Games that update over long periods may suffer from some kind of power creep or content bloat that makes it difficult for newcomers to get invested. Ghost Ship Games' Deep Rock Galactic, a co-op title published by Coffee Stain that blends the procedurally generated cave exploration of Minecraft with shooters like Left 4 Dead, was started in 2016 with the intent of making both veteran miners and "Greenbeards" feel like they're adding value to a team.
Deep Rock Galactic reached three million sales in November, pushed by an open, transparent development that avoided going for a big "splash;" as when other developers work silently until a release window is devised. This natural growth fosted many devoted fans who have sunk hundreds of hours into collecting every weapon upgrade, cosmetic, and beer flavor for their team to drink before heading into the dangerous caverns of Hoxxes 4. Game Rant spoke to Deep Rock game director Mikkel Martin Pedersen about developing a co-op experience for all skill levels, and how its new season pass model takes this idea further.
Deep Rock Galactic's Co-Op Baseline
Pedersen said the core concept for Deep Rock Galactic was envisioned by lead programmer Jonas Moller, one of the studio's six co-founders. Moller is a huge fan of Left 4 Dead but Pedersen had only played it briefly, and he said the first time they tried it together was a terrible experience. "He was super good and I was really bad, so I was like a brick around his leg." That informed Pedersen's desire to make a co-op game in which everyone could feel equally important.
Working in the video game industry since 1999 has been like "ticking off boxes" for Pedersen, who feels working everywhere from Danish studio Deadline Games to the Microsoft-owned Press Play (both defunct) let him touch as many different kinds of games as possible. He said it's fun diving into the ins and outs of various genres and bringing something new to them as an outsider; which is just as true of Deep Rock Galactic as his first co-op game.
Part of Ghost Ship's early analysis of the genre led to an observation that made the team comfortable building a title they would love. Pedersen said co-op fans usually try out a variety of games like Left 4 Dead or Team Fortress, unlike people who are devoted to titles such as League of Legends or Fortnite. "That makes co-op games interesting because we're not really fighting for users, we're just sharing them."
"The other thing we saw five years ago is there weren't many pure co-op games. There were a lot of shooters like Call of Duty with some co-op, but they were not co-op first like Left 4 Dead or Vermintide. We saw that we could make a game that would fit a corner of the market."
The Classes in Deep Rock Galactic Give Everyone Purpose
Ghost Ship Games currently has no plans for player versus player (PvP) options in Deep Rock Galactic beyond party games like the soccer-adjacent "space ball" in its Space Rig hub. Pedersen said the team wants to keep its experience friendly, non-toxic, and non-aggressive, which "tends to come with PvP." Deep Rock is squarely a player versus environment (PvE) game, and its teambuilding is centered around four classes: Gunner, Driller, Engineer, and Scout.
Players can choose one class to stick by; Pedersen uses Gunner to test high-level content, but offered a nod to Engineer's nuclear grenade launcher build, "Fatboy." However, Deep Rock Galactic encourages trying out all four as any team composition demands. Each have primary and secondary weapons augmentable with game-changing Overclocks, but more importantly they have traversal tools to make exploring Hoxxes easier. Gunner can set ziplines to scale cliffs, Driller can cut direct paths through the environment, Engineer can shoot platforms, and Scout can move around with a grappling hook. "If you're missing one class, you always feel like you're missing out on some mechanics," Pedersen said.
These classes continue to develop "subclasses" of sorts, letting players take them in multiple directions. One addition in Deep Rock Galactic Season 1: Rival Incursions, released November 4, was new primary weapons such as the Driller's Corrosive Sludge Pump. Those are unlocked later into a players' progression, as will new secondaries Ghost Ship is planning. However, Deep Rock's seasons and entirely free Performance Pass; inspired by battle passes in games like Sea of Thieves, Fall Guys, and Magic: The Gathering Arena; are also ways of giving more to new players.
"The fact we aren't monetizing ours I think makes it clear we're doing it for fun. We're trying to take the positive things a battle pass can add into a game like Deep Rock Galactic, motivating people to play and so on."
How Deep Rock Galactic's Seasons Will Build the Future
Pedersen said Ghost Ship Games doesn't plan far ahead, even though ideas like new weapons, mission types, and biomes are in the cards - Ghost Ship just decides what to do next after each update. Shifting to seasonal content is a more "sexy," formalized system than continuing Updates past 34, and it allows the studio to tie more elements together while expanding the universe (sometimes building on narratives, other times adding new ones). The Performance Pass isn't gated off, meaning new players can access its cosmetics and try different classes as rotating missions requests, meanwhile long-time fans won't just jump on, get straight to new content, and leave again.
The game director feels this battle pass system grafts well onto Deep Rock's pre-existing character and weapon progression, providing more of a long-term goal that will renew each season. Items available in the Performance Pass and its accompanying cosmetic tree (which gives players agency on what to unlock first) will not disappear after Season 1. The team is considering adding them into the game's normal loot rotation via Cargo Crates, Lost Packs, and more as one possible solution.
Ghost Ship was originally worried about backlash given ongoing debates about battle passes and monetization, but Pedersen feels the change has been received well by Deep Rock Galactic's community. That much is evident with the game's increasing concurrent player numbers, which have been higher than ever.
"We've been so happy about the community we have, because I don't know how many other games are out there where you can just jump in, play with strangers, and have a great experience. I don't know how we made that, it's pure magic."
Deep Rock Galactic is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. It will launch on PS4 and PS5 in January 2022.