Hello, this is Wonho Son.
Today we wanted to provide more information on the newly introduced Season Pass and how the ‘seasons’ will be carried out. This feature is implemented in the current demo version. We were originally going to announce more information about this feature in the future, but it seems like there were quite a few players who were curious to know how the feature will be implemented into the game, so we thought we include this information on this week’s posting.
What is Season?
Roguelike games tend to be fun, but there is a limited amount of content available in the game. In general, the Seasons are supposed to provide and encourage new goals and objectives to players. We will be making constant feature updates and balance patches to the game itself, but Season Update is meant to renew the game’s metadata, add/remove contents and apply changes based on player feedback to optimize the overall gameplay experience.
The Galaxy, which is the group of ‘Planets’ that you explore, will be updated every 3 months with new bosses and new types of combat missions (escort mission, delivery mission, defense mission, etc.), along with the introduction of a new Toy Worker and Breakers.
We will not be simply adding new content to the game, but rather applying big changes to existing content. Such changes will be based on player feedback.
There will be large-scale updates to change balances between the Breakers as well as new skill upgrades, and new types of weapons and relics, thus providing continued changes.
Season Pass and Season Upgrade
Season Pass is not very difficult. You can earn Kron from progressing in Season Pass which you can use to unlock Toy Workers or purchase skins. Kron is not something you have to buy with real money. You can earn Krons by collecting VPs and progressing in Season Pass. Of course, it might be difficult to unlock all the skins in a day, but in time getting all the skins shouldn’t be too difficult.
Season Pass was originally provided to offer long-term goals within the game. You can earn new skins before others by purchasing/progressing on a Premium Pass, but all new skins can also be purchased with Krons in the following season, so it’s just a matter of time before you collect all the skins.
You can use your Season Points that you’ve earned from your progression Season Pass in Season Upgrades - this is the growth system within the season. Only the basic stat enhancements will be provided during pre-season (Early Access?), but once the Season system is actually “live” (we’re thinking version 1.0) the stat enhancement will be more than just a simple stat boost but will include more exciting abilities that are ideal or that coincide with current season meta.
If we were to keep all player’s progression, ANVIL will no longer be considered a roguelike game. There will be a big gap between new players and existing players, and character progression/growth will be a more dominant factor than the player’s skill. This is why we’d like to offer a new Season Upgrade every season. We’d like to provide more fun and transformation, and in order to do this, we need to reset the progress every season.
Season Points can be earned by everyone fairly. We do not want players to “grind” in order to collect Season Points. When a new season begins, we’d like to see players earn Upgrade Points easily/quickly to collect and build a character according to your liking. This is the purpose behind Season Upgrade.
Season Relics
Relics are the most dynamic part of the Season system. There will be diverse types of new Relics added to the game every season - and at the same time, unpopular Relics will be removed/edited. Keeping unpopular Relics in the game will just clutter the game with unused Relics.
This is why we are planning to reset the Relics stat after every season. All the Relics will be deleted? Yes, some may worry about this. But remember that Relics are not released based on chances. If you get Relic X after a run, then next time around you’re going to get a different Relic. No matter how rare a Relic is, you’re bound to get them after a fair amount of play.
When you start a new season, you will earn new Relics with new effects. You will be able to equip your Relics according to the new season’s meta.
Things that remain after a season
Breakers, Toy Workers, skins, and Krons will remain with you even after a season and will not be removed or deleted. Relics and what not has the ‘need’ to be reset, but other things that you collect throughout the season will remain with you.
We only mean to keep the ‘season’ element in order to offer fresh new experiences and tactics at the beginning of each season. We want players to be able to find a match in multiplayer mode. Co-op is a core gameplay experience that we want every user to enjoy in ANVIL. We want to encourage existing players to play with new players without much gap, and this is why we’re including a reasonable amount of factors that update and add new elements.
We do not think there’s a perfect solution to approach the season element. We are also debating internally whether to make some selected Relics permanent and also giving out rewards according to the number of Relics collected.
We’re open to ideas, so please don’t hesitate to share them with us in implementing the Season system!
We’d be happy to consider different methods in implementing seasons in the game.
Thank you
Everything mentioned here today, are of course subject to change in the future. 😊