Weekly Update - August 28th, 2020

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Hey there, Ghost Hunters!

This week, we’d like to hear the community’s thoughts on an idea that we had internally!

We are toying with player progression and level up unlocks, as well as how to better introduce weaponry, abilities, gadgets and more to players.

As it stands currently, players are immediately granted access to all weapons and gadgets.

Currently, our loadout selection screen appears as follows:

Loadout

As you can see, we don’t have a lot of weapons currently available in-game. There’s not a lot of choices for a new player to make.

But as we continue to add more and fill up the loadout screen, it may become a bit overwhelming to newer players. There will be so many choices, all with various pros, cons, and specific use cases.

We are experimenting with the idea of adding a short progression system to unlock all weapons/gadgets over time, probably in the first 10 levels or so. This would be achievable in a day or two of gameplay.

We’d have the default loadout unlocked for starters, which is generally simple to understand and good in most situations, and by level 10 or 15 you’d have unlocked the rest.

Past level 10 or 15, we’d switch back to cosmetic unlocks. Skins, emotes, sprays, etc.

We think this will help newer players get accustomed to the game a bit before throwing specialized equipment choices at them. In conjunction with an expanded tutorial system, we think this may improve player understanding of game mechanics if we make them available to players over time.

This concept is still very early in planning, but we wanted to see what our community thinks! Do you think this would be a good idea for us to explore?

Or, do you think players should begin with everything unlocked to begin with, giving players a more even playing field?

Let us know by responding to the short poll below!

Weekly Update - August 14th, 2020

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Greetings Ghosts!

Thanks for checking out our latest weekly update!

This week, we’re taking a look at ghostly possession data from our most recent alpha test.

Let’s see which props were most commonly possessed and hid inside!

The graph above displays the top 5 most possessed props, colored by size.

The graph above displays the top 5 most possessed props, colored by size.

We classify props into 3 different subgroups: Large, Medium and Small.

Large props, as the name implies are bulky and heavy items which suffer from a movement reduction. However, they have extremely high damage potential due to their weight.

Players who are fans of large props should utilize the Heavyweight perk to reduce incoming damage to those types of props!

Medium Props are the most common type of prop, They are often a solid choice, being a good balance between size, speed, and damage.

Lastly, we arrive to the small props! Littered across the map, these hard to notice props prove favorable to Ghosts would rather shy away from a fight. Easier to hide, fast to escape, but very fragile.

These kinds of props are best for a “juking” strategy, always moving around and relocating. Based on our data, it seems they are most effectively paired with the Phantom or Spirit abilities for extra escape potential.

It appears the Lantern was our most commonly possessed prop for this test!
This clearly proves that the lantern is clearly everyone’s favorite prop!
(Or maybe that we have too many of them across the maps…)

As we develop new maps and environments we will revisit these graphs and compare. With only 3 maps currently available, you are likely to see a bit of overlap between the few. We aim to have as many unique props for each map as possible, so we expect to see more even distribution going forward.

Thanks for checking out this update! Let us know what your favorite prop is, or any ideas you have for new props to be added in future tests.

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Weekly Update - August 7th, 2020

Greetings Ghosts!

Welcome back to another weekly update. This week we will be continuing our analysis of the most recent alpha test.

Let’s jump right in with the Ghost ability usage breakdown.

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Looks like Phantom was the most popular this time around. Part of that has to do with Phantom being a part of the default loadout - but it was also the simplest of the abilities to understand; press a button and go invisible.

Doppleganger was in second place, more effectively used against newer Hunters it seems. An experienced team of Hunters will always know to look for two of the same player! We also had some technical issues with this ability getting stuck or hitboxes inconsistently working, we hope to have these fixed by the next test.

Poltergeist, in third place, was often used by cheeky Ghosts looking to play tricks on the enemy. It was best paired with the Ghostly Reach perk to most effectively bewilder and lead Ghost Hunters astray from their true hiding place. Some even managed to get a knockout!

Spirit was a fan favorite, heavily used in the new Factory map along with the blue construction hats littered across the map. (Expect a re-balancing on those hats, by the way!)

Allowing you to turn into a small ball of spectral energy and fly away, this ability was great for attempting to break a chase with Hunters. We may look into some balance tweaks here, as a skilled Ghost with Spirit could juggle in and out of windows to run down the clock maybe too effectively.

Miasma comes in last, as expected. A deployable smoke screen is a great tool to elude and evade chasing Hunters, but we are aware it needs some improvement to be as strong as the other abilities. We were thinking of adding a vision impairment and slow damage over time to Hunters caught in the smoke - sort of an area denial approach. Let us know what you think on our socials below!

We are looking at ways to improve our Ghost abilities going forward, so let us know what thoughts you have! What other types of abilities would you like to see?

Okay, that’s a good stopping point for this week. Next week we’ll continue onward unpacking data from our most recent test, and discussing plans for the future!

Thanks for checking out this update! Let us know what you think about the data, any particular feedback on the abilities, or any new ideas you may have.

Until next time!

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Weekly Update - July 31st 2020

Hey there, Ghost Hunters!

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Welcome to another weekly update! This week, we are continuing our look into data from our most recent alpha test.

Let's jump right in with the Hunter weapon usage data!

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Spectral Cannon was the most commonly selected weapon, as you might expect, it is part of the default loadout. It’s a solid weapon that is good in nearly any scenario - good damage to both Ghosts and physical objects.

We saw it commonly paired with the Fast Recharge perk, reducing the chance of letting a Ghost escape because you were one battery charge short!

The mighty Ghostsmasher returns in second place. This short ranged weapon was tweaked recently to be more effective towards Ghosts in their base form, and less so against physical props. (This is in anticipation of a new upcoming weapon, the Sledgehammer, that will be strong against physical props but weak against Ghost form.)

We saw the Smasher used a fair bit more after Midnight as Ghost form is a bit more common at that point. If you can dodge their punches, you may be able to take out a Red Ghost by yourself!

Third place is Project X. Utilization is up a little bit from last alpha, but still a somewhat niche weapon. It’s not very effective at chasing Ghosts due to slow charge-up and low speed, it truly shines after Midnight as a point defense tool. It also is a strong counter against aggressive large props before Midnight, as it is more effective against physical props in the new damage model.

We plan on introducing more weapons next test so that we can really start to see how the meta develops when more choices become available.

Moving on to data from gadgets!

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Radar is in first place - again, part of the default loadout, but also an incredible tool to track down hiding Ghosts. Should always have at least one in each team for sure.

Second place is the Pathfinder, which is our other Ghost-tracking gadget.

As you may know if you played the test, Radar is effective against Ghosts that have not moved much and built up a fair bit of ectoplasm. Pathfinder, the counterpart, is effective in finding Ghosts that have been recently on the move. Having one of each on a team really ensures the covering of all bases!

The others all have a more niche use case, but were quite effective in their respective roles. Defibrillator, of course, is extremely useful but not something you would carry with you at all times. (Unless, of course, it’s after Midnight at the generator is vulnerable - in this case, it can be the clutch choice to revive your whole team!)

Okay, that’s a good stopping point for this week. Next week we’ll continue onward unpacking data from our most recent test, and discussing plans for the future!

Thanks so much for reading! Let us know on our socials what you think of the above data, and we’ll see you next week.

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Weekly Update - July 24th, 2020

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Hey there, Ghost Hunters!

Thanks for joining us for another edition of the weekly update!

As you may know, we completed our 6th alpha test event on Monday. We are happy to report it was by far our most stable and successful alpha test so far!

We’d like to thank each and every one of you for testing and giving your feedback and bug reports. With all this data, we will have the chance to meaningfully improve the game and get us closer to a successful launch.

Let’s take some time to explore a bit of the data from this test.

We’ll begin with one of the most important data points: How balanced were the two teams?

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After reviewing the data from previous tests, we can confirm this is the most balanced alpha yet! Hunters did appear to have tiny bit of an edge this time around. (Ghosts were slightly favored last test.)

We think a number of factors contributed to this change. Firstly, the Hunters have an extra 30 seconds to find the Ghosts, now up to 5 minutes. This seemed to help the Hunters quite a bit.

We also made some fairly large changes to how Hunters deal damage to Ghosts.

Previously, Hunter damage was very simple and applied the same no matter what form they were in. This test, we experimented with certain weapons being strong against Ghost form, and certain weapons strong against the objects they inhabit.

Our new tool tip displaying facts and statistics about the weapon you have equipped.

Our new tool tip displaying facts and statistics about the weapon you have equipped.

Spectral Cannon was our middle-of-the-road standard issue that is effective to both.

Ghostsmasher was very effective against Ghost form but weaker against physical objects, and saw greater use after Midnight as Ghost forms are more common then.

Project X is stronger against physical objects, and well suited for clearing a room or mowing down a group of ghosts headed your way.

While this alpha test was a success, there is still a lot of work to do. A highly requested feature, a party system, was added this test. It gave a group of up to 4 friends an easier way to join the same game together.

However, it is still difficult to ensure that party actually ends up on the same team. That is something we will look at solving for our next test!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for updates as we dig in for our next sprint towards the next test!

That’s it for this week, Ghost Hunters!

Did you have a favorite moment from the alpha test? A cross-map headshot with a prop? Maybe you did a 360 to land the final shot on a Ghost? Reach out to us via our socials below and let us know!

We’ve got plenty of more data from the alpha to go over next week - so stay tuned!

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Weekly Update - July 3rd, 2020

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Hey there, Ghosts Hunters!

We’ve got an alpha coming up - exact dates to be announced soon - and there will be a new map to play!

Players of the April alpha test may have noticed the Warehouse map missing. We decided it wasn’t up to par with the other two maps - generally was the lowest rated.

(Though many have assured me it was their favorite map)

So we went back to the drawing board and revamped the Warehouse idea and turned it into something much more compelling, we hope!

Here’s a little sneak preview of the revamped Warehouse/Factory map:

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As the alpha draws closer, we’ll describe the map changes in greater detail. Stay tuned!

That’s it for this week, Ghost Hunters!

Thanks so much for reading!

How do you feel about the changes so far? Feel free to hit us up on any of our socials below.

Weekly Update - June 26th, 2020

Hey there, Ghost Hunters!

First and foremost, the team would like to apologize for the infrequency of our Weekly Updates. The team had been hard at work creating new content and we aren’t quite ready to show off everything just yet…

However, we are happy to debut a new loadout system that we are feeling quite confident in after some initial first passes.

A glimpse at an older version of our loadout selection screen.

A glimpse at an older version of our loadout selection screen.

Our former loadout screen was a bit overcrowded and didn’t do a great job at displaying the pros/cons of selecting a Weapon, Gadget, Perk or Haunt. Thus, the team created Loadouts 2.0.

Upon selecting a Team you’ll be greeted with our new loadout screen selection, beginning with your Ghost Hunter Weapon or Ghost Ability.

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The 4 separate boxes along the top display your equipped Weapon/Ability, Gadget/Haunt, Perks, and Skin (coming soon™) The selection box with an arrow displays exactly where in the Loadout selection process you are.

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The 4 separate boxes along the top display your equipped Weapon/Ability, Gadget/Haunt, Perks, and Skin (coming soon™), with the highlighted item showing specifically where in the Loadout selection process you are.

Hovering over a loadout selection icon will display information about it, for example — hovering over the Phantom ability we learn that it allows us to lower our visibility to Ghost Hunters, and that it’s best use is to escape Ghost Hunters.

Along the left hand side of the screen players can also view the selected loadouts of their teammates, and watch as they update in real time. (Not yet seen in the Ghost loadout)

Our new loadout screen offers plenty of real estate for gadgets as we expand and develop new items. Players will simply be able to scroll down to view more selections if we grow beyond the 15 slots already allocated for each slot.

We are keen on ensuring the barrier to understanding how to play is very low, however the mastery of all weapons and gadgets is something only Ghost Hunter legends can dream about…

That’s it for this week, Ghost Hunters!

How do you feel about the Loadout UI update? Do the icons take up too much space? Should the icons displaying your loadout be presented vertically rather than horizontal? Be sure to let us know via our socials!

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Weekly Update - May 22nd, 2020

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Hey there, Ghost Hunters!

This week, we’d like to hear the community’s thoughts on an idea that we had internally!

We are toying with the idea of revamping the way Hunter damage works towards Ghosts.

Currently, Hunter damage to Ghosts is applied the same way, no matter if the Ghost is in their base Ghost form, or if they are in a prop. It doesn’t care what form the Ghost is in. Damage is just damage.

When the prop is destroyed via damage, the Ghost is forced out and is low health. It takes one more hit to destroy them, before they can find a new prop to hide in.

That’s the basic Hunter damage logic as it stands currently.

Going forward, we are thinking of experimenting with this core flow a bit.

What if certain Hunter weapons/gadgets were better at breaking props, but less effective at damaging their Ghost form? And vica versa.

What weapon will accompany you on your next ghost hunt?

What weapon will accompany you on your next ghost hunt?

So, in this scenario, you could have, say, a Sledgehammer weapon/gadget.

This is really good at breaking physical objects (where Ghosts might be hiding), but only hurts the base Ghost form a bit. That seems to make sense, as Ghosts are not fully physical creatures, but the props they hide in are. It would do SOME damage to the Ghosts, though, it wouldn’t be useless.

Likewise, imagine an anti-spectral weapon of some kind that barely damages physical objects, but would totally annihilate any Ghost forms. It uses special technology that specifically targets spectral beings. But it would only lightly damage the couch. With enough time, it could break a couch, but is hardly optimal.

There would also be some weapons that are equally good at both, but not great at either. Middle of the road types.

We think that could open up for some team composition strategies where the Hunters may want to min-max a bit more, and a little bit more complex gameplay on the side of the Hunters overall.

The idea is that we would communicate which weapon is best for what scenario in the loadout screen.

The concept is still in its early stages, but we wanted to see what the community thinks.

Do you think this would be an unnecessary complication? 

Or do you think it would spice up gameplay for Hunters and create more interesting weapon types and strategies? 

Or do you not mind either way?

Respond below, if you may!

Thanks so much for letting us know what you think!

We are going to try to open up design discussion with the community even more going forward.

It really helps us get a better understanding of what kind of game you’d like to play.

Thanks for stopping by, and we’ll see you next week!