There's more to this game than meets the video. Thread - Vector Thrust

Hey everyone. I know I haven't really been active on the forums. Though I've lately felt like there was a particular problem with Vector Thrust, in particular, the way the game is seen from video critics.

No matter where I've looked, it seems like this is the same everywhere. Nearly every single critic or Vlogger I checked on Youtube or specialized sites has apparently done the same "mistake".
Though "mistake" is not exactly something these people can be blamed for, or anybody in fact, I believe there's still something wrong.

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What I think is wrong, and, the reason why I am asking you all is: Video reviewers do not realize how much content there is in this game.

Every single time, What I've seen was a voiceover talking about how the game is a spiritual successor to Ace Combat. While that much is "true", these reviewers always seem to struggle with the menus and end up trying to play with the starter-grade J-35 and fire up a Skrimish or Quick Action mode.

What results is always a ballet of slow, low-mobility dogfighting which only shows how troublesome it is to use the machinegun in its current form.

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As I am a modder who always stays "indoors" and generally helps people to make their stuff more than I make stuff myself, I know how much content there is in VT already.

There's a bunch of boss units, several air squadrons ( too many to count ), unusual designs, good OST, but, this isn't really the problem. We know this stuff exists. And, through the level editor's testing function, one can realize how many playable aircraft there are in the whole game. ( Because, yes, the level editor allows you to test your mission with *every* playable craft in the game, even if you haven't unlocked it the Challenge mode yet )

Maybe due to the "It's America!" clichey, people would always expect the F-22/A to be in the game. Chances are, they assume it's not. Considering how we've had an increasingly painful quantity of bad Early Access games lately, in particular last year with Air Control, Grass Simulator and the like, people are likely to overlook Vector Thrust, assuming "there's only three playable fighters in this game. Not worth my time until they implement the F-22 / Su-37 / Etc.". Thus, I dare saying there's a chance we're doing false advertising because there's an Su-47 Berkut on the cover, that "is not in the game."

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Is there anything we can do to help this? Giving more spotlight to the game won't do it alone. I am far from being the most skilled as a salesman/spokeperson, but I believe I know enough about this game to come up with a few ideas....
For example, making a small pack of three dedicated Demo missions that force-starts you with a high end American, European and Russian craft respectively.

While I know people statistically more often claim the environments are bland, it would still be nice to let them know there are more than a bottom-tier Mig-21, J-35 and F-104 in this game. Letting them know the Challenge system exists would be welcome too.

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Though, if anybody doing videos of this game happens to believe I'm blaming them for being incompetent, I wish to apologize in advance. I do *NOT* claim anybody is to blame for the "disinformation" about this game. I believe it's accidental. Nobody is to blame for that.

I just believe it is a great shame that so much content already present in this game would go unnoticed. Just look at the size of the game when you install it. It's over one Gygabite already. If really there were "empty" maps, three playable fighters, an OST and an .EXE, the game would most certainly not feel so "empty".

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As I said, I can't solve this on my own. This is just something I'm worried about. This is why I'm asking you all. I hope I am not bringing your attention to a dud problem there.

Is this worth talking about?

Edited by: Wheaton_Adams

I haven't played enough of the game to get an idea of the content but as a developer here are some things that sprung to my mind:

Your issue with content being locked is a primarily UI related issue of which the game generally suffers heavily from. I wasn't even sure that Challenge mode did unlock new planes. This needs to be addressed. Integrate the skirmish mode into Challenge with interchanging XP values. Fly a plane in skirmish and get XP for it. Also include UI elements that make it clear that there are more planed beyond the chassis you are flying like a tree graph grayed out behind the currently unlocked chassis.

Clarity is important, especially in UI as it is the first step a user takes when entering a game. If the first steps are buggy, confusing, or counter intuitive it sets down a preconception of the general quality of the game.

For example, a modern game with the "Press any button to continue" is a leftover from the console era, likely a port. This alone puts a bad taste in PC users mouth, why should they press any button to continue?

Another suggestion is to either randomize Quick Match or remove it altogether. There isn't much point to playing it if you're limited to your starting craft. If it's point is to dive in and try something different or experience new content, then in its current state it is a failure aside from showing the currently cruddy maps.

Sum:
Challenge mode itself isn't very explanatory and far as I saw skirmish mode did not affect challenge mode (might be mistaken). Do not gate content in Quick Match, you're only wasting your time there. Fix the UI, make it more presentable and descriptive and informative if people are thinking there are only 3 planes.

I've been working with Wheaton to learn the game's features. While yes, this is a spiritual successor to Ace Combat, I will say now there is a SHIT ton more to this game than meets the eye! I'll be recording more of this in another Let's Play, and will post a link in a little while.

I'm sure about 60% of those who played the game casually also never progresses beyond flying a Fishbed/Draken/Starfighter either. Just take a look at the screenshots.

Solution? Make all planes available for skirmish/quick action/MP for a time being until the game's out of EA. It's not like everyone know that pushing F11 can temporarily unlock all planes.

Edited by: Nergal01

Someone wrote: It's not like everyone know that pushing F11 can temporarily unlock all planes.

Well, I didn't.

It's only for incubator builds though.

I sorta agree with most of what's been said already. VT has quite a lot of content, some not yet active, but other parts obscured by a lack of direction for newcomers.

I really like Wheaton's idea of an advanced level battle scenario to demonstrate what late-game aircraft handle like, since most of the starter aircraft are sorta slow on entry. I mean, if we got a few Tutorial Battle Scenarios to explain gameplay components to players it'd do a lot to help with moving people along into the meat of the game too. Something that's got voice acting, explains AoA, countermeasures and some other gameplay mechanics that aren't really intuitive for people who haven't been following the game since Alpha.

What I think we really need to do is get some really good, high quality gameplay out there to say, "Hey, this is what this game really looks like," because I can't think of how many games have incredible depth yet no reviewer has the time to show it off because they don't have the time to explore it themselves.

Okay, granted my channel isn't the most popular, but I did make this vid to at least show there's more to this game than meets the eye. Granted, I added in quite a few modded aircraft into the game that I did, but at least know that I did show some of the original aircraft in VT, as well as gave a quick, easy tutorial to getting aircraft unlocked by code, rather than the F-11 debugging trick. I plan on doing another vid next week, but for now, let me know what you guys think on here, and on YouTube. I hope I did this good...

Has anyone even made multiplayer videos yet?

More importantyl, is there any recording software that I can get for free that doesn't slow the game down?

I'd make a multiplayer video, but that requires a second person...

ok, let me know when you're filming

Edited by: bornloser

Hey, count me in, too! I'm dying to play VT online!

Ok, I'm a bit busy today so probably tomorrow or something...

NFS, add me and bornloser on steam (KirbyADF and V3N0M)

Edited by: KirbyADF

bornloser wrote: Has anyone even made multiplayer videos yet?

More importantyl, is there any recording software that I can get for free that doesn't slow the game down?

OBS shouldn't have any issues with VT.

It does compress the video as it's recorded, unlike Fraps, so it'll eat up resources Fraps wouldn't, but the end product is a much more easily uploaded video.

KirbyADF wrote: Ok, I'm a bit busy today so probably tomorrow or something...

NFS, add me and bornloser on steam (KirbyADF and V3N0M)

Trying to add you two in, and granted, I added you (name's Cypher), but bornloser I don't know who to pick. There's 10 different hits by that name.

Stuff.

Edited by: Boogie_Van

NFSRacer wrote:

KirbyADF wrote: Ok, I'm a bit busy today so probably tomorrow or something...

NFS, add me and bornloser on steam (KirbyADF and V3N0M)

Trying to add you two in, and granted, I added you (name's Cypher), but bornloser I don't know who to pick. There's 10 different hits by that name.

You found me, I've just been playing saints row instead

Once the final beta update is 'released' next month I hope we can see more shots from newcomers other than boring WTF PLANE IS THIS F-104VTOL screenshot or generic screenshot featuring starter plane (Starfighter, Draken/Fishbed in the mission 1 HT, F-15, A-10) and anything similar.

On the bright side, the addition of cinematic cams makes a ridiculously boring scene looks hundred times cooler so there's that.

Edited by: Nergal01