Hello Bloodhunt Community!
We are currently hard at work on our next update which we are calling “June Community Update”
This update intends to fix some of the more pressing matters that we have been hearing about from our community.
We have now locked in the scope and work is ongoing to get all of the changes into a state where it’s ready for testing.
We wanted to share preliminary patch notes with you early so that have you a good idea of what to expect with the next update, but we also need to let you know that the list you see here is only what we are aiming for. If something unforeseen happens, we might need to make adjustments to not put the stability of the game at risk.
We are currently looking at getting this patch out in the second week of June.
Now, let's take a look at the proposed scope.
Gamepad Improvements
We’ve heard you loud and clear: the gamepad implementation needs a bit of love, so we are happy to say that we think that we will have the first iteration of these improvements already available with this update.
Our Bloodhunt lead designer Gustav Stigenius breaks it down in what you can expect from this update:
Hi everybody! My name is Gustav Stigenius and I sometimes, when I’m not drinking coffee or pestering my lovely design team, I design things here at Sharkmob! I’m here today to talk a bit about our approach to how we want to handle the controller. It’s quite a big topic, and one that I care about a lot as a lifelong PlayStation player, so grab a cup of coffee and strap in!
Controller Update - The "We're working on it" Edition!
The most important thing for us when designing the game is that players have fun. Like that’s it, that’s the goal. The major thing that we want to address with this patch is YOUR feedback... along with some pesty bugs! Speaking of feedback, one major thing that we are getting a lot of feedback on is the controller. The aim assist is too weak, the controller feels a bit too difficult to aim with and that you want more options. So, whilst we’re working on fixing, updating, and reworking a wide range of controller features, here’s what we are looking at in the short term.
Let's start from the top!
Firstly, our current response curves are set up to allow for small movements as well as quick turns. Great!? Well in theory yes, but in practice we failed you. The movement of the stick can feel unwieldy and rather uncontrollable where moving your thumb a small bit can move the camera A LOT. It's too far from a 1-1 with how much you move your thumb. The curve is unpredictable, and on top of that acceleration kicks in to make the player feel that extra lack of control. The thought behind it was smart, allow for small movements when aiming, and larger movements when traversing, but it strayed a bit far from what feels normal.
These biiiiig movements in the response curves counteract our aim assist and makes the aim slowdown not really work.
The quickest and biggest changes we could safely push are a part of this patch. We have tweaked the current system, replaced our dynamic response curve with a more traditional exponential curve, set the acceleration to a fixed speed and adjusted the AA to fit what we have. We feel like this is a great step in the right direction, but we’re only at the beginning of the road. Stay tuned for a follow-up article where we deep-dive into reworking the controller look, aim, scope turn rate, aim assist and settings so that you can customize your game experience.
Here is what you can expect heading into our patch:
Response Curve
This is the 0-1 movement of how far on the stick the player has moved the stick, mapped on to a curve.
- Replaced our old dynamic curve with a traditional exponential curve.
This should map your movement in a more controlled fashion, allowing for both precision aiming and fast turns.
Sensitivity
Set new default values for the different sensitivity multipliers. In a future release we will rename the following settings since they are not multipliers on top of one another.
- Sensitivity (X) - New default should be 5
- Sensitivity (Y) - New default should be 5
- Sensitivity ADS (X) - New default should be 2.5
- Sensitivity ADS (Y) - New default should be 2.5
- Sensitivity Scoped (X) - New default should be 1
- Sensitivity Scoped (Y) - New default should be 1
Acceleration
Once the stick is maxed out at the edge, the turn speed increases at a rate over time, until the game says that the turn speed is at the limit.
- Replaced our old exponential curve with a linear acceleration that kicks in after a short delay.
Aim Assist
The hottest topic! This is related to anything in regards to staying on target or easier acquire a target.
NOTE: These aren't settings, this is just a breakdown of how the Aim Assist works.
Aim Slowdown
When aiming by a target the sensitivity slows down. This is most strongly felt from short to medium long range. This is not very active for the very closest ranges or the longest ranges.
- Hip-fire off target - There is an initial slowdown when aiming close to a target.
- Hip-fire on target - When aiming on a target this is more aggressive so that you don't leave target.
- ADS off target - When ADSing close to a target this is still active but not as strongly.
- ADS on target - When ADSing on a target this is also active but less than when hip-fire aiming.
Turn Assist
When aiming by a target and you as a player are moving the camera helps you turn a bit. This is mostly felt in short ranges. This is not active for the very closest ranges or the longest ranges.
- Hip-fire off target - There is a very small amount of aim turn assist when looking close to a target and you are moving.
- Hip-fire on target - There is a small amount of aim turn assist when looking on a target and you are moving.
- ADS off target - There is a small amount of aim turn assist when looking close to a target and you are moving.
- ADS on target - There is a moderate amount of aim turn assist when looking on a target and you are moving.
This is only the start, and we will keep improving it until we find a good balance between the input methods. Before I hand you back to Jaqub, I want to thank you all for reading, feedbacking and most of all playing the game. This community has always been super supportive, and all of us here on the Bloodhunt project appreciate your positivity, and feedback!
Have a great night, and see you in Prague, kindred!
/Gustav
Thank you so much Gustav, that is a great start!
Next up, let’s look at the bug fixes and balance changes that we have in store for this update:
Bug fixes
Fixed a bug that was causing performance issues if the player didn’t skip the intro cinematic
PS5 - Fixed an issue that was causing some Founders Edition items to disappear after the player had unlocked a Battle pass item
PS5 – The adaptive triggers no longer get stuck in an unintended “activated” state
Fixed an issue that could cause players to sometimes respawn inside the Red Gas
The Saboteur’s “Unseen Passage” activation sound effect and visual effect no longer unintentionally repeat during certain conditions.
Fixed an issue with the Earthshock power that prevented you from targeting directly below you
Decreased the chances of an issue occurring that caused the matchmaker to sometimes fail to find a player for your team in group modes
The Trophy/Achievement “From Prague to Malmö” has been fixed (finally!)
Players no longer lose all ammunition when picking up a weapon of the same caliber while reloading (aka the reload bug)
UI
Clarified which outfits are clan-specific in the Battle Pass and the flash store
Balance changes
We’re still finalizing values, so we can’t share details with you yet, but here are the things we are focusing on when it comes to balance changes:
- Bloodhunted timer decreased
- Flesh of Marble duration decrease (note that additional balance adjustments are in development but are too risky to release in this patch)
- Revive invulnerability timer increase to mitigate grieving
- Melee lifesteal decreased
- Shotgun rebalance (damage falloff, spread for higher rarity variants, etc.)
New Features
In this update, we are also adding support for VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) on the PS5.
This means that if you have a television/monitor which supports VRR you will be able to get smoother frame delivery with even less chance of screen tearing.
It’s important to note though that this does not mean that the game will run in 120 FPS but it will enhance visual performance for Bloodhunt on PS5 by minimizing or eliminating visual artifacts, such as frame pacing issues and screen tearing.
If you are interested in knowing more about VRR we recommend this blogpost that our friends at PlayStation have prepared on the topic: https://blog.playstation.com/2022/04/25/variable-refresh-rate-support-for-ps5-is-rolling-out-this-week/
We hope that these changes will improve your Bloodhunt experience, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts in our next community survey that will be posted on Twitter and Discord shortly after the patch has been released.
As always, more improvements are in the works, but we’ll talk about those when they’re closer to release.
Until next time, see you at dusk!
/Jaqub Ajmal on behalf of Sharkmob
