(3/3)
5) Progress is too linear in every sense. If the first turbine gives a 50m distance boost, the last one should give a 5 million meter distance boost, not a 500m one, otherwise it doesn't feel like the time spent earning it was worthwhile. In this regard, it would be a good idea to increase the number of upgrades for the "core" systems (ramp, wheels, turbine) to accommodate this sort of curve. Cash earned and prices of upgrades could also be adjusted accordingly.
6) Once you have all the upgrades, getting the remaining achievements is just a grind. That said, I suspect this problem will sort itself out once the aforementioned balance issues are corrected.
There are indeed many things to be fixed, but rather than remove elements I'm planning to complement and present them better. With those additions the different values shouldn't need drastic changes. The game, as it is, is far less grindy than most launch games, but players need to use the right strategy, so I'll try to give more hints towards the most efficient one. You can follow the development and provide feedback on this forum: http://www.kongregate.com/forums/4-game-programming/topics/750652-2017-challenge-fast-and-chairious
(2/3)
3) The "between levels" interface would be much more user-friendly if everything was on a single screen with tabs for the different menus; it's quite annoying having to either go back to the main menu or sort through the different menus between every level.
4) A lot of the things in the menu feel like unnecessary padding: the altimeter, heading indicator and possibly the brakes should just be default features, and it shouldn't be necessary to buy and equip objects to perform moves. In fact, getting rid of these and putting the helmets in the upgrades menu(tab) would already be a decent step towards making the interface more usable.
Great. I'm going to have to split this up into 3 parts because of the ridiculous 1000 character limit:
(1/3)
With some improvements, I think this could become a really good game. Some feedback/ideas:
1) There seems to be an issue with keypress detection during launch, possibly due to lag. I missed a couple of launches completely and nearly stopped playing straight away because of this.
2) The early-game xp/cash earning rate needs to be adjusted. It takes too long to start earning good upgrades, yet I unlocked the first move before I could even stay in the air long enough to use it (it's probably technically possible, but most people aren't going to manage it while still getting used to the controls). I would go so far as to suggest getting rid of the xp system entirely and just making everything buyable with cash.
It would be good if there was a one-hit kill weapon like the sniper rifle in the previous game, just to stop the game from dragging on for too long.
Also, it's too easy to just build a high platform and camp with grenades once you're down too your last unit, so an explode-on-impact grenade, or just a toggle for the current ones would be good.
Also also, it would be nice if there was a better way to destroy chunks of the environment than mining. Maybe some sort of explosive with a large explosion radius, which doesn't injure players (or causes very low damage).
I think these changes would make the game a lot less frustrating, and encourage more people to play.
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There are indeed many things to be fixed, but rather than remove elements I'm planning to complement and present them better. With those additions the different values shouldn't need drastic changes. The game, as it is, is far less grindy than most launch games, but players need to use the right strategy, so I'll try to give more hints towards the most efficient one. You can follow the development and provide feedback on this forum: http://www.kongregate.com/forums/4-game-programming/topics/750652-2017-challenge-fast-and-chairious