Hello. This is Brown Dust 2 PD Junhee Lee.
Did you enjoy the 300-day anniversary broadcast?
This developer note, just like the retrospective broadcast we had during the anniversary, is being written before the broadcast, so I can't help but worry about four of us in the broadcast...
But I believe that we've gotten closer to you, so let's start the 18th developer note.
First, let me share various updates related to Evil Castle.
New Towers Added to Evil Castle (4.11)
Two new towers, the "Tower of Wrath" and the "Tower of Envy," will be added to the Evil Castle.
The Tower of Wrath and the Tower of Envy are one-time clearing contents similar to the existing Tower of Desire.
This time, we will briefly introduce the two towers along with the newly expanded battle system.
Firstly, in the Tower of Envy, enemies immune to magic attacks will appear.
You'll need to deploy only physical property characters to strategize.
It requires more difficult battle formation and strategy than before.
Conversely, enemies that appear in the Tower of Wrath are immune to physical attacks.
Contrary to Tower of Envy, you must attack by forming a team of only magic property characters.
The two towers will each have 50 additional floors, and the enemies that appear in the two towers do not have water, fire, wind, light, or darkness properties.
Therefore, you can organize characters more freely without being restricted by existing property compatibility.
And in addition to immunity characteristics, each floor also applies unique 'battle environment effects' to enemies or allies.
For example, starting the battle with both sides having powerful shields or a decrease in buff efficiency leading to a decrease in the efficiency of support characters, etc.
Through various battle environment effects, you can experience different battles from before.
When you clear the final floor, the 50th floor, of both new towers,
you will obtain a Property Selective Draw Exchange Ticket, which guarantees the acquisition of a 5-star costume, so we ask for your continuous challenge.
Evil Castle - Roguelike
I'll also share some mid-development news about Roguelike contents, which many of you are curious about.
Within the development team, there are slightly different perceptions based on each individual's experience regarding the keyword "Roguelike."
We conducted extensive deliberation from scratch regarding the concepts and core fun elements that need to be considered.
The format where the composition of fields, enemies, rewards, etc., is randomly generated is a fundamental element that should be included, so it was relatively easy to decide on.
However, due to the characteristics of mobile games, there are many elements that are difficult to adopt, such as the permanent death of characters and the inability to allow loading saved game, which are characteristics of the original Roguelike game.
Especially, there was much deliberation on how far the abilities of the characters we've developed should be taken into account within Roguelike battles.
We are currently developing while testing various directions to find a more enjoyable method.
While waiting for the development of Roguelike content, we have prepared two new towers that you can enjoy.
We hope you enjoy them first, and we will bring you more updates on Roguelike development next time.
New Character "Elpis" (4.11)
Elpis, who gained unexpected popularity as a guide in the Evil Castle story, is introduced as a new 4-star character.
To celebrate the 300th day milestone, six costumes for Elpis will be distributed for free for full breakthroughs, and even if you miss the distribution event, you can obtain them later from the regular draw banner.
And for those curious about Elpis's performance,
Elpis is being developed to be utilized as a buffer for magic characters in the early stages before acquiring a 5-star buffer character.
We hope you enjoy a broader strategy with Elpis.
Next, I'll introduce new season events, new characters, and costumes.
New Season Event "Marry Me" (4.25)
In the background of the fifth character pack lies a new story unfolding in the fairytale kingdom.
"Marry Me" will be updated as a new season event.
In Marry Me, a series of incidents occur where princesses are kidnapped by villains in the fairytale kingdom, who desire brides.
You can encounter the bold adventures of the new character Refithea, who aspires to become the ultimate bride to rescue them.
New Character & Costume Refithea (4.25)
As mentioned earlier, among the Six Devils characters from the previous work,
the last character that has not yet been released in Brown Dust 2.
Refithea appears with a new costume.
Refithea, along with Granhildr, who appeared in February, was highly popular in the previous work.
In the Merry Me season event, the new costume 'White Blessing' will be released first,
followed immediately by the original costume 'The Gluttonous'.
The Refithea 'The Gluttonous' will randomly appear at all pubs simultaneously with its pickup release,
and will also appear as a key character in Story Pack 13.
We'll showcase Refithea's unique cuteness and pure charm in Brown Dust 2 as well, so we kindly ask for your love and support.
New Talent Skill "Assemble" (4.25)
We would like to Introduce the new talent skill introduced with Refithea, 'Assemble'.
Twing Gluttis are all over the field of BrownDust 2, and Refithea is the owner of these Twing Gluttis.
According to this concept, Refithea has the ability to assemble Twing Gluttis from the field and immediately obtain them.
You can utilize it in a similar way to Celia's absorption, but you cannot use it in field quests where points are earned by acquiring Gluttis.
Try using the Assemble talent skill to capture Twing Gluttis more conveniently.
Rerun Season Event "Windy Cat" (4.11)
The first season event of Brown Dust 2, 'Windy Cat', will be rerun.
The protagonist of the time, 'Bright Moon Dalvi', will also return as a pickup rerun.
For those who desired Dalvi, it would be good not to miss this opportunity.
Dalvi was the winner of last year's winter global popularity poll,
As mentioned before, new costume will be made for the character that won the first place and we will distribute the costume it on the first anniversary.
We are contemplating various concepts to present something that many people will be satisfied with, so please look forward to it.
Change in World Buff Cycle (4.11)
The cycle for changing the world buff will be shortened.
Currently, the world buff is conducted every 4 weeks.
Once a property cycle has passed, it will only return after about 16 weeks,
so if you miss that period, you will have to wait a long time to use the costume of that property,
and there are many restrictions on the provision of pickups and fiend hunters, so we have shortened the cycle to every two weeks to improve this.
Starting with the Wind property on April 11, a two-week rotation will begin,
considering major events, collaborations, new stories, etc., it may be delayed or advanced by 1-2 weeks,
but overall, we plan to proceed with adjustments to avoid situations where only specific properties are focused on.
April Pickup Information (4.11)
In April, along with the two costumes of Refithea that were introduced earlier,
pickups will mainly focus on reruns of existing popular costumes that can be active in various battles.
In particular, Angelica's summer swimsuit costume, 'Pool Party', will be rerun as a surprise.
Pool Party Angelica is still popular among users even though some time has passed since its release,
and it has been decided to rerun it because it is perceived to fulfill the need as a light property costume that can deal magical damage.
Please refer to the detailed schedule for the progress of new and rerun pickups in the table below.
* Costumes featured in the pickups will be registered as products in the Powder of Hope Shop after the pickup period ends.
April Pickup Schedule
As a gesture of appreciation, we will once again unveil the additional skill cutscenes for the existing costumes that were showcased during the broadcast.
This is akin to the saying "good things should be seen twice," and we are delighted to share them once more in the developer notes.
Although only the back part is visible, it should still be recognizable enough to identify the who this character is.
Fiend Hunter Additional Improvements
Recently, we conducted a satisfaction survey regarding the previous improvements made to the Fiend Hunter, and we received valuable feedback from many users worldwide.
Satisfactory improvements were rated in the following order: Quick Battle Feature, Confirmed Critical Hit Mechanic, Increased Rewards, and Shortened Play Cycle. Particularly, the Quick Battle Feature received high satisfaction ratings across all regions.
The most dissatisfactory improvement was found to be the Multi-Team Formation, which held the highest percentage. While some users mentioned that they appreciated the ability to use various characters strategically in the additional comments section, many also expressed that the complexity of team formation and gear swapping increased gameplay fatigue. Additionally, some users noted that the lack of characters and gear could create a barrier for new users.
The development team is actively reviewing various approaches to address this issue. We aim to maintain the diversity of strategies while reducing gameplay fatigue and improving the experience of repetitive battle segments. We are considering enhancing the Quick Battle Feature to achieve this goal. Once the planning details are finalized, we will provide further updates.
Next, let's discuss the satisfaction results regarding the application of Confirmed Critical Hits when hitting a weakness three times in succession. 85% of respondents expressed satisfaction, while approximately 15% were dissatisfied. This result was most curious part of the development team, and we continue to think about how to improve on it. Fortunately, many users provided positive feedback, indicating their satisfaction with improvements that could reduce gameplay fatigue, similar to the Quick Battle Feature mentioned earlier. However, some users expressed concerns about the devaluation of critical hit probability. While potential solutions such as introducing separate slots or growth factors to increase critical hit probability or converting critical hit probability into critical damage have been discussed, we prioritize a careful evaluation to ensure a satisfactory solution that aligns with balancing critical hit probability and critical damage.
Now, let's review the survey results for the anticipated improvements regarding the Practice Game and Turn Retry systems. Approximately 67% of users expressed anticipation for the Practice Game system, while about 87% showed anticipation for the Turn Retry system. We are grateful for the high level of anticipation from many users, and we would like to share the current development progress. The Practice Battle system will include a separate tab where users can freely set the level of fiends during preparation to strategize in advance. As for the Turn Retry system, it will be integrated into the existing retry UI flow, allowing users to choose whether to retry from the beginning or from the previous turn. This feature will be available for all contents where retry was previously possible. While we aim to provide these features promptly, we plan to prioritize the release of the Practice Battle feature first as the Turn Retry feature requires further testing for combat validation.
In conclusion, we appreciate everyone who participated in the survey, including those who provided feedback in the open-ended questions section. While compiling the responses took considerable time, we found it to be a rewarding experience as all the feedback reflected the users' passion. Through this survey, we reaffirmed the importance of "time-saving." While we recognize the need for rules that require learning and content that necessitates strategic approaches for the enjoyment of the game, we also understand that many users lead busy lives and find content with excessive complexity and time-consuming processes burdensome. Therefore, we are committed to reducing unnecessary repetition and gameplay fatigue while maintaining the fun of strategic gameplay.
* For detailed survey results on Fiend Hunter improvements, please check the link below
Thank you once again for participating in the survey.
We will continue to actively listen to and reflect the opinions of users through various surveys in the future.
Next, we would like to provide information about the convenience improvements that are being prepared:
Popular Costume Ranking Information (4.11)
A feature will be added where users can view the ranking information of costumes used most frequently for each content.
This will serve as a helpful guide for new users who are still getting to know the game, and existing users can utilize it as a reference for deeper strategic planning.
Battle UI Improvement (4.11)
Have you ever wondered what "pure damage" means while checking the skill details?
We understand that such curiosity regarding gaming terms can arise, so all of these words will be highlighted, and when touched, a tooltip will be displayed providing detailed information about the term.
Additionally, there are plans to add directional information for pushes in character information, as well as logic improvements for using all the skills of owned costumes during auto-battle.
Other key improvements in preparation include:
- Batch gear enhancement and batch gear release
- Formation management and gear management improvement in the Companion UI
- Intuitive improvement of the preset UI and addition of recent formation view
- Pass improvement and unnecessary mission cleanup
There are many minor improvements planned for the second quarter, and they will be updated one by one according to priority.
We will continue to make steady progress in improving convenience.
That's all for the April updates.
Next, here's an introduction to the upcoming new packs and characters:
Story Pack 13: "Song of Snow" (5.9)
Previously, we mentioned through broadcasts and developer notes that the first major season of Brown Dust 2 corresponds to stories 1-8 packs, and the second season corresponds to stories 9-14 packs.
Now, we are left with only two packs, Story Pack 13 and 14, to conclude the second season. From Story Pack 13 onwards, the resolution of various mysteries will begin in earnest, and the individual stories of characters will delve much deeper.
Please look forward to it. Story Pack 13 is scheduled for an update in May, and detailed information will be provided in the next developer note.
New Character Loen and Addition of Magic Characters (5.9)
Loen, who left a short but strong impression in the "Last Night" pack, will be added as a playable character. Loen appeared in the story as a high-level summoner who can manipulate dimensional power. In battles, Loen is being developed with the concept of summoning powerful fire magic to deliver a strong blow to enemies, and this makes her the first 5-star fire property magic character.
Many players have expressed their desire for balanced additions of magic attack characters. In the second quarter, as mentioned earlier, Loen and two other magic characters will be added, bringing a total of four new magic characters. Of course, there will also be additions of physical characters along the way. We will continue to pay more attention to ensuring balanced updates between attack types.
Below is a rough image of Loen's skill cutscene that was shown during the broadcast. We will also attach it to the developer note, hoping for the activation of Loen's power.
BrownDust 2 First Collaboration
Finally, this is the collaboration news you've been waiting for.
The collaboration has been confirmed to take place starting from May 23rd!
We wish we could have revealed the collaboration IP along with the schedule, but due to circumstances beyond our control (NDA), we are unable to provide detailed information about the collaboration IP at this time.
We were eager to announce it today, so we also feel disappointed about it. We are diligently preparing, and we will announce the details as soon as we can. Thank you for your understanding.
Today's developer's note ends here.
In the broadcast and developer's note, we listened to users' opinions on satisfaction with the existing improvement direction and the future direction of content development through surveys, and we candidly shared the thoughts and considerations of the development team.
We will continue to actively communicate and evolve through various methods, including surveys.
Then, I will conclude this time with the developer note gift that I did not forget to bring.
[Developer's Note Gift]
- Dia x600
- Cooked Rice x40
※ Developer note gifts can be received from your mailbox until Monday.
Thank you.
