Hi all and welcome to another Friday “Letter from the Devs”! This week will be our last before the May Update arrives! Yup, as things look now we are on track to have the May Update out to you all next week.
Those of you who tuned in to Wednesday’s stream have seen some early peeks off what you can expect to see when the update goes live, but for those who missed it we’ll include those changes (as well as some other tidbits) below:
Intro Island Improvements - We’ve taken a look at player feedback, as well as our own data, and saw a lot of people were not getting a good feel for the game during their initial experience. We’ve gone back and looked at ways to improve the feeling of the starting area to give new players a better understanding of the variety the game holds later on. We’re evaluating how these changes affect player behavior in this limited capacity as we know that the denseness of the experience in the game is something that is called out by all players. Going forward we plan to explore other ways of filling up the world, so consider this the start.
Photo Mode - One thing Generation Zero has unanimously been praised for is the stunning look of the world itself. After having read countless comments requesting this, and having spotted several mods trying to fulfill a similar purpose, we’re happy to present you with the Photo Mode. Play around with the various filters, capture your favorite moments, and please let us know how we can improve it to fit your photographer needs.
“Head-Bobbing” Change - We received a lot of feedback about the bouncing effect when running in Generation Zero. You’ll now find an option to toggle this on and off in the settings menu.
Sound Improvements - Heartbeat sounds are now lowered, and gets quieter over prolonged running. There was some quick clear feedback we received after this sound effect was added in April, we heard you and hopefully you’ll like this version more!
Explosives Re-Balanced - Previously there were some inconsistencies calculating explosive damage regarding how damage was applied, with canisters being very good, and granatgevär shots not so much. With this patch explosive damage should be more predictable and consistent throughout all weapons, gadgets, and props in the game
XP Changes - Improvements have been made on how XP is awarded based on damage dealt to enemies. This improves how this aspect of combat XP is awarded in a more consistent and predictable way. There are still some changes to be made with how XP is awarded when using gadgets and props; things we are looking into this for future updates.
NOTE: This is not ALL of the changes in next week’s update, just a small pick from the overall patch notes. The full list will arrive next week, and contains many, many more changes, improvements, and bug-fixes.
Next week we also have something extra-special planned for you, where you as a community can work together during a limited-time event. We’ll unveil this in next week’s stream, but those checking our social media and forums can find the same news soon after so don’t worry about missing out.
Next time we’ll be in touch it’ll be with the full list of May Update goodies, so stay-tuned for that after the weekend. Speaking of which, have a great one!
//The Generation Zero Team