Screen Shot Saturday: Small Improvements System

[MikeSlugDisco]

The next update will include a system for making small improvements to your Formicarium colony by spending royal jelly - a handy way for those of you who are sitting on a cache of jelly to spend it before the leafcutter update. For Screenshot Saturday this week, we're showing the menus for those!

 

[Rayalot72]

Re: Screenshot Saturday: Small Improvements System

Armour

Anyone playing this game that didn't know what country Slug Disco was in will now know beyond a shadow of a doubt.

 

[Raptorofwar]

>_<

Anyways, the new system looks very cool.

 

[Serafine]

Eeh, I'm usually not a fan of those "upgrading for the sake of upgrading" systems.
They usually just end in a stupid grind that is either meaningless or detrimental to the game as a whole.

Also Formica rufa ants already are a balancing issue due to not having to physically engage the enemy which allows for MUCH more ants to attack the enemy than close combat ants ever could. Increased range has the potential to make them even more broken overpowered than they already are.

 

[Buffalo981]

^
I'll see how it goes, but I'm guessing we can just ignore this feature and everything will still be beatable?

 

[Mr_Ced]

Oh no... This is either going to be good or bad for me.

 

[Rayalot72]

Tbqh this will be very convenient for Freeplay, since it benefits the most from infinite power. This is only in the formicarium for the campaign anyways, and the campaign levels are really the only thing I personally care about balancing for.

 

[Mr_Ced]

If the ants can be infinitely upgraded, then it would break the game, even in Freeplay. Not sure what you really meant by, "This is only in the formicarium for the campaign anyways," since you just mentioned Freeplay. Eh, I am probably not going to use the feature anyway, if this is the case.

 

[Rayalot72]

It'll likely cost inordinate amounts of royal jelly once you get high enough anyway. Besides, attack waves in Freeplay are unusually hard, particularly up to the 10 uber tiger beetles.

 

[muraenae]

Or maybe just have a cap. Say, up to ten times or something.

 

[Redmoth27]

This is a good place for micro-transactions

 

[Serafine]

This is a good place for micro-transactions

Ah, yes. The famous "pay to not play the game" mechanic. Every game needs one of those these days.

It really gives players a sense of pride and accomplishement...

 

[Mr_Ced]

Here's an idea. There should be a cap, but on how much you spend. Like skill points that you choose at the beginning of a game. So you could either have a high damage and high health ant, or a piercing, high damage ant.

 

[MikeSlugDisco]

The ants will not be able to be upgraded infinitely (without infinite grinding) - each time you upgrade things will become *significantly* more expensive to do. There's a very practical limit on how many times it can be done.

Like the existing purchasing system in the Formicarium, it's a consequence of the modular way we've designed the game (which has allowed us to do early access the way we want) - we never intended a grind for the game but we realise that by this point, waiting for new content, some players will have been grinding for a load of resources.

Important to stress - you don't have to grind with this new system to progress when the next set of levels come out, but there is the option to do that if you want for some small stat increases.

 

[Redmoth27]

Serafine pried and accomplishment is outdated, we now say "to fulfil the desire for fans to express their passion for the game."

 

[Redmoth27]

Also, Freeplay should be more long-term and harder to beat. Say like Stellaris.