2017?
I'm currently working on the biggest update for Ballhalla so far. Financially, this is probably not the best choice for me, as sales have been... modest so far, and I won't get anything out of this. But I'm having way too much fun improving and adding content to this game, so whatever, here we go.
Listening to the feedback of the last couple of months, it basically comes down to three main areas that I can improve:
1. Amount of content: The average time it takes players to get to the credits is 4 hours. This is without any bonus content, which adds another several hours of playtime. Still, a part of the playerbase doesn't care for bonus challenges or secrets and would have liked to continue playing the campaign. Therefore, the next update will add 4 new trials to the campaign, including new music, gameplay elements and puns!
2. Difficulty: This is difficult for me too, because player skill in this type of game ranges from "uber pro" to "can't even roll in a straight line". There will always be players complaining about how frustratingly difficult the game is, while others complain that they've rolled through it in 2 hours without any difficulties.
But thanks to the Humble Bundle deal, I now have statistics from thousands of players and can rebalance the trials to eliminate difficulty spikes (I'm looking at you, 3-3) and tone down the overall difficulty just a little bit. Pro players will still have enough challenges to master, like the Scavenger Hunt or 100%ing everything.
3. Narration: Some players also complained about how the narrator would insult them all the time and how they felt personally attacked by the game. **** them. Just kidding - to be honest, I'm surprised anyone could feel like this. The narrator's "really? you can't even get past this?" comments are meant to play out as fun taunting/teasing among friends. Still, I've reworked a few texts to make sure it's clear they are not meant as an insult in any way.
There's more, but I'm going to talk about other new features and improvements when the update is closer to its release, which is still a couple of months away.
TL;DR: Big new update in a few months, containing 4 new campaign trials, a major balance pass, updated ingame texts and some new features.
Happy winter days!
Listening to the feedback of the last couple of months, it basically comes down to three main areas that I can improve:
1. Amount of content: The average time it takes players to get to the credits is 4 hours. This is without any bonus content, which adds another several hours of playtime. Still, a part of the playerbase doesn't care for bonus challenges or secrets and would have liked to continue playing the campaign. Therefore, the next update will add 4 new trials to the campaign, including new music, gameplay elements and puns!
2. Difficulty: This is difficult for me too, because player skill in this type of game ranges from "uber pro" to "can't even roll in a straight line". There will always be players complaining about how frustratingly difficult the game is, while others complain that they've rolled through it in 2 hours without any difficulties.
But thanks to the Humble Bundle deal, I now have statistics from thousands of players and can rebalance the trials to eliminate difficulty spikes (I'm looking at you, 3-3) and tone down the overall difficulty just a little bit. Pro players will still have enough challenges to master, like the Scavenger Hunt or 100%ing everything.
3. Narration: Some players also complained about how the narrator would insult them all the time and how they felt personally attacked by the game. **** them. Just kidding - to be honest, I'm surprised anyone could feel like this. The narrator's "really? you can't even get past this?" comments are meant to play out as fun taunting/teasing among friends. Still, I've reworked a few texts to make sure it's clear they are not meant as an insult in any way.
There's more, but I'm going to talk about other new features and improvements when the update is closer to its release, which is still a couple of months away.
TL;DR: Big new update in a few months, containing 4 new campaign trials, a major balance pass, updated ingame texts and some new features.
Happy winter days!