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Hey everyone,
Well, with the power reveal out there's been only one topic that you all have been wanting more information on and that is:
What the hell is the Sandbox Overhaul?
Here we go. I'm going to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about it here, although I will be putting together its own roadmap further down the line and pinning that to a channel in the Discord. Let's dive in.
What does the Sandbox Overhaul mean for Version 1.250?
Very little! For the next update of the game, my priority is just catching up Chrys and Valentina's stories with the current content (the power reveal event). As such, for the immediate upcoming version, they're going to be the focus of the content until I am satisfied with their story progress. The power reveal event is a major development in the game's story, and their own personal stories are going to feel disjointed unless they start commenting on it soon.
Why is the main story on hold? What does that mean?
Here's a popular question.
The next event in the main story will be the interview with Kelly. You'll know when we leave the Sandbox Overhaul because that event will become accessible. Kelly's interview signals a change in the scope of the story. Instead of focusing 100% on the Academy, it will shift to 80% on the Academy and roughly 20% on Nierhaven as a city. This will also trigger future events that will introduce the rest of the cast, including the other super villains you have yet to meet.
This is a big change, but I think it's appropriate given the protagonist's accomplishments and his new knowledge of his powers. That said, a lot of setup has to go into introducing all of these new characters, and that setup has to be done now. Moreover, I also need to take some time to update my rendering software and acquire new assets to finish building some of these characters.
One of the major reasons I need to put the main story on hiatus is because, if I were to trigger the interview event now, I would be stuck waiting for assets anyway while frantically trying to build the foundation of the new plot along with the plot itself. That's too much juggling to keep the quality consistent.
What will be done to the Sandbox? Will save files be transferable?
Nothing I'm doing to the sandbox should corrupt save files, so they should all be compatible going forward. The only minor hiccup would be the changes I am planning with music, but you can just hit "continue" past the error message and the game will load fine in that scenario. We've done something like that before.
Superheroes Suck was always meant to be a Sandbox title, but the purpose of the Sandbox is different from an "open world" game. Much like the coffee/tea preferences, the purpose of the Sandbox is to make the game world feel more personable, alive, and interactable. Right now, it doesn't do any of those things well, and it has become a drag on the overall quality of the game. I do play through Superheroes Suck, and it's quite painful for me to look at all of my old work.
So, bit by bit, I am going to add functionality and large amounts of content to the game's sandbox. This will take a long time, but I know that it's the right thing to do for the game's health. I can also add the foundation I need to the main story during this process, because there are some details I've been meaning to add at earlier periods of the story, and this is the best opportunity that I am going to get.
In short, working on the Sandbox is also working on the main story, it's just not progressing the main story.
Revisions
No one asked this, but I just wanted to make a small note here. I am going to be replacing all of the antiquated events in the game, the ones with the truly awful renders. I'm not going to make this a priority because I would like to focus on adding new content more than replacing old content, so I'm just going to be doing one per update until they've all been fixed.
New Characters
As I've mentioned, the rest of the Superheroes Suck's cast has entered into their final stages of development: the models. I've had the stories written for these for well over a year now, but I've been waiting on assets that better fit their personalities. As I work on these characters, I'll be given shots of them over time as another indicator of how close we are to starting main story progress.
Will there be another Sandbox Overhaul in the future?
No.
This is the one. After the Sandbox Overhaul is completed, the process of adding new sandbox content should be streamlined. This is another reason I want to make it a focus. If I can nail the basics of the sandbox now, I can add small amounts of sandbox content throughout the rest of the game while focusing on the main story - something I know you're all looking forward to.
This post is getting a little long, so that's it for me this week. Send in more questions and I'll be happy to clarify some things.
Thank you for all of your support,
~Solace
