Everything is on track to start the Steam playtest next week! Meanwhile, I’ve turned my attention to what is, in my opinion, one of the game’s weakest points: the upgrade system. For those who started following the game more recently, I’d like to offer a quick recap of how this system developed, and then some reflections on its current failings, and a glimpse of what’s ahead.
How we got here
The first version, initially tested last December, simply allowed the player to buff a single stat, chosen from 2 random options (which was expanded to 3 random options in January). This system provided a sense of basic progression, but it wasn’t particularly interesting.
The next iteration, introduced in May, allowed an upgrade to be picked from 3 randomly selected upgrade trees, with each tree containing multiple tiers which could be unlocked. This system was in the demo that was shown at SEGE in July. It provided much greater variety, but required a lot of fidgety clicking around to learn what options were actually available at any given time.
When I got home from SEGE, I created a more streamlined upgrade system which was a hybrid of the previous concepts, and this has appeared in the demos since then. It retains the upgrade trees internally, but only presents 3 options for the player to pick from.
The itch
The current upgrade system has many shortcomings, but I could probably overlook most of them - at least for a little while longer. There is one glaring issue, however, which (in my opinion) demands my attention: The upgrade system simply isn’t fun.
To be clear: I’m not saying that the effects of the upgrades themselves aren’t fun in their own way, but that the process of choosing an upgrade right now isn’t fun. Once you’ve played the game enough to have a preferred build, every time the upgrade dialog pops up, you either get what you wanted, or else you have to decide what to settle for instead.
Some of this could be mitigated by making the various upgrades more complex and interesting. With so many trees and upgrades to balance, however, this would already be a major time investment. Additionally, any new stats or abilities introduced to the game would require another round of re-balancing.
The scratch
This week, I’ve been prototyping a complete reworking of the upgrade system, in an attempt to make each playthrough more dynamic and different - while still allowing you to aggressively target whichever stats you prefer.
The new system is based on “stars” (⭐) rather than numbers. Under the new system, each upgrade buffs one primary stat by at least 2 stars (⭐⭐), and buffs at least one secondary stat by a lessor number of stars. This way, you can still pick upgrades that buff the stat you want, but you’ll also get to experience other aspects of the game at the same time.
In order to facilitate this, all upgrades are now randomly generated. Not purely random, of course - certain things are weighted to be more likely than others, according to certain criteria. I’ll also be introducing a “luck” stat, which will affect the favorability of outcomes in various ways.
The new upgrades also come in a number of different rarity tiers, with the most rare intended as rewards for certain actions (such as defeating mini-bosses).
I’m sure there will be some fine-tuning to do, but I’m very excited about offering a more engaging upgrade system in the Steam playtest next week!
Cheers!