Good morning, pilots!
We’re getting really close to go-time with both our Package Run mode, and all the major changes we outlined in the last letter. But today, to tide you over, we wanted to dip into just how all of these changes will manifest in the game and what we’re doing to make them as fun as possible.
We’ve been testing internally the new Champion drones and the Package Run, and we have to tell you - it’s just about the most fun Drone Strike Force has ever been. We’ve had friends from around the industry join us, and they all say the same thing. We know it’s been a long wait since we’re a small team, but trust us when we say it’s going to be worth it!
Now - onto the details!
Bots: The Bots in DSF are getting better by the day! Each individual bot is now more aggressive and can select an optimal weapon for engagement. We are now testing getting the bots to work together in Patrols. So while each bot might be more difficult to take down, soon they will be working together creating an interesting challenge for the player!
Once we push this out to Production, we will implement some experience gain for defeating bots to help Players progress no matter what they’re doing. This could be the basis potentially for some more PvE oriented content such as Players vs Swarms, as well as other PvP Game Modes that treat Patrols of bots more like Minions where the bots could potentially assist in Game Mode objectives and even be given commands by Player operated Drones.
Magazine and Reload: In internal testing and QA! This is a big change to our systems, and really adds a new and meaningful layer to the gameplay. Shooting is not constant or spammable anymore, it requires timing and more precision. This will allow us to include variants of weapons and opens a clear pathway for interesting progression based options.
Package Run: This started out as, “wouldn’t it be fun to do Capture The Flag (CTF) with drones?” Now, the mode is best described as (American) Football with one flag CTF and it's not a flag but a delivery package. And it's tons of fun!! We are still refining all the details, and will start involving some of our community to help test it out soon!
We are also in the process of testing Package Run game mode in other maps. One of those maps is still in greybox and unreleased while the others, Players may have seen from the other Game Modes.
Champions: We want to introduce to you our first two descriptions of the new Drone loadouts, 6 more unique Champions on the way!!
Megadon: Sporting a huge Storm 99 gatling gun that is a BOSS! Firing slows the Drone down but it lays down the law. The Megadon has the most HP by far and the Shield Barrier has more HP than the drone itself! Pop some heals and cook up some drones with the super fun Incendiary Grenade. The Megadon might feel a bit slow flying, but it is very responsive and its boost has rockets on it that burn out easily but rockets you forward super fast!
Cyclops: This is a sniper with a twist. Well, it's a flying sniper. The Olympus Rail Gun is a super accurate weapon, you hit what you see. But being a Rail Gun it needs to charge up. You can snapshot but the downside is that it will do less damage. There's no falloff damage however and damage scales up significantly the longer you hold zoom down up until a max damage that delivers the highest alpha with deadly accuracy.
These are just 2 of the brand new Champion Drones that will take over the existing drone class based loadouts when they’re ready to go live. This makes diving into the game and picking a playstyle far more interesting and meaningful than before. It’s like each drone has a real personality and unique playstyle. We cannot wait for you to try them out!
Until then - fly straight, and shoot straighter!