Sound

I haven't messed with armor stands. I'll have to check that out. But I found another clunky issue. I was holding an axe in one hand and my shield in the other (with a full inventory as usual) and I went to equip my bow. NO CAN DO. I can't equip the bow because it requires two hands and there's not enough space to put away my axe and my shield. This is silliness. ALSO really a pain is how, after an item has been upgraded, it's no longer the same item. The hotbar link has to be reassigned. Such a pain. But a little more about the above.... It would save so much headache if we could act on items from the same screen that we transfer items between backpack and storage. For instance, I just want to eat some food from a chest. Well, first I have to open the chest and transfer the item, then close the chest. Then open my backpack and select the item and use it. Wow. How about I just open the chest and eat it? Another example.... I go to put something away (weapon/tool/armor) and I notice it needs repair. Well then, I have to close the chest, open the inventory, select the item, repair it, close the inventory, open the chest, select the item, transfer it to the chest. WHY??? Oh, I know. Because in one context the 'R' key does the transfer and in the other, the 'R' key does the repair. Again I say, why? Fiddling with the inventory is not what makes the game fun.

The beacon system is great; it just needs one small improvement: The ability to label beacons like chests. The icons are just not enough sometimes! Where is the compass? It's a real pain to have to open my map interface just to see which way I'm facing. Please just put a compass on the main screen! Why does my super awesome wristwatch not have a CLOCK on it??? Again, I have to open the map/inventory just to check if I have enough time for one more run before nightfall. The map is severely lacking in geographical features. It has 'biome' boundaries, I guess, but those are of almost no use to the player; they really only matter from a game designer's perspective , and are currently more confusing than helpful. What is really missing is things like rock walls (on the right side near the hedge; I know the ones on the left are shown), the wood log wall and (especially!) gorges! These canyons are one of the most difficult and dangerous elements in the game to navigate (I'm constantly falling into them in the dark) and are not noted at all! What gives? I know that you may want for the player to have to discover some things, and that's fine; do 'fog of war' until these areas are explored. But once I've been to an area, I should have a notation of where the pits of death are located. Landmark discovery is super random. I have been inside some field stations and other features several times, and then one time I approach it from a different angle and I suddenly get the notification that I've 'discovered' it. Oh, really? Amazing. And the red anthill; no matter how many times I've been inside it, it still doesn't appear on the map as a landmark. Also, when doing a resource scan from a field station, scrolling the resource list also scrolls the map. Goofy. Feature request: Please add ziplines to the map when they're created. Not just the endpoints, but draw the line. It would be super helpful. Even better would be a directional arrow. But everything above is more important. On a related note, it sure would be nice to get the WHOLE rope back when I try a location and it doesn't work, instead of just getting back HALF the rope, like when other buildings are recycled. Thanks. P.S. I'm playing the beta release, "The Bugs Strike Back" on PC.

The building designs in Grounded are fun and look great (except, why does it take a bazillion science points to figure out how to make a curved wall or a stem floor?) but that's not my point here. The big problem I see here is that every aerial construction project is tied back to one block... and aerial is the best place to get away from bugs! I build a ramp up into a tree, then build out a platform, then put all my stuff on top of it, but no matter how many supports I build down from that platform later on, they are all only for show. If I destroy that one first piece of ramp I built, then every other piece I snapped to that grid will be destroyed. The solution is simple enough. If I place a piece against a tree or other object and it intersects with the geometry of that object, you have to consider it as anchored to that object. You are already doing this with objects on the ground, at least with foundations. If I build out a row of foundations on the ground and then recycle the first one, the others will usually stay. But if I build a platform in the air and then add supports underneath later, they do nothing. After a huge base is in place and looking as though it's anchored in multiple places, it's ridiculous for it to all come falling down because I decided to upgrade one clover ramp. So in addition to anchoring construction that intersects with the world, we also need to anchor construction that intersects with other construction, EVEN IF IT WASN'T SNAPPED TO THE SAME GRID WHEN IT WAS BUILT! Thank you.

I know there are already a lot of posts about hotbar and inventory problems. Developers, I hope you're getting the message. It's BAD! I have been playing the release version "The Bugs Strike Back", relase 0.13.4 etc. on PC. Grounded is a great game. I love the concept and the story and the world design and the tech tree and the different behaviors of each bug. It's just awesome! BUT... the inventory / hotbar / equipping system is just clunky and dysfunctional. FOR EXAMPLE... - My piece of ladybug armor, which has been upgraded to the max (cost: hours of gameplay) breaks during combat. So sorry, your inventory was full so we just threw it on the ground. No map marker or anything. What, you didn't notice the tiny text message about that, or the little sound we played, in the midst of A BATTLE AGAINST A HORDE OF SPIDERS? This is a SERIOUS PROBLEM as it wastes hours of the player's time. It doesn't make the game more fun or challenging; it's just freaking irritating. - Torches are a pain to carry because they take up an inventory slot, and they don't last very long. So, I want to conserve torches as much as possible. Well, day breaks or I exit a tunnel and I go to unequip a torch, BUT NO! 'There is not enough inventory space to unequip this item.' So I can't put my torch out (unless I find a deep enough puddle to jump in) and I just have to let it burn all day until I get back to base. Well that's just stupid. - My inventory items are constantly being jumbled around as items are moved in and out by equipping and other operations. This is a pain because NOTHING IS EVER WHERE I PUT IT! This just slows everything down, and for no good reason. For instance, I may have several chunks of food in various states of decay. I'd like to keep them in order so I can use the most decayed one first, but no! Every time I open the inventory I have to hunt around for them all, and guess what? This is usually in the heat of battle when I need a quick health boost. - I go back to base and I want to change out my armor and weapons because I'm going to do some diving. So I open the chest where I keep that stuff... BUT I CAN'T PUT MY OLD ARMOR AND WEAPONS AWAY BECAUSE I HAVEN'T UNEQUIPPED THEM! So I have to close the chest, open my inventory, take off all my armor and unequip the weapons, then open the chest and swap contents, then close the chest, then open my inventory, then equip all the items. It's a ludicrous number of extra steps to do something so simple, and it does nothing to make the game better. So, the first thing to do, as other players have suggested, is to make your hotbar at least as functional as the one in Minecraft. That's a starting point. It's already been done and there's no need to reinvent the wheel. Which is to say... the hotbar needs to be actual inventory slots, and not just links to items. And then make it so that when you select a weapon or tool it gets equipped, and if you select a secondary item such as a torch or shield, it gets equipped to the secondary slot, and if you select a consumable, you have to hit the 'use' key. THEN, after you make that simple change, fix it so that equipped items show up on the inventory when transferring contents to or from storage. You already have this layout on the smithing station, where equipped items are shown across the bottom. Just be consistent with that. In fact, can you please be consistent with all interfaces? NOW, when equipment wears out and can no longer be used, DON'T THROW IT ON THE GROUND. Just keep it in it's equipped slot, but put a big flashing X over it so players see that it's not functional. (Including an X on the 'status' area of the Sca.B that shows armor durability) FINAL ITEM: I really do NOT LIKE that bugs with virus can knock weapons out of your hand. THIS IS NOT COOL. It doesn't make the game more fun or challenging; it's just super irritating! Same as with above, this could be a tool that you've invested hours of playtime in obtaining and upgrading, and in the heat of battle you may not know where or when you dropped it! Good luck finding it now, with no ping on the map or anything. AND A COUPLE OF MINOR RELATED GLITCHES TO REPORT.... Try holding two canteens. Go ahead... try it. The system will report that they both have the same level of water. Now try holding two shovels, one brand new and one almost used up. Try to equip the one that is almost used up. Go ahead... try it. Because obviously a person would like to use up one shovel before starting to use the next one. But they can't.