[p]Before our first Alpha Playtest Weekend starts tomorrow, we want to share some extra info on some things we’re working on in the Arkheron Alpha. Specifically- performance, matchmaking, servers and bots! [/p][p][/p][p]
PERFORMANCE[/p][p]Arkheron plays best when it's running at 60fps or higher, and optimizing the game to run smoothly on more machines is a top priority for us. However, the build is in its alpha state and we still have a ways to go to land some big changes that will help a lot. You may experience some crashes or even hangs as we work through stabilizing it on more machines.[/p][p][/p][p]As a temporary measure, we have raised the minimum specs to play Arkheron, but we do plan on lowering them after we land some of the larger optimizations in future builds.[/p][p][/p][p]
Recommended[/p][p]Windows 10 or later[/p][p]Intel i5-9600K[/p][p]Nvidia RTX 2070 8GB VRAM[/p][p]16GB RAM[/p][p]SSD 25Gb[/p][p][/p][p]
Minimum[/p][p]Windows 10 or later[/p][p]Intel i5-7600K[/p][p]Nvidia GTX 1060 6Gb VRAM[/p][p]16GB RAM[/p][p]SSD 25Gb[/p][p][/p][p]We invite you to share your experiences with us on Discord or Steam where our team will gather and review them. In the meantime our team will keep working hard to make improvements in this area.
BOTS
Earlier this year, we were looking for more ways to help players learn Arkheron. One way to do this was by introducing player-bots! These came together quickly and we’ve been experimenting with them in our pre-alpha playtests. Currently - they aren’t very polished and they are prone to acting up. [/p][p]
When our playtest weekend starts, in addition to playing the core Ascension Mode with human teams, you can also opt to join ‘Bot Ascension’ in our practice mode. This option lets you play Arkheron’s full game without any of the pressure of live matches. [/p][p][/p][p]It’s a good tool for getting used to the controls, experimenting with items and understanding the Tower and how to ascend it. However, the bots are still a work in progress and these matches are not the ideal way to experience Arkheron. It’s much more fun with other players, when you’re ready!
[/p][p]Since we introduced bots for training purposes - it also presented an opportunity for us to use bots to help fill queues when we’re playtesting with smaller groups. You may occasionally see bots in Ascension games with other players - but you’ll be able to tell them apart by their nameplate.
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MATCHMAKING[/p][p]As we mentioned earlier, we’ve been hosting pre-alpha playtests for some time. As such, there’s a small number of players which means we haven’t been able to utilize matchmaking so far and that these players have quite a bit more experience with Arkheron than new players. [/p][p][/p][p]This is our first playtest with this version of our matchmaking system which means it won’t have much match data and will have some imperfections. It also has a lot of moving parts behind the scenes but what it essentially does is put new players up against other new players and keep the more experienced players away from them. When you first jump in, your matches may feel a bit uneven as the system works to figure out your skill level. The more you play, the more likely you are to have competitive matches. [/p][p][/p][p]New players will only match with other new players (of varying skill levels) until the system determines that they’re ready to advance. As new players get more experience throughout the playtest weekend, they’ll start being matched up with more experienced or competitive players. [/p][p][/p][p]Because the primary purpose of bots is for helping players learn Arkheron, you are more likely to see bots in a new player match if the queues are slow than you are if you’re playing in the upper skill groups. [/p][p][/p][p]
REGION AND SERVER SUPPORT[/p][p]As you may have seen in our
Welcome to the Arkheron Alpha post yesterday, we have split this playtest weekend into three regions across the globe. In the longer term, we plan to have much more precise regional selections. While we work on getting there, we are using this region lock as a stopgap to help put some parameters on what sort of ping levels players may experience. [/p][p][/p][p]Based on your IP, we’ve chosen which region you fall into and you’ll only be able to play during that region’s playtest times and your ping may vary based on your location’s distance to one of the data centers. It is technically possible to play in another region’s playtest block if you are invited to join by a party leader from that region.
[/p][p]Over time, we will be able to get more specific with regional support as more players join from that region. For example, South America is currently in the same region as North America - if we get a lot of players logging in from South America we would likely separate it out as a distinct region with servers that are closer. [/p][p][/p][p]
CONCLUSION[/p][p]It’s an Alpha! Arkheron’s core game loop is fun but there are definitely a few moving pieces that are still being fleshed out. We want you to know that these issues matter to us and we are actively working on their continued development. Some of these improvements can only come after testing with a wider audience and we greatly appreciate you coming along to help us![/p][p]
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