After taking in a great deal of feedback from testers, the primary focus of January was on adding variability to the gameplay on ground missions. Previously, we had one enemy type, and although missions were played on different facilities and planets, they felt repetitive with the same enemy type each mission. So, a major focus was on adding new enemy variants. You now have different ways of being attacked or blown up, from creatures big or small, slow or fast, and some with deadly accuracy… This has opened up the gameplay massively. We also replaced NPCs with “Warped styled” characters and expanded customization options to fit a greater variety of game players.
Alongside variability, plenty of refinements were made to enemy behaviour and weapon stats, both of which have really cleaned up the way combat is intended to feel. On a side note, we realized why space combat was so hard for a lot of players… turns out someone forgot to dial down their accuracy. That’s now changed and allows for a breezier time gliding through the unimaginable eternity of space. However, if you still succumb to the Void’s relentless pressure, we have added a death screen to the game showing you what struck the final blow, and showing you where you dropped that hard earned Residuum.
Progression and customization systems continue to expand. Many new items with unique appearances were added alongside improvements to loadout previews, character customization, and item visuals. Meanwhile, on world facilities are also becoming more visually responsive, now changing appearance based on their completion state, helping the universe feel more reactive to player actions.
On the audio side, this month included a full pass on Void creature sounds, more mission dialogue, improved damage type sounds, and added a new character system for setting up NPC’s. In-game UI is always evolving, with improvements always boiling down to what’s absolutely necessary for the player experience, while still looking awesome. Our designer is crushing it.
Overall a solid month of steady progress. There were a few side quests, but we can talk about those next time.