★Indie games by Greg Lobanov & friends★
On Saturday we ran the very first Bigmoon Bash, a timed in-game event where players could matchmake against one another! We saw 557 participants play a total of 4,958 matches - the average player played about 18 games, with a median of 11.
We collected a LOT of data from these games, and for the first time we can identify current trends in player VS player scenarios. In the interest of transparency, I’ll be sharing some analytics here - as well as my own insights into what some of these trends reveal. I’ll take this as an opportunity to highlight some interesting features of the game’s design and meta to players who may not be as “in the know” on the competitive side of Beastieball.
Where applicable, I’ll be linking to the fan-run wiki so you can see more details on highlighted Beasties and plays. That wiki is not technically official - but it’s very handy and we appreciate the effort fans have put into keeping it up-to-date!
Dino (Bash Score: 3525)
Bolimar (Bash Score: 3354)
Arc Tech (Bash Score: 3225)
Wavewhyse (Bash Score: 3106)
ArtemTotem (Bash Score: 3105)
Sami (Bash Score: 3068)
SillyAshley (Bash Score: 3011)
Rutabaga (Bash Score: 2925)
Ket* (Bash Score: 2924)
Patatin (Bash Score: 2903)
*(EDITED March 8, 2025: Previously we incorrectly displayed this name as anonymous)
These stats are counted as how many teams included that Beastie out of all teams that played in any match; or in other words, how likely any given team was to include that Beastie.
Bandicraft (33.9%)
Illugus (28.0%)
Servace (21.1%)
Hopra (19.7%)
Bongus (17.7%)
Beetlback (14.8%)
Vultoxin (13.2%)
Plumask (12.1%) (tie!)
Surgus (12.1%) (tie!)
Hydrolm (11.7%)
These usage stats skew towards starter Beasties and closely reflect how often these Beasties appear on players’ in-game teams. (I’d like to share more of those stats another day).
If we narrow our usage results to only evaluate coaches with high Bash Scores (>=2400, roughly the top 10% of coaches) then we can get a more direct look at which Beasties are most competitive right now. Those results look like this:
Bandicraft (26.5%)
#1 in popularity at all skill levels, Bandicraft has quickly become the face of PvP Beastieball. Bandicraft utilizes the popular Captain trait which pushes their ally forward whenever Bandicraft passes the ball to them, setting up a strong offensive using few actions. Bandicraft’s killer edge may be its well-roundedness; it has strong support options as well as strong attacking options, making it easy to adapt to any role and to fit onto any team.
Vultoxin (23.8%)
Noizard (17.3%)
Noizard’s Clamor trait makes them Noisy when they tag onto the field, redirecting attacks towards them. Combined with strong disruption options, Noizard is an excellent companion for any strong attacker that can’t take a hit.
Zefyre (16.1%)
Wottle (15.8%)
Wottle’s Shy trait inverts the standard field position stat bonus, such that they have higher defense at the net and higher offense at the back. Coaches typically use them to keep the front lane defended and ensure they don’t give away a no-touch point. In general Wottle was only on 5% of teams, so their 15.8% usage at higher ratings suggests they’re severely underrated by most coaches!
Daredillo (15.5%)
Beetlback (15.3%)
Illugus (15.1%)
Hopra (14.9%)
Surgus (13.8%)
We’ve been making balance patches throughout Early Access and intend to make more going forward - we’ll definitely be taking a closer look at usage stats like these to identify what strategies may be too centralizing. Still, something heartening to observe: the usage of different Beasties is currently less centralized at higher skill levels. Typically you’d expect high-level players to converge around a smaller set of winning species. Instead, it seems that as players’ skill levels grow, they tend to explore more options and have greater diversity in team compositions.
That said, the meta is still fresh and still has a lot of time to optimize more. And there are a lot of threats that are still likely underrated by coaches. Speaking of…
Let’s take a moment to honour the least-used full-grown Beasties.
Bindiva (0.3%)
Bindiva is one of my personal favorites, so I’ll just come out and say it here with my platform on the official newsletter; everybody is wrong about this one.
Conjarr (0.4%)
Grazada (0.6%)
Garood (1.8%)
Blitzwift (1.9%)
When we narrow usage results to high-scoring coaches, Blitzwift’s usage jumps all the way up to 7.6%, making for one of the largest disparities in usage at different skill levels. Their trait, Jet, allows them to move any number of times at no cost at all, enabling some frankly insane combinations.
One last Beastie that deserves a call-out here is Skulkapi. Their Stealthy trait lets them instantly teleport to any any attack threatening a no-touch point. They were also 4x more likely to appear on teams in the high-score range, going from 3.1% usage in general to 12.8% at high levels.
Thank you to our players for making this event a big success! We’re excited to host more soon - stay tuned for intel on future Bigmoons!