State of the Game #219: Another Round of Testing

What a week!

As stated in last weeks State of the Game, there is another closed beta test going on this week. So far, I would say it’s going pretty great!

While lots of issues have been found, many of them have been fixed. I have been on pace, delivering a new test build nearly every day.  I have been tackling a lot of game breaking bugs, mainly with connection issues, server stability, hit detection, and general ‘statefullness’ of the multiplayer.

Some of the bigger items that went in this week are :

Better lag compensation and prediction

In the current release there can be quite a big difference between where you see a player, where the server sees a player, and where that player actually is. With the new prediction system, the gap in the difference is MUCH smaller. In addition to this, the lag compensation system allows minor fix ups to the position, so in high lag environments, where the prediction can be off, it can still correct it’s self. Since this is a continuous correction, it shouldn’t result in rubber-banding.

Better Stats Reporting

For as long as I can remember MAV has had some spaces on the post game review screen for several stats, but only kills and damage were ever reported. Not any more! Now kill, damage, parts destroyed, and XP earned are all properly displayed. Along with that, there are many more stats that are being tracked but not shown yet, like damage per weapon type, longest shot distance, damage done to the base, damage received, and even damage done to your allies.

These things, along with the other aspects of the update, are shaping it up to be a very compelling multiplayer experience!

Well, that’s enough chit chat for this week, I need to jump back into the code and make everything even better for next week!