Prologue
Hey everyone!
Long time no see! It’s J, the art director over at the Stand-Alone dev team, LIFUEL. Things have been getting busier by the day. Last weekend, I was caught up prepping development logs and social media content, but lately, I’ve been laser-focused on fine-tuning the content for our upcoming playtest. Safe to say, time’s been slipping away faster than ever!
Today, I wanted to dive into the topic of transport ships.
We’re excited to share the initial concept, the journey of bringing it to life, and where we’re heading with its design. After reading this, we hope you’ll start to notice what sets our game apart from others in the genre.
And hey, if you know of any games out there that are similar to ours, feel free to drop them in the comments below—we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Early Stages of Development
what exactly is the transport ship?
In Stand-Alone, after a player wins a battle, they’ll head to the transport ship to grab their rewards before moving on to the next room. It’s basically a pit stop where they can collect what they’ve earned and prepare for what’s next!
Before the design of transport ship
At the start of development, we had to figure out how players would transition to the next combat area. We didn’t spend too much time on this decision since there were already plenty of tried-and-true movement methods in other Roguelike games. Since it wasn’t central to Stand-Alone’s core concept, we decided to go with one of these established methods.
Then, around December 2021, we created the prototype for Stage 1. At that point, the game only had 8 combat areas.
Approach 1.0
We came up with the idea of a portal to take players to the next battle area. At the time, our world-building concept wasn’t fully defined, so we decided to go with a cave entrance for the portal. It looked pretty good and functioned just as we’d hoped, so we had a few players test it out. Here’s where things got interesting.
On the surface, everything seemed fine.
But after talking to the players, I got a sense that something wasn’t quite right. Everyone seemed to think our game was more of a ‘galaxy-like Metroidvania’ rather than a Roguelite. Let me walk you through the conversation that followed.
(conversation with Player A after the test)
Player A: Wow, this is so much fun! You guys did an amazing job!
Developer: Thanks for playing! Did you find the combat or progression difficult at all?
Player A: Not at all! The map is huge, with hidden entrances everywhere. It has that exploration vibe and the action is great!
Developer: (Wait, exploration? Hmm...) Anyway, thanks for the feedback!
(conversation with Player B after the test)
Player B: It feels like an action Metroidvania, but the action part is a bit too dominant.
Developer: Uh... we’re actually making an action Roguelite game. Can you tell me why you feel it’s more like a Metroidvania?
Player B: It’s just... really reminds me of Metroidvania?
Approach 2.0
We took a step back and analyzed why things felt off. While there were several factors at play, the core issue came down to how we designed the portal to move players to the next combat area.
At the time, the portal was designed pretty simply. We planned to create different terrains besides the desert, and the portal was just a way to enter underground caves or buildings—nothing too special about it.
But here’s where the problem came in: the design was so generic that it made it feel like the current area was directly connected to the next one. We’d done this to keep things looking more natural, but we hadn’t realized that it could end up influencing how players perceived the game.
So, we decided to introduce a little more clarity by adding some icons to the portal. This is something you see in a lot of other games, where icons provide information about the next area. But instead of marking it with something like ‘rewards,’ we used icons to show ‘battle information’ instead.
With this change, we managed to fix most of the glaring issues. But, as you can imagine, solving one problem often leads to new ones... and that can be pretty frustrating! (Though, of course, this is all part of our mindset of constantly striving for better solutions.)
[Problems to Solve and Game Direction]
- The portal doesn’t offer enough decision-making space for players.
- There needs to be more physical space and distance between portals.
- The conditions for moving to the next area feel a bit too rigid.
Let's fix the game's shortcomings!
As developers, we of course want to fix these problems. So we looked for inspiration from multiple angles and were determined to make the game more interesting.
1. First problem: Providing Decision-making Space
When we were developing, we only envisaged players playing by strategically selecting skills and modifications, and did not pay particular attention to movement between combat areas. However, as testing progressed, we realised that both were very important. After clearly thinking about which skills or rewards to choose to grow, we realised that there were still many shortcomings in the current approach.
We had expected to be able to achieve something similar to the effect of ‘Slay the Spire’, but the current method of simply placing icons on the portal to indicate whether the next battle will be easy, difficult or unknown is not very helpful. Since there are currently not many reward types, it seems that changing this to provide ‘reward’ information would not make much difference.
Therefore, we decided to increase the number of reward types and allow players to choose freely, providing more decision-making space.
2. Second problem: Physical space and Distance
When selecting the area of the next battle, a certain amount of space is inevitably required, and if the options are increased, the movement distance will also increase accordingly. This means that additional space must be considered when designing the map, but even if it is designed in this way, there may be situations where players are unable to freely change options. In this way, it will conflict with the first problem mentioned above.
This was the map design at the time. This design gave rise to more complicated problems. If the distance between portals is too far, players may miss or be unsure whether there are other portals, which lengthens the time spent searching. If the distance is too short, it will limit the shape of the area and lead to a monotonous map design. We analysed many games, but did not find a solution that fully matched our game style.
3. Third problem: Rigid Progression Conditions
This is closely related to the conditions for clearing the level. In the game, there may be situations where you want to make the player skip the battle or simplify the process. For example, when repeated battles get boring, when improper choices lead to slow growth, when the difficulty of the battle is too high, or when physical strength is depleted too quickly.
One of the most unpleasant situations is having to return to the starting point of the area because you missed an enemy. If the battle area is large and complex, the player may also need to wander around the map to find this enemy. (This problem also existed in earlier versions.)
To solve this problem, you can reduce the combat area or provide a minimap. If the combat area is too small, it will easily make the platform design look the same and too monotonous. Adding a minimap does not fundamentally solve the problem of the player having to chase after the enemy, so we did not adopt either approach.
In a temporary test, we tried to let the player automatically enter the next combat area after defeating more than 50% of the enemies. But this also caused a lot of problems. (If we want to discuss this topic, there is really a lot to talk about.)
After a lot of back and forth, we landed on the idea of an “Administrator Wolf.” The plan was simple: players defeat it to end the battle, meet the conditions to unlock the portal, and move on to the next area.
Sounds perfect, right? Well… not quite.
What we thought was a clever fix ended up creating an even bigger issue. When the condition for ending a battle was simply “defeat all enemies,” rewards could be handed out right away. But now that players had to defeat a specific enemy, things got messy. During testing, we ran into situations where the reward screen popped up and blocked attacks from other enemies, causing players to take surprise damage—or worse, die out of nowhere.
On top of that, the UI for skill transformations was way too big to work as a reward system in this setup.
So, we found ourselves back at the drawing board. What we desperately need is a “reward space”—a solution that:
1. Solves these issues without disrupting the combat flow.
2. Offers plenty of decision-making space.
3. Let us issue multiple rewards at once.
4. Gives players a safe zone away from enemy attacks.
Need space!
And so, the transport ship was born—a dedicated space that checked all the boxes we needed.
This was the original concept: when players board the transport ship, they’re greeted with crates, modules, and mechanical devices they can interact with and modify. At the far end, a map displays the route to the next area, guiding players forward.
If we’d gone with a more traditional approach, it might have been something like: defeat all enemies, collect a reward that drops from the sky, and step onto a portal to move on. But after considering all the issues and values we wanted to address, we decided to incorporate the transport ship instead. It wasn’t particularly flashy, and the development process was filled with challenges. But at that moment, it was the design that aligned best with our vision. By addressing the earlier problems, the game began moving in the direction we had always hoped for. From there, we’ve been continuously improving and refining the content.
Of course, this was our first attempt at something like this, and there are bound to be areas that feel a bit unpolished. At the same time, I know there’s still room to push this design even further.
Another upgrade
After a year and a half, with two UI updates along the way, we have also collected a lot of feedback and information. By observing the various ideas provided by players after experiencing the demo, as well as analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the game itself, we have gradually clarified the direction of improvement for the transport ship.
Problem 1: Game pace
The problem affecting the game pace is the position of the transport ship. After completing a battle, the player still needs to traverse a physical distance to board the transport ship, and this distance is clearly not in keeping with the fast-paced combat. This may seem like a minor issue, but we regard it as a very serious flaw.
Problem 2: Layout
When creating the battle map, we always need to leave extra space at the edges of the map to make room for the transport ship. Even if these areas are arranged as compactly as possible, some physical space is unavoidable, unless the battle takes place directly below the transport ship.
To solve the aforementioned problem, we tried to isolate this space, but in order to make the game more interesting, we realised that it was necessary to remove this physical space, even if it is a short distance.
However, no matter how small the transport ship is designed, it cannot be freely distributed in any area.
Problem 3: Internal Size
When we first designed the transport ship, we envisioned it as a space where players could practice their skills. But in reality, the space was just too small for meaningful movement. Enlarging it wasn’t an easy fix either—making it bigger would complicate the layout, while keeping it too small would limit its functionality.
After a lot of back-and-forth, we eventually landed on a new design: players can now access the large transport ship through small portals. By separating the transport ship from the combat area, these portals can be placed freely—on the ground, in the air, or wherever they’re needed. This solved the space problem without disrupting the layout or functionality.
With this new approach, we’ve addressed all the key issues and created a smoother, more efficient experience for players.
Thanks to countless ideas and tests, the transport ship has received an upgrade! Now, players can quickly board after a battle and seamlessly head into the next fight.
Here, players can hone their skills with ample space and practice dummies. And if that’s not their thing, they can simply revert to the original rewards instead.
Results
So far, this design has been pretty satisfactory. While the animation and sense of continuity might feel slightly reduced when traveling through the portal instead of directly riding the transport ship, it significantly improves the game’s performance and pacing.
That said, it’s not for us to decide how well it works—that’s where you come in! We’d love to hear your valuable feedback, and we’ll continue fine-tuning and addressing any shortcomings based on what you share.
Future Design Direction
We’re aware that this design isn’t perfect, even if we haven’t received direct feedback yet. Here are a few areas we’re already considering for improvement:
1. Transport ship in non-combat areas
In neutral zones—like event locations or shops—the transport ship doesn’t serve much purpose since there are no combat rewards to collect. Yet, players still have to use it to progress to the next area.
This feels unnecessary, so we plan to introduce an option to directly select the next area from the map. By leveraging intuitive UX design, we aim to make this transition smooth and natural, without needing to introduce another tutorial.
2. Fixed final battle setup
Currently, the portal only appears after defeating the Administrator Wolf, which means every final battle revolves around this boss. While this isn’t a major issue, it has led to the removal of some maps. Addressing this will require additional effort to fine-tune the details, but it’s something we’re committed to refining.
Closing Thoughts
In summary, our reward system and the transport ship concept are actually quite distinct from those in other games—though this might not be immediately apparent during gameplay.
To address what seemed like minor but rigid design issues, we’ve tried countless adjustments. However, the workload has far exceeded our expectations, and the results haven’t entirely solved every problem or simplified development. In fact, perfection still feels out of reach, and tackling these nuanced game mechanics has proven to be a major resource drain.
Despite all this, our team remains driven by a simple belief: solve problems and keep pushing what’s fun. Little by little, it feels like we’re getting closer to the results we envisioned.
We’re working incredibly hard to make this game the best it can be, and we’ll continue refining and improving with each step. Through constant iteration, embracing challenges, and seeking out innovation, we truly believe the game will become something exceptional.
We’ll always approach development with a forward-thinking mindset.
Thank you for taking the time to read this—we genuinely appreciate your support!