Dev Diary: Movement, Matchmaking, and Issue #2

Hey, Renegades! I’m Andy Duthie, Executive Producer for HAWKED. As we approach the launch of Issue #2, I wanted to recap a few key dates and address major topics that have been on Renegades’ minds following recent updates: movement, traversal, and Wonder Rush.

KEY DATES & EVENTS

Big changes are coming to X-Isle. As we prepare to launch Issue #2, get ready to make the most of Issue #1: Renegades with a grand send-off:

• Red Spring (May 2): This limited-time event features an exciting new Questline, exclusive rewards to earn and exchange, and a new collection available in the Shop.
• Venture 4 (May 16): A new presence makes itself known on X-Isle as Issue #1: Renegades draws to a close. Don’t miss this end-of-Issue event, as it’s only running for one week! 
• Issue #2 (May 23): Dangerous enemies finally emerge from the shadows. Get ready to do your part, Renegades.

MOVEMENT & TRAVERSAL

In Update 1.4.1, we made major changes to movement systems in HAWKED. Our goal was always to allow for smooth, intuitive traversal, and have Renegades focus more on their weapons, Gear, and skills to outwit opponents than the overuse of mechanics such as bunny-hopping. 

These changes didn’t go over well with the entire Renegade community. While our work isn’t done yet, we are listening to your feedback, and more changes are yet to be made. 

These goals have been at the forefront of our developers’ minds since the game’s inception, and they’re what we’re still committed to delivering:

• Fluid Traversal: Getting around X-Isle should be smooth for all players, with a little more nuance for players with at least a medium skill level. For example, we’re looking at allowing for animation cancellations while using the Traverser.
• Tactical, Approachable, Fun Combat: This is important to have for players of all experiences and skill levels, including how movement, weapons, teamwork, Gears, Artifacts, positioning, and leveraging your environment become factors.
• Platform Parity: In the interests of total fairness, players on one type of platform should not have an advantage over others.

We will look at enhancing movement and jumping slightly, as well as exploring the amount of extra health and shields it’s possible to attain. We’re always monitoring your feedback, so let us know what we’re getting right and what we need to work on!

WONDER RUSH

We launched this limited-time mode as part of our commitment to keeping HAWKED flowing with new content and surprises. It was only available during select hours to make it a special way of getting more Wonderium, and to make sure that matchmaking for other modes wouldn’t be negatively impacted.

We gathered some interesting data from your playtime so far. Around 37% of Renegades tried Wonder Rush (some of you can’t take your eyes off the Artifact!), with many of you averaging around three matches played. While PvP encounters are slow-going to begin with, competition tended to heat up as hauls became more irresistible. 

We definitely noted a few issues to work out, including matches completely dominated in PvP by one duo and relatively high wait times for matchmaking.

Let us know what you think of Wonder Rush, if you’d like to see it return, and what changes you’d make!

MATCHMAKING

We’ve put a lot of work into improving matchmaking since the launch of Issue #1, and expect to deploy even more improvements in Issue #2. 

Improving matchmaking times is super important to us especially—new players should expect to find a match in less than a minute, while mid-level players should be matched in less than three minutes, and veterans in less than six. 

Elsewhere, changes have been made to how players are rated, so Renegades who are effective in PvP will match with more PvP-focused Renegades. Similarly, more pacifist Renegades will match with like-minded players. If you’re on a losing streak, you’ll come across more low-level players and bots until you get your mojo back.

To keep our assessment of skill levels accurate, the speed at which the system registers changes to players’ ratings has also been increased to register more up-to-date matchmaking data. 

We also want to incentivize players to improve their skills. Players in matches of a higher skill level have a random chance of getting better weapons. And for players of all skill levels, if you open the Treasury or defeat a Caravan, you will get a higher chance of receiving Artifacts you don't already own.

Finally, to improve the onboarding experience for new players, we’re still making changes to how veteran players are matched against new ones. We only want new players to be fighting new players, testing their skills on bots, and learning the ropes, and not be thrown in at the deep end. Soon, we’ll change the matchmaking thresholds to split them up even more.

Your feedback is so important to us. It helped us launch HAWKED from Early Access, and we’re confident you can help improve HAWKED in the future. If you’re digging HAWKED, or if we’ve squashed your major bugbears so far, drop us a review or revisit your score on Steam, the PlayStation Store, or the Microsoft Store. 

If you’re experiencing issues or have ideas to improve your HAWKED experience, jump on Discord. We read everything, and your voice really can make the difference.

Thanks again, Renegades! See you on X-Isle.