IMPACT

First: I like the vision. A game encouraging and incentivising players to assist research is a fantastic idea, especially since satellites can pump out images faster than any small group of humans can analyze them. I will later discuss how poorly this is done. Binding this with a game to make it more fun seems like it should be a winning combination, but this is poorly accomplished. The game irritates carpal tunnel syndrome, provides no quality time better than burnout, and feels like a day job. It is not fun. The game is an idler of the Clash of Clans style (build generators, let them generate, then collect before they fill up). It has an inventory similar to Farmville esque games. Overall, conceptually, it is not too complicated, nor too simple. It is built on a formula that has been successful before, but misses key elements that allowed those formulae to work. The majority of the game is labelling craters. I classify this two ways. The first cases are where some scientists back in yee olden days identified craters they thought they had found, then added them to a database that this program likely pulls from, or something like that. The second class have no previous analysis. I will get back to these as well. The first class is used in game to train and learn the techniques. In this scenario, you are expected to recreate the work of previous scientists. There is no room for disagreements, nor is there room for finding new craters in already tried areas. This is odd, as there are obvious craters that are clearly missed. I suspect the scientists were dealing with lower definition images when they identified them. Learning from these (your own, clearly) missteps, one might avoid identifying craters that meet similar criteria, but the next analysis was done at equivalent image quality to what you are dealing with so all minutiae must be identified. This creates a paradox. There should be a button to request review. This does not exist, of course. The second case is for a piece of real estate where no analysis has been done. This can be as easy as the other simulation, or as hard as looking at an entirely grey square and hoping nobody cares about data quality. If they are training an AI off of this, good luck to it. I understand not all satellite photos are of equal definition, but there should be a way to indicate this photo is impossible and any data generated here is meaningless. That button does not exist. Thus, the only finished part is the game that ties it all together, right? I wish it was. See, the clash system of avoiding maxing out your drill stockpiles incentivises a player to return often, even just for a moment. If the game also incentivises players to stay a longer time, it is a recipe for burnout. Video games should not incentivise players to invest more time in a day than they spend at their job. Most things can be finished within 15 minutes. This is a good incentive to either boost the dickens out of it, or to wait 15 minutes while identifying craters. This is well done, if there are built in stopping points (see Candy Crush for one way to implement those, may their candy go as stale as the game itself). Eventually, I just kind of went "I need to leave." This isn't necessarily a bad thing; FactoryCapi makes do with long playtimes per session with 15 minute waits for many things (chiefly loading late game regions), and it is fine. This is because the game is windowed. As someone with a life outside the game, I can easily switch tabs. However, this game is full screen all the time. Again, this is likely a creative decision to keep me in the game for longer, but it is a recipe for burnout. So, let's talk about boosts. Any good idle game thrives in its ability to be played even while you are not there. This is not a selling feature; this is a staple of the genre. This game plays while you are not online. The boosts only interact with the game when you are right there holding down the button. This means I cannot boost while AFK, which in my mind defeats the point of having boosts in the first place. The Clash system of mining drills maxing out makes this irrelevant, the end result of which is it effectively doesn't play when you are offline. Still sounds like Clash there, thus why nobody farms in that game. This game is not great for carpal tunnel syndrome. This game is mouse only, requires holding down buttons, and has no natural short term carpal tunnel breaks. FPSs have their between matches. RPGs have their doors or world maps. Some games have loading screens. These may feel annoying, but they make the experience better by giving time to fill water bottles, eat meals, etc. So let's come back to the difference between a job and a game. At work, I need to focus for hours at a time, usually on things that matter a lot. Video games are a way to relax between or after tasks. They are not made to eat up productive hours. They are meant to be fun, enjoyable, and most of all short term. This game feels like my day job, with a sprinkling of gaminess in there to fill lost gaps. It isn't fun nor addicting, but never ends. Just like work! Most of these things could be changed without too much effort, but I cannot recommend this game in this state. It needs a lot more work. It is the worst of idle mechanics barring pay to win and gambling, and lacks the fun mechanics that tie it together.