Looking Back on the Second Closed Beta Test
[h3]Introduction[/h3][hr][/hr][p]Please allow us to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who participated in the second closed beta test (CBT2) of KILLER INN. Thank you for taking part over the course of the 10 days. We learned even more than during the previous test and received a great deal of valuable feedback from all of you.
We made many improvements and adjustments for CBT2 based on your feedback from the previous CBT back in July, such as the Safe Zone invincibility timer and retaliation kills.
In the last CBT, the Wolf team often appeared to be overwhelmingly favored, and match balance was one of the major issues. This time, however, the win rate between the Wolf and Lamb teams was nearly 50-50, showing great improvement in that area. Many matches stayed competitive right up to the end, and we were once again reminded how meaningful your feedback is and how directly it contributes to improving the gameplay experience.
KILLER INN is a game built together with all of you. That’s why we read and take seriously every piece of feedback and suggestion we receive. While we’ll continue sharing our improvement plans mainly through Discord, we’d first like to address the issues we currently recognize as particularly important.
[/p][p][/p][h3]Cheating[/h3][hr][/hr][p]Combating all forms of cheating and unsportsmanlike behavior that brings down the player's experience is an absolute priority for us. We have a team that is carefully reviewing and analyzing all the reports we received during CBT2 regarding suspicious behaviors. We have not found any evidence of widespread cheating, but we take all reports from our community seriously and will continue to investigate. Our goal is to fight for the best and most fair player experience.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Matchmaking[/h3][hr][/hr][p]In this version of KILLER INN, matchmaking based on player skill and experience had not yet been supported. As a result, beginners and advanced players had to be matched together.
It is not our intention for beginners, who are still learning the mechanics, to be taken down by experts before they can even gain their footing. Building an environment where new players can grow step-by-step alongside others of similar experience and gradually advance toward intermediate and expert levels is of vital importance. Skill-based matchmaking will be one of our top priorities moving forward.
We also confirmed that pre-made parties, especially on the Wolf side, often gave a major advantage. From the perspective of solo players, this understandably created unfair situations. In future versions, solo players will ideally queue with solo players. Similarly, parties will ideally queue with other parties. This will create the most balanced experience for all players.
[/p][h3]Leavers (Players Dropping Out of a Match if They’re a Lamb)[/h3][hr][/hr][p]From the middle of the CBT onward, some players began leaving matches before they even started if they weren’t assigned to the Wolf team. This not only reduced the number of Lamb players and disrupted game balance but also introduced a strange meta-logic where people could assume like “this person isn’t leaving this time, and that means he’s a Wolf.”
Intentional match leaving (lobby dodging) cannot be tolerated. We recognize the need to introduce automatic detection and clear penalties for such behavior. We will never allow rule-abiding players to have unpleasant experiences because of unsportsmanlike behavior of others.
[/p][h3]Item Balance[/h3][hr][/hr][p]In particular, many players felt that the Club was “unreasonably powerful,” and the dev team shares that view. Final statistics showed that the Club’s usage rate was quite high—on par with the Revolver—making it clearly one of the game’s top-tier weapons. Especially when upgraded with the Stagger effect, the Club remained dominant until the final day of the beta test.
As mentioned in our mid-test update, melee weapons were originally designed to make KILLER INN accessible even to players without strong shooter skills—we didn’t want it to be a game only sharp shooters could enjoy. However, considering the ease of obtaining and upgrading these weapons, as well as matches where beginners and experienced players fought together, it’s clear there was significant room for balance improvements.
We plan to adjust this “all or nothing” balance—where you can counter something only if you’ve taken the right measures but otherwise will be helplessly defeated—so that combat feels fairer and more strategic.
At the same time, we noticed many players, particularly the experienced ones, began developing counter-strategies against the Club and Revolver. KILLER INN features a wide range of characters, weapons, armor, upgrades, and support items, and watching players bit by bit develop new tactics—and counter-tactics against those—was an invaluable learning experience for us.
We will review not just specific weapons and items but everything from top to bottom. Beyond simple numerical tweaks, we aim to deliver changes that make the game better balanced, deeper, and more engaging in future versions.
[/p][h3]Character Balance[/h3][hr][/hr][p]Watching everyone experiment with different characters and strategies was incredibly inspiring for the dev team. The constantly shifting character usage rankings and how you utilized them led to many unexpected discoveries.
We have an “everyone is the protagonist” philosophy behind KILLER INN—every character has a reason to survive and make it home. Our hope is for players to find their favorite characters and for popularity to spread more across the cast.
You have given us a wealth of feedback and suggestions regarding character abilities. We also have many ideas of our own to make them more intuitive, impactful, and distinctive. We hope you’ll look forward to seeing how some of the lesser-used characters evolve in future updates.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Other Feedback We Received[/h3][hr][/hr][p]KILLER INN still has many areas for improvement beyond those listed above, and there was so much amazing feedback. Some other items we are looking into are: [/p]
Our goal is to maintain tense, thrilling battles while fostering a murder mystery experience built on mutual deception, trust, suspicion, and unmasking the Wolves through deduction.
In CBT2, we tried to make it little more slow-burn by lowering the risk of death in early game, but this unintentionally decreased the chances of collecting clues and narrowing down suspects due to a lower corpse count. We believe the feeling of weeding out the culprits is essential for our game, and we’ll continue step by step refining the game so players can feel and experience the murder mystery elements more in the future versions.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]In Closing[/h3][hr][/hr][p]We still have a lot of exciting work ahead of us, and as with the end of the previous CBT, we will be using this time to refine the game and make sure your next experience at the inn is even better.[/p][p] [/p][p] We have many ideas for improving the game, inspired by the feedback and experiences you all shared during this CBT2 and rest assured we will be back with a better version of the game, so we ask for a little patience. While you wait, we’ll continue sharing updates mainly on the Official Discord. Where we’re also planning more community events, so keep an eye out for them and hope you join in![/p][p] [/p][p] In the meantime, above all, we will continue listening to all your feedback, ideas and suggestions![/p][p] [/p][p]Once again, we are truly grateful for each and every one of you that took part in this very important beta test, and thank you, as always, for your continued support of KILLER INN.[/p][p] [/p][p] [/p][p]—The KILLER INN Team[/p]
We made many improvements and adjustments for CBT2 based on your feedback from the previous CBT back in July, such as the Safe Zone invincibility timer and retaliation kills.
In the last CBT, the Wolf team often appeared to be overwhelmingly favored, and match balance was one of the major issues. This time, however, the win rate between the Wolf and Lamb teams was nearly 50-50, showing great improvement in that area. Many matches stayed competitive right up to the end, and we were once again reminded how meaningful your feedback is and how directly it contributes to improving the gameplay experience.
KILLER INN is a game built together with all of you. That’s why we read and take seriously every piece of feedback and suggestion we receive. While we’ll continue sharing our improvement plans mainly through Discord, we’d first like to address the issues we currently recognize as particularly important.
[/p][p][/p][h3]Cheating[/h3][hr][/hr][p]Combating all forms of cheating and unsportsmanlike behavior that brings down the player's experience is an absolute priority for us. We have a team that is carefully reviewing and analyzing all the reports we received during CBT2 regarding suspicious behaviors. We have not found any evidence of widespread cheating, but we take all reports from our community seriously and will continue to investigate. Our goal is to fight for the best and most fair player experience.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Matchmaking[/h3][hr][/hr][p]In this version of KILLER INN, matchmaking based on player skill and experience had not yet been supported. As a result, beginners and advanced players had to be matched together.
It is not our intention for beginners, who are still learning the mechanics, to be taken down by experts before they can even gain their footing. Building an environment where new players can grow step-by-step alongside others of similar experience and gradually advance toward intermediate and expert levels is of vital importance. Skill-based matchmaking will be one of our top priorities moving forward.
We also confirmed that pre-made parties, especially on the Wolf side, often gave a major advantage. From the perspective of solo players, this understandably created unfair situations. In future versions, solo players will ideally queue with solo players. Similarly, parties will ideally queue with other parties. This will create the most balanced experience for all players.
[/p][h3]Leavers (Players Dropping Out of a Match if They’re a Lamb)[/h3][hr][/hr][p]From the middle of the CBT onward, some players began leaving matches before they even started if they weren’t assigned to the Wolf team. This not only reduced the number of Lamb players and disrupted game balance but also introduced a strange meta-logic where people could assume like “this person isn’t leaving this time, and that means he’s a Wolf.”
Intentional match leaving (lobby dodging) cannot be tolerated. We recognize the need to introduce automatic detection and clear penalties for such behavior. We will never allow rule-abiding players to have unpleasant experiences because of unsportsmanlike behavior of others.
[/p][h3]Item Balance[/h3][hr][/hr][p]In particular, many players felt that the Club was “unreasonably powerful,” and the dev team shares that view. Final statistics showed that the Club’s usage rate was quite high—on par with the Revolver—making it clearly one of the game’s top-tier weapons. Especially when upgraded with the Stagger effect, the Club remained dominant until the final day of the beta test.
As mentioned in our mid-test update, melee weapons were originally designed to make KILLER INN accessible even to players without strong shooter skills—we didn’t want it to be a game only sharp shooters could enjoy. However, considering the ease of obtaining and upgrading these weapons, as well as matches where beginners and experienced players fought together, it’s clear there was significant room for balance improvements.
We plan to adjust this “all or nothing” balance—where you can counter something only if you’ve taken the right measures but otherwise will be helplessly defeated—so that combat feels fairer and more strategic.
At the same time, we noticed many players, particularly the experienced ones, began developing counter-strategies against the Club and Revolver. KILLER INN features a wide range of characters, weapons, armor, upgrades, and support items, and watching players bit by bit develop new tactics—and counter-tactics against those—was an invaluable learning experience for us.
We will review not just specific weapons and items but everything from top to bottom. Beyond simple numerical tweaks, we aim to deliver changes that make the game better balanced, deeper, and more engaging in future versions.
[/p][h3]Character Balance[/h3][hr][/hr][p]Watching everyone experiment with different characters and strategies was incredibly inspiring for the dev team. The constantly shifting character usage rankings and how you utilized them led to many unexpected discoveries.
We have an “everyone is the protagonist” philosophy behind KILLER INN—every character has a reason to survive and make it home. Our hope is for players to find their favorite characters and for popularity to spread more across the cast.
You have given us a wealth of feedback and suggestions regarding character abilities. We also have many ideas of our own to make them more intuitive, impactful, and distinctive. We hope you’ll look forward to seeing how some of the lesser-used characters evolve in future updates.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Other Feedback We Received[/h3][hr][/hr][p]KILLER INN still has many areas for improvement beyond those listed above, and there was so much amazing feedback. Some other items we are looking into are: [/p]
- [p]“Block(avoid) list” feature desired to avoid griefers[/p]
- [p]Not enough clues appearing in early game (more chances for clue gathering desired)[/p]
- [p]Too risky to inspect corpses due to the chance of being killed[/p]
- [p]Still hard to tell who killed you and how[/p]
- [p]Want easier non-vocal communication (preset messages)[/p]
- [p]Player names in foreign languages are hard to recognize[/p]
- [p]Want better Key Remapping (EX.: supporting side-buttons of mice)[/p]
Our goal is to maintain tense, thrilling battles while fostering a murder mystery experience built on mutual deception, trust, suspicion, and unmasking the Wolves through deduction.
In CBT2, we tried to make it little more slow-burn by lowering the risk of death in early game, but this unintentionally decreased the chances of collecting clues and narrowing down suspects due to a lower corpse count. We believe the feeling of weeding out the culprits is essential for our game, and we’ll continue step by step refining the game so players can feel and experience the murder mystery elements more in the future versions.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]In Closing[/h3][hr][/hr][p]We still have a lot of exciting work ahead of us, and as with the end of the previous CBT, we will be using this time to refine the game and make sure your next experience at the inn is even better.[/p][p] [/p][p] We have many ideas for improving the game, inspired by the feedback and experiences you all shared during this CBT2 and rest assured we will be back with a better version of the game, so we ask for a little patience. While you wait, we’ll continue sharing updates mainly on the Official Discord. Where we’re also planning more community events, so keep an eye out for them and hope you join in![/p][p] [/p][p] In the meantime, above all, we will continue listening to all your feedback, ideas and suggestions![/p][p] [/p][p]Once again, we are truly grateful for each and every one of you that took part in this very important beta test, and thank you, as always, for your continued support of KILLER INN.[/p][p] [/p][p] [/p][p]—The KILLER INN Team[/p]