Development Update
Hey all - as you may already be aware, recently we published a Development Update, which ran through the general progress made on the Mobile Build to date, alongside giving a brief outline on the delays surrounding this.
Nothing has changed in regards to Mobile being the next major update that SoS will receive - however, this current QoL update has been prioritised over the last week or so, in order to help the players who are struggling to find matches outside of peak hours.
For continued updates surrounding SoS's Mobile Development, or to find more players to log on with, check out our Community Discord!
Bots
If the player count is running low (i.e: Average Queue times of 10-20s+), the SoS backend will now spin up a Bot to match you against, in order to ensure you can continue progressing through the game regardless of low player activity.
Additionally, with the gaurantee of being able to find a game once a player logs on (regardless of time of day, and without exceptional queues or needing to ask people on Discord to join), we hope that players will now stick around longer in general; allowing for real players to more easily find eachother, which in result then will spin down the bots to prioritise human vs. human encounters.
The bots themselves make it known that you're playing against an AI (and we're using that term loosely) Opponent, and immediately tell you their split/steal odds (generated newly on each encounter). Reflecting on the human vs. human counterpart, the chances of a bot splitting are slightly decreased in High Stakes.
Note that all values (such as split rate, speed of encounter rate etc) may be subject to balance adjustments if needed.
QoL Improvements
- In order to speed up the Queue flow, decision unlock timers have been greatly reduced (approx. 3 Seconds for Low Stakes, 6 Seconds for High Stakes)
- "Wirecut" timer reduced to 15s in Low Stakes after one player locks in.
- "Wirecut" timer introduced at 30s in High Stakes after one player locks in.
- Approved Live Streamers can now be given shout-outs on the in-game home screen. If you're interested in streaming and getting an in-game link for viewers to find you, contact the mods on our Community Discord!
- Old Pogchamp emoji replaced
- Emojis now appear larger in all text chats, alongside emoji support being extended to Global Chat.
Note: with the reduction in traffic to our WebGL Builds, the above QoL Improvements list will only be available to Steam Users as of now. WebGL Users will still be able to match against Bots as normal.
With this QoL update, attention will now be focused back on the Mobile build. Myself, and the extended mod team are as always, available to field any questions or feedback on Discord. Until then, keep on keeping safe, and keep racking up those coins!