London, UK, June 30th - Broken Arrow launched last week with tremendous success. Hundreds of thousands of copies have sold, and the number of simultaneous players in the game has yet to dip below 10,000 since launch.
Marco Alessandro Minoli, Director of Publishing, says “While no game is perfect, the response from the community has been incredible, and we’re just getting started.”
Player feedback has been closely monitored by the Steel Balalaika and Slitherine teams who are very active in the community chats, responding to comments and queries. Some points have been raised more than others, namely;
· Lack of a save game feature mid-mission in single player
· Issues with people leaving mid-game in multiplayer
· The anti-cheat system needing to be fine-tuned and improved
· Issues with connectivity and stability
In the first week since launch the developers have been hard at work to fix the most immediate problems as they have started addressing Skirmish mode, localisations and multiplayer stability.
What is coming with Update 1.08?
The next patch, Update 1.08, is going to be a big one. Compared to the immediate hotfixes implemented during launch week, this update will be larger and require more thorough testing. It is currently expected to be ready for release the week of 7th July.
The update is going to contain:
· Improvements to stability, both offline and online
· Fixes for the most significant problems related to memory consumption
· Reconnect fixes and improvements
· An update to the anti-cheat system
· The possibility to choose between a small or large layout for the maps for custom matches and skirmish for players looking for smaller matches than 5v5. The game will automatically select the layout corresponding to the number of players+AI but players will also have the option to manually select one layout or the other
· The tower defence mode that was present during the beta will be making a comeback and has been improved
What is coming after that?
Developers will continue to work on fixing major issues, and overall improvements of the game software on both ends.
A key focus will be addressing the lack of a penalty for players who leave during a multiplayer match by introducing a time-out system that penalizes leavers with progressively longer time-outs. Additionally, a Surrender option will be introduced.
The studio has strongly stated that “we’re not going to stop our fight against cheaters, and we will continue working on improvements for our anti-cheat. As for Save Games, we know it’s a highly requested feature. However, implementing it is more complex than it may appear. Currently we’re investigating our options to make your single player experience more convenient.”
Steel Balalaika and Slitherine have been vocal about plans to expand the game with new factions and DLC, with the Broken Arrow franchise receiving continued support and development for years to come.
That said, no spoilers just yet!
I’m still having technical problems! Help!
As the developers are working on the update, you can find a list of solutions to some of the issues that players are currently facing here.