Bearlike, Mechabellum's creator and lead designer, did an impromptu, unscripted stream a few days ago where he talked about upcoming changes and the game's design, and answered questions from the viewers. The full VOD of the developer live stream is available here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2763279146
I've tried to summarize what was said very literally to avoid any ambiguity. If I misinterpreted or misrepresented something that was said or conveyed, please point it out in the comments and I’ll correct it here. No AI was used, so any mistakes are fully human!
New information:
- The Typhoon rework is coming next season (S8).
- The new Typhoon will have 6 brand-new techs.
- Vortex will soon become a starter pack unit.
- Starter Packs will be completely rebalanced and overhauled.
- A Clan system (tags, chat, ladder) is in development.
- Clan Wars are being considered, but nothing has been decided yet.
- Hacker will receive a 1.5-2s delay before it starts hacking (every time).
- The previously mentioned Fire Titan unit has been cancelled.
- 1-2 or two more units are planned to complete the roster. They won’t be titans or have fire abilities.
- One of the new units will be a melee unit.
- Devs are experimenting with adding spell research options to the towers, which would replace spell card drops. This will be tested in Rift Mode first.
- A new and super fun Rift mode is in development and will come later this year, unrelated to the spell research experiment.
- The test server with the Typhoon rework and techs will be released toward the end of May.
- Ground effects will be changed to last only 1 round, oil will be cheaper to compensate.
- EMP spells and Chamber Compression are actively being looked into.
Summary and timestamps:
00:09:45 - Bearlike plays a game against Kepals while viewers submit questions and concerns.
00:28:15 - Start of the segment where concerns and questions are collected and added to a document. Bearlike responds to some chat messages and talks a little about playing the game and the negative reactions he sometimes receives. Although he doesn't believe that designers of competitive games must also be among the top players, and points out that this is almost never the case (he mentions the League of Legends designers and Richard Garfield as examples), he has a good track record of playing the game at higher levels.
00:53:00 - Discussion about the game needing too much chaff to function. Low MMR players tend to not like chaff, because big bad robots going boom-boom is more fun and chaff units die quickly. Chaff is essential, in part because it doesn’t care about enemy unit levels or how much damage an enemy unit does. Devs want to move in a direction where chaff is less required. Possible solutions may include techs that block high damage to lessen reliance on chaff. An example tech could look like this: “When receiving damage above 500, block 60% of the damage 2 times.” Bearlike stresses this is not a perfect solution, but an indication of the direction the devs are exploring.
01:08:24 - Question and discussion about board diversity and counter design. Bearlike explains why counter design is more complex than a strict Rock-Paper-Scissors approach and why techs can make a unit strong against its initial counter (example given: Melting Point is weak against Sledgehammer, but can become strong against it with Energy Diffraction). Bearlike says Rock-Paper-Scissors approaches are too rigid, boring, lacking nuance and people would follow strict counter flowcharts - “not enough blurriness to insert strategy”. If you have scissors and you see rock coming, the only choice being to get paper is not enough depth for a good strategy game. Good strategy games need more “maneuverability” for players to achieve enough complexity/depth.
If a solution (tech) however is too strong so that it removes other options, it is bad. If there are multiple different ways to counter something that works in different situations, it is good. It is deliberate that techs can compensate for weaknesses (e,g. Steelball’s inherent lack of range can be compensated for with techs, but at a cost - for the tech and for future techs, and players must choose between four techs). Bearlike disagrees that every tech must also have a downside and add a weakness, and feels that supply cost for current and future techs is the cost in some cases). Sometimes this is not avoidable for balancing reasons and adds complexity (but not depth), like reducing range. The possibility for units to change roles isn’t bad, but values can be off and improperly balanced.
01:24:00 - Scorpion discussion. Scorpion is not too strong in high MMR, but in low MMR it is very strong, because lower MMR players don’t use chaff as much. How to boost its performance in high MMR, and make it a more viable counter to titans, without making it even stronger in low MMR? One idea being considered is adding a tech that reduces Scorpion’s splash damage, but increases its firing rate and range.
01:29:15 - Discussions of Cast’s question about enabling the competitive scene to grow. Bearlike says Mechabellum is a competitive game and devs want to encourage competition, which is why there are in-game tournaments. Mechabellum is a result of the cooperation between developer and publisher. Both partners have different responsibilities. Developers didn’t manage the competitive scene directly in the past, but answered (some) feature requests and provided the development resources. Bearlike believes a viable competitive scene develops organically with a large enough playerbase and cannot be forced. Bearlike does not want to change the game in a way that would only appeal to the top players if it would shrink the playerbase as a whole. Focus is on expanding the player base, which will automatically increase and benefit the competitive player base.
His primary concern is to have many players playing the game, which will grow the competitive scene as well. If direct support for the competitive scene also grows the player base, then providing that support and “going harder” in this direction is desirable. The main concern is always: Will this make the player base as a whole happier? This is why there are things like betting, Insight leaderboard, etc - they add interest for the larger competitive player base.
Bearlike says later in the stream (at 02:06:00) that he will talk more about the competitive scene and adjacent topics at a later point as some changes would be announced soon.
01:39:30 - Discussion about support for player-run Clans. Also continuation of the competitive scene and custom tournaments discussion. Bearlike reiterates that development resources spent on supporting the competitive scene must also benefit (and grow) the player base as a whole. Bearlike wants to improve the in-game tournaments and make them better, including better rewards. Improving support for custom tournaments (for all players) is also being considered. But it cannot be at the expense of developing other things that historically draw more new and returning players into the game. 99% of the players do not participate in any tournaments. Devs still want to improve them and improved tournaments and easier custom tournament organization are in reach. Bearlike really likes the idea of Clans and Clan Wars and feels they would increase player engagement and foster a sense of community and belonging. Was previously on the radar, but due to recent community interest has now a higher priority.
01:48:00 - Question about a Discord poll on timer changes and whether the majority opinion of those who voted is important to Bearlike. Bearlike points out that “design by voting” (design by committee) doesn't work and no game developer does it. The opinion of the majority is important to him, but points out that votes on Discord may not be the majority’s opinion, especially if the sample size is small, and explains that while you do not need everyone to vote, you do need a statistically representative group of voters for reliable results. Polls on Discord don’t meet this requirement. On the subject of the round timer, Bearlike recognizes that many players are unhappy with the timer and said the developers are exploring different ways of changing how it currently works. Since he is getting very mixed feedback about the length of the timer, the solution will not be perfect for everyone. Says it’s the developers’ job to listen to what makes players unhappy and find ways to fix the cause.
02:00:25 - Discussion about upcoming Hacker changes. The main change is to add a short delay (either 1.5 or 2s) before the Hacker starts hacking, This applies to every hacking attempt. Small units will be harder to hack. If the target unit dies, there is another 1.5-2s delay. It is OK if the Hacker player gets frustrated as “everyone hates hackers”.
02:05:00 - Discussion about Battlefield Abilities (Spells) being too strong and frustrating. Bearlike points out several aspects why this is: spells are difficult to predict, there is not enough time to react, spells kill too many units in a game that is about units fighting each other, not always a viable counter available (e.g. Nuke/Lightning Storm vs. some air-heavy boards), certain unit compositions and playstyles being more severely punished.
The first solution the devs are working on is a reduction of ground effects like smoke, acid, and oil to 1 round.
The other solution currently in development is removing several strong spells from the pool of reinforcement cards and instead making them researchable in the tower. Research progress and cooldown will be visible to the opponent. Spells will no longer be random. Bearlike shows several cost/time examples in this segment: round 2: pay 100 supply to research Fire Bomb; round 4: get Fire Bomb; round 5: pay 250 supply, research Nuke; round 8: get the Nuke. Research order is up to the player, so a player could spend 250 supply in round 2 to research a Nuke and get it in round 5. Numbers are not final. Gives players more time to prepare. Downsides: makes the game more complicated, makes certain spells reliably obtainable in every match. This will be added to Rift Mode first for testing.
More changes to spells are coming (value changes). EMP spells are being looked into, either to make them more expensive or add a longer cooldown timer. EMP spells are not an issue in lower MMR ranges, but they are strong in high MMR. Size of the targeted area is also looked into. EMP spells are often used in combination with other spells, making it stronger further.
02:31:50 - Discussion about mixed topics: Bearlike says a Melee unit is still coming. Starting pack balance will receive major balancing changes (“will balance starter packs through and through”) including ensuring that packs have the same value. Vortex will become a starter pack unit, which is why starter pack rebalancing had been delayed. EMP Armor is being looked into. Arclight or Shockwave are very strong and will not be buffed currently by changing the Shockwave/EMP Armor interaction, but this will be looked into as part of a big balance patch. Points out that buffing one thing often has a cascading effect, so doesn’t want to change certain techs or units in isolation. Season 9 will introduce the (for now) final piece of the unit roster (but “never say never”). Fire Titan has been cancelled. The new unit will not be a titan and will not have fire.
02:43:00 - Bearlike answers a number of final questions from the viewers. He is aware of the QoL posts on the Discord server. Mentions that hotkeys are difficult to add and they need to do some other changes first (engine related?). He knows that not everyone likes new units being added and eventually they need to slow down (“can’t keep adding pieces to chess”). Quality of Life changes are a focus and they will be able to allocate more time to implementing them. Changes to Chamber Compression are looked into as well.
Bearlike talks about now having worked on the game for ten years and that it is like a child to him. He wants for it to live a long, happy life. He doesn’t do this to make a lot of money, but to make a game with a happy community that goes on for a long time. He doesn’t have a grand plan for the game, like it becoming as big as League of Legends. He wants the game “to be what it is” with a happy playerbase and earn a good reputation. Bearlike appreciates kind words from the community for the development team. Says if people want to help the game, they might want to recommend it to their friends - there are many people who haven’t played the game yet. He said being friendly and kind toward others in the community also helps the game. And don’t be harsh on new players who are learning. More streams are planned.
And now it was 3am in China and Bearlike went to bed!