devtrackers.gg
Hey everyone, a lot has happened since our last discussion topic on Progression. We gave viewers a look at pre-alpha gameplay on the PC Gaming Show, and we also kicked off our closed testing plans with a very small group of playtesters.
Some of you have expressed disappointment at not being selected for this initial early alpha phase. We have a significantly larger testing phase coming in August where another wave of invites will go out to thousands of playtesters randomly selected from the beta signup pool. This test will still be relatively small, with many more players joining us when we begin beta testing later this year.
Progression: We’re still figuring it out.
Our conversation on progression was an early one, and the eventual systems we’ll be implementing are largely still in the ideation phase. In the current pre-alpha build that external players are testing, we have an early version of unit Veterancy enabled, just to test out the tech to make sure it works. Our B.O.B. worker units, for example, can currently get promoted for cutting down trees–not something we’re likely to keep in the game.
/u/Panicswcthd shared their view that Veterancy could be tedious if not executed well, applauding how it was handled in Command & Conquer 3, even if it felt too aggressive. /u/KennySP33 calls out Unit Veterancy as problematic in that too much attention could be paid on the Veteran unit and not on the game as a whole.
Several of you, including /u/Vaniellis and /u/WetDreamRhino brought up Age of Mythology as an RTS that posed meaningful and entertaining choices to the player as they reached a new age. This sort of in-match decision-making could prove interesting, but could also pose a problem for players who may face indecision or analysis paralysis when having to decide between a pair of options while simultaneously producing units and fighting for map control.
/u/Jielhar liked the much more slowly-progressing tech tree in Age of Mythology as well, comparing an SC2 Battlecruiser being available at the 5 minute mark vs. a Fire Giant that would make its mark after 22 minutes of action. While we are currently working on Tier 3 “game-ending” units that are meant to have a major late-game impact, it’s unlikely that we would make them quite that slow to get to the battlefield.
Many of you, including /u/avsbes/ and /u/Popokatepetl12345/ wanted to caution us against introducing progression systems that would make the game feel too much like a MOBA, instead encouraging us to try something more unique.
According to /u/DaeHNG/, the danger is that such a system tends to become too snowbally, leading to less competitive matches. Instead, he’d like to see a meta progression system where players had an in-game “avatar”, a relatively low-powered Hero of sorts that could level up (without gaining any strength), but instead gain access to new cosmetic options.
Achievements: a welcome, yet divisive topic.
The idea of earning visual rewards instead of an arbitrary score for completing achievements was echoed by u/TwistedSultan–generally, people like Achievements and have fun collecting them.
Not surprisingly, opinions were split on achievements that require players to behave differently in a multiplayer match. Some of you, including /u/LOLItsRyan (who lives for Achievements), thinks they are at their best when they require a different approach to a given mission and doesn’t like when they are earned “accidentally” by just playing normally. Achievements that require certain conditions and compositions make it so that players get multiple missions’ worth of enjoyment out of a map.
On the other side of the fence you have players like /u/rehoboam who have had bad experiences in other games that require you to play in a particular way in multiplayer matches, impacting the other players’ experience. /u/FakeFairytales doesn’t want to see their co-op teammates spamming T1 units just to claim a reward.
/u/FakeFairytales also told us that they didn’t miss the WC3-style inventory system in SC2 or Age of Empires, saying that it could feel like gatekeeping, especially if it included a shop that players would need to research in order to not make sub-optimal picks. That leads us to something new that we’d like to share with you.
Introducing Sockets & Cards
We are currently experimenting with a progression and army customization system for Stormgate that we’re temporarily calling Sockets & Cards. As it’s based around Heroes, this system would not impact 1v1. It would instead be part of playing the campaign, 3v3, and 3-player vs. AI modes.
The core concept is that each Hero would level up to unlock sockets that they can then drop a card into to activate unique effects. For example, a Hero may have three open sockets–one Unit-based, another Faction-specific, and another Hero-specific. A Unit socket would modify a favorite unit type, a Faction socket could provide a global change to the entire army, and Hero sockets would generally modify a Hero’s abilities.
What boons could a socketed card provide? We want to be able to adjust starting conditions, such as additional resources, starting units, or even a pre-constructed building. We also think it could be fun to customize unit attributes, like modifying their stats or even changing their projectiles. We could even use this system to make Hero-specific changes to tech trees, so that costs, build times, or prerequisites could be modified–and even add or remove build options.
What we like most about this system is its flexibility. It opens up a lot of design space for player-driven customization, theorycrafting, and specialization. One of our goals is to create opportunities in multiplayer for coordination and team play, and this system could reinforce role differentiation, so one player could have tankier units, while another could be more focused on support units and abilities.
We also feel good about how a card-based system allows us to showcase artwork to create a fun (and functional!) visual collection of your accomplishments. Collecting the cards and replaying missions with different builds could be fun and keep things fresh. You may be awarded these cards for completing missions or earning achievements.
This system is still in its infancy, but we thought it might be fun to let you know what we’re thinking. Thank you for reading and we’ll see you all in the next discussion topic!
-The Frost Giant Team
Previous Discussion Topics:
- Progression
- Heroes
- Asymmetry
- Onboarding
- Teams
- Win Condition
- Social Features
- Competitive Map Design
- Esports
- UGC
- Game Launch and Beyond
- War Chests (AKA Battle Passes)
Previous Responses:
- Our Thoughts on Heroes
- Our Thoughts on Asymmetry
- Our Thoughts on Onboarding
- Our Thoughts on Teams
- Our Thoughts on Win Conditions
- Our Thoughts on Social Features
- Our Thoughts on Competitive Map Design
- Our Thoughts on Esports
- Our Thoughts on UGC