Hello.
Today is the 46th day of August, so as scheduled, I'd like to update the August issue of Monthly Nexus.
I'm sure everyone reading this article knows that Team-Nexus has earned reputations such as “Strict Guardians of Time,” “A Miraculous Group That Has Never Once Missed a Deadline,” and “𝙀𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙏𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙆𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨”.
Therefore, without exception, we successfully updated Chapter 8-4 on August 39th.
The next stage update will implement Chapter 5-0 (an additional stage for the Chapter 5 DLC).
While we never claimed this title ourselves, now that players have bestowed upon us the name “Time Administrators,” we will strive to live up to it by aiming for an update around September 100th next time. Thank you for your continued support.
Now, this month's Nexus features a “Chapter 8-4 Development Retrospective.”
I'd like to detail how this stage—which took one month and 150 days to develop after the 8-3 update—was created.
(Since a week has passed since the 8-4 update, I'll include explanations of some stage mechanics. Spoilers ahead!)
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◆The Original Theme for 8-4
The original inspiration for 8-4 came from the “roguelike game” genre.
Specifically, the systems we initially wanted to incorporate were the ‘Fullness’ system and the “Inventory” system.
(I'm unsure if naming specific games in articles like this is permissible compliance-wise, so I'll deliberately use vague descriptions)
Here, “roguelike games” refers to a genre where, like in chess, “if you move one space, the enemy also moves one space.”
Furthermore, roguelike games typically feature a ‘satiety’ parameter. This gradually decreases each turn, and if it reaches zero, a significant penalty is incurred.
Additionally, roguelike games usually have an “item inventory” system.
While TacticalNexus's orbs seem influenced by this, roguelike games often feature items that allow “cheating” actions like swapping positions with enemies.
Keeping such powerful items in your inventory lets you escape dire situations when surrounded by enemies... that's the real thrill of this genre.
Initially, Team-Nexus felt this kind of roguelike game system would be quite compatible with TacticalNexus.
However, when we actually tried implementing it, various problems arose.
Particularly with the “Fullness” system.
TacticalNexus supports undo (redo) up to about 1000 moves, but the system where “an undo log action is registered for every single step taken” was, frankly, garbage.
If you mess up 1 or 2 steps (thinking “I could've moved better here...”), it becomes a huge distraction, and simply rewinding takes time and effort.
It's true that in roguelike games, a single step can make a huge difference.
However, at TacticalNexus's scale, having to deeply consider every single step was, from the player's perspective, extremely cumbersome and annoying.
Therefore, by the midpoint of development, the mood had firmly settled on “we absolutely must get rid of the fullness system.”
Furthermore, the inventory system as a whole felt cumbersome.
It was stressful to suddenly impose limits on keys and orbs when we'd previously been able to carry them infinitely.
If this game had imposed item quantity limits from the start, it might have been different.
And if “having limits came with significant benefits,” it might have been different.
But at this stage, there were no such benefits; it was just a stage where carrying keys and orbs was a hassle.
“Making things you used to have unusable and calling that unique” feels... unhealthy, somehow.
In other words, the fusion with roguelike systems we initially thought “might be good...” turned out to be pretty crappy.
While it felt fresh and fun at first, the more we played, the more these systems felt like they just got boring.
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◆Resistance to introducing a “lack of ideas” feeling at this stage
Our crouching start for 8-4 production ended up being a face-first crash to the ground right from the get-go.
You could say every vector except for it being an “avant-garde artistic way of falling” was pointing backwards.
For starters, the “satiety” system—where every single step had to be manually registered in the action log—was a failure. It had to go.
However, having no restrictions whatsoever on map movement also felt a bit too commonplace.
So, we began considering implementing a map movement restriction system to replace the satiety system.
We considered reusing the same map movement system as Chapter 6-3—specifically, that system where “map movement is limited by a set number of times.”
On the other hand, using the same gimmicks as existing Very Hard stages also felt a bit off.
Specifically, it made us feel like we were running out of ideas.
“Are we copying and pasting past stages for a level that's supposed to take more time to create?”
This was unacceptable.
During development of Chapters 6 and 7, we were constantly plagued by this “idea drought.”
We only started introducing forced gimmicks through programming around Chapter 7-3. Before that, coming up with ideas within the limited environment was incredibly difficult.
Of course, the work of “realizing whims” from 7-3~7-4 onward was genuinely tough for individual programmers.
It was around that time that the kill ratio of programmers towards game designers and staff started rising noticeably.
Frankly, I don't recall ever putting into words destructive impulses towards game designers during development before Chapter 6. Things were peaceful up until then.
That said, I understand that for staff, “seeing their own ideas realized” is enjoyable.
Games are fun, fundamentally, because “the game provides feedback to the player's actions, indicating whether they succeeded or failed.”
I fully understand that there is a game-like enjoyment in realizing the ideas proposed by staff and providing that feedback.
Therefore, to a certain extent, I make an effort to realize those staff ideas.
However, developing this way, while it might be acceptable for a normal stage, seeing “past gimmicks reused in the VeryHard stage 8-4” somehow gives me this feeling of running out of ideas.
Of course, this “running out of ideas” feeling is probably a developer-specific bias.
Also, from a player's perspective, I think they'd want “interesting systems to be reused all the time.”
New things aren't necessarily beautiful, and “novelty without fun” has almost no meaning.
Furthermore, the fledgling players currently tackling Chapter-3 or Chapter-4 should, upon seeing systems like those in 8-1 or EX2-4, lose all their feathers and instantly transform into reptilian or amphibian-like creatures with appropriate visuals.
Telling them “we're running out of ideas for recent stages” would probably just come across as some kind of threat.
On the other hand, we see TacticalNexus's new stages as essentially a “pro wrestling ring for top players and developers.”
This isn't fundamentally about determining winners and losers; it's a place to showcase the new moves and techniques everyone brings to the table.
Forget fledglings who've only played a few hundred hours—players who've logged thousands to tens of thousands of hours have become colossal monsters, devouring skyscrapers and Tokyo Tower in nearby cities.
If the ring for their match were an old, worn-out one, it would be gobbled up in a single bite.
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◆Inventory System Improvements - Effect Inflation and the Concept of “Inventory Compression”
For players spewing fireballs, lasers, and other glowing projectiles to destroy cities, we continuously brainstormed ideas to revive the failed .
What we arrived at was the “4 types of consumable items” system, the “Legendary Tablets” system, and the “Offer Tablets” system.
The inventory system had only ever produced “stress,” but the introduction of BlazeHerb, IceHerb (BlizzardHerb) significantly changed the game's atmosphere.
These two items provide extremely powerful buff effects from the early to mid-game, allowing players to easily defeat strong enemies.
In other words, possessing these items greatly expands what you can do.
Furthermore, while the “Legendary Tablet” occupies one inventory slot, its benefits far outweigh this drawback.
Consequently, players often develop the mindset during the early to mid-game that “I should just collect Legendary Tablets for now.”
The inventory system, which imposes item restrictions, certainly made gameplay inconvenient and less enjoyable.
However, by drastically increasing the “value per inventory slot,” it gave rise to a new gameplay dynamic that hadn't existed before.
The decisive idea in the inventory system was the “Offer Stone Tablets” mechanic.
In this stage, using a on the scattered around frees up one inventory slot while granting a significant buff.
Without sufficient information to assess the value of a new mechanic, players become unsure of what they should do, leading to a dull gaming experience.
Conversely, the extremely powerful actively prompt players to consider “what to do with the .”
And items like Fire Grass and Ice Grass speak to the player's awareness about “how much inventory space should be freed up.”
These stage gimmicks with extreme effects help players consolidate the information they need to handle.
When information about “what to do now” and “what to do next” is explicitly provided, players can act with a certain sense of purpose.
These elements became a major turning point in saving the inventory system, which had previously contained many frustrating aspects.
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◆ System - System Arrangement for Chapter 8 Stages
Regarding the map movement system, the ideas that emerged after extensive deliberation were and .
These stage systems decisively elevated the stage's completion level.
I believe the staff who proposed this is probably the MVP of this development cycle.
The catalyst for this idea was likely the game designer's foolish remark that “Chapter 8-4 should be the culmination of Chapters 8-1 to 8-3.”
The “Inventory” system was originally planned for 8-1 as well.
However, it didn't work well in 8-1, resulting in only the portable recovery item “Ende's Elixir” remaining in that chapter.
But when recovery items like MoonHerb were also introduced in 8-4, it ended up feeling like an alpha version of 8-1.
That's when the idea emerged: “Since we're at it, let's incorporate ideas from 8-2/8-3 too.”
had a system quite similar to 8-2 in some ways, and the “temporarily linking maps” system was very much like 8-3's.
These systems came together reasonably well, possessing the potential to “allow progression without deep conscious thought, yet offer higher scores with optimization.”
Of course, such optimization inevitably involves some degree of stress.
However, compared to previous stages, this system made the objectives and conditions for optimization clearer, allowing players to focus relatively easily on their own thinking.
As long as the inventory is manageable and the portal activation period from is long, it's not much of a problem.
In fact, it creates more important strategic depth around “how to connect which floors.”
The back-and-forth work is hellish and a pain, but since moving between maps itself has no cost, it's still somewhat bearable.
While the number of commands per “step” (turn) isn't critical, the difficulty changes dramatically based on how well you connect portals and refine your item consumption order.
Regarding this, I believe we successfully adapted and implemented the “strategic depth” we felt roguelike games offer.
(Conversely, this stage might be quite hellish for players who dislike that kind of strategy).
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◆Game Design Where Stats Inflate Dramatically
It's a well-known truth across all lifeforms and phenomena in this universe: “Bigger numbers feel good.”
A famous example of a “creature that just wants to make or call out big numbers” is the “elementary school kid.”
You're probably aware that elementary school kids are creatures at the forefront of primitive desires.
In the beginning, seeing numbers grow larger was a pleasurable sensation.
And no human is born into this world already in the form of an adult.
All people live carrying within them the truth that seeing numbers grow larger feels good.
This fact can also be glimpsed through history.
The 20th century was an era where expansionism and upward mobility spread.
Countries everywhere believed that “seeing numbers grow larger feels good.”
Consequently, fields where the pinnacle of a nation's technology was poured also began handling incredibly large numbers.
In such a 20th century, large nations often possessed a strong ambition for “space development.”
There was even a time when it was said that “advancing technology for space development demonstrates a nation's power.”
The spirit of aiming for something larger than Earth itself is precisely what the human heart, which finds pleasure in numbers growing larger, has brought forth.
From beginning to end, the ultimate destination of both heart and technology is the simple fact that larger numbers feel good.
Astronomy became one of the essential fields of knowledge frequently required for space exploration.
And among the great scientists who advanced astronomy, those who laid its foundations—the very people called “astronomers”—gave birth to a certain concept.
That concept is known as “astronomical magnitude.”
An astronomical figure is a number possessing an incredibly large value, and it is usually a very satisfying number.
The developers of TacticalNexus were born in the 20th century. Therefore, seeing numbers increase feels good.
And Chapter 8-4 is a high-difficulty, complex stage. Therefore, seeing numbers increase on such a stage feels good.
Therefore, because it feels good, this stage was designed to feature large numbers.
Recently, when we asked for clear scores for 8-4, we received various screenshots.
Here, there are many images with large numbers.
Because this stage generates many large numbers, most players can feel a great sense of satisfaction at the end.
In some cases, as visual ASMR, seeing numbers grow large can save the hearts of creatures who find it pleasurable.
Now, we have nothing to say to readers' family, friends, or readers themselves who happen to be astronomers, but if pressed, we might say things like “We're sorry” or “We sincerely apologize.”
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◆But honestly, it's pretty much a failure as a game, right?
It took an enormous amount of time, but after refining various ideas, Chapter 8-4 became a stage that can withstand fairly long play sessions.
In the first few days after implementation, I think this stage received relatively high ratings.
But was everything really that good? Not exactly.
Or rather, I think this stage is one where the flaws become more noticeable the longer you play it.
First off, managing items is painfully tedious.
Having to press the C key every single time to avoid items is a major stressor.
And there are just way too many items overall.
Especially the MoonHerbs—there are far too many of them. Purple's gut health after overloading on fiber is nothing short of pitiful.
I suspect the development dragged on, allowing them to proliferate. Had development been faster, the grass wouldn't have grown this rampant.
While the Flame Grass and Ice Grass systems were quite interesting, the “effects persist even when moving between maps” mechanic feels a bit excessive.
The fact that you can somehow manage even with only one empty inventory slot by constantly switching maps suggests a slight flaw in the design.
The overall balance of key placement is poor.
The cluster of keys at the bottom of the Nexus stage was interesting, but I feel there could have been a better approach.
The purpose of the keys was too clearly defined, which I think diluted the significance of “leaving many keys behind” in a negative way. That was too extreme.
Once you get somewhat used to the game, it tends to become a “game where you only keep one slot free in your inventory.”
As long as keeps rooms accessible, you can carry keys from distant rooms by keeping just one inventory slot free.
Repeatedly running back and forth to fetch keys is simply stressful.
Being able to buy Moon Sand for cost 3 in the latter half of the stage is a good system, but that was actually decided just hours before the update. It was originally cost 10.
In short, it's a system that suddenly became powerful without proper tuning, and it only worked well by chance.
Through extensive polishing, I believe this stage became quite good.
We feel we managed to implement the “roguelike-esque” idea quite nicely.
However, even so, the lack of tuning was still noticeable.
On the other hand, I think it was probably impossible for us, at our current stage, to polish this stage any further.
Looking back after finishing, you always find various things that could have been improved. But before finishing, it was really hard to spot them.
Given the time spent, we had reached a limit where we felt, “There's still room for improvement, but it's beyond what we can do now.”
Personally, as a programmer, feeling that kind of “limit” actually comes with a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, thinking “we did everything we could,” so I don't dislike it myself.
That said, that's just my subjective view. Generally speaking, this stage felt packed with elements that made you think, “Why was this left as-is?”
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◆Even so, the alpha version was a huge help
This time, for the first time, we released an alpha version on Discord shortly before implementation and had volunteer players debug it. For me personally, this was an enormous help.
Right after an update, you're usually exhausted and find several critical bugs. This time, however, the alpha version allowed us to get reports on most of the important bugs upfront, making the final development phase significantly easier than usual.
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◆In Closing
“Coming up with brand-new systems” isn't actually that difficult.
Starting is easy. I think continuing is the hard part.
Two things are crucial. One is making players think “This looks fun.” The other is finding where the element that differentiates it from previous ideas lies “when pushed to its limits.”
We've largely abandoned the former.
Generally, players who've put in thousands of hours will trust us enough to dive into most systems to some extent.
So, trusting these monsters who believe in us, we skip emphasizing “the fun parts of the stage.”
On the other hand, we do pay considerable attention to the latter.
We're particularly mindful of “where players are likely to focus their attention” while playing a stage.
(Even if there are still many shortcomings...)
Stages with new gimmicks usually require significant work afterward to truly make that system fun.
This was especially evident in 7-3, 7-4, and 8-1. We spent a considerable amount of time tuning those stages.
(8-2 was simply under-tuned; 8-3's late-game gimmick ended up prioritizing “how complex can we make it?” over fun.)
That said, we believe the stages we created clearly showcase both the strengths and weaknesses of their respective gimmicks.
On the other hand, TacticalNexus was originally conceived as a “game for future developers,” designed with the intent of making ideas easy for others to borrow and adapt.
Just as we borrowed and heavily modified the game system idea from Tower of the Sorcerer, we hope you'll borrow and heavily modify ideas too.
Frankly, developing Chapter 6 and beyond feels like walking a tightrope every time. Still, on average, I think we've managed to create quite a few genuinely interesting stages.
So, what will the next Very Hard stage, Chapter 9-5, turn out to be?
I'm sure it's a mix of excitement and dread. ...This is for the players. As a programmer, I'm not looking forward to it at all.
I can't even count how many times I was forced to implement weird systems only to scrap them for 8-4 alone. If 9-5 takes another six months, I'll be absolutely miserable.