Happy New Year everyone! Welcome to another DIGGERGUN blog post! Today I’m writing to give an update on the status of development, as well as what’s to come in 2023! But first up I want to announce some news:
Eagle-eyed fans might have noticed this already, but for those who haven’t: DIGGERGUN will be published by Grab The Games on Steam!
Not only that but thanks to Grab The Games support, DIGGERGUN will be coming to PS4/5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch in various languages! This is massive news for the game and we couldn’t be more excited to bring DIGGERGUN to a wider audience.
Thanks to Grab The Games support, I’ve been working on DIGGERGUN full-time. Recently I hit a major game development milestone by finishing the game’s Alpha build and I want to share some of the changes and new features that were introduced for the Alpha.
The focus for the Alpha build was on finishing up the remaining systems for DIGGERGUN, before adding more story content during the Beta. I also wanted to apply changes to some of the core elements of the gameplay loop. All of these adjustments are based on the feedback I received from the demo that was released in 2022. So thank you to everyone for playing it and giving me your thoughts!
The biggest of these changes was to how players get paid. In the Pre-Alpha/Demo, players would get paid every Sunday. Now, you get paid at the end of the everyday. If you work through the night, then you’ll get paid the next time you go to sleep.
Players still get taxed to the UK taxation rates, including the National Insurance tax, as well as have money taken from their paycheck for rent and bills.
The main aim of this change was to get to the “point” of DIGGERGUN’s key hook as quickly as possible (the payment and taxation system) as well as giving the player more immediate feedback on how they’re performing.
Talking about performance, another big change is that there is now a minimum amount of lithium the player has to collect and deposit every working day. This is clearly shown when depositing lithium at the entrance to the mines. If you don’t deposit the minimum, then you won’t get paid. It’s that simple!
The hope is that this change will make the gameplay less obtuse as well as ensure the player has clear, short-term goals.
There’s also an additional element to this system. The game now tracks how much lithium you deposit, whether it’s over, under, or the exact amount required. How you perform will affect your relationship with your Manager. As with all NPCs in the game, your bond with your manager will have a profound effect on the rest of your game… for better or for worse.
Those are two of the biggest changes that have been made to DIGGERGUN. It’s my hope that they will address some key issues with the game, as well as enhance its pacing.
But what about other gameplay additions? Well, here are just a few:
- Players can now earn a money bank, and a lithium bank from NPCs to store their resources,
- It rains from time to time in Town, find an umbrella to stop yourself from getting wet,
- Loans - you can take out a loan, but beware of the interest rates,
- More mine levels have been added to the mine randomiser,
- More enemies and objectives have been added,
- More environments to explore and interact with,
- Plants - if you want to water them you’ll need to find a watering can…
- A new stat, Luck, has been added! Increasing it will increase how often lithium and other resources will spawn whilst in the mines,
- Players can sell their lithium to an ever-so-slightly dodgy buyer,
- More weapons have been added
- And much more!
So what’s next? Well as mentioned above, I’m now working on adding more NPCs to the game, as well as programming their various storylines. A large part of my time over the last month or so has been spent on designing each NPCs story, so I’m incredibly excited to start implementing them.
There will also be more enemies, more mines and more polishing as development continues on the Beta. It’s all leading up to another demo/prologue which will release sometime in Spring!
There’s still quite a lot of work to be done until the final version of DIGGERGUN ends up in players' hands. I must admit, it does feel quite daunting! But all of the feedback I’ve received over the last few months has really encouraged me to deliver the best game I can!
I wish everyone the best for 2023! May the next year be full of good luck for all! As always, Wishlist DIGGERGUN on Steam to get the latest updates!