Obsidian’s Honey I Shrunk the Kids-esque survival title Grounded recently released as a preview on Xbox Game Pass and Early Access on Steam. Adam Brennecke, Groundeds Game Director, was kind enough to answer some questions about the game as it stands today, as well as some upcoming additions fans can look forward to in the survival genres tiniest contender.
MMORPG.COM: In the Preview, upgrading your tools required that you find very specific bugs to kill. Will there be other types of ways to get new and different upgraded tools?
Brennecke: Yes, we want to include many pathways to upgrade your tools. For example, using your smashing tools to harvest Ice Cap mints to make the mint mallet makes use of man-made objects in the world. We are looking at more ideas like this that can provide other avenues to make and upgrade tools and weapons.
MMORPG.COM: Has there been any talk, or will there be, a way to tame insects?
Brennecke: We know this is a feature that is frequently requested, and we are listening to feedback. We discuss this regularly on the team, and we are thinking of ways of how this could be integrated with the rest of the systems in the yard.
MMORPG.COM: Currently, gear takes up bag space, is this something you think will be changed in the future?
Brennecke: Yes, we are looking at changing how this works and would like to improve this in a future update to give a little more space in everyone's inventory.
MMORPG.COM: Spiders are everywhere, and some of them are pretty dangerous, but aside from spiders, are there any bosses that we could look forward to?
Brennecke: Of course! We do have the Hedge Broodmother in the hedge area as a unique creature, however, I do think she needs to be improved to differentiate herself more from other Wolf Spiders. We would love to add more varieties of bosses with unique traits in the future.
MMORPG.COM: Ingenuity goes a long way in making crafting fun in Grounded, are there any items that will be added in the future to look forward to?
Brennecke: Oh boy do we have a lot of ideas, and we are working hard to make those ideas into something tangible for players. We have plans to introduce more armor and armor sets, unique pieces of gear, new weapons and tools, and more base building options. Our next update features a new material in the game that you can craft into new things that the team is excited to show off soon, and we will continue to expand on the options with each update.
MMORPG.COM: When crafting certain items like woven fiber, will anything be added to auto craft if you have several stacks that you want to create?
Brennecke: We've discussed this on the team and we are looking at options to expand on the quality of life for crafting.
MMORPG.COM: Right now, armor has special bonuses attached to it. Has there been any thought to having characters have perks or upgradeable buffs?
Brennecke: Yep! We have discussed this at length and have a few ideas on how to bring this to the game soon.
MMORPG.COM: Post launch, will the story continue? Has there been any internal talk about what kind of DLC will be released in the future?
Brennecke: We want to continue the mysteries that have started and build the unfinished areas of the yard during Early Access/Game Preview. Our plan is to do an update to the game each month with new things to try out, new areas to visit, new creatures, and more crafting. Once we hit a 1.0 release, the full story will be unlocked, along with the end-game content. We currently do not have any plans for 'DLC' in the traditional sense - all the content during Early Access will be integrated into the game.
