Dev Update: Meet Team MGH!

Hey Ghosts & Ghost Hunters!

Exciting week here at MGH HQ! Not only have we announced the next upcoming alpha test on Friday. We have also started the alpha key giveaway on Twitter and will shortly be giving out keys via Discord and email too.

That's not all! You may have heard we have joined forces with some incredible studios to help take MGH to the next level! If not, feel free to check out the press release that came out on Monday.

Today, we'd like to introduce the new team members one by one and give an idea of what they might be working on!

MEET THE TEAM

Felix, Modeling & Texture Artist
"Hello I'm Felix, former character artist at multiple triple-A studios with a passion for non-kliché design. I design and build the gadgets and weapons for MGH!"

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Daniel, Animator
" Hey, I'm Daniel! I've been working as an animator for almost 10 years in the AAA industry. I'll be helping out with the guns n' ghosts and wherever I'm needed. Super excited to work on MGH and I'm looking forward to play the game with you all."

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Mathias, Animator
"Hej, I'm Mathias and I've spent the last decade working as both a cinematic and gameplay animator on a handful of AAA games. On MGH I'm taking on the role of a tech-animator, I made the new prop animations that are in the Alpha!"

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Mårten, Game Designer
"My name is Mårten, I'm a game designer and have worked professionally with games for 10 years. For MGH I help out with game design and level design. I can't wait to show the new levels we're working on!"
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Måns, Programmer
"Hello I'm Måns! I'm a programmer and have been working with AAA games for 10+ years now. Super excited to join MGH and be part of this amazing group of developers. My expertise is AI and gameplay programming."

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Fredrik, 3D Artist
"Hey there! My name is Fredrik, I'm a 3D artist, a student from The Game Assembly in Sweden, getting polished by SWSAGH and E&B at MGH! I've also been doing 3D-modelling at a hobby level for several years, and now I am here polishing props, and more!

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Johan, Developer
"Hello! My name is Johan and I am an environment artist. I have previously worked as a building artist at Massive. I'm CEO and founder of E&B Architecture, and now E&B Studios where I combine my experience in architecture with my skillset in game arts. I joined MGH to work on Mansion and Asylum, and have continued working on building Theatre and Museum from scratch. See you at midnight! 🙀"

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Jack, Environment Artist
"Greetings! My name is Jack. I'm an environment artist coming from TheGameAssembly with past experience in architecture and built environments. I'm currently working with Johan at E&B Studios. I joined MGH around the final weeks of Factory being updated and have together with Johan, created Theatre and Museum. Quack and out 🦆!"

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Dennis, Composer & Sound Designer
"Hey, I'm Dennis. I'm responsible for everything that you hear in the game! My goal is to create a unique sound for the world of Midnight Ghost Hunt and hopefully at some point scare the crap out of you all! 👻"
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WISHLIST MIDNIGHT GHOST HUNT ON STEAM

UPCOMING ALPHA TEST

Hey Ghosts and Ghost Hunters! 👋

Big news! It's time for another alpha test this upcoming weekend! We can't wait to show you what we've been working on.

The alpha will run from FEBRUARY 12TH - 15TH!
We anticipate starting in the afternoon EST on Friday, and wrapping up by 3AM EST on Monday.

NOTE: IF YOU HAVE PLAYED IN A PREVIOUS TEST, YOU CAN PLAY IN THIS ONE! SIMPLY REINSTALL OR UPDATE THE GAME ON THE 12TH.

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🔑 NEED A KEY? 🔑

 We have plenty of ways for you to get access! We’ll be giving away keys starting February 11th via Discord DMs, a huge Twitter giveaway, and to our mailing list subscribers!

🔑 ALREADY GOT A KEY? 🔑

 Previous keys will work for this test! Simply reinstall or update the game on Friday to participate.

WHAT'S NEW:

 ⭐ New Map: Museum
⭐ New Hunter Weapon: Reaper (Sniper Rifle)
⭐ New Hunter Weapon: Sledgehammer
⭐ New Ghost Ability: Corruption
⭐ New Hunter Skin: Professor
⭐ Prop Animation Overhaul

…and so much more, in addition to many bug fixes and quality of life improvements. We will post the full changelog before the alpha begins!

Check out our new gameplay clip below:
Feel free to join us on our official Discord and let us know what you’re looking forward to the most! I’ll do my best to make sure as many of you can play this time around with LOTS of invites going out on our channels!

We've also got another exciting announcement!
Today we revealed that we've joined forces with an experienced development crew to take MGH to the next level! The team has grown significantly and we expect to increase our pace of new content and testing going forward.
Read more here!

We will introduce the new developers into the Discord later this week. As usual, the developers and moderators will be playing games all alpha weekend, so make sure you say hello if you see them!

Red 👻
Community Manager

WISHLIST US ON STEAM

Dev Update: Game Modes

Hi Ghosts & Ghost Hunters 👋

It’s update time! Get comfortable and be ready to sound off. You could win an alpha key for you or a friend!

The developers are still working on bug fixes, optimization, and a whole bunch of new content for the next update. They’re currently prototyping a BRAND NEW MAP, as well as looking at optimizing the Theatre based on your feedback. We’ll have more on that in the next update…

This week, we have been noodling over some ideas and would love to hear your honest feedback!

WANT MORE GAME MODES?

The team have been toying with the idea of adding additional game modes to the game. 

We currently have the standard 4v4 hunt game mode. That’s what we’ve been focusing on improving and evolving... but there could be more!

There is a lot of potential for different modes. Some of the ideas that have been floating around include a 6v6 hunt mode for that extra chaotic action, and even an infection style mode. Read on to see how we envision them working, then let us know what you think.

👻 6v6 GAME MODE IDEA 👻

During the July alpha, we had a bug that resulted in up to 12 people being in the same match. Playing this actually gave us the impression that a larger scale team mode, such as 6v6, could actually be a pretty fun experience. It is a bit faster paced and does have slightly more chaotic action, but sometimes the best things are born from bugs and glitches. What do you think?

Six hunters working together would be pretty terrifying!

☣️ INFECTION MODE IDEA ☣️

In this mode, there would be 1 Ghost vs 7 Hunters at the start. Hunters that are knocked out become Ghosts, and Ghosts respawn after a short while. Hunters need to survive until evac arrives, and then get to an evac zone randomly spawned in the map to win.

The team are having a good time prototyping these ideas internally, but we wanted to hear from the community before going much further. Hosts would be able to pick which game mode they want to play, including the original 4v4 mode of course.

Click below to give us feedback in our survey and you could win an extra alpha key for the next test!

You can also chime in with your thoughts on Twitter, and get involved on Discord. We would love to discuss these modes with you all and get your help in shaping the direction of the game!

Until next time...

Red
Community Manager

Dev Update: Balancing

Missing us? We’re missing you!

The team is now starting to come back from a short rest following our recent Halloween alpha test. Good news: it was our biggest and most successful test yet! <3

First - a HUGE thank you to everyone who tested, provided feedback, and reported bugs! Because of your effort, we are one step closer to having a truly great game on our hands. Cheers from the MGH team!

Want to know something cool? Almost a QUARTER OF A MILLION props were possessed during the test weekend. We are forever grateful for your enthusiasm and support - so many of you came together to show your love and support on Twitter, Discord, and in the game too.

We will begin acting on your feedback shortly, working on new content, and fixing bugs. Stay tuned for more previews in the coming weeks and months!

As usual, we’d like to start using these dev blogs to present data from the alpha and use them as a starting point for discussion. We’ll also be giving you insights into the progress of the game, and more!

HOW BALANCED IS MGH?

The importance of balance has come up often in the feedback, and we couldn’t agree more. The early data suggests that we’re on the right track - our win-loss ratio was almost an exact 50-50 split again!

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The July alpha test saw the Ghosts with a slight edge - but some of the recent additions and changes (such as the Harpoon weapon and removal of stunlocks) may have influenced these new results.

Although the numbers are encouraging, we know we’ve got work to do to make the game feel balanced on all skill levels. We know that perception of balance is really important, and that we need to improve our new player experience so that the gap between newer and experienced players doesn’t become so vast.

We have a lot of work to do on that front, so expect more information about the new player experience in the coming weeks too. In fact, we will have lots of new intel hot off Kite’s desk coming soon. Stay tuned!

For now, please feel free to Follow and Wishlist on Steam - we’ll be doing more updates on there too!

Speak soon!

Red
Community Manager

Weekly Update - September 4th, 2020

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Hey there, Ghost Hunters!

This week, we’re looking for some more input from our community!

We are currently in the process of revamping our network structure and backend systems so we can provide a better experience for players in future tests.

In previous tests, we relied solely on a server browser for players to find matches to play. It’s definitely old-school, but I rather like them because they give the most choice.

However, many have asked for a “quick play” button of sorts. One click, and you’ll get put into a match. This is more common on more recent multiplayer titles. This would work well with a party system so you can more easily play with friends.

So, we’d like to ask the community that they would prefer to see in the next alpha test.

  1. Would you prefer to see a “quick play” matchmaker replace the server browser?

  2. Would you like to see nothing changed and just keep the server browser?

  3. Would you like to see both systems employed in the next test?

  4. Or do you not really mind either way?

Let us know what you think below!

This concept is still in early planning, but we’re eager to know your thoughts. Responding to these surveys helps shape the future of Midnight Ghost Hunt - we appreciate it, thank you!

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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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