Over the past few weeks, we’ve hinted at our next steps and at the future of the game. Today, we’re pleased to announce that we’re rebuilding Deathgarden’s core experience. The new gameplay elements we’re introducing will allow us to realign the game with what we’d originally envisioned; we want Runners to have a tense but exhilarating experience and want Hunters to feel powerful and utterly unstoppable.

Deathgarden is no longer a glorious sport—it’s a trial of unnatural selection.

In the Garden, your objective is to collect as many resources as possible. The resources you successfully secure during the match will allow you to upgrade your characters’ abilities after the match (persistent upgrade on the character). This applies to both Hunter and Runner players.

Runners must locate and collect resources found within the Arena. To secure resources, Runners must deposit any resource they've collected at “resource banks.” On the other hand, the Hunter is rewarded by eliminating Runners and preventing them from collecting resources.

We’ve made several significant changes to Deathgarden’s gameplay. The first major change is the removal of the Bloodpost. The Hunter’s gameplay now focuses much more on the tracking and killing of Runners.

We wanted Hunters to be and feel unstoppable and make them feel in control of the arena. Therefore, we removed a major element that would force them to disengage from a chase (something that is enjoyable/exciting for Runners and Hunters).

The second major change is that each Runner possesses one life. Runners must now adopt a stealthier playstyle if they are to survive the trial and gather as many resources as possible. It increases tension for the Runners and makes killing Runners feel more rewarding for the Hunter.

In addition to this change, Runners now rely on “defensive” or “survival” Vambrace powers instead of offensive ones. In other words, we’ve removed all directly confrontational Vambrace powers (Stun, Blind, Slow, etc.) and replaced these with new tactical powers. (There are several new powers, which we’ll unveil in the weeks/months to come). We are still iterating on those to figure out which ones are most enjoyable and useful. This change further reinforces the fact that the Hunters are an utterly unstoppable force and that Runners are nimble escape artists.

The final and perhaps most important change is that Runners will now adopt a more individualistic playstyle. While we’re not removing teamplay from their core experience (we will reward Runners for completing actions that benefit their team), Runners are now rewarded for what they accomplish within the Garden and awarded only what they manage to take out of the Garden.

If one Runner is carrying a set amount of resources and they see a downed ally, they’ll think twice before attempting to rescue their friend. Should the Hunter also “down” the Runner carrying resources, that Runner will lose everything he or she carries. As for the Hunter, they will be rewarded for all Runner kills.

In short, everything you accomplish in the Garden, (deliver resources, rescue Runners, down Runners, etc.) grants you XP and, ultimately, the resources you’ll need to further your characters’ progression.

On several occasions, we’ve mentioned that, in our initial vision, the Hunter was a brutal and unstoppable force. The new gameplay experience allows us to realize this fantasy. It lets us balance the game around the notions of tension and brutality rather than around those of agility and strength. The Runners and Hunter are no longer in a direct competition—everyone strives to complete the match with as many resources as possible. This means that more players should come out of the match feeling rewarded. Realigning our direction also gives us freedom as to how far we can push the asymmetry of power and experience for Hunters and Runners.

We sincerely believe that the changes we’re making will ensure a strong coherence between gameplay and fantasy. Rethinking Hunter and Runner power dynamics allows us to transform Deathgarden into a much more enticing and heart-pounding experience.

Runners, will you become lone wolves, or will you work together in the face of the unstoppable Hunter? Hunters, will you allow those Runners to survive your onslaught.

OVERALL DESIGN INTENT:

• As mentioned last week, Deathgarden is in a transition phase. We’re working towards making the game a more rewarding and meaningful experience. This patch is the first step in that direction
• The changes we’re implementing today should empower the Hunter and provide Runners with a tenser, more heart-pounding experience.
  • We want to make sure that the Hunter is feared and that their capabilities cannot be disrupted.

SOFT WIN CONDITIONS

• Design intent: to begin rewarding individual performances and to diminish Runners’ dependency on teamplay Once the Hunter has Killed 3 Runners, or the Runners have completed 2 of the 3 Objectives, the Exits open. However, this does not end the round
• The team that opened the Exits has ‘won’ the Round and receives an XP bonus for their actions (‘Exit Opener Bonus’ for Runners, ‘Merciless Bonus’ for the Hunter) (viewed on the end of match Progression Tab)
• Escaping as a Runner, when the Exits are open, provides an XP bonus (‘Escape Bonus’ viewed on the end-of-match Progression Tab
• Additionally, Killing Runners as the Hunter provides XP (‘Runners Executed Bonus’ viewed on the end-of-match Progression Tab)
   

RUNNER HEALTH BARS (from the Hunter’s perspective)

• Design intent: to provide the Hunter with visual feedback on confirmed/registered shots
• When damaging a Runner, the Hunter sees that Runner’s health meter for a short duration

HUNTER

• Design Intent: this a first step towards making the Hunter more powerful and more brutal
• Increased default Vambrace Power immunity time (5)s->(10)s
• If Hunter gets hit with a Vambrace Power within the 10s after the ‘immunity time,’ increase immunity from (2)s->(5)s
• Increased base Stamina (10)->(11.5)
• New Perk: “Lucky Charm” – 25% chance of gaining an additional Upgrade Part from Upgrade Part Crates
  
• New Weapon: TriSynkt .45c Burst Rifle – a highly accurate medium range 3-shot burst rifle
   
  

RUNNER

• Design intent: we want Runners to fear the Hunter and to think twice before taking the Hunter head-on
• Full stamina meter: (5) Evades -> (4) Evades
• Full NPI meter: (5) shots -> (3) shots
• Available Tier 3 Vambrace Powers (3)->(1)
• All 3 are available until 1 of the 3 is purchased
• New Perk: “NPI Hoarder” – Increases maximum NPI by 20%

GATHER & DELIVER OBJECTIVE TYPE

• Design intent: Because we reduced the Runners' ability to rapidly travel across the map, we decided to adjust the key delivery time to ensure that Runners may retain the possibility of delivering keys
• Key delivery time (4.5)->(3.5)s

PREFERRED SERVER QUEUE

• Design intent: to improve the (technical) quality of matches so that players across the world may enjoy better communication with the game’s servers.
• We’re introducing a new server (EU, NA, & Asia) selection mechanic. When joining a match, each player passively and automatically votes for the server closest to them. The server will then be randomly selected according to the players’ passive votes.
  • E.g. 3 players are in NA and 3 players are in ASIA, there is a 50% (3/6) chance that the match connects to the NA server and a 50% (3/6) chance that the match connects to the ASIAN server
  
  
• BattlEye now automatically launches upon launching Deathgarden
• Various bug fixes

Next week, we'll be releasing a “transition” patch. While the changes we’re making might seem small at a first glance (or even surprising), they’re the first step towards Deathgarden’s new/realigned vision. In other words, we’re introducing some elements that are part of a bigger whole.

NEW VICTORY CONDITIONS

One of our main tasks moving forward is the redesigning and rethinking of Deathgarden’s victory conditions—what it means to ‘win’ a match. Our initial philosophy was that Runners should win as a team or lose as a team. Runners would be victorious if and only if they manage to complete all objectives and escape the Garden. On the other hand, the Hunter should win if and only if they wipe out enough Runners.

Our new philosophy, however, puts much more emphasis on the individual player. Runners are still part of a team, but they’re also individuals with personal goals and a will to survive.

When the November patch goes live, matches will no longer end immediately upon three Runner deaths or three Runner escapes. If the Hunter kills three Runners, the two remaining Runners will have the chance to escape the Garden with their lives and reap a small reward (more information on that in future articles). Similarly, if the Runner team successfully captures the objectives and three Runners escape, the Hunter will have the opportunity to get additional kills. Ultimately, we want to reduce the reliance on teamplay and better reward your individual actions.

We’re confident that these changes will change the feeling of Hunter and Runner defeats and, as you’ll discover in future articles, we believe that they’ll make for a much more meaningful and satisfying Deathgarden experience.

NEW TALLY SCREEN

In addition to altering the game’s victory conditions, we’re introducing the first iteration of the new tally screen. After each match, players will be able to measure their individual performance in the garden and will be given a score. Keep in mind that this tally screen will become more meaningful further down the line.

FEAR THE HUNTER

In next week’s patch, we’ll also implement some changes that will make Runners think twice before taking the Hunter head-on! You’ll find out more in next week’s patch notes.

NEW WEAPONS, PERKS, AND ATMOSPHERE

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been sharing with you concepts of our new art direction. This week, we even showed you a glimpse of our new in-game atmosphere. We’re happy to announce that we’ve implemented new ‘Weather Conditions’ in the November patch.

We’re also adding in a new Hunter weapon and new perks. Although these might change in future updates, we’ve decided to nonetheless release the content we’ve been working on since entering Early Access.

As mentioned above, this patch is a first step in the new direction. While the changes we’re implementing next week might seem small, they’re making way for our next patch, which should be much more significant.
Stay tuned for more information in upcoming communications.

Sincerely,
The Deathgarden Dev Team

Early Access Dev Diary 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaTF73dQ5KM

When we started developing Deathgarden, our mission was to create a game that would be filled with exciting and memorable moments ranging from epic chases to clutch kills and rescues. Although we did achieve several of our initial goals, Deathgarden isn’t where we’d like it to be.

So, today, we’re announcing that Deathgarden will evolve; we’re realigning the game with our original vision and shaping its future around a darker and more brutal fantasy.

This evolution will directly impact all aspects of the game, from visuals to gameplay. It will also help us reinforce the game’s identity. And so, in the coming months of Early Access, we’ll be working diligently on revamping Deathgarden’s art direction, defining our characters’ identity and progression, and reworking central gameplay elements.

We want to reassure you, though: Deathgarden will retain its asymmetrical nature. We’re simply working on improving the game’s fantasy, on giving it more depth and meaning, and on ensuring the synergy between fantasy and gameplay.

Our brutal and dystopian fantasy requires a complete revamp of our Hunter and Runner character design. Many of the images we’ve included in the dev diary are works in progress. We look forward to showing you how our character design evolves in the coming weeks!

As mentioned above, we’re in midst of creating characters. We want our Hunters to embody brutality and our Runners to convey a sense of hardship and struggle. Each character will boast their own backstory and progression “line.” Although we can’t reveal too much about the progression system yet (because we’re still developing the feature), we can say that the more you play with the different characters, the more you’ll unlock their potential.

Our realigned fantasy also necessitates that we rework and re-evaluate several core gameplay elements. One such element is that of “team play.” Like the progression system, we don’t have too many details for you today, but we are looking to better reward individual Runners and Hunters for what they accomplish in the Garden.

We’d like to finish off by stating that our previous roadmap is no longer valid. The reason for this is, quite simply, that it no longer reflects the direction in which we’re evolving. Despite the changes we have in store for Deathgarden, we sincerely believe that we’ve built a solid foundation. This is largely thanks to you, the community. You’ve shown us tremendous support and provided us with precious feedback.

We look forward to keeping you updated throughout the journey! Stay tuned.

Sincerely,
The Deathgarden Dev Team

We are pleased to launch our first major content update in Early Access! Explore the new Arizona Garden and check out the latest Hunter and Runner perks, the new shotgun, and numerous balancing changes. In addition, we will be releasing weekly challenges. And, finally, we’re happy to announce that private matches are now enabled!


New Garden: Arizona – Enter the Arizona garden, a trench-filled desert landscape.

"The sun glares in your eyes, dust chokes your lungs, the heat burns your skin and every step feels harder." - Storm Ottesen, Runner

New Hunter Weapon – Say hello to Flynn SN14, a slow but powerful pump-action shotgun. This hunting shotgun has a further range (19m) and is more accurate than the other shotguns

New Hunter Perk: Quick Execute – 50% reduced Execution time at the Bloodpost.
DESIGN INTENT: Bloodpost executions have been increasingly difficult to accomplish. This new perk will be extremely useful against a team of highly coordinated Runners, capable of completing efficient, rapid Bloodpost rescues

New Runner Perk: Objective Master – 20% reduced damage when Capturing (Capture Objective) and when holding a Key (Gather & Deliver).
DESIGN INTENT: We’ve implemented this perk to further support Runners, who are actively completing Objectives

New Cosmetics – We’re introducing 10 Tier 3 complete cosmetic sets: 5 Hunter and 5 Runner sets. These include three alpha/beta favorites: the blue and black hoodie Runner outfits and the red “Blockade” set!

Private Matches – Hunters, get ready to hunt down your Runner friends; private matches are live! Interact with the Matchmaking Station to create your lobby of 4-6 players. Then, again at the Matchmaking station, chose which of you will play the Hunter.

Weekly Challenges – Complete weekly challenges to receive bonus in-game experience! Sample challenges include capturing a total of 30 Capture Points (Runner) or winning 15 Matches with the Assault Rifle (Hunter).

New Player Tooltips – In our efforts to improve new players’ experience and onboarding process, we’re adding contextual notifications/tooltips that provide players with useful in-game tips and tricks. For example, a downed Runner will receive a tooltip telling them that they should try crawling to and interacting with a Health Crate. Experienced Runners and Hunters may disable this feature via the options menu.

Matchmaking Improvements – We’ve made a first pass at improving the matchmaking experience. You should now be matched more frequently with/against players with similar game experience.

In-game News – We’ve added an in-game news feature. We’ll now be able to keep you posted on the latest Deathgarden news directly in-game.


OBJECTIVES
Gather & Deliver Objective Type: Key Delivery interaction time (3 -> 4.5s)
DESIGN INTENT: Gather & Deliver has grown to be very challenging for Hunters, especially when these Hunters play against a team of coordinated Runners. The change in delivery time should give the Hunters more time to reach different key deliver locations and attempt to foil a Runner’s attempt at delivering a key

Capture Objective Type: The top of the Capture Point is no longer considered part of the Capture Zone
DESIGN INTENT: We noticed how challenging it was for Hunters to shoot Runners when they were camping on top of capture points. Since the Hunter is not as agile as the Runners, we decided to remove the Runners’ ability to capture on top.

HUNTER
Hunter now benefits from additional ‘Resistance’ to Vambrace Powers
After a Powered bolt’s effect has worn off and the ‘immunity period’ to that powered bolt has come to an end, a 10 second ‘resistance timer’ begins to count down.

If a Runner uses the same Powered bolt against the Hunter while ‘resistance timer’ is active, then the Hunter’s next ‘immunity period’ to that specific effect increases by 2 seconds (e.g. 5 -> 7 -> 9, etc.). This ‘Resistance period’ is reflected in the ‘immunity’ timer of that Vambrace Power (top right corner of the screen)

If the ‘resistance timer’ reaches 0 before the same effect is applied to the Hunter, the Hunter’s resistance time resets back to the default value of 5 seconds

EXAMPLE: After being stunned by a Runner, the Hunter is immune to Stun bolts for 5 seconds. Once the Hunter’s ‘immunity period’ to Stun bolts comes to an end, the 10 second ‘resistance timer’ begins. If the Hunter is hit by another Stun bolt during this time (i.e., while the 10 second resistance timer is counting down), then the Hunter’s next immunity period to Stun bolts will last 7 seconds

DESIGN INTENT: Hunters are powerful and should not be trifled with. Certain situations could occur that made this statement false (especially when facing highly organized Runner teams). This change should lessen the frustration felt by Hunters, but it should not affect Hunters with a high win rate.

'Fade' Power : When 'Fade' is active, Hunter is now automatically revealed when actively executing at the Bloodpost
DESIGN INTENT: ‘Fade’ is extremely powerful, but we wanted to avoid the Hunter from being invisible during the entire chase/down/execute flow

Perk 'Marked Eye' : Increased the 'Marked Eye' range (25m -> 35m)
DESIGN INTENT: We wanted to increase the usefulness of this Perk.

Perk 'Auto Collect' : Increased the ‘Auto Collect’ range (8 -> 10m)
DESIGN INTENT: We wanted to increase the usefulness of this Perk. We don’t want Hunters to slow down as much as they currently do to automatically interact crate

Perk 'Hey Down There' : Now includes the Runner 'Bleedout timer' for the duration of the perk’s effect
DESIGN INTENT: We wanted to increase the usefulness of the perk. This Perk now helps Hunters know whether they should send a downed Runner to the Bloodpost or let them bleed out

Ability ‘Supercharge’ : Supercharge no longer increases the Hunter’s crate interaction speed (including the Golden Crate)
DESIGN INTENT: Supercharge already allows Hunters to cross the map very quickly, and chase Runners almost anywhere, we believe the Hunter did not need that secondary bonus


RUNNER
Runners can now rotate ('steer') during Evades
DESIGN INTENT: We always wanted to provide a more ‘ninja’ like experience for Runners. This is one small step in that direction

Increased NPI from 'Danger Close' action (15 -> 25 NPI)
DESIGN INTENT: the changes we made to Danger Close in our previous patch were a bit too severe. We want to adequately reward players for being close to the Hunter

Tier 3 Virus Bolt Bonus : Stamina burn (50 -> 35%)
DESIGN INTENT: The original value of this Bonus could create almost unmanageable situations for the Hunter. And so, we felt it necessary to address the situation

BattlEye – BattlEye, our anti-cheat software, is now active!

• You should no longer receive a “Crash Report” upon quitting to your desktop
  
• Runner groups should no longer be split upon joining a game
  
• Powered bolt and Regular bolt reticles are now the same size
  
• Runners can no longer prevent downed Runner’s from interacting with Health crates
  
• A Runner who is downed and “ragolls” out of bounds while another Runner is being sent to the Bloodpost will no longer be eliminated
  
• Minor UI bug fixes
  
• Hunter & Runner animation bug fixes
  
• Audio bug fixes
  
  
  

We are pleased to reveal Deathgarden’s Early Access roadmap and priorities for the upcoming four months. We will add new content monthly, implement onboarding efforts for new players, as well as additional progression elements. Click to view our full roadmap below.









Deathgarden has partnered up with BattlEye! This anti-cheat system will help us prevent hackers and cheaters from muddling with your Deathgarden experience.

What is BattlEye?
At its core, BattlEye is a proactive protection system that puts a strong shield around the entire game. This shield blocks off most hacks right from the start!

BattlEye also boasts an intelligent dynamic ‘on-the-fly’ detection system, which helps ensure that unrelenting cheaters are quickly globally banned.

BattleEye is constantly evolving to prevent new forms of attacks on games.

How it works
BattleEye scans your computer’s memory for cheating software that attempt to bypass your computer’s protection.

Note that BattlEye runs in the background while Deathgarden is running. However, the anti-cheat’s bandwith/cpu consumption is negligible. (You don’t have to worry about BattlEye affecting your computer’s performance.)

Should I be concerned about privacy issues?
BattlEye will never collect nor store information that is unrelated to Deathgarden or hack-detecting mechanisms.

Can I uninstall Battleye and still play Deathgarden?
No. There are several validation steps upon launching Deathgarden. One such step validates the presence of BattlEye on your computer.

• Analytics tool integration to improve the Arena Generation process
  
• New Hunter perk, “Auto-Collect,” which allows the Hunter to auto-collect crates from a distance

See you in the Garden!
The Deathgarden Dev Team

Hey everyone! We're hard at work towards making Deathgarden the best possible experience, and we'd love to know more about your experience with the game so far. Thank you for taking the time to complete this short survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RVDMVWJ

Hey everyone! Here are the balancing changes we've made in today's hotfix.

Our theme for this balance pass was making the Hunter experience feel a bit more exhilarating and less punishing. We feel that Runners have gotten very good over the past weeks, and we continue to monitor win rates for both sides moving forward. We want Runners to use their number advantages to think and work together to accomplish their goals, and not simply rely on ‘choke point’ mechanics to win.

General Changes:

Matchmaking Servers - We've removed server selection
Design Intent: We wanted to optimize matchmaking queues for everyone, and so, we removed the server selection option.

Runners:

Healing Bolt - (35) healing applied (2) -> (3.5)s
Design Intent: We want to reduce the so-called ‘overheal' aspects of the chase. By increasing the time to heal significantly (without reducing the amount healed) we force Runners to think ahead instead of just spamming the heal button, all without affecting ‘out of combat’ healing. Healing should be a personal aid and a team help, not an automatic get out of jail free card.

Degenerate Bolt - Reduced effectiveness (-50 dmg reduction) -> (-40 dmg reduction) & duration (10)s->(8)s & forces a simple reload (does not increase reload time anymore)**
Design Intent: these effects combined with certain Perks (Damage Dodger) and Support Healing caused near-impossible situations for the Hunter.

NPI Bolt - Reduced all tier duration (40)s -> (15)s & Reduced Tier 3 bonus (100%) -> (25%)
Design Intent: we under anticipated certain combinations of NPI earning bonuses combined with this Power. We still feel that 20% is a valuable end-game reward for this Power, especially in the right hands.

NPI Reward - 'Escape' (500) -> (300) NPI & 'Assisted Escape' (300) -> (150) NPI
Design Intent: too much NPI is being generated too easily around the Hunter allowing for near-infinite loops (especially combined with the NPI Multiplier bolt)

Voice Chat - You are now opted-in by default
Design Intent: this was a popular request!

Hunter:

Core TTX Sniper Rifle - Reduced Weapon spread (~10%)
Design Intent: with the introduction of the Bolt Action Sniper Rifle, we felt that this Rifle was not getting enough love. We wish to bring to bring value to this Weapon as a unique choice

LMG Weapon - Max spread -(15%) & + (5%) damage
Design Intent: Make the LMG feel more powerful, and more balanced with the value offer of other Weapons

Assault Rifle Weapon - Max spread -(5%) & + (5%) damage
Design Intent: Make the AR feel more powerful, and more balanced with the value offer of other Weapons