The Dark Swamp playtest came and went, and we want to thank everyone who crash-tested the new region and shared their thoughts with us. We received a lot of valuable feedback that will help us make the experience even more fun and engaging.
We’ve also just updated the demo, as quite a few things have changed since the last patch. You can read the full patch notes in the #patches channel.
So what’s next?
- We’re currently iterating on the Dark Swamp based on your feedback and finishing up content that was cut due to time constraints. These would include:
- The cut troll boss
- Economy rework with some additions ( items + nodes )
- Map + Quests for the area
- We’ve also been working on the area beyond the swamp — the Aqueducts — for quite some time already.
- The layout is shaping up nicely, and most of the new enemies are done and animated.
- The art team is busy producing new decorations and procedural content as we speak.
- Boss fights and economy work are starting soon.
That’s mainly the world content, but we’re also brewing some new mechanics! Now dig these:
- Equipment Durability is on its way ( let us know your thoughts! )
- This will encourage players to use a wider variety of equipment and experiment with different builds.
- Repairing gear will be possible, but items will slowly depreciate after multiple repairs.
- Stamina system is something that we have discussed ( another important topic to bring in your thoughts! )
- The idea is that we'd take away general cooldowns and instead would have a stamina bar that would decrease as you perform actions and move around
- We could add variety to food values / gear / mutations that would alter the max cap of the stamina bar
- We’re reworking the status effect system ( Burn, Poison, Bleed, etc. ) to make it more interesting.
- The idea is that players must build up status “gauges” before the effect actually triggers, but once it does, it’ll hit harder and feel more impactful and satisfying.
- Stations are getting some love too.
- Players will now need to build them, instead of stations upgrading automatically in the background as the Hive levels up.
- Upgrading a station will come with visual changes and other gameplay benefits, more on that later.
I think that is most of the news for now. We'll keep you updated. And please, do start a discussion if you have any requests, thoughts, or even worries on the upcoming features. No filter required. Just blurt it out and let's ponder things together :)