Hello everyone !
In this post we will share more about our plan for the future of the game, how said plans have changed since release, and the impact it will have on both short and long term updates for the game.
It’s no surprise that a lot of stuff can shift our perspectives and plans, and the incredibly fast growth of our community has positively contributed to that.
REQUESTED FEATURES AND INTERFACE
Beforehand, I want to mention some widely requested features namely : more lobby customisation, session details (naming, language tag, etc), translation of the game, accessibility settings and achievements.
All of these are planned, but have one problem in common : they involve a lot of user interface. As simple as it sounds, our current system works but lacks modularity. It proved to be enough at the time but isn’t easy to modify, and now that we need this modularity to make changes manageable, the system will undergo a complete rework to welcome these features.
In short, we are taking the time to entirely rework the interface system, to add the stuff mentioned above, but also in anticipation of future changes. It will take some time, but it is necessary to guarantee a healthy future for the game.
You can expect more details as these changes get closer to release.
INTERNAL WORK FOR FUTURE MODULARITY
As mentioned just above, the interface system will undergo a complete rework, but it’s not the only one.
For the unawares, we are a small team, (initially 3 siblings before our expansion a few weeks ago), and we all learned the field on the go while working on the game, meaning a lot of our early work is suboptimal and not fully prepared for future content. While we are now confident in how to achieve what we want, a lot of that early work needs to be redone and it will take time.
For example, a lot of essential systems (session management, inviting people, etc) are managed directly into the map once it’s loaded, meaning we will have to decentralize this into its own piece of code to allow future maps.
For the same reasons, we also want to transfer the project to the newest version of Unreal Engine (from 5.2 to 5.5), which will help with our workflow and stability of the game, but again involves some work and time.
This means until these changes are done, the only type of content you can expect is within the current map (more details below).
WORK ON THE CURRENT MAP
The above statement might be deceiving if you expected new maps, but this was already planned and mentioned. In the current early access state of the game, a lot of the core gameplay is still not finished, and there is a lot to add before we explore more.
So for now, our priority is to flesh out the currently unfinished core gameplay and existing map, in parallel to all the work mentioned above.
The next update will focus on adding various items on the map to bring more life in the environment, as long as being usable to defend yourself, which should bring more possibilities to how you approach situations.
Following that, we will introduce more unique items that have a very specific but situational use and can bring a fun twist to the game, similar to the C4.
Some of them have been suggested, but I’m not gonna spoil more !
Grenade and syringes that we mentioned in the past are still planned and will follow this philosophy. Again, I don’t want to say more because the discovery is part of the fun !
Around that, you can also expect rework of certain tasks and areas of the map that lack a visual identity.
Regarding expansion of the map that has been suggested a lot, this won’t happen for a simple reason : the current map is balanced for 5-8 players and the size is fine tuned around that. Making the map bigger would make the experience way too uneven at varying player count and this is something we tested in our early iterations of the game.
Because of this, we will mainly focus on making this map richer without making it bigger, but we definitely want to make a larger map designed for more players, which brings us to the next point.
FUTURE MAPS AND GAME MODES
Shortly after release, we vaguely mentioned the fact that new maps would always come with its own game mode, without giving more information, and today we want to share more so you know what to expect.
Currently, we have a game that works and is relatively fun, and we believe it is for one main reason : we designed everything as a whole and tested thoroughly for hours until it was fun.
We started with the core gameplay loop, designed fun and unique tasks, positioned every room and corridors to ensure interesting player interactions, and we designed the current map around these established key points.
What I’m saying here is that making a fun and refreshing map isn’t just about making a new layout and adding visuals on top, it’s a much deeper work.
We could definitely just go for that simpler option and it would be fun, but not refreshing, and rapidly boring which is something we absolutely want to avoid, especially as both options are time consuming to produce.
Our philosophy is to keep the game simple and ensure everything has a purpose. We don’t want maps for the sake of having maps, we want every map to bring something cool and play differently, rather than just being a reskin with a slightly different layout.
Since designing a new map involves starting from the drawing board and takes time anyways, we want each map to also come with its own rules, player count and unique mechanics. This is a great opportunity for us to share our ideas and provide refreshing experiences while ensuring the current LOCKDOWN Protocol you know and love remains relatively unchanged !
For example, we want the next map to be larger and designed for 16 players, with longer rounds to introduce mechanics that we couldn’t fit in the current 8 minute round. This game mode would still involve the usual employees/dissidents dynamics but with different objectives that shift your perspective and how you approach the situation.
Our goal for these gamemodes is to bring a breath of fresh air to the game with various experiences while always trying to keep the social deduction aspect central to the gameplay, regardless of the rules of that gamemode.
This is just one relatively simple example to explain the philosophy, but we have more in mind, each with their own twist. All of this will take time, but we are excited to share more as we make progress !
As shrimple as that 🦞