Surfpunk News

[p]Hey everyone,

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

• [p]We're back in the swing of things and ready to ramp up playtests this fall. If you haven't already, please tell all your friends, we want to get lots of people playing so we can get loads of feedback to improve the game! Sign up at surfpunkgame.com.[/p]
• [p]We're planning several weather mutators, but the first is thunder storms. When storms rise, the sea gets wavy, wind blows and lightning strikes![/p]
• [p]In addition to standard mission objectives (EG; Evress), we're working on NPC quests that advance narrative and give additional goodies when completed.[/p]
• [p]We've also got some shiny art improvements, new enemy characters models, environment art and more!
  [/p]

[p][/p][p]Next playtest is Friday September 5th, don't miss it!

CRUSH 'N RUSH! 🤙 [/p][p] - Eric [/p]

[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

🏄🧀