Hello and welcome to week two of Sky Noon deprivation. Since the closed beta ended we’ve been analysing our long lists of feedback and making some changes. We are hard at work fixing bugs you found for us and polishing up some rough areas in response to the feedback. Meanwhile we are also taking a good look at weapon and ability balance. We want to carefully approach potentially overpowered weapons and abilities to make sure they remain fun to use and powerful but not clearly stronger than the rest. We will be able to talk more in detail about balancing later on.

For now, a fairly significant change we would like to share is the update we have made to the Cart map ‘Bridge’ which we showed during the closed beta. Some of the following changes are a work in progress and are subject to change.

Feedback

After observing gameplay and receiving feedback about the map we decided that Bridge was in need of some work. Bridge was the most flat and open map in Sky Noon at the time with two main landmasses and smoothed land. The lack of cover meant the cart and the players were practically exposed at all times yet, there were fewer areas than usual to knock people away. The central mounds proved to be frustrating, stopping people in their tracks when shot without explanation. It created chaotic gameplay, with people struggling to get kills or to score with the occasional never ending tie breaker.

Changes


Old Bridge


New Bridge

The main change is the addition of layered flat land where the empty mounds used to be. The goal here is to add some additional cover to break sightlines and occasionally requiring more thought about your positioning when approaching the cart. There should be more of a tug of war in the trench with the cart, putting the emphasis on the corner into the base and requiring flanking maneuvers to outgun the enemy. Adding flatter surfaces makes shooting people away easier while making it much clearer what and where the obstacles or walls are.


Old Bridge


New Bridge

The map also saw the removal of the large landmass directly next to each team base. The ability crate that was on top is now lower on a suspended platform. The goal was to open up the area for more elimination and flank opportunities on the defenders. To balance this the first and second gates were pushed further back with an added wall to take cover behind. The defenders should now feel slightly safer deeper into their base with the new cover, yet they remain vulnerable to flanks and sneak attacks with several openings. That’s it for the major changes to Bridge but you may notice some extra cover or scenery differences next time you play.

Thanks for reading this weeks blog post! Stick around for more updates and potentially new beta information in the future.