Surfpunk News

[p]Hey everyone,

🎬Here's a quick update on our production: [/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

• [p]This last month, we've had to spend some time refactoring, meaning tweaking the code to allow the game to run better and with less errors. This will pave the wave for us to build content and features more easily going forward.[/p]
• [p]Our main focus at the moment is overhauling the metagame to allow clearer progression systems, more 'goals' to strive for, and generally clearer UI.[/p]
• [p]We've also tweaked our Raider models and added a few swimsuit options. It comes with the expectations of a beach-themed game!  After all this, we'll be back on new mission features and content.[/p]
• [p]We've also got our full art team back onboard, so expect a lot of visual improvements in the coming months![/p]

[p]Summer time means vacation time, so our regular schedule for updates and playtests may get a little shaken, but we'll do our best to keep you informed! Thank you for your continued support.

CRUSH 'N RUSH! 🤙
- Eric [/p]

Hey everyone,

What have we been working on?

This last sprint we built the first version of our tutorial quest. After April's playtest, we realized it was getting really important to properly onboard players, as many playtesters were getting frustrated due to not quite understanding the loop. It's really important for me that the tutorial NOT be a slog, but it's actually quite complex to balance this with proper teaching. Unfortunately for us, Surfpunk's loop and many of its mechanics are a bit unusual for the genre, so we need to fight expectations. Notably, the game is NOT a Roguelike, and it's a challenge to message that when so many indie top-down games are. Especially since I think Surfpunk still appeals to Roguelike players and that's totally ok!

I'm hoping that for most players, they'll just get onboarded by their friends, but we want to support folks who want to pick up the basics at their own pace. Most likely, we will allow the tutorial to be skippable if you just want to jump into an online game with friends. We all know that feeling of wanting to try a new game with your buddies, but then being forced to play through an extended intro. So, yeah, Surfpunk WON'T do that.

🎬 Here's a video presentation on the new tutorial:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Other than onboarding, we've been doing the usual bug fixes, balancing and general refinements, etc.

We also completely overhauled the results screen to be much clearer and juicier. It even gives you a letter grade so you know how well you did! Although it's not fully functional yet, we're also planning to have "reward badges" so you can boast with your friends about who did best (currently, everyone gets "Ultimate Warrior")!

We're now focusing our attention now on improving performance and adding more things to do in the metagame, notably side-quests you can pick up from NPC's. More on this soon...!

CRUSH 'N RUSH! 🤙
- Eric

🏄🧀

Hey everyone,

Our latest devlog just dropped.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

This one’s a deep dive into the inspirations behind Surfpunk.
We've gotten compared a lot to Deep Rock Galactic and Hades, but did you know the heart of the game was inspired by early 2000s era games?

If you'd like to see what inspired Surfpunk's theme, or just dig that early 2000s vibe—you’ll want to watch this.

If you have a second to drop a like or comment, it seriously helps us with the YouTube algorithm. Social media is driving nearly all our wishlists right now, so anything that helps visibility makes a big difference in supporting the game's development. 💛

I will have another update soon that focuses more on our new features, so stay tuned...!

Thank you so much!🤙

- Eric

🏄🧀

Hey everyone,

These last few weeks we've been focused a lot on improving and differentiating weapon classes. It's really important that we deliver a game where each class feels distinctive and has a special role to play on the team. We're also actively adding features that reinforce co-op play, such as the ability to boost fellow players up a cliff.

Beyond that, we've been working on the map and general flow of Quests to ensure you can make more informed choices on where you're going instead of just randomly exploring.

You can take a look at what's new by watching the latest Dev Update:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

April Dev Update
https://youtu.be/OyzBqgG1Nxw

Many folks have asked if we have a demo or when we'll have a demo: We're working on having one ready by the end of this year, but again, we don't want to put it out until we feel it perfectly encapsulates the fantasy and vision of the game.

Currently, our art team has been busy on another project so we haven't moved much on the visuals lately, but the artists will be back as early as next month to help us really get things looking wicked cool. I hope to share some fresh concept art with you soon.

I hope you'll look forward to it.

CRUSH 'N RUSH! 🤙

- Eric

🏄🧀

Hey everyone,

We've decided to change the way we do video updates. Going forward there will be:

🔹 Devlogs where I talk about various higher-level subjects surrounding Surfpunk's development. Our vision, design philosophy, art deep dives, etc. These will be geared to a broader audience with the goal hopefully bringing in new players to discover and Wishlist the game. I will do my best to have one out every month, but they may follow a less structured schedule going forward.

🔹 Dev Updates where I will talk over fresh gameplay footage and discuss the major features we've focused on in the last month or so. The idea being that these are mainly for the community that is already following Surfpunk's development. I will maintain these once a month.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Previously, I was sort of doing both together with the old Devlogs and thinking of them mainly for the folks in the community. But I'm realizing that the Devlogs have a lot of potential to reach more people who have yet to discover the game. People who stumble on the Devlogs however are likely to have less context to understand specific build updates, so I'm spinning those off into the Dev Update videos.

---

A note on playtests; we've been conducting smaller-scale playtests with hand-picked groups of volunteers. Why the change? Simply put; we needed to go deeper. Large-scale playtests generate a ton of valuable feedback, but with so many players, it’s challenging to fully analyze everything. By working with smaller, tight-knit groups, we can better understand how friends play, communicate, and experience the game together. That said, larger playtests will return! But from time to time, we may run more selective sessions to help refine key aspects of the game.

If you haven’t played in a while, don’t worry, you’ll have even more to look forward to when you jump back in!

Thank you, once again for your continued support...!

CRUSH 'N RUSH! 🤙

- Eric