I know it's been discussed to death already, but I thought I'd add my own consolidated thoughts too.
Originally I would have been very excited about space legs. The main reason is simply that by having the ability to walk around both inside and outside of the ship, it would add a level of immersion and sense of scale that you can't get otherwise. But now that I have VR, I get those things already, just in a different way.
So upon reflection, I think space legs are pretty low priority for me, though some things could be done that would make it very cool. Obviously anything they add would need to be functional in both 2.5D and VR. And for them to spend the development time on it, there needs to be justification via new gameplay opportunities. I emphasize "new", because what I absolutely don't want is for them to make space legs a requirement for things we can already do quickly and easily by other means.
For instance, I don't want to be forced to get out of my ship and walk around the space stations, just to use station services that we can currently access from the cockpit. And for VR, I also don't want to be forced to stand up from my chair and have a clear space. I have other VR games that work that way, but none require me to go back and forth between a chair, and free room space.
So my suspicion is that one of the easiest ways for space legs to be added, is for them to start with a zero-G (weightless) requirement, at least in the first iteration. That is, you can't get out of your command chair, unless you're floating in space, or docked at a non-rotating outpost. That way, very simple controls can be used for both VR and non-VR, in the places where people want it most-- in space! And the most obvious gameplay addition is repairs. We've talked about this on many occasion-- Repair mini-games, with material requirements.
Not only would this add something new, but it can work seamlessly with AFMUs in the game. You can still use an AFMU for quick and hassle-free repairs, or you can leave it behind and do your repairs manually. But to me the real exciting prospect is this: Make it so that manual repairs are the only way to repair the power plant, when away from a station. Right now we can't repair it at all, particularly because shutting it off leaves the AFMU without power. However, shutting it off for manual repairs? That sounds perfect to me.
This also opens up the possibility of "player housing" by having a living space that can be customized, on board your ship.
So while I still feel it's a low priority for me, adding a new form of repair, including repairing the one thing we can't repair by any other means, would start to get me excited about it again. It's the gameplay that comes with it, that really matters, IMHO.
Originally I would have been very excited about space legs. The main reason is simply that by having the ability to walk around both inside and outside of the ship, it would add a level of immersion and sense of scale that you can't get otherwise. But now that I have VR, I get those things already, just in a different way.
So upon reflection, I think space legs are pretty low priority for me, though some things could be done that would make it very cool. Obviously anything they add would need to be functional in both 2.5D and VR. And for them to spend the development time on it, there needs to be justification via new gameplay opportunities. I emphasize "new", because what I absolutely don't want is for them to make space legs a requirement for things we can already do quickly and easily by other means.
For instance, I don't want to be forced to get out of my ship and walk around the space stations, just to use station services that we can currently access from the cockpit. And for VR, I also don't want to be forced to stand up from my chair and have a clear space. I have other VR games that work that way, but none require me to go back and forth between a chair, and free room space.
So my suspicion is that one of the easiest ways for space legs to be added, is for them to start with a zero-G (weightless) requirement, at least in the first iteration. That is, you can't get out of your command chair, unless you're floating in space, or docked at a non-rotating outpost. That way, very simple controls can be used for both VR and non-VR, in the places where people want it most-- in space! And the most obvious gameplay addition is repairs. We've talked about this on many occasion-- Repair mini-games, with material requirements.
Not only would this add something new, but it can work seamlessly with AFMUs in the game. You can still use an AFMU for quick and hassle-free repairs, or you can leave it behind and do your repairs manually. But to me the real exciting prospect is this: Make it so that manual repairs are the only way to repair the power plant, when away from a station. Right now we can't repair it at all, particularly because shutting it off leaves the AFMU without power. However, shutting it off for manual repairs? That sounds perfect to me.
This also opens up the possibility of "player housing" by having a living space that can be customized, on board your ship.
So while I still feel it's a low priority for me, adding a new form of repair, including repairing the one thing we can't repair by any other means, would start to get me excited about it again. It's the gameplay that comes with it, that really matters, IMHO.
