Gunlocked 2 launches in Early Access on Steam in August 2025. Wishlist on Steam today! When a hit new band releases their followup album people tend to fall into two camps: the people that just wanted more of the first album, and the people that wanted to hear what else the band could do. One of these groups is almost inevitably going to be disappointed.
There is no right way to make a sequel. Every choice is the wrong choice for someone. Some might argue not to “fix what isn’t broken.” While others might argue that we already have that version and it will keep existing, so the sequel should do new things. And while it might seem the most reasonable to split the difference and simply expand the breadth and depth of every existing system in interesting ways, sometimes there really is too much of a good thing. Sometimes the only difference between a great game and an okay game is that one has too many stats, collectibles, menus, systems, etc.. For Millennials, It’s the difference between Mario 64 and Donkey Kong 64. For younger gamers, take any game ever and then imagine the version Ubisoftːsteammockingː would make. You get the idea.
In Boons & Burdens, my roguelite followup to the original Gunlocked, I took every left turn where previously I took a right one. Gunlocked had a forced scrolling camera, so B&B had a camera that followed the player. Gunlocked didn’t require you to aim or use active abilities, so B&B did. Upgrades happened between rounds, not on leveling up like in Gunlocked. And on and on. It wasn’t as successful as Gunlocked, but B&B gave me another data point at the other end of the spectrum. And while scientists might argue that two data points isn’t enough for an informed conclusion, the colloquialism “third time’s the charm” (or “third time lucky” in metric) definitively proves otherwise.
Pictured: An early mock-up of Gunlocked 2 with an interface closer to the original
Since I initially began conceptualizing Gunlocked 2, the game has gone through various expansion and contraction phases much like the universe (here come the scientists to argue again). The goal, at every step has been to see how far I can push the Gunlocked formula before it doesn’t feel like Gunlocked, and then reign it back in until it does. Along the way, I’ve discovered the formula is actually pretty fragile. It doesn’t take a lot of change to make it start to feel like an entirely different experience. But as I’ve written about in previous devlogs, there were clearly many aspects that needed improvements. So the question becomes, much like in my previous Heaven Meets Hell blog, how to balance the two opposing needs.
Pictured: Sprite comparisons between Gunlocked 1 and 2
The goal was to identify improvements that wouldn’t change the formula, such as analog 360-degree movement versus digital 8-direction movement, or more detailed and colorful sprites, and then where changes can’t be so objectively positive, focus on implementing them in a way that doesn’t negate something good from the original game. An example of the latter is the “Warp Gate” system. Gates allowed me to make a longer game with more level variety (common requests in the original), while also maintaining the ability for players to have short pick-up-and-play sessions (commonly praised in the original). Play for 2 minutes or 20, it’s your choice.
Pictured: Selecting and inspecting a warp gate. One of the biggest structural changes to Gunlocked 2. Also featured is the much more minimalist user interface that opened the playing area up considerably.
Choice, in fact, is the concept that most informs the changes in Gunlocked 2. More ways to customize your experience before you even begin, and then to choose your next destination/boss fight/rewards once you have. More upgrades to choose from, and more opportunities to increase your choices. And when choice became such a major focus, I decided (from a community suggestion) to give players the tools to make more informed choices with the new Simulator game mode.
Pictured: The Simulator. Test out strategies, practice against bosses, or just break the game... It's your choice.
Pictured: Once you have your preferred Simulator settings and loadout, test your mettle against a variety of enemies and bosses.
In the Simulator, players will have access to most of my own debug tools, in a free-form sandbox mode that will allow them to combine any number of upgrades they’ve previously equipped, in any quantity, and then test them against any boss they’ve previously fought. Additional tools like damage pop-ups, dps meters, invulnerability, and more create an environment perfect for experimentation. You’ll even be able to save your loadouts at the end of a run in the normal game, and import them into the Simulator to make tweaks, so you know how to make better decisions the next time. So while I personally think 2 data points is enough, you can create as many as you’d like.
Pictured: Work-in-progress of the post-game menu. Check your stats, save your loadout, test and adjust in the Simulator, then get better stats next time.
As I head toward the August Early Access launch for Gunlocked 2, I’ve zeroed in on a lot of the areas where I can make improvements and expansions like those mentioned above, and pulled back where changes threatened the winning formula of the original. But the changes won’t end there. Early Access will be a place for all you game scientists to argue about what went right or wrong, and help me make Gunlocked 2 the best it can be.