Hello Miners, words from the Game Director's table.
Mikkel Martin Pedersen, here. Time for a little development update on Deep Rock Galactic! It’s been a crazy two weeks since the launch of Update 25, and I think you deserve a little inside information on what’s going on. But first, let me take a moment to express my gratitude for your reception towards the Deep Dives and all the other new features that arrived in the Update. Thank you from the entire Ghost Ship Crew!
Forging the Endgame
Work on what we call DRG’s Endgame has been ongoing for almost 5 months now - from core idea, to implementation, and launch. In fact, It’s always super scary to implement big new systems into a game loop that’s already been established. Update 25 was our biggest update to date, and to see it all in operation is an amazing feeling. We’ve observed how our number of concurrent users on Steam has almost doubled since we launched the update - a good sign you’re all busy completing Deep Dives and collecting Matrix Cores on a weekly basis.
And let me tell you a secret: I'm as excited as you to play the new Deep Dives every week. Like most things in the game, the Deep Dives are procedurally generated, and we are not deciding how they look or feel. That means some weeks they will be harder and some weeks will be easier - and that’s just the way we like it! The fact that the game is able to throw you a curveball once in a while, and that we allow crazy things to happen, that is such an integral part of what we believe makes DRG fun.
“The Mantra of the Curveball” is something we use for pretty much all the procedural systems in the game - from cave generation to enemy spawning, and so on. It's the magic that keeps the experience fresh and, interesting and sometimes brutally unfair, but it also lets you have those epic wins, where you make it out alive against all odds.
So yes, I’m indeed very excited to play the new Deep Dives!
Another secret I’ll let you in on, is that I haven't actually managed to complete an Elite Deep Dive yet. Elite Deep Dives (and Deep Dives in general) are built to be challenging and it is okay if you can't fully complete them...and I'm not just saying this because I haven't managed to complete it myself yet ;-).
Just try the Deep Dives out and see how far you can get, win some Matrix Cores and then if you get tired of playing the Deep Dives go and play the weekly Core Hunt instead, and obtain some Matrix Cores in your own pacing.
Another big part of Update 25 is, of course, the Weapon Overclocks. Designing and implementing those have definitely been a bit of a challenge. It’s been almost impossible for us to fully test how they’d impact the core gameplay, and we’ve been eagerly awaiting getting the update live so we could make use of all your feedback to continue tweaking and balancing all of them. And on that note, once more, thank you for all the feedback. Really. It is an incredible help for us when it comes to making Deep Rock Galactic the best game it can be. Weapons, Overclocks, Difficulty, and so many more numbers are continuing to be tweaked, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, and Update 25 has already received over 10 Hotfix patches just in the short time it’s been out.
Hotfix galore!
So what’s the deal with all these hotfixes, you might wonder? Was the game totally broken, when we released Update 25? The short answer is “no”. Slightly longer answer follows:
Update 25 was, as mentioned, a huge update - our biggest to date. It incorporated a ton of new systems, many of which are dependent on each other, and almost all of which made the game behave in new, unpredictable ways. And the simple fact is that we cannot prepare for every eventuality - that’s where the feedback from you comes in, and what helps us push these many, many rapid hotfixes.
One thing that’s become clear during our now 18 months in Early Access is this: The more time passes between each Update, the more features might end up breaking in unexpected ways, and the more time we need to get the game properly back to its former glory.
Another thing we’ll now have to pay extra attention to is the fact that the weekly Deep Dive needs to stay consistent for the entire week. Pretty much every change we make to the procedural content has a chance to cause the Deep Dives to change in subtle or less subtle ways, or even reset fully. This actually happened last week - those of you that were fast on the trigger might have noticed you were able to complete two Core Hunts in one week, and reap the rewards twice. Lucky you! Now to ensure that doesn’t happen again, knock on wood… ;)
Update 26 Commencing...
Right now our focus is fixing whatever critical bugs remain in the wake of Update 25, and we’re confident we’re almost at the end of that list. Meanwhile, work continues on Update 26, which focuses on wrapping up the Endgame. It’ll likely surprise no one that 26 is named ENDGAME: PART TWO, and here are some of the new features you can look forward to:
Machine Events are by far the biggest of the new features. Machine Events are preset gameplay challenges you can randomly encounter during normal missions - they need a promoted dwarf to activate, but everyone on the team will benefit from it, regardless of promotions. Completing a Machine Event allows you to infuse a Blank Matrix Core with either a new Weapon Overclock or Cosmetic item. Blank Matrix Cores are obtained by completing Deep Dives and Core Hunt assignments in addition to standard rewards.
You’re probably curious about new Beers, Victory Animations, and Bosco Skins too...buuut that’s all we’re gonna say about those right now. :>
We’re aiming for a mid-november release for Update 26, though as always take that estimate with a pinch of salt - we’re done when we’re done - but at least there’ll be plenty of Deep Dives, Core Hunts, and normal missions to complete while you wait!
As always - we urge you to keep in mind that DRG is still in Early Access and that things will keep evolving as work continues on the game. Numbers will be tweaked, things will be changed, some might get more powerful, and others might not. Every change we do happens for good reasons, but as said - if you have feedback, do let us know. We want to hear it and we are listening.
Now...time to go see if I can make it through this week’s Deep Dives…who knows, maybe I will complete the Elite Deep Dive this week! Lock and load, Miners!
Mikkel Martin Pedersen
DRG Game Director
