Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core News

Development Diary: May 2025

Hello Reclaimers,

Welcome to the second monthly update for what’s going on with Rogue Core! We didn’t have time to make a video for this one, so we’re going with old-fashioned words again.

IN THIS ISSUE:

What we’ve learned from the first playtest
Keeping the Alpha running
When’s the next round of invites going out?
Big questions we’re exploring
Our plan for the next few weeks

We're moving at a quick clip these days, so our priorities may change from week to week. Just worth keeping in mind with these monthly updates, so nobody thinks all this is written in stone and/or rock. Until the next monthly update, you're welcome to ask us about development on Discord or on our weekly dev streams.

Let's dig in.

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[h2]What we’ve learned so far[/h2]

These first few days have taught us a lot about how people play Rogue Core, what they like, what works and what doesn’t. We’ve been getting loads of useful feedback from playtesters via Discord, surveys and in-game telemetry. Thanks to everyone who’s chimed in so far.

We also found that the new Steam “invite-a-friend” feature we tried was somewhat inconsistent. We knew it was in beta, so it was a bit of a crapshoot. It turned out that not everyone got the option to have that +1 invite, and sometimes the invites themselves didn’t send or register. This is an issue on Steam’s end, so there’s unfortunately nothing we can do about it. :(

Overall, our impression is that people enjoyed this Alpha version of Rogue Core, which we’re very pleased to see. But there’s still a long way to go before the game is in a place we’re happy with. It feels like our to-do list is getting longer, not shorter.

Now we’re back in another production phase, where we hunker down and work on new features.

Various concept sketches for the Rift Gate.

[h2]The first playtest is done, but we’re keeping it open[/h2]

In our eyes, the first playtest is complete. We’ve stopped updating this current version of the Closed Alpha so we can turn our focus toward further development.

Even though the initial playtest has concluded, we’ve made the decision to keep the alpha open for all those who currently have access. But this comes with a stipulation: Don’t get too attached to your save files, because we’ll have to wipe all player saves when we implement major updates in the future. Fair warning.

The next major Closed Alpha update will hopefully be ready in a few weeks. That’ll be our next dedicated playtest, where you can expect another round of invitations to go out. But until that next update launches, we’re not letting more people in.

[h2]When’s the next round of invites going out?[/h2]

Good question! The honest answer is we’re not sure. Loose estimate is a couple of weeks.

Right now, our big focus is designing and implementing more features and content in the game. Once we’ve made good progress there, we’ll package it up and release it as a new playtest, the ‘Update 2’ for the Closed Alpha. We’ll send out a fresh batch of playtest invitations there, and everyone who’s already gotten access will of course be able to play it as well.

We’ll likely invite a couple thousand more, but this will still be a fraction of all the people who have requested access. This is to say, your individual chances of getting in are still low. We know this is frustrating! But we just don’t need a huge volume of playtesters right now during this phase of the Closed Alpha – it’d be counterproductive for us to manage all that traffic and feedback right now. Higher-volume playtests with a bunch of invites will hopefully come later down the line.

Draft versions of new scaffolding systems and cave constructions.

[h2]A couple considerations we’re exploring right now[/h2]

Like we mentioned earlier, this game is still very far from where we want it to be. We think we’re off to a pretty good start, but there’s still loads to do. Here are a couple of the ‘big picture’ considerations that we’ve been discussing a lot lately:

We’re looking at tweaking and balancing the weapons in Rogue Core, to make sure there aren’t obvious favorites for what’s best or most fun. This will be an ongoing thing, but because your first weapon pick can have a big role in how you experience a run, it’s important for us to keep in mind.
There’s a lot of UI, wayfinding and QoL features yet to be added. As we’re working, we’re taking notes on what we still need to implement in terms of tooltips, voicelines and UI overlays that’ll boost the game’s overall user friendliness. This alpha version is hopefully the least user-friendly version you’ll see, and it’ll just go up from here.
Cave constructions are in the spotlight for us too. We want to add more props and set dressings to give greater detail to these mining facilities, to make them feel “lived in.”
Class abilities and skills still have some room to grow. We’d like to give each class a distinct sense of power, with its own strengths and synergies. We’re spitballing a few concepts for class-specific skills, as well as how the upgrades you encounter during a run support class-specific abilities and playstyles.

This list is far from exhaustive, of course. Still loads more to explore, both in the short term and long term. Down below, we’ve got more detail on what we’ll be working on in the weeks to come.

Sketches of environment effects and possible "core corruption" cave elements.

[h2]Our plan for the next few weeks[/h2]

Earlier this week we made a big list of overall objectives for the game, effectively a wishlist of what we want to implement next. A good chunk of this, but not all of it, is focused on that Update 2 we talked about.
So, without promising that all of this is coming in a couple weeks, here’s what we’re hoping to work on next:

More stats for the end screen. At the end of a run, we want you to be able to get a detailed breakdown of your mission data: kills, damage and DPS, and the upgrades that made up your build.
Experimenting with new classes. We’ve designed Rogue Core to have room for more than four classes, and we’re starting to work on that part now.
Class-specific skills and perks. This is to help each class feel more distinct, with their own specializations and strong points to explore.
Character audio/visual polish. The main focus here is improving third-person character animations and plugging in some missing sounds. Just a little side project to make things extra slick and flashy.
Cooper upgrade system. We’d like the single-player assistance drone to have more interesting options for upgrades during a run, to add some more depth for solo players.
More in-run upgrades. This means more variation in the upgrades you earn during a run, as well as more possibilities for funky synergies and unique builds.
Additional Expenite Events. This is our working term for the side objectives like the Ram-Hammer event. Right now, you basically get the same three or four interactive events during every run. We’d like more variation so it’s not as predictable, so we’re cooking up some new ones.
More mining facility set dressings. We’ll be making new cave constructions, props and set dressings to give the mining facilities of Rogue Core more detail and a ‘lived-in’ feel.
UI maintenance and polish. We’re aiming to get rid of the last bits of DRG placeholders in the user interface. This is more of a side task, but we’re looking at it as we go along.
Ramrod renovations. The good ship Ramrod needs more detail and things to do. Brainstorming is in full swing.
Ongoing optimization. This will be a constant project, but we’re already thinking about it. Hopefully this makes feebler computers have an easier time running Rogue Core, both in the alpha version and for the eventual release.

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There's much still to be done here. But we're excited about where things are headed, and we're looking forward to sharing it all with you in the months to come. Thanks for your continued interest and enthusiasm in Rogue Core.

As always, if you’ve got some thoughts or feedback you want to share with us, feel free to comment below, or tune in to our weekly dev streams and chat with us live.

Rock and Stone, Reclaimers.

With Love,
-The Ghost Ship Crew

The Closed Alpha has officially launched

[h2]Hello Reclaimers,[/h2]

The first Closed Alpha playtest has officially gone live!

If you’re one of the lucky few who have been granted access, you should have received a notification from Steam, and now have the option to download and launch the Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core Playtest app.

Because we’re starting small, many of you who have requested access unfortunately won’t be let in today. Sorry about that. But as we’ve mentioned before, we’ll be running multiple playtests over the coming months, and we expect to let more people in each time. So your odds of getting in can only go up from here.

For those who get in, it’s worth reiterating three key points:

The Closed Alpha is a rough draft. It’s a work in progress, and we’ve still got lots to do. It’s fun, but it’s by no means a perfect polished game. We’re doing this to gather player feedback about what works and doesn’t work.
Streaming and making content from the Closed Alpha is allowed. We just ask that you make it clear this is the Closed Alpha, and not a final version.
If you’ve been granted access, you won’t be notified when future playtests launch. This is due to some particularities about how Steam’s playtest function works, so there’s not much we can do here. Keep an eye on our Steam page (and make sure to click ‘Follow’) to catch all future notifications on playtest sessions.

You can find more relevant info about the playtests in our FAQ article.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2605790/view/574879683755115309?l=english

[h3]Catch today's Rogue Core dev stream[/h3]
If you’re eager to see Rogue Core in action, we’ll be playing it live during today’s dev stream! You’re very welcome to tune in and take a look and hang out with us.

The stream starts at 13:00 CEST on Twitch and Youtube.

[h3]Friend invite feature (Steam beta function)[/h3]
We’re going to try an experimental Steam feature that allows everyone initially granted access to the Closed Alpha to invite one additional friend to join them.

To be honest, we’re not sure we fully understand this feature, so bear with us if we goof it. But the hope is that all those first selected for access will get an option to send one additional playtest invite to someone from their friends list. That invited friend doesn’t get to send another invite, though, so it won’t spread forever. It’s just like a +1 sort of thing.

If you’re curious about this friend invite feature, you can read more about it in Steam’s own documentation. We’re like 80 percent sure we get how it works.

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That’s all for now. Sending our very best to all of you, and a big bucket of gratitude for all your support so far.

With love,
-The Ghost Ship Crew

Development Diary: April 2025

Hello Reclaimers,

As was foretold in the Road Map, this is the first of a monthly development update series filling you in on what we’ve been up to and what’s around the corner. We might switch the format up as we go along, but hey, you gotta start somewhere.

IN THIS ISSUE:

The big things we worked on in April
What to expect (and not to expect) from the Closed Alpha playtests
Sneak peeks at new guns and equipment
Our priorities for May (streaming Rogue Core, for example)

Before we start, though, we’d like to say a big thanks to all of you who have shared your enthusiasm about the game and signed up for the playtests.

It’s been about three weeks since we announced the Closed Alpha, and we’ve been bowled over by the response so far. We get excited about you getting excited, and that’s great motivation as we keep hammering away at the game. So big thanks and much love to you all.

Alrighty, blog time. Let’s go.

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[h2]April in a nutshell[/h2]

The playtest is just around the corner! We’re working on getting a build together.

In game development, a ‘build’ means a packaged, playable version of the game. It’s sort of like when you hit ‘Save As’ on a file to print or export it. It’ll come as no surprise that getting that first playtest build nailed down has been the big theme of this month.

These have been the month’s big projects:

Nailing down the Closed Alpha gameplay loop. Our first playtests are focused on how people experience the core (pun not intended) gameplay loop. Like, the bread and butter of what it’s like to play the game: Drop in, get upgrades, do objectives, kill boss, get out. We’re balancing that to a point that we’re at least sort of happy with, or enough to share it for playtesters’ feedback.
Making sure the playtest build won’t explode. This is the technical part: rigging up the code that makes a server list functional, ensuring that our servers can handle the playtest traffic, and endless bug fixes and crash investigations. Not to say we’ve caught and fixed all the bugs, obviously. It’s still a Closed Alpha.
Preparing to receive a ton of feedback. Launching the playtest means opening the floodgates for loads of survey responses, Discord pings and wordy emails full of players’ thoughts on the game. We want all this, of course. It’s the whole point of a playtest. But we’ve also got to make sure we’ve got a good system in place for reading and reflecting on folks’ feedback, and facilitating all the discussions and fixes that’ll come from that feedback.

This whole thing is an exercise in anti-perfectionism. We keep feeling the impulse to make sure everything is just right, exactly how we imagined down to the teeny details. But if we get lost in that wormhole, the Closed Alpha will never come out.

It’s almost time to take a deep breath, share what we’ve got, and work from there.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]Opening animation for a Bio-Booster console.

[h2]Setting expectations for the Closed Alpha playtests[/h2]

As we prepare for the playtests, we think it’s best if everyone’s clear on what to expect here, so we don’t set you up for expectations we can’t meet.

Here are three key things you should know about the playtests.

[h3]The Closed Alpha is not live yet.[/h3]

Just making this clear, as we’ve gotten a lot of people asking why they weren’t granted access, along with overall confusion around the exact start date.

That part’s on us, because we haven’t given a concrete start date. We still need a bit of time to finish the first playtest build, and make sure it doesn’t explode our servers or brick your computer. We’re aiming for the start of May, as we laid out in the FAQ article from earlier this month. Exactly which day, though, remains to be seen.

Let’s put it this way: Until you see an announcement here on Steam clearly titled something like “The Closed Alpha playtests are now live,” they haven’t started yet.

To stay tuned on all things Closed Alpha, make sure to go and ‘Follow’ Rogue Core on our Steam store page. That way you’ll be sure to get notified when that announcement is published.

Mockups for a side objective: the 'Bighorn' Ram-Hammer.

[h3]Your odds of getting into the playtest are very low – at least at the start.[/h3]

On the very first day of the very first playtest, we’ll only be letting a very small handful of people in. We’re starting slow, just to make sure the servers can handle it, and that our system for processing player feedback is working as expected.

This is to say, brace yourself: it’s quite possible (even likely) that you won’t get into the Closed Alpha at the start.

But don’t lose hope, Reclaimer! We’ll be letting more people in from there. We’ll probably be sending out more invites over the course of that first playtest, and will certainly be letting many more in for subsequent playtests. So if you don’t get in on day one (or even in the first playtest), your odds of getting in will only get better with time.

[h3]The Closed Alpha is not a finished product. Far from it.[/h3]

You should think of the Closed Alpha as a rough draft.

Right now, it’s not a polished game. It’ll have placeholders, bugs, wonky stuff, and game elements that people find frustrating and clunky and dumb. That’s the nature of a rough draft.

The point of this whole thing is for us to learn what works and what doesn’t. Your feedback is the key ingredient here, so we hope you’ll take time to fill out the player survey, and/or share your thoughts with us on Discord. Based on your feedback, we’ll make updates and improvements for subsequent playtests. It’s all a work in progress.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]Firing, reload and idle animations for the new Hammer Caster 58mm.

[h2]Our main goals for May[/h2]

If April’s been about preparing for launch, May is about takeoff, and the climb toward cruising altitude. Or something like that. I don’t have a pilot’s license.

May is when we’ll begin the first round of the Closed Alpha playtests. We expect that will also require some quick-response patches to put out fires and fix major bugs, and stuff like that.

It’s also going to be the first month where we get a ton of peoples’ opinions on Rogue Core, which is both exciting and intimidating. We’ll spend a lot of time reading your feedback. We’ll also be analyzing data about how people play the game: what weapons get picked, causes of death, average session playtime, things like that. From there, we’ll make some sort of priority list for things we need to work on, and set a plan to get it done.

So in very general terms, May looks like:

Launch first playtest
Fix major bugs/crashes
Collect a bunch of feedback
Analyze and reflect on all that feedback
Make a plan on where to go from there

In May, we’ll also start to stream the Closed Alpha version of Rogue Core on our weekly dev streams. You’re very welcome to tune in, check it out, and ask us any questions you might have. We’re excited to hear your questions, jokes, thoughts, critiques, all of it.

We stream most every Tuesday and Thursday at 13:00 CEST, and you can join in on Twitch and Youtube. Not every stream this month will be the Rogue Core Closed Alpha, though – you can see the full month’s stream calendar below.

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That’s it for this update! It ended up being pretty long and detailed, so if you read it all, congratulations on your new membership of the Ghost Ship Book Club. Maybe we’ll do some future monthly updates in video format or something.

Got an idea for next month’s update? Let us know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading, and wishing you all the best of luck in getting picked for the playtests.
Rock and Stone!

With love,
-The Ghost Ship Crew

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor gets a release date and Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core gets a new trailer

There's a whole lot of space dwarf action going on lately. Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor now has a release date for the 1.0 release and we have new footage on the upcoming Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core too.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/04/deep-rock-galactic-survivor-gets-a-release-date-and-deep-rock-galactic-rogue-core-gets-a-new-trailer/

Q&A on the Rogue Core Closed Alpha playtest

[p][/p][h2]Hello Reclaimers,[/h2][p][/p][p]We've just premiered our new Closed Alpha gameplay trailer, and made the big announcement that signups for the Closed Alpha playtests are open now.[/p][p][/p][p]Lots of you have already requested access, and we figured you’ve probably got some questions while you’re waiting. That’s what this post is about! [/p][p][/p][p]Below is a 20-minute Q&A video interview we did as a follow-up to the Closed Alpha trailer, where we talk more about the playtests and what to expect. It’s got a lot more details, plus some additional gameplay footage that we couldn’t fit in the trailer. [/p][p][/p][p]You'll also find a written FAQ down below, which we're updating as we go along.[/p][p][/p][h3]-- FAQ last updated June 6th 2025 --[/h3][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][hr][/hr][p][/p][h3]Why do a Closed Alpha at all?[/h3][p]We’re doing a Closed Alpha to collect preliminary feedback from players. It helps us see how people approach and play the game, identify issues we might be blind to, and get a feel for what people like and don’t like about Rogue Core. This is how we know what’s most important to work on as we push for the Early Access release, and thereby steer the direction of the game’s development.[/p][p][/p][p]Our hope is that playtesters understand that they’re not heading into a polished perfect game experience. This isn’t about what we’ve made, but what we’re making. It’ll be rough around the edges, with stuff that crashes and doesn’t work. But that’s sort of the point. We’d like to catch these things sooner rather than later.[/p][p][/p][h3]How do I apply for the Closed Alpha?[/h3][p]Head over to the Steam store page and click the big green ‘Request Access’ button. [/p][p][/p][h3]How do you select who gets invited?[/h3][p]It's completely random. We tell Steam to let X amount of players in, and it randomly selects a group from the list of applicants.[/p][p][/p][h3]What are my odds of getting in?[/h3][p]That depends on how many people request access. We’d be thrilled if a lot of people sign up, but of course that means your individual odds of getting picked go down, because it's a random selection process.[/p][p]If you end up not getting in, please don’t take it personally. We’re flattered and delighted by your interest, and we promise there will be more opportunities to play Rogue Core in the future.[/p][p][/p][h3]Why don't you just let everybody in?[/h3][p]The point of the Closed Alpha is for us to gather feedback on the game and test how it runs from a technical standpoint. Letting in too many people would make that harder for us, as we couldn't keep up with all the feedback.[/p][p]We get that it's frustrating to not get invited, but right now we simply don't need a huge number of playtesters. [/p][p][/p][h3]How are you going to run the playtests?[/h3][p]Now that the Closed Alpha is live, we're just going to keep it running and occasionally update it with new content and changes. Each new update will likely mean another wave of invitations being sent out, and we may also do a couple invite waves in between updates if we feel we need it. We'll see.[/p][p][/p][h3]How do I know if I get allowed into the playtest?[/h3][p]Steam will send you a notification to whichever email address you have linked to your account. If you want to be extra certain you’re updated with all Rogue Core news, playtest and otherwise, go and click the ‘Follow’ button on the store page.[/p][p][/p][h3]If you get let into one playtest session, do you get into all the other ones too?[/h3][p]Yes. The thing is, Steam doesn’t tell you when the consecutive playtests go live. So you’ll only get pinged that very first time. Our best advice is to ‘Follow’ the Rogue Core store page, so you won't miss any future notifications when a new Closed Alpha update arrives.[/p][p][/p][h3]Do I get a copy of Rogue Core if I'm invited to the playtests?[/h3][p]No. The Rogue Core Closed Alpha is a different app on Steam than the eventual full game, and it's only temporary for the duration of the playtests. We'll take it down when we're done playtesting, and then you'll have to buy the actual game if you're interested.[/p][p][/p][h3]Can I stream the Closed Alpha or make videos from my gameplay?[/h3][p]You sure can. We just ask that you make it clear that this is Closed Alpha gameplay, and not the finished, polished product. We'll probably add some little 'Closed Alpha' watermark in the HUD, but we'd be glad if you mention it too.[/p][p][/p][h3]I have 3,200 hours in Deep Rock Galactic and have been playing since 2018. Shouldn’t I have priority for getting into the playtest?[/h3][p]No, sorry. Of course it’s great to get feedback from people who know DRG really well, but it’s equally important to hear how the game is for people who are relatively inexperienced, or perhaps new to the franchise altogether. We’ve got to make sure the game is fun and interesting for greenbeards and graybeards alike. [/p][p][/p][h3]My friend got into the playtest and I didn’t. Did you guys do this on purpose to torment me?[/h3][p]Yes. [/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p]Hope this helps! If you've got any other burning questions, drop 'em in the comments below. And as always, you can also ping us on Discord or chat with us directly during our weekly streams on Twitch and Youtube. We do those on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at 13:00 CEST.[/p][p][/p][p]Thanks to all of you for your enthusiasm so far -- we've been thrilled with your response to the playtest announcement, and we can't wait for the months to come. Gonna be fun.[/p][p][/p][p]Rock and Stone, Reclaimers![/p][p][/p][p]With love,[/p][p]-The Ghost Ship Crew[/p]