Superball News

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the questions and comments to the guys who were there at last week's AMA.
I have tried to organize and answer them below, if you wanna ask questions and get answers from us
as well, join our Discord and join the conversation every Wednesday at 11AM CET for EU and 6PM PST for NA!

In the last AMA in 2020, we discussed ideas for new characters (preferably goalkeeper), players have suggested 2 concepts for new characters in the future:

Pandaman

- A lazy panda with the ability to use bamboo as a shield

A dwarf character

- Tiny compared to other characters but will get very big when using his ultimate

Which idea do you like the most? Also, feel free to send us your concept for our future character!

Name for the 3rd stadium

In the posts last week we asked players for the name of our 3rd stadium, here's a list we gathered from the comment section on our social media, thanks everyone for the suggestions!

- Elyse Terminal
- The station
- Neon plaza
- Iron city
- Metropolis
- Neo-Metropolis
- Orbit

General Sugestions

Special tags next to character names

- Special tags can be seen more often in MMORPG games but not really in MOBA games since it can cause distractions on the field. Maybe having the tags in the lobby would be more realistic?

Show characters ranking in the game so you can see when you play with stronger or weaker players

- Similar to the question above, plus character ranking indicator might only be useful in quickplay since players in competitive games should have similar ranking. Anyway it's a good suggestion but it'll not be in high priority.

Non-randomized items for competitive play

- We’ve received player feedback suggesting that items should either be eliminated or non-randomized in competitive play. Right now we still haven’t made up our mind yet. We’ll consider more of it when we got more time, thanks for the suggestions.

Adding Character lore/background stories

- Feel free to suggest character background stories to us at anytime! Currently we’re still working hard on new mechanics & contents related to the gameplay, therefore adding character lore is not really in a high priority. We’ll consider putting it in once we got more time polishing the game, possibly when we launch into Early Access.

Nerf R47

- We already nerfed him after the Preseason internally! We added a charging mechanism to his ground slam in which now he can only use two times at once.

Make a goalie character who is more resistant to be knocked over (for example a mirror shield ability)

- That’s a great idea! We’re currently thinking about designing a goalkeeper so feel free to bring up more ideas to us!

Item idea: Timing Bomb

- Thanks for the new item ideas! We’ll consider it when we design new items

TAB button for controller (optimize controller expeirences overall)

- We’re definitely aware of it and will optimize the controller experience in the later updates, we hope to bring the controller optimization into the February version but it still depends on our workload.

R47 runs into Pai and R47 gains some stamina

- It's actually not a bug. R47 has a mechanic where he'll receive a bit of stamina if he runs into any characters that are less heavy than him.

Tab to show items

- Yes right now you can click Tab button to see what item each player has.

Bomb cannot throw over shields

- We'll think about it.

Decrease current bomb size

- It'll be considered.

Animated skin parts

- We're currently working on it, previously there have been some technical difficulties but now we'll gradually add animated effects to all characters.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the questions and comments to the guys who were there at last week's AMA.
I have tried to organize and answer them below, if you wanna ask questions and get answers from us
as well, join our Discord and join the conversation every Wednesday at 11AM CET for EU and 6PM PST for NA!

In the AMA for last week, we mainly discussed the new 3rd stadium which you can see in our steam article here:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
We are 95% sure to have the 3rd stadium in the beta in February and we are considering one of two ideas for special gameplay for this stadium.
1 is to have this stadium exclusive for 4v4
2 is to have obstacles in the stadium that randomly pops out to affect the game.

We are testing the 4v4 mode this week and so far, it feels a little cramped. But we will try to keep you updated with what is going to happen to the 3rd stadium.

5th Stadium ideas & suggestions

After the 3rd stadium, we discussed ideas for the 5th stadium which is set to be a sort of High-tec training facility where characters can practice their skills. Since this is still in the concept phase, different ideas were given to how we can make this stadium.

1. Have cannons in the wall that shoots out balls. Possibly do curve balls
2. Make it possible to use the training room for the tutorial.
3. Make it possible to practice pass blocking (have very high balls to practice langs pass blocks)
4. Have a cannon shooting at the goal so people can practice goal keeping. (could this have a setting to choose how hard you want the balls to shoot (make it possible to shoot harder than R47s ult
5. Antigravity
6. For 5th stadium, have walls come out of the ground based on a timer. Players should be able to jump over them. Should be able to jump on the walls to get higher. Players should be able to learn the wall pattern so they can use it to their advantage
7. Make more smaller rooms next to the stadium to practice certain skills

Though we have awesome suggestions on how to make this stadium into a place were players can train in free-play and in the tutorial. We are not sure we will be able to make it in time for the launch of the game, but we will keep the suggestions so we can possibly work on in after the launch. That means for now, we will develop the aesthetics first and then add special functions after.


6th stadium ideas

We are also open to ideas for our 6th stadium.
1. A stadium where all matches are in first person
2. Stadium in a rave
3. Airplane stadium/flying stadium
4. Park stadium with flowers and trees and nature
5. In general more nature environment
6. Abandoned ruins of a small city picturing nowadays environment, but abandoned and overgrown
7. Underwater stadium. With sharks
8. Underground stadium (like a subway stadium)

Other stadium ideas

1. Make each stadium in 2 ways. 1 competitive and one for fun with elements that affect gameplay
2. For a future map, add pillars into the map. Even amount of pillars on each side (players can jump on them like jumping on walls)
3. Will all the stadiums have the same size?
- For now, we are sticking to the same size, but if we do 4v4, we are likely to make the stadium bigger.
4. Players don’t like the idea of having a map specific for 4v4. Instead it was suggested to make 4v4 a gamemode which can be played in custom games
- We will try to test it out first and see if it is any fun. If it’s fun, we will consider how to best add it into the game.
5. Will there be stadium specific items?
- This is something we haven’t thought about yet.
- We have a few extra items that we didn’t put on the field yet, so there is the chance that we can make this in the future.

Other suggestions:

1. For R47 put a short delay on breaking out of the bubble. (he can break out too fast)
2. Make sampa able to run on all fours
3. Give samba faster dash charge if he has ball possession
4. When sampa uses the last piece of his stamina, he would run much faster

In the AMA sessions this week we gave players a sneak peek into what the 3rd stadium will look like and now it is here for everyone to see.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
We are 95% sure to bring this stadium to you for the next Beta in early February and we are excited to show off how we made it.

We started out about 4 months ago with a concept which looked something like this



The roof top in the city is the general stadium theme that we were working with.

Simultaneously to designing the cityscape, we were also working on the stadium itself and its immediate surroundings which looked more like this



At this point we were working towards a more commercial feeling on the roof top, but we ended up making it look a bit more industrial in the end.

The basic models for the stadium was created and they looked something like this





Then we started to add special designs to the stadium to make it look more interesting. Below you can see our designs for the goal posts:





While we were working on the immediate surroundings, we also kept on developing the cityscape and added elements such as these







And when putting it all together, it finally looked something like this





We are looking forward to having this baby populated with players, and also if you have any suggestions for a name, we are open to ideas at the moment.

Join our Discord
Follow us on Twitter

Have some great holidays and stay safe!

- The Devs

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone!

Here we celebrate Christmas and New Year with an all new special episode of My Time at Pathea.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
2020 has been a big year for us.

We have announced My Time at Sandrock, we launched the game Ever Forward, we had SBT in open alpha and open Beta.

Next year is expected to be even bigger as we are expecting to Launch both My Time at Sandrock and Super Buckyball Tournament and we have been working hard to get the games ready for you.

At Pathea we thank everyone for all the massive love and support for our games. We’re looking forward to bring you more amazing content in the coming year, can’t wait to see you next time!

Hi Everyone

Thanks for all the questions and comments to the guys who were there at last week's AMA.
I have tried to organize and answer them below, if you wanna ask questions and get answers from us
as well, join our Discord and join the conversation every Wednesday at 11AM CET for EU and 6PM PST for NA!

1. Fighting and tackling

What kind of fighting are we going to implement and how is tackling going to work?

- Though Players have suggested an actual ball steal function for the game, this is something that will take us a lot of time and we would basically have to rework a major part of the game to do so.
- Instead, the idea from our director is to combine tackling with fighting.
- So at the moment we are testing adding extra fighting skills for each character.
- This would work in the way that you can attack a player to knock them back, but it should be affecting the ball. This way you can push people and take the ball from them.
- There will be a limit to how many times you can use it on the same character. (the limit is not decided yet)
- But basically if you attack a character more than the limit, the character would get an immunity buff where if you hit him/her you would be knocked back yourself.
- This is what is shown in the gif below.



2. Items

Will we have an indicator to show what items everyone has.

- Likely no, but we might add an indicator to show whether or not a character has an item.
Will we bring back item spawn indicator?
- This is not decided yet.

3. Spectator mode

Are we going to improve spectator mode and how?

- There might be more angles added to the game
- But we are not sure yet which ones to add

4. 2nd Ultimates:

We are currently also working on designing alternative ultimates which can be obtained through character leveling and will be picked prior to starting a game. We are still working on the idea, but so far we are leaning towards your teammates being able to see which ult you have picked, but your opponents cannot see it. Ideas were discussed last week and you can see them below.

Pink
a) Make the beam be soft and act like a whip which is controlled by the mouse. Would only work on the ball. The whip can be flicked by moving it in opposite directions. (high skill ceiling)
b) 5 very short beams instead of one long beam. 1 beam on each finger. Ball can be passed from one beam to the next.

Pai
a) Run on the wall for a certain period of time (like samba’s ult)
b) pai creates a big blind for everyone who is looking towards him after he homes in on the ball. Or in field of view of the screen. Like a flashbang lightning bolt. Works better if your camera is facing it. Pai drops down and is able to run with the ball afterwards.
c) Activate a buff where he can shoot lightning bolts at other characters giving them a ministun, while having this buff he can not pass or shoot/ or have ball control. He will be able to shoot the bolts out several times.
d) channeled for a sec (hear thunder sound as a warning) then he would send an electric shockwave through out the stadium which stuns everyone who doesn’t jump over. Uses all his stamina as well. Slows the ball down.
e) Pai flys to the ball take it in the air and move forward for a bit (more defense based) don’t waste the ball with taking a shot, because most goal keepers defend against it really well

R47
a) A channeled ground slam that affects a much larger area (like an earthquake)
b) R47 hits the ground and a long narrow line on the ground moves forwards and hits all object in front of him (use the girder as the hammer)

Lang
a) shoot a cone of air in front of him, pushes the ball and gives same status effect as tornado. Could also be channeling for a sec and then knock over moving characters. (if people are standing still, they don’t get knocked over)
b) Use fighting style combos (copy fighting arcade games)
c) Lang spins around and boxes everything around him
d) Channeling, Lang beats many times on the ball before it’s finally shot out with high power. Double curve. First to one side and then to the other

Gridiron
a) Put a black hole which is mirrored on the other side of the field. After he goes through he teleports to the other black whole. Sucks him back in after a few seconds.
b) Shockwave pushing every oponent on the field back and also sort of shooting the ball away but no one gets knocked down

Eriel
a) lets her fish dive down through the ground as if it's water, and pops back up to eat anything in a certain area, causing a short cc. could be a placed trap, or maybe it follows the ball and eats the ball. if it eats the ball it could reset ball possession or maybe spit it up in the air. main difference here should be that it doesn't bring the ball back to her. (people can see a fin in the floor so they can see where its going.
b) Eriel throws her fish at the ball which then eats the ball and spits it out (shoot it out)

Samba
a) Run on walls
b) A larger samba/tiger looking image behind him picks up the ball and shoots it out

5. Suggestions:

2 characters using their ultimates at the same time for a combined super ultimate

Add deployables:
- We are considering deployables such as traps or supporting deployables. But so far we don’t have anything concrete

Suggest shorten the afterstun of pinks ultimate to nerf it a little (her current stun feels a bit too strong).
- This might change after we add more fighting elements

Players want to see more counterpicking and countering other players picks
- This might happen more as characters get more skills and by adding more characters to the game.

Suggest diminishing bully/status/push effects with the goal area. Then nerf the goalies a bit.
- We will have a look at balance issues regarding the goalies after adding the fighting/tackling element. Since a lot of rebalancing is likely to be done around this anyways.