Hello Riftbreakers!
This week we would like to show you one of the major changes we introduced to The Riftbreaker in the past couple of weeks. Ever since we let you play the game in the form of the Prologue or the closed Alpha you have been giving us tons of feedback about the Research screen. We read all of your suggestions and spent hours thinking about how to make it right. The result is a complete overhaul of our research system. Those of you who joined our stream in the past month have already seen it in action (we stream every Tuesday and Thursday, 3 PM CEST, by the way). Now we’re taking a closer look at it.
You can click the image to view the full-resolution version. The visual design is mostly done, but the order of unlocks and everything else is not final and will change before the release.
The Communications Hub doesn't seem too important, but if you want to develop your base, you will have to protect and upgrade this building at all costs.
Our initial version of the research screen was a simple list of blueprints that Ashley can download using the Communications Hub. It was quite easy to navigate both using a gamepad and the mouse + keyboard combination, but it had its issues. It was not easy to see the relations between various research items. To combat this we have moved, as many of you suggested, from the ‘list’ style research screen to a more visual representation of technology development in the form of a tree. Now it is much easier to see which research items are related and what their requirements are.
The old style of our research tree was easy to navigate, but difficult to understand.
This style also makes it easier for us to clearly show you technology tiers. Most of the available research options are now connected directly to Headquarters upgrades, showing that the HQ is not just a building you respawn at after ‘accidentally’ aggroing half the planet’s population. The Headquarters level is the focus of your base development, as it gives you access to more advanced research opportunities. Completing them will give you a better chance of surviving tough missions in other regions of the planet by giving your infrastructure and equipment a much-needed boost.
There's nothing stopping you from rushing out some key technologies if you like. Example chosen for no particular reason.
Naturally, it is not necessary to research all of the technologies in any given tier. If any of the research options do not fit your playstyle you can skip them completely. In the previous version of the research system, it was a risky move since you had no way of knowing whether you are locking your path to a technology you would actually want to use. With the research tree redesign, it is now possible to study all the possibilities, plan ahead, and download only the blueprints that are relevant to you.
That’s quite enough information for now. Join us on Friday for the second part of this article, where we are going to tell you more about the research tabs, as well as alien research and… The Bestiary Screen! If you can’t wait until Friday, you can join us at www.twitch.tv/exorstudios tomorrow at 3PM CEST and see all the new developments live. Also don’t forget to join our Discord - www.discord.gg/exorstudios.
See you on Friday!