Two designers walk into a conference room. This isn't a setup for a hilarious video game development joke. This is a Tuesday at Uber Entertainment, and these two designers are beginning an enormous task: another combat balance pass.
In the past, we've balanced by feel. Today, we're diving into the raw numbers behind a lot of the units and interactions in the game. We're looking at how much metal an army costs and if it can pulverize a more expensive one of equal size. We're thinking about the power of flame tanks and if it should be where it is. We're wondering about health values, DPS, and other critical factors that make Planetary Annihilation's combat epic and satisfying and then we're going to make it even more epic and satisfying.
The game is being played on a massive projector in the conference room. You watch the same battles over and over again, units gliding back and forth in a deadly dance. The destruction stops when someone needs to make a note or double-check a spreadsheet. If you're lucky, you'll get to see a variable or two changed on the fly and tested.
Balance is a process. And we expect to have something new for you in the near future.
Mods have always been an integral part of the vision for Planetary Annihilation, and earlier last week we took another step towards getting folks the access they need to make incredible content.
Transient server mods allow you to enable cheats and adjust health and damage values. You can also do something hilarious like, say, make bomb bot explosions nuclear. This week, we're focusing on squashing some bugs with transient mods before looking at the next step at making Planetary Annihilation more customizable.
We can't wait to see what you come up with! Go ahead and poke your head in the mod discussion board if you'd like to join in on the conversation -- and grab a couple amazing mods while you're there.
Outside of mods and balance, we're working on a couple of smaller updates that'll make Galactic War, and the game as a whole, run faster and play even better. This work will continue into next week, as another part of the team continues with big rock features.
A lot of changes and improvements are coming your way! Stay tuned to us on the forums, Twitter, and Facebook for the latest Planetary Annihilation updates. And stay tuned for our next special community event, which will revolve around Galactic War.
Ronald Wanders, Saodhar, and 19 more people like this update.
Hey guys , still havent recieved any type of Steam key for the game yet ? And no response from your help email ?
Great stuff yet again! Thanks for the update, guys, I love just sitting back and watching this game.
Thanks for the mental image of balance testing. Keep up the good work.
I and a few people are still seeing horrendous patching issues and graphical glitches that render the game unplayable. You seem to be suggesting that everything is peachy, are you certain?