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What’s coming in the November Maintenance Update

[h2]Hello Miners,[/h2]

November’s just around the corner, which means it’s almost time for the first maintenance update that we mentioned in our recent roadmap. We wanted to give you a quick overview of what we’re focusing on, just so you know what to expect.

Among smaller tweaks and fixes, we’ll be using this to introduce two bigger features: the first being a toggle option for seasonal content like Rockpox, and the second being a new Weapon Maintenance reward system.

Let’s take those two big ones first, and we’ll cover the rest down below.


[h3]Introducing a toggle option for seasonal content
[/h3]
We heard your concerns about this season’s Lithophage events getting stale, so addressing that is our main focus for this update. We’ll be adding an optional check box at the end of the Performance Pass, for those of you that want to put your game into a ‘season-neutral’ state until Season 5 arrives.

Once you complete the Season 4 Performance Pass, you’ll have the option to disable seasonal content in Deep Rock Galactic. You can always switch it back on, of course.

If you uncheck that box, here’s what happens:
  • The Lithophage Corruption Zone will disappear from the mission map.
  • The chance of encountering Lithophage Outbreak Warnings will become equal to other warning conditions (like Rival Presence).
  • Rockpox enemies will not spawn outside of Lithophage Warnings and Events.
Of course, doing this will make it harder to obtain Plague Hearts (as these come from Meteorite and Corruptor events), and it’ll also be harder to complete Lithophage Outbreak Season Challenges (as these require the Lithophage Outbreak Warning).

Again, all of this is completely optional, and you can always turn it back on.

The 'seasonal opt-out' check box becomes available once you complete the Season 4 Performance Pass.


[h3]The new Weapon Maintenance reward system
[/h3]
Okay, we said these Maintenance Updates wouldn’t add any new content, but we've got a surprise for you. We’re introducing the Weapon Maintenance System to reward proficiency with different weapons, and give some extra shine to your favorite firearms. No tricky gameplay-specific gimmicks here, just a straightforward reward for playing with the guns you like best.

Once you earn enough XP with a specific weapon equipped, you’ll unlock a sweet new paintjob for that gun, so you can show your friends how much you love shooting.


The new Weapon Maintenance page, for tracking progress and cashing in on rewards.

This is going to be a seasonal feature, so with every new season in the future, there’ll be a special paintjob you can earn for every weapon.

We’re also making this retroactive – so when it launches in November, you’ll have four paintjobs to earn for each weapon (one for every season up to now).

The new Weapon Mastery color schemes are:
  1. WM1 'Yellowjacket'
  2. WM2 'Cobalt Crackle'
  3. WM3 'Heroic'
  4. WM4 'Grasshopper'
Weapons free, miners!


How the new paintjobs look on a couple different weapons and frameworks.


[h3]What's in the rest of the update[/h3]
On top of these two features, we’ve got a number of other things we’re working on for this update. Here’s the rest of our to-do list:
  • Nerfing the Stingtail. We’re increasing the cooldown on its grab attack, especially after a successful grab, so you won’t be getting yoinked all over the place as much. We’ll also be tweaking its health and elemental resistances so it’s less of a pain to take down solo.
  • Making the Septic Spreader projectiles shoot-downable. I can't think of the right word for that so we're running with shoot-downable. You know what I mean.
  • Rockpox mitigation. We’ve been looking at simple ways to make Rockpox effects less harsh, like making it easier to break out of when you’re stuck. Final tweaks still TBD here.
  • Weapon & overclock balance tweaks. Just a bit of routine balancing for different weapons and overclocks. These are shaping up to be mostly buffs, so don’t worry about your favorite gun getting nerfed to bits.
  • Bug fixes. There’s a sizable queue of bugs to address, but we’re still working out which ones are the highest priority for this update.
  • Typo corrections. Nothing too special here, but figured we’d mention it anyway.

We’re still working on implementing all this, and we’re aiming to have everything finished for a mid-November release. When the update drops, we’ll share more about the specific balance tweaks, Rockpox reductions and bug fixes.

Thanks to everyone who’s shared their opinion on our plans for Deep Rock Galactic lately. We understand that all those feelings, from frustration to excitement, come from a place of passion. We’re glad you care enough about the game to weigh in.
Hope everybody’s doing well.
Rock and Stone!


With Love,
-The Ghost Ship Crew


Halloween 2023 Preview

[h2]Hello Miners,[/h2]

There’s a cruel wind howling in the depths below. The moon gives off a sinister glow, casting shadows that seem to reach for you, clawing at you. Steeve is barking into the darkness, like he senses something you don't.

This can only mean one thing: Halloween is coming to Hoxxes.

The seasonal spook-tacular will return on Thursday, October 26th (13:00 CET), and it runs until Thursday, November 9th (13:00 CET). Management would like to emphasize that mining operations aren’t ramping down because of any alleged hauntings, and that company insurance policies do not cover exorcisms.

What do this event and a bad chiropractor have in common? They’re both gonna send a tingle down your spine! [HOLD FOR LAUGHTER + APPLAUSE] Scroll down to see all the event details.



[h3]Get down with the clown (mask)
[/h3]
Do you hear that strange music? Show some wicked clown love with the new Mad Cap Clown mask, coming to you straight from the depths of the dark carnival. All you’ve got to do is complete the Halloween Party Special Assignment, and this frightening bit of fashion is yours forever. Nothing scares a Glyphid (or the FBI) more than an insane clown. Whoop whoop!

[h3]Scoop up last year’s horrors
[/h3]
In case you were trapped in a coffin last Halloween, you can still earn those seasonal cosmetics from the past. Complete the Last Year’s Horrors Assignment and we’ll dump a bundle of old masks in your locker. Mission Control isn’t too happy about his likeness being used for a mask, but it’s not our fault he’s got that ghastly scowl.

[h3]Open season on flying skulls
[/h3]
We’re hearing reports of shrieking skulls flying through the caves of Hoxxes. Management doesn’t believe in ghosts, but we might be able to sell the processed bone meal -- so if you see any skulls, bag ‘em and bring ‘em home. Doing so will earn you (and your team) a double mission performance point bonus.

[h3]The Space Rig is haunted
[/h3]
It’s hard for trick-or-treaters to make it to outer orbit, but if they get up here, the Space Rig is ready. You can expect loads of spooky decor, including frightful ghosts, loads of candles (the scary kind) and pumpkins aplenty. The Abyss Bar dance floor is also being converted into a haunted swamp, complete with fog and live bats! Management spent so much on candles that there wasn’t any budget left for rabies vaccines, so don’t startle the bats.

The haunt begins on October 26th at 13:00 CET. Hold onto your butts.

Rock and Stone!

With Love,
-The Spooky Ghost Ship Crew

Valve reveals most-played game demos from Steam Next Fest

The Steam Next Fest just came to a close, but its diverse game demos live on in our hearts. Valve sprinkled a little bit of everything into its recent event, from open-world RPGs to fantasy crafting sims. While many of the showcased demos are still available to play now, others are no longer up as developers prepare for their games' full release. To commemorate the Next Fest and talented devs, Steam just revealed its most-played game demos.


Read the rest of the story...


RELATED LINKS:

Deep Rock Galactic spin-off gets free demo on Steam, available now

Deep Rock Galactic dev says female characters aren't "on the table"

The best PC Game Pass deal is back, just ahead of Starfield

Deep Rock Galactic Roadmap Update - October 2023

[h2]Hello Miners,[/h2]

If you didn’t catch the announcement on our Ghost Ship Publishing: On The Horizon live stream, here’s the big news:

Ghost Ship Games is working on a whole new game! It’s called Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2605790/Deep_Rock_Galactic_Rogue_Core/

We’re really excited about this.
At the same time, we understand that your first thought might be, “Dang, we’re never gonna see Season 5, are we?”

Totally understandable. We’ve been a little quiet about Deep Rock Galactic development for a while. So we figured it’s a good time to update the roadmap, talk about how we’re balancing our projects at Ghost Ship Games, and how we’ll communicate all that moving forward.

Let’s get straight to it: we’ve got good news and less-than-good news.

Good news: Season 5 is coming. Season 6 will happen after that.
Less-than-good news: These seasons aren’t coming as soon as any of us want. Right now, we’re expecting to have Season 5 out in June 2024.

The reason for this delay is, as you probably guessed, Rogue Core. We’ll talk more about that below (scroll down to the FAQ section). But let’s look at the roadmap first, and then we can cover the details after.



[h3]What are maintenance updates?
[/h3]

If you’re familiar with previous Deep Rock Galactic roadmaps, you’ll notice that the ‘maintenance updates’ are new for this one. These are going to be patches which primarily focus on tweaks and bug fixes. They’re not adding shiny new content, but they are making sure the game stays in good working order.

Maintenance updates may include things like:
  • Bug fixes of every size and flavor
  • Weapon balance changes
  • Nerfs and/or buffs to enemies
  • Typo corrections
  • Optimizations to improve game performance
You shouldn't expect big juicy bundles of new content from these. We’ll save that for the coming Seasons, though they might feel far in the future right now. Until then, we promise we’re not going to neglect the game, or let it fall into disrepair. These maintenance updates aim to keep Deep Rock Galactic in good health, until we’re ready to keep working on new content.


[h3]We’re getting back to open development
[/h3]

Especially since it’ll be a while until we get more significant in-game content in Deep Rock Galactic, we want to double down on our communications, and to share more about what we’re working on.

We’re taking an open development approach with Rogue Core, where we launch as Early Access and provide plenty of behind-the-scenes peeks along the way. We’ve brought on a full-time writer (hi, it’s me Aaron, the guy writing this) to help us tell more stories that connect you with what we’re up to, and how we approach game development. This applies to Deep Rock Galactic, too.

That means we’ll be sharing a lot more about Season 5 development than we have with previous Seasons, so you’ll be able to follow along as it takes shape.

In the future, you can expect more:
  • Developer diaries and sneak peeks
  • Interviews with GSG crewmates
  • Long reads about big ideas in game development
  • A re-launch of the GSG Newsletter
  • Glimpses into daily life in the GSG studios
  • Other fun stuff that we’re still figuring out
You’ll find all that coming up here on the Steam blog, as well as the blog page for Rogue Core.


[h3]FAQ (or, questions you might have):[/h3]

Why can’t you just work on both games at once?

In a perfect world, we’d continue full steam ahead on Deep Rock Galactic while developing Rogue Core at the same time. But we’ve only got so many helping hands on board, and only so many hours in the day.

Instead of trying to do a little bit of work on each game every day, we’d rather block out bigger chunks of time where we give one project our full attention. This might not be the fastest path, but we think it’s what will allow us to give you the best games we can possibly make.

What if you all just worked harder to make this stuff faster?

We don’t believe in crunching here. We want to work at a pace that ensures our whole team is happy and healthy, and where everyone has the time and space to have fun with their work. If we cranked it to 11 and went into mega-overdrive to rush all this out, we’d lose a lot of goofy ideas, cool hats and fun details along the way. To us, that’s the stuff that makes a game great. We’d rather take our time, so we can be sure we’re making something we’re really proud of.

Do you have a specific plan for each maintenance update?

Not yet. We’ve put them into the calendar so that we can block out time to give Deep Rock Galactic a good amount of time and energy. We’ll figure out exactly what to focus on as each update approaches, and we’ll keep you posted on that when the time comes.

Are you taking so long because you’re still trying to figure out a use for Error Cubes?

Maybe.


[h3]A last word of thanks
[/h3]

We continue to be blown away by the support and enthusiasm of this community, and all the creativity, curiosity and connections that Deep Rock Galactic has sparked. It’s what motivates us to make these games, and to keep them alive.

If you’re feeling disappointed about Season 5 not coming sooner, we totally get it. We’d like it to come sooner too. But we really think that Rogue Core is worth our time and focus, even if that means a delay for new content in Deep Rock Galactic. We hope you’ll trust us on this.

We can’t wait to expand the Deep Rock universe, and we promise you’ll be hearing a lot more about what’s going on with that in the coming months.

You heard it here first: fun times ahead.

Rock and Stone forever and always.


With so much love,
-The Ghost Ship Crew


Patch Notes - S04.09


[h3]Hello Miners,[/h3]

This patch contains a small number of fixes, including a fix to Rejoin game, which would fail if a host had previously hosted a game. We also added a Merch tab for the board game expansions!

With Love,
The Ghost Ship Crew

[h3] — PATCH NOTES —[/h3]
- Fixed issue where some weapons could do massive amounts of damage when shooting a puddle
- Fixed that rejoin game would fail, if the host had previously hosted another game
- Adjusted Large meteor carver to make rock cracker locations more accessible without mining
- Fixed a few typos
- Optimized contagion spikes a bit
- Added a Merch tab to the menu, currently shows the DRG board game + expansion kickstarter