Weekly Update - May 8th, 2020

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Hey there, Ghost Hunters!

Welcome back to another Weekly Update.

This week, we’re going to be taking a deeper look at some data from our recent alpha test.

Let’s begin with an interesting data point: What Hunter weapons were used most?

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Spectral Cannon was the most commonly selected weapon, though this may be a bit misleading as it is part of the default loadout. The Spectral Cannon is also the only way for Hunters to obtain upgrades for their weapons, so it’s crucial any group of Hunters has at least one.

Both the Ghostsmasher and Project X saw their highest utilization in any of our previous tests yet!

The Ghostsmasher is easy to understand: no battery, just whack away at any suspicious furniture. A recent quality of life change allowed Hunters with the Sprint perk to swing while sprinting -- this proved quite useful when on the chase!

Project X defends its third place position, seeing the highest utilization across our alpha tests yet! Project X is more of a supporting weapon and should be used alongside other Hunters, due to the wind-up time and speed reduction. It’s not very good for chasing Ghosts, but it is remarkably effective in point defense, especially after Midnight.

As we add more weapons to the Hunter’s arsenal, we expect to see the utilization even out a bit. We’ve got some really cool weapon ideas in the pipeline and we can’t wait to share them with you.

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Let’s move onto Hunter gadgets!

Unsurprisingly, the Radar claims first place. Similar to the Spectral Cannon, the Radar is part of the default loadout, so the data may be a little misleading. It’s also the only gadget introduced in the tutorial. Beyond all that, you need at least one of these in your team to help you track those camping Ghosts.

Pathfinder secures the second place position. Not super surprising as it is the natural counterpart to the Radar. Pathfinder is used primarily to track Ghosts that are moving, whereas the Radar is most effective on stationary hiding Ghosts.

Defibrillators were at the bottom again, but they were used more often than in Alpha 4! We think this is due to the more obvious UI element that alerts players to resurrect fallen allies, even if they do not have it equipped. 

We plan on introducing the Defibrillators more effectively in an upcoming expanded tutorial, so more players are aware they exist. That goes for all of the non-default weapons and gadgets, really.

Thanks so much for reading! Let us know what you think on Discord or Twitter.
We will have plenty of more data to review next week, be sure to check back then!

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Weekly Update - May 1st, 2020

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Hey there, Ghost Hunters!

Greetings, and welcome to another Weekly Update.

This week, we are going to explore the data from our community map idea poll we conducted over the last week.

Thanks so much for voting, and submitting your map ideas not listed. The map team has a lot of great ideas to draw from now.

Let’s break down the top 5 maps you voted for!

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The top 5 have come in nearly neck-and-neck!

Midnight at the Museum taking 1st place was a bit of a surprise, but a very welcome one. It may not be something you’d expect to be haunted, but it really evokes a strong image in one’s mind.

The team is hoping to focus more on map creation in the near future. Before we begin this process, we take into account how many “propportunities” a map offers.

“Proportunities” are the opportunities to create interesting and unique props for each of these map ideas. We really want to nail down unique and interesting tropes to pull from with each map concept, and let Ghosts possess them to wreak havoc on those pesky Hunters!

The Museum could see a possessable T-Rex exhibit, cannons that actually deal damage on the Ghost Ship, or working fun house mirrors for the Carnival, and so on. We like map ideas that have a lot of neat things to possess, giving the map a distinct flavor and unique gameplay moments.

As the data above shows, Midnight at the Museum is absolutely an idea worth exploring in the near future. When we envision this map, we’d like to see a wide variety of sections to explore. A dedicated science area, an exhibit showcasing fossils and hidden treasures, and much much more…

Ghost Ship sailed into second place, and we love this idea. Plenty of propportunities to be had, and so many eras of ships to explore. We are a big fan of all things old and nostalgic and would likely explore a ship from the 1800s-1900s. Could be a pirate ship, or it could be more like a luxury cruise liner. We’d just want to make sure it feels distinct from the Victorian-era Mansion map. Let us know what you think!

Medieval Castle claimed third place, and we have a lot of great ideas for this. The suit of armor seen in our E3 teaser trailer would finally have a home, and maybe even join the ranks of other displays and weaponry! We could also explore the castle grounds, maybe there is a moat with a working drawbridge, or high castle walls.

We are keen on ensuring all of our maps are designed with relevant environments, intriguing and unique props, and most importantly are fun to play.

Though we can’t promise every single one of these maps will make it into the game, it has given us a really good idea of what the community wants. That’s really important to us!

Let us know if you like these ideas, or if you have any better ones. We are all ears!

Thanks again to everyone who voted and submitted their ideas!

That’s it for this week, Ghost Hunters!

Thanks so much for reading! We’ll be reviewing more data from our last alpha test next week so stay tuned.

Be sure to let us know via our socials if you have any great map ideas or suggestions.

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Weekly Update - April 17th, 2020

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Hey there, Ghost Hunters!

Welcome back to another Weekly Update!

This week, we’re going to dive into some data from our recent alpha test.

Let’s start with one of the most important data points: How balanced were the two teams?

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Looks like we had a fairly balanced alpha! Ghosts did appear to have a little bit of an edge - last alpha the Hunters were in that position.

This is probably due to the new size of our existing maps. Both Mansion and Asylum were nearly doubled in size - giving the Ghosts plenty of new places to hide.

We’ve also ensured there is at least two ways out of nearly every room - no more dead ends. This gives the Ghosts a better chance to escape without getting cornered.

We’ve done a fair bit of balancing to help compensate for the larger maps, and it appears we got it fairly close to 50/50 again, which is exciting.

We are looking into ways we can try to get even closer to 50/50 - though it will have to be a light touch. Could be as simple as increasing Spirit cooldown, or as drastic as giving the Hunters another 30 seconds before Midnight.

There’s a lot of things we can try. If you have any suggestions, feel free to let us know on Discord!

A good amount of players may be surprised by the results - much of our feedback contained some variation of “Ghosts OP” or “Hunters OP”.

I think the perceived imbalance is definitely something for us to work on.

I think the most obvious solution is some sort of skill-based matchmaking system so you get placed with players most similar to you. There were many cases of newer players going toe-to-toe with former pro prop hunt players in this test - not surprising that some matches could end up lopsided.

But how does that play into our server browser setup? One drawback of a server browser solution is that you can’t be bound by a matchmaker. You might end up in a lobby full of pros.

We were thinking of showing the average skill rating of the lobby from the server browser so you could have some idea of what kind of match it would be. And we’d have a standard “Quick Play” type button in the main menu to just find a good one for you.

Let us know if you think this is a good idea, or if you can think of a better one. We are all ears!

That’s it for this week, Ghost Hunters

Thanks so much for reading! We’ve got plenty of more data to go over next week - so stay tuned!

Let us know on our socials if you are surprised by these numbers, or if they sound about right.

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Weekly Update - April 10th, 2020

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Hey, Ghost Hunters!

Thanks for tuning in to our latest weekly update!

As you may know, we just wrapped up our fifth alpha test on Monday.

It was by far our most stable and successful alpha test so far!

I want to thank each and every one of you for testing and giving your feedback and bug reports. With all this data, we will have the chance to meaningfully improve the game and get us closer to a successful launch.

The Mansion’s library hides many secrets…

The Mansion’s library hides many secrets…

We hope to have another test in the next month or two, though we can’t promise anything yet. We do want to avoid the lengthy gap that we had in between the last two tests.

In future tests, you can expect to see more maps, props, skins, and so on. That is something we are focusing on greatly going forward. We want to make sure we launch with more than enough content so there’s a solid amount of replayability.

We will also try to get more network features in, such as some sort of matchmaking and queuing up with your squad. Or at least the ability to invite your friends to your session. Stuff like that.

Some of you may have noticed there were some region-locking issues in certain areas.

In turns out Steamworks lobbies (which we use for our player-hosted matches) appear to be region-locked, even if the game is not. Not every region is locked, but anything outside NA / EU seemed to be. 

We want to make sure this issue doesn’t happen again, and are looking at options on how to achieve this.

That’s it for this week, Ghost Hunters

We plan on spending future weekly updates breaking down some of the most interesting data and analytics we have gathered from this test.

Tune in next week for a breakdown on the Ghost/Hunter win rate balance. What do you expect the numbers to be? Let us know what you think on our socials!

Thanks so much for reading, and we’ll see you on the next hunt.

-Kite

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Weekly Update - March 27th, 2020

Hey there, Ghost Hunters!

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Thank you all for joining us for another haunting edition of our Weekly Update!

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been going over new features and bug fixes you can expect to see in our upcoming alpha test.

This week, we are introducing a new Ghost ability: Miasma!

The word Miasma originates from an obsolete medical theory that believed diseases were caused by bad air. A bit supernatural sounding, right?

We think the name is fitting. Watch for yourself:

Watch and share Project X Overheat GIFs by MIDNIGHT GHOST HUNT on Gfycat

New Ghost Ability: Miasma

  • Releases a dark cloud of ghostly smoke that can allow Ghosts a chance to escape during a chase, or lend assistance to an ally under attack.

  • Miasma is best paired with small props. Ghosts can attempt to hide inside the smoke cloud — or use their ram ability to hurl themselves through the smoke to land a surprise attack.

So, in essence it is a smoke bomb. But in our internal play tests, we’ve seen some pretty clever uses of the ability beyond just escaping. As a Hunter, it can be a bit scary to know there could be a Ghost charging up just beyond the veil.

Miasma will be in the upcoming alpha test, and we can’t wait to see how it turns out!

You’re probably wondering when the alpha test will be, right?

Well, you MIGHT want to keep an eye on the Discord next week… just a hunch! wink

Thanks for tuning in! Have a very safe and pleasant weekend, hunters!

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Weekly Update - March 20th, 2020

Hey there, Ghost Hunters!

This week, let's go over more new features you can expect to see in our upcoming alpha test!

Don’t be afraid to fire your Spectral Cannon if you’re suspicious.

Don’t be afraid to fire your Spectral Cannon if you’re suspicious.

Let’s start with the good stuff: more new features!

  • We are hoping to release dedicated server files for this alpha. This is a new experimental feature, so it may not work correctly at first. If this features makes it into the alpha, we will also host a number of official dedicated servers on our end as well.

  • New Ghost ability: Miasma (Check back next week for our detailed breakdown!)

  • New and improved autobalancer and map shuffling configuration settings.

  • Two new Hunter skins!

  • New possessable objects in the new map areas.

  • New notification when you are the last player alive on your team.

  • New ghost chargeup bar visuals.

  • Wall mounted props no longer immediately fall when possessed.

  • And more…

In addition we have added more fixes for bugs that were reported during previous tests:

  • Added protections for Ghosts who could get stuck after their possessed item was destroyed

  • Improved hit detection on Doppelgänger clones, and fixed many soft-locks that could occur if the chokeout was interrupted immediately.

  • Poltergeist objects no longer break immediately on impact with something other than Hunter. They are now reusable!

  • Fixed an issue that allowed Hunters to crouch and sprint at the same time.

  • And more…

Just a quick note about dedicated servers and hosting your own server:

Dedicated servers are a brand-new feature that may not make it into this alpha. However, we are working hard to make sure they are stable enough for productive testing.

You’ll be able to configure the server name and password. Map selection not configurable yet, but will be added further along in development.

Thanks for tuning in!

I know you are waiting for alpha news, we don’t yet have a date locked in stone. The team is trying their best to make it within the next 2 weeks. We’ve had some delays due to that thing everyone is talking about.

There’s a good chance it won’t actually be in the month of March. But if it won’t be March, it will be very early April. Stay tuned for a proper announcement soon.

My apologies for this, and thank you so much everyone for your patience. It will be worth it, I promise!

Next week we will be previewing Miasma, the latest Ghost ability to have been acquired by our ghostly friends.

That’s it for this week, Ghost Hunters!

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Weekly Update - March 13th, 2020

Happy Friday the 13th, Ghost Hunters!

This week, we're going over some new features and bug fixes that you can expect to see in the upcoming alpha test.

The Spectral Cannon is a Ghost Hunters best friend.

The Spectral Cannon is a Ghost Hunters best friend.

First, let’s go over some of the larger changes.

  • Updated and refined our menu experience

  • Mansion and Asylum have been revamped to be much larger.

  • Added prop layout randomization to Mansion. (Asylum coming soon)

  • Added a functioning voice chat. (Vivox)

  • Voice chat has muting, per user volume controls, input and output device modification.

  • Implemented a ping system with visual cues. (audio cues to come later)

  • Added player report system.

  • New tutorial for both teams. This tutorial is much more concise and only covers the core mechanics. Advanced tutorials are planned in the future for other gadgets and abilities.

  • Added a crash reporter.

  • Server browser now shows the correct ping of all server results.

  • Improved physics for more realistic prop behavior.

  • Introduced networked physics in an optimized way.

  • Improved Ghost collision across the board.

  • General FPS improvements through CPU/GPU optimizations.

  • A ton of balance tweaks on Hunters and Ghosts.

  • And so much more…


We’ve also fixed a number of bugs that were reported in previous tests:

  • Fixed an issue that would cause small hitches or frame drops. These frame drops would often cause your player to suddenly be looking up to the ceiling, or turned around entirely.

  • Fixed an issue that would slow your character if you were looking all the way up or down.

  • Character movement should be much smoother when interacting with objects.

  • Large props such as couches should no longer be able to clip halfway into a wall.

  • Fixed a number of Doppelganger issues that would result in not being able to interact with anything, or the camera being stuck in one direction.

  • Fixed several crashes.

  • And so much more…

Just a quick note about voice:
Since we now have proper voice chat, there will inevitably be some rude people trying to be mean. To that end, make sure you make good use of our new reporting system, and take advantage of our muting features.

While this is not a full list of the changes you can expect, it is hopefully enough to get you excited to play again!

Next week, we’ll cover more changes coming to the test, and maybe even a hint as to when the alpha will be. (To be honest, we haven’t decided yet on the specific dates. But we’ll shout it from the rooftops when we have!)

Thanks for tuning in, and we’ll see you next week!

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Weekly Update - March 6th, 2020

Hey there, Ghost Hunters!

We’d like to give a warm welcome to all of our new Discord members that joined during PAX East! Huge shoutout to Discord for hosting us yet again.

We had such a great time meeting and playing with everyone who stopped by.

We are planning on having an alpha test in the coming weeks. Make sure you’re in the Discord and await our big announcement ping when we are ready! If you waited in line, make sure you keep your alpha key card. Make sure you follow the instructions on that card if you want the exclusive role and a buddy key.

In the meantime, please enjoy a selection of photos from PAX East!

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