What we’ll do differently in the future
We need to improve the handoff of the entity behaviors and clear up responsibility between the teams.
(They've had a few years to iron this stuff out, right?)
What we’ll do differently in the future
Trolley Push/Pull was always designed to serve two purposes: a puzzle mechanic and for cargo loading. As a puzzle mechanic, the feature works well and allows the designers to start creating new and interesting missions/spaces where players can use trolleys and blocks to access higher vantage points. As a cargo-loading mechanic, it falls short due to the limitations of the wheels and the sizes of ship ramps. Going forward, we will be developing a hover trolley that will alleviate a lot of our issues and rely on the more traditional trolleys for landing zones and specific missions.
(No! You can't scale back on the fidelity of my wheels fighting gravity like a broken shopping cart! You will regret this!)
...bunch of other stuff...
Re: Reputation:
Also, with the system now in place and our second star system on the horizon once server meshing comes online, we are having ongoing design discussions about how we will structure organizations within the universe for the first five systems. These talks include everything from the new-player experience and their starting location, how players progress within a single system, and how major organizations will influence content across multiple systems. This also allows us to define what gameplay will be involved for each of the major mission types, with the current plan to associate each mission type with the reputation tracks within organizations. Throughout this process, we have made significant strides towards (what we feel) will be the initial version/vision of how this major progression mechanic will affect the overall player experience. While we still need to get final signoff, we feel this falls in line with how reputation has been previously pitched to the public and look forward to driving this forward.
(Signal the excuses against future criticism until the second system/server meshing get delayed yet again are complete.
My tl;dr - I'm seeing hints that CIG is realizing that compromises are going to be necessary, and being "the person who controls the spaceman who's controlling the handle on the space toilet" or whatever may be too cumbersome for development teams and the game engine itself.
