Happy New Year everyone!
This is David, from the bleakmill team.
To conclude the year 2024 here at bleakmill, we wanted to give you a little update on what we have been up to in the last months. Mainly, we want to fill you in on the outcome of the first internal playtest we did with about 20 players and long term community members this December.
When we started making INDUSTRIA 2, we knew that we would need in depth playtesting to make sure the game is, in its core, fun and entertaining. Especially because we planned to make a few changes to the combat and AI systems from the prequel. In INDUSTRIA, the combat mainly results in the enemies seeing the player, followed by an endless chase until either the enemy or the player is dead. Even though there were quite a few complex systems working together in the background, the outcome was mostly “okay” combat.
One of INDUSTRIA 2’s main goals is to change this. Now we have a task based AI system at work, with enemies being able to lose the player, fall back in alert states or complete complex chains of tasks, which can range from opening a door, to using items and playing specific animations. We also feature a stealth system, as well as a crafting system, to allow for more dynamic gameplay and more player choice. Weapons can be upgraded with stats and attachments, and the looting has been overhauled completely.
In short, the whole core loop was upgraded with countless systems so it can stand on its own legs.
Because of all these changes, it was crucial we test them with a mix of the prequels playtesters, and people who have never played any INDUSTRIA game yet. The test was running for one week and we could not be more happy about the results: no issue people reported was unknown or something we didn't see coming. The main feedback we got was valuable comments on controls, movement and the inventory. For most players, playing Nora felt a little bit slow and clunky. This was because we deliberately slowed player movement down, to really let people sink into the world.
INDUSTRIA 2 really is the opposite from a movement shooter. But we may have exaggerated a little bit. It also didn’t help that the enemies moved quicker than Nora herself, resulting in an unfair perception, as the big metal robots were faster than Nora. The inventory feedback was also very valuable, as it's going to be the heart of the core loop. Here you can swap your 2 active slots with other weapons from your stash, and craft firebombs, explosives, traps and bandages from components you find in the world. Currently, the inventory sometimes clips into foliage, or nearby objects. Also, when crouching, the inventory opens into the floor, blocking half of it with level geometry.
In stressy situations (which are super fun), this can lead to frustrating moments of being unable to change weapons quickly. Apart from the core loop feedback, people really liked the atmosphere and general tone of INDUSTRIA 2, which made us very happy. We are super grateful for all this feedback, suggestions and ideas, because they shed light on INDUSTRIA 2 from a completely fresh perspective that we - who are working on Nora's second adventure every day - can easily overlook. And thus make the game an even gaming experience!
All in all, it was a super successful first playtest and we really can't wait to do the next one in 2025. We believe that these playtests should be a fundamental part of the development cycle and finally, we found a good internal pipeline to deliver these tests with much less hussle compared with the INDUSTRIA 1 days. If you are interested in joining the next INDUSTRIA 2 playtest, feel free to join our Discord server and follow INDUSTRIA 2 here on Steam and on Twitter to keep up to date.
We hope you all have a wonderful and peaceful year 2025.
Best,
David & the bleakmill team
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2154070/INDUSTRIA_2/