Hi All,
Well in 4 minutes SPAZ 2 will have been out for a week. It has been a really exciting time and we have gotten a ton of suggestions all week. In that time we have pushed 12 hotfixes to deal with the biggest quality of life issues, but now we also need to spend some time on bigger things that take a little design and implementation time.
To that end, Richard and I had a long meeting yesterday and tried to figure out how best to address player suggestions while still keeping the core design principles of the game intact and true to our original vision. So this is the first set of tasks that has come out of that meeting. It certainly won't be the last, but we thought you would want to know what we will be working on in the near future.
This back to development mode mean the less < 5 minute response times on the forums here will have to stop because I need Richard back, but we will still be reading and replying at about the rate we were leading up to launch, which was quite regularly.
So here's the list:
1. Catalog System:
The goal here is to provide players a less random means to find the parts that they want for their ships without undermining the core looting mechanics and part rarities. So you will be able to search for parts with the weapons you want in a non random way. There will probably be a price attached to this search as well.
2. Working on Clarity Issues:
The tutorial system is getting a facelift to allow us to display more text and we will be increasing the amount of text in those tutorials to help players understand how to play better. We will be combing the forums for the most common stumbling areas in the flow and places players miss opportunities and we will try to make understanding the game systems better.
3. Challenge/Ambient Events:
These are to add some spice to the universe and promote extra player immersion. Instead of adding rock harvesting as part of a combat encounter, thus ending each encounter with the "cleanup grind" so you aren't feeling like you are missing out, instead we will tailor some non combat events that will appear and disappear periodically on the map in different locations. They should be a treat and be quite rewarding when found. This should bring back some of the "being there" people are missing from SPAZ 1. This will also be an ongoing process to build, so 1 will come online, then there will be more over time.
4. The Cheat Menu:
So there is lots of cheat engine use going on, and that is an extra step people should not need to deal with if they are experimenting. At first we will allow Rez, Goons, Scrap, and XP cheats, but the menu will grow over time. We will also disable achievements if you cheat so be warned there.
5. Auto Build/Auto Assembly options:
Some people are not enjoying the construction as much as we do, so we want to streamline it for those people. This means having pre defined spine shaped you can simply select and have your best cores form that shape for you instantly. Another button to snap on all your best parts will also be available. This is a quality of life tool for some people but using it will be in no way required.
6. Starmap Cloaking:
So sometimes you want to get from A to B without being bothered. We want to allow that, but at a large cost. We will be adding a cloak to the starmap that will make your ship invisible. Any action will decloak you and it will have a large rez cost, but it will be there to get you our of a jam. We also plan on it having a substantial recharge time once used. It will be a Carl invention that we unlock at some level and be for the player fleet only.
7. Secondary Objectives:
One of the big problems we are seeing is the word "Grind." It shocked us really because up until release we thought we had a grind free game here, but we realize what the problem is. We teach the player to do a couple simple things early on to make basic money and they focus on that, never branching out... ever. We need to fix this, and here is the plan to do it.
We will start providing objectives with xp incentives to try new things like joining a starbase defense for example to reap huge xp rewards, or to offer tribute to a faction leader to teach how to quickly raise faction wide relations. That sort of thing. It will be a teaching tool to allow people to see more of the nuanced gameplay below the surface that can really boost leveling speed and relations changes. We will of course also be adding fun objectives too, but in the short term we think that it will be a great teaching tool.
8. Bringing back Flying in Reverse:
This is a smaller thing, but we all want it and we want to make sure you know it is being worked on.
Now this isn't the end of the list by any means, but this is what we will be working on first. We think it will give the biggest bang for the buck, and once these changes have been made we would like to see how the community reacts to this new ecosystem to see what the next priority steps will be.
Hotfixes will remain a priority while we work on these new features.
Thanks for coming along for the ride!