Let's talk about what we focus on and what you should expect in the next big update.

# Expanding the FTB ecosystem

For many people in game mechanics are like voodoo. They work somehow but if player wants to expand on, let's say how runes work, how XP gain and levelup systems on elimination work they can't do so.

For that reason we are adding wiki for the game. It will be on https://forthebattle.fandom.com/. Currently there is nothing here, but soon content will be added and you are welcome to contribute!

We also will add patch notes. They will be hosted on our website https://vippy.games/ftb so you will be able to track changes more easily.

# Improving game experience

I'm excited to begin working on FTB 2.7. Mine hands are shaking. We planned 3 main points for this update:

## Improving game modes

The current main supported game modes are:

- Normal: Deathmatch with other stickmen

- Competitive: Battle royale with shrinking laval until the last player standing

- Teams: Like normal, just people have teams and cannot attack sitckment from same team

- Duels: Intense 1v1 vs another stickman

### Normal

We are satisfied with this one so no changes will be made. People just immediately thrown into a room to fight other players or AI with immediate respawns. For quick fun fight experience.

### Competitive

In the current state every 30 seconds an event is happening. The events are lava moves from right, left, bottom, or toxic rain becomes stronger from upwards. Those events force players to change their fight location, therefore shrinking the zone like in battle royale.

We like this and it's fun, but more stuff can be added to make the fights better. First we check the option of adding more such events. For example some airdrop that will make players stronger, or increased XP for limited time and so on.

Second, we want to add some mechanism that rewards players for fighting and winning each other. Currently, players just farm and gain infinite levels that remain even after death, and the winner is the one who farmed the most(whether players, AI or orbs with xp). We want to change this state so players are rewarded for winning specifically other players.

In games like Apex Legends, players gain permanent better shield for dealing damage to other players, encouraging to fight each other during early stages of the game and not just hide in bush. We want to add something similiar to this. We explore the option of:

- Reset player powerups on death. Like in normal game mode.

- On player elimination gain small permanent boost. Damage reduction, increased damage etc.

This way to become stronger you need to win other players, but to win other players you need to farm to increase the chances - and in the late game zone levels the stick man with most of those permanent boosts is more likely to win.

Also we improve other stuff, like if all spawn points inside lava to provide safe zone to spawn within existing boundaries and so on.

Those are the main points.

### Teams

The current state is pretty banal - like normal but without ability to hit some stickmen. We will make this game mode truly special.

First, the game will start only when there are enough players. Currently it's like in normal where you can jump into the arena even if there are no players online. The players will gain teams, and the first team to reach some amount of kills(20, 30?) wins.

It encourages teams to work together, share resources, heal zones and literally win together. The game mode will become ending and not permanently active room.

This will put the teamwork at the center and making it fun to fight others, unlike in the current state when it's just normal game mode without option for victory and half stickmen are untouchable.

### Duels

The current concept is that 2 players thrown into a small room. Then every 30 seconds lava moves up and new zone spawns above the stickmen, forcing them to swap fight location. This happens for 5 minutes or so until no zones spawn anymore and they fight to the death.

While the concept is fun - there are some points that are pretty frustrating from mine observation & players feedback:

####  Most casualities are from falling into lava

Imagine you fight on the 10th floor, and accidently fall from it into lava, often flying many floors down without option to come back. You lose.

The focus of duels should be on 1v1 fighting, not on losing by misjumping. We investigate options to combat this issue. For example put some floor so stickmen don't fall too much below the current zone, or the idea we like more - once the stickman loses 1/3 of the HP then teleport him back to the current zone. It makes that he is punished that misjumped, but can continue to fight. And considering that there is small a HP regen over time - he can even comeback.

#### Pretty banal

Yes cool, zones spawn and lava moves up, and you fight another stickman with abilities. But missing some reason to, you know, get first to the upper zone, fight for high ground and so on. For that reason we explore adding permanent boost to the winning player. When new zone spawns above the players, a powerup orb will spawn at random location there too. The first player to move to the next zone(the one that likely had priority in the previous zone) will reach the next floor first. The winning player will have increased chance of getting the permanent powerup - shield, resistance or rhino skin. The main point is that it is permanent.

In the current state low HP player just runs away regenerating HP and the strong tries to catch him. This update will give incentive to fight over that power orb and therefore reward the dominating player which will more likely transition into victory.

## Improve the queue system

Ah, queues. Under the hood there usually not enough players to open competitive or teams room. In worldwide popular games like League of Legends queues can take even 5-6 minutes sometimes.

Currently, when clicking on competitive, player is thrown into some waiting room. This waiting is, will all the respect, trash map that was created like 5 years ago with the initial version of FTB. It is unplayable, no wonder people quit the game as soon as they touch it.

We look into making the in-queue system better, and therefore improve the time for competitive room to be created. We look into allowing players to keep navigating the menu and looking for skins, abilities etc, or allowing all players in queue to fight in some big cage during this time. I mean all players in queues - duels, teams, competitive etc. It will make the waiting for the game experience more fun, and will not necessarily force you to play normals, as no players in other game modes.

## Google Play Games cloud save & Achievements

Not sure if it will come in FTB 2.7, as those features need to be battle-tested well as deal with user's data, but we plan to try include them in the next update.

Say what you will, but social play and experience progress is important for enjoying the game. We look into offering saving player's data in the cloud. We will automatically check for conflicts and help you resolve them. So you can play on many devices, with many accounts, and be sure that we handle anything in the background.

Also we look into adding achievements and leaderboards for Google Play Games. It will simply make the FTB experience more fun and a nice addition to the game.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!