Hey everyone – Kevin here again with another Dev Diary!
First off, a big thank you for all the positive feedback on the latest update, it really means a lot to the team. We’re very happy to see it landing well with so many of you. That said, we know there’s still plenty of work to do, so please keep the feedback coming!
This week, I wanted to talk a bit about progression. We’ve been hearing from some players that the game can feel a bit grindy, like runs don’t stand much of a chance unless you’ve already sunk a good amount of time into upgrading your squad at the Resistance Base.
When we set out to make Grit and Valor, our goal was to create that classic roguelite loop: try, fail, learn, improve, repeat. But from your feedback, it sounds like that loop is leaning more toward frustration than fun in some cases.
Just before I get into what we're thinking, I will mention that Update #1 went some way to addressing the 'grind' concerns already by making sure players start with all 3 mechs in their squad from the start, but clearly there is more to be done.
So here’s what we’re thinking (still early days, so nothing final yet): we want to ease up on how heavily the game leans on meta progression, as that seems to be driving some of the grind. Instead, we’re planning to boost the strength, impact and variety of run rewards, so each session feels more rewarding and meaningful on its own.
We’re also looking at moving Overclocks into the run itself, which should help create more exciting (and varied) power spikes during a run, and make things feel less dependent on long-term upgrades.
We’re not going full roguelike, but we are thinking to nudge things more in that direction.
If this feels good in testing, we’ll follow it up with a balance pass, just to make sure the stronger run rewards don’t end up making things too easy if you happen to stumble on a really amazing build, especially since we know some of you are already breezing through the game! This might also come alongside some other difficulty changes if needed.
Another thing we know is adding to that grindy feeling is the lack of level variety. We’ve actually started prototyping some new level types, and eagle-eyed players might’ve noticed that a new level type was originally planned to go out with Update 2. These are closely tied to the progression changes we’re working on, so we’ve decided to hold them back until that side of things is in a better place.
Huge thanks for sticking with us, and for helping shape the game with every new update.
Thanks everyone, have an awesome weekend!
