Beta 1.15 is yet another game feel update, but it’s without a doubt the biggest one yet. In this update I did a fresh pass on nearly every aspect in the game. My goals were to polish the current mechanics, give the player better feedback, and generally streamline the whole experience in a way that better supports the core loop. I want any given match of Soran to tell a short memorable story, so that you can look back and say stuff like, “remember when I shot the water cooler and it caused you to slip and die in my pile of broken glass?” Updating the game feel will hopefully help create more of those stories. Here’s whats new…


Weapons
-Weapon specific reticules introduced
-Updated 3D models for the Rifle, Doob Tube, Bottler, & Sun Beam
-Procedural animations added to the Rifle, Sniper, Pistol, Doob Tube, Bottler, Crossbow
-Updated sound design for the Rifle, Sniper, Pistol, Doob Tube, Bottler, and E.O.D.L.R.
-Updated FX, Sound design, & Netcode for bullet weapons
-Doob Tube Buffed: Holding the trigger will stop Doobs from exploding, and releasing it will trigger a remote detonation
-Defenestrator Buffed: Sound projectiles now grow larger
-Various Sun Beam bugs fixed

Movement
-Landing crouched now gives the player a slight boost relative to their velocity and floor incline
-Procedural animations added to the weapon when strafing, sliding and wall jumping
-Motion lines added to high velocity players because they feel awesome
-Releasing crouch input no longer stops the player’s slide


AI
-behavior updated to slide and jump more frequently
-fixed bug causing the bot to stop firing at the player
-fixed bug causing the bot to get stuck strafing in it’s respawn area

Maps
-Bullet holes and explosion decals will now remain on the map permanently
-Broken bottles will respawn after 60 seconds
-Small geometry update on The Symmetrical Arena
-Small geometry update on Bow
-Geometry updated on Huntington Arena (fka And Another Arena)
-Bug causing players to clip through the fences on Docks fixed
-Various navigation fixes and jumps added to spots where the bots would get stuck
-The Asymmetrical Arena, Bridge, and Horizon have been removed from the game
UI (SunHat Screenshot)
-All menu UI overhauled to improve overall UX (it’s basically now 3D, and you can try on hats, build your gun composition, bind keys, and adjust settings easily from any menu/lobby screen)
-Scoreboard overhauled to show players’ names, weapon compositions, and lives remaining

Hats & DLC
Speaking of hats, I’ve added the first DLC cosmetics to Soran in the form of “The Rad Supporter Hat Pack”! You can support me in developing Soran by purchasing these three stylish hats from the Steam Store for just $4.99! Buyable hats, belts, gloves, shoes, and other accessories are my plan to fundraise for development costs, and eventually monetize the free to play multiplayer. So if you enjoy Soran and want to support it’s progress, please consider buying yourself some nice hats.


Also! If you did actually buy Soran back before it was free to play, as an extra thanks for your early support I want to give you exclusive access to the Samurai Hat. If you’ve beat me in matchmaking, which pretty much all of you early supporters have, the hat should still be in your save file. If you don’t have access to it and did buy the game, send me an email (soranfps@gmail.com), and I’ll get you a key for the exclusive DLC. You’ll also be getting a special pin to wear in game, but that’s an update or two away.

Networking & Community Playtests
With Beta 1.14 came our first community playtest. Thanks again to everyone who came out! I had an awesome time playing with and getting to meet more of you from our Discord. We’ll be doing more of those with this update so be sure to check out the Discord for updates (https://discord.gg/gbAxA5HX).

In one of our last community playtests we found a bug that had 3 players finding the same 1v1 host, and 2 getting kicked. I’ve implemented some fixes for this that worked in editor and with a QA test, but we’ll find out how that holds up against more stress in our next playtest. I have also made a few small network optimizations to the games VFX that will hopefully make for smoother online play. It’s incredible to have players from all over the world, and playing with y’all gives me an awesome chance to test and optimize my network architecture for higher ping scenarios.



Where to next?
So right now my main goal for Soran is to start testing 1.15 with all of you wonderful people. With these overhauls and optimizations, I’m sure some stuff will break. I want the 1v1 experience to consistently feel great on a variety of network conditions. Once we’ve got that down, the plan is to scale the whole thing up to include 2v2, Capture the Flag, in game Accolades, and increased customization (pins, gloves, hats, shoes, & skins). At that point the multiplayer will actually be fairly close to finished. All that will be left is to add more custom game modes and polish the whole thing. It’s pretty exciting for a release to start coming into view, but for the time being, I hope to see you in matchmaking.

-Joseph