Today, Robocraft took one step closer to leaving Alpha and entering BETA. With our latest Matchmaking Update, Robocraft now has a completely reworked matchmaking engine based on the well-known ELO system for ensuring that players are matched fairly in battle based on their skill.
Introduction of ELO:
With this update this we launched a new matchmaking system using the standard ELO system. In Robocraft, your ELO rating will be referred to as your MMR (MatchMaking Rating). Your MMR rating will change based on your team's performance in battle and is used to matchmake players more fairly. So, new players learning the game will be playing against others of similar skill, and experienced players who are pros at Robocraft will be playing with similarly high skilled players. Hopefully this will ensure that everyone will be enjoying the game more overall.
All players will have two account-level MMR values:
– All Mode MMR
– Normal MMR
The ‘Normal MMR’ will update when you play the main Robocraft game mode; ‘Normal Mode’ (formally Battle Arena) and will be visible to you, your friends and your fellow clan mates. While the ‘All-Mode MMR’ will update when you play any multiplayer mode and is not visible to players. Both MMRs have been designed to ensure that players are matchmade fairly to make an enjoyable game for everyone.
For more more information on the implementation of new ELO/MMR system, read our recent Dev Jam.
Player Base ELO / MMR score:
When players first launch Robocraft after the ELO update, their Normal MMR value will be based on their League rank (prior to the update) divided by 3. We chose to divide the League rank number as we felt that keeping max ranked League players at the top, would mean their MMR would only go down (or remain the same). Having an initial lower number allows high-ranked players to work towards achieving the highest ‘Normal MMR’ possible. This was also done to ensure reasonably good matchmaking from the start of ELO.
Players who had previously been the top of League will still have the best ‘Normal MMR’ at the start of the new update. It’s also worth mentioning that any forged League badges will remain on your account, you won’t lose them.
Those players who have not participated in League previously will have a ‘Normal MMR’ of zero.
In this update, the ‘All-Mode MMR’ for all players starts at zero.
Please note: that in the early days post-release the ELO system is still gathering data based on player performance and so matchmaking may not be perfect; especially for those players with an MMR of zero. However as you play more games, more data will be obtained and matchmaking will improve.
Player Ranking:
With the new update, we are retaining the old League Badges and players will be ranked according to their ‘Normal MMR’ scores. The table below shows the MMR required to achieve each rank.
K-Factor:
The amount of MMR a player receives and loses is different in different Leagues. In Bronze the amount is maximal to ensure those who are too strong for Bronze to leave it fast. In Diamond and Protonium it’s minimal to ensure that one unlucky game won’t affect MMR too much. Speaking in ELO terms, we have different K-factor in different Leagues.
For more information on K-factors, click here.
OTHER CHANGES:
New Game Mode Select Screen:
With this update we’re making a few subtle changes to the Game Mode Select Screen (see image below). Alongside the introduction of ELO, we will be renaming the following game modes.
- Deathmatch will become Basic Mode - this is classic 5v5 Team Deathmatch
- Battle Arena will become Normal Mode - this is the competitive conquest mode combining the League and Battle Arena modes
- AI Bots will become Play Vs AI - Test your mettle alongside AI-controlled robots in a game of Team Deathmatch
- BRAWL (no name change) - A regularly updated game mode with fun changes to rules and permitted block types
Changes to keyboard shortcuts:
With the changes to the game mode select screen and the mode names, we’ll be updating the associated keyboard shortcuts too. These keyboard shortcuts are usable on the Garage and Game Mode select screens.
For new players, playing Robocraft for the first time, the default menu keyboard shortcuts will be:
- Edit – E
- Test – T
- Basic – B
- Normal - N
- Brawl – L
For existing players, the keyboard shortcuts will remain:
- Edit – E
- Test – T
- Basic - J
- Normal - L
- Brawl - H
If a player goes to the controls settings from the pause menu and clicks “Reset Defaults” they will have the new hot keys.
- Visual optimization changes to Test Mode
Removal of Player Kickback:
We launched the new Battle Loading functionality recently in order to ensure that matches begin with a full compliment of players on each side. After gathering feedback from the community we have elected to switch off this feature for the time being. This allows us to pursue other methods of ensuring players load in together, and we’ll share news of that soon including the addition of a reconnect button.
Unfortunately the Removal of Player Kickback caused a more severe error to occur in our matchmaking system, so we have reactivated the system in the short term.
BUG FIXES:
- Players leaving a battle early will no longer receive XP
KNOWN ISSUES:
- We are currently investigating an issue with the Robocraft Launcher which prevents players from updating the game. If you install a fresh version of the launcher (available to download here: http://robocraftgame.com/download.php) into a new folder, you will be able to play Robocraft as normal. Please note that this does not affect those who are launching Robocraft through the Steam Client. If you don’t want to re-install the launcher for whatever reason, please be patient and we’ll deploy a fix later today.
- The tooltip (rollover) for Normal Mode incorrectly states it is a 5v5 game mode; this is incorrect and will be corrected with a hotfix.