The first playtest is out!
We are happy to announce that we are now holding our very first playtest on Steam. This playtest is formed as a way of gathering feedback from you about the direction of the game that we are taking. If you are among those who tried our demo last Next Fest, there will be quite a few changes (listed at the bottom of the post).
Purpose of the playtest
The main purpose of this playtest is, as mentioned above, to hear from you what you think about the direction we're taking with the game. Does the game feel fun? Are the systems too complicated or a hassle to work with? Do the weapon mods make sense? Questions like this went unanswered in our heads for too long. That's why we decided it's finally time to ask the experts - the players.
State of the game
Survivesmith is at a mid-point of its development. Although it has taken us more than 2 years already, the game went through so many phases and so many system overhauls that it took way more time than necessary to finally settle on the current version. The game already has its visual direction set - although its still janky in a few places. We'll be working on replacing any inconsistencies along the way. We were a team of 2 - developer and art designer, and still are. But we were blessed with the help from an awesome sound designer in the past few months. Sounds (all sorts of) will gradually get better in the future with their help. But at the current state, most of the sounds in game are still free assets from around the internet.
All that aside, the game still has (mostly) the same set of equipment and enemies from the demo, the notable exception being the new playable character: Leena, the swordswoman, and an entire new biome with new enemies, biomes, creatures, plants, and resources. The base still has the same 3 terminals unlocked - however, the rest of them are in the works. The only reason they didn't make it in to the playtest was because they aren't in a state to be presented and are not very useful since the meta-game is not there yet. There was a lot of focus on code and performance optimizations in the last few months. We hope it paid off!
Here's a small clip containing some of the gameplay and features of the playtest: (the sound was unfortunately lost somewhere in the wormhole during time travel :( )
Changes from the demo
Here's a list of the most notable changes from the previous demo version of the game:
Forge pod functionality is now split into two separate drop pods - Forge pod and the Super-Forge pod. The super-forge pod is now the place where you use your gathered ingredients to UNLOCK new weapon mod recipes. These unlocks are permanent and is the only way of acquiring new mods to try on your weapons. The forge pod now serves as the place where you craft these to equip on your weapons directly. Mods will now cost more to unlock them, however only cost a single mod component (dropped from elites) to craft each run. This makes biome ingredient resources more of a meta resource than an in-run resource.
Hazard protection items are now obtained by gathering a rare resource - which is dropped by a new hazard occurance (more on this below). Crafting them is no longer tied to the forge pod.
A new occurance now appears with the stage hazard. For the rainstorm, the occurance is a lightning strike that randomly strikes the ground in a large area, dealing high damage to anything caught in its range. Now there's an added layer to watch out for during hazard events!
Wave spawning system is revamped. Waves are no longer tied to time, but rather the progress you've made on the new "primary objective". Secondary objectives still work the same (with some new objectives). Progressing through a primary objective spawns new waves, no matter how long you take to complete them. On that note, time is now more important than ever. The longer you stay on a level, the faster the enemies spawn and the more health they will spawn with.
The desert is now available to try out. However, it's in an unfinished state. We decided to keep it in for you to check out how the stages will differ from each other, and what stays common throughout the stages.
Events are now tied to boss spawns. They also carry more weight of the game than before - being the only way to spawn the final boss (final boss not available in this playtest).
Important notes
Please note that this is an early version of the game and may contain bugs and glitches. Performance may not be optimal at all times. Your progress won't be carried over once the game releases. Any critical issues will be patched during the playtest period and those changes may or may not break the game even more. Please be considerate of these things and we hope you give us your full assistance on making a better, more playable and more enjoyable experience.
We have also planned a Steam key giveaway for 50 of our top testers. This is not a contest by any means and is only to encourage players to give feedback. This will not be the only playtest for our game, and the keys will be given to our top testers throughout all the playtests, after the final playtest before early access release.
Hope you have fun!
-MaRK