Update #21: Unpacking Burdens, Developments, and Debate a Thing

Hi, Hi

Let’s Dive In!

None for now! Just keep being awesome while we do our thing.

In our last update, we asked for your burden ideas—and wow, you didn’t hold back! Honestly, when the campaign ended, we half-expected everyone to vanish into the ether like some kind of crowdfunding magic trick. But nope, here we are, months later, still asking for your brilliant ideas, and you’re still showing up! You’ve completely surprised us in the best way, and we couldn’t be more grateful. We’ve gone through all your suggestions and picked our ten favorites to highlight—seriously, you guys are next level.

The last month has seen a continued focus on refining and streamlining the game’s systems to deliver on the vision for this game with the level of quality and thoughtfulness you deserve and expect. In particular, we’re continuing to massage things so that we can maintain the depth of the experience but find ways to decrease the mental overload and complexity that we know is just too much right now. Our biggest breakthrough this month has been with a refinement to the skill check spreads!  

Quick refresher: in the game, when you attempt various actions you use the skill test spreads in the book to determine if (and how well) you succeed at whatever you’re trying to do. Think of these like a skill check in an RPG, but instead of rolling dice against your stats and a challenge level, you’re engaged in a mini-game where you use your cards and other aspects of your character’s build to attempt to succeed. Your character's skill at different types of checks is determined by how your deck is assembled as well as which “approach cards” you have earned. Approach cards augment the skill test mini-games in various ways, often granting you advantages or efficiencies. Think of these as leveling your character in certain skills: you may have approach cards that allow you to approach the “agility” test minigame more effectively than me, for example, based on how you’ve grown and customized your character.

One of the things we’ve been grappling with is the question of how many of these spreads to include in the book. We want there to be a lot of variety to the spreads so everything always feels fresh and engaging, which suggests we should have a larger quantity of spreads so that you’re not doing the same handful of spreads repeatedly. If nothing else, even though each of the spreads have lots of variability and feel very different depending on what quest or activity brought you there, there’s still a psychological aspect of knowing you’ve turned to the same page again for the second or third time this hour that makes it feel same-y, even if it's objectively not. So, more spreads feels more good. However, for the spreads to have the layers of depth and variability we’re seeking, and to really empower you to “level up” your skills with a variety of approach cards, more spreads create some wrinkles – namely, if your character is going to feel truly customized, unique, and better at some things than others, we really need a large variety of approach cards available for each spread and that’s just not possible at the larger quantity of spreads.

You can see some of the tension here. The vision for the game wants a large number of spreads. The vision also wants a large number of approach cards for each spread, which means we need less spreads. The game wants both more spreads and less spreads at the same time. Perfect. Thanks, game. 

The solution that revealed itself this month is this: we’re separating spreads into two different categorizations. Skill Test spreads: which go really deep, have lots of variability, use approach cards, and do all the things you’ve been excited for them to do; and Challenge spreads: which don’t use approach cards, and are for activities that aren’t as specifically skill-based (think: meditation, “treasure run” type spreads where you see how many bonuses you get, damage mitigation type spreads, and a bunch of things in this vein).

This is one of those have-our-cake-and-it-too revelations. We get to have the huge number of spreads and variety that we want, while also having the skill test spreads go really really deep to allow for legitimate character customization through the approach cards and deck construction aspects of the game. 

This is a perfect encapsulation of what is happening behind the scenes here at O-Neb: developments that protect and deliver on the vision of the game that you signed on for with minor adjustments and rearrangements. With each of these tweaks, the game comes into sharper focus as the smooth, finished, professionally executed experience you deserve and that avoids the trappings of being a bloated, too-complex crowdfunding game full of every creative idea the creators got excited about. Thank you for trusting us to execute this vision and for joining us on this journey. We’re truly grateful and so excited for you to play this thing you’ve helped make possible. Timeline-wise, this is a very ambitious game, and we’re deeply committed to doing it right. For now, we’re letting the development process lead the timeline, leaving things open until the game is what you deserve it to be. Please be assured that our team includes very senior project management professionals and we take our responsibilities extremely seriously. This approach is what this particular unique game needs, we promise. Thank you for your trust. We feel it. It means a lot. 

On the less mechanical side of things, we’ve got some new artwork from Brittany Bowman that we can’t wait to share. So, we’re not waiting! Check out these latest pieces!

On the content-front, the team is still building out some of the smaller side quests in the realms and quest packs and we find ourselves curious about your thoughts on a conversation we’ve been having in the office repeatedly over the past few years. What gets your fire going more: quests that are more plot-driven, with surprises and twists and set-piece moments, or quests that are more introspective, with smaller moments that focus on internal, emotional, and psychological things? Clearly, all the quests in this “introspective journey” of a game do a bit of both, and this first wave of content is already planned and mostly developed out, but this is a conversation we’ve had a bunch over the years and it’s always an interesting one and we’re curious what types of things you might have to say had you been in those meetings along the way! 

Throw your thoughts on this subject into the comments. We’re genuinely interested in what reactions you have to this question, and we maaaay be framing it in a deliberately shallow way to trigger you into having strong and interesting opinions and reactions to share! Bring those thoughts! We love to hear from you.

Got questions or just want to connect with like-minded peeps? We’ve got you covered. Our O-Neb community on Discord is always around, ready to lend a hand, share a laugh, or just chat about the latest happenings. It is the place to connect, hang out, and be a part of something awesome.

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For anything a little more official, we’re just an email away at groundcontrol@orangenebula.com. Seriously, don’t hesitate to reach out—we’re always here to help with whatever you need.

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We can’t thank you enough for being a part of this journey with us. This community is what fuels us, and we’re so grateful for each and every one of you. Whenever you need something or just looking for a virtual high-five, we’re here for you.

So yeah, if you want to catch us more than just when updates drop, come hang out in our Discord, or catch our latest updates on Instagram. We’re always around and more than happy to connect.

We’ll talk to you soon.

Much love.

O-Neb