One week ago, Acceptable Losses hit the shelves. It has been a fantastic launch week! I am humbled by the kind words, positive reviews, and constructive feedback. It is my first game on Steam and I couldn't have asked for a better outcome. I also did not expect this outcome. And wishlists continue to surge!
So thank you all for giving Acceptable Losses a chance! I hope in the coming months, I can meet or exceed your expectations for this WWI squad management game.
Launch Week Updates
During this first week, Acceptable Losses received four patches. These were quick-release updates to cover bugs and other immediate issues raised in the discussions, reviews, and Discord. I can't image that I will be releasing patches at this rate from now on, but I wanted a relatively bug-free experience for the first week. A mission direct from HQ.
In the latest patch, a few things were added/changed for clarity. One was the horrible "raspberry jam" filter, as someone put it, that you see when you are injured. It has been toned down but will be replaced in the near future with something more interesting. A few other changes were made to better communicate how certain mechanics work.
Now
It has been a 4-Star Mission gathering all the feedback coming from the front and flanks. I read everything, even if I don't respond. I will be filtering through all the discussions and reviews again to make sure I haven't missed anything.
For now, the most obvious pressing issues are:
high RNG and the player's impact
morale and fatigue snowballing and difficulty to recover
mission outcome is a black box
game ending is too abrupt
endless mode
What's Next?
Looking through that list, I think the biggest issue across the board is RNG. This is to be addressed first.
I would love to jump into adding more content and endless mode, but I feel that it is better to make the core game loop solid before adding more things to throw off the balance.
I have already begun working towards unveiling parts of the black box around Missions and Mission Outcomes. Digging into the mission difficulties, rolls, and modifiers has made it clearer on where balancing needs the most attention.
The first update will:
clarify the die roll and its modifiers,
mission difficulty and its modifiers,
improve mission balance, and
address predictability by adjusting the difficulty brackets (i.e., 1-Star, 2-Star, etc.) to make it more intuitive.
The goal with this update isn't to make the game very predictable and easy. Just to make it more understandable so players can learn from their experience.
Once again, thank you all for jumping into the trenches.
Keep your heads down, your feet dry, and your hands warm.
Good luck, Lieutenant.