Hey there, Reapers!
We're back with another devlog! Now that we've introduced the team, we're ready to dive deeper into Grim Trials itself. This time, we're covering the weapons you'll wield, how we balance combat, and everything related to death-dealing!
💡Designing Our Weapons
As you all know, the weapons in Grim Trials are divided into 2 categories: melee and ranged. The melee weapons Avelin wields in the game are the scythe, axe, and hammer, while in her off hand, Avelin wields a crossbow. All melee weapons have different playstyles, so we encourage you to experiment to find your favorites!
Our primary goal when designing the weapons was to eliminate the possibility of one weapon becoming the "meta" over the rest. We want to be able to ask you guys which weapon is your favorite and get a different answer each time!
Our team also has their own preferences when it comes to the weapons. Someone from our team loves using the hammer because of its high burst damage and its ability to allow Avelin to reposition before she lands an attack. They also paired this with a loadout that allows players to pull enemies into one area before finishing them off to vacuum enemies into hammer time! Another dev created a DPS crossbow build, which ended up outperforming their melee weapons! We even have someone who likes to stay true to the Grim Reaper style by sticking with the scythe for fast-paced combat.
We also want to emphasize that dual weapons are designed to synergize with each other, rather than being used interchangeably. For example, the melee weapon often acts as the main damage dealer, while the crossbow is meant to be used strategically, such as grouping enemies together, or creating explosions.
Quick design insight: you might notice a speed difference when wielding different weapons. The hammer and axe probably feel heavier and slower than the scythe, right? Surprise, your movement speed is identical with all three weapons! We deliberately made the heavier weapons feel heavier through animation, creating a sense of great weight without actually slowing down how fast you run. A weapon feeling slow but mighty needs more than damage; lots of effort had to go into getting that sense of momentum and timing just right, in everything from the backswing to the attack itself!
⚖️Balancing Our Weapons
One word: playtesting.
During the early stages of development, we conducted countless internal playtests. This helped us stay on track with what we wanted the weapons to feel like, without making one stronger/more favorable than the others.
We also had many lovely players show up to our showcases and playtest the game, which was a fantastic way for us to get live feedback as well as see honest reactions inside the Trial Grounds. Additionally, we hosted some invite-only playtests where we invited players to try out the game in our studio, for a more focused testing experience!
Through your feedback, we realized that having a weapon that's not as 'powerful' as the others didn't necessarily mean that its damage numbers were the problem. Sometimes, it actually boiled down to the weapon not having impactful VFX that made it feel like you were brandishing a walking bomb, or that sometimes it was the enemies that were too tanky instead.
Whenever we receive feedback, we also need to consider where it comes from. We want Grim Trials to be enjoyable for everyone, including players who do not usually play action games, so we have to analyze all inputs carefully before making balance changes. For example, when a playtester says the game feels too hard because the weapons seem weak, it occasionally doesn't align with the experience of our other players. This means we have to make doubly sure the comment comes from someone who is not familiar with action roguelites, who would have a different perspective from players who are more experienced with the genre.
Overall, just like any other action games, a whole bulk of our work was balancing and refining our weaponry. We had to deal with a LOT of numbers (shoutout to our designers), and balancing the blessings, equipment, and the weapons proved a real challenge for the team. We really enjoyed the development process overall (despite being chained to this project for a few years now!).
🌾Going Medieval
At the start of your run, Avelin will automatically equip a scythe, the iconic weapon of Grim Reapers. However, scythes are more than just sick-looking things for creepy cloaked death figures and anime fighters; these were the tools of the trade for medieval farmers that inspired the concept of reaping souls the way you do with wheat. Since the scythe was so important, if you look closely at the hammer and axe, both weapons share subtle design elements with the scythe. We wanted to keep its visual DNA present throughout all of Avelin's melee weapons, ensuring she never forgets what she's here for!
This is also the case for the crossbows. When we were researching medieval weaponry, we wanted to find a tool Avelin could wield in her off hand. While we were developing the key art and imagining something like a ye olde John Wick, we realized only one thing was going to get the feeling of tactical precision across: a one-handed crossbow.
Without spoiling, all the weapons will also have more lore in the game, each with their own connection to your various mentors in the Afterlife!
That is all for today's devlog! Thank you so much for sticking with us and supporting Grim Trials from the very beginning. Your support and feedback mean so much to us, and we can't wait to show you more as we're one day closer to the release.
See you in the next devlog!
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https://store.steampowered.com/app/3622980/Grim_Trials_Demo/
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