Developer Interview: Section 13

I am Jaeeun Park, the Creative Director of Section 13. Our team has been through many ups and downs, but we are now a small team of four — one planner, two programmers, and myself — each pouring our passion into developing this game. Of course, we also receive support from shared company departments for art, narrative, sound, and localisation. 

In a small team like ours, even minor but fun ideas can be freely shared and integrated into the game, helping it evolve into something even better. Lately, we've been putting a lot of effort into refining the narrative, reviving multiplayer, and preparing for launch.

One thing our team has regretted is that, due to the temporary pause on multiplayer, we haven't been able to play alongside our users as we used to. However, we're looking forward to our upcoming March update [which] will allow us to enjoy the game with them soon.

The idea for Section 13 came from my personal love for cooperative games. I spent a lot of time playing [HELLDIVERS] and have always enjoyed loud, chaotic co-op games with friends. More recently, I've spent a lot of time on HELLDIVERS 2, Lethal Company, and Raft. With Section 13, I wanted to capture that same energy — where the randomness of roguelites and unpredictable combinations of elements lead to fun and memorable experiences, whether playing solo or with friends. The game's mechanics, rules, and systems are just ingredients — the real fun comes from how players interact with them. I hope players can use them to enjoy the game.

Section 13 went through a fairly long Early Access period. During that time, we experienced different phases. Starting with fast-paced content updates and quick responses to player feedback, followed by a longer update gap as we worked on additions like narrative content. Throughout the process, the development team also saw a lot of changes, which made for some challenging times.

We collected and implemented a lot of player feedback, but one that stands out in my head was the request for full mouse cursor support on the main menu. At the time, our UI framework wasn't fully built, and enabling seamless mouse navigation and interaction across the entire menu — while also maintaining focus on keyboard and gamepad — was a technical challenge due to the complexity of our UI hierarchy. From a maintenance perspective, it wasn't an easy decision, but with so many players requesting it, we realised we couldn't postpone it. I still remember tackling that early in Early Access.

One of the biggest challenges in developing a roguelite was the difficulty of reproducing specific bugs or issues and ensuring that every possible scenario was tested. Given the nature of the genre, it was nearly impossible to account for every case. But I believe this unpredictability is also what makes roguelites fun. That's why we implemented systems like Body Modification without strict limits, allowing players to push boundaries. I think in a game like this, being OP thanks to luck isn't necessarily a flaw; rather, it becomes part of the enjoyment.

A key aspect that sets us apart is Section 13's complex environments and layouts. Unlike many games in the genre, which often feature simpler layouts, we aimed for a high level of visual polish while still maintaining the randomness expected in a roguelite. However, achieving modular, realistic environments came with major challenges. There were limitations in fully realising the level of randomness we initially envisioned, but in the end, we settled on a hybrid approach, combining procedurally generated levels with partially pre-designed modular sections. This balance allowed us to create dynamic yet immersive environments, and we believe it's a unique feature that defines Section 13.

As I hinted in the previous question, Section 13 was heavily influenced by my experiences playing co-op games like [HELLDIVERS] and [HELLDIVERS 2] as well as Lethal Company with friends. And although it's a twin-stick shooter, we wanted to deliver the same satisfying impact and weight as [first-person shooter] games like PUBG or Battlefield. Additionally, we drew inspiration from the SCP universe, reimagining and blending those elements into our own unique narrative, making the game even more engaging.

With these influences as a foundation, every team member — including those from shared departments — poured their passion into the game. Through this collaborative effort, I believe we were able to shape Section 13 into something with its own distinct humour, action, and fun.

One of the biggest challenges we faced during Section 13's development — something that's not unique to our team but common across game development — was gathering and implementing feedback without losing sight of the game's core vision. Balancing different perspectives while staying true to the game's essence took a significant amount of time. Many different viewpoints emerged both within and outside the development team. During the late stage of Early Access, we decided to focus on solo rather than multiplayer mode, which led to criticism from our players that the game had lost its identity. Internally, there were concerns that we were straying from the core of the roguelite genre or shifting from a serious tactical experience to something more lighthearted. But through it all, one thing remained unchanged: Section 13 had to be fun.

In the early days, we placed a lot of emphasis on the precise balance of damage and health dealt by Synaptic Enhancement (in-session buff). Even a one-point difference in damage was something we pored over as the choice of which Synaptic to use was more important than individual player skill. However, as we gathered feedback throughout development, our direction shifted significantly. Now, we've embraced unexpected and unpredictable combinations of various elements, allowing for more dynamic gameplay.

The biggest lesson — and also a regret — was our inability to accurately predict the game's overall scope early in development.

As you might gather from my other answers, whenever we came across a great idea or received valuable feedback, we adjusted our schedule and added new features, often extending and changing our original plans. While this made the game better, I imagine it may have been frustrating for our early players who had to wait longer. That said, our commitment has always been to create a game that as many players as possible can enjoy with their friends, and no matter how much time passes, we're determined to deliver on that promise.

Developing a twin-stick shooter requires an incredible amount of precision in timing and controls. For example, tiny delays due to network latency when you try to dodge or reload can have a big impact on the gameplay experience and leave players feeling like they were unfairly punished. As such, one specific tweak we made was adding a 50ms buffer to reload timing — so if a reload takes 1.5 seconds, but the player dodges at 1.45 seconds, the reload is still considered successful. While 50ms might seem insignificant, when we analysed the logs, we found that a surprising number of reloads happened within that window.

We also spent a lot of time refining the input priority for key actions like weapon swapping, reloading, and dodging. In the current live version, snipers cannot attempt a reload during their 0.7-second post-shot delay, but with the March update, we're changing this so they can reload even while the delay is still in effect — a small but meaningful improvement to responsiveness.

The official release is coming soon and players can expect the final boss and each character's full narratives and ending. As for post-launch content, we're currently in the ideation phase, exploring various possibilities, like refining the previously introduced defence system, adding speedruns, or even a leaderboard for mission results.

Nothing is set in stone yet, but the game has plenty of room for expansion, and we're confident that rich, new content can be developed in some form.

On behalf of the Section 13 team and everyone at Ocean Drive Studio, we want to give a huge thank you to all the beta and Steam Early Access players who played the game and shared their feedback. Your input has been invaluable in shaping the game for its official release — not just on Steam but also on Xbox and PlayStation. We hope everyone enjoys it when it launches.