Greetings, adventurers!
Do you know what makes a game truly come alive? It's you, the audience! Just like the saying goes, “A tree never falls in a forest if there's nobody to watch it move”, right?;) Well, the same can be said for games. Without your enthusiastic support, our game would be nothing but pixels on a screen. We thank each and every one who played our demos before, during, and after the Steam Next Fest and gave feedback, you've been an immense help to us. And special thanks go to the streamers – being able to watch your reactions was both nerve-wracking and invaluable!
It is hard to put into words the emotional rollercoaster devs are having watching streams, especially when a game has a lot of unusual mechanics, like ours. From behind our screens, we were constantly holding our breath as we watched players navigate through the tutorial. We felt like we were in a never-ending loop of “Oh, no, they didn't get it, our tutorial sucks”, “Oh, no, he got it but didn't like it”, “Wait, wait, now he got it and he loved it, awesome!”, “Why did we put so much dialogue in? Everyone wants just to fight”, “She laughed at this joke and clicked around to find more – we clearly haven't put enough!”
In the world of game development, there's nothing quite as exhilarating as experimenting with unique mechanics and seeing how players react. Our team has been on the edge of their seats, analyzing feedback and carefully separating the ‘designed’ level of frustration from any unintentional slip-ups. We've pushed the boundaries with experimental gameplay elements, all in the hopes of creating an experience that truly engages and challenges players. And now, with the audience's reactions in, we can't wait to see how we've succeeded!
One of the first things we saw right away was that stamina management was too harsh. That was fixed immediately and didn't take a lot.
One of the most exciting parts of game development is perfecting the gameplay mechanics. In our game, we knew that getting the attack positioning just right was crucial to creating a satisfying player experience. So, we put it to the test with a wide range of playtesters, including some skilled streamers and reviewers (who got through it like champs!). With their feedback, we quickly got to work on version two. We experimented with adding attack indicators to make the game feel more fair, and through many iterations, we finally arrived at the perfect solution. Now we have two versions of the attack indicators, with a timing hint and without it, and you can opt for a more fitting experience.
Crafting a balanced difficulty curve is a game developer's ultimate challenge. It's very easy to slip into the moment where the fight becomes too easy and boring, but the “devs” difficulty is also tricky. The challenging experience for the dev acquainted with the mechanics and for the player going through the learning curve and exploration differ a lot. Times and times we had to rework our bosses to incorporate the learning, the “aha” moments, the rhythm, and so on. One of the toughest decisions, probably, was to add the difficulty slider (and we won't tell you what it does :) ).
Source: CohhCarnage
Another thing, we were on a constant lookout for any signs of boredom or monotony in the gameplay. These moments were like alarm bells ringing in our heads, urging us to take action and make changes. But “fixing” it is a special design challenge. You change the accents, highlight different interest points for the player and it shifts the whole system and experience.
Our game's development journey is full of exciting surprises, and one of them was the unexpected love for our repel mechanic (the part with the flasks being thrown back)! We always felt it was a fun feature, even though there were no plans to rely on it heavily throughout the game. But the overwhelming response from our playtesters blew our minds. They found it so satisfying to throw back the “piss jars” (this is a quote, we are not saying anything about those yellow flasks ;) ), that we had to take action! We reworked some already-designed mobs to use this mechanic, and even added a new one to the later levels - and that's on a really late development stage!
Another interesting experiment is the item ascension system. Its reception displays two funny effects so far: just like stamina, as soon as people see the durability bar – they hate it immediately. “What, another durability system, whyyyy?” – they yell. But as they play and realize it's not the same old thing, their opinions start to shift. It's been a rollercoaster of emotions for us to watch as people go from hating it to being intrigued by it. Of course, it's hard to fully evaluate the system based on just the demo content, which is limited to one large dungeon. We're excited to see how players will react to it in the final release!
Source: Dan Gheesling
Our pixel art style is carefully hand-crafted; our artists pour their heart and soul into every detail, bringing the game to life with precision and passion, and we are really lucky to have them on our team. And the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with fans showing lots of love and excitement towards our art. Our game's atmosphere, inspired by so many game and pop culture legends, from The Bard's Tale to Dark Souls, from Lexx to Monty Python, relies heavily on talent of our artists. All of those twisted, ridiculous, dark fable, but ironic characters are a blend of imaginative storytelling and inspired drawing. A lot of details were created just because the artist saw it this way, and that was spot on and felt as if it were indispensable. We're excited to show you the beauty in the grotesque and the unexpected surprises that lie ahead!
Behind-the-scenes, there's a flurry of activity happening as we prepare for the game's release. We've been hard at work putting the finishing touches on the content (wasn't easy), going through countless rebalancing iterations, and making sure the UI is just right. We've also been adding tons of sounds, music, and text (wasn't breezy either), to really bring the game to life. We've been implementing quality-of-life upgrades, working on translations, and scrutinizing every little detail to ensure that the game is as polished as possible (going on full and still have lots to do).
The approaching release is, truly, exciting and frightening, and everyone is trying to improve everything in their power. The meaning of this project for each team member goes far beyond anything you can call work, a hobby, or even art – it's more of a deep emotional and personal connection. From the beginning we fell in love with this weird imaginary world and its aesthetic, and it kept us on our toes during the whole process. We've poured countless hours, sleepless nights, and all of our creativity into it, pushing ourselves to the limit. But it has also given us a sense of purpose, hope, strength during the toughest times, – and a feeling of being true to yourself and to your team every step of the way.
Hope to see you all on release and that you will enjoy the story we want to tell!
– The Greedventory Team