Rootborn

To the Developer. Going to be a long post but I feel I need to give you advice that I pray you take or have already done in the game because I feel its important.  I dont waste my time usually doing this but this comes from my heart and I believe in you.  So here it is:

 This game has the art and graphics of the top devs in the world.  I am stunned.  You have a genius in you that can be unrivaled if Rootborn  has a good mechanical feel to it.  The big issue with games that have great art and seem like they might go far...as well as make the creator very wealthy...is that the mechanics are terrible.  I work for a big publisher scouting talent like yours, so I know when I see greatness.  But that isnt why I am here.  I am here to say that I feel the game is so beautiful that I am going to wait before playing it and give it a bit.  I end up playing right away, when I see games that have potential and then am so upset lol.  I jump the gun and realize that the dev has tried too hard to make the game different.  That simply means games like Stardew Valley, Starbound, Littlewood,  among many others, have the same thing in common.   They made everything intuitive in the game, left no questions unanswered on elements in the game, have gamepad support,  proper accessibility options, and allow the player to rebind the keys/buttons to make the game their own.  They dont take too much power out of the player's hands, by making things overly difficult, or make them stop playing due to difficulty leveling, or finding much trouble earning rewards. This is usually due to enemies attacking too often, too hard/aggressively, and even attacking at all.  Players sometimes like to choose to turn attacks on or off when creating things in this genre. 

Another huge issue:  Developers that create games like Rootborn do not allow players to decide if they want to keep all game content in full...when they die.  Permadeath can be suicide for a dev, if they have a game like this and dont let players decide in the main menu options, if they want this mechanic or not.  That is, if the dev feels perma-death of some sort, should be in the game.  Ive heard so many players complain about loving perma death but the ability to turn it off, is what makes the game ALIVE for them. It feels so good to choose to die over and over if they want, and just respawn somewhere with all their items and progress. This goes hand in hand with the importance of having a great meta upgrade system that is expansive and ensures progress, as well as re-playability.  Also known as: the need for players to come back to the game over and over lol.   Another thing that can help these games be profitable and loved by many is to have  very easy menus, bars, controls, and tutorials. Having the option to use mouse to do every action except walking and a few others...is something that is done rarely but when it is...it benefits the dev greatly.  Meaning, allowing the screen to have clickable boxes or bars to choose items, craft, view inventory, and then use another mouse button to attack and do actions.  I see alot of devs who will make it so that tons of buttons on the kb need to be used to do most anything, and I find it totally unnecessary to have to complete actions using any keyboard key if I dont want to.  Why do I have to press E, space bar, enter etc...and not be allowed to change the key even..to loot something.  Why cant we just use the mouse and move on. Thats what I mean. 

 I reiterate what I said above, concerning movement, controls, feel of gameplay, and other things that seem like common sense, or are familiar with players who love this genre.  If you allow players to relax and just play on their terms, (I see the fishing picture there and no enemies are lurking...that is great) they will come to Rootborn and never leave.  

-Dixie