devtrackers.gg
Hi, everyone! It’s been a little while since we last had a discussion, so let’s get right into it. We’re going to discuss systems that have a huge impact on both the fun of an individual match or story mission, as well as the long-term fun of the game.
That’s right -- we’re talking about Progression.
What Is Progression?
There’s Player Progression, which we’ll call the player’s journey of personal growth as they become more skilled; and then there’s Game Progression, where rewards are unlocked, characters or units become stronger, and quests are completed—often ending with “beating the game” and watching the credits.
For the purpose of helping us make Stormgate the best game it can be, we’d like to focus this conversation on two sub-categories of Game Progression in this discussion: Match Progression and Meta Progression.
Match Progression systems reward players for accomplishing tasks within the confines of a single match (or mission), with any rewards also contained within that match. Unit Veterancy is a good example of a Match Progression system. Wayward Strategy wrote a great article on Unit Veterancy here, if you’re interested in diving deeper into this system before reading on.
Meta Progression is a system that gives a game a sense of permanence, with goals and rewards that live outside of a single match and are typically recognized between sessions and at the account level. Achievements are a good example of a Meta Progression system. Rogue-like games tend to be very good at Meta Progression, successfully extending the life of a game through frequent content unlocks.
Match Progression Ideas We’re Exploring
We are exploring the idea of Unit Veterancy for Stormgate, and how and where to use it. This type of system tries to capture the player fantasy of having a favorite unit or squad rank up over the course of a match, gaining additional stats, strengths, or abilities along the way. The potential downsides of this type of system (specifically for PvP play) include making the game more snowball-y, wherein a player with better micro that won early engagements widens their power gap against the opponent to the point where a comeback is unlikely—which often leads to early frustration to the player on the back foot and, overall, more boring matches.
We’re also looking at ways to customize the gameplay and feel of your armies in the campaign and our three-player co-op mode. One of the approaches we are exploring is a Warcraft III-inspired Inventory system. The idea is that leader characters could be customized by equipping items you’d collect from creep camps (another system we’re testing) or by completing objectives. Those items would confer certain bonuses or synergies, allowing a player to contribute to the game in different ways, or change how their army performs.
We Have Meta Progression Plans, Too
Many players love Achievements, and we’re thinking of meaningful rewards that you can earn for completing certain objectives and campaign progress. One thing we won’t consider is any sort of Meta Progression reward that would make you more powerful in 1v1. We see our competitive 1v1 experience as a pure test of skill, and we will never compromise the integrity of that experience.
We’re also going to look at how we can make a satisfying leveling system, including ways for players to be able to display their accomplishments and experience.
Some members of our team have brought up the idea of a Meta Progression system that strictly lives at the social level, measuring your positivity and sportsmanship vs. player skill. We want to encourage players to be a positive influence on our community, so some form of social ranking system is an idea we’re eager to explore (potentially post-launch). A high “karma” ranking could confer cosmetic rewards, for example, as well as a certain level of added responsibility within our community, such as the ability to decide on reported behaviors, or privileges in our official Discord.
Here are our questions to you:
- What Match Progression systems have you particularly loved or hated? (No need to limit the possibilities to the RTS genre.)
- Do you love or hate Unit Veterancy systems? If so, which ones and why?
- How do you feel about Inventory systems? Please share your thoughts and experiences.
- What Meta Progression systems have you enjoyed or hated?
- Do you like a level cap or do you think you should be able to level up indefinitely?
- Would you be excited to upgrade and expand your faction’s persistent headquarters between games, based on campaign progress or earning certain achievements?
- Do you enjoy earning Achievements? Do you find them rewarding if the only reward is an increase in an Achievement score, or do you also need some form of unlockable bonus?
- What do you think about a Social Ranking or Social Progression system? Would you change the way you behave or interact with other players if such a system existed?
As always, thank you for supporting Stormgate. We look forward to diving into your responses!
-Your friends on the Frost Giant Team
External link →