Hello everyone!
We're just rounding out our third week in Early Access, and we wanted to give you an update of our ongoing progress on making Quake Champions an amazing, multiplayer arena shooter experience. Our players have had a lot of feedback and questions that we've been reading, and on today's Developer Livestream, id Software Studio Director Tim Willits and Design Manager Adam Pyle answered many of the important comments and issues you've brought up. If you'd like to watch the Video on Demand of the stream, you can find it here:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/173305221
We've also transcribed the questions and answers for you below. Look forward to more Q&A sessions from the team soon!
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The Road Ahead
Updates since QuakeCon
Our current focus is on getting the backend fixed up, getting more solid and consistent performance going. We should have a patch going out next week (if it passes QA) that contains a number of bug fixes and performance updates.
Development Process
When we architected the network code, we designed it for every system we could, but a game that's as complex as this, with worldwide servers, multiple ISPs, and millions of PC configurations connecting, we do run into issues. Our process is then to identify the problem, think of the solution, test it internally, and release it into the wild, all of which takes time.
Your experience online really is the entire game, so if you feel the game is rubber-banding, or your ping fluctuates, we're actively trying to fix those issues and we'll continue to make improvements over time. A lot of comments about "netcode" are a bucket of events and issues that get lumped together, and there isn't "one big fix," but we're actively breaking down those issues and working to identify their solutions.
When will Early Access end?
When we feel we're ready. We're committed to ensuring the game is the best possible experience we can make. We want to work with the players to make it great.
Netcode and Optimization
Memory leak issue (performance degreding after several matches, stuttering)
We've addressed some issues, the memory leak is being fixed, and we'll continue to work on that. We're optimizing and improving memory management; memory management is anything from loading into the game, characters entering/leaving the game, maps; all that tends to leave memory fragments, and we have to clean them up.
Client and Server Authority
In a multiplayer game where you have ping and latency, we try to put lots of things on the client to make it smooth, and have the server trust the client. If you let the client make too many decisions for the game, it can be hacked, so we put important decisions on the server: who you hit, where you move, etc.
We're actively working to push things from client-side to server-side. We have run across issues like rockets and rubber-banding, but as we make improvements to client/server authority that will hopefully improve, making the experience much better. (And it will be harder for players to cheat!)
Static Meshes for Animation States
Previously, hit detection worked with a model moving around on your screen, and you could hit where the model was. The server had to calculate all those animations, which was too CPU-intensive, less forgiving, and caused desync between where the server thinks things are and where your client says things are.
Static meshes are like a blanket around the character that encompasses the space they occupy, and doesn't leave openings. (Like having a shot pass under a model's arm.) This is also more reliable than a cylindrical hitbox. As time goes on, we'll add static meshes for more animation states.
Rocket and Railgun updates
In the next update, rocket explosions will move from client-side to server authority. Previously, there had been a hitbox just for rockets, and a different hitbox for other weapons, and because we're moving from the animation system to static meshes there would be a discrepancy, causing rockets to collide with the meshes and incorrectly be seen as a hit in the client, but it would actually be a miss on the server.
With the railgun, if you fired and moved your mouse in the same frame, the trail would draw late. This is a different issue than rockets. We've identified the solution, and we need to test it, but we're aiming to fix it in our big October update.
Rubber-banding
Rubber-banding is a symptom of a few different issues. We're pushing packets every client frame, which saturates your bandwidth data (especially if you have high fps), which causes rubber-banding. We're addressing this by limiting the amount of data we're pushing out--not just how often, but also compressing the data to be as little as possible.
Disconnect Issues
These can be a symptom of different problems. Track your ping, upward bandwidth, and ISP to see if it isn't a client problem. Report to us if you're having issues. Data compression fixes next month may help, but it might just be that your connection failed to ping our backend.
Gameplay
Will you make the game more friendly to casuals?
We aren't going to casualize the gameplay, but we want to create fun experiences for players even if you aren't competitive. We want to introduce things like new modes, new things you can be interested in and work towards, so the fun isn't just about winning the match.
Will you charge for future maps or modes?
No. No, no, no. Players having to pay for different maps or modes would split the community, and we want everyone to play together.
Can we get a server in my region?
We have a guy whose sole job is to look at where people are playing and how they're connecting, and spin up servers for you. We're looking at where our players are; we can set up servers globally.
Ranked Play?
Ranked Play will be in Early Access! It's coming soon.
Will there be more tutorials?
We're actively working on advanced movement tutorials for strafe jumping and rocket jumping.
Can we have instagib mode?
Yeah, I think that's fun. 1-hit railguns, frag and move on.
Any seasonal content planned?
Yes. We're looking at seasonal game modes; we have a lot mapped out for years to come. Our focus in Early Access is making the game solid, but seasonal content is enjoyable.
Please tell us about CTF.
CTF is important to us. It's not coming immediately, but it's on the roadmap.
Will you limit Cvar commands, like "gun 0?"
Yes, we will limit cvars to create as level a playing field as possible. Some commandline stuff is good, others are exploitive. We want to find features we like and make them available in the settings menu.
Can you add the option to play Quake 1 during the waiting screens?
That would be cool, but our waiting times aren't long enough. Minigames are always great though! Quake 1 would be high on the list.
Will there be Steam Cards?
Adam had a great time doing Steam Cards for Quake Live, so we'll absolutely do it.
Champion and Weapon Balance
Why is over-health/over-armor decay slower on tanky characters than on light characters?
We're always willing to balance this, but that came from light characters traditionally being more successful because they were fast and difficult to hit, and faster decay keeps them in check.
Will rocket splash damage be tweaked?
There are different opinions, even within the studio, and hearing what our pro players think from the QWC. We need to figure out what we want to pursue.
Are you going to buff Clutch?
We have a lot of ideas for clutch, definitely changes for his passives. We're happy with the dodge. The speed you need to double-tap to dodge will have a slider. His mining drill hasn't been successful, we might make some buffs or improvements to it, or we might reevaluate it.
We have a backlog of features, but right now we're focused on network issues and fixing any problems you may have first. But we're adding to that content backlog.
What about Sorlag's spit?
Sorlag's spit has a 600ms delay before she can fire, but her ability lasts for a second, so we'll tweak it to have some more padding before she can shoot after spitting.
Any changes to the Lightning Gun?
We want to keep the dynamic of rocket launcher/railgun/lightning gun, but we're going to lean towards rockets so that it's not just hitscan weapons that are important. The LG is powerful because it was firing invisible projectiles to smooth out detection; we're going back to a linear trace, like previous Quake games.
What changes are you making to Doom Slayer's berserk ability?
The leap strike is hard to hit enemies, sometimes it'll miss or it won't activate when you want. We're testing improved targeting that we hope to have out by October. Any time we adjust melee distance for one Champion, we need to make sure it doesn't break other Champions.
Are you fixing the DPI bug for Scalebearer's bullrush?
We can recode it so that the DPI doesn't affect the turnrate.
The gauntlet is really strong right now!
It's not the damage, it's the distance. The gauntlet has a long range. We're going to adjust the range to hit each Champion, and then we'll see where we're at.
New Characters
Will you please confirm Orbb?
We can't do his Quake 3 sound effect, people only used it to troll. But we love Orbb, he's one of our fan favorites. He's super unique, and it's important for us to have unique characters.
What about Hunter?
I like the idea of Hunter. She was Sorlag's enemy in Quake 3. But you shouldn't infer too much because of lore, it doesn't mean it's an obvious hint. We'd love to hear players' thoughts on what they think would be a good active ability for Hunter.
Customization
Will color shaders be purchasable with favor?
No, probably not. We talked about possible purchasable premium shaders in a previous AMA, but we feel that standard shaders give players something to earn.
Will we be able to select left/right/centered weapon placement?
Skins will decide gun position, like with the classic skins. We might not have left-positioned weapons, due to screen space and the UI.
How about sliders for weapon bloom effects?
There won't be a slider, but we are adjusting the bloom for the Lightning Gun.
New announcers?
We want to introduce Announcer Packs, but not during Early Access; because if we're adding new modes, it would be too difficult and costly to keep bringing announcers back to record new lines.
Will there be taunts?
Taunts are being tested in the weeks ahead, we have the animations recorded.
UI and Social Features
Will we be able to send direct messages?
Chat improvements are coming. SMS direct messages are on our backlog.
Can we mouseover reward medals in the future to see what they are?
We're going to keep adding mouseover tooltips to medals and UI elements. We want to give more information and educate players on what they need to do, so they can say, "I may not win this match, but I can work on these things."
Graphics, Sound, and Misc.
Can we get more music tracks?
We have some cool music picked out, more ambient tracks are coming. Maybe some music drops...
How is Vulkan support coming?
We're working with AMD on Vulkan, they've been great. We need to make sure it's the best possible version it can be.
Will there be a Linux version?
It's currently not on the roadmap.
When will Adam get a vacation?
Not until the network issues are fixed!
