So recently, our CM @LoFiGummy and the team gave us an opportunity to early-access the Soda Islands feature. And I gave a long feedback that I made after a lot of analyzing and observing the feature. I'm already done, so I decided not just to share in the team, but also for the community too.
"Good day King Team and CM! So here's my feedback about Soda Islands, one of the future feature of the game.
FIRST REACTION
The player's first reaction will be both shocked and grateful. Changing from seasons to this finally after 5 years makes sense, so players have been looking forward for something new. They will be surprised because this is a simple yet stunning feature. This is one of those "long wait but big payoff" reactions.
IMPRESSIONS
- Creativity - I love the effort of creativity you put in this event. The lands have small details, and the background having a sunset or sunrise skies with purple Soda oceans is visually exciting. And we like that.
- Variety - I also love how this feature works on different themes. That keeps everything visually fresh and exciting.
- Rewards - wonderballs are now the core for the rewards, and I love that you included it here as gifts. "The bears gave you a wonderball" is also such a sweet line.
- Characters - including bears here in this feature is cute and memorable. It's basically your Soda's protagonist character, so having bears making activities and enjoying around the island are cute.
PROBLEMS
Minor = doesn't break gameplay or feature, Moderate = fixing is optional but doesn't break gameplay, Severe = breaks gameplay and feature and must be fixed.
- Lags (Moderate) - gameplay doesn't lag, however in some newer devices, it lags a little in the diorama, which is a bit of an issue and the consistency between gameplay and diorama is affected.
- Level background theme (Moderate) - this doesn't affect anything, but I would love to change the level background for normal levels. You already have the hard level themes, however we have already saw the normal blue background for years now. Change to something else, probably like an island in Soda oceans.
- Music (Minor) - the music fits the island vibes, however these 3 soundtracks are too short and didn't last even 40 seconds. There's not enough soundtracks even.
OBSERVATION TO DETAILS
There are a lot of both noticeable and unnoticeable details.
- The Soda waters in different themes are clean. Having purple or mix of pink and purple are the common colors in the game, and you nailed it.
- The lands have small rocks, which is a common detail, but the rocks are placed in great land colors.
- The background details are nice. Having a sunset or sunrise and daylight is visually stunning.
ANALYZING FEATURES
- Different Islands - having islands with naming (Candy Roots, Dock Sprout, etc.) and rebuilding an island is so satisfying every time.
- Return to Island - having this feature seems like it's unnecessary in small islands, but helpful in long islands. This allows you to return to your current progress. Very helpful, especially when players lost track of where they are.
- Stars - collecting stars to build lands are simple yet satisfying. It's a very common goal for most of the games nowadays, to collect stars.
PLAYER IMPACT
This feature is great and encourages daily play, however the progression and performance is a bit of a problem.
IMPROVEMENTS & SUGGESTIONS
Some improvements:
- Performance (the lags I mentioned earlier)
- Progression - it's because having too many stars might drain the player. Give it a max requirement of 50 for lands.
And some suggestions:
- Collection - I wish you can view all islands both completed and uncompleted. That would be memorable.
- Double Stars - having to earn X2 stars is gonna be a very helpful booster. It is to collect twice the stars you earned in a level. That would make progression and payoff faster.
- Themed Islands - I love the different themes, but having seasonal islands is visually striking. Like imagine it's night and snowing on December, dark and spooky on October, and beach and summer on July."
Some of you guys might have different suggestions or ideas, so feel free to share. Also, constructive criticism is encouraged.
