SUMMERHOUSE

A cheap, cheerful, toy to while away an hour or so.

This is my 28th review on Steam ...and my first negative review. I would like the UI of this game to be improved. I will edit my review if this happens. [h1]1-Controls[/h1] I used a controller and spent around 2 hours trying different settings to see if I can get rid of the frustrating "behaviors". Mainly it started with joystick not having a dead-zone. As a result the camera and the blocks keep "drifting" around endlessly. Or the selected block in the menu keeps changing "by itself" without me touching the joystick. I managed to fix this by enabling Steam Input (I shared my controller layout in case someone else has this issue). Then there are weird bugs for example if you press N or M (zoom) while using the controller, you lose the ability to place new blocks (game restart needed). I read in someone's review they had control issues using keyboard and mouse. So this is also bad over there. The game does not display a full list of controls/bindings, this in itself is not a crime, but it shows the lack of care about this important part of a game. [h1]2-Limits[/h1] - You cannot rotate a block. Only horizontal flip is allowed (F key). I needed horizontal 90 degrees rotation at least, for example to have stairs going from left to right, or windows opening on the side of a building. - You cannot choose the colors of a block. For example it could let me pick 2 or 3 main colors to replace the basic "palette" of an element. - Depending on the type of block, the game decides the possible range on the Z axis (closer or farther away from the camera). It is maybe in relation with the background, not sure, but I don't see why this limit exists, and in some case it just made it impossible to place my blocks as far or as close as I needed them. Why??? I feel bad complaining about this. But in the current state, this is spoiling a great idea. You can see how great it looks. You can imagine building pretty things. And then the software issues transform this into frustration. I hope the dev can find the time/energy/money to get back to it and polish what should be a diamond. Or I hope someone else makes another game that just improves on this one. Do you remember how magic it was to assemble Lego blocks back in the days? How easy and fast it was to make great constructions that looked awesome? Now imagine that the blocks did not always "click" well together, that some color was always missing, that some blocks refused to be assembled at 90 degrees, and that you could not make a house deeper than 10 bricks. But even in the current state, if you like what you see and you know that the issues I mentioned will not bother you too much, do buy the game! I complained so much because I really would like it improved, but I will probably go on playing anyway!