Developer Diaries

Developer Diaries provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the development process and philosophy for MENACE, and provide tidbits and previews of the game systems to tide over the fans as we await the release of the full game. Usually posted on Fridays except for holidays and bank holidays in Germany.

Dev Diary #1: Breaking the Silence: Imitating the community-beloved dev diaries from Battle Brothers, the first Dev Diary describes MENACE as a game, gives a rough release date for Early Access in Fall 2025 (subsequently changed), and describes their (Overhype Studios') intent in creating a new game in a different genre.

Dev Diary #2 - Strategic Part Overview: The second dev diary and first real one, this describes the starmap in which the player will select destinations for missions, etc., the OCI system to upgrade the TCRN Impetus (the player's ship and base of operations), and the armory, wherein the player can examine troops, change loadouts, promote squad leaders or pilots, etc.

Dev Diary #3 - Tactical Combat Overview: Describes the tactical missions: How maps are designed, how Action Points and Turn Order works, differences between vehicles and infantry, and cover/LOS mechanics.

Dev Diary #4 - Weapon Types and Stats: Describes the difference between squad and leader weapons, the ammo system, and details the specific statistics such as range, armor penetration, HP damage, etc. each weapon will have.

Dev Diary #5 - Squad Leaders and Stats: Describes the rationale behind having pre-written Characters, which are divided between Squad Leaders and Pilots, as well as their statistics such as action points, HP per element, move range, etc.

Dev Diary #6 - Supplies and Equipment: Describes the supply system and the limits on how much men and materiel a player can bring on a mission, as well as how the armor system works in battle and accessories players can attach to their squads for extra benefits.

Dev Diary #7 - Combat Mechanics and Suppression: Describes what suppression is in real life and how MENACE incorporates it into tactical battles, the three-stage system used to model it, and how it can be worked around or defeated.

Dev Diary #8 - OCIs (Operational Capability Improvements) and Off-Map Abilities: Describes the OCI upgrade system in more detail, explaining the three types of upgrades and that they can provide both strategic and tactical benefits.

Dev Diary #9 - Perks and Promotions: Describes how squad leaders/pilots can grow stronger over time through the promotion system, wherein the player can distribute "experience" (so to speak) and decide which characters can be promoted for new skills, or even demoted if necessary (if you're willing to pay the costs both in wasted experience and the hit to morale).

Dev Diary #10 - Pirate Faction Preview: Explores the background, tactics, units, and weaponry of the pirates, one of the factions the player will have to deal with (either as a friend or foe) in the Wayback system.

Dev Diary #11 - Action Points and Attack Calculation: Describes how AP can be used, as in classic games like XCOM, to move and fire, how it can be reduced by suppression and other factors, and provides the detailed damage calculation for attacks based on the weapon's statistics, ideal range, etc. versus the target's armor, etc.

Dev Diary #12 - Mission Types in MENACE: Describes individual mission types that can make up a full operation and what their characteristics and victory/defeat conditions are.

Dev Diary #13 - Discipline and Morale: Describes the morale system, how the discipline stat affects morale and suppression, what effects high and low morale have on units, and how to damage or recover morale to make use of the system.

Dev Diary #14 - Lighting and Weather: Describes the various weather conditions and day/night environments the player can encounter in tactical battles and how they affect gameplay.

Dev Diary #15 - Rogue Army Faction Preview: Explores the background, tactics, units, and weaponry of the Rogue Army, one of the factions the player will have to deal with (either as a friend or foe) in the Wayback system. These are also a disorganized "faction" that collectively represents nonaligned elements in the system, so they can be encountered on different planets for different reasons.

Dev Diary #16 - Deployment and Mission Preparation: Explains how to choose your units and their loadouts and set their starting positions at the beginning of a battle.

Dev Diary #17 - Making Menace- Behind the Scenes: A look at the development process from concept art to UI to 3D art that went into designing the game.

Dev Diary #18 - Operations in MENACE: Explains how individual tactical battles are linked together in operations, and how the player can choose between different missions in an operation for different benefits, like gaining an advantage or removing one from the enemy.

Dev Diary #19 - Concealment, Detection, and Lines of Sight: Describes the stealth and fog of war systems in tactical battles, and how to conceal units from the enemy or ensure you can detect the enemy to avoid being ambushed.

Dev Diary #20 - Work in Progress: Shows off some more UI, concept art, and 3D art.

Dev Diary #21 - Frequently Asked Questions by the Community: FAQ for the most common questions as of May 23, 2025.

Dev Diary #22 - Off-Map Abilities: Describes in greater detail some of the special actions the TCRN Impetus can provide during a tactical battle if it has the right OCIs, such as rocket strikes, orbital laser blasts, or supply drops. These can also be acquired as tactical assets if won in a previous mission in an operation.

Dev Diary #23 - Special Weapons: Describes the operation and usage of special weapons used by the squad leader of an infantry unit in particular in tactical battles. These special weapons, one per squad, include things like LMGs or sniper rifles, or can also be foregone to provide another regular squad weapon or another accessory.

Dev Diary #24 - Accessories in MENACE: Describes the assist items squads can equip in tactical battles, such as extra ammo, extra armor, explosives, etc.

Dev Diary #25 - Mission Walkthrough: This diary outlines how a typical tactical battle will play out as the game systems are closer to being finalized.

Dev Diary #26 - Vehicle Defects: Explains the vehicular damage system in MENACE and how vehicles can be disabled without being destroyed.

Dev Diary #27 - Squaddie System: After receiving a profusion of player requests, this diary explains how each element of a squad can now be given their own individual name (though, of course, not a full portrait, backstory, etc. the pre-writen characters have). It also describes how the manpower system works and how squad size can be edited.

Dev Diary #28 - Vehicle Weapon System: Explains how vehicles can be customized with different weapons (and different combinations of those weapons) before being deployed in tactical battles, as well as how those weapons can affect different parameters (such as crew carrying capacity).

Dev Diary #29 - How to Kill a Tank: Walkthrough of actually destroying a vehicle the player might encounter during a tactical battle, taking into account different armor values vehicles possess in different directions, disabilities, etc.

Dev Diary #30 - Strategic Assets and Enemy Assets: Describes in more detail the benefits the player or the enemy can accrue in missions during an operation. Player strategic assets include extra squads or increased deployment area size for the rest of the operation if gained, among other things, while enemy strategic assets include better armor or increased discipline during a mission if not chosen for elimination.

Dev Diary #31 - Infantry Armor: This diary provides detailed concept art for the various tiers of infantry armor available to the player over the course of a campaign, and how the sci-fi armor compares to real-life ballistic armor protection levels.

Dev Diary #32 - Development Update: Describes the importance of thoroughly bug-testing the demo before its release in 2025, the prodigious features and play possibilities the demo will have, and some of the new polishes the players will enjoy, such as special idle animation for the pirates, new units for the Alien Wildlife, and voice acting from Baldur's Gate 3 and Cyberpunk alumni.

Dev Diary #33: Development Update and Media Recap: This diary summarizes a week spent finalizing the Menace public demo, and shares several articles and previews published.

Dev Diary #34: Real Loot System: Details changes made to the loot system.

Dev Diary #35: MENACE Demo Launches September 29, 2025: Reveals the release date for the public demo by the developers and showcases what features will be present in the demo for players.

Dev Diary #36: Demo Recap and Next Fest Update Plans: As of October 10, 2025, the MENACE demo has received over 100,000 downloads, 600 reviews, and a Very Positive status on Steam! The next step is the addition of a new mission type and new weapons.

Dev Diary #37: Enemy Army Lists: Explains how the generation system for enemy forces was changed and improved since an initial Battle Brothers-inspired system to provide more flexibility.

Dev Diary #38: A New Threat Emerges...: Shows off Syama Pederson's full MENACE trailer!

Dev Diary #39: Rating Rework and Secondary Objectives: Explanation of the mission rating rework and new secondary objectives.

Dev Diary #40: Perk Overhaul: Explains that dev diaries will now be bi-weekly from this point forward, and then explains how the perk system has been completely revamped following player feedback on the demo: Squad leaders are now much more unique.