Subset Games Forum

Sonata 7 released on ModDB! Download available as soon as they're done authenticating.

EDIT: The download is available now.

Glad I could help with the beta testing ^_^ Call me if you need any more testing and I'm willing to help with that

I'm very excited, couldn't have done it without your help Bren! I'm hoping some kind Samaritans will review it & give me an idea of where to take Sonata next.

Ooh, been waiting to have a look at this. Will definitely give you some feedback when I get home to try it out!

Got to The Last Stand with 4 energy 5 dmg 1 shot gun and a 1 shot 2 dmg 2 energy gun. the 4 energy has shield pierce 2 the 2 energy has shield pierce 1. Didn't have a chance at the flagship...

Mj64 wrote:Got to The Last Stand with 4 energy 5 dmg 1 shot gun and a 1 shot 2 dmg 2 energy gun. the 4 energy has shield pierce 2 the 2 energy has shield pierce 1. Didn't have a chance at the flagship...

I've only ever beaten it once in Sonata (and never in Vanilla!). Used a Higgs Pulse, 2 Mag Cannon, and a cloaking device.

Finally got around to playing Sonata! So... feedback. Lessee

The Good...
-Indy is awesome. 'Nuff said. (that one is yours, isn't it?)
-Love love LOVE the little conversations with crew in 'empty' space. I think it's the first time I've ever enjoyed null events. Only suggestion would be to make them unique by sector if possible - I ran into the same "Sophon smoking a cigarette" line twice, and it felt weird to have the same discussion again. Maybe Bioware-weird, the whole thing gave me a very Mass Effect feel, but I'd still prefer to avoid repeat events if possible.
-The variety of new weapons are great, and the flavor text is very well done. From a gameplay standpoint there's not a whole lot of difference between 'masers' and mass-driver types, but it was still enjoyable to see variations, and most of the sprites are pretty well done too.
-You found the tooltips for Scrap->Dust I see! I heartily approve. Perhaps change the little gear "scrap" icon to something more like ?
Well, in an icon-ified way that makes sense, at least.
-The backgrounds are gorgeous. It's a shame I didn't have more opportunity to admire them while getting shot at.
-Overall, good choices in music, and the "Explore/Battle" duos flowed nicely.

The Bad...
-The stark-white UI. While I liked the look in the screenshots, actually playing it started to give me a headache. The contrast is rather sharp and can lead to eyestrain after a while. Maybe look into some more muted colors - bring up the blacks and tone down the whites a tad so it doesn't contrast quite so painfully?
-In fights with the UE ships, didn't care so much for that music. Personal taste only, but the change in tone to harsh metal made me want to get the fight over with as soon as possible, and particularly frustrated when it'd drag on.

The Ugly...
-Sapphire Laser confused the hell out of me at first, until I realized it was actually beam-type with a 'laser' sprite.
-That baryon-cannon sprite... orange and blue? I don't know, maybe lore-wise it makes sense but the colors on that seemed very garish and out of place. Reminds me of a vuvuzela.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. Had a crap run of luck that ended with me running out of gas, missing practically every other shot on an auto-scout with three shields, and finally going down to a UE rigger with a beam-drone I couldn't keep disabled, but the playthrough up to that point was great fun. I'm tempted to take the Retribution through it for the sake of not getting my ass kicked, though I'd probably miss out on trying new firepower.

Kieve, thank you so much - your feedback is amazing! Nothing like getting feedback from a dev

Kieve wrote:Finally got around to playing Sonata! So... feedback. Lessee

The Good...
-Indy is awesome. 'Nuff said. (that one is yours, isn't it?)

You bet it was. lol

Kieve wrote: -Love love LOVE the little conversations with crew in 'empty' space. I think it's the first time I've ever enjoyed null events. Only suggestion would be to make them unique by sector if possible - I ran into the same "Sophon smoking a cigarette" line twice, and it felt weird to have the same discussion again. Maybe Bioware-weird, the whole thing gave me a very Mass Effect feel, but I'd still prefer to avoid repeat events if possible.

Glad you liked it, they were a lot of fun to write. I have to cut a balance between having a variety of those events in most sectors and risking duplicates - think things will get better as I write more.

Kieve wrote: -You found the tooltips for Scrap->Dust I see! I heartily approve. Perhaps change the little gear "scrap" icon to something more like ?
Well, in an icon-ified way that makes sense, at least.

I'm a little pissed about scrap, actually. As much as I've changed, "Scrap" is hardcoded into a LOT of places. Thanks for pointing the icon out, I will definitely get on that.

Kieve wrote: -The stark-white UI. While I liked the look in the screenshots, actually playing it started to give me a headache. The contrast is rather sharp and can lead to eyestrain after a while. Maybe look into some more muted colors - bring up the blacks and tone down the whites a tad so it doesn't contrast quite so painfully?

Good point; I was a little worried about that. That's a LOT of work, though - we'll see.

Kieve wrote: -In fights with the UE ships, didn't care so much for that music. Personal taste only, but the change in tone to harsh metal made me want to get the fight over with as soon as possible, and particularly frustrated when it'd drag on.

Fair 'nuff. Which track was it? If you check the audio folder, it's gonna be either dhruva_bruce, hw_imperial, or chiwawa_afghanistan. The main UE explore theme is chiwawa_smoke and I love it, so you're SOL there

Kieve wrote: The Ugly...
-Sapphire Laser confused the hell out of me at first, until I realized it was actually beam-type with a 'laser' sprite.
-That baryon-cannon sprite... orange and blue? I don't know, maybe lore-wise it makes sense but the colors on that seemed very garish and out of place. Reminds me of a vuvuzela.

Yeah, that Sower cannon sprite is getting replaced ASAP. Do you have any ideas how I can better convey that lasers are beams now? Maybe custom sprites will help.

I'm really glad you liked it, man. Keep the criticism coming - keeps me on my toes. If you take the Retribution through, you have GOT to record it.

thashepherd wrote:Kieve, thank you so much - your feedback is amazing! Nothing like getting feedback from a dev

I'm not a dev, just a fellow modder. Should take all my critiques with a grain or several of salt.

Glad you liked it, they were a lot of fun to write. I have to cut a balance between having a variety of those events in most sectors and risking duplicates - think things will get better as I write more.

I'd love to see that kind of crew interaction crop up more, beyond null space areas. I think my only source of frustration with them was that I'd hit an empty-space node, get a whole nice event to read, then realize that in the end it was mechanically worthless because I was down another unit of fuel, and had nothing to show for it.

I'm a little pissed about scrap, actually. As much as I've changed, "Scrap" is hardcoded into a LOT of places. Thanks for pointing the icon out, I will definitely get on that.

I think the tooltips and event-text cover most of the bases. It may be coded into the engine, but while playing I can't say I really noticed the discrepancy. Could just be I'm so used to seeing 'scrap' that it didn't register when it happened though.
Also, Minecraft's glowstone-dust is what comes to mind visually but I wouldn't suggest it as an actual icon.

Re: the UI wrote:Good point; I was a little worried about that. That's a LOT of work, though - we'll see.

Yeah, I know. Believe me, I know. Probably for the better in the long run, I think, but it's entirely possible I'm in the minority here too.

Fair 'nuff. Which track was it? If you check the audio folder, it's gonna be either dhruva_bruce, hw_imperial, or chiwawa_afghanistan. The main UE explore theme is chiwawa_smoke and I love it, so you're SOL there

I may have been mistaken with the ship I was fighting then, seems it was grieco_empire that was getting under my skin during the fight. But take that with a double-dose of metaphorical salt, because I've been listening to the whole music folder in my downtime too (not playing the game) and as stand-alone there's really nothing in there I genuinely dislike. Odds are, it was more the fact that I was getting my ass soundly handed to me at the time and the music might've just exacerbated my irritation a little.

PS: barkley_jam gave me the lolz.

Yeah, that Sower cannon sprite is getting replaced ASAP. Do you have any ideas how I can better convey that lasers are beams now? Maybe custom sprites will help.

My best suggestion would be to stick with beam-style sprites (that is, the two-prong configuration), or in the context of custom sprites, something visually similar. I saw a 'laser gun' style and simply expected it'd work like one - I imagine most of the people switching over to Sonata will likewise have some trouble getting used to that particular curveball. Keep in mind that throughout the game you learn to visually recognize what the enemy ships are packing, so custom sprites will be easier to identify than having to temporarily unlearn a sprite you've already grown used to.
And my apologies if I came across as insulting about the Sower Cannon - the other weapon sprites are pretty well done, which made that one stand out all the more.

Kieve - Responded via email. Excellent points as always.

I'd love to hear feedback from everyone else! Thoughts, what you liked, what you hated, what you'd like to see next!