SOS Closed Beta is finally here and we have been hard at work on a number of improvements (big and small) to La Cuna Island for this Beta Season. Upon arrival on the Island, some changes will be immediately apparent, whereas others may call for a little digging to discover. Soon the time for digging will be upon us.
Environmental Activism
Although there are many out there that call La Cuna Island home, our staff has been hard at work on a near complete renovation of the Island. We have already and will continue to add environmental polish to La Cuna Island, making each and every area on the Island into the perfect location to film your best performance. We have scattered more loot temples around the Island and have brought new life to some of the environmental details.
That’s So Random
In our efforts to make the flow of matches of SOS less predictable, we have continued to increase loot randomization. If you thought that you knew exactly where each and every Item spawned on La Cuna Island, guess again.
Most loot containers can now spawn in a variety of locations. You’ll have to search like never before for medical cabinets, ammo boxes, flares, and other weaponry.
Bullet Slowing
While intended to help balance out melee and ranged combat, bullet slowing was in great need of an update. Just in time for the SOS Closed Beta, we have decreased both the duration of the bullet slowing and the amount of slowing that occurs.
Character Updates
Not only have we added a new suite of distinct facial animations to accompany our gestures, our animators have been hard at work creating three all-new gestures for you add to your repertoire.
As always, we are also continuing to add polish to the facial sculpts and hair of all of our characters. We have also added support for Faceware to allow for even more dynamism in our facial expressions.
Time To Say Goodbye
We’ve seen it happen all too often — the lone surviving contestant in a match grabs onto the rope with relic in tow and only seconds to spare and… the time runs out. This had the tendency to diminish some of the feeling of accomplishment for surviving so all the way to the end of a match.
In the SOS Closed Beta, the game timer will now pause if you are on the rope with fewer than 15 seconds left on the clock. This allows Contestants one final shot at survival.
Follow the Leaderboards
Leaderboards have gotten a complete overhaul for the SOS Closed Beta. The most immediately visible of these is that we removed the Survival Leaderboard altogether. Instead of having a survival ranking weighted against other players, you will have a Rating that will go up and down depending on the results of your matches. . You’ll be able to see how your Survival Rating changes at the start and end of each match.
Not only will you have a Survival Rating, but also a Fame Rating. Contestants will have to finish five matches before they receive their Fame Rating. This will allow us to evaluate skill level before throwing new players in with other experienced Contestants.
The Fame Leaderboard still exists. In fact, we’ve added a Trending Leaderboard that is also focused on Fame, but only displays the Top Performers from the last 24 hours. On either of these Leaderboards, you will only ever see the top 100 Contestants, so you won’t know your rank unless you make it into the upper echelon of performers.
There’s also been some other minor improvements accompanying the new systems. Feedback that you or your viewers give to other Contestants will never cause them to surpass you in Fame, so Spectate away without fear!
Live Grenades
Grenades were newly introduced in our previous Alpha, and after reviewing the results of that playtest, a number of changes have been implemented:
- Grenades will now spawn on the Island
- Grenades can now be thrown with left-mouse in addition to middle-mouse depending on your preference.
- New VFX have been added to the Smoke Grenades
- Activation animation has been polished.
- Mosquito Grenade duration increased.
- Poison Grenade radius increased.
- Poison Grenade duration increased.
- Smoke Grenade duration increased.
- Smoke Grenade radius increased.
- Poison Gas damage changed so it is more predictable.
Other Changes
- Load times improved.
- Helicopter supply drops improved so they don’t land on inaccessible areas as often.
- Poison damage will no longer knock players off the helicopter rope or detach relics.
- Footsteps are now louder. Players should be able to hear, track, and follow other players more easily and naturally.
- - New first-person pistol animations for jumping, landing, and sprinting.
- - Removed the delay before sprint would become available after throwing an item.
- Slightly reduced base bullet spread and bullet spread while moving.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug causing look inversion not to work.
- Fixed an issue where using the antidote wouldn’t cure infection.
- Fixed an issue with outro camera when spectating
- Fixed a bug with green reticle for teammates not displaying at long distances.
- Fixed an issue that caused infection sound to continue playing through outro ceremony.
- Fixed issues with metallic footstep sounds in locations where planes can spawn even when planes aren’t present.
Want to see what changes we’ve been working on for Hero? Check out our blog update!