The Progression System

[Walter Machado]

UBERMOSH Vol.7 is the first volume in the series with a progression system, instead of choosing class mods your characters will have the ASCENSION attribute. A character with zero ascension is like the Blade Saint on the first UBERMOSH, meeting the required score each time on the pit will make the character increase the attribute, learning and improving special powers. All the characters near 90% of ASCENSION will be equally powerful. When you start a fresh game, "Saint Clone Aia" will start with 0.001% ASCENSION (0%), "Artificer Wook" with 80% and "Wanderer T667" with 20%, all 20 steps toward 100% (some will evolve in steps of 5%, some in steps of 1%, 4%...). The starting 80% of Wook will make him extremely powerful in comparison to the other characters at first sight, but he will need to score 1500 for the next 1% and Aia will need to score only 40 to move from zero to 5% (but that will not be as easy as it seems because she starts weaker). Player and Character will get better and each step has a score to create a fair challenge.

[Walter Machado]

Thanks, ChaosEvolution for sharing your ideas and expectations. Not all suggestions can morph into game elements but I read all impressions and I work to make something that follows the initial game concept and can fill the different gameplay desires expressed by the players since the first UBERMOSH. It will not meet everyone's vision but there are characters more "progression-based" and some with fewer changes thru ascension that are powerful since the first match.

[ChaosEvolution]

Ok first off I don't have any expectations, I don't even know if I'm ever going to start up the game again.
I don't really care if Vol.7 becomes an enjoyable game because I'm ok with Santicide so far.
I just wrote a review for feedback and when you asked for more I gave it to you.
With Vol.7 you started following a trend that many games lately follow: You stretch playtime by making the player work for the full experience, and before there were trophies ,digital goodies and skill trees, games were played because they were fun.
There wasn't anyone who played games until they hated them just to get the 100% trophy-score.
Instead of enjoying the game people chase that digital pat on the back and what you did was simply making that chase mandatory.
Sure in your previous installments there were people that got all the trophies, bragged in the reviews how fast they finished the game and never touched it again, and that is their choice if they want to play games this way, but I don't want to and I won't.
I'm simply annoyed that this videogame version of "like-chasing" (from Youtube, Facebook etc.) is spreading, and gamedevelopment is being affected because the question isn't anymore what do we put in our game to make it fun,instead what do we put into the game or what do we withhold to reward the player for their hard work.
And that the word "work" made it somehow in there is pretty much my problem with the whole thing.
I don't work games, I play them and with it's current state Ubermosh Vol.7 isn't one of them.

[AuburnRDM]

I find the progression system to be a little tedious when it requires constantly losing matches and going again in order to progress properly. Would it be possible to allow characters to be leveled up to wherever your current score would be in the progression tiers?

Example: The current goal is 200, but I score 500 in my run. Getting the ascension for 200, 300, 400, and 500 in one run would be more streamlined than losing over and over.

[Maverik770]

Originally posted by AuburnRDM:

I find the progression system to be a little tedious when it requires constantly losing matches and going again in order to progress properly. Would it be possible to allow characters to be leveled up to wherever your current score would be in the progression tiers?

Example: The current goal is 200, but I score 500 in my run. Getting the ascension for 200, 300, 400, and 500 in one run would be more streamlined than losing over and over.

I second this sentiment and having them pop up as they are achieved during a match would feel incredibly satisfying.

Along with that I'd really love if the characters all started at 0% Ascension and had to be leveled to 100. It just feels like more of an accomplishment when a character's ascension jumps by 5% than it does when it only goes up by 1% like on some of the characters. I basically don't even feel the progression on the characters who start with high ascension because it's such a small incremental change.

[Walter Machado]

Thanks, AuburnRDM and Maverik770 for the feedback and suggestions. I try to manage all data collected to find "common ground" for the players' expectations. Some want more progression, some "no progression at all". The way and how hard each character gameplay is, how tight it is the leveling requirements (it should start loose, asking for the half of the possible score, and going tighter... reducing your error margin while you are training thru ascension), and how will that be presented via the interface. Some updates may not be too obvious, but every opinion matters when I am making the balance tweaks.

[Foxsuno]

I'm having a problem with Wanderer T667 progression, I reached 100% in every character (i did not reached wook yet, but he is pretty close (98%)), but Wanderer T667 I can't pass through the score 2600, I kill every single thing in the screen and everytime the Time reach its end I complete the event, but never reach the 2600 score with him, because I can't kill enough enemies, even killing every single thing in the screen non stop, getting the better weapons as soon as I can, I don't reach this score no matter what, is possible to past this right now, with this spawn time?
Thanks.

[Walter Machado]

Hi Foxsuno, thanks for asking, your question is very similar to another thread on the hub https://steamcommunity.com/app/1029980/discussions/0/1649918688130294962/ with increased ascension, the Wanderer´s symbiote will start to auto-attack more, the way to score higher during the last Ascension steps is focusing on the guns, do not melee (it will happen without stopping your ranged attacks)... think it as a co-op, you and the symbiote.

[︵djolaf]

I was writing a long review about this, but then I lost it because I had a memory error. It seems UBERMOSH7 takes up a lot of memory, but maybe it's just my poor computer.
I also sometimes get this lag when starting the game, I click a character, then I hear the fight music, but I am still in the menu, for about 10 seconds!

I just installed vol.7 and the first thing I thought was "who played the game for me?!", because I saw 80% on Wook, so I was very confused. I think that no matter the progression speed, it's logical that they all start at 0%, then it feels like real progression. I am not sure what was your reason for making it this way, I would like to know.
So, even when you reach 100%, you are almost as weak as 0% in the first few seconds? I noticed that on Aia I get wraith bomb and mana strike(sorry for mixing the names haha), only if I survive around 15 seconds and then my score suddenly jumps from 100 to 500! There's swarms of enemies that are impossibly packed together and if you kill them, you get a lot of points.

I also think the menu is kind of weird, compared to all our older ubermosh games, but I really appreciate that you can mute the music, you can hear all the sounds! But, I still wish if we could have a volume slider, that would make it so much better, because the music can be olike 20% and still hearable. This is how I played an older game that was about destruction and heavy music - Jets 'n' Guns.
I didn't use the colorblind mode, because I am not colorblind myself, but it might be an interesting thing to see.

I am a little skeptical about this new ubermosh game, I hope you will make some small changes to it, as many people are asking. If not, maybe in a next game? Will there be a new ubermosh game? I would like to post my thoughts about the game overall, if you would have time to read them, but I don't think this is the right place, since this is only about the progression system and I already wrote some other things.

OH! And one more question:
Are you Gunner Kore?!

[Walter Machado]

Hi Randjolaf, Vol.7 is my best work so far, and I am extremely happy with the variety of gameplay styles that could be compressed in this volume.
Aia will grow during the match. Her powers were based on the previous versions of UBERMOSH, where the Saint got stronger being overpowered during the last seconds.
Wook has technical gameplay, he will not grow much during the match, making it way easier during the early seconds and way harder later.
Wanderer was the golden character of the first generation (the early access started with the first 3 characters). He starts more "melee" and ends "ranged" with increased ascension.
Blademaster Q was asked by the players during the early and landed perfectly to the role ("give us a kensai").
Kore was imagined when I was flying racing drones with goggles on and my girlfriend tipped about a character piloting guns, while holding more guns... and I worked with that concept as an internal joke... but fitted so well that I kept as close as possible of the starting concept. A very fun character to play, and instead of firing, you change modes, like my way to fly drones with bidirectional motors setup.
Reez is a versatile character like Aia, but she is more constant. She starts and ends the match with a similar power level (like Kore, Q and Wanderer).

Not all players wanted progression, and during early access I tried to make a mix of some more evolved and less evolved characters.
The progression system you saw now started to being developed on my first project, in 2014, and now, 2019, it fitted the way players can feel characters getting more powerful.
It is impossible to make the perfect game for every player, the first 3 characters were perfect for the closed alpha group, and I have to balance them a bit to allow a wider audience to enjoy. Various elements you can see on this volume, were directly asked by players, and some needed an extra research, like the blind color mode.
I hope you enjoy it, it is not the same as SANTICIDE, because we already have one, and it is the most fresh experience I could cook with the UBERMOSH pit rules without morphing it to another game.
Thanks for the feedback.

[Jöggernaut]

Originally posted by Randjolaf:

This is how I played an older game that was about destruction and heavy music - Jets 'n' Guns.

Wow! Glad to see another JnG fan who plays Ubermosh! (their OST is still my favorite of all time)

[Walter Machado]

Howdy folks, Redux version is online (finally!)
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1029980/announcements/detail/1590251701186680097

[CptEloHim]

At this point i feel like the game needs more actual time. I always manage to survive till the end but for some reason getting 3k for Artificer and Wanderer seems almost impossible, cause I always end up with 2700-ish score for those two.

[︵djolaf]

Originally posted by zord300:

At this point i feel like the game needs more actual time. I always manage to survive till the end but for some reason getting 3k for Artificer and Wanderer seems almost impossible, cause I always end up with 2700-ish score for those two.

I guess you just gotta try hard every time and hope to be lucky. There are also small things you can do to increase your points by a little bit. I do think that these small things are the rarest for Artificer, because he can only use his super rifle for most of the game, so it's just boring and luck based.
When there are shield enemies, try to avoid them as much as you can, as they are not only a danger to you, but they are decreasing your points by shielding everyone behind them. Run around and stuff like that. I am not an expert, but I just try to get into the game.
But damn, Artificer is so boring and difficult. Wanderer is a bit better, the strategy with him is to actually not use his right-click at all, after you get the red gun and then just spread as much as you can. I can't make myself play the next and final ubermosh before I beat this one and I know it's out!