Grid Sage Games

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

Beta 11 was a huge milestone in Cogmind development, having completed a comprehensive review of all items and their stats and mechanics in order to rebalance where necessary, a process I wrote about in detail last year. Balancing Levers The idea of “post-balance” from this article’s title doesn’t mean no balance.

Balance 52

Balance Mechanics Beta Alpha 52

Big Games

DECEMBER 5, 2023

For independent studios, creative marketing strategies like crowdfunding and early-access Beta releases play a crucial role. Regular software updates, including game-balancing patches and new downloadable content (DLC), keep the game fresh and engaging. Balancing creativity with project constraints is tricky.

Game Developer 52

Game Developer Game Development Development Bug 52

Grid Sage Games

MARCH 10, 2022

Some roguelikes don’t strive for balance, but maintaining balance has always been important to me for Cogmind, since it fits better with my vision for this type of game, heavy on tough, complex, and consequential decision-making at multiple strategic and tactical levels. Alien Artifacts.

Balance 52

Balance Mechanics Beta Prototyping 52

Grid Sage Games

JULY 17, 2022

For Beta 12 I decided to include it on the patron feature voting list, and… it won. This might help spot areas I wanted to adjust, or at least offer a clearer picture of the total challenges and rewards possible in a given map as of Beta 11. Sample Garrison content list from Beta 11. or large (hard to fit the work in?),

Beta 52

Beta Content Balance Mechanics 52

Grid Sage Games

OCTOBER 2, 2022

I was really unsure any of this would work at all, since internally it’s quite complex and therefore hard to gauge what outcomes are possible and whether they’d really fit into Cogmind, which has a pretty strong focus on design balance. The first iteration simply averaged together the stats of all the input items.

Engine 52

Engine Engineering Mechanics Balance 52

Grid Sage Games

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

As a general concept teleportation technology exists in quite a few varieties throughout the world of Cogmind, though the player only has access to some of them. In fact I have two new concepts for teleportation tech, which is kinda funny because of how they evolved out of the same idea.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Concepts Balance Terrain 52