0.13.0 - Sudden Death

January 31, 2025

Hello Everyone!

After an extensive internal playtest, we've gathered valuable data and insightful feedback. And we're excited to bring you a significant update! This patch features a range of balance adjustments and tweaks, along with some exciting new mechanics to elevate your experience.

Here are some of the key issues we identified and how we've addressed them:

  • Issue: Games can go on for too long.
    • Fix: We've introduced a Sudden Death mechanic to keep things fast-paced and thrilling.
  • Issue: New players dying too quickly and spending most of their time spectating other players.
    • Fix: We've adjusted the ball's speed curve — it now accelerates more gradually and becomes more dynamic toward the end of the round. This should make the early game more manageable for newcomers.
    • Looking Ahead:
    • To further address this issue, we're planning to implement a ranking system. This will help match new players with others at a similar skill level, reducing the chances of them being knocked out too quickly and ensuring they get more time to play and improve.
  • Issue: Some abilities, like Hot Potato, felt too powerful and rarely on cooldown.
    • Fix: We've rebalanced all abilities and deflect mechanics to improve overall fairness.

Stay tuned, and we hope you enjoy the improvements!

Change log:

Ball

  • Intercepting the ball will not change the balls target.
    • Intercept = Deflecting the ball when its targeting someone else
  • The ball now accelerates more gradually at the start of a round

Settings

  • Added separate sensitivity options for Controllers
  • Added Deadzone settings for Controllers

Ability Balance

  • Deflect
    • Deflect duration 1.3s -> 1s.
    • Deflect failed CD 3s->2.5s.
    • Perfect deflect impulse increase 20%-60%.
    • Time to get perfect hit changed from 0.2s to 0.05s.
  • Hotpotato
    • Hotpotato CD changed 10s -> 35s.
    • Increased stack size change on Hotpotato from 100cm to 250cm per stack
  • Upwards smash
    • Upwards smash ammo 3 -> 1.
    • Change CD on upward smash 10s -> 8s.
  • Mimic Ball
    • Mimic ball ammo 2 -> 1
  • Power Boost
    • Power boost deflect impulse increase 200% -> 150%
  • Place bomb
    • Changed Cd on place bomb from 10s -> 20s
    • Placed bomb cast time 0.3s -> 0.1s
  • Place jump pad
    • Placed jump pad cast time 0.3s -> 0.1s
  • Yoyo
    • Yoyo cast time 0.5s -> 0.2s
  • Redirect
    • Redirect cast time 0.2s -> 0.1s

Sudden Death

We’ve implemented a Sudden Death mechanic across all arenas. However, we're already prototyping a variety of sudden death mechanics to keep end-game moments exciting and unpredictable. Our goal is to create a diverse set of mechanics, so each round feels fresh and intense.

  • Sudden Death General
    • Dynamic Sudden Death Timer
    • (The sudden death timer becomes adaptive, starting sooner as more players are eliminated.)
      • Default Sudden Death Start: 2 minutes
      • Time Reduction per Player Elimination: 20 seconds
  • Sudden Death Mechanic
    • One Life Sudden Death
      • When sudden death begins, all players are set to just 1 life. Additionally, life and cooldown reduction pickups are removed from the arena, creating a high-stakes showdown.

BUGS

  • Resolved media lag in videos explaining how abilities work.
  • Fixed several navigation bugs in the main menu when using a controller.
  • Spectator camera now behaves consistently with the normal game camera.
  • Properly capped FPS on the splash screen to improve performance.
  • Fixed a bug where bombs placed on Rumble Rafts would land on the ocean floor instead of the water surface.
  • Addressed an Issue allowing players to escape the lobby and jump beneath the level.
  • Resolved multiple issues with matchmaking and the party system.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented players from being teleported back to the lobby after a game.