Hi Everyone,
With the full launch around the corner on June 16th, there is one topic I want to address, as there has been a lot of discussion about it over the months.
Since releasing in Early Access Mech Armada has had a Wall of Fog that enters the battlefield one tile at a time. It's indestructible and it can kill any unit instantly.
In his awesome video coverage last December, Splattercat said of the fog: "And with regards to the gaseous wall of fart death I'm not a big fan of it, and I'm not actually entirely sure that the game needs it"
If you haven't seen the video, check it out here, it's pretty cool:
You know what? He's right, but the story of the Fog is long and complicated, so it's worthwhile looking at the journey so we can better understand what will happen in 1.0.
In the Beginning
Since the super-early prototypes of Mech Armada (before it even had a name) it was clear the game was about managing energy to spawn new custom Mechs. And it was also clear there was an issue with players stalling and farming energy - it makes sense, energy is essential and you want every last drop of it.
The problem is that this gameplay is boring. Waiting and farming is not fun, and one of my guiding principles making any game is to make the best strategies the most fun.
This issue is not new. Many games need to put some kind of time pressure (turn pressure?) on the player, which moves everything forward and makes the game more exciting. A classic example is the ghost in Spelunky:
For a while the Fog solved the problem, and besides it added another pressure point on the player, influencing your strategy: you can't turtle so you need to figure out how to move forward.
And something else happened, because of the animosity the player develops with the Fog over the course of a run, I wanted to incorporate it in the story. So the ending has the Fog becoming a main character after you beat the last boss.
Everything was good and Mech Armada shipped in Early Access.
This Is What Early Access Is For
Over the next few months many things changed in the game.
Despite the Fog putting pressure on players, many still felt compelled to try to farm energy, it was just harder (more frustrating) to do. Besides, there were situations where the fog legitimately complicated things too much, like in maps with many obstacles. So many people disliked it.
The first thing that changed is the energy economy got redesigned to make it easier to understand and less susceptible to farming. Once this was in the game the role of the Fog was less important, and I started moving it back so it came into the field later and later, giving players more space.
I still thought there was some value in pushing players forward and the Fog was now prominently featured in the story, so I didn't want to take it out altogether. But I didn't want to ignore the feedback, so I ran a poll in our Discord:
Well, that complicated things...
Making Everyone Happy?
As a younger game designer I used to think that, with enough ingenuity, you could satisfy every player and address their concerns.
I know better now, but that's still a lofty goal to aim towards. In this case I had the following realizations:
- The Fog is less important for the energy economy now, so there's flexibility
- Fighting the Fog can be fun and different from the rest of the monsters
- I can use the story to add gameplay variety in how the Fog and the player interact
So this is how things are going to be in 1.0: during your initial runs you won't have the Wall of Fog chasing you anymore. Once you reach the final boss currently in the game, you'll unlock a new section that will allow you to get a weapon to fight the Fog. Afterwards, if you start a run with that weapon, the Wall of Fog will return, and it's up to you if you want to try to fight it or just run away from it.
With this design I feel like there is less pressure on the novice players, while there is also an arc that makes new runs different as you progress through the story and it introduces new gameplay possibilities.
I hope this addresses your concerns, but regardless I'd love to hear your thoughts. You can reach me on Discord or the Steam forums.
/Sergio
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1389360/Mech_Armada/