Richard Tyrer · Lead FPS Systems Designer

I think when we come to balancing anything, really, we want to be tuning it for what feels fun for everybody. I think tuning it for a specific part of the player base doesn't give us what we want. So if we tuned it for some of the highly skilled players, I think the more inexperienced players would have a harder time. And vice versa, if you tuned it just for the new people, then the more skilled players wouldn't have an effective time. So I think what we want to do is actually provide an experience that is accessible to everybody, but also has enough depth for the more experienced players to actually invest more time, learn how to use those mechanics and go forward from there. So I think from a balance point of view, any system, not just FPS weapons, you always balance it for the middle ground, so that it is as accessible as it absolutely can be, so that people can come in. And especially when you're talking about Star Marine and Arena Commander, where it's basically drop-in, it's plug and play. I think obviously less so in the PU, where you've got more time to kind of absorb what's there, kind of understand that it's a slower pace. You have more opportunity to learn. I think in terms of FPS gunplay, though, you absolutely have to tune the weapons so that you get a good sense of feel. How does this feel from a realism point of view? How does it feel from an audio point of view? How does it feel from the visuals or the gameplay point of view? Is it all tying together to create that one unique experience for this gun, so that if you drop that pistol and then you get another pistol, they feel different? It provides a different experience. So I think when we are tuning weapons, we're tuning to play styles, not to skill. And I think those play styles are what define the roles that you play in combat. So if you're looking at a sniper, then you're wanting long-range combat. If you're looking at an AR, then you're looking at more of a medium-range combat. SMG, shotgun, then you're looking at more close-range combat. And then you might want to mix it up. You might want to provide a pistol, but it has a 10-inch barrel so that it provides more mid-range suppression. So I think from the point of view of FPS weapon balance, you always balance to play styles and then absolute accessibility. But then maybe we have different fire modes. So the Salvo, for example, which has a secondary fire mode: if somebody just picks that up as a new player, they can use it, fire it, it's a 50-cal weapon, they'll do well, point and shoot. But vice versa, if you want to be, okay, I'm going to use the frag mode, I'm going to change the fire mode, I'm going to add attachments, I'm going to add a laser dot, or maybe I'll go for an underbarrel flashlight. It's all of those decisions that add depth to the combat that allow other players, the more experienced players, to invest in that. And I think that's something that we'd always try to do. So I suppose, to answer your question in short, we don't balance for either. It's a different type of balancing.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community

For inclusiveness.

Richard Tyrer · Lead FPS Systems Designer

Yes, absolutely. Because we want people who play the game to ultimately enjoy the game. And I think that goes for the PU and AC and SM. When I was much younger, I was much more hardcore FPS, I want to shoot. But as I got older, family, you don't have as much time to invest. So I think we want to cater for all different types of players. And when you think about it, play styles is always the best way to think about it. It's like, why would we make this weapon? Why does it exist? What purpose is it delivering in the combat? Why would you pick this weapon over this other weapon? And I think that's something that we've actually been looking at with the new weapons, and we actually want to revisit a lot of the old weapons. And I think, to be honest, balance is something that never stops, especially in an online game. It's something that you're constantly, constantly going over. Okay, the meta's changed here, or this new weapon has changed the dynamic. Or, for example, we were talking about healing. Healing might totally change how effective alpha strike weapons are. If you've got a shotgun, but all of a sudden your friend can revive that person who's just been shot and taken out, then it changes that dynamic. So I think balance is something that's always an ongoing process across the whole game, not just FPS weapons, but economy, your ship balance, the flight model. So that's something that we'd always endeavor to work on. But it's something that we've actually been really focusing on in terms of the weapons, to actually try and find a unique existence for each weapon. With any new weapon going forward, we're hoping to try and get that niche, unique gameplay and how that feels, so that it gives you a real identity in terms of why you want to use that weapon. And vice versa, look at all the existing weapons that we've already released and say, okay, maybe the shotguns, for example, are feeling too similar. Maybe we want to change one to be full auto, or that kind of thing. It's something that's constantly being worked on. But yeah, hopefully that gives you a bit more insight into how we go about working on the weapons.