my icon overlays thiers due to all the detail on screen. I've gotten confused frequently if the thing I was chasing after is above or below me especially if it just a tiny mod floating in place. This is a very frustrating moment that needs to be ironed out in a future update because it can sometimes mean losing a capture point or location of a mod or orb. I can even watch other players scramble to find where the object/enemy was in relation to them because they were flying to fast.

 

If the Devs read this, I love what you do with the game :) I dont often have suggestions for you guys because you do so much right, however these two things are my only little issues which i'm not sure if they would be difficult to implement but would dramatically improve play immersion and overall Archwing experience.

 

Leave your suggestions for Archwing improvements here too if you have any!

[Lynxh]

Your first suggestion, the only thing I'd disagree with that making things more complicated would be an improvement/more immersive(optional "advanced" control setting sounds better, everybody wins). I am all for adding more maneuvers in of itself though. As for sense of direction, during Devstream #39 they already commented on why they choose this system. 

 

As per your second suggestion/demand :P. I don't think anyone disagree's that we need an alternative for our current radar. It was never meant to work to the extent of open space we have available now in Arcwing missions. Though I highly recommend NOT copying the one from Kerbal Space Program XD. But core idea would work well enough. There are more alternatives/methods which can be looked at for inspiration among the many space faring games, which are far more suited then Kerbals compass imo :P,

[wtrmlnjuc]

I want an optional freefloating option. It feels weird to be in space and still have a defined up. :V

[Aimop95]

I want the compass...and for drops to be very obvious. Or at least show up on radar. 

[Rubb]

Oh...Add this on your list:

 

Give us enough time to get back if we get out of bounds...

 

Was on a 12 rounds interception when I went to finish off an enemy that was far far away and then I got the message from Ordis...then when I tried to go back I "suddenly" got aborted :(

[wtrmlnjuc]

3D minimap would be cool too, like a cube or sphere.

[ninjalord131]

Perhaps i should modify my first suggestion. As ive contiued to play ive realised a better suggestion would be to give the player the ability to move the mouse in any direction in infinate loops without stopping. Its difficult to explain with words but there are times when in normal combat its no problem to move your mouse left and right in as many loops as you want. If you put your mouse on one end of your desk and ran it across to the other side, the camera would just keep spinning endlessly until the mouse stopped. The problem with Archwing is that you cant do that in all directions. This is importaint because in space you are being attacked from every angle.

 

This problem also makes it difficult to navigate occationally. Lets say you wanted to fly loops around a cylindrical object. Currently you cant do that by just holding forward and moving your mouse up as much as you choose. Right now you would have to fly under the cylinder and upwards a little, then turn around and fly back over top of the object. You end up flying more in a V shape rather than an O. Part of the fun with space combat is to be able to fight and to pull off amazing tricks by doing barrel rolls in any direction or orienation of your choosing.

 

I truly hope they consider this because it can occationally make it Archwing a little stubborn when it comes to the freedom of full range movment.

 

Thank you for reading this too XD