2nd Supporters Feedback & Next Steps

Hello everyone, Following the recent 2nd Supporters Program, we were able to gather a wide range of player feedback through Discord, Steam forums, and supporter surveys. Here’s a summary of the key points.

(1) Bugs & Technical Stability

We identified a variety of technical issues, including freezes, soft locks, stuck units, loading issues, incorrect skill ranges, disappearing items, attacking through walls, and save/map inconsistencies.

While some of these have already been fixed, many still remain.

We are working to resolve critical issues as quickly as possible. However, since development of new features is ongoing in parallel, some fixes may take longer than expected. We appreciate your understanding.

We will continue both public and limited testing, and as we get closer to release, our focus will shift more toward fixing bugs rather than adding new features.

(2) Inventory UX Issues

We received feedback on storage allow/ban, sorting, item transfers, drag interactions, and full-stack spoilage.

Some of these issues are simple to address, while others are more complex or tied to design trade-offs. We are planning improvements of varying scale depending on priority and development progress.

(3) Harshness of Mood Management

Feedbacks regarding the mood system are diverse but often in a mixed form. Breaking it down, the main concerns include:

• Treatment Expectation penalties scaling too harshly with level, making the level-up feel like a punishment

• Leveling up feeling like a permanent, unavoidable penalty which can not be solved

• Frustration caused by random mood penalties(e.g : rain) during dungeon expedition

• Lack of sufficient tools to manage mood while expedition (e.g : not enough campsite space)

• Human-specific mood penalties feeling punishing

• Pessimist trait penalties being overly harsh

Originally, the intended experience was set to “Normal” difficulty, reflecting the core design vision of Dungeon Settlers as a hardcore strategy game.

However, through playtesting, we found that this did not accommodate a wide range of playstyles well.

To address this, we have separated several stuffs based on Management Difficulty, including:

• Treatment Expectations by level

• Dungeon Stay mood penalties

• Other management-related factors

Additionally, the originally intended experience has been shifted from “Normal” to “Hard” difficulty.

With these changes, we hope new players or those who prefer a more relaxed strategic experience can enjoy the game without unnecessary frustration, while still allowing others to engage with the intended challenge.

NOTE: The recent changes to Near Death are related only to how much time players are given before a unit dies permanently. This change does not affect the Near Death aftereffect which causes strong mood penalty.

We extended this duration so that even without items like first aid kits or serums, players have a better chance to return to the settlement and save critically injured units.

That said, we are aware that some players dislike prolonged “anyway it will die” situations, so this may be adjusted again based on future feedback.

(4) Food & Spoilage

Some players experienced difficulty maintaining a stable food supply. In response, we are:

• Increasing food availability

• Extending food spoilage durations

We are also aware of feedback regarding full-stack spoilage feeling frustrating.

However, changes to this system may introduce unintended side effects or require trade-offs with existing mechanics. Therefore, we plan to gather more long-term feedback before making major adjustments.

After Early Access, a type of “refrigeration” system is planned for mid-to-late game. However, it will require a high level of magical progression, so it won’t be easily accessible early on.

What’s Coming Next?

So far, we’ve focused on gathering feedback and improving the game through Steam Playtests.

Now that most core features are in place, we are planning to release a Steam Demo in late May. This demo will still be limited in contents, but new features will be added to the game compared to the current playtest version.

You can check out how it's going to change on our roadmap here:

https://www.notion.so/Dungeon-Settlers-Roadmap-6ce7dccf932a4c59a6c2ea04e9ec730e?pvs=21

Dungeon Settlers is still in development. It may not be perfect yet, but with your support and feedback, we believe it will continue to improve.

Thank you for being part of this journey, and we hope you have a wonderful day!