27 replies to this topic

[[HWK]HUGHES]

Hello Everyone!

We thank you for joining us for another Development Update and we appreciate the interest in our progress!

SUMMARY

Last week we focused attention on the release of the Tuesday hotfix and bug fixing for our next major release coming this month. We are currently targeting a release date of Tuesday 4/29 for the major update but are putting forth extra effort in an attempt to have it ready for you on Thursday 04/24 instead. No promises at this point of course, but in the meantime check out the patch notes that have been posted here.

SPAM

If you haven't already seen, we announced that we have enlisted the help of select community members globally, across multiple time zones to assist with the spam issue until a more permanent solution is deployed. Community assistance on our Steam forums was met with success so we extended permissions to some users on our official forums as well. They have limited power and are only being granted permission to assist with the spam issue. We're grateful for their help and hopefully you'll find the forums a little cleaner as a result.

SERVER STATUS

Since we know it's of great interest to the community, here's how things are progressing with servers. There isn't a change in the status on Private Server features, all we can say it that it's a feature still being worked on. Alternate hosting solutions are also still being worked on and there's nothing new to report on that front yet either.

Our team has made great strides in our migration away from AWS dependencies and we now have a separate build of the game running in a completely isolated environment with a new database and that was no small task to accomplish. It's still a significant amount of work to migrate the live version of HAWKEN to a new database, but we plan on making that a smooth transition that won't negatively effect players. Hopefully in an upcoming Development Update we'll be able to announce the completion of this work and you will have never even known it took place.

CURRENT PRIORITIES

In our last development update we listed our main focuses for the future. They included:

• Performance Improvements to Server Hosting
  
• Private Server Options
  
• Steam Account Linking (allows for use use of other Steamworks development features for us)
  
• Improved Party/Squad Match Options and Functionality
  
• Ladder System
  

One of our biggest challenges right now is keeping players in matches. For a number of reasons, many players are leaving in the middle and at the end of games. When this occurs, it makes it more difficult for our matchmaker to perform its job efficiently and creates a negative player experience, which leads to more players leaving, forming a type of vicious circle.

 

This is why many of our future plans involve giving more options to the player to dictate their experience. Private servers, increased party and squad match functionality and ranked play (ladder system) all have that goal in mind. We feel that when a player has more choices available to them, they are more likely to have an enjoyable experience and remain in the matches they join, thereby creating an enjoyable experience for others as well.

 

Many of these changes are still in the early stages of development, but we hope this helps you understand where we feel HAWKEN is weakest at the moment and where we want to make the biggest improvements. 

CONCLUSION

If you aren't aware of our weekly developer stream on Twitch TV every Friday at 6pm PDT. I highly encourage you to check it out as it's a great time for everyone. We have giveaways, answer questions and just have fun playing the game and interacting with the community.

Thank you again for joining us and thanks for your interest in HAWKEN. I hope everyone has a great week and we'll talk again soon!

 

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[ArnieF4440]

yay

[FuryMonster]

Private servers > ladder / clan sup. Looking forward to spectator mode / demo support when private servers go live also.

Edited by FuryMonster, April 22 2014 - 06:19 PM.

[ThirdEyE]

[HWK]HUGHES, on April 22 2014 - 06:11 PM, said:

viscous circle.

I do love me some geometric shapes with high viscosity.

[Xacius]

Very cool.

[Mykinius]

[HWK]HUGHES, on April 22 2014 - 06:11 PM, said:

When this occurs, it makes it more difficult for our matchmaker to perform its job efficiently and creates a negative player experience, which leads to more players leaving, forming a type of viscous circle.

Well, if there's one thing I learned from Van Helsing, it's that viscous things are bad.

Glad to hear about the new focus on making people stick around between fights. Here's a shameless plug of my thread of ideas analyzing the problem, which might (hopefully) be helpful.

[Nosxctrl]

Great work guys.

[OmegaNull]

Omega Rage has approved this message!

[Bazookagofer]

I am Bazookagofer...

And I approve this message.

Edited by Bazookagofer, April 22 2014 - 08:11 PM.

[newkah]

[HWK]HUGHES, on April 22 2014 - 06:11 PM, said:

We feel that when a player has more choices available to them, they are more likely to have an enjoyable experience and remain in the matches they join, thereby creating an enjoyable experience for others as well.

Can you please extend the squad match option to other regions, i.e. Asia South/North/Oceania_ We want to have scrims locally too.

[Interrobang87]

Keeping people from leaving matches/ lobbies is def the biggest deal and we're very happy you're  working on it!

Every time a vicious circles God nukes a grey baby whale

[Estif]

I told you guys, asking, via chat, to the other team if they are going to ragequit when they are losing, really reduces the rage quitting rate. appeal to pilot´s pride works all the time for me

[_Xen_]

wanna keep players to stay in a match_ How about some extra hc if you stay until the end_

[James232385]

Almost every update, often discussed balance match.
In fact, do not think too much, every game squad is random, there is no common training, strangers to each other, unlike the organized the army, more like a mercenary, freedom fight, choose a suitable environment.
Do not be too particular about balance match, do not set prize or punishment, to remain free style. HAWKEN progress, there are many important development projects, do not waste time on trifles.

[Zaxik]

[HWK]HUGHES, on April 22 2014 - 06:11 PM, said:

One of our biggest challenges right now is keeping players in matches. For a number of reasons, many players are leaving in the middle and at the end of games. When this occurs, it makes it more difficult for our matchmaker to perform its job efficiently and creates a negative player experience, which leads to more players leaving, forming a type of vicious circle.

This is why many of our future plans involve giving more options to the player to dictate their experience. Private servers, increased party and squad match functionality and ranked play (ladder system) all have that goal in mind. We feel that when a player has more choices available to them, they are more likely to have an enjoyable experience and remain in the matches they join, thereby creating an enjoyable experience for others as well.

Private servers, increased party functionality, ladder system... I'm just wondering, how is that going to help in improving pub experience_

How about this:
- Don't start a match when the teams are numerically unbalanced
- Don't allow player(s) to join if it results in numerically unbalanced teams
- Reduce the post-match time
- Introduce some kind of bonus for people who stay on one server for 2+ matches

Is it really so hard_

EDIT: oh I forgot this one little thing: Don't allow players to join a game that's about to end, because it's nothing but a free loss and then everyone leaves anyway, so it does contribute to the overall terrible atmosphere.

Edited by Zaxik, April 24 2014 - 08:10 AM.

[phoenix07]

Since Balance match is not perfect, do not punish the players.
Before the players participating in the game, the game's information should be released, allows players to decide whether to participate. Casually follow the recommendations of arbitrarily punishment other players, is not fair.

[Liederkranz]

Zaxik, on April 24 2014 - 08:08 AM, said:

[HWK]HUGHES, on , said:
How about this:
- Don't start a match when the teams are numerically unbalanced
- Don't allow player(s) to join if it results in numerically unbalanced teams
- Reduce the post-match time
- Introduce some kind of bonus for people who stay on one server for 2+ matches

I agree with the numerical balance thing and reducing the post-match time. About the latter, That time is the only moment you can upgrade items or internals, or buy an alternate or prestige. Reducing the time would force the player to go back to main menu to access garage options. I think a solution to that could be permitting the user to access the garage at any time.

[Saltydawg]

Here is my two cents about people leaving mid game:

If a person leaves then give the out numbered team a buff as follows:

# of people short-----------> % buff/mech remaining

  1                                            20
  2                                            50
  3                                            100
  4                                            200
  5                                            500

Maybe my line of thinking is off but the math says this will balance the teams. If you think about it as HP or Damage possible then this is fair. Look at it this way....hypothetically speaking....if all 6 mechs on both teams have 100 HP and 100 Damage then the total health pool for each team is 600 HP and same for damage. Now take a way a player from a team and it has 500 while the other team still has 600. In order to make it even the team that is down a player should have a 20% boost in their health pool to make it an even 600 same as the other team. If they are down 2 players then the buff should be 50% because 150 x 4 = 600 and if down 3 people then buff should be 100% because 100+ 100 = 200, now each mech is double HP and damage but there are only 3 of them so 200% x 3 = 600. I hope this makes sense to more people then me. Now if someone joins the match then adjust the buff accordingly.

If, in practice, this seems to be too much then you could play with spliting the buff between health and damage. For example: if a team is down 1 player then instead of giving a 20% buff across the board try a 10% buff to health and a 10% buff to damage output or speed or something else. Maybe let the remaining members choose how to split up the buff.

Also the bonus for switching teams needs to be greater than it is.


Saltydawgz was here      ----------------------> X

[DEATHL0K]

I would think adding a little content to the game might bring in more new players, and keep everyone engaged longer.

The game needs more maps. Eight isn't enough. Eight is boring. This should be a priority.

HUD colors and noodle cups aren't content. They're a distraction that doesn't work on everyone.

[Liath_Sakata]

For team balancing one thing would work that had been pounded out way the heck back in the old counterstrike days.  SPECTATOR MODE.  Simple.  Use it.  Love it.  People join (after a match starts) in spectator mode, then if there is an imbalance, they are put on a team.  If the teams are even, they sit it out till there are two spectators, which then are put on teams.  It's easy.