Mickey here : )
Order Automatica first started about 4 years ago when I had a random idea that got me excited enough to whip up a quick prototype:
What if Super Auto Pets, but on a grid?
It's pretty comical saying this now because it seems so simple, but at the time I was enamored with SAP and coming off a bigger group project. I wanted to see if I could make a game all by myself! I started by buying some assets (since I'm not a visual artist) and putting something together. It came together quickly because I just did whatever I thought was right. I put it up online and it got a bit of attention - people seemed to like it!
I continued developing it in public and pushing out new versions as I finished them. The quick feedback loop was a satisfying way to develop the game, and I got great feedback from a ton of people.
As it got further along, it gained an identity. It was always an auto battler, but it started leaning more towards tactics (probably because of my great love of Into the Breach). I tried to make the placement more strategic, and I tried to make the game as systemic as possible, inspired by the games of Michael Brough, such as 868-hack and Cinco Paus. At the same time the setting and premise became more solidified: a story about ancient rituals, secret societies, forgotten games, and an archaeologist who becomes increasingly obsessed with what they have uncovered.
My goal was to make every unit, item, cell effect, and persistent upgrade simple on its own, but put them together and suddenly the possibilities become much more complicated. Additionally, I wanted adjacency to be something you're always thinking about. This extra adjacency you get from a grid was actually one of the ways I thought I could maybe improve on the Super Auto Pets formula 😅
But even with this “simplicity” there have been a lot of development challenges, and I'd say that along the way the single hardest challenge has been figuring out how to balance difficulty.
The problem with balancing difficulty is that it depends on so many factors, some of which are completely outside your control, like how much experience a player has with the genre or the level of difficulty a player prefers.
We landed in a place that I think is good for easing new players into the genre and introducing concepts one by one. For more experienced autobattler players we added the overkill system, which challenges you with optional targets related to how much you dominate a battle. If things are feeling too easy, these optional challenges provide a bit of flavor. And I hope that all experience levels will find something interesting in the higher ranks.
Your journey through the game begins with the Initiates Rank. The ranks represent the different levels you can reach within this secret society. In each rank you'll encounter new enemy units, new mechanics, and increasingly difficult challenges. I tried to keep things fresh throughout the ranks and encourage new ways to think about the board. I hope you stick around until the higher ranks because I’m really proud of the way things progress.
I’ve always wanted Order Automatica to have some kind of “ending”. As a player I really appreciate multiple off ramps from a game, even if I want to keep playing afterwards. Reaching the highest rank of the Order is one of those off-ramps, but there’s more after that 👽
We won't spoil what happens when you reach the end.
Some things are better discovered for yourself!
Order Automatica has been a long journey, and this is the final devlog before release.
I want to shout out Mr. Pekinczyk, the amazing pixel artist for everything in the final game. Without him, Cat, Dog, and Pig Man as they are today would never have existed 😽
I also want to thank better. publishing, especially Kuba, Kacper, and Eleyne, who have been awesome partners in all this. They’ve all really understood the game and been pivotal in its design. Dzięki!
And of course, thanks to my long time collaborator Brendan for all the awesome music in the game. After all this time I still haven’t gotten tired of listening to it : )
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The ritual is ready!
Order Automatica launches on September 4.
We hope you'll join us.
See you in the ritual.
Follow Mickey here:
🐍 https://bsky.app/profile/mickeysanchez.bsky.social
And don’t forget to follow better. publishing’s channels:
🔷 X: https://x.com/betterpubpro
🔷 FB: https://www.facebook.com/betterpubpro
🔷 Discord: https://discord.gg/wPDpn7gDYe