Ratocalypse DevDiary #6 - Content Development (Part 2)

As mentioned in the previous Dev Diary, we continued focusing on content-driven development throughout February. In this Dev Diary, I’d like to talk about the Scientist theme and improvements to the Last Stand system.

Additionally, during March, we plan to take some time to polish the recently added content and conduct a second small-scale user playtest. More details will be shared through our Discord channel, so if you’re interested, please consider joining the channel in advance. 😊

Scientist-Themed Expedition

There are currently three expedition themes in .

The General theme, equipped with high defense and solid base stats, and the Shaman theme, which may have more modest stats but makes up for it with a wide variety of skills, were the first two themes to be developed.

This time, we worked on adding maps, objects, and enemies related to the third theme — the Scientist. I’d like to briefly introduce the development process behind this theme.

Before moving into full-scale asset production, we first worked on concept art to establish the setting and atmosphere of the Scientist theme. Over the course of about two weeks, we explored ideas that wouldn’t overlap with the existing themes, while still fitting naturally alongside them within the overall world. During this time, we also considered practical aspects such as technical feasibility and implementation constraints, running various tests alongside the visual exploration.

In the end, we settled on the idea of an indoor facility where grotesque experimental subjects, having failed containment, roam freely. Those familiar with internet culture may notice a subtle SCP-like atmosphere.

The defining characteristic of the Scientist theme is that it takes place entirely indoors. This was an intentional contrast to the General theme, which offers bright and open spaces, and the Shaman theme, which features darker but expansive villages. By differentiating the environmental foundation itself, we aimed to emphasize the regional identity of each expedition area.

The most defining element of this theme is undoubtedly the presence of walls. In the Scientist theme, most traversable floor tiles are surrounded by walls along their outer edges, intentionally creating a more confined and somewhat uncomfortable, enclosed experience for the player.

The development of this new wall object also involved a fair amount of trial and error. Up until now, most in-game objects in our quarter-view environment were tilted at approximately 50 degrees so they would face the camera more directly. However, since the walls were designed as fully 3D structures unlike our previous objects, we initially implemented them at a 90-degree angle to the floor.

This approach, however, created visual inconsistencies due to the angle difference between the walls and the existing assets. To resolve this issue, we adjusted the wall’s angle so that it matched the tilt of other objects. Ultimately, the walls were redesigned as parallelepiped-like structures, allowing them to share the same visual inclination while maintaining a sense of depth.

Since implementing walls for the Scientist theme also served as a functional test, we believe this approach may later be applied to other themes if we decide to introduce additional indoor environments.

Enemies in the Scientist theme are more clearly divided into two distinct types compared to previous themes.

The first type consists of mutated experimental subjects — including researchers who were caught in laboratory accidents during experiments, as well as various test subjects that underwent unintended transformations.

The second type features the Ratron units that previously appeared in and . While their core design is based on their incarnation, they have been adapted to better fit the setting and atmosphere of this title, and will confront players in a newly evolved form.

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Although these enemies belong to the same expedition theme, they are fundamentally different entities. As a result, we intend for them to deliver noticeably distinct combat experiences.

At the moment, we are placing these enemies and objects within the environment and conducting various gameplay tests. We hope that in the next playable build, the Scientist theme will stand as an engaging and enjoyable expedition area.

Improvements to the Last Stand System

“Last Stand” is a mechanic that triggers when a character is placed in a critical situation, similar in concept to “Death’s Door” in .

In the December test build, Last Stand functioned as follows: when a character’s HP dropped below 0, a survival check would automatically occur with a 50% chance of success.

However, players had no meaningful way to intervene in this process. Because the outcome relied entirely on chance and unfolded automatically, some players found it difficult to fully understand how the system worked throughout their playthrough. Others expressed disappointment that they had no opportunity to influence the situation.

With this update, our goal was to make the system more intuitive while also introducing elements that allow players to actively engage with and influence the outcome.

Now, when a character reaches 0 HP for the first time in an individual battle and enters the “Last Stand” state, they will receive four tokens. By spending these tokens, players can choose one of several options designed to overcome the immediate crisis.

Much like how features items and traits that interact with and support the “Death’s Door” system, we are also planning to introduce related content in our game. These may include elements that increase the success rate of choices available during Last Stand, or that grant additional tokens upon entering the Last Stand state.

Our intention is for this system to function not merely as a passive survival mechanic, but as a meaningful layer of management and strategic decision-making.

Accessory Items Added

Next, we’d like to introduce a new equipment category: Accessories, the third type of gear that characters can equip. Approximately 20 accessories have been added so far. Like armor, they are shared equipment items that can be worn regardless of a character’s class.

Unlike weapons and armor, which feature variable stat ranges, accessories come with unique visuals and fixed stat effects tailored to each item. As a result, when you find an accessory you’ve been hoping for, there’s no need to check for stat rolls — you can simply enjoy the excitement of a valuable find.

We plan to continue adding accessories with a wide variety of interesting effects, so we hope you look forward to discovering new and creative options in future updates.

Character Color Palette Feature

In , it is possible to recruit multiple characters of the same type who share identical base visuals. As a result, when several of these characters are included in the same expedition party, it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between them.

To address this, we have added features that allow players to rename characters and adjust the colors of certain appearance parts. This gives players more flexibility in visually differentiating the characters they wish to keep distinct.

At the moment, however, the number of customizable color parts is still limited, and some changes may not be very noticeable. We are considering expanding the range of color options and potentially introducing additional appearance customization features in the future.

That said, it is not easy to strike a balance between preserving each character’s intended identity and uniqueness, while also offering players greater freedom to modify their appearance. We hope to continue refining this system so that it satisfies both of these goals.

Combat Log System

We are currently implementing a combat log system inspired by the logging format seen in . Once a battle begins, actions taken during each character’s turn are recorded sequentially in a text-based log.

In , players can assign various AI behaviors to their expedition members. Because of this, not only does each battle unfold differently, but both developers and players have frequently found themselves wondering why a particular character did—or did not—use a specific skill in a given situation.

As a result, the need for a combat log system became apparent fairly early on. With this new feature, players will be able to clearly confirm the reasons behind the use or non-use of certain abilities through detailed text records. From a development perspective, the system will also allow us to utilize this data more effectively when identifying and addressing gameplay issues.

Closing

After spending the past two months focusing heavily on adding new content, it feels as though time has passed even more quickly than usual.

The New Year holiday in February may have contributed to that feeling as well. That said, having a proper holiday gave our development team a valuable opportunity to recharge.

Since we have been concentrating on expanding content for a while, starting in March we plan to take a step back and carefully review everything we’ve added so far, shifting our focus toward polishing and refinement.

That concludes this month’s Dev Diary.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read through this rather lengthy update.