[h5]Hello Runners, it’s time for another Development Update!
In this edition, we are covering our findings from the last Playtest Round and the decisions we make for the upcoming Demo.
Let’s jump into it, shall we?[/h5]
[h5]First of all, we want to thank everyone who participated in this test round; from the bottom of our hearts, THANKS! 🙏
The feedback you provided was paramount to guide our next efforts and prioritize what’s best for the game and its upcoming Demo.
Here are some stats
- 1,000+ players in 1 week.
- Almost 200 daily active players avg.
- 80+ Feedback Surveys submitted in 2 days.
- 5 live moderated sessions in 3 days.
- 500+ new Wishlists.
And some of the survey results
- Overall experience rating: above 4 stars (out of 5). ★★★★✩
- 93% of the respondents have played a Roguelike Deckbuilder before. 🃏
- 58% said they did it “a lot”. 🎖️
- 88% of the respondents agreed that the current state of the game makes them excited about what’s to come, and they should! 🦾
[/h5]
[h5]A lot of things! We analyzed the feedback from all sources (interviews, surveys, Steam forums, and Discord) and ordered them by how often they were mentioned and the impact they have on gameplay.
We mainly noticed that the improvement opportunities are located in three places: The Trace system, the tutorial, and the game balance. All these are intertwined, as the game is both difficult and complex but also was unbalanced and incorrectly explained.
On a brighter note, we learned that the new mechanics we are introducing (the VIM/Commands System, the Node Map, the Trace system, and the complex enemies with varied effects) are appealing and engaging, and people enjoyed them a lot!
So, with all that in mind, we started to work on the changes for the upcoming demo.[/h5]
[h5]We went back to the drawing board, made some decisions, and started executing them. At this point, we can share the following information:
- The Demo release date has been moved one week to November 11.
- The Demo will include a brand new Tutorial, separated from the storyline.
- The Demo will include a Storyline with an intro before jumping Into The Grid (see what I did there?).
- Most cards will be rebalanced to make a more clear differentiation between the initial cards (which are supposed to be kinda weak) and the reward cards you obtain during the run.
- Card drop rates will be adjusted to showcase more card variety (we have over 80 cards!)
- New Node types will be introduced, including one that allows removing cards from the deck!
- The Trace System will be adjusted, as well as how some of the Watcher ICE works.
- Visual/Animation improvements will be added to the Node Map to make more clear where Clusters begin and end and what things are affecting them.
These are just adjustments done based on our learning from the playtest. On top of that you can expect: more SFX, more VFX, more enemies (models and abilities), more Commands, more of everything!
And, of course, the plan is to keep expanding the demo frequently with more content and new mechanics that are already designed but not yet implemented.[/h5]
[h5]And that’s all for now! We are eager to show you all the cool stuff we are working on and for you to take another dive Into The Grid![/h5]
