Dev Diary Update
Hello guys! What a recent two weeks we have had! Reviews are rising, sales are rising, we couldn’t be happier. So, first of all, THANK YOU guys for appreciating the effort we put in CORE. But we’re not here to talk about us: ego is the path to the dark side as the Master would say. Let’s talk about what comes next in Killsquad. Being an Early Access means you guys get an open window into our development process, so expect a design-heavy Dev Diary today. So, come on, grab your thinking hats! Here we go!
[h3]Public vs Private[/h3]
We have realized we have two communities in the game. Some of you want to meet new people to play with. Others prefer Solo/Private play. So, sometimes the game is actually very active, but there seems to be no-one to play with, as everyone is doing Private contracts. Both sides are right, and we’re trying to please both with a game that caters to both audiences. To better understand the issue, we put all contracts Public for a few days to understand what is going on under the hood.
As a result of our analysis, we are beginning to take action. First, we are working on a fix that will lower the overall lag in the game. It will also tell you from the contract map what the ping time will be on each contract, to ensure the best online experience. Giving you guys a good online experience is key to us, so we expect us to roll this out soon. But rest assured: private contracts will return. We appreciate your patience while we fix this.
[h3]Talismans[/h3]
One question we are asked a lot is: how will the new Talisman system work? What are passives gonna be like? Ok, here’s a deep-dive, thanks to Miki, the game’s Lead Designer:
As you can see, Talismans are a veteran / end game feature. They will begin appearing in late recruit, but we feel these are for pro players who really want to max out their heroes. Here's a first look at the Talisman UI:
Talismans will be deployed this Christmas, but will play a bigger role in our future updates, where we will unlock our endgame section (Inferno and Spec Ops where they will be much needed).
[h3]Cosmetics! Animations!
[/h3]
As you saw with Core, we are making sure we give you as many opportunities to customize your hero as we possibly can, within our design of “customize by equipment”: it’s the equipment what makes your hero different, not stats.
Part of that is cosmetics, which we had way too little of: we had some skins, and that was about it. On the next update, this is going to change. You are going to get funky hats. Boots. Cool animations to celebrate victory (or defeat!). Today, we bring you a quick sampler of these. First, some cosmetic pieces of equipment:
And here is a cool Cass animation for you to trigger in game:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]Bienvenue a Killsquad! 我们很高兴您喜欢 Killsquad![/h3]
Yes, translations are here. If you download today’s build, there is support for:
These are all human-made translations. But we know how this is a very sensible matter. So, as we did last time, we are publishing our localization file.
If you find a mistake in your language and you want to reach out us, please join our Discord server and go to the #bug-localization channel. We are aware of some issues, which we will fix next week with a Hotfix.
So that's it for today! What are you doing here still? Come on, go play!!!
[h3]Public vs Private[/h3]
We have realized we have two communities in the game. Some of you want to meet new people to play with. Others prefer Solo/Private play. So, sometimes the game is actually very active, but there seems to be no-one to play with, as everyone is doing Private contracts. Both sides are right, and we’re trying to please both with a game that caters to both audiences. To better understand the issue, we put all contracts Public for a few days to understand what is going on under the hood.
As a result of our analysis, we are beginning to take action. First, we are working on a fix that will lower the overall lag in the game. It will also tell you from the contract map what the ping time will be on each contract, to ensure the best online experience. Giving you guys a good online experience is key to us, so we expect us to roll this out soon. But rest assured: private contracts will return. We appreciate your patience while we fix this.
[h3]Talismans[/h3]
One question we are asked a lot is: how will the new Talisman system work? What are passives gonna be like? Ok, here’s a deep-dive, thanks to Miki, the game’s Lead Designer:
- We want to give you better control on your hero’s build
- So, we want to give you items you can equip, that create passive mods that boost your hero in some way. Some may be stat boosts, some may be more creative stuff you will need to discover.
- These are the Talismans
- Talismans are ancient artifacts of power, owned by The Unseen.
- These Talismans have been shattered, and are now broken in pieces
- Talisman pieces can be found in some contracts, and also as a reward for beating the Colosseum: some Talismans on the recruit Colosseum, some on the Veteran
- So, to activate a Talisman, first you need to assemble it from its pieces
- Once the Talisman is assembled, you unlock its passive ability. This is vector-less, so Talismans don’t become old as you Vector up. So for example a Talisman can give you increased Dodge regen time regardless of what your Vector is
- On top of that, Talismans become better with use: the more you use them, the stronger they become, up to a cap in their power
- And you can equip two of them any given time, so better choose well which are your weaknesses to assess what do you need to boost.
As you can see, Talismans are a veteran / end game feature. They will begin appearing in late recruit, but we feel these are for pro players who really want to max out their heroes. Here's a first look at the Talisman UI:
Talismans will be deployed this Christmas, but will play a bigger role in our future updates, where we will unlock our endgame section (Inferno and Spec Ops where they will be much needed).
[h3]Cosmetics! Animations!
[/h3]
As you saw with Core, we are making sure we give you as many opportunities to customize your hero as we possibly can, within our design of “customize by equipment”: it’s the equipment what makes your hero different, not stats.
Part of that is cosmetics, which we had way too little of: we had some skins, and that was about it. On the next update, this is going to change. You are going to get funky hats. Boots. Cool animations to celebrate victory (or defeat!). Today, we bring you a quick sampler of these. First, some cosmetic pieces of equipment:
And here is a cool Cass animation for you to trigger in game:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]Bienvenue a Killsquad! 我们很高兴您喜欢 Killsquad![/h3]
Yes, translations are here. If you download today’s build, there is support for:
- Simplified Chinese
- Korean
- French
- German
- Portuguese
- Russian
- Italian
- Spanish
- Japanese
- English
These are all human-made translations. But we know how this is a very sensible matter. So, as we did last time, we are publishing our localization file.
If you find a mistake in your language and you want to reach out us, please join our Discord server and go to the #bug-localization channel. We are aware of some issues, which we will fix next week with a Hotfix.
So that's it for today! What are you doing here still? Come on, go play!!!