[Info] Developer Q&A - December

[boydybeef7]

Starting today, we will begin posting a monthly developer Q&A thread. We will be taking some of your recent ideas/issues/questions and we will try our best in addressing each of them. Without further ado, let's get started...

The distance in which jumping and running sounds from other players is too far. You can hear other players even when they are not even remotely close to you. Sounds should only be heard if the player is near you.

This is something we completely agree with and is an easy fix. We'll be reducing this sound distance so you only hear players when they are truly nearby.

Why was Energy consumed for jumping raised from 10 to 25?

The reason the Energy system was changed was ultimately to prevent bunny-hopping. It was also something that was requested by a number of players. Though players need to be more mindful when jumping, we still believe the system could use some additional tweaking. We are considering changing it so you replenish Energy slightly quicker and/or reducing the initial delay before you start replenishing. Moving forward, we'd love to hear more what you think regarding the current Energy system setup, however.

I get stuck on the loading screen when trying to connect to a server. What's the deal?

The server you are trying to connect to is most likely down. Currently, there is a timeout function, however the number of retries is too high - which is why you never return to the server list. In the next update, if you fail to connect to a server, you will return to the server selection screen instead of having to manually exit out of the game.

With the exception of load outs, there is currently nothing really that distinguishes one class from another. What plans are there for the future to address this particular issue?

Having unique class-specific abilities is already something we plan on developing and implementing in the near future. Eventually, there will also be special weapon abilities, each weapon with a different rarity. The higher the rarity, the more special the ability would be.

Switching from one weapon to another is too quick. It is too easy to snipe/rocket another player once and switch to your secondary for an easy kill.

We agree that weapon switching is currently too quick. This is a relatively easy fix, however we will need to be careful in tweaking this as we still want and need our current animations to be natural looking.

 

With the damage reduction of the Rocket Launcher and Grenade Launcher, the Shadow primary weapons are now too powerful. When faced with a Shadow at medium/long distance, you are dead, regardless of your class.

Damage for both the Rocket Launcher and Grenade Launcher was reduced due to the fact that you were able to one-shot players from a short distance. You could actually one-shot a player with the Rocket Launcher without even hitting the player. We felt this needed to be addressed, however additional weapon balances will follow. Moving forward, rather than nerfing, we will most likely buff/increase the damage of all other weapons to level the playing field against Shadow primaries. Along with slowing down weapon switching, this should help significantly. If not, additional measures will be taken.

Throwing animation for HMX and X-Gel grenades is too slow.

This is something that has been mentioned by a number of players and has not been ignored. We will try our best in quickening the throwing animation without making it look unnatural.

Coxis inflict 100% damage so they should be easier to spot. They can be difficult to find on maps with high grass like Frontside.

We plan on adding a small glow to the Coxi, making it easier to spot and find on the ground. Also, due to the Coxi inflicting 100% HP, we will most likely reduce the inventory quantity from 3 to 2 in a future update.

In Free for All, players are unable to distinguish their Coxis from enemy Coxis. Because everyone spawns red, all Coxis on the ground appear red. I hope there is a fix to this...

We plan on adding a small icon that will appear when you place a Coxi on the ground. This will prevent any confusion and will be something that will appear on all game modes, not just Free for All.

During team related game modes (Freeze Tag, Team Deathmatch, etc), players spawn right next to enemies.

This is a frustrating issue that we can completely understand. Fortunately, we do have a solution for this problem. Once fixed, you will spawn next to your teammates instead.

There is not enough warning when picking up a flag. Simply, I have no idea when I have picked up the enemy's flag.

There are currently two signals when you pick up a flag: a short audio clip and a white flag logo appearing on the left side of your screen. However, we do agree that additional warnings/notifications should be included. We hope to add this in an update soon.
 

The duration of time bomb in Demolition is too short.

The bomb detonates approximately 20 seconds after it is placed. It also approximately takes 3 seconds to defuse the bomb. We agree that the time bomb duration could be increased so look forward to an increase soon. Later, we may also include a server settings option where the server admin can pick the time bomb duration.

I lag like crazy on Everwhite. Is there any way the performance on this map could be increased?

The level of detail for the snow particles will be lessened. More specifically, we will reduce the snow particles based on your display quality. Example: the lower your display quality, the lower the particle quantity. This will help performance significantly on the map.

Players need to be kicked from the server if AFK for a period of time.

We agree that AFK player should get kicked from the server after reaching a certain period of time. We plan on adding a feature like this soon.

The low HP blur is annoying and it makes me dizzy!

Instead of being a permanent effect, we will change the low HP blur so it is only temporary. It will simply last for a couple of seconds and then go away.

Nearly all the weapons currently have huge inaccuracy...

We plan on taking a look at every weapon and tweaking their accuracy accordingly. This will take time, however particular changes or edits to weapons will be announced in the patch notes for future updates.


Have a question? Feel free to leave it here and we'll try to add it to the next developer Q&A thread. As always, thank you for all the ideas and suggestions.

[Remzi]

Alright, so perspective of competitive player.

1) No mention of accuracy anywhere, which was a huge complaint from not only my team but other teams and individuals. Your edit corrected this. Nice.
2) yay no more snow :D
3) I guess disappearing blur is better than permanent blur, I'd still prefer disabling it completely.
4) Yay bomb and demolition changes.
5) Flag change and UI tweaks are good.
6) Be careful about spawning people next to teammates.
Hypothetical : three of your team got killed, team surrounds last guy. Full team spawns around that guy, free four kills. This is something my team WILL abuse if it is added, so just be very careful on how you implement spawning systems, since it may spawn people unready more than pure randomness.

I'd honestly suggest just spawning you as far away from enemies as you can. Yes, it may give some degree of positioning away on their part (general location, whoopdiedoo), but it's better than nothing for TDM. CTF, it should spawn you on the farthest spawn away from the nearest enemy. Wouldn't be too many checks to run on death, I'm sure. (Depending on spawn amount, maybe 25-30 checks, which is nothing for a modern game)

7) "Eventually, there will also be special weapon abilities, each weapon with a different rarity. The higher the rarity, the more special the ability would be." ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ this is genuinely scary and makes me think of Dirty Bomb's awful F2P model. Please don't give "rare weapons" extra ♥♥♥♥. Cosmetics should be the only thing. Works fine for dota, works fine for CS. No reason to add extra ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ to ruin the competitive gameplay and make it unbelievably grindy/borderline P2W. It works in the Asian market, but it's unbelievably P2W and there's a reason Asian games of that nature never have an actual competitive scene, or a minor one at best. This is something that scares the ♥♥♥♥ out of me and anyone who actually reads into what you stated.

8) No mention of grenade physics inheritance.
9) No mention of map changes.

TL;DR) Decent, but be careful. Bad, bad precedents may be established now that may be hard to fix later on, once cosmetics are shipped. You can remove a weapon, but not after it has cosmetics and people purchased ♥♥♥♥ for it. Similarly, you can remove P2W weapon upgrades, but you can't really do that after people started buying it. I'd like to see some more things but it's a start in a good direction at least. Hopefully the scary as ♥♥♥♥ Asian market idea of buying weapon upgrades gets scrapped.

[boydybeef7]

Originally posted by Remzi:

6) Be careful about spawning people next to teammates.

I should have phrased this differently by saying that you would no longer spawn immediately next to enemies. Details on how it will be resolved specifically will be provided later. We'll make certain there aren't any new issues with it though once we release it.

Originally posted by Remzi:

7) "Eventually, there will also be special weapon abilities, each weapon with a different rarity. The higher the rarity, the more special the ability would be." ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ this is genuinely scary and makes me think of Dirty Bomb's awful F2P model. Please don't give "rare weapons" extra ♥♥♥♥. Cosmetics should be the only thing. Works fine for dota, works fine for CS. No reason to add extra ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ to ruin the competitive gameplay and make it unbelievably grindy/borderline P2W. It works in the Asian market, but it's unbelievably P2W and there's a reason Asian games of that nature never have an actual competitive scene, or a minor one at best. This is something that scares the ♥♥♥♥ out of me and anyone who actually reads into what you stated.

The weapon abilities are something that has yet to start development, however the company and David have assured everyone that the game will not be P2W. Though these abilities have yet to be created, rare weapon abilities would have no leverage over more common weapon abilities. Once implemented, it will be like any other system in-game - if players are not satisifed with it, it will be changed accordingly.

[Remzi]

Originally posted by boydybeef7:

The weapon abilities are something that has yet to start development, however the company and David have assured everyone that the game will not be P2W. Though these abilities have yet to be created, rare weapon abilities would have no leverage over more common weapon abilities. Once implemented, it will be like any other system in-game - if players are not satisifed with it, it will be changed accordingly.

If they are different in anything but appearance, they WILL affect competitive play. Even zero sum stat tweaks aren't balanced for competitive play because certain things have certain advantages that are more relevant to competitive play. Example, Magicka Wizard Wars uses a zero-sum swap system that is completely awful and imbalanced due to the fact that certain upgrades (notably rock, water and death) are more useful than other upgrades if you wish to specialize. This is a P2W and it will be cancerous if implemented the way you describe.

[PixelBeam]

Originally posted by Remzi:

Originally posted by boydybeef7:

The weapon abilities are something that has yet to start development, however the company and David have assured everyone that the game will not be P2W. Though these abilities have yet to be created, rare weapon abilities would have no leverage over more common weapon abilities. Once implemented, it will be like any other system in-game - if players are not satisifed with it, it will be changed accordingly.

If they are different in anything but appearance, they WILL affect competitive play. Even zero sum stat tweaks aren't balanced for competitive play because certain things have certain advantages that are more relevant to competitive play. Example, Magicka Wizard Wars uses a zero-sum swap system that is completely awful and imbalanced due to the fact that certain upgrades (notably rock, water and death) are more useful than other upgrades if you wish to specialize. This is a P2W and it will be cancerous if implemented the way you describe.

Hello Remzi,
I would say yes and no.

For instance, do you think battlefield is unfair? Or do you think Call Of Duty is unfair?
When asked those questions, most people say no they are fair games and yet, when you start those games you don't have all weapons a veteran has.

COD is currently the most played e-sports FPS out there so I think we can say from experience that unlocking various weapons over time is reasonable, it is all a matter of tweaks and good design.

I understand you might feel uncertain about it, but I can tell you for a fact that we want to keep it fair ourselves so you'll have to bare with us a little longer to find out from yourself I guess ^^

[Remzi]

Originally posted by PixelBeam:

Hello Remzi,
I would say yes and no.

For instance, do you think battlefield is unfair? Or do you think Call Of Duty is unfair?
When asked those questions, most people say no they are fair games and yet, when you start those games you don't have all weapons a veteran has.

COD is currently the most played e-sports FPS out there so I think we can say from experience that unlocking various weapons over time is reasonable, it is all a matter of tweaks and good design.

I understand you might feel uncertain about it, but I can tell you for a fact that we want to keep it fair ourselves so you'll have to bare with us a little longer to find out from yourself I guess ^^

Competitively, COD4 promod unlocks everything and /everything/ is unlocked instantly on console LAN modes. Online cups and ♥♥♥♥ like that though? YES. Battlefield is not competitive.

(Also COD does not compete with CS in terms of money, COD has a $1m cup per year and CS has five or six $250k cups per year)

This is unbelievably cancer and I'm surprised a team with a supposed CS professional would even accept this idea, considering CS and DOTA (the two most competitive games in their genres) both use cosmetics and only that.

I'll come back to win more cups against you losers but I'm done with this game, it's going in an unbelievably ♥♥♥♥♥♥ direction if this is what you are doing.

[PixelBeam]

There is no need to be mad really.

Who said we wouldn't unlock weapons for competitions? ;)

As I said, we want to do something fair. If you don't believe us that's your right and I can't do anything about it.

Time will tell ^^

[mtvpls]

The current energy system is fine and much better than the previous one. You can still bunny-hop a few times now before you run out of energy. The previous version was a bunny-hopping simulator.

Shadow weapons should be high skill, high reward. A slow-firing weapon like a bolt-action rifle should kill with a headshot in any case, or take two body shots to kill. You can't compare a high precision weapon like a sniper rifle to a splash damage weapon like a rocket/grenade launcher.

I think there's currently enough diversity to the classes. The loadouts are the main difference, that's good enough.

I have a few questions about the turret: what is its range and operating angles? I noticed that it doesn't rotate when an enemy is behind it. A couple times it also failed to attack an enemy below it, when the turret was placed on a ridge.

Is there still no way to enter vehicles? "E" doesn't seem to do anything when standing next to them, plus there's no popup saying "press E to enter" or whatever.

Weapons have no descriptions or stats of any kind on the loadout screen. This should be fixed. We shouldn't have to respawn just to check what a weapon actually does.

Some of the holo sights are barely visible against a white background. Same with the loadout list on the right side of the screen:

http://s15.postimg.org/teursu0mx/Storm_United_sight_1.jpg

http://s12.postimg.org/9yigu1t4r/Storm_United_sight_2.jpg

This sight is ok, but could use some more contrast:

http://s28.postimg.org/xe0r7kmx7/Storm_United_sight_3.jpg

Just give us the option of choosing our own colours for the reticles.

The minimap is useless. It shouldn't be transparent. It should show the layout of the map, like in every other proper FPS.

Pressing the "exit game" button in the middle of a match also closes the entire game. This option should be removed. People can always alt+f4 if they want to. We should first be taken back to lobby, from where we can close the game.

Plus here's a quick bug for you: I couldn't strafe to the right, past this location, while crouched, as if there's an invisible wall there. This doesn't happen if you try to walk or run past it. It only happens when crouched: http://s14.postimg.org/5s0dstrhb/Storm_United_invisible_wall.jpg

Weapons don't have tactical reloads. This is easy to fix.

Graphics look worse than when I last played. I presume this visual downgrade is part of optimising the game, but damn it sure looks worse than before.

Finally... What happened to the UDH??? It was the best thing about this game.

[boydybeef7]

Originally posted by xXx_mtv_xXx:

I have a few questions about the turret: what is its range and operating angles? I noticed that it doesn't rotate when an enemy is behind it. A couple times it also failed to attack an enemy below it, when the turret was placed on a ridge.

Providing a specific range would be difficult, however it is currently reasonable. It has a high firing rate, but inflicts relatively low damage. The operating angles are around 45 degrees; also the turret will not attack if an enemy is behind it.

Originally posted by xXx_mtv_xXx:

Is there still no way to enter vehicles? "E" doesn't seem to do anything when standing next to them, plus there's no popup saying "press E to enter" or whatever.

The physics of the vehicles are still being improved so they are currently disabled until they are completely finished.

Originally posted by xXx_mtv_xXx:

Weapons have no descriptions or stats of any kind on the loadout screen. This should be fixed. We shouldn't have to respawn just to check what a weapon actually does.

We will eventually have short descriptions and details for each of the weapons/items so players will be able to easily pick which they would like.

Originally posted by xXx_mtv_xXx:

Some of the holo sights are barely visible against a white background.

Everwhite is one of our newest maps so this is a newer problem. You guys will eventually be able to alter your crosshair accordingly. In the meantime, we'll see if we can add some more contrast to some of these.

Originally posted by xXx_mtv_xXx:

The minimap is useless. It shouldn't be transparent. It should show the layout of the map, like in every other proper FPS.

The mini-map is something that's also being worked on. We'd eventually like for it to also display red dots where enemy shots are being fired.

Originally posted by xXx_mtv_xXx:

Pressing the "exit game" button in the middle of a match also closes the entire game. This option should be removed. People can always alt+f4 if they want to. We should first be taken back to lobby, from where we can close the game.

This is something that can be arranged. A few other players suggested at least having a prompt appear when clicking the Exit Game button because some mistakenly exit out of the game instead of just the server. Removing it completely when connected to a server would be even easier.

Originally posted by xXx_mtv_xXx:

Plus here's a quick bug for you: I couldn't strafe to the right, past this location, while crouched, as if there's an invisible wall there. This doesn't happen if you try to walk or run past it. It only happens when crouched: http://s14.postimg.org/5s0dstrhb/Storm_United_invisible_wall.jpg

There are a number of quirks and small issues with some of the maps. I'll add this to the list so they can be addressed in a future update.

Originally posted by xXx_mtv_xXx:

Weapons don't have tactical reloads. This is easy to fix.

I'll check in and see if we can add this function easily.

Originally posted by xXx_mtv_xXx:

We need separate settings for scoped and unscoped mouse sensitivity.

This was actually added in one of our last updates. The settings can be found under the Mouse Tab in the Settings panel.

Originally posted by xXx_mtv_xXx:

Graphics look worse than when I last played. I presume this visual downgrade is part of optimising the game, but damn it sure looks worse than before.

What are your display/AA settings set at?

Originally posted by xXx_mtv_xXx:

Finally... What happened to the UDH??? It was the best thing about this game.

The UDH is actually being updated so it can be more easily managed on our end. It's something we'd like to have back in-game soon.

[mtvpls]

Thanks for the replies. I somehow missed the zoomed mouse settings when I playing last night.

So the turret fires at anything within 45 degrees in a horizontal plane in front of it. What about the vertical plane?

I maxed out the graphics on my new GTX 950 and the game looks worse than it did in the previous version at medium graphics on a GTX 560 Ti. But I have to admit that it does run a lot better now, so I guess the visual downgrade was worth it.

[Remzi]

Originally posted by PixelBeam:

Who said we wouldn't unlock weapons for competitions? ;)

As I said, we want to do something fair. If you don't believe us that's your right and I can't do anything about it.

Time will tell ^^

Then what's the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ point of any progression outside of being greedy money-grubbing devs who want to charge money for power instead of simply charging for cosmetics and only visual things? JKap on this topic regarding OW
This system doesn't ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ work. Best case scenario are the garbage Asian-market games that were ported to the west, none of which have any actual money in them since the players are too busy paying for weapon power to help fund tournaments or anything of that nature.

It's actually hilarious how ignorant you are about how P2W what you're proposing is.

[mtvpls]

P2W shooters are unsustainable on the Western market, where most players have enough decency and self-respect to seek a balanced playing field. Hence the immense popularity of CS, BF and COD.

For example, just look at how well Warface did in Russia and how the same game completely flopped in the West.

[the-outcaster]

Originally posted by Remzi:

I'll come back to win more cups against you losers but I'm done with this game, it's going in an unbelievably ♥♥♥♥♥♥ direction if this is what you are doing.

Originally posted by Remzi:

Then what's the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ point of any progression outside of being greedy money-grubbing devs who want to charge money for power instead of simply charging for cosmetics and only visual things? JKap on this topic regarding OW
This system doesn't ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ work. Best case scenario are the garbage Asian-market games that were ported to the west, none of which have any actual money in them since the players are too busy paying for weapon power to help fund tournaments or anything of that nature.

It's actually hilarious how ignorant you are about how P2W what you're proposing is.

Who actually needs to chill here...?

[Jade Succubus]

Please don't add any type of tier-based power. Unlocking alternate weapons with different stats is one thing, but progression-based power is just plain silly. It doesn't work for any competitive game, and I really hope your team isn't so near-sighted that they implement something like this before the game even has a chance to get a playerbase.

[Hawksbri]

Why have the devs lost their sense of direction for this game beyond "being shiny"?

[sue]

Game wont work
Linux Ubuntu 14.04
Processor: AMD FX6300
Graphics card : R9 270 (OC edition)
Game launches, screen turns black, than after a while the whole computer cuts and i have to restart it.
im pretty sure my graphics card is too weak but i expected it at least to launch correcty.