Dark Deity 2 News

**This blog was posted several months ago, and we will be posting the other months soon to catch up on the Steam news tab. If you want to see all of the blogs now, visit our website**

2024 Developer Blog: January



Hey there! It's been a while since we stuck to a true update schedule as we've been hard at work on Dark Deity 2 and keeping our heads down for the most part. I'm thinking it's time to really get down to it and let y'all know what we're up to throughout 2024! We're planning to bring you a developer blog at some point during each month this year, letting you know what we've been working on and where progress is sitting at with the game. That all being said, let's dive right into it, shall we?


Staying Flexible

In late 2023, we had our first significant batch of gameplay testing and looks at what a full playthrough of DD2 might look through. We'd reached the point where most systems in the game were playable - and even had nearly the full game's worth of levels and story to wade through (albeit in early stages of quality).

What we found was that we had some more conflict between systems than we had realized, and though we were happy with many of our gameplay systems individually, that didn't necessarily mean they were working in unison to be greater than the sum of their parts - something we hadn't quite achieved yet. In a somewhat funny twist, DD2 felt a LOT like DD1 at the time - lots of fun to be had engaging with the systems, but it felt like there were a ton of obvious ways in which it could be better - obviously not at all what we want out of a sequel.

This led us to commit to a full redesign on some of the most significant progression systems in the game and really go back to the drawing board to make sure everything we put in the game truly advances our goals and leads to tight design. Now having some true testing under our belt and enough content in the game to keep feeling things out as we go, we feel really good about where the game is headed.

With the rush around DD1 being my first game (and really my first real *career* job after graduating college mid-development and mid-covid), I just didn't really have the time, expertise, or ability to take these kinds of looks at the game, and it feels amazing to look at systems that feel good-not-great and say "I want this to be GREAT, let's go back to the drawing board."

Storytelling Focus

Around the same time in the final days of 2023, we finished the full first draft of DD2's story. Where the gameplay section of this blog is a big fat "we're still working things out", the story section is a resounding success. We feel really strongly that we've created a more grounded narrative that values character development above all else. The story is a big epic fantasy adventure, sure, but the focus is deeply rooted with the Sildairan family (pictured above) and their struggles, development, and bonds.

We'll likely have a blog post at some point in the year that focuses in on the difficult and fun parts of crafting a sequel to a story as flawed as DD1's was (my bad), written by the person actually doing all the writing.

Where We Are Now

The team is firing on all cylinders as we move into the new year, with (in theory) all of our roles filled outside of voice acting - which is of course one of our focuses for the coming months. We're ramping up our internal casting discussions as we get closer to finalizing scripts and knowing exactly what we need from different roles. We'll have some exciting news in that area soon.

I'll be finishing up the system redesigns in the coming weeks, as well as finishing up the level implementation for the final few chapters - meaning we'll be back to internally testing all 30 chapters of gameplay and progression some time in February. There is still a mountain of work to be done regarding side quests and training levels, so don't take that to mean the game is all that close to finished - but we have a really solid foundation to be making sure the game plays and feels amazing.

Twisted Destiny

Something that might be a bit of a downer is that we're in somewhat of a flux point with Twisted Destiny. The further we get into development, the more we've realized that we probably can't do a true roguelite mode the justice it deserves within the systems we have without an absolutely massive additional workload. A lesson we really wanted to learn from Dark Deity 1 was that we'd rather make a really good game that is less ambitious than one that tries to do a ton but gets stretched too thin. Twisted Destiny as we have discussed it looks more and more every day like it falls in the latter camp, and I won't compromise the quality of the game itself for a side mode (regardless of how badly I want to make it).

I want to apologize to those who were really excited for a true roguelite DD, it was a personal failing of mine letting scope creep get to me and talking about it publicly before it was far enough along to know we could really get it done. It's definitely a hard part of my journey as a developer accepting my own limitations and not trying to do too much, but I think it might just be the most important one. As a solo programmer and the only team member that works in engine, but also one of the 'idea guys', sometimes the "holy shit this idea is so cool" in me gets ahead of the "be serious we aren't there yet".

That being said, we are planning at the moment to take the grounding principles of Twisted Destiny and apply them to a different side mode that is a little less ambitious. Something people were really excited about back during the Kickstarter ideation process for DD1 was a possible endgame dungeon mode, and that's where we are leaning at the moment - though all of this is flexible at the moment. I will keep you posted throughout the year as Twisted Destiny twists and evolves along with the rest of the project.

TLDR

-We have been testing a ton and reworking progression systems.

-All 30 chapters of story and their accompanying gameplay are playable.

-We are super happy with the story and moving into the editing process.

-Twisted Destiny is being redesigned, stay posted for updates there.

-More dev blogs to come in future months this year.

-We're aiming for a more transparent 2024 and to let you all in on the processes of developing this sequel

**Once again, this developer blog was months ago, so have moved forward quite a bit since then. We will be posting the other developer blogs soon so we can get the Steam audience caught up!**

Hey folks!

We’re super excited to announce we’re continuing our partnership with Freedom Games for Dark Deity 2!

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Working with them for Dark Deity, Freedom really impressed us with their dedication to our vision. With them taking care of the business-side, this takes an immense amount of pressure off our backs so we can focus on doing what we do best - working on Dark Deity 2 and making it the best game possible.

Freedom will continue helping us with a slew of important things, like managing our store pages and any console release process, as well as marketing, PR, and advertising the game, just like they did for Dark Deity, so we feel confident in moving forward with our partnership.

I want to assure you that we were extremely careful when considering publishing partners, and part of what makes Freedom such a good fit is that they aren’t looking to change our vision at all. We retain full creative control, which is obviously a big part of their identity as a publisher. They’ve already been incredibly helpful, and they’re dedicated to helping us bring Dark Deity 2 to its full potential, which I think is something we can all get excited about. We want to keep making games for a long time, and this is a huge step towards realizing that future.

As for our plans for Dark Deity 2, we’d like to talk about some different mechanics and improvements we’d love to make.

Terrain and Level Design
This is, in my eyes, probably the most important change from DD1 to DD2. It’s well established that level designs could have been better in DD1, and the lack of a terrain mechanic really pushed the issue further. In Dark Deity 2, we’re taking many steps to make sure the gameplay is superb. To start, Terrain is in, with a solid but not overwhelming variety of types and effects. Additionally, deploy count and enemy count are both down across the board - we’re aiming for shorter, tightly designed levels with more tailored difficulty and gameplay.

Performance and Bugs
Dark Deity 2 is completely rebuilt from the ground up, with none of the DD1 codebase returning. Making this decision added more than a year to our timeline, but I strongly feel it was the right move. Most people don’t know this, but Dark Deity was the first thing I ever coded, and thus patching and fixing it over time has become extremely difficult. Of the many lessons we’ve taken from DD1’s release, the importance of constant testing through the entire development process is near the top. It’s not going to be perfect - no game ever is, but we are working extremely hard to make sure it is as good as it can be.

Strategy and Readability
Trying to figure out ahead of time what will happen in combat in DD1 can be a nightmare, most prominently due to dozens of percentage-based effects and the advantage system - both of which will not be returning to DD2. All skills and abilities that scale off of percentage will tell you the flat value in menuing, and the advantage system has been reworked into an archetype system that has very clear delineated bonuses. The systems, by virtue of being much clearer, give you a lot more agency in your strategic choices.

Gameplay Balance
DD1 has a variety of balance issues, from the ease of low-manning or soloing to a huge gap in capability between characters and classes. With smaller levels, more potent enemies, and significantly lower stat aptitudes across the board, this is an area that we feel very strongly we’ve improved upon in DD2. The gameplay systems all lead to a more cohesive vision that allows us better control over pretty much every aspect of balance. We’re keeping a close eye on it, and have been testing all the player classes and characters from early on in development to make sure the balance feels great.

Story and Characters
Early on in DD1’s development, we committed to the idea of 30 characters and 400+ bond conversations, something that bogged down our writing process extensively. We’re a really small team, and the sheer volume ended up allowing less focus for key moments in favor of getting it all done. We’re reigning back a lot of the quantity in favor of quality this go around, looking to deliver a more engaging story with a smaller cast.

Thank you
Finally, there’s no other way to end this statement than with a huge thank you to everyone who helped make Dark Deity 2 possible. Thank you for all the feedback, all the support, and for putting us in a position to make a better game 2. We’re proud of the work we did with Dark Deity as our very first title, but we know just how much better we can do.

As always, thank you all for supporting us. You make every hour we spend developing this game immeasurably better. We really do appreciate having you stand with us on this journey!

If you loved Dark Deity and are excited for a Dark Deity 2, make sure to check us out and wishlist us! If you want to be kept up to date with progress on the game's development and connect with our community, you can check out our Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, or Discord!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2446600/Dark_Deity_2/