Hey squad,
Spring begins today (hurrah!) and we're back with a small development update, covering the past three months of development on Snapshots: Save the Verse. So, what have we been up to?
GAMEPLAY STRUCTURE & PROGRESSION
A big point of focus this winter has been refining the core gameplay structure to make the gameplay experience more unique, interesting, and replayable.
The main change has been moving away from a "select a level" interface towards more of a tree-like structure. Players will follow a lineage of levels but will be able to make a selection between a more relaxed level, or a more difficult level, with better rewards.
Here's a breakdown of the before-and-after to the core gameplay structure changes:
PRE-2025 | LATEST |
Items found by players are saved to their account and can be accessed during later levels. | Items found by players in the game world will be lost if left behind, and are only saved for the current run. Special items that can be unlocked or purchased are saved to the player account for use in future runs. |
Player level progress is saved so progress can be made over multiple sessions. | If the player exits the session, their progress through the run will not be saved, and they will have to restart from Level 1 in the next session. However, their highest Rank on every level is saved. |
Players choose the level they wish to play from the hubworld area. | Levels are played consecutively, with a choice between two being presented to the player at the end of the previous level. |
If all players are knocked out, they simply return to the hubworld and can retry the level. | If all players are knocked out, the run is over. All applicable items are saved and can be used again, however players must restart from Level 1. |
Essentially, we've leaned more into the roguelike gameplay formula with additional looter shooter aspects.
As developers, we've really enjoyed our playthroughs of various games to find inspiration for how we want to handle Save the Verse. In particular, we've really enjoyed Risk of Rain 2 and have definitely found it influencing the gameplay changes. Also, seriously – we cannot recommend this game enough. Give it a try!
HERO PERKS
An idea we've been toying with is Hero Perks. Throughout each zone, you'll be able to meet different colourful Characters. Complete a quest for that Character, and you'll unlock their perk, which will be saved to your account and can be used to buff up your character in future runs.
For example: this Hero Perk might give you resistance against harsh desert climates.
We'd love to have more flashy content to show you, but honesty is the best policy and to be truthful, we've just been working on refining the actual gameplay formula the past few months.
There's still a long road ahead to completion, but having a greater vision of exactly how Save the Verse will play goes a long way to making development more efficient.
As always, we will note that all of this content is still under heavy development, and is very much subject to change. We'll keep you updated with future Dev Updates. Thanks for your feedback and continued support, Versers!