We have seen a lot of questions arise lately and would like to address some of them.
Keep in mind that what you saw in the past few days is an Alpha version of our game, which is very much a work-in-progress. We are holding the Closed Alpha milestone in order to monitor player behaviors, collect feedbacks - both quantitative and qualitative – and learn from it. We will be tracking statistics and metrics from tens of thousands of players regarding pretty much all elements present in the Closed Alpha (Operators, Hostage Rescue Game Mode, House & Plane maps, shooting mechanics, destruction, etc.) and from this knowledge, we`ll take educated decisions to improve the overall experience of our game in the best way possible. We will learn not only from what you tell us, but from how you play.
Developing this game will be an iterative process, and with each step, we intend on improving it - starting with the Closed Alpha. Thank you for your patience and understanding, as well for your constructive criticism.
NB : The above statement is applicable to all the following conversation topics, so keep in mind that our answers are what the current state of the game is and that it is a work-in-progress and subject to change.
Will there be a more hardcore way to play the game? New settings and modes will be elaborated on as we approach the Beta later this year. Simon Larouche, game director, says: ‘We already embraced a more realistic approach in our game mechanics. By default, we don’t have aim assist, nor health regen and friendly fire is ON.’ For those interested in disabling HUD elements, it will eventually be possible to disable them locally for yourself (no matter which mode you are playing) through the options. It is in our current plans to also allow custom session hosts to disable HUD elements for everyone participating in the match. This includes hit markers and teammate highlights. Simon added that depending of the community’s needs, feedback and desires, new playlists could eventually be made available in order to create new experiences.
About hit markers: Considering the above answer about HUD and our plans with custom sessions allowing to remove hit markers, we would also like to expand on the concept of the Hit Marker. Our Game Director Simon Larouche says: ‘You have to consider all sides on this story. There will be multiple FPS communities following us, and we are trying to create a game that also has accessible mechanics in order to have a large and long lasting community.
It's important to us that players of all skill levels feel like their shot matters. The Hit Marker is an obvious feedback to help you understand if you hit your target or not. Yes, our most avid fan probably learned to play back when Hit Markers, Aim Assist (that we won't have in Rainbow Six Siege), etc. didn't exist. But today, its features that we need to think about.’
The notion of having Hit Markers in our game is still being investigated. We see value in having it for newcomers, but understand the risk of having players blindly firing at walls in the hopes of hitting an enemy. We will be looking into this feature based on the feedback and player behavior tracking that we will be collecting during our Closed Alpha. We will also be considering the amount of ammo available in order to balance this notion of blind firing in the hopes of finding enemies by using destruction.
Why is there so much ammo? Andrew Witts, game designer, says: ‘We need to balance the amount of rounds to give to players to compensate for the fact that we have no ammo or weapon pick-up.’ The Game Design team confirms that we have already reduced the ammo count in order to have the same amount as the ones in Raven Shield, but that tweak will not be in the upcoming Closed Alpha build.
We do intend to start things off by giving to players more ammo than what we plan on giving them in the final game, in order to see what is and isn’t being consumed, so that we can establish the average amount of ammo used per player. Our final intention is to provide the player with an ammo count that is sufficient, while being limited.
Why aren’t there any doors? : There will be doorways that can be barricaded, but no doors. This pushes the players on the defending side to actively fortify their location, ultimately designing their own fortress. Having a more open starting location means that the defenders will have to carefully decide how they want to spend their preparation phase time, since time is what limits the amount of fortifications that can be erected before the attackers arrive.
Moreover, in adversarial multiplayer, it is necessary to provide a fair gameplay experience. With our game type, doors would lead to a multitude of issues such as lag, connection or responsiveness issues, and exploits.
What prevents this from being a run & gun game? : Chris Lee, game designer, says: ‘By having actual consequences to player action. All official game modes are One Life and the level of lethality is high. ‘We do not support Health Regen and players won’t respawn after getting killed. He adds: ‘Being reckless with your life will most likely lead to your death, and bring yourself and your team one step closer to losing the round (or match). Teamwork, observation & communication is key to winning.’ Being with teammates strengthens your position and reduces the chances of getting flanked. It also splits up the chances of getting shot amongst your group. You can protect each other, and in rare cases, even revive each other. Additionally, without aim assist and having no auto-snapping for the melee hits insures that this game is more about careful player skills and tactics.
Why is there a support mode and why can players communicate after death? : Chris Lee, game designer, says that ‘since all official game modes are One Life, we want the players to remain engaged even after dying’. This means that the players can still help out their teammates by using observation tools or looking through the remaining alive team members’ point of view and be a part of a potential victory, even if they died earlier in the round. This emphasizes teamwork and communication: teams that work together (even after death) will win more often than a single individual with pure aim and shooting skills.
It is important to note that Attackers can destroy the Defending team’s observation tools: the security cameras – and that Defenders can destroy the Attacking team’s observation tools: the drones. Therefore, it is possible to interfere with the amount of tools the players in Support Mode can gain access to. This creates secondary points of interest on the maps.
Why is there a kill cam? The ideology behind the kill cam is that we want the player to understand why he died, explained Game Designer Chris Lee: ‘The feeling of dying without knowing why is very frustrating to the player.’ We consider it a strong learning tool for newcomers and want to let our players train with each other, with it.
Right now, the kill cam has 3 states : death event – 1.5s. (you died), killer info – 4s. (who killed you and with which weapon), death replay (how the guy killed you). It is not possible to skip the death event, nor the killer info. The death replay – 7s. is the only part that can be skipped.
Note that we are still in Alpha and that we will evaluate and explore the options with the kill cam – things are subject to change. Until now, for us, the kill cam has not been an issue but we will be evaluating it during the Closed Alpha, by studying player behaviors and player feedback.
Why is there DBNO? DBNO stands for Down But not Out. It is a state that the players fall into once their health falls below a certain amount. When in DBNO, they cannot shoot nor use gadgets. They will have the choice to either stay immobile while holding on their wound to stay alive longer, or attempt to crawl to safety. It encourages careful team play as it creates a high risk vs. high reward type of situation if teammates attempt to rescue the injured player. It also encourages players to stick together. The game is highly lethal, and a lot of the time the player will not fall into DBNO and die directly. For instance, a headshot will instantly kill the opponents and will never lead to the DBNO state.
Can we have more details about single player and COOP? Not at this time, but we can confirm that we will indeed have single player and COOP.
I hope this answers some of your questions. Thank you for getting involved with the community. - Gen