Rinklestein

Most people in the topic think it could use some improvements is all I'm going to say. It's not a game breaking issue, but seeing where a game performs at it's weakest and criticizing it in good faith isn't something that should be disregarded. I want to see this game become better, and reach more players. It's an early access and feedback is especially valuable during this time. And yeah most of the improvements I talk about would be lovely as optional. Having options to categorize them into their block types, functions, and tech level would be greatly helpful by itself. I'd compare the blocks and items tab to the Rimworld menus, where it divides everything you can build into tabs like structures, furniture, production, temperature, power, security and more. By allowing that option you could already cut out half of the bloat there of structural and decorative blocks, and see the immediate tools you can make for the players who just want to learn by playing. And yes the guide is a great alternative to the wiki, I appreciate more information than no information in game. Oh and here's a quick reference / mockup for what it looks like in Rimworld, it's narrow enough to fit in the section, can act as either a drop down menu or link to a page with said item types. It would be easy to optionally disable tabs so they return to being the normal uncategorized layout. This would allow for browsing in the case for when the player doesn't know exactly what they're looking for, like torches in my case.

It's an issue of readability and sheer overwhelming amounts of information, I'm usually someone who can absorb this kind of stuff so it's not as terrible for me, but if I were to recommend this game to a friend I would see them becoming frustrated very quickly with having to read a dictionary. You can have loads of information available in a game, but it needs to be delivered in a nuanced and user friendly way. It's like reading a manual currently and very few people that I know want to read a manual when playing a game. And yeah divvying up the guide book into stages of development even would be great. If you opened it up and immediately saw pottery age tech that would be good enough. And if it could merge things that clutter up the guidebook like the 6 variations of each block type into a single readable entry page (like thatch blocks and roofs together) and reference that would be a great improvement. Clicking on straw grass shows absolutely everything that can be made with the item and not all of it is relevant especially with the majority being these decorative blocks that serve the same purpose with minor aesthetic and shapely differences, nevermind that each sprite for the block from the guidebook isn't immediately recognizable to a new player, and they would have to click each individual entry to get an idea of what everything even is or what is being offered.

Just gotta say I just found out I could make torches and I'm 9 hours in, I have been using oil lamps instead and have functionally skipped them because I did not know to search for them in the handbook. There are probably loads more things like that still waiting for me to discover.

Just started the game and loving it, there's just something I feel that would make it so much better for a new player aiming to go in blind without having to resort to wiki use or read walls of text in the written survival guide If the survival handbook was divided up to show only the recipes that were immediately available I would feel better about it, as I've been 9 hours in and I didn't even know I could pan for minerals, or even make a rough door in the first few hours. When trying to search for items you're just overwhelmed with information with absolutely every block (and some spoilers regarding materials and armor types you won't be seeing for a long time), and sometimes can't even search for them because you don't know TO search for them like the pan in my case. This would of course be an option, but I feel like it would be better as the default state for new players. There are things I still probably don't know because trying to find new things I'm not aware of isn't feasible without gorging on meta knowledge or reading extensive tutorials.