Hello Ectypes!
Daniel here, Creative Director on Void Crew. Besides trying to feed a toddler (I became a dad half a year ago!), today I'd like to give you a peek behind the curtain, and give you my thoughts on the exciting new things coming to Void Crew.
Update 5 incoming!
As we Thruster Boost towards our next major update, I thought I’d take the opportunity to share with everyone our progress - and some of the thoughts behind upcoming changes.
Looking back at our latest release - Update 4 - we unlocked the ability for players to continue their runs indefinitely. This addition has been well received, and has allowed some players to push our game to the limit… and then some. A little more than we even thought was possible.
As you know, being in Early Access forces developers - in a good way - to stay light on their toes. We do our best to listen, learn, and adapt. Sometimes the choice is to stay true to a fundamental idea, other times it is worth pivoting on a certain pillar. And quite often not as easy as it may seem.
On the subject of the initial limited Pilgrimage structure versus the Endless Pilgrimages, we are simplifying the basic premise of the Pilgrimage challenge, to reward both limited-duration runs, as well as enabling Crews to continue those specific runs where the gods of RNG acted in your favor. We also want to move the most interesting choices out of the Hub, and into the run itself - not least of which was the session difficulty.
So what are we simplifying?
Pilgrimages
Up until now, there has an overlap between the original Pilgrimages and the Endless mode. Fundamentally, they offer the same gameplay challenge - one simply forces you to end your run, and the other gives you the freedom to make the choice yourself. Though similar in how they play, technically, the two Pilgrimage types run on entirely separate logic which requires double maintenance, balancing and tweaking. Since we're a small team, we want to get the most out of our development time, so the limited Pilgrimages has been folded into Endless Mode.
What Endless was missing was "short term goals", that players should be aiming to achieve during a run, so that's among the things we're adding (and we will continue to add even more)!. We'd really like to do some kind of meta-goals that get queued up in the Hub, and will challenge players to do some unorthodox problem-solving before rewards can be claimed.
Long story short, the choice is now in the hands of the players, as you can still end a run after just a few jumps, but now you can also see how far you can push it before METEM abandons you to your fate!
Rank-unlocked Blueprints
With the focused commitment to Endless Pilgrimages, it became apparent what other systems needed to be adjusted. Our linear ranking system which unlocks fabricator ‘blueprints’ just feels “meh”, and it has been known for a while that the pattern we see is players making the game less fun for themselves by making cookie cutter builds (basically just doing the same ship loadout every time). And since the progression is identical for all, then most runs will feel samey sooner or later.
The goal of the ranking system has always been to progressively unlock interesting stuff, but it had mutated a bit into something it can’t lift. The recent coupling of Perks and Ranks also added a more interesting and dynamic dimension to Ranking up, instead of the linear unlocks. So we are revisiting the ranking unlocks. We've taken the Fabricator Blueprints out of the Ranking System - and put the modules themselves into the game. This means a Rank 1 player can actually experience the cool modules, instead of needing to wait for an arbitrary rank progression to unlock them.
In practice this means the rank progression has been simplified to not include blueprints. The initial Ascension Ranks grant Perk Points and Ship Loadouts. All Ranks and Favor levels grant Cosmetic rewards.
We have talked about unlocking Fabricator options, both as a temporary in-run option where recycling a module might teach the Fabrication process, but also potentially as a result of specific ship upgrades or quest challenges. The Perk Trees granting certain Fabricator unlocks also works well, though we're constantly evaluating which of those unlocks should actually be locked away.
Basically, we want to get away from the experience where “everyone has the same Modules”... (More on this in a future update!)
Difficulty Choice
Another system begging to get updated was the locked-in choice of difficulty in the Hub. With Endless, that choice is still there … but instead of a constant, it’s something you choose as you go. Low on ammo? Play the next Objective on Normal! But that Insane Objective… it has that lucrative thing the Crew WANTS! This creates a continuous set of choices, instead of just a flat one you can’t change once you’ve started.
So for this reason, the Quest Difficulty Selection has been removed from the Hub.
Now the good stuff - What are we adding?
We have a TON of good stuff coming your way! At the moment we are in closed testing, but there are THREE things I just have to share with you!
Biome Boss(es)
As mentioned, we’ve seen players reaching insane levels with the new Endless Pilgrimages, so adding a ‘milestone’ or two in the shape of Biome Boss(es) seemed like a natural next step.
Here’s a sneak peak of a Biome Boss:
Yes, we are taking into account playing SOLO against these baddies!
Relics
To help with this step up in difficulty, we’ve dusted off an old carryable-item prototype … RELICS! It was something we had in the first playable demo, and was cut at the time. Relics are powerful ship-wide Boosts that must be inserted into a limited number of Shrine Sockets located in the Central Computer Core. Relics can provide a wide assortment of stat modifications across the Ship - sometimes prompting your Crew to re-assess their current load-out, because maybe your chances will increase significantly if only you moved those three guns to the other side of the ship...
With Relics providing their buffs to various parts of the Ship, we also updated the UI which helps you digest exactly where those big numbers are coming from :D
Here’s a sneak peak of some relics:
Emotes
Oh yes, the blame game just went up another atmosphere! Now you can point at the person responsible for the power outage (or should have been responsible), approve/disapprove with an undisputed thumbs up or down, and a few more things …
Why not settle the next Crew dispute with a quick game of Rock, Paper, Scissors?
Wrapping up this time around, I can only say I’m excited to get this new update in the players hands as soon as possible. The game has evolved a lot since launch, and we think it is already a much better game because of all the great feedback and sparring we’ve gotten from the community. Thank you all!
Don't forget to comment, like and head over to our Discord and share your ideas in the Feedback channel :)
Until the next rambling ...
// Daniel, Creative Director
Hutlihut Games
