First off, we wanted to thank everyone who managed to download and play the demo last week!
It’s been a big success for us. The development team was overjoyed to see so many people play and have fun with the demo. Secondly, it allowed us to gather a lot of feedback that will be used to make the game better.
Today we wanted to give you some insight on our takeaway points from the demo and on what our next steps will be.
The overwhelming majority of people who tried the demo and offered their opinion, whether on discord, Steam, or through our survey, really enjoyed the mission. That isn’t to say that it’s perfect as it is. There are several areas that need improvement.
Performance
There were widespread performance issues. We were aware of it and it was what we were expecting. As we had warned, the game needs to be optimized, and it is something we will work on closer to the release. It is very important for us to greatly improve this area.
Stability
Similarly with performance, there were players who experienced crashes. Unfortunately it is unavoidable at this stage of development, as the game hasn’t gone into beta yet. In the next few months the team will focus on making the game a lot more stable than it currently is (more details below).
Missing Units
Some key units were still missing in the demo, as they’re being worked on. Also, in the demo you couldn’t choose your own units, the units at your disposal were forced on you. That will be different in the final game.
Difficulty and accessibility
Some players found the mission rather hard. It generally comes from 3 main problems:
- They didn’t find the reinforcement menu and tried to play the entire mission with the units present at start.
- They didn’t find how to resupply units resulting in very high losses.
- They didn’t try to put more than one infantry unit in a transport. Paying for a helicopter that can carry 30 persons to bring 4 soldiers on the battlefield is very inefficient.
In the final game all those things will be explained and taught gradually. The team wanted to test as many features as they could, even at the risk of them being a bit overwhelming. The game at launch will contain tutorial missions and a gradual learning curve. Also, there will be different difficulty levels.
The game felt too micro intensive at times
- Countermeasures like flares and smoke had to be deployed manually. In the final game a mode for automatic countermeasures will be available.
- The team will work on ergonomic improvements like the option to trigger sprint with a double right click for infantry.
- Some quality of life tools are still missing. For instance, a tool to display the line of sight of units as well as the range of their weapons at 360°.
Destructible elements on the map
Some players noticed that some elements on the map were not destructible. Don’t worry, we plan to greatly expand the number of destructible elements.
Localisations
The demo was only available in English, but the game at launch will be available in a number of foreign languages. We will post the list of localisation languages at a later date.
Battle chatter
Most players thought the unit barks were cool, but some players thought they would be a bit too spammy and repetitive. We agree with that and the devs are working towards increasing the delay between lines and to avoid repetitiveness.
As you can see, the game is shaping up and getting there, but the devs are going to need a bit more time. But for now, we have some exciting news.
Multiplayer Beta coming in the Spring
In the next few months we plan to start testing multiplayer! Everyone will be welcome to apply. We are looking forward to it. We envision multiplayer to be a big part of the Broken Arrow experience, and we’ll need all the feedback we can get in order to make it as fun as we can. So, if you weren’t able to play the demo, don’t worry, you will have other chances to try the game in the near future.