Jaggy's Corner - May 15th, 2020

Welcome back to Jaggy's Corner where I talk about video games that I'm playing or rant about the industry.

This week, I could have done more ranting about Destiny 2's new quest "The Lie" and how I really hate the Seraph Tower event, or I could ramble about thirsty attention-seeking Twitch streamers who've been plaguing my news feed. Instead, I decided that I would talk a little bit about one piece of news that makes me sad, I'll also talk about something good.

First up is the terrible news that I have. Any of you that know me might also know that I'm not exactly a fan of the battle royale genre. There are certainly exceptions to this, but for the most part, I find games that are primarily focused on PvP extremely boring. I'm not a fantastic player when it comes to competitive anything, and while I have a competitive personality, I know that my skills aren't up to snuff. I don't waste time pretending to be something I'm not.

Anyways, one of the most interesting battle royale games that caught my attention is a game called "The Darwin Project". I learned of its existence by accident while I was in the Indie Zone looking for a specific game that I wanted to review. As I passed through the area, I was approached by someone who asked if I wanted to try their new game. After one round of it, I proudly made third place, if I recall correctly. (I do wish I had screenshots of this feat.)

Now, at the time, I was still new to writing articles and reviews, so sucked in my breath and approached one of the devs. Without having a script or much of an idea about the right questions to ask a dev, I plunged into the water saying that I was really surprised by the game because I'm not a fan of the BR genre. As it turned out, neither was the dev! Once we established our common ground, he explained that he wanted to create a game that he would enjoy. The Darwin Project was the result of that. It is a game that has a survival mechanic, a director who hypes up the players and doles out equipment or boosts, and has equipment upgrade mechanics. Combine these with the fact that I seem to enjoy the laid back and cartoony graphics style, this game had it all.

Yet, despite its uniqueness and player base, the global pandemic has made every industry a struggle to survive in, and after a couple of solid years of running, Scavengers Studio released a statement about The Darwin Project the other day.

It is with a heavy heart that we have decided to stop developing new features for the game. April's update was the last one for the foreseeable future.

Scavengers Studio Statement

The above is held within the first paragraph of Scavengers Studio's most recent article. My heart sank. The Darwin Project was one of the few BR games that I enjoyed playing because it had a unique take on the genre. And now, it goes by way of the dodo much like Maple Story 2 did. (I'm really not happy with 2020.)

Considering how many awful things I've seen or read about in the last few months, it crushes me that game companies are also having a hard time keeping afloat during the pandemic.

But, because of Scavenger Studios' success to this point, the developers are on my radar for new future releases. I'm sure that we'll be receiving innovative games like The Darwin Project down the line and I can't wait to see what they have in store.

Mother's Day

The second thing I wanted to cover is really just talking about a nice thing that my brother and I did for Mother's Day this past Sunday. The two of us concocted a plan to do something nice for our mother despite being stuck in quarantine.

Each week the three of us play Satisfactory by Coffee Stain Studios. It is a 3D factory building game that we have been enjoying playing together. This is one way that our family stays connected. In fact, gaming has always been a staple in our family, but that's a story for another time.

Anyways, my brother was tasked with making sure that my mom was busy while we launched the game early to execute our plan. He brought supplies to a remote location from our main base and began making the Happy Mother's Day sign. When I logged in, I grabbed more supplies for the project. In total, it took a couple of stacks of copper sheets, a crap ton of concrete, and some iron plating. I believe we also needed iron rods but they weren't as crucial to have full stacks of the object. After an hour of work, my brother and I were successful in our mission.

We entered phase two: getting mom to the location in the game without her suspecting anything.

My brother cleverly asked about our opinions on how we were going to organize the nuclear power plant area. This was a discussion we started last week when we finally unlocked tier 7 and 8. My brother, already having chosen an area very far from our base, took us to the location to survey the resource location in relation to the nuclear power plant. And because of where we erected the sign, it was masked by larger rocks. Once we arrived at the location, she finally saw the sign in the distance. (It's worth noting that her graphics card isn't the best, and therefore she had to be closer than normal to see it. The field of view depth isn't the best on that machine.)

Take a look at the result below!

I wasn't streaming at the time but I can say that our mother was quite happy with the sign. She put it up on social media much like I did. (I did Tweet about our little project. I also put it on Instagram!)

The moral here is, even though everyone is stuck at home because of the pandemic doesn't mean that creativity is gone or that time can't be spent with family and friends, because there are always ways to connect. I've seen a lot of wonderful things come from the minds of complete strangers and I'm overjoyed to see that. Perhaps some of you found unique ways to celebrate Mother's Day. If not, I hope you're all taking your mothers out to epic dinner establishments when it is safe to!

Anyways, I hope everyone is safe, healthy, and sane. It's tough for many people, but we will make it through. Just remember to have more patience than normal and remember to keep in contact with your family and friends. Mental health is crucial. There are plenty of ways to keep in touch!

Until next time peeps!

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Jaggy's Corner - February 15th, 2020

Welcome back to Jaggy's Corner, a weekly post where I ramble on about the gaming industry. This week I will talk a little bit about Coffee Stain Studios title Satisfactory.

For those that are unaware, Satisfactory is a first-person factory building game that launched last year on the Epic Games Store. When it launched, I immediately nabbed the game and was sucked in because it has been great fun building or screwing things up... (Like when you get higher up on the Space Elevator, it isn't completely solid. Just a fun fact...) Anyways, players could run around and build an epic factory with the help of friends or they can play solo.

A few of my friends and I loved this game so much that it became a weekly stream! We had grandiose plans to continue playing in the factory but due to real-life restraints, weren't able to continue playing together. I tried, I really tried... BUT NOW WE CAN PLAY AGAIN because Coffee Stain Studios recently released Update 3 to the experimental build on Epic!

Naturally, I loaded up a game with peeps and we went full ham! Now, I haven't had a ton of playtime so far and many streamers are much further ahead than I am, but the first thing I noticed was that the M.a.M. is completely different from what it was before. You can take a look at that in this clip.

Other new things have been added to the game like pipes to move fluid, new corner foundations to suit any factory build, and a cute little AWESOME shop with an AWESOME Sink. (You get to find out how it works on your own. I ain't telling you more about them! As a second aside, I love that these buildings are called "AWESOME.")

In one of the three games that I'm apart of, we started on the new map location. It is PRETTY and I love it, but it is harder. Players have to venture forth into the wild desert to get leaves for fuel, which is important for power generation. Of course, that's not the only fun part about this map because there are fluffy tails closeby, a radiation node, and other hazards. You know... Normal hazards ;)

Another exciting addition to the game is the ability to swim! I don't know how far out players can swim and I have no idea if there will be creatures that go bump in the water, but I love the addition of swimming.

So far, the most we've made it to is unlocking Tiers 3 and 4 through the Space Elevator. Though, I'm excited to play more because it's clear that Coffee Stain has added a ton of new things that players wanted like windows, new modes of transit, and various liquids!

In short, I need to play more and so should you! Take a look below at some of the screenshots I've taken in-game. Beautiful, no? (more below)

Now, before you jump down my butt about getting the game (because some of you still have a hate-on for Epic...), Coffee Stain Studios has announced that Satisfactory will be launched on Steam! I don't yet have a release date but feel free to wishlist it here. It will be well worth it, in my humble opinion.

Be sure to check out Twitter for updates on Satisfactory. If you want the full list of additions and changes in Update 3, look no further than right here (because there is a lot!)

Here's a fun Twitch clip for you :)

Until next time peeps!

Article by: Susan N.

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Satisfactory - PC Review

Introduction

Satisfactory is a 3D version of Factorio, which is to say that both are efficiency building games. I had discovered its existence through friends and signed up for the closed beta. Since I took a look at the title so close to the closed beta time frame, I didn't think I'd get a key, yet somehow I squeaked in. I found that after playing through that version of the game, I do not regret my decision to give it a try (especially since I'm not always keen on open world games with no story to accompany it.) And despite the fact that Satisfactory has had some interesting issues in its multiplayer version, I've enjoyed hours of endless gameplay refining and perfecting my factory's efficiency.

Gameplay

At the beginning of the game, players are dropped onto an alien planet to build a factory and provide data and resources to the home office. This is achieved through FICSIT and the Space Elevator, which both ship resources off into space. The premise is simple. Make things, ship things, make bigger things, repeat process. (For now...)

Satisfactory is what you make of it, which is to automate the production of materials to gain access to other buildings, and hopefully not die in creative ways. And believe me when I say there are creative ways to die in this game. First, there are the creatures that will attack you like the Fluffy Tails (although, I wonder about that name since these creatures are not particularly fluffy...) Second, there are poisonous clouds that players can encounter. Third, players can easily fall off various cliffs and buildings plummeting to their doom. However, the most creative death I've ever seen can be observed in this lovely Twitch clip. (Yes, I was in the game and was watching from the ground. The streamer and I were doing our regular co-op stream, so I clipped it. Enjoy!)

There are all kinds of things that players get access to in Satisfactory. Recently, the game received an update allowing players to use trains! Since I have not reached this tier, please check out the most recent update video that showcases the new content like the aforementioned trains, nuclear power plants, and updated map areas. Also, patch notes for this update can be found here.

Players are able to customize their train systems with the use of switches and factory design. That said, trains are available at Tier 6 and are expensive, but will be worthwhile when the tier is reached. At tier 7, the nuclear power plant and waste facility become available, along with a few new resource types.

At this time, Satisfactory does not yet have a complete narrative, very similar to the early access progression of Subnautica. However, on Coffee Stain Studio's public road map they have listed plans to include a full story for the game. There will also be modding capabilities, more crafting tiers, and much more features to be added down the line. For a game that is priced at $29.95 USD, Satisfactory provides hours of content to enjoy.

Graphics and Sound

Since Satisfactory is only available on the Epic Games store (spare me your complaints), it has standard keyboard controls and no controller capabilities. So, the keys used are the standard WASD for movement, C is used for the scanner, Q accesses the building menu, F demolishes structures, V is used for the flashlight, X accesses the mailbox and tutorial information, and Tab is used to access player inventory. Buttons 1 - 9 can be changed to suit a players needs and when constructing buildings, there are a variety floor sizes and wall types to choose from. At later tiers, there is access to walkways and transportation methods which sometimes cause interesting graphical issues. (This is a point I will address later on.)


If there was any gripe about the building in this game, it would be that at the beginning, items are crafted manually, meaning players have to hold down the mouse button for a lengthy periods of time. (This is me saying WTB "craft all" button please!)

Outside of that, there are various tools that are used to scan for objects and ore deposits on the planet, weapons to use against the alien lifeforms, and neat footwear that allows players to jump higher and move faster. What's not to love?!

The UI polished and lightweight, mostly appearing at the bottom of the screen, allowing players to see the amazing graphics. In fact, I've spent lots of time screenshotting various locations in the game because it is astonishing. And if the scenery isn't impressive enough, some of the alien creatures are vividly brought to life, making the whole gameplay experience a breathtaking one.


As for the sound design, Coffee Stain Studios was on point with building sounds, creature noises, and music choices. There are only four songs in the official soundtrack but they create a lovely and relax ambience to the game - which is contrasted by the various demons, fluffy tails, and spiders. (I've thankfully avoided some of these so far).

Satisfactory's OST, composed by Jannik Reuterberg aka Sleepers Delight, who is a freelance composer and sound designer that specializes in chill music - a genre of music I quite enjoy. He can be found on social media via his Soundcloud, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages, so be sure to drop him a follow!  

Pros and Cons

There are a lot of features to love about Satisfactory like its relaxing and casual gameplay experience, vast landscapes to explore and build, and multiplayer capabilities (up to four players). Stunning graphics and an affordable price point are all things to be happy about.

Down the line, the developers plan to input a full narrative to Satisfactory, as well as many other quality of life features which will improve the end user experience. (Although, even the closed beta version of the game was spectacular, in my opinion.)

In Short the Pros are:

• Beautiful Graphics
• Casual and relaxing gameplay experience
• Hours of enjoyment
• A choice of 3 large landscapes to explore
• Alien lifeforms to discover or perhaps avoid
• Properly functioning multiplayer mode

Most of the cons that I found were only present in multiplayer games, but that doesn't take away from the enjoyment of Satisfactory. (In fact, in certain ways the issues added to the co-op experience.)

For one thing, Satisfactory suffers from the same issues that Astroneer does, which is that the multiplayer modes are established through a peer to peer connection. Often this means that issues with the multiplayer experience boils down to connection issues where objects might not show for all players. (Take a look at the screenshot next to this paragraph. The player could see the platform I placed where I could not.) Peer to peer multiplayer design also means that once a player logs out of the game, the players' model remains. While this is not inherently an issue, it allows for some friendly casual mayhem among friends - which may or may not turn out for the best.

Furthermore, the distance traveled away from the main hub will eventually cause the game to lag, which is another issue that tends to occur with a peer to peer setup. Finally, when using some of the vehicles in Satisfactory, the game would show the camera angle from behind the it like the player was no longer driving. When my game had enough issues where I needed to log out and back in, my character ceased to have a head! (And yet, I could still move around. Yes, I have screenshots of this too...)

Some other cons include:

• No factory lighting! (I BEG YOU. Please include some lights!)
• Multiplayer minor grievances (as indicated above)
• Hub collusion isn't present when the docile giant octopus leg creatures wander through the base
• The beginning of the game could stand to have a 'craft all' button
• Minor lag issues
• Occasional graphic issues (listed above)
• Game saves are NOT saved to the cloud, but locally saved (This isn't an issue unless you have to reinstall Windows, for example.)

Final Thoughts

Satisfactory is an excellent factory building simulator that I absolutely adore. With a fully fleshed out narrative, some additional quality of life features, and multiplayer issues addressed, this game will knock several of its genre out of the park. Even with the issues encountered during the multiplayer sessions, Satisfactory earns a 9 out of 10 in my books. It's fun, beautiful, and create hours of enjoyment for players. I can't get enough of this title!

Be sure to follow Satisfactory on Social Media. Here are links to the Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit pages! Don't forget to join the Discord for future updates.

For the record, I was crafting something when this bugger appeared under the crafting window, scaring the crap out of me...

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Coffee Stain Studios
Publisher(s):
Coffee Stain Studios
Genre(s):
Simulation, Factory Builder
Mode(s):
Single Player, Multiplayer
Other Platform(s):
NA

Source:
Purchased

Article by Susan N.

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