Blogs - MasterArena

Hi everyone,

We are back with an update for the Steam Game Festival. During this event, we will do 4 game sessions and a developer Q&A on Twitch. The first session will be today. If you have any questions, join us on Discord, and ask them in the channel #game-festival, we’ll answer them during our Q&A.

For more information on the game sessions click here, and here for the developer Q&A.

--- PERKS ---

We updated the perks selection menu. From now on, the setup of your robot is done in 3 steps:

• Select your size (light, standard, heavy). The bigger the robot, the slower it will be but the more life it will have.

• Select your perk. Now, the choice of perks depends on the size of the robot chosen. There are 3 perks available per size.

• Select your inventory. Now, by default, the players spawn with the basic inventory of the classic modes such as deathmatch (it means that the players will have the sword, the plasma, and the SMG in their inventory). Then, you are free to choose other weapons, additional health points, or more or less respawn time. This setup impacts on your stamina. The more weapons and/or health points you have, the slower you will be. It’s your call!

• Take care to select the robot size you want for the round because although you can change your perk during a round, you won’t be able to change your size. It will be available before the start of the next round (the menu is automatically loaded after the scoreboard is displayed).
• There are some adjustments/modifications made to the perks. However, we’ll let you discover by yourself.
• Finally, regarding the Capture the Flag mode, some adjustments were made:
  • When a player takes the flag, his perk is deactivated, his life is fully regenerated, and he’s moving more slowly.
  • Weapons no longer reload automatically over time. You must now go through a supply point to reload your inventory.
  • And to finish, health pickups are now available on CTF maps.

--- MAPS ---

• UPDATE: DM-MARS

Complete redesign of the map: The layout is nearly identical to the previous version, but the design is a new environment.

• UPDATE: CTF-BASKETBALL

Optimization and a slight redesign of the center of the map and the side corridors leading to the bases.

• UPDATE: DUEL-CREUSET

Lighting correction

• UPDATE: DUEL-FUSE

Map recoloring: we went from a green-tinted map to a more whitish map with a green accent.

--- WEAPONS ---

• PLASMA

Modification of the secondary fire. From now on, when you will hold the secondary fire button (right mouse button), the plasma loads and fire when you release the button. The projectile will be more or less big depending on the loading time (max duration: 3 seconds). This plasma ball explodes in several projectiles after a few seconds (the bigger the plasma ball is, the faster it will burst).

• FLASHRIFLE

Update of the secondary fire. From now on, when you hold the secondary fire button (right mouse button), the flash rifle loads and fire when you release the button. The energy ball will move more or less quickly depending on the loading time. The less you load, the faster the energy ball will move.

--- HUD ---

The HUD has undergone some corrections to improve its readability.

• The perk loading icon was moved up and sized bigger.
• The speedometer is no longer at the center of your screen, but just above the inventory.
• For the timer, its background color and the text color were changed.
• The perk icons have been redrawn for better readability.

--- PICKUPS ---

The pickups still have the same design, but the material is new to highlight them.

***

If you have any bugs, issues, or suggestions, do not hesitate to discuss with us on discord. Feel free to invite your friends to join us, share, and like on socials networks.

See you in-game, Master Arena Dev Team.

Hello everyone!

During this last month, you might have seen several updates that we didn't announce. We were testing some maps and gameplay optimization before making any announcement. We want to thank all the players who participated in the various playtest organized during March. It was a huge help for us during this test period. So thank you. If you missed the playtests and want to play in the next ones, don't hesitate to follow us on Steam where we announce every event. If you want an Alpha access key, just click here.

Let's see what we have been working on.

--- MAPS ---

• NEW MAP: DM-VERTIGO

• UPDATE: DM-CREUSET

• UPDATE: DM-PLAYGROUND

• UPDATE: CTF-BASKETBALL

--- GAMEPLAY ---

• • Damage from falling were reactivated
• Sound

• • We added a sound to warn you that you no longer have ammo when playing with the insta-rifle.
  • A sound was also added to indicate when your stamina is depleted.
  • There is now a sound when you take the health pickups dropped by a player.
• Announcer / UI

We added several announcements depending on the type of kill done:

• • Head Hunter: do 5 headshots
  • Combo: I think the name is self-explanatory...
  • Combo Master: do 3 combos
  • Air Rocket: do 1 frag with a rocket launcher when the player is airborne
  • Rocket Master: do 3 air rocket
  • Eagle Eyes: do 1 long-range frag
  • Sniper: do 1 long-range headshot
  • Revenge: when you kill the one who just killed you.
• HUD

New information is displayed in the killfeed :

• • a player kills himself falling
  • a player kills himself with his weapon
  • a player does an air rocket
  • a player does a combo
  • a player telefrags another

The crosshairs are now outlined. They should be visible no matter the display colors you choose.

--- MENU ---

• We minimized the number of restarts needed when changing your options.
• Fixed the option "Draw FPS" (which wasn't working properly).
• Fixed the opacity of the speed value.
• Fixed the "Invert wall-dodge input logic" option.
• Added an option to force the color of the enemies in Deathmatch games. Should you enable the option, your adversaries will all be displayed according to the choice of color you made for the "Red character".

--- LANGUAGES SUPPORT ---

The game can now support Japanese / Chinese / Korean language. So if you are interested in helping us translate the game in one of those languages, don't hesitate to contact us on our Discord (@Dev_Jerem or @Dev_Virginie).
In the new font, we wanted to add some emoticons. You'll find, on the picture below, how to write them using the keyboard shortcuts.

--- EDITOR ---

For those interested in creating maps, we added a tutorial about "How to set up a map for Capture the Flag". You will also find in the editor, "new" statics mesh. By "new", I mean already existing meshes but in 6 or 7 color variations. So you can create maps as colorful or austere as you want. We also added tags, organized by types of environment, to every static mesh in the library. We hope it will help when you are creating a map :)

--- OTHER UPDATES/FIXES ---

• Sound of the exit of a teleporter not working correctly each time it's used: fixed
• Carnage pickup sound sometimes heard from the start of the game: fixed
• Carnage pickup: reduction of the idle sound radius
• An error screen should now appear if you are disconnected
• Crash of the game when there is a map switch on CTF mode: fixed
• The game can now download a new community map between levels
• Particle of the plasma: the design of the projectile has been updated. It's now smaller and creates less distortion around it. Please note that this modification is solely visual.
• Electrogun hit sound: fixed

If you have any bugs, issues or suggestions, do not hesitate to discuss with us on discord. Feel free to invite your friends to join us, share and like on socials networks.

See you in-game, Master Arena Dev Team.

Dear Community,

After several weeks of waiting, we are pleased to officially released Master Arena's Alpha 2.0!
We want to thank you for your patience, and now, let's review its content.

--- PERKS ---

Yes, the first version of the PERKS is finally here! To get to the heart of the matter, here is a screenshot showing the menu displayed in-game.

In the display order, here is a description of the available perks:

• Blinder: able to fire a flashbang
• Invisible: able to turn oneself invisible for a short lapse of time
• Gas: able to fire a corrosive gas grenade
• Teleporter: able to teleport oneself using a modified flash rifle
• Freon: able to fire a squall of freon grenades
• Healer: able to heal with its regeneration sphere and a modified plasma gun
• Shield: able to generate a protective sphere around oneself for a limited time
• Slo-mo: able to fire a grenade slowing down everything within its range
• X-Ray: able to see through the wall for a limited time
• Smoker: able to fire a smoke grenade

Those perks are available depending on three sizes:

• Runner:
  
  • Small-sized robot
  • Max health: 150HP
  • Base speed: 1000
• Standard:
  
  • Medium-sized robot (similar to the one used for the game modes without the perks)
  • Max health: 175HP
  • Base speed: 950
• Tank:
  
  • Large-sized robot
  • Max health: 200HP
  • Base speed: 910

Keep in mind that the power of dodges, wall-dodges, and bounces is also affected. So, for example, a standard robot will not be able to catch up to a runner with the same running path.

Depending on the selected size, several respawn delays are available. Once the time is selected, you can adjust your cash and stamina gauges. The longer the delay, the more your cash and stamina gauges will be filled.

With the cash, you will be able to customize your inventory. Do you want a rocket launcher? OK guys, it will be 200₿. Would you like to respawn with more HP? Well, just make your choice.

Please note that the perks system is currently only available for CTF game mode. These are the beginnings of the gameplay we want to incorporate in the game. Our wish is to make this mode more balanced and tactical than a "normal weapons" mode. So major changes will occur such as the removal of some perks, the creation of new ones, the introduction of items and tactical areas, and we are not afraid to completely review the concept. It's only the beginning!

Message from Dev_Jerem about this game mode:
Let's see if it works. After all those years developing Master Arena, it's finally time for the perks! It's a real pleasure to code this part. I just hope I'm not doing anything wrong. :)

--- EFFECTS ---

• Headshot

Now when a headshot is made, the robot's head breaks off.

• Gib and oil decal

When a robot explodes, you will now see its libs bounce on the ground and the walls, leaving behind traces of oil from the massacre.

--- MAPS ---

• UPDATE : CTF-BasketBall

Structural change of the map, the bases are now asymmetric.

• UPDATE : DUEL-FUSE

Structural and graphical update.

• NEW TRIAL MAP : RC-Overpath

• NEW TRIAL MAP : RC-TownCenter

--- TUTORIALS ---

For those who want to create maps with the map editor included in the game and share them, we realized a series of tutorials here. We show you how to set up different types of light, movers, spawn points, and how to go about sharing your map on Steam Workshop.

Other tutorials about how to set up your crosshairs and your HUD will be available in the next few days.

--- GAME / EDITOR & DEDICATED SERVERS ---

With this update, once you've downloaded Master Arena, you will be able to launch the game, the map editor and a dedicated server without needing to download anything else. Moreover, the next patches might be smaller because this update allows simple file replacement to fix bugs.

WEAPONS BALANCING AND DAMAGE

Here are the changes regarding weapons balancing:

• Electrogun:
  • A 5HP decrease in head damage
  • Increase of ammo (50 vs 30 previously)
• Plasma:
  • A 5HP increase in damage
• Rocket Launcher
  • Increase of ammo
  • Secondary Fire : Increase of the damage radius, doesn't use ammo
• Flash Rifle
  • Increase of legs, torso and head damage
  • Secondary Fire : The speed of the flashball was reduced and its damage increased
• Sniper Rifle
  • Increase of the damage for each body part.

You will find more details here.

The damage detection method is now faster and more precise.

Message from Dev_Jerem:
With this new balancing, the goal is to have adequate time to kill for each weapon. The next steps in the development will be the air rocket (which doesn't take into account the height of the player) and most likely an adjustment of the Shotgun.

--- TEAMMATE & SPECTATOR X-RAY ---

The X-Ray for the friends has been added. From now on, you will be able to see your teammate through the walls (they will be in green).
For the spectator mode, this effect has just been updated for easier reading.

--- EDITOR ---

For those who want to create some maps, we tried to make the search for static meshes easier in the editor by adding tags.
First, the static meshes are sorted by type of environment (01 for a grey metallic one, 02 for a basketball type, and 03 for a white industrial environment).
Then they are by type which can be a wall, a ground, a light...
There can also be several tags for one static mesh. For example, in Environment_02, every static mesh is categorized by type (ground, wall, deco,...) but also by color (orange, red, blue,...)

This update is important for us for some technical points. If you have any bugs, issues or suggestions, do not hesitate to discuss with us on discord. Feel free to invite your friends to join us, share and like on socials networks.

See you in-game, Master Arena Dev Team.

Hello everyone!

Here we are for a new update. Let's see what's new!

--- GAMEPLAY ---

• Pickups dropped upon death

Before this update, when you fragged an enemy, he would drop his weapon. It is a good thing but not enough. At the end of a fight, the player who made the frag can be very low HP and be rushed by his enemy who knows it. To prevent this from happening, we decided to add some health pickups dropped by the dead player. Those health pickups add 15 health points and disappear after 10 seconds if not picked up.
This is implemented in order to have more interesting frags than classics rushes.

• Damage Effect

The first level of damage effect feedback has just been implemented. Now, when you hit an enemy, his skin takes the coloration of your weapon color type. Basically, if you hit an enemy with a rocket, his skin becomes red for a short time.

• Health

Max health is still at 150 HP but now, if you have more than 115HP, your health points will automatically decrease by 1 HP per second.

--- WEAPONS ---

Some changes about combos. They have been tested during the last few days, it is officially released with this update.

In the past, there were two ways to do a combo:
- Fire a grenade, switch to the Sniper Rifle and hit it.
- Fire a grenade switch to FlashRifle and hit it.

The differences between those combos were the explosion radius and damages (more significant for a sniper rifle combo).

Today, you can forget this game mechanic. Reported by a lot of players, this mechanic is very hard to use in a real fight situation. So…it’s logical that we translate the combo explosion mechanic to the FlashRifle with an alt-fire. By pressing the alt-fire button when using the FlashRifle, a flashball projectile is fired. You then have to aim the projectile and press the primary fire to achieve a combo explosion! (Yes, like Unreal Tournament, our father:) ).

Demonstration:

Did you notice it? We say “Combo explosion” instead of “Combo”.
In fact, the combos with a grenade have not been abandoned but reworked to introduce two new mechanics:
- “Combo Flash”: Grenade + FlashRifle, when the FlashRifle beam hits the grenade projectile, all players near the explosion are flashed for a few seconds.
- “Combo Smoke”: Grenade + Sniper Rifle, when the Sniper bullet hits the grenade projectile, a smoke area is created for a few seconds.

Demonstration:

Those mechanics are implemented to add more tactics and unexpected events during a game (especially on Team Games) and may be subject to change.

And to finished, some weapons were balanced:
- Melee: Damages up to 6HP (previously 5HP).
- FlashRifle: Damages decreased (adaptation to new health meta).
- Sniper Rifle: Damages decreased (headshot balancing & adaptation to new health meta).

For more information, check our google doc.

--- OTHER UPDATES/FIXES ---

• Matchmaking search fixed.
• Carnage pickup is now correctly dropped.
• Some loading delays on the main menu fixed.
• FlashRifle first person mesh position corrected.
• New Splash screen & game icon.

That's all for today. See you soon!

Feel free to join us on :
Discord: Discord.gg
Twitter: Twitter.com
Facebook: Facebook.com
Reddit: Reddit.com

Hello community,

These past few months there were several updates.
To resume all the changes realized, here is a video.

We also completely redid Master Arena’s website. You can now get an alpha access key by clicking on the button on the home page.

That's all for today. See you soon!

Feel free to join us on :
Discord: Discord.gg
Twitter: Twitter.com
Facebook: Facebook.com
Reddit: Reddit.com

Hey everyone!

Here comes our second update. Check below to see what's new!

--- GAMEPLAY ---

• Boost Gauge:
  • Reloading time is up to 12 seconds (previously: 5 seconds).
  • Cost of the different movements:
    • Bounce: 10% (previously: 25%)
    • Forward/Backward dodge: 25%
    • Right/Left dodge: 10%
    • Super Jump: 50% (previously: 100%).
    • Wall dodge: 10% (before this update, doing wall dodges reloaded the boost gauge by 15%).
• New pickup: Boost pickup is now available! It gives a 10% boost with a respawn time of 10 seconds.

• One-Tap Dodges (or wall dodges) settings available. You will find this setting in the “Commands” submenu. To use it, you have to press the dedicated bind and then the directional input when you want to dodge!

--- UI ---

• Flag icon added when you carried the flag in CTF mode.

• Colored Team death message: from grey to blue or red.

• Locations of "Round scores" and "Team scores" are now switched.
• Scoreboards updated: Players ID is now drawn.

--- TEAM INSTAGIB GAMETYPE ---

• Weapons & beams are now colored according to your team.

--- FIXES ---

• Capture The Flag: warmup available.
• Local: Number of bots is selected by step of 1 (0 to 10).
• The "Escape" key can't be bound.
• New default setting for SuperJump.
• Shotgun hit sound fixed.
• DM-Mars: some collisions fixed.

--- IN TEST ---

• New player boost gameplay.
• Servers list and connection directly from a game.
• FootSteps 3D Spacialization.

That's all for today.

Feel free to join us on :
Discord : Discord.gg
Twitter : Twitter.com
Facebook : Facebook.com
Reddit : Reddit.com

Hey everyone!

We are starting this month with our first update. Check below to see what's new!

--- GAMEPLAY ---

• Teleporter: Collision Radius is bigger (165 uu instead of 102).
• Player:
  • Air speed clamped to 2000 (previously: 3180).
  • Air control up to 0.60 (previously: 0.5).
  • Bounce speed is now clamped at 1750 (previously: infinite).
  • Bounces are a bit higher.

--- UI ---

• Scoreboards Updated
  • DeathMatch
  • Team Games
  • Arena Royale
• Weapon ammo status

• Arena Royale: display of the number of lives left available.

--- ADMIN MENU ---

Pause feature added in the Admin Menu

>> When the game is unpaused, it restarts after a countdown.

--- SOUNDS ---

• New chat beep message.
• The announcer now says ["3" – "2" – "1" – "PLAY"] instead of ["beep"- "beep"- "beep"- "PLAY"].
• Weapon pickup & zoom sounds are now correctly categorized (sound volume management impact).
• Carnage spawn sound is now lower.
• Electrogun sounds are now fixed.
• Weapon pickups respawn sound is now audible.
• Team announcer >> Replacement of:
  • "Alpha Team Scores" with "Red Team Scores"
  • "Omega Team Scores" with "Blue Team Scores"
  • "Alpha Team takes the Lead" with "Red Team takes the Lead"
  • "Omega Team takes the Lead" with "Blue Team takes the Lead"

--- MAPS ---

• New Proto Map: CTF-Embed_Init

• New Proto Map: CTF-PowerPlant

That's all for today.

Feel free to join us on :
Discord : Discord.gg
Twitter : Twitter.com
Facebook : Facebook.com
Reddit : Reddit.com

Hello everyone!

A new update is available. Check below to see what's new in the game!

--- MATCHMAKING ---

In the testing phase last week, we release the first version of our matchmaking.
Basically, you just have to click on your favorite game mode and let’s go!
The matchmaking prioritizes servers quality (best ping) for you. :)

--- MOVEMENTS ---

• Dodges added!
  So now you can dodge, wall-dodge, bounce, jump and super jump!
  While wall-dodge reloads your boost gauge, a simple dodge consumes it by 40 %!

--- GAME MODE : ARENA ROYALE UPDATE ! ---

• Warmup : 60 seconds.
• 7 lives.
• At the first spawn, a player only has the melee weapon.
• Arena Royale integrates a “Gun Master” mode: the player gets the weapons based on the number of frags and deaths :
  • 1 frag: unlock Plasma.
  • 2 frags: unlock Electrogun.
  • 4 frags: unlock SMG.
  • 6 frags: unlock Shotgun.
  • 8 frags: unlock Grenade Launcher.
  • 10 frags: unlock Rocket Launcher.
  • 12 frags: unlock FlashRifle.
  • 15 frags: unlock Sniper.
• In order to be fair, when you died several times, your inventory will evolve as below:
  • 2 deaths without frag: unlock Plasma.
  • 4 deaths with less than 2 frags: unlock Electrogun.
  • 6 deaths with less than 3 frags: unlock SMG.
• When a weapon is unlocked, you respawn with it.

--- MAPS ---

• New map: AK-Isotropic

Isotropic is a new Arena Royale map, smaller than AK-PlayGround, it will be perfect for close combat!

• DM-BlutArena: some heal pickup added.

--- WEAPONS ---

• Rocket launcher: Damage radius up to 850 (750).

For more information: check our google doc

--- SERVERS ---

• North America servers are now available!

That's all for today.

Feel free to join us on :
Discord : Discord.gg
Twitter : Twitter.com
Facebook : Facebook.com
Reddit : Reddit.com

Hello everyone!

We are starting this month with our first update. So let's see what is going to change.

---GAMEPLAY ---

Team Announcer: Now announces Blue/Red team instead of Alpha/Omega team.
Electrogun removed from spawn default inventory.

--- WEAPONS ---

Electrogun: Ammo up to 40.
SMG: Ammo up to 50.
For more information: check our google doc

--- CONNECTION STATUS ---

Server connection failed: addition of an error feedback window (wrong password, server full, game not up to date, etc.).

--- SERVER MASTER LIST ---

Server player’s slots management: A spectator is no longer counted as an active player on the server master list.

--- CHARACTER ---

Player Physic asset collision: New collision definition to prevent some hitbox problems.
Player Color: New strategy. We replaced Alpha & Omega with Red & Blue Team.

--- SOUND DESIGN ---

Global sounds attenuation reviewed (fire/impact/explosion). Reverb added for some weapons firing sounds.
>> Correction of footsteps sounds.

--- MAPS ---

DM-Basement: the map is a bit larger

DM-Fuse: Larger doors and rooms + some collisions fixed

DM-Creuset: a wall was moved in order to improve movements

That’s all for today. See you soon :)

Feel free to join us on :

Discord : Discord.gg
Twitter : Twitter.com
Facebook : Facebook.com
Reddit : Reddit.com

Hello everyone!

It’s time for the 2nd part of this month’s update. Well, let’s get started!

— WEAPONS —

Global weapons balancing :

• Check our google doc to know what changes were done (damages / fire rate / etc..).
• Mid-Air rocket and grenade: Damages are now multiplied when you do a mid-air with a rocket or a grenade!

Two secondary fire added :

• SMG burst!
  • Primary Fire: Fire Rate is about 0.132s.
  • Secondary Fire (burst): Fire Rate is about 0.085s, fires 5 ammo and reload in 1 second.

Shotgun shells bounce!

• Primary Fire: Fire Rate is about 0.45.
• Secondary Fire (burst): Fire Rate is about 0.75s. Booth mode fires 10 shells.
• /!\ Warning to suicide :)

— UI CHANGES —

UI Damage Effect : Red screen intensity was adjusted. It is more present than in the last update.

Damages Popup : Works correctly now with the shotgun

— PRIVATE SERVER —

Now private servers are listed, you join them directly from the main menu.

— SERVER ADMINISTRATION UI —

How to administrate my server in-game? It’s easy:

• Press “Esc”,
• Enter your password,
• Click on admin icon :)

You can kick, ban, mute players and switch server maps!

— MAPS —

We broke some wall in DM-Creuset! The map is now a bit larger, take a look here :

PROTO (maps in dev, can be removed or subjected to large structural modifications).

>>> DM-BlutArena (1v1 to 2v2)

>>> DM-Ross

>>> DM-Remaining

— OTHER CHANGES —

• Network: Gamedir correctly set from engine settings and steamworks ;
• Team UI spectator: score UI is now drawn correctly ;
• CTF: sometimes you could see wrong mate colors after team switch (first spawn only). It will be fixed now ;
• Fix local game launch menu: You can start a game without adding a map to the list ;
• Bots staying on servers: Bots are now kicked at the end of each game ;
• Announcer: correction of the voices for “remaining kills” ;
• Player score and deathmatch score limit: when a player does a frag, his score is incremented by 5. In the previous version player score and player kills weren’t differentiated. Now they are! The end game is triggered by player kills and not by the score.

That’s all for today. See you soon :)

Feel free to join us on :

Discord : Discord.gg
Twitter : Twitter.com
Facebook : Facebook.com

and reddit : Reddit.com