Pawedcast exclusive: A conversation with BCU Game Designer

Hi Cutieneers!👋

It’s about New Year, and a few days ago we have had a conversation with our game designer on stream!

The Russian-speaking community asked to talk to our GD for a bit now, and we finally managed to squeeze a little bit of time out of his day to talk about the game and answer questions left by the community 🙂 In the near future, there are plans to do more of these streams, going into deeper discussions regarding game balance, ideas, and reasons behind specific decisions.

If you want to listen in and read the auto-generated captions you can do this here ➡ https://youtu.be/TawJmKoIHvA

Otherwise, let’s head into the transcript and go through questions asked by the community.

Game Designer’s daily routine

My responsibilities are quite broad in principle because I have to design systems that will be integrated into the current version of the game. I need to plan so that they do not break the existing balance, to take into account the historicity of our game. Historically, we are quite a complex product that had a lot of different nuances that older players of course know and remember. Therefore, some things have to be changed, as some things have to integrate into already established regimes.

Further, my duties also include calculation of the balance for game systems, population calculation, and pricing in general everything that concerns the formation of value and game flow that is actually what a game designer’s job is. Dig unexplored tables and create some of these “unexplored” tables, among other things, including describing them in a way that other people can read so that teams can read and use them as well because woe is the game designer who makes it so that only he alone can read it and understand the approach to it.

When Season 9

It’s very funny that we hear this question Before every season, and every time at the end of every season we hear this question — “When’s the next season?”

Yeah, but as I see it, people should cool down a little between seasons. It might be a good idea to take a break between seasons. In addition, we should focus on improving the overall state of the game, not just during the seasons themselves. We are always working to improve the game, including during the breaks between seasons and after a season has launched. We focus on developing new features and core game mechanics that will be available outside of the seasons.

As for the season 9 launch time. And when the season we plan to launch in early January, but I don’t want to say any precise dates, because we all know that you want to make God laugh Tell him about your plans. So that’s about it — early to mid-January

Editor Note: The theme of the next season is Yuletide and northern mythology. Which will be a change of pace from Infernum and previous high-intensity storylines.

How much will Season Pass cost?

The price of the season pass will depend on the content it includes. It will typically cost around $30–35, but could be slightly more expensive if it includes additional assets at the start, or slightly cheaper if it only grants access to standard assets through seasonal levels. We also offer a premium line of content for an additional cost.

Will Season 9 difficulty be closer to how it was in Season 7 or Season 8?

The complexity of a season is not determined by trying to make it similar to a previous season. Each season is balanced uniquely based on the goals that players have achieved in the previous season and the goals we have set for the product. For example, we have had seasons where we set a goal that only the most skilled players could reach the highest reward, which was initially well-received by the team. However, we later realized that this was not fair for players who joined the season later on and could not hope to achieve the final award. To address this, we have planned for future seasons to be slightly easier, while still controlling the farming of items and awards. This way, experienced players can still farm more than newer players, but everyone has a chance to make progress and achieve the final prize. We also consider the amount of time and effort required to complete a season. We don’t want players to feel like they have to spend all their time on the game, like they have to go to a terrible job. It’s about playing a game and having fun, not causing undue stress. With that said, it’s important to note that a player cannot simply break into a season in just one week and expect to complete it. If a player invests a reasonable amount of time over a longer period, they should be able to complete the season in a normal amount of time without feeling overwhelmed.

What should be the adequate time investment per day/week?

If we consider a relatively new player with a small number of Cuties, the average player will probably have around 100 Cuties. In the past, the number of Cuties needed to participate in the game has been around 144 or 288. However, we are aiming to reduce the number of Cuties needed for the next season. For an average player with 100 Cuties, it would likely take about an hour or an hour and a half of daily play over a period of 45–60 days (out of the regular 90-day run) to complete the season. I will explain the reasoning behind this trend later.

Will there be breeding quests?

There will be quests for breeding, but they will be rebalanced due to the change in the price of the breed. As a result, the number of seasonal points that a player previously received cannot be given. However, we are still working on the calculations for the seasonal point rewards. In the calculations, we plan to make sure that the breed quests give additional awards, in addition to seasonal points, to help players evaluate the value of their Cutie assets. This way, they can see that the assets have additional benefits when they are used in the game.

To summarize, yes, there will be quests for breeding in the future.

Was the breeding fee change, from the developers’ point of view, a good or bad thing, given the impact it had on the game over the year?

The overall impact of the changes to breeding has been positive. Our product is based on the idea that assets, like Cuties, are a way for players to participate in the game. While it is possible to get a Cutie for free by entering your email, this is unlikely to allow a player to fully participate in all the mechanics of the game. They will still need to breed Cuties to fully engage with the game.

We increased the commission for breeding because we noticed that the growth rate of the Cutie population was decreasing their value. While some bred Cuties, like tributes, have a certain value, many players see Cuties as interchangeable units rather than unique characters. This is not what we want for the product. It is important for players to have a certain number of Cuties, but it should not be in the tens of thousands. This can be overwhelming for new players, and it is inconvenient for everyone.

To make breeding more effective and versatile, we are considering providing players with additional tools. For example, we are working on a tool that predicts the genome of the offspring when a player selects two Cuties to breed. This will help players make more informed decisions about their breeding choices and see the possible outcomes. We have also started to decode the genome on the Cutie page to make it clearer and more informative.

In summary, we want to evolve breeding into something more versatile and convenient for players. We are exploring ways to give players more control over their breeding choices and make the process more efficient.

How big will be the part of Dungeons in Season? Will it be possible to complete Season without participating in Dungeons at all?

I understand why you might ask this question. It could be due to the Halloween event, where everything was tied exclusively to the debut of the new system. We intentionally did this for the Halloween event because we wanted to fully introduce the players to the new system and gather as much feedback as possible to refine it. Halloween is a relatively short event, so it was a good opportunity to test the new system without disrupting a long-term event like a season.

We also wanted to ensure that the new system was working well and didn’t have any bugs or issues during the launch of a long-term event like a season. We were worried that players might take the easy way out and ignore the new system during the season, saying “I’ll wait for a better time to check it out later.” If that happened, we wouldn’t get much feedback and the new system wouldn’t be as successful as we hoped.

Each player will need to choose the mode that they are most comfortable with. For example, players who have a large number of assets may be able to participate in the idle mechanics and get most of the rewards from there. However, I want to caution that if a player completely ignores one system and doesn’t participate in it, they will need to invest more time to get all the rewards during the season.

From the start of the season to the final reward, more time will pass if a player wants to meet a certain time frame for the rewards. They will need to participate in both systems to achieve their goals. However, we are not going to force players to only participate in dungeons this season. There will be options to achieve results through both methods.

On what stage is WoC development currently? Will it be launched in 2023?

I believe this is a question that Vladimir would be better equipped to answer, as I am focused solely on developing the Blockchain Cuties Universe (BCU) game mechanics with the BCU team, and do not have time to consider other projects.

Will there be some utility for BCUG to motivate people to hold and use it?

Yes, we are currently working on integrating a blockchain component to create additional value. After spending a lot of time designing concepts, we have developed a unique and innovative prototype that will allow players to truly feel the value of the token. Unfortunately, I can’t reveal too much about this development at the moment as some aspects are still a secret. What I can say for sure is that there are no similar mechanisms on the market yet. So, we will have to wait for the release of the system before we can see the full impact it will have on BCUG. However, I can confirm that BCUG will continue to gain more weight in the game.

Are there plans to change Alien Invader and Raid Devil any time soon?

We have been considering introducing a seasonal buff that would work in normal adventures, but unfortunately, it has not happened yet. We had originally planned to do this, but we received feedback from the community that it would change the balance and status quo of the event. However, we think that if we were to introduce the seasonal buff from the gear this season, it would not harm, but rather benefit both new and experienced players.

Many players, including myself, would take advantage of this situation and try to beat the higher levels of the raid bosses, as the effectiveness of the buffed equipment would be higher and allow us to reach new heights.

To summarize, we do plan to revise the bosses and release additional bosses that will be unseasonal and have revised rewards for completion. However, this work will not begin until mid to late January, after Season 9 launches. We don’t want to overwhelm players with too many changes at once, and it is better for the product to have a steady pace of updates rather than major changes every time a new event or patch is released.

Will there be changes in Tavern rewards?

At the moment, I don’t see a reason to make any changes to the rewards scheme for champion marks in Tavern. It wouldn’t be fair to those who have been saving up champion marks to redeem chests, and it would have a negative impact on everyone’s experience with the game. The tavern is a high-end adventure that is focused on player versus player (PVP) gameplay, and it is currently doing well with what it has. It gives new players goals to work towards and provides something for experienced players to grind for. Changing the rewards scheme now would discourage players from participating in Tavern.

Why past season points are still kept in the inventory?

For the time being, we plan to introduce historical leaderboards where players’ positions will be recorded in the game. When profile customization and badges are added to the production server, these tokens will be used to give players retroactive achievements based on their Season Experience for each Season Point variant. However, we are open to hiding them from the user interface (UI) if that is what players prefer. We can create a poll to see what the community thinks. While it is not something we are determined to keep, we understand that inventories can get cluttered over time.

Will the crafting recipes in the new season be reasonable and logical or irrational like in the Halloween event (Desert Lamp)?

Our crafting system has undergone various experiments during each season. While the Halloween event’s approach had some positive aspects, it was not the most successful. One of the biggest issues we took into account was the time players spent trying to get crafting tokens. In boss dungeons, players could make attempts to craft the Unique Cutie token, but the chances of success were low. Some players were able to get the token quickly, while others played multiple times and still didn’t get the desired result. This was frustrating for players. In future seasons, we will be planning for more predictable crafting, where players can expect to get valuable items if they complete a large number of runs in a dungeon and want to craft something valuable.

Will rewards in regular adventures be changed? As it stands now, some items are not even profitable to dust.

It is likely that the regular adventures in the game will eventually evolve into a system where players gather materials to create their own gear and consumables for their Cuties. While some pre-made items may still be available, players will also have the option to deconstruct others into valuable ingredients. This shift in the game’s mechanics allows players more freedom in creating their own desired gear and consumables, while also providing a way to obtain rare materials. There is more to discuss on this topic, but it requires a more in-depth conversation.

Will the rewards and their chances in the 10th and 11th adventures be changed?

It is possible that the drop rates for items in certain adventures will be reconsidered in the future. When these adventures were first launched, we took into account the needs of top players and the potential for flooding the market with too many items, which would decrease their value. However, the game has evolved since then and it may be possible to reassess the drop rates and make these adventures more exciting for players. One idea we are considering is giving players more control over their itemization through crafting, by providing them with ingredients and special items from specific parts of the game to use in higher-end gear recipes. Instead of relying on luck to get a rare drop from an adventure, players would have the option to create their own arsenal through crafting. This approach would provide more flexibility and choice for players in terms of where they farm and what they farm.

How do the developers see the game in 1, 2, or 3 years from now? In what direction will the development go?

To Be Added — The transcript for the conversation is somewhat broken in this segment and will take more time to translate properly.

How do you decide on the stats of different sets? Why some sets are overpowered, while others, still require a lot of resources, weaker than items in regular adventures?

To Be Added — The transcript for the conversation is somewhat broken in this segment and will take more time to translate properly.