The Ukrainian team of developers of the turn-based multiplayer game Rage of Mech shared their experience from the unsuccessful launch of their project on Steam. They listened to player feedback and are working on an update.
The Ukrainian team of developers of the turn-based multiplayer game Rage of Mech shared their experience from the unsuccessful launch of their project on Steam. They listened to player feedback and are working on an update.
«This is our first game development project as a CPCS company. We are at a very important stage of development and want to hear feedback. So don’t be shy — we are still fans of honest comments, even if they are 'painful'», — the developers say.
Rage of Mechs is a multiplayer turn-based strategy game set in a post-apocalyptic world. Players assemble a team of mech robots and compete in battles against other players. The project was released in January of last year as part of Steam Early Access and has since received only 6 reviews.
«Once upon a time, in a galaxy not too far away, there were three of us. We worked on a game in our free time after our main jobs. The first idea was multiplayer ships. We made them, but quickly realized: it was time to change course and add some steel, propellers and huge guns. That’s how our first mechs appeared», — CPCS says about the beginning of the development of Rage of Mechs.
They noted that they started with minimal functionality, but then the company allocated more resources — and the project grew into a serious internal product. Over time, experienced 3D artists joined the development, new maps, a matchmaking system, and artificial intelligence appeared.
«But focusing solely on multiplayer didn’t pay off. Players wanted more stories, atmosphere, storytelling, and internal character development. So far, we haven’t had progression branches or pilot leveling, so we had to stop and think: are we going in the right direction?», — say the developers of Rage of Mechs.
According to them, feedback from Reddit users «opened their eyes» to the project’s flaws. They pointed out the following shortcomings of the game:
The developers also realized that players needed a single-player mode where there was no need to play against other players.
«We heard: starting with only multiplayer is a bad idea. So now we are considering other formats: solo, extraction, team PvE. To test the hypothesis, we want to launch Daily/Weekly missions», — CPCS reported.
The team has come up with and wants to test a «two-phase system» for turn-based multiplayer, in which all players first have one minute to plan their moves, and then everyone watches their execution. According to the plan, this allows for battles of any scale, «even 100 vs. 100» players.
The developers are currently looking to get feedback from players on their updates and test the interest in the new mechanics. To do this, they are handing out keys to Rage of Mechs to anyone interested on their Discord.
