Meet Your Maker - October 2023 Reddit AMA Recap
Hey Custodians,
On October 12th, we held a Reddit AMA with our community featuring 4 members of our development team - Producer Vincent, Creative Director Ash, Audio Director Ian, and Product Manager Jonathan. Together, they tackled a wide array of questions from the community spanning from details of our upcoming Raiding 2.0 update, Expeditions, to our future development plans and beyond.
This blog will be your one-stop-shop for all the discussions that had transpired in this AMA. The questions and answers will be sorted by topic for ease of reading.
Please note that in the interest of clarity, some of the questions may have been condensed for brevity. However, you will find hyperlinks to the original questions for those who wish to explore the full context.
For those eager to dive deeper into the AMA, you can check out the entire conversation here.
So, without further ado, let’s dive into the insights shared by our team!
Raiding 2.0 - Expeditions:
Answer: Addressing your concern about Expeditions first: We want it to feel engaging and rewarding, so we will monitor player feedback and balance progression & rewards accordingly.
As for other things planned, we do, and we'll talk about that in the near future. As of Sector 3 Expeditions will also be updated every month.
- Vincent
A: Yes, Expeditions will include a seasonal reward track that includes Enhancements, Currency, Decals, Cosmetics etc.
There aren't any paid skips/shortcuts, it will all be part of the normal Expeditions loop.
Once Sector 3 begins, we plan to have the reward track expand with a new set of rewards each month. We've got some really cool cosmetics and enhancements in the works so looking forward to players getting their hands on them!
- Jon
A: We don't have plans to add Outpost upgrades in that way (although I like your idea).
We are adding new mods and augments in our next update. One of which is my new personal favourite.
- Vincent
Q: Will Expedition Raids be compatible with Multiplayer?
A: Yes, it will be playable in coop. Just like the current way of raiding, the host will be able to decide which Outpost to Raid. Building will remain the same.
- Vincent
A: We have a big "meta" change coming up with the addition of Enhancements. We are confident this will shake up how the game is currently played. So, we definitely expect future changes to be required to keep it all balanced, and then we have other things planned.
- Vincent
For a first-look at our upcoming Raiding 2.0: Expeditions update, check out our recent devstream!
Player Retention, Player Acquisition and Long-term Development Plans
Answer: Our biggest active player base is currently on Consoles; Steam is a smaller fraction of the total amount of active players. At the moment, the intended experience of Meet Your Maker is still very much alive (outpost variety and builders getting raided).
We'll continue updating and supporting the game for as long as it makes sense. If this stops (making sense) and we have to move to other things, we want to make sure we leave Meet Your Maker in the best possible state.
- Vincent
A: Adding Expeditions is the first big divergence from the Sector content updates / demos / sales etc. we've had so far. We collected a lot of feedback through our surveys, playtests, community that goals, meaningful choices, and rewards were a key opportunity to improve the game, and Expeditions was designed to help those areas.
We've got other updates cooking that we can't get into details on yet, but similarly intended to expand core parts of the game and add more variety to the experience.
- Jon
Q: How far does your internal roadmap goes, so far?
A: We have a near term roadmap of features and content that are actively being worked on, and a much longer backlog and wishlist. Can't give a specific time range, but pretty far!
- Jon
Q: Which part of the player's toolkit are you looking to expand next?
A: With the upcoming addition of Enhancements, we're expecting a substantial change in how Raiders overcome difficult Outposts... or just come up with fun new ways to die.
We have other things in the plan, notably a new Sector. More on that, and other things, to come.
- Vincent
Building (Blocks Shapes, Deco Packs, Traps, Guards, Building Limitations & more)
Answer: Not currently. One of the most important parts of the game is the ability and clarity or how traps works and a key part of that is sight lines.
Adding more 'noise' between the players and the traps has a high likelihood for increasing difficulty in a way that we cannot easily identify and that is without considering the impact on navigation.
But- we would love to add more ability to enhance the "fantasy" of the levels you built, and we are going to be pushing new "more extreme" decals and giving you more fun ones to play around with.
-Ash
Q: Is there perhaps a chance we can get more precise descriptions of what Trap Mods do?
A: It's always a fine line between giving too little or too much information. Sometimes too much information can overwhelm new players. But we'll take a look again.
We felt that the trap range preview feature in building mode gave precise visualizations about how far traps can see.
- Ash
A fellow Custodian responded: I think the pack limit is based on the parameters of Unreal Engine (the engine the game runs on). When you use a pack, the game has to render every single 3D texture that comes with that pack, and those are big files. So limiting it to 5 means that it's not struggling.
A: Pretty spot on, Rechan. We cannot allow a higher number of building items to be used on an Outpost for performance reasons.
-Vincent
A: We would love to be able to support this but there are obvious issues that develop unbalancing the core game. With too many outposts and not enough raids, no one gets raided any more.
We need both parts of the game, building and raiding to work together.
However, we are looking at ideas to improve the social raiding side of the game and ideas around that. Social raiding doesn't require the grind to keep outposts online so it's an area we are looking at. - Ash
Q: When will we be getting more block shapes?
A: Despite these being a very cool idea there are no current plans to add new block shapes.
Managing our art budgets to keep everyone with a playable experience means that sometimes what seem like simple additions have large impacts on performance.
It's something we would love to look into in the future.
- Ash
Q: Can we get a kill counter for traps?
A: Oh my that would be the best thing ever!
We also had ideas to add names for all our guards and stats for everything!
We have it for the outposts with the kill ratio and I'm afraid that's how it will remain for now.
-Ash
HRV, the Harvester:
Answer: Our feature backlog is full of things we would love to add to the game, but the reality is we cannot do it all. Currently we don't have plans for Harvester upgrades, but we do have other surprises we can't wait to talk about.
-Vincent
Q: HOW LONG TIL CUSTODIANS CAN PET HARVEY? HRV is a good boy, and he deserves pets.
A: Apparently, you can "pet" Harvey with a Sledgeblade to great effect. Or so a friend told me.
-A friend
Lore:
Answer: We're adding lore onto all the reward items that will be earned through expeditions. So at least more of it will now surface outside the Codex.
It would be so great to be able to push it even more, but it's not in our current plans.
-Ash
Combat:
Question: Do you guys have any plans to give melee some love in the future?
Answer: We are always looking to improve!
We just did a pass on melee to increase the lunge speed to allow raiders to get out of the lunge speed animation faster.
In the next update we've also made the Incinerator damage over time, so you now have a small window to reach that trap before being melted into oblivion.
Upcoming, there are also melee specific Enhancements too!
-Ash
Co-Op:
Question: Are there any plans to introduce random matchmaking for Raiders?
Answer: This is something we've been discussing as part of our feature backlog. At the moment, our priorities are on the upcoming Expeditions update and Sector 03, so no plans regarding random matchmaking in the near future.
-Vincent
A: We have tried to make coop as accessible and fun for the broadest range of players and skill levels possible which is why it is so open.
With that known, we do understand that some duos are seeking a greater challenge in their coop raids, and we are looking at this now.
-Ash
Outpost Difficulty, Discoverability and Asymmetric Dynamics:
Answer: We heard this feedback around capacity costs loud and clear, and definitely understand pushing builds over capacity was a huge pain point. We had several inconsistencies with capacity costs, and issues with Danger Score calculations under the hood, so this was warranted but happening too frequently and without enough notice/communication.
Moving forward, we don't plan for capacity costs to change except in exceptional circumstances. This policy was already in place for Season 2, where we did not have any capacity cost changes. We'll attempt to keep these stable and balance with 'non-breaking' values from here wherever possible.
Specific danger score brackets are harder to guarantee, we've got a big change to difficulty with the dynamic skull rating being enabled in the mid-sector update, and as this is brand new it will likely need some tweaking to get just right. This won't affect the Normal/Dangerous/Brutal 'Danger Score' brackets as we know them today, but it's certainly possible we'll need to make adjustments to either system that could change categorization.
-Jon
A: We are looking at ways we can surface content better in future feature updates. Outposts with high prestige levels is part of that.
-Vincent
A: Giving players more tools to find the types of outposts they want to play, and better surfacing and categorizing great builds of all kinds is something we are working towards.
We've seen really good response to the Pantheon of Builders program, and it's validated a lot about the approach we want to take. Accolades will definitely play a role here.
-Jon
Q: Are there any plans to make running and completing harder outposts more worthwhile?
A: With the new difficulty system, you will soon earn more Ranking Points for running more difficult Outposts.
Regarding resource rewards - we'll keep an eye on how the meta is changing regarding resource gathering and make adjustments as appropriate.
-Ash
Q: Are there any plans to address the imbalance between raiders versus builders?
A: We have always wanted to support both arty, fun, and brutal outposts. That's why we reward for both kills and accolades.
It is true that recently we have looked at certain outpost meta builds and tried to find ways to make them more balanced.
we feel there are still so many ways to create deadly Outposts and the new difficulty system will now categorize this content and the ranking point boost will reward players for tackling this content.
-Ash
Audio:
Answer: In the whole game, the trickiest part is to fit the new elements into the ongoing and evolving audio. Idle SFX and VO need to be audible within the existing audio spectrum and have a particular identity to provide feedback to players.
Regarding the dash attack, the concept and art were created first, and then we worked on it. But there was a back and forth as the dash evolved and VFX came in at one point, so it was a multi-levelled approach.
-Ian
Q: Please add the cool music from the trailers while raiding.
A: Yes, that music is way cool. But to answer the underlying question, the genre of music for the game was decided way before the trailers came about. The trailers were created by marketing with their own artistic direction, and with music that was licensed for specific purposes. Also, don't forget that linear music design is vastly different from interactive music design and some tracks that work incredibly well over a 1–2-minute video will not necessarily sound as cool after 100s of hours of listening.
-Ian
Loadouts:
Question: Do we have any details on new Hardware or Weapons for future updates?
Answer: Not to announce today, sorry!
But bear in mind that when Expeditions drops, you're going to get the Enhancements to play with -each one will upgrade and supercharge the player, the weapons, hardware and even the Custodian's navigation. We'll carry on our weapons research and update you as soon as possible. - Ash
A: Yes! Expeditions will feature a reward track that lets players earn cosmetics, decals, currencies etc. as they complete regions. We'll be adding new rewards regularly and giving players the chance to collect rewards that they may have missed as well.
Really excited to get these out into the wild because the skins are looking awesome.
-Jon
A: Mixing and matching your loadout in raiding is definitely an area we are looking at.
We decided to create the Enhancement system to address this as the Enhancements not only allow you to boost and tweak the weapons but all aspects of the raiding experience.
-Ash
Miscellaneous:
Q: Will the lever in sanctuary ever have a use again?
A: Do NOT pull the lever. It would shut down the Sanctuary, kill the Pentekath, HRV, the Chimera and most probably the Custodian (although this has not yet been tested)
-The Chimera
Q: What does GenMat taste like?
A: Sausages with notes of melted cheese.
-Ash
That about sums it up for our October 2023 Reddit AMA. We thank you for joining us, and we appreciate your support and curiosity. We’re here to keep you updated on all the exciting developments ahead, and we remain committed to fostering an open dialogue with our community, ensuring your voices are heard and your questions are answered.
See you in the wasteland, Custodians!
-The Meet Your Maker Team