some critique & suggestions

[Indasa]

I've been greatly enjoying Wildwood since the alpha and with the newest features I am also having a blast!
That being said I do have a few critique points and suggestions I'd like to mention. Everyone feel free to add your two cents to it

Overworld exploration is too easy
This is my first and biggest qualm with the game at the moment. As of right now I'm kind of lacking the "challenge of survival" if you will. The map has an abundance of plants and prey, which you can all catch with a 99% chance thanks to the new hunting feature. Honestly just by taking one walk out of camp I will return with so many items that I will throw most on the colony stockpile or sell them to Ember. Adding to that the player can swim so well that you can basically cross any river and lake with ease. For me personally this kind of defeats the purpose of Peppermint and Thistles, the latter I only use to cross the ocean. Other than that I've never used them.
I feel like the first Cattails was a lot more challenging in that regard, especially in the beginning, when your skills were all low. Often enough I would starve if I didn't make sure to hunt or forage enough or drown in a body of water I wasn't prepared for. Maybe it's just a personal preference but I preferred this playstyle. It felt rewarding for your hard work, especially when you got to level up your skills or memorized where to find which herbs.
Conclusion: I'm not saying Wildwood should return to this system but I would like it to hold my hand just a little less. Eg. by spawning less herbs, taking away the distance ring on prey and reducing swimming stamina. Perhaps those things could be part of a higher difficulty setting, so players can choose.

Tbh this first point is my main reason for making this post, though while I'm at it I do have a few more suggestions for smaller things :3
- making the red rose find- or earnable in the overworld. the fact that you can craft the ring is already great! i would love to see smth similar for the rose, instead of just buying it from Ember
- moving the camera in build mode with wasd, just is more comfortable imo
- the ability to place furniture in camp
- being able to place multiple storage crates in camp
- unlockable OR downloadable fur pre-sets (personally I just don't like working with the fur builder that much. would be very cool if people could easily share their fur pattern with others!)
- ability to hide certain accessories, eg. for the greedy paw or headlamp
- few more dialogue options for buddies

To end off though, here's some things I LOVE about Wildwood so far <3
- Mines are hella fun! definitely a big improvement to the first game. I love discovering the different biomes, ores and enemies and it's a good challenge too! 10/10 
- The buddy system is a great idea and adds a lot to the game. Especially with the different traits of the colony members, it really makes me consider who to choose for today's adventure.
- I'm a big big fan of the customization features, we all love playing dressup and the fact that Falcon is making it so accessible for mods is honestly a blessing. I'm actually considering to get into modding just because of Cattails x3
- the overworld is really beautiful, I've played for 40h and still feel like I haven't seen all of it O.O 

Anyway, that's my rant for today. What do y'all think about this? Thank you for reading
- Indy

[catempress]

Yeah, I have been playing on Impawisble and the only thing really hard is fighting and mining. I think they should add a new difficulty level.

[Agrith Dragonflame]

May 14, 2023 8:47:29 GMT -5 Indasa said:

I've been greatly enjoying Wildwood since the alpha and with the newest features I am also having a blast!
That being said I do have a few critique points and suggestions I'd like to mention. Everyone feel free to add your two cents to it

Overworld exploration is too easy
This is my first and biggest qualm with the game at the moment. As of right now I'm kind of lacking the "challenge of survival" if you will. The map has an abundance of plants and prey, which you can all catch with a 99% chance thanks to the new hunting feature. Honestly just by taking one walk out of camp I will return with so many items that I will throw most on the colony stockpile or sell them to Ember. Adding to that the player can swim so well that you can basically cross any river and lake with ease. For me personally this kind of defeats the purpose of Peppermint and Thistles, the latter I only use to cross the ocean. Other than that I've never used them.
I feel like the first Cattails was a lot more challenging in that regard, especially in the beginning, when your skills were all low. Often enough I would starve if I didn't make sure to hunt or forage enough or drown in a body of water I wasn't prepared for. Maybe it's just a personal preference but I preferred this playstyle. It felt rewarding for your hard work, especially when you got to level up your skills or memorized where to find which herbs.
Conclusion: I'm not saying Wildwood should return to this system but I would like it to hold my hand just a little less. Eg. by spawning less herbs, taking away the distance ring on prey and reducing swimming stamina. Perhaps those things could be part of a higher difficulty setting, so players can choose.

Tbh this first point is my main reason for making this post, though while I'm at it I do have a few more suggestions for smaller things :3
- making the red rose find- or earnable in the overworld. the fact that you can craft the ring is already great! i would love to see smth similar for the rose, instead of just buying it from Ember
- moving the camera in build mode with wasd, just is more comfortable imo
- the ability to place furniture in camp
- being able to place multiple storage crates in camp
- unlockable OR downloadable fur pre-sets (personally I just don't like working with the fur builder that much. would be very cool if people could easily share their fur pattern with others!)
- ability to hide certain accessories, eg. for the greedy paw or headlamp
- few more dialogue options for buddies

To end off though, here's some things I LOVE about Wildwood so far <3
- Mines are hella fun! definitely a big improvement to the first game. I love discovering the different biomes, ores and enemies and it's a good challenge too! 10/10 
- The buddy system is a great idea and adds a lot to the game. Especially with the different traits of the colony members, it really makes me consider who to choose for today's adventure.
- I'm a big big fan of the customization features, we all love playing dressup and the fact that Falcon is making it so accessible for mods is honestly a blessing. I'm actually considering to get into modding just because of Cattails x3
- the overworld is really beautiful, I've played for 40h and still feel like I haven't seen all of it O.O 

Anyway, that's my rant for today. What do y'all think about this? Thank you for reading
- Indy

Hmm, few things:
 - The lack of a hunting ring exists. In the realistic hunting setting (or whatever its called), the ring is not there. Impawssible also removes the hunting ring. I can agree that swimming stamina really only factors when trying to cross one of the lakes or ocean (which is where thistle may be helpful. Sort of). Not sure if Impawssible is affecting that, but I don't think so. Herbs are plentiful, but I find the harder difficulties need them to be. I'm constantly nearly out of lavender or goldenseal, for example. Prey is very, very plentiful, though I found Quick Time hunting on Impawssible makes that quite a bit more challenging.
 - You can craft red rose seeds. Alabaster sells the recipe, though you will need rubies for it.
 - Build mode is fair. I use a controller, so I hide the mouse up in the corner to keep it out of the way. However, as a result, whenever I enter build mode, the screen darts off in the direction of the mouse.
 - Oo, now that's an interesting thought. Definitely make for even more unique colony building.
 - I can agree with that. Having an outside crate is a immense convenience already, have more would be more so.
 - I like the sound of that. The game already save them (and your kittens', too), so being able to share that would be a neat idea!
 - Normally, I'd say the point of accessories is to see them, but I can agree with the utility accessories like those.
 - I think know what you mean, but could you clarify? More dialogue options as in just more to say, or more as in things like telling your buddies to not hunt, or to only hunt, etc.

 - The mines are very challenging and fun, definitely. Impawssible does make the mine an ordeal and a half, but that's a compliment. I signed up for this (even if those prowlers sometimes feel like they hit too hard by half, ha!).
 - I love systems that let you customize your experience, the more the better to me. Buddies, especially kittens, offer some of that.
 - Falcon has done a great job making the game customizable and accessible. It feels and sounds unique to each person. Heck, each character. One of my characters' colonies is essentially an archipelago and makes the game feel so much different from the colony that is essentially in a volcano.
 - The overworld is definitely that. And the map on top of it! Absolutely beautiful.

[Silverhart]

I definitely wouldn't mind more of a challenge when it comes to finding food. Right now I play the game on Normal difficulty, because I don't like getting destroyed by Voidlings while on patrol. Normal difficulty feels just right for my play style, so I have no complaints, but if people want hard and impawsible to be more difficult, I'm all for it. Might even challenge myself to play at those difficulties someday.

I think the main reason for the swimming being what it is now is because passive skills have been removed. While it is fun to increase things like your swimming ability, if it was like the original game's swimming early on with no way to increase it I think I would be frustrated about that. Swimming isn't really a challenge in the game right now, I agree. Maybe adding currents to certain rivers might make it a bit more exciting.

Also want to point out that you can share your coat colors!

In AppData/Local/Cattails_Wildwood_Story (same place you'll find your saves and put your mod folder) you'll see a folder called 'colors'. The files in there can be shared with others, and you just take that file and plop it in that same folder and there you go!

[Agrith Dragonflame]

May 15, 2023 14:09:41 GMT -5 Silverhart said:

I definitely wouldn't mind more of a challenge when it comes to finding food. Right now I play the game on Normal difficulty, because I don't like getting destroyed by Voidlings while on patrol. Normal difficulty feels just right for my play style, so I have no complaints, but if people want hard and impawsible to be more difficult, I'm all for it. Might even challenge myself to play at those difficulties someday.

I think the main reason for the swimming being what it is now is because passive skills have been removed. While it is fun to increase things like your swimming ability, if it was like the original game's swimming early on with no way to increase it I think I would be frustrated about that. Swimming isn't really a challenge in the game right now, I agree. Maybe adding currents to certain rivers might make it a bit more exciting.

Also want to point out that you can share your coat colors!

In AppData/Local/Cattails_Wildwood_Story (same place you'll find your saves and put your mod folder) you'll see a folder called 'colors'. The files in there can be shared with others, and you just take that file and plop it in that same folder and there you go!

I was more interested in a method of sharing coats that doesn't involve digging through the files. Not that I'm saying you shouldn't (I certainly don't mind doing so now and again), but that some people don't want to deal with poking around a game's inner workings. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing river currents, though. Certainly make traversing the world more interesting (and alive). In fact, I'd even love to see them appear at different strengths depending on the season.

[Silverhart]

May 15, 2023 16:02:14 GMT -5 Agrith Dragonflame said:

I was more interested in a method of sharing coats that doesn't involve digging through the files. Not that I'm saying you shouldn't (I certainly don't mind doing so now and again), but that some people don't want to deal with poking around a game's inner workings. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing river currents, though. Certainly make traversing the world more interesting (and alive). In fact, I'd even love to see them appear at different strengths depending on the season.

The color folders (as well as the mod and save game files) are stored in a totally different location from the files the game needs in order to run, so you're not really dealing with the game's inner workings. It's just a folder with PNG files.

It's a wonderfully simple system, and I'm not sure what other method there would be for sharing coats. Don't most games with mods require you to put them into specific files to work? Unless it's a fully online game, but it seems a bit silly to make a single-player game online just to be able to share coats.

[Agrith Dragonflame]

May 15, 2023 19:04:56 GMT -5 Silverhart said:

The color folders (as well as the mod and save game files) are stored in a totally different location from the files the game needs in order to run, so you're not really dealing with the game's inner workings. It's just a folder with PNG files.

It's a wonderfully simple system, and I'm not sure what other method there would be for sharing coats. Don't most games with mods require you to put them into specific files to work? Unless it's a fully online game, but it seems a bit silly to make a single-player game online just to be able to share coats.

Again, I agree. However, I know people who would not touch the game's files in anyway, no matter how much they wanted to add or mod. Knew one person that wanted to mod Minecraft, yet, no matter how much I explain it, they refuse to do it themselves. Ended up using a mod launcher instead. That being said, if there was a system built into the game itself, they'd use it in a heartbeat. I have no real idea how hard it is to implement, but a method I've seen used before is a code that, when inputted into the designated area, essentially would serve as instructions to the game to set various sliders and patterns to dictated positions and selections. I can't recall the game, but I know I've seen the system somewhere.

[Indasa]

May 14, 2023 9:23:51 GMT -5 Agrith Dragonflame said:

 - I think know what you mean, but could you clarify? More dialogue options as in just more to say, or more as in things like telling your buddies to not hunt, or to only hunt, etc.

Ah my bad, perhaps "dialogue options" was the wrong term to use here :'D
I just meant dialogues in general, so that you can talk to them while on the go, maybe they comment on a good catch or express that they need healing, that kind of thing. Not much in means of gameplay of course, but I just want to chat with my buddy

For what Silverhart said, I also prefer the game on normal difficulty to be honest. Since right now it just changes fighting which tbh is challenge enough for me already, just amping up enemies, though more challenging in that it would probably make me use some herbs more, I don't think it would make a satisfying experience for me TwT
So I agree that "overworld difficulty" I would prefer to be a different setting but I think I could live with it being combined too.
Oh hey, river currents is a great idea to solve the swimming without making it a pain the whole game! I think this even was a thing in the first game already.
Ayee I actually just saw the coat thing too after posting this thread. I'm a bit surprised that it flew over my head o.o Has noone made a thread to exchange coats yet? I think that would be fun!

Having to dig in game files, for me it's not really a problem, though I do see the point of some people being scared of "tampering with files". However as far as I can tell, as long as you can find the folder it's located in, it's fairly accessible already, since you just having to put a picture in a folder.
Sure a method without going in folders would be nice too, but I'm no developer and tbh idk how easy it would be to implement such a thing.

[Silverhart]

May 16, 2023 0:39:34 GMT -5 Agrith Dragonflame said:

Again, I agree. However, I know people who would not touch the game's files in anyway, no matter how much they wanted to add or mod. Knew one person that wanted to mod Minecraft, yet, no matter how much I explain it, they refuse to do it themselves. Ended up using a mod launcher instead. That being said, if there was a system built into the game itself, they'd use it in a heartbeat. I have no real idea how hard it is to implement, but a method I've seen used before is a code that, when inputted into the designated area, essentially would serve as instructions to the game to set various sliders and patterns to dictated positions and selections. I can't recall the game, but I know I've seen the system somewhere.

In a way that feature is already built into the game - you just have to plug the decimal code of each color into each part of the coat creator in game. Unfortunately I don't think it could be condensed into a simpler code than that. I'm no coder, but I mean RGB can produce over ten million colors, and each one has 9 separate numbers to describe it. You can't really make that number any smaller than it is. If you made the entire coat into a single promo code it'd be well over 200 characters long.

The original game had a promo code system like that, where you could input a code that unlocked a coat color, but that's just not feasible with the coat system in Wildwood. I think the image file is the best and simplest way to do it. But you can input the information manually if you really are opposed to it.

Anywho - I do think I've derailed the conversation a bit, sorry about that!

But yes! Water currents were in the original Cattails game and they definitely added a bit of excitement especially when you had to fight against them! Tying them to seasons would also be very cool! Spring usually had strong currents and it would really set it apart from summer even more.

I also think being able to chat with your buddies would be a great addition. Even if it's just their regular dialogue or even one unique phrase. It would also open up the ability when modding to have characters say specific things in specific areas that they don't normally visit! It'd be fun to hear a character comment on the ocean or lava fields as you were traveling through those tiles.

[Indasa]

Just gonna jump in here to mention two more quality of life features I'd add to my suggestions:

- Increasing the hitbox for setting fertilizer in the garden / maybe I'm just clumsy but super often I miss the dirt patch by just a few pixels and then have to pick up the item again, select it in inventory, yada yada. Just makes it harder to do one all patches in one "swoop" and have it feel satisfying. It's just a minor thing but it does cause a bit of unnecessary frustration.

- Picking up or putting in multiple items in storage / Perhaps the ability to transfer stacks or choose how many to take, as with shop mechanics. Currently it's just kinda all or nothing, which is still useful, but not when I wanna take 50 rocks out of storage and spend a minute clicking. Maybe this feature exists already, but if so there's no button prompt shown for it.

That's all :3

[Falcon Development]

Jun 7, 2023 1:49:34 GMT -5 Indasa said:

Just gonna jump in here to mention two more quality of life features I'd add to my suggestions:

- Increasing the hitbox for setting fertilizer in the garden / maybe I'm just clumsy but super often I miss the dirt patch by just a few pixels and then have to pick up the item again, select it in inventory, yada yada. Just makes it harder to do one all patches in one "swoop" and have it feel satisfying. It's just a minor thing but it does cause a bit of unnecessary frustration.

- Picking up or putting in multiple items in storage / Perhaps the ability to transfer stacks or choose how many to take, as with shop mechanics. Currently it's just kinda all or nothing, which is still useful, but not when I wanna take 50 rocks out of storage and spend a minute clicking. Maybe this feature exists already, but if so there's no button prompt shown for it.

That's all :3

Thanks for the feedback!
To store/retrieve a stack at a time, hold the sneak button (shift on key, left trigger on gamepad by default)

[Indasa]

Ouhh thanks so much! Finally I can step up my storage-game hehe

[Indasa]

Oop another suggestion I just thought of while renovating my den
While in the layout menu I keep forgetting that the game adds extra walls and I am just drawing out the "actual space". However I don't like the walls to touch sometimes, so I keep going back to rearrange everything. Maybe being able to see an outline of where the walls would be in the layout menu would be helpful.

[Emerald]

Jun 12, 2023 4:14:18 GMT -5 Indasa said:

Oop another suggestion I just thought of while renovating my den
While in the layout menu I keep forgetting that the game adds extra walls and I am just drawing out the "actual space". However I don't like the walls to touch sometimes, so I keep going back to rearrange everything. Maybe being able to see an outline of where the walls would be in the layout menu would be helpful.

A "preview mode" actually does sound good, I have instances where I end up losing mews trying to make the size of my den perfect (I'm a bit of a perfectionist) and so to see what you get before actually building the den would be neat.