The 2nd phase of the open beta just wrapped up and things started off a little rough with some frame rate issues and a few bugs but after a few patches things went pretty well. We had made a number of changes to the move controller schemes and it seemed like they were better but still problematic with the two control modes. We managed to get the frame rate back up to a playable level but it still wasn’t where it needs to be. We worked on the Battle Royale mode as well and fixed some issues with it and added loot dropping near the end. It seems there is still division over the BR mode with some wanting an option to only play it and other wanting an option to avoid it.<\/p>\n
Our big priority right now is getting the frame rate up to a solid 60. Currently, the frame rate is easily in this range without any players. This means that rendering wise, we shouldn’t have any issues as adding 32 player meshes doesn’t increase the rendering load very much compared to what we’re already rendering in the scene. What it does add is a load in the networking, in physics calculations, animations, and general script processing. None of these areas should be too difficult to optimize to get us to the frame rate we want. The biggest culprit at the moment is with the physics calculations and we’ve been struggling to determine the problem area. Once we do, we should see a noticeable improvement right away.<\/p>\n
We altered the Move controller scheme so that buttons control turning and pressing the move button moves you forward in mode 1. Mode 2 still functioned like a joystick which allows for rapid movement changes and easy strafing. It seems like there was a bit of confusion with the 2 modes and people would often switch between them unintentionally. The only advantage to mode 1 was it allowed players to hold a weapon with 2 hands which we thought a lot would want. It seems there was less demand for this and we’re currently planning to do away with 2 modes and just have one mode. In this mode, the primary move will hold the main weapon and the secondary move will hold a sidearm. The move button on the primary will move forwards and the move button on the secondary will move backwards. Turning will still be controlled with the circle and X buttons on the primary. This isn’t set in stone so please let us know your thoughts on this.<\/p>\n
For the Battle Royale game mode, we have a lot of people wanting to be able to choose whether they play or don’t play this mode. We were initially hesitant to do this since we want to avoid splitting the player base. It seems like this is going to be unavoidable and we’re currently planning to have a BR mode only and then all of the other game modes. We’ll probably drop the outcast system and just have people join the next lobby since outcasts were designed to keep the lobbies in tact. We’ll probably let players fight in the lobby and earn points until the match starts. We were able to get loot dropping in and for the next round we’ll have crates and supply drops working as well. We’re also planning to have med kits and armor be items you can carry and use as needed.<\/p>\n
We’re open to feedback so please post in the forums or comment below if you have any suggestions or feedback on our current roadmap.<\/p>\n
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