Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor News

As we step into the new year, the keen-eyed dwarves among you will have noticed, we are in fact in Q1 of 2024, which can only mean one thing. The Early Access Launch is close!

We know it can be hard to wait, so to stave off your hunger for gold and minerals, we will share some development insight nuggets with you every week until launch. Let’s dive right into the subject of today’s post: Biomes.

[h2]Crystalline Caverns[/h2]
The first biome you will explore is the Crystalline Caverns where we want to introduce you to the mechanics of the game. The lack of hazards lets you explore the concept of mining as a means to influence the level and shape it to your advantage while simultaneously exploiting it for its natural resources. Less complex, but full of destructible crystals, giant gaps in the terrain, and rocks that can be mined to create escape routes or choke points.



With the lack of hazards in this biome, we consider it a stepping stone or a greenbeard tutorial if you will. We might explore adding more features to it as the game evolves.


[h2]Magma Core[/h2]
Keep on drilling and you’ll reach the bubbly and scorching Magma Core biome. Thank god we sent a scout out there first!

Magma Core is a total contrast to Crystalline Caverns, presenting a way more aggressive and hazardous environment. Lava can help you by slowing, damaging, and routing bugs, but it can also burn your toes, so choose your battles and choke points wisely!



Another element we have lifted from DRG is explosive plants. These herbal fireworks will explode when you get too close to them. Avoid them but exploit them(!) to do some serious AoE damage.



[h2]Hollow Bough[/h2]
After all that smoke and heat we can finally get some fresh air in the third and final biome: Hollow Bough.

Our main goal in translating this biome from DRG to DRG:S is to convey the dense and organic feel of the bough with vines sprawling from all sides, resulting in a cramped and tangled mess.

We want the environment to feel restrictive, but to also offer a unique gameplay element by adding destructible vines that grow back shortly after you clear them. This lets you make new and interesting choices in your approach to setting up choke points and eradicating enemies that you don’t get in any other biome.



This wraps up our sneak peek into the biomes that will be available at the Early Access Launch! We plan on releasing more biomes during Early Access and improving the existing ones based on your feedback.

For now, it’s about time to go back to our development mines and dig away at our to-do lists. Stay tuned for the next post where we’ll be sharing some info about the enemies of Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor.

Rock and Stone!
The Funday Dwarves

It’s been a while (🎵) since we last updated you on the development of Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, so we thought we’d let you know what we’ve been up to the last couple of months.

[h2]Driller[/h2]
Coming out of the demo where only the Scout was playable, we were super excited to get started on the remaining classes. One of the first we wanted to tackle was the Driller.

The main challenge in creating this class was ensuring his core capability of fast drilling felt good and not just like an upgraded Scout. The Scout perfected the art of kiting the enemies while dealing damage from afar, but we wanted the Driller to get a bit more up close and personal. He has several shorter range weapons that focus on slow cooking hordes of aliens with fire and acid damage.

We also had to change the visuals of plowing through rock to look more like it’s being crunched up rather than just mined with a pickaxe, and of course we had to create the animations to support his signature titanium power drills.

[h2]Magma Core[/h2]
During the playtests and the Steam Next Fest, you’ve been able to mine in the Crystalline Caverns, now prepare yourselves cause we are turning up the heat!
You guessed it! We’re going to the core, the Magma Core, so get ready to tap dance on hot rock and dodge explosive plants like your life depends on it, literally.



[h2]Supply Pod[/h2]
Going through all your great feedback from the Steam Next Fest we noticed that interacting with the supply pod could be improved. We twisted some knobs here and there and turned that interaction into a clear-the-zone mini objective.

You now have to clear the drop pod landing zone from rocks and minerals, then defend the zone for a short bit before the supply pod will drop and you’ll be able to loot your company sponsored goodie bag.



[h2]Up Next[/h2]
Our next Steam post will cover the third and final biome that will be included in the Early Access launch. We'll also be sharing some information about the process of getting the biomes in DRG: Survivor while still staying true to the original gameplay. We plan on adding more maps throughout the Early Access development of course.

Besides this we are working on adding a lot more depth to the guns, overclocks, new voice lines, class mods and much much more that we can’t wait to share with you.

Make sure you follow us on X (Twitter) and join our Discord if you want to stay up to date with all the latest dev updates.

As always, thank you for all the amazing support and feedback you are sharing with us through the development. You are true ROCKstars!

Rock and Stone!

[h2]Hello Miners,[/h2]

Demo season’s been a treat! We’ve been smiling a lot at your enthusiastic response to Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor. In fact, we’re smiling so big that we’re discovering new teeth we never knew we had. This is your fault! Thanks a lot.

Here are a few things that made us especially happy:

• DRG: Survivor made it into the top 3 most-wishlisted among all Next Fest demos
  
• We were the most-wishlisted game in our home country of Denmark
  
• We reached a peak of over 2,800 concurrent players, which is like if every single person in Middlefield, Ohio all played the demo at once
  

Despite all this, we’re going to have to end the demo soon, because the pygmy goat that runs on the treadmill powering our servers is getting tired.

The demo closes on Monday, October 30th – so enjoy it as much as you can before then!

After we wrap it up, we’ll spend a few months tweaking and tinkering, taking in all the feedback we’ve gathered from you brave miners, to make sure the game’s in tip-top form for launch day. Speaking of launch day, we’re aiming for somewhere in Q1 in 2024. We’ll keep you posted on that.

That’s it for now! Rock and Stone to all you beautiful dwarves.

xoxo,
-Funday Games

[h2]Hello Survivors,
[/h2]

What a Next Fest we are having! We’ve been blown away by how many darling dwarves have been playing the demo for DRG: Survivor. We can hardly keep up with all the comments and Rock & Stone’s from all of you. We’re hard at work getting the game ready for Early Access launch in Q1 2024 (actual release date to follow), and it’s been extremely motivating to see the reactions so far.

Anders (Funday Founder & Game Director) and Rasmus (Lead Game Designer) sat down to play through the demo as well! Come watch the stream and hear all their cool design thoughts that go into making the game.

FYI, we couldn’t get Anders and Rasmus to stream live (they were busy making the game) so we had to pre-record it. So, we will not react to comments, but we do read all of them. And, come join our Discord if you have any comments, praise, critiques, thoughts, etc. We are building this game together with the awesome community that’s taking shape around DRG: Survivor.

See you at the stream, Survivors!

Rock and Stone

-Funday Games

[h2]Hello Survivors,
[/h2]

What a Next Fest we are having! We’ve been blown away by how many darling dwarves have been playing the demo for DRG: Survivor. We can hardly keep up with all the comments and Rock & Stone’s from all of you. We’re hard at work getting the game ready for Early Access launch in Q1 2024 (actual release date to follow), and it’s been extremely motivating to see the reactions so far.

Anders (Funday Founder & Game Director) and Rasmus (Lead Game Designer) sat down to play through the demo as well! Come watch the stream and hear all their cool design thoughts that go into making the game.

FYI, we couldn’t get Anders and Rasmus to stream live (they were busy making the game) so we had to pre-record it. So, we will not react to comments, but we do read all of them. And, come join our Discord if you have any comments, praise, critiques, thoughts, etc. We are building this game together with the awesome community that’s taking shape around DRG: Survivor.

See you at the stream, Survivors!

Rock and Stone

-Funday Games