Hope everyone is staying cool as we go into summer in the northern hemisphere of our favorite floating rock. We are all quite jealous of everyone who is enjoying cooler weather in the southern half!
Today we’re going to be talking about progression, and it’s more than just “Oh numbers go up”. So far we really feel like we’ve developed a cool toy but not really a proper game. VERZ is basically a sandbox right now. You can earn tons of credits, make incredibly efficient and productive factories, and shoot down NPC’s to your heart’s content. But you don’t really have a reason to do it (unless you have retained that child-like imagination from when we were five and can make up intricate rules and stories spontaneously). Progression systems are one of the main catalysts that turn a toy into a proper game, and we’re going to cover two themes of progression.
Tangible Progression
For lack of a better word, “tangible progression” is how we’re referring to a lot of the systems you would already be familiar with. Higher ranks, skill numbers going up, stronger equipment, etc. Things you can point to and say “I have this” and it has a direct impact on your gameplay experience. These are ubiquitous because they’re meaningful and straightforward. We plan on implementing a variety of these which I’ll describe in bullet points because eloquent transitions between such topics is difficult:
- Skills: Self-explanatory. Do a thing successfully, number goes up. Better number = better at that thing.
- Faction Progression: Ranks of course yes. Two more secret thematically related but mechanically distinct systems? Quite possible.
- Equipment Progression: Better fighters want better guns. Richer merchants want bigger cargo holds. Shocking idea.
So really, for those of us classically motivated by seeing numbers go up, progression abounds.
Intangible Progression
This is the really interesting stuff. It’s not a true opposite of tangible progression, but it’s close enough to use the word. With “intangible progression” we mean to capture those achievements or milestone which do not materialize in the game universe yet nonetheless are interesting and worthwhile to achieve. Some of this may result from reaching a certain number of something; some of this may result from doing every type of a certain thing. Some of it may even happen randomly. It could be something that has significant gameplay advantage or just makes you look 1.1% cooler. Lots of mystery in this universe to be sure.
But before we get into some details, would love to take the opportunity to discuss why this type of progression is even worthwhile. VERZ is, at the end of the solar cycle, a roleplaying and community driven game. Planets, alliances, hordes of space flies, other pilots all these live or die by your engagement. While tangible progression systems can pretty easily communicate what another pilot is or has done, they fall short of describing how and why. We think there’s an opportunity to bring more of that to the front through some of our intangible progression systems. We want to give players opportunities to communicate “this is the way I play; this is what I think is cool or value”. The sort of concepts that bring a lot of richness to a character you’re playing beyond the size of your laser or cargo hold.
With that said, the one thing I can share is that part of this intangible progression will be the earning and displaying of “Monikers” or more commonly called a title. Monikers will be optionally publicly visible on the player’s roster, and they’re able to choose which to display (assuming they have earned more than one). Some Monikers will be relatively common, and we expect these will be an easy way for like-minded pilots to find one another. Other Monikers will be much less common; representing some feat of achievement (or stroke of luck) to represent the unique and dedicated ways a pilot has shaped their career.
