Ok. I am hesitant to call these bugs, but these are my observations of the Alpha so far.
- Loads into game from menu pretty much instantly. (Love it!)
-Not sure if this was just my controller, but I feel it’s worth mentioning that when I first entered the game, I found myself trying to walk slowly backwards at all times. (Note: This issue was resolved after unplugging, and re-plugging in my controller.)
-The first thing I did in the menu was switch to full-screen, and max out the settings. I have an EVGA GTX 750ti SC edition, and although I have not viewed my frame rate as of yet, it feels like it’s in the 40’s-50’s. (That’s a good thing.) Also, when spinning around very fast, I did not SEE any rendering. Everything was just there, and not being done in front of my eyes. That really helps add to the immersion.
-I just want to point out that the interface and menus are VERY clean and functional. Great job on that one! Also, the transition from using a controller to a keyboard/mouse is very fluid.
-I LOOOVE the work you’ve put into the environment! Everything simply feels natural/realistic, and nothing feels forced or imposed into it. Really awesome job there as well! (Side comment: I absolutely love the mud textures.) - Upon looking at the sky, I was instantly impressed with the birds of prey that are flying around. But then I noticed how many of them there are. I feel like there are simply just too many of them. (Just my opinion though.)
-I did notice a slight path-finding issue in one of the farms. Unfortunately, I do not have screenshots yet, but basically, two peasants were trying to farm, but were pushing against each other.
-Sprinting. While not the sprint controls I am used to, I feel like they are very intuitive on the controller.
Nighttime:
-Again, I was taken with how natural everything is. All the lighting, shadows, and trees just looked amazing at sundown. I really hope this game gets official Oculus Rift support, though I realize that would be a long way down the road still.
-Love love LOVE the lanterns! They have great lighting effects, and again, just feel very natural.
-Small lighting bug when looking in the windows of houses. (The light would sometimes turn white, and look like light from a black and white TV rather than a log fire.)
-Too many lightning bugs in the forest. (Same as with the eagles, but only in certain areas. I just feel like there are too many of them, or that they should be more spread out.)
-Mute NPC’s? I’m not sure if all NPC’s are supposed to have dialog, but when I tried to talk to two of them, nothing seemed to happen. I should note that these two NPC’s also seemed to be frozen in place on the porch of one of the buildings.
-Moon. The moon is stationary. I feel like it should rise/set like the sun. Also, I noticed visible ripples coming away from the moon, and spreading across the sky.
-Day/night transition. I could definitely tell when the sun was about to rise/set, because the lighting would stutter like it was doing a slide show. So that could use a touch-up at some point.
Overall, this is a VERY smooth and enjoyable experience so far, especially for it still being in Alpha. There aren’t many features implemented yet, but from what I can tell, it seems that everything that IS implemented is for the most part, very bug free. Keep up the great work Warhorse!