[MAR 5] Dev Letter & Updates
Hello, Gamers!
I’m pleased to share that Steam Next Fest has successfully concluded with tremendous support from all of you. It was a pivotal time for our game, allowing us to introduce our gameplay to many new players—and we even ranked among the most-played games during the event. More importantly, it provided us a valuable opportunity to gather feedback from our dedicated core fans.
Since we first introduced the project under the name “Project ARC” at G-Star 2024, about three months have passed as we prepared for Steam Next Fest. Despite our hard work, we recognize that the service wasn’t fully polished for everyone. Newcomers faced a steep learning curve due to the lack of a comprehensive tutorial, and character balance wasn’t perfect. While many of you enjoyed the game, the event also highlighted several areas that need improvement.
During SNF, we intentionally refrained from making significant balance adjustments to avoid confusing new players and to ensure that competitors in tournaments had a consistent experience. Now that the official SNF period has ended, we’re taking this opportunity to make some tweaks to weapon balance. Since many of you continue to play, we greatly appreciate your feedback on these changes.
Buddy’s AWM
Zen
Sticky Grenade
Mk14
Kayak
Melee Attacks
Server Consolidation
Thank you for your unwavering support, especially given the numerous requests for an indefinite test period. While we would love to keep the servers running indefinitely, maintaining them continuously is a substantial burden for our small team, especially when many aspects of the game are still in development. We also believe it wouldn’t be fair to keep the service live without updates for an extended period.
Even if the service ends, we plan to continue the conversation on Discord, so please stay tuned and engaged. We are committed to returning with a test build as soon as possible.
In the meantime, please continue enjoying PUBG: BLINDSPOT. Thank you!
I’m pleased to share that Steam Next Fest has successfully concluded with tremendous support from all of you. It was a pivotal time for our game, allowing us to introduce our gameplay to many new players—and we even ranked among the most-played games during the event. More importantly, it provided us a valuable opportunity to gather feedback from our dedicated core fans.
Since we first introduced the project under the name “Project ARC” at G-Star 2024, about three months have passed as we prepared for Steam Next Fest. Despite our hard work, we recognize that the service wasn’t fully polished for everyone. Newcomers faced a steep learning curve due to the lack of a comprehensive tutorial, and character balance wasn’t perfect. While many of you enjoyed the game, the event also highlighted several areas that need improvement.
During SNF, we intentionally refrained from making significant balance adjustments to avoid confusing new players and to ensure that competitors in tournaments had a consistent experience. Now that the official SNF period has ended, we’re taking this opportunity to make some tweaks to weapon balance. Since many of you continue to play, we greatly appreciate your feedback on these changes.
Buddy’s AWM
- One of the most disappointing aspects during SNF was the performance of Buddy’s AWM. In the G-Star version, the AWM was overly powerful and created imbalances by producing kills too easily. We reduced its power before SNF, which, in turn, dropped Buddy’s popularity and win rate drastically. Recognizing the loss of enjoyment for those who appreciated the AWM’s feel, we have decided to boost its power slightly. Although it won’t be a one-shot kill anymore, we adjusted it so that getting hit feels significantly impactful—akin to the effect of a pistol shot. Our internal tests showed a considerable improvement, though we understand some may miss the one-shot potential. Please try it out and let us know your thoughts.
Zen
- Zen emerged as one of the strongest characters during SNF. Notably, the Mk14, though a designated marksman rifle (DMR), proved exceptionally powerful even at close range, and its sticky grenade demonstrated formidable destructive capabilities against opponents. Consequently, Zen’s pick rate increased with higher MMR tiers, reflecting his overall effectiveness in varied situations.
Sticky Grenade
- Originally designed as a gadget to break through walls, the sticky grenade was meant to attach to surfaces rather than players—a concept that was retained for its entertainment value. In the past, grenades followed a parabolic arc due to gravity, making them less reliable when targeting players. After reducing the effect of gravity to improve usability, skilled players found it exceedingly easy to attach grenades to opponents, even from long distances. This sometimes led to frustrating scenarios where a single hit left no recourse. Although we received suggestions to have the grenade either not stick or pass through players, we believe the current playful dynamic has its merits. That said, we have reduced the damage from sticky grenades on players to one-quarter of the original, making them less tactically viable for intentional use.
Mk14
- The Mk14 is a DMR without an automatic fire mode, yet each shot is incredibly powerful. Its lack of full-auto fire requires players to click repeatedly, and despite significant recoil, it still boasts high hit probabilities at close range, often outperforming SMGs or ARs. Originally designed to feel satisfying with “rapid single shots,” the Mk14 ended up being too strong across all ranges. Therefore, while maintaining the impact of each individual shot, we’ve reduced its firing rate to two-thirds of the previous rate. This change means that firing too quickly will result in missed shots, encouraging a more deliberate rhythm during continuous fire. With these adjustments, the theoretical time-to-kill at close range is now lower than that of SMG-type weapons, and we hope this will lead to more cautious engagements for Zen in close combat.
Kayak
- Kayak’s O12 is a shotgun that fires powerful slug rounds at a rapid pace. It is designed to be extremely effective at close range, with power that drops sharply at longer distances. However, many players experienced difficulties, as engagements often occurred at medium to long distances rather than the intimate close-quarters combat where the O12 excels. To address this, we have increased the optimal engagement range of the O12 by 1.5 times, which should allow it to perform more effectively in mid-range scenarios.
Melee Attacks
- It was not our intention for melee attacks to break armor so easily. Now, even when armor remains, melee attacks will still deal damage to health, and the damage dealt to armor has been reduced to one-quarter of its previous value.
Server Consolidation
- During off-peak hours, many players have been choosing servers in other regions—sacrificing low ping—to avoid long matchmaking times. As a result, a vicious cycle has emerged, where matchmaking times on the original regional servers continue to lengthen.
- Although we extended the service period, we expect a significant drop in new player influx via Steam as SNF concludes. Longer matchmaking times could lead to more significant inconvenience for our players. To alleviate this, we have decided to consolidate our current five regional servers into three. We understand this may increase network latency for some players, particularly those in South America, but we believe that reducing matchmaking times is a higher priority. We ask for your understanding as we make this change.
Thank you for your unwavering support, especially given the numerous requests for an indefinite test period. While we would love to keep the servers running indefinitely, maintaining them continuously is a substantial burden for our small team, especially when many aspects of the game are still in development. We also believe it wouldn’t be fair to keep the service live without updates for an extended period.
Even if the service ends, we plan to continue the conversation on Discord, so please stay tuned and engaged. We are committed to returning with a test build as soon as possible.
In the meantime, please continue enjoying PUBG: BLINDSPOT. Thank you!