Happy Wednesday SUPERVIVERs! We’re coming straight out of our Season 2 launch with a dev blog for y’all. You’re gonna get some pretty fresh takes since this patch has only been live for a few days, but we want to hold fast to our commitment to keep you more in the loop and post more regular updates. Here we go!
Tournament Mode Takeaways
As we mentioned in our last Fireside Chat, we’re focusing on SUPERVIVE’s core combat magic in Season 2, both in battle royale and new modes. Our first of these prototype modes - Tournament - just went live in patch 2.00. Overall, the reception to tournament mode across our surveys has been pretty positive. We’ve seen players enjoying the focused, smaller scale fights, the ability to evolve their build through limited choices, and adjusting their strategy to face specific teams (especially ones you may have fought before).
One question we’ve been asking ourselves as we explore new modes is how to balance creating new prototypes with iterating on previous ones. If a prototype feels like it’s resonating we’ll likely take it back to the lab for more changes, but we also want to test new modes and not spend all our time tinkering on the same concept. In the case of Tournament, we’re going to make some adjustments for next patch, and then plan to release a new mode for a following patch.
In 2.01, we’re looking to test a 3v3 version of Tournament, which has been a frequent request in our surveys. Teams of 3 also makes some improvements to multiqueue - since you can take a full party into either Tournament or BR. We’ll be making some small changes to our current Tournament maps to make them better for larger fights, and will be interested to see what you think of the new team size!
Item Updates
The Armory has gone through a lot of changes since launch, and now that we’ve released a new set of items with Season 2, we want to take a step back and look at the system more holistically. The current Armory items have a lot of strengths - they enable unique hunter builds and playstyles and give your character exciting power spikes throughout the game.
However, we also believe that our item system has weaknesses. After so many fundamental changes since the initial design, Armory items are often inconsistent in their effects. It’s also difficult for new players to make decisions between items, because they’re not easy to evaluate against each other at a glance. Since SUPERVIVE is a fast-paced game where you don’t usually have time to sit back and make a detailed pros and cons list, being able to quickly comprehend an item is important.
The changes we’re looking to make are really focused on solving these problems. We’re not looking to shake up items for the sake of change, or lose what’s working about items today. We’re mainly looking to smooth things out and make our system more intuitive.
One change we’re looking at making some stats more tied to a specific item category. For example, in today's system, Movement Speed and Dash-related abilities can be found on Boots, Grips, and Relics. This makes it trickier to balance these stats, and also makes the tradeoff between each item less clear. Going forward, we’re looking to consolidate movement and dash effects to be specifically tied to your boot choice.
Another example is that in our current system, some items provide base stats while others focus on active or passive abilities. So something we’re exploring is giving every item some base stats - to make items more consistent across the board, and as a way to “signpost” what sort of item it is for players. So giving “Last Bite” some base health also makes it clearer that it’s a defensive option, while giving “Uppercutlass” ability damage puts it in the offense-focused category.
With item changes of this magnitude, balance is super important. So we’ll be doing several tests of these adjustments before fully committing to them. First, we’ll be running multiple playtests with our VIVE Council community to check for any outliers or unexpected impacts. We’re also exploring shipping some of the new items to Tournament mode, so we’re able to gather more data in a controlled environment before we bring them to a wider audience.
Combat Pacing
We’ve talked before about finding the right balance for SUPERVIVE’s Time to Kill (or TTK as the kids like to say). It’s a delicate thing - on the one hand, we believe the explosiveness and lethality of SUPERVIVE is one of the things that makes the combat shine. On the other, if you’re frequently getting blown up so fast that you don’t get to engage in combat, that’s clearly not ideal either. Despite some of our past efforts, our data indicates TTK has been creeping further and further down over time. We’re looking at making some bigger changes here in order to reverse that trend. Our goal is to make sure combat is more frequently feels like a back and forth conversation rather than a single mic drop.
That’s all we’ve got for today! Check back in next week for the full 2.01 patch notes.