We’re launching Update 02 to the Closed Alpha today! That means it’s the start of our second playtest for Rogue Core.

Lots of folks have been asking us about when we're sending out more playtest invites, and we've got news on that right down below. But before that, let's take a quick look at what's coming in this update.


A lot’s been added, tweaked and rebalanced since the Closed Alpha launch.

Here are the main big changes in Update 02:

• New optional events to tackle during runs
  
• New player upgrades to choose from
  
• More cave constructions (scaffolding, tunnels, elevators, etc.)
  
• Experimenting with initial traits and class-specific features
  
• More upgrade options for Cooper, the solo-mode companion drone
  
• Ongoing UI updates and game optimization

A more detailed changelog will be available in Discord[discord.gg] once we get it all transcribed from the programmers’ crayon scribbles.

UPDATE 5. JUNE -- All invites as part of this second wave have now been sent out. Those invited should have received notification via Steam and email.

Before we send out the next batch of invites, we need to make sure this update is stable. So for the first few hours after this post goes live, the playtest is still only open to those who already have access.

Once we’re confident that this new update runs well and doesn’t brick our/your computers, we’ll send out that second wave of playtest invites. This next round will be limited to a couple thousand people, so your individual chances of getting access are still pretty low. We’re not using Steam’s experimental ‘friend +1 invite’ feature this time, because it turned out to be a bit buggy and inconsistent.

We’ll be sending these additional invites out via random selection. If you’ve clicked the ‘Request Access’ button on the Rogue Core Steam store page, that’s all you need to do. Keep an eye on your notifications (and email) to see if you’ve gotten in.

For more information on the playtest (and how invitations work), check out our FAQ below.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2605790/view/574879683755115309?l=english

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That's all! We'll be back in a couple weeks with our dev diary blog post for June, where we'll take another look at some of our ongoing and upcoming projects with Rogue Core.

We hope everybody’s summer is off to a nice warm start, and may the odds be on your side for getting picked for the playtest.

With Love,
-The Ghost Ship Crew

Welcome to the second monthly update for what’s going on with Rogue Core! We didn’t have time to make a video for this one, so we’re going with old-fashioned words again.

IN THIS ISSUE:

• What we’ve learned from the first playtest
  
• Keeping the Alpha running
  
• When’s the next round of invites going out?
  
• Big questions we’re exploring
  
• Our plan for the next few weeks

We're moving at a quick clip these days, so our priorities may change from week to week. Just worth keeping in mind with these monthly updates, so nobody thinks all this is written in stone and/or rock. Until the next monthly update, you're welcome to ask us about development on Discord or on our weekly dev streams.

Let's dig in.

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These first few days have taught us a lot about how people play Rogue Core, what they like, what works and what doesn’t. We’ve been getting loads of useful feedback from playtesters via Discord, surveys and in-game telemetry. Thanks to everyone who’s chimed in so far.

We also found that the new Steam “invite-a-friend” feature we tried was somewhat inconsistent. We knew it was in beta, so it was a bit of a crapshoot. It turned out that not everyone got the option to have that +1 invite, and sometimes the invites themselves didn’t send or register. This is an issue on Steam’s end, so there’s unfortunately nothing we can do about it. :(

Overall, our impression is that people enjoyed this Alpha version of Rogue Core, which we’re very pleased to see. But there’s still a long way to go before the game is in a place we’re happy with. It feels like our to-do list is getting longer, not shorter.

Now we’re back in another production phase, where we hunker down and work on new features.


Various concept sketches for the Rift Gate.
In our eyes, the first playtest is complete. We’ve stopped updating this current version of the Closed Alpha so we can turn our focus toward further development.

Even though the initial playtest has concluded, we’ve made the decision to keep the alpha open for all those who currently have access. But this comes with a stipulation: Don’t get too attached to your save files, because we’ll have to wipe all player saves when we implement major updates in the future. Fair warning.

The next major Closed Alpha update will hopefully be ready in a few weeks. That’ll be our next dedicated playtest, where you can expect another round of invitations to go out. But until that next update launches, we’re not letting more people in.


Good question! The honest answer is we’re not sure. Loose estimate is a couple of weeks.

Right now, our big focus is designing and implementing more features and content in the game. Once we’ve made good progress there, we’ll package it up and release it as a new playtest, the ‘Update 2’ for the Closed Alpha. We’ll send out a fresh batch of playtest invitations there, and everyone who’s already gotten access will of course be able to play it as well.

We’ll likely invite a couple thousand more, but this will still be a fraction of all the people who have requested access. This is to say, your individual chances of getting in are still low. We know this is frustrating! But we just don’t need a huge volume of playtesters right now during this phase of the Closed Alpha – it’d be counterproductive for us to manage all that traffic and feedback right now. Higher-volume playtests with a bunch of invites will hopefully come later down the line.


Draft versions of new scaffolding systems and cave constructions.
Like we mentioned earlier, this game is still very far from where we want it to be. We think we’re off to a pretty good start, but there’s still loads to do. Here are a couple of the ‘big picture’ considerations that we’ve been discussing a lot lately:

• We’re looking at tweaking and balancing the weapons in Rogue Core, to make sure there aren’t obvious favorites for what’s best or most fun. This will be an ongoing thing, but because your first weapon pick can have a big role in how you experience a run, it’s important for us to keep in mind.
  
• There’s a lot of UI, wayfinding and QoL features yet to be added. As we’re working, we’re taking notes on what we still need to implement in terms of tooltips, voicelines and UI overlays that’ll boost the game’s overall user friendliness. This alpha version is hopefully the least user-friendly version you’ll see, and it’ll just go up from here.
  
• Cave constructions are in the spotlight for us too. We want to add more props and set dressings to give greater detail to these mining facilities, to make them feel “lived in.”
  
• Class abilities and skills still have some room to grow. We’d like to give each class a distinct sense of power, with its own strengths and synergies. We’re spitballing a few concepts for class-specific skills, as well as how the upgrades you encounter during a run support class-specific abilities and playstyles.

This list is far from exhaustive, of course. Still loads more to explore, both in the short term and long term. Down below, we’ve got more detail on what we’ll be working on in the weeks to come.


Sketches of environment effects and possible "core corruption" cave elements.
Earlier this week we made a big list of overall objectives for the game, effectively a wishlist of what we want to implement next. A good chunk of this, but not all of it, is focused on that Update 2 we talked about.
So, without promising that all of this is coming in a couple weeks, here’s what we’re hoping to work on next:

• More stats for the end screen. At the end of a run, we want you to be able to get a detailed breakdown of your mission data: kills, damage and DPS, and the upgrades that made up your build.
  
• Experimenting with new classes. We’ve designed Rogue Core to have room for more than four classes, and we’re starting to work on that part now.
  
• Class-specific skills and perks. This is to help each class feel more distinct, with their own specializations and strong points to explore.
  
• Character audio/visual polish. The main focus here is improving third-person character animations and plugging in some missing sounds. Just a little side project to make things extra slick and flashy.
  
• Cooper upgrade system. We’d like the single-player assistance drone to have more interesting options for upgrades during a run, to add some more depth for solo players.
  
• More in-run upgrades. This means more variation in the upgrades you earn during a run, as well as more possibilities for funky synergies and unique builds.
  
• Additional Expenite Events. This is our working term for the side objectives like the Ram-Hammer event. Right now, you basically get the same three or four interactive events during every run. We’d like more variation so it’s not as predictable, so we’re cooking up some new ones.
  
• More mining facility set dressings. We’ll be making new cave constructions, props and set dressings to give the mining facilities of Rogue Core more detail and a ‘lived-in’ feel.
  
• UI maintenance and polish. We’re aiming to get rid of the last bits of DRG placeholders in the user interface. This is more of a side task, but we’re looking at it as we go along.
  
• Ramrod renovations. The good ship Ramrod needs more detail and things to do. Brainstorming is in full swing.
  
• Ongoing optimization. This will be a constant project, but we’re already thinking about it. Hopefully this makes feebler computers have an easier time running Rogue Core, both in the alpha version and for the eventual release.

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There's much still to be done here. But we're excited about where things are headed, and we're looking forward to sharing it all with you in the months to come. Thanks for your continued interest and enthusiasm in Rogue Core.

As always, if you’ve got some thoughts or feedback you want to share with us, feel free to comment below, or tune in to our weekly dev streams and chat with us live.

Rock and Stone, Reclaimers.

With Love,
-The Ghost Ship Crew