over 1 year ago - Hunt: Showdown - Direct link

Transcript (by Youtube)


0s what's up everybody and welcome to
2s today's video
4s um this is going to be the very first
6s developer update of the year
9s um we hope you're all having a fantastic
10s year so far uh purpose of this video is
13s to go through a little bit of a rundown
14s of the roadmap for the year ahead
16s um we've had a great start to the year
18s so far with our fifth anniversary just
20s coming to the end of it now
22s um and it's been really really awesome
23s having you all around supporting us
25s through our twitch drops and and
27s everything that's been going on so
29s um but uh yeah for this video like I
31s said we want to talk about uh the a bit
34s of the roadmap for 2023 before we get
37s into that I'd like to introduce my guest
39s for this evening
41s um this will be his first time joining
42s us for one of the developer live videos
44s uh he has joined us on the gameplay
46s stream so maybe you have had a chance to
48s check him out and ask him some questions
50s when he's been on with the guys
52s um if not allow me to introduce the hunt
55s General Manager David Fifield how are
56s you doing today hey I'm doing great Rick
58s thanks for having me no problem at all
60s it's great to have you with us and
62s hopefully this won't be the first or LA
64s or this won't be the last video uh that
66s uh we have you on of course it will be
67s the first you're relatively new with us
69s um like I said you've been on a couple
71s of the gameplay streams and uh you've
73s answered some questions and you've
74s appeared recently in the anniversary
76s video
77s um but why don't you just so our
78s community can kind of get to know you a
79s bit why don't you tell us a little bit
80s about yourself uh yeah sure I've been uh
83s making computer games and video games
86s for about 25 years started on PC games
89s back in the late 90s with MechWarrior 4
92s and did a bunch in that series went to
95s Mecca salt on the consoles and then the
98s book of my work since then it's kind of
99s stayed in that competitive PVP Shooters
101s I've worked on a bunch of the Call of
103s Duty titles ranging from like Black Ops
105s up through advanced Warfare uh did a
108s Call of Duty online product in China
109s then went over to Halo did a lot of
112s stuff with them around Halo 5 and what
115s they were doing for their multiplayer
116s live services and the online engagement
118s and have then made my way over here to
121s be working on the hunt franchise wow
124s it's a pretty pretty extensive
125s background that you've got there and uh
127s I can I for one can say that we're very
129s glad to have you on board as a team it's
131s great to be able to tell our audience
133s exactly what is it you do and what is
134s your role here at crytek at the moment
136s yeah sure so as the general manager for
139s the hunt franchise I have direct
141s management of all our department
142s directors and the leaders kind of across
144s the board so all those different
146s departments that make the game happen
148s make what the game is and then get it
150s out to all of you to play
152s um you know all those folks have some
153s form of leader director and then that
155s table of folks reports up to me to make
157s sure we're all kind of pulling in the
159s same direction and following a goal and
161s a road map like we're going to talk
162s about today for where we want the
164s franchise to go over the years to come
166s awesome okay and I think I think the
169s most important question out of all of
170s this is what is it about hunt and crytek
173s that made you want to join the team
174s first I was curious about this game and
176s kind of notably growing what looked like
178s a small audience on Steam been year over
181s year it was putting out cool trailers
183s with these horror monsters and cowboys
185s shooting them up with guns and then when
188s I started digging into the data I was
189s like wow no it's a real steady climb
191s with more and more players engaging it
193s every year and so having done service
195s games and done a lot of Shooters I was
197s really curious why was that what was
199s going on there so it started out as kind
201s of a professional research project but
204s then I very quickly fell in love with
205s the game and where I used to have those
207s three to four shooters that I would play
209s on rotation each week just to get
211s through all the different battle passes
212s or all the different seasons that were
214s going on I quickly became obsessed with
216s hunt and kind of pushed all those other
217s ones to the side wow okay that kind of
220s led to yeah like this conversation of
222s like okay so you know I make these games
224s for a living I love this one and I want
227s to see it go on and on and I want to see
229s it get bigger and I want to smooth out
231s some of the rough edges but I also want
233s to preserve this you know Beating Heart
235s that makes it so amazing and awesome
237s so that started the conversation with
239s crytek
240s um about everything I loved about the
241s product and a road map for where we
243s could take it um as we go forward with
244s it and yeah then that became the
247s position of general manager for the
249s franchise
250s um I've crossed about 1500 hours playing
252s the game so yeah I'm pretty deep into it
254s well okay I 100 did all the steam
258s achievements and did that I only have
260s like a 0.89 KDA I bounced between three
263s and four stars on the MMR so I'm a very
265s dedicated but also a very average
267s skilled player
269s um but yeah just enjoy the heck out of
270s it that's really cool thanks very much
272s for uh talking us through that and I've
274s got to say with like in in terms of the
276s the amount of hours I mean you're kind
277s of up there with uh with myself with the
279s 1500 hours or so and I mean I know you
281s did a lot of that before you even joined
283s the team
284s um which is really great so knowing that
285s you have that kind of knowledge already
286s coming into it um which is it's really
289s cool it's it's I always think it's
290s really really awesome to see
292s um and I don't you know hot take here
294s you know you're saying you're hovering
295s around three to four stars three star
297s games five star games so just
300s just totally putting it out there but
302s hang on that's what I read online so
304s okay so before we move on anyway to talk
306s about 2023 I think it's really important
308s that we kind of do a quick recap over
310s 2022 and some of the important things uh
313s I mean we always have to kind of look at
315s what we've done in the past to make sure
316s that we can learn from them going
317s forward so one of the the kind of the
319s main things throughout the year
321s um was the trilogy of moon events um
323s that we had so ending there most
325s recently with the devil's Moon which
327s also brought with it the introduction of
329s the battle pass system
331s um do you want to take us through that
332s um those events that the battle pass and
334s how the impact they ended up having and
336s how well are they are they went for us
338s this year
339s yeah sure so we're very happy with the
342s sentiment that we've been reading about
343s around the evolution of the events and
345s the battle passes that came through
347s Traders Moon and Serpent's Moon and
349s Devil's Moon uh was a great trilogy
351s there and the data shows us a lot of
354s players engaging with it a lot of folks
356s going further with each one we learned
358s lessons on each one about what was
360s popular and what was not popular so
362s we're continuing to make adjustments and
364s we learned uh quite a bit in the devil's
366s Moon uh experience there too so that'll
368s be applied to Future things as we go
371s um also the challenge system that was
373s driving that and the underlying piece
375s was there the dark tribute system that
377s gives you the daily rewards just for
378s engaging on any given day and doing some
381s of the activities that it puts in front
383s of you like all of that's had a positive
384s impact on player engagement retention
387s and uh just the sentiment with the
388s product
389s so it's interesting you mentioned look
391s at the dark tribute and the challenges
392s and everything like that so because we
394s have made some significant changes with
396s challenges and also the introduction of
397s questlines uh within the year one of the
400s main focuses of these as we mentioned in
401s one of the videos last year was we
403s wanted to put a big focus on retention
405s um it was one thing that we found was
407s people were not staying around they were
409s playing for a while but they just kind
410s of would drop it for a bit and we wanted
412s to put a bit of a focus on that and
414s that's where the challenges and quest
415s lines came in so um talk to us about how
417s that's been going um for us since since
419s their their introduction
421s yeah so we have seen that solid
423s engagement and the excitement for both
425s systems and we see it not only with you
427s know posts and sentiment but in the data
429s so we can see the players play longer
431s sessions uh than they do when those
433s things are not available so that's good
434s engagement that way and we can see that
436s month over month more players are coming
438s back to play we call that retention and
440s that also improves when there's these
442s extra mechanics like this to give people
444s things to Chase and rewards to go after
446s and just more ways to play the game so
449s the return of Billy story and those
450s Halloween quests that we had released
452s there had a lot of good options and
454s rewards for the players and it was a
456s nice thing to have between the major
457s beats of Serpent's Moon and Devil's moon
459s to have those quest lines as another
461s smaller Chase line for people to go
463s after we do also because we can get a
466s little bit ahead uh have some more of
468s these quest lines that will be coming up
469s in March and we can talk about that
470s later on as we go through awesome and
473s when we talk about like the events and
474s the quest lines and everything this year
475s one of the points that actually did come
477s up was we actually broke our Peak player
479s numbers yet again
481s um which was something we've been able
482s to do year on year which has been been
484s really great and an awesome motivation
486s for the team and showing that what we're
487s doing and the work we're putting in has
489s been really awesome so
490s um like how have you been feeling about
492s the numbers I know you mentioned the
493s data has been showing that it's been
494s good so like how overall have you been
496s feeling about the numbers from
497s everything that's been going on
500s um yeah the numbers are good in that
501s regard like you said the concurrent
503s numbers of players anytime concurrency
504s is up it always helps with the
506s matchmaking and finding matches having
507s good lobbies having good options to get
510s those filled quickly uh the monthly new
512s users keeps going up showing there's
513s more and more people discovering hunt
515s for the first time and those engagement
517s sessions like they're playing for longer
519s and more of them are coming back for the
521s second month and not walking away in the
522s first month uh those are all the metrics
525s that we look at just to say okay is the
527s game healthy is it growing or is it Off
529s Track and going downhill and so with all
531s of those going up with each of those
533s events to break the records of the event
534s before uh we're very encouraged that
537s we're on the right track we have a great
539s community of players we have so many
541s online influencers who are engaging the
543s game daily we have these twitch
544s streamers and YouTube creators they
546s engage their communities they give them
548s tips and tricks and advice for
549s overcoming the challenges and it is a
552s very challenging game we recognize that
553s so we appreciate all the people who are
556s curious enough to to keep going even if
558s it feels rough at first first and then
560s look to some of these Heroes that are
562s out there online showing people how to
563s play and showing them how good it can
565s get when you do master all the things
567s that we have out there or even if you
569s don't Master it at least you get a
570s little bit better at making things
571s happen while you're out there hunting
573s yeah I mean it's been really really
574s amazing kind of seeing all of the
576s content that's out there at the moment
577s with our own hunt especially with the
579s anniversary just being finishing up the
580s twitch drop Center that have been going
582s on through the anniversary
584s um it's just like you said it's just
585s been amazing to see so many people
587s sticking with it and um it's you know as
590s I said at the start like we really want
591s to thank everyone for sticking with us
593s for um throughout the last five years
595s the next thing would probably be just to
596s kind of finish up our recap of the years
598s like what would you kind of call the
601s biggest wins for us this year or at
604s least 2022. yeah for 23 I think the
607s things that stand out to me or as I talk
608s to the other leadership is uh you know
611s culminating that Moon Trilogy with
612s Devil's Moon and having the 50 stages of
614s rewards uh the Hunter packs and the new
617s experimental traits that went into
618s Devil's moon were seen as a big success
621s they weren't all balanced the same and
623s to the same level but just that ability
625s to put some wild cards out there the
627s Wild Card conditions uh being a thing to
630s just mix up some of those core elements
631s of the game and see what it's like when
633s when you add that kind of power or those
635s kind of options uh we managed to release
638s the stalker Beetle without breaking the
639s game so yeah I was very happy with that
641s because there was a lot of folks who
643s thought that might not be the case uh we
645s were a bit conservative in its tuning
647s with its first launch so you can expect
648s that there's going to be some tuning
649s changes coming uh very soon to the
652s Beetle and possibly some variants that
653s will emerge in 2023 of the stalker
655s Beetle the questline's Halloween like I
658s had already mentioned you know it's a
659s nice beat to have between the the major
661s Moon Trilogy ones
662s um we're gonna have some of those quest
663s lines that'll be coming back again uh
666s like I said that'll be teasing the
668s events that are coming you'll get a
669s little narrative foreshadowing of what
671s to expect this summer awesome and The
674s Inferno wildcard it's a major feature it
676s was a big kind of push on technology uh
679s it definitely changed up the Bayou
680s definitely changed people's experiences
682s and their perceptions and those you know
685s a lot of people work really hard to pull
686s that together and deploy it last year so
689s those those are the big standout moments
691s of 22 for me yeah I mean The Inferno is
693s definitely one of the the big ones for
695s me as well I mean obviously it's very
697s fresh in our minds and everything
698s because it only happened so recently but
700s uh just a huge accomplishment from the
702s team and it was amazing to experience
704s just it it really like you said
706s completely changed up the game and I
707s know the community felt the same way
708s about it that's really awesome David
710s thanks for for going through that stuff
711s with us but I think probably now the
713s most important thing and what everyone
714s is waiting for is we make a start
716s talking about what's going to be
717s happening in 2023. so I think one of the
720s first things we should probably touch on
722s and it's something that does get asked a
723s lot is what does the future hold old for
726s hunt and I mean obviously with this
729s video we're going to be talking about
730s the immediate future but in general
732s speaking what does the future hold for
734s hunt sure so I think there's two major
736s components there like the first we could
738s talk about is the technology that hunt
739s is made with and the tech that it runs
741s on and then the second is you know
743s people are probably more interested in
744s the content and experiences that we're
746s going to be putting out there and we'll
748s touch a little bit on the content in a
750s small bit but I think the technology
752s side of things is probably going to
753s interest quite a lot of people out there
755s um and uh it's in particular something
758s that you brought up on a gameplay stream
760s you were asked um what was going to be
761s the primary focus of 2023 and I believe
764s your response was servers
767s um so yeah number one number one problem
769s to address our number one priority I
771s think it was yeah so that that's right
773s yeah so we have a major investment going
775s on it's been underway for a little bit
777s now into our net Ops and back-end
779s systems and you know that what that can
781s mean for hunting the long term we're
783s investing in some Dynamic server Tech
785s that will let us put more servers more
787s locations as needed uh to have better
790s connections for the people trying to get
791s to them and we're also investigating
794s additional hosting Solutions
796s um where that can be a problem for some
798s folks in some markets depending on how
800s that goes and sometimes that's out of
801s our control because it's just about the
803s internet or who the hosting providers
805s are but there are things that we can do
807s to help mitigate some of those
809s circumstances so that's all a very high
810s priority which also has us basically
813s creating the Strike Team around a lot of
815s that stuff and so like the infamous
817s reload bug we can talk about like that
819s has its roots in both game code and
822s latency issues so we went deeper into
824s those systems and at the end of the last
826s year it's just started opening the door
828s that we can tackle that one and some
830s other latency rooted issues so that
833s strike teams engaging on the reload bug
835s we have trade Windows is a thing we're
837s always investigating to and trying to
839s get those dialed uh into a right space
841s we know that it's a common frustration
843s Point uh that comes up for some of the
845s high-end Gamers with sometimes when the
847s Ping isn't good so we want to look at
850s what we can do to mitigate that rubber
852s banding and zero ping issues also all
854s come from this so that team is looking
856s at all of those issues uh with more
859s resources and more folks who've been
860s recruited in with a specialty and
862s solving some of those things to make it
864s better as we go forward so we'll come
867s back when we have some you know specific
869s updates and tangible fixes are
870s implemented uh we will have another
873s version of the reload system in the ammo
875s system that's been refactored that'll be
876s out in the spring update shortly and we
879s will continue to bang on it with
881s everyone else and see how it performs in
883s some of the worst internet conditions
884s because in good internet conditions we
886s think is fairly completely solved there
889s are those moments that can happen in the
890s high latency High ping moments where
892s then can reassert itself so makes sense
895s yeah and I'm sure you've touched on a
897s lot of points there I think that many
899s are going to be very happy to hear that
900s it's that we're actively working on it
902s in particular the trade Windows the
903s reload bug and the zero ping issues
905s which have been something that we've
906s been seeing you know come up quite a bit
908s lately so that's really really awesome
910s but I think things that we've touched on
912s the technology side and probably the
914s most most important aspect of the
916s technology side let's get on to what
918s people want to hear about and what they
919s want to hear about is the content
921s um I think the first thing we should
923s probably lay out for people is is how
925s are the updates going to be working for
927s us going forward uh what's going to be
929s the frequency how often are they going
931s to be out and everything are like that
933s yeah so when we're laying out the road
936s map we try to build the framework around
938s having these uh quarterly updates so you
941s want for a year
942s um being a Target that we do and that's
944s when we kind of give it a big number
945s increment of the build and so it roughly
947s equates to what are we doing for the
949s spring update the summer update the fall
951s update and the winter update as we use
953s the language internally here and then uh
956s in addition to those updates
958s um we do hot fixes we do do some content
960s additions and so those will come out
962s more frequently so it's not to say
964s you're only going to get four downloads
965s a year but there'll be four major ones
967s where we substantially change what's
969s going on in the game or if we kick off
971s and run a new event like each one of
973s those takes what we consider you know a
974s full update in that quarterly Cadence so
977s you can look for four big ones of those
979s as they come out and some will have more
981s some will have less
983s um but that's the Cadence we'll talk
985s about it that's great I'm sure everyone
986s will be very very happy to hear the the
988s kind of that that we're going to be
990s having for the remainder of this year um
992s I know that's always something that
993s people are wondering out so thank you
994s very much for sharing that information
995s with us David
997s um but I think I suppose the next thing
998s we should get on to is going to be the
1000s spring update that you mentioned as
1001s we're going to be having the the
1002s quarterly ones we clearly haven't had
1004s our one yet so take us through the the
1007s the first parts of the the spring update
1009s there
1011s yeah I'd be happy to so the things we're
1014s looking for in the spring update are
1017s going to start with some of the traits
1018s that we're going to carry forward uh
1020s that were there in the devil's moon
1024s event so self res and the solo Buffs um
1026s are going to be part of that spring
1027s update we're going to have it available
1030s to any solar solo player with the
1032s Necromancer trait uh we'll have some
1034s tuning details on this one as it comes
1036s closer to launch but yeah self rest is
1038s coming back uh we're gonna be focusing
1041s on new players we have a lot of folks
1043s who like I was talking about earlier on
1045s like hunt can be hard to learn and even
1047s knowing what you're supposed to do and
1049s what is a clue and what is uh you know a
1050s layer and what is a target or a boss or
1053s whatever you call that so we have an
1055s improved scripted tutorial that we're
1057s trying to put out that will give a
1059s little more color to the world of the
1061s hunters it'll have some of our first vo
1063s work that's happening out there we're
1065s very proud of that so you'll start
1067s hearing a little bit more of the the
1068s characterization of what it's like to be
1070s getting indoctrinated into the hunt
1073s culture as a hunter and look forward to
1076s seeing what the impact that has on more
1078s of those new users adopting the game and
1080s sticking with it uh player choice is
1083s another thing we'll be experimenting in
1085s the spring update with day and night
1086s contracts uh these experiments are going
1089s to allow the player some Choice uh it's
1092s going to be a limited run so it might
1093s only be on weekends we have to be
1095s sensitive to those matchmaking pools and
1097s how many players there are at any given
1099s time
1100s so we'll have these windows where we're
1102s going to put up two contracts and we're
1103s gonna allow the players the choice of
1105s saying do you want to go to a standard
1106s contract that has a rotation of the day
1108s times or we're classifying the Knight as
1110s the wild cards where it's just going to
1112s be rotations of knights and so as you go
1115s into those you know we'll be looking for
1117s your engagement we'll be looking for
1118s your feedback we will run more of the
1120s surveys like we did with The Inferno to
1122s see what players like and don't like and
1124s then we'll watch the data closely to see
1126s what's healthiest there so going to be
1128s some interesting things when you can go
1130s in knowing what your Loadout is going to
1132s do and knowing what the environment is
1133s going to be they'll still be fog maps
1135s that kind of mix up the day so it's not
1137s always high visibility right uh but yeah
1140s that's a big experiment coming so we're
1142s looking forward to see how that goes
1143s some other experiments we're going to
1145s work on matchmaking improvements
1148s um and so that's where we're going to
1151s try emphasizing the full lobbies a
1153s little bit and lately releasing some of
1156s the skilled clamping so there might be a
1158s broader range of MMR Stars that would
1160s show up in any given Lobby to emphasize
1162s full lobbies over having that be a
1164s narrow band and we're going to evaluate
1167s the relationship between quick play and
1169s bounty hunt for adjustments you know
1170s it's another popular topic that comes up
1172s in the community about how people are
1174s gaming one system to try and get an
1176s advantage in the other and it's not as
1179s big a problem statistically or data wise
1181s but I think it's one in sentiment uh
1183s that bear is looking into so we want to
1185s understand just what is going on with
1187s the people who are engaging in both
1189s quick play and bounty hunt and what that
1190s effect looks like on the the fun being
1192s had or the engagement of all the players
1194s and so yeah sentiment like I've been
1196s touching on it's a key part of the
1198s results we definitely look to that for
1200s the feedback and what we hear through
1201s socials or on the discords or all the
1204s different channels but then also the
1205s data on that retention and the
1207s engagement and seeing what's really
1209s happening under the hood for the
1210s hundreds of thousands of players and
1212s what they do or don't do uh has to
1214s factor into the decisions we make there
1216s so we'll talk more about it as we go
1217s through the year sometimes those can be
1219s pretty boring during discussions but I
1221s know there are also ones that are
1222s important to the community and like I
1224s said earlier there's going to be a
1226s couple quest lines coming with a spring
1227s update and they're going to be teasing
1229s and foreshadowing The Narrative of The
1230s Summer Event so that's what you can
1232s expect out of the spring that sounds
1235s like a jam-packed a bit of an update I
1237s have to say I mean I think it's really
1239s great that like last year we know we put
1241s a focus on the retention side of things
1242s and this year now with the with the
1244s scripture tutorial we're looking at
1245s trying to kind of focus on some new
1246s players and kind of keeping that growth
1248s going I know many people are going to be
1250s really really happy for the solo Buffs
1252s um they enjoyed them a hell of a lot
1253s during the uh the devil's moon event
1256s um so that's going to be cool and I mean
1257s we know that people have wanted a bit
1259s more Choice when it comes to them the um
1261s the maps and everything like that so
1262s yeah it's all really cool and some
1264s really great stuff um so I think with
1266s that then we should moving on from the
1268s spring update obviously the next one is
1270s going to be the summer update we've got
1272s a couple of different things to talk
1273s about here I think there's one burning
1276s question though David and I'm something
1278s the community has been asking for I
1280s don't know how long at this point and
1282s I'm gonna ask it in the way I feel the
1284s community will feel appropriate okay so
1286s David new boss when
1289s yeah so you know interesting thing in
1292s our glossary the things you actually
1293s hunt down and get bounties from are
1295s called targets and so we struggle with
1299s what do we call them and how do we refer
1300s to them and we also started referring to
1303s them as bosses and those things so uh
1305s we're going to talk about the concept of
1307s Boss targets being uh the big
1310s monstrosities that stomp around in
1312s compounds and drop bounties and we're
1314s introducing a new category of wild
1316s Target and the wild targets are going to
1318s live outside of the compounds so you'll
1321s have boss Targets in the compound and
1322s wild targets outside the compounds and
1325s so as we go into The Summer Event wild
1327s targets outside the compound dropping
1329s bounties not inside the compounds is one
1333s of the big changes that we'll be
1334s experimenting with this summer
1336s interesting I'm sure a lot of people are
1338s very happy to hear about that it's
1340s something that's been since I think the
1342s beginning of hunt has requested extra
1343s Bounty bosses outside so that's really
1346s really cool to hear I know obviously we
1348s don't give too much away you know we we
1350s don't like spoiling things early but we
1352s want to make sure that you guys know
1354s that we are working on stuff like this
1356s and um yeah I'm really really excited
1358s for the for the summer I'm sure you guys
1360s are going to be um delighted uh when you
1362s see what we come up with
1363s um but uh We've we've kind of touched
1365s back and forth on a bunch of different
1367s things um throughout it one thing I want
1369s to kind of touch on right now and I know
1371s that this is something we're going to be
1372s looking after during the summer event is
1374s going to be the the blood boundary
1375s Factor so we mentioned this last year in
1378s our monetization video with Hans
1380s um that we were going to be changing the
1381s bloodline stuff over to uh hunt dollars
1384s so for example the Respec of the health
1386s the respect of traits and uh things like
1390s that where it was tied within smaller uh
1392s elements so
1394s um what's what's going to be happening
1395s with that I mean we've been talking
1397s about it happening for almost a year now
1399s so I'm sure the community would love to
1401s know what what's the next step for it
1404s yep that's a great topic and you know
1406s this summer is when that'll be happening
1408s as well so we're gonna follow through on
1409s that subject uh redefining kind of the
1412s player use of blood bonds uh and most
1414s notably we'll be removing them from the
1416s respecting of health bars and traits
1419s um those elements that are kind of tied
1420s to RNG and the re-roll mechanics will be
1422s moved away from blood bonds as well uh
1425s so it might be hunt dollars it might be
1427s a couple other mechanical tricks that we
1429s can play in there but we see blood bonds
1431s as being like a currency that people
1432s should be using for Cosmetics uh because
1434s you can be acquiring it for real money
1436s and we don't want it tied up into the
1439s RNG of gameplay affecting things like
1441s health bars and traits and so that
1444s change will also be getting uh
1445s implemented this summer as part of that
1447s event and you know look forward to the
1449s feedback and uh sentiment and thoughts
1451s on that and we'll look for the
1453s engagement and you know all the other
1454s parts that come with it cool and you
1457s keep touching on a specific word during
1460s the last two topics we've talked about
1461s with the event so I think this is
1464s probably a good point in time to talk
1465s about when our first event is going to
1469s be coming up
1470s um and uh if I understand correctly it's
1473s not just one event again we're going
1475s down the trilogy route again so have you
1478s got some information on on that for us
1479s yeah so we talked about that with the
1482s wild targets are going to be coming and
1483s dropping bounties uh here it's going to
1485s be kicking off a new Trilogy of events
1487s that we start this summer we'll
1489s definitely roll out more details in on
1491s the theme and what to expect as we get
1493s closer to release there uh both for the
1495s wild Target and for the trilogy that
1498s we're kicking off in the narrative
1499s around that as we're continuing on the
1502s story of you know a bunch of hunters in
1504s distress a bunch of factions uh the AHA
1507s kind of tearing itself apart and just
1510s you know what's become of that and then
1512s what's become of all the letters that
1514s were sent out uh calling out to
1516s International Hunters to come join the
1518s struggle and lend Aid and so a lot of
1521s that will will continue to go on as we
1523s carry that story forward into the next
1526s Trilogy so we learned and grown a
1528s significant amounts in concluding that
1530s Moon Trilogy uh and the stuff that
1532s really worked in there like the new
1534s Hunters very popular the narratives and
1535s the monstrosities that are emerging from
1537s the corruption so all those things will
1540s be part of this event Trilogy kicking
1541s off I'm excited I mean if if the last
1544s Trilogy events are anything to go by
1546s with how they've just each time got
1548s better I'm sure these ones are going to
1550s be awesome and you know a little bit of
1551s spoilers on the AHA and and the factions
1554s and stuff there as well we talked about
1555s The Inferno a while ago what's the
1557s situation going to be with new wild card
1560s um conditions are we going to be having
1562s any more of them this year
1564s yeah so we considered the infernal Wild
1566s Card uh overall a great success we
1568s learned a lot and felt to add it quite a
1570s bit to the game we'll be experimenting
1572s with the contracts like I said in the
1573s spring update Running the limited time
1575s options for the players to play a kind
1577s of standard or Wild Card uh in the
1579s summer we'll expand that with some new
1580s weather-based Wild Card conditions that
1582s we'll talk about more as we go uh
1585s there's you know always speculation on
1586s this uh and what it'll be so look
1588s forward to coming back with more but
1590s it's definitely a system that we're uh
1592s we're enjoying and we think adds to the
1594s game well and uh putting it in that wild
1596s card classification uh gives us some
1598s control about the frequency of how it
1600s comes up and giving players some choice
1602s about do you enjoy it or not because we
1604s would also recognize that some folks
1606s found The Inferno to be draining or
1608s tiring if they played it for eight hours
1610s a lot of people don't play for eight
1612s hours but some of us do some of us some
1614s of us do and uh you know especially all
1616s those great partners that we have out
1618s there on stream so uh we want to be
1621s sensitive to that and also you know give
1622s some choices about when you want to
1623s engage age with some of those you know
1625s non-standard elements of the game and
1627s when you want to just go back to like
1629s hey I just want to play hunt the way it
1630s was yeah so those are elements that we
1633s want to work into giving some of those
1634s choices back to the players during
1636s events yeah I suppose that ties in quite
1638s well with what we were saying about the
1639s day Nikon uh contracts are Iran as well
1641s but again going back to player choice
1644s it's something that we've always kind of
1645s strived to do as much as we possibly can
1647s within hunt you know so it's great to
1649s see that we're you know experimenting
1650s with things like this again and I mean
1651s like you said the Wild Card condition
1653s itself was awesome and a great
1654s introduction
1656s um but obviously wasn't for everybody
1657s and we have to understand that as well
1659s so um but I mean if we talk about like
1661s with wildcard condition you know the new
1663s events
1664s um all of these things that we're you
1666s know we're doing again I think probably
1667s the next thing we talked about you
1669s mentioned it was going to be like the
1670s new pacts and some new experimental
1672s traits so um can you tell us a bit more
1673s about that
1674s yeah as we go forward while we're really
1677s liking this concept of having the Hunter
1679s packs and each of those packs having
1681s some new traits and new ways that
1683s they're using you know the dark site and
1684s the the energy that they pull out of the
1686s Bayou so we will have some new packs uh
1689s we might bring back one or two of the
1691s old packs and each of those will have
1693s new experimental traits and might have
1695s some tweaks on the old traits and so uh
1698s we're going to redo the pledge Mark
1699s system there was some confusion around
1701s that system about what it meant to have
1703s the pledge active or have the pledge not
1704s active
1705s um so we're going to do things to make
1707s it more clear-cut about what it means to
1709s have or remove those traits when they
1711s get used or expired and they will be
1714s more of that experimental gameplay the
1716s thing we like with it is having the
1717s three different systems it's like it's a
1719s little kind of prototype skill tree
1721s where you have to make a choice you
1722s can't just stack all of these on top of
1724s each other and so we keep them in
1727s temporary in nature and we make some of
1729s the powerful ones you know in a way that
1731s they can't be stacked on top of each
1732s other and that lets us push a little
1734s further in the experimentation
1736s so you know that was our hope is that
1738s the Pacs and the traits would keep the
1740s event a little bit more meaningful and a
1741s little more vital even if you power
1743s pushed all your way through the battle
1745s pass early
1746s um there were still reasons to be
1748s checking in and playing this event
1750s um other than just trying to move down a
1751s reward track it was actually a different
1753s experience that was going on so I felt
1756s there was good success with that in
1757s Devil's Moon and you can expect more of
1759s that in our events as we go forward
1760s that's really awesome um and I mean yeah
1763s we've seen from the feedback that you
1765s know the traits and the the experiments
1767s the the packs and everything were were
1769s really well received I mean some a lot
1771s more well received than others but you
1773s know this is this is the nature of
1775s experimentation you know um yeah and
1777s that's the thing like again like
1780s um we didn't think that you know all of
1782s the different packs would be taken in an
1784s even one-third one-third split yeah um
1786s obviously we had one that became more
1788s powerful with grounded or more common
1790s and popular and so you know that was
1792s pushed right up to the edge of what we
1794s wanted to do and we had considered doing
1796s a tuning update in the middle of the
1798s event to adjust some of those pieces but
1800s we also wanted to stay the course and
1802s keep people focused on all the fixes
1805s they were doing for the upcoming updates
1807s and on the other bug fixes as opposed to
1809s just doing a tuning patch so it was a
1811s hard decision we did wrestle through for
1813s people who thought we should have
1814s changed at Mid event uh we considered it
1817s um but when we did the math we felt like
1818s we really wanted to have it run the
1820s course and just keep the team focused on
1822s the next stuff that's coming to you soon
1825s rather than derail that in order to go
1827s make a tuning adjustment so yeah we
1830s don't consider it perfect but we
1831s consider it a successful experiment uh
1833s and we learned from it and we asked that
1836s you continue to make your voices heard
1838s uh as we put out new and experimental
1840s things and will look to be even more
1842s responsive with how we can tune and
1844s adjust it as we go that's yeah that
1846s sounds great um I mean it's again like I
1848s said it was really awesome to have this
1850s thing to experiment with and and it did
1852s give the event a little bit more to it
1854s even if you finished it it was there was
1856s something to still work for um so yeah
1857s I'm looking forward to seeing what we
1859s come up with um next time around I'm
1860s sure the community will be excited too
1862s um so with that I guess we'll kind of
1864s look on to like the the last couple of
1865s things um I mean kind of it's something
1867s that's going to be kind of happening
1868s continuously between now and the end of
1871s the summer and that's as we kind of look
1873s at the the new hunters and the new
1874s weapons and cosmetics that we're uh
1876s we're bringing out so um I think one
1878s kind of good topic to talk about is
1880s probably the the most recent
1881s um uh hunter that came out the uh the
1884s the guy with the three faces
1885s um and the one that's actually coming
1887s out quite soon
1888s um and basically what what kind of
1890s direction we're taking with a lot of the
1891s the hunters going forward
1894s yeah so we're having fun with uh finding
1896s out what our Hunters like from you know
1898s other cultures and other nationalities
1900s who've heard about the trouble that's
1902s going on here and how it seems to be
1903s kind of spinning out of control so
1905s International Hunters is a big part of
1907s that you should expect more of those to
1908s be coming across this whole year we're
1910s going to look at revisiting some of our
1912s themes about uh some of the First
1913s Nations Heroes that we've had and
1915s Hunters that have emerged to uh help the
1917s folks in the bayou deal with things that
1919s they have some extra knowledge on
1921s um so excited to see how those roll out
1923s as we go across this year and yeah it's
1926s uh I'll leave it to the narrative team
1928s in some of the events as we lead up that
1929s you know we'll start talking more and
1931s more about how we choose our Hunters how
1933s we look for uh the cultures and the
1935s folks that we want to represent and yeah
1937s we're just looking for anyone to kind of
1939s take a look at Hunt and say oh yeah I
1941s could be part of that I could uh I could
1943s get in there and then of course just
1944s things that you just wouldn't see in
1946s other games like that's another part
1948s when we get into that hunt identity we
1950s feel like all the hunters that we bring
1951s in are a big part of what sets the core
1953s identity of what Hunt is and who the
1955s hunters are and then yeah in addition
1957s we'll have the new weapon lines and
1959s variants and the charms that can hang
1961s off the guns we've had some fun uh
1964s putting those all together and you know
1965s Dennis will come on and we'll we'll talk
1967s on each of these updates about what
1968s those new weapon lines are what he's
1970s trying to do with the the whole meta
1972s progression and what we see for you know
1974s usage and weapon usage and Effectiveness
1976s out there so we don't want it to become
1978s stale and obviously we don't want to
1981s break it so there's a lot of delicate
1982s things that we do when we consider which
1984s weapons and weapon lines to bring on but
1986s of course there'll be more of those and
1987s more ammo types as we go through the
1989s year and I'm sure Dennis is really
1991s really excited to start talking about
1992s this stuff pretty soon so
1994s um
1995s indeed he does say indeed he does uh
1998s understandably so because they they are
2001s amazing so
2002s um but yeah so make sure you guys keep
2004s an eye out for like uh upcoming live
2006s streams
2007s um videos uh anything that might give
2010s you some a bit of a hint as to what's
2012s coming up with those new weapons and new
2013s lines so um with that I think that kind
2016s of covers the majority of like this the
2018s summer update itself I mean obviously
2019s there will be extra little bit little
2021s bits and pieces that will be dotted in
2023s there we're just mainly kind of covering
2024s some of the the bigger topics the bigger
2026s things that uh we know everyone wants to
2028s to hear about with that I think why
2030s we've covered the first half of the year
2032s um we want to we don't want to go too
2034s heavy on what's going to be coming up in
2035s the second half of the year
2037s um because we're gonna have another
2038s video uh you know around the end of the
2040s summer for you again so we can kind of
2042s go into a lot more detail
2044s um as obviously we're still working out
2045s on plans and while we do have something
2047s in place already
2049s it's game development Anything Can
2051s Happen things can change it's the nature
2054s of the business so
2056s um we don't want to we we know exactly
2058s what's happening with spring and summer
2060s um with fall and winter we want to just
2061s kind of give you a bit of an idea first
2063s uh before we start going into the the
2066s heavy nitty-gritty details of it we
2068s mentioned earlier that we have the
2069s scripted tutorial
2071s um as one of the things coming with the
2072s spring update is there anything else
2075s that we've got coming up towards say in
2076s the second half of the year that's going
2078s to be aimed at kind of you know helping
2079s some new players get their feet wet get
2081s into things you know become that
2083s legendary Hunter they've always wanted
2084s to be
2085s um you know uh have we got any other
2087s plans
2088s yeah so another mode that kind of goes
2091s into there is a shooting range mode
2093s um we're looking at building out a space
2095s where the players can go in and have an
2097s assortment of weapons you can bring the
2098s loadout you have or you can pick up some
2100s weapons that are in there to get a feel
2102s for all the different guns and how they
2103s perform at different ranges having some
2105s Target dummies out there that can give
2107s you the feedback of what you're seeing
2109s for damage and what you're doing at
2110s different ranges and also having that
2113s set up so that you can go and Lobby of
2115s friends if you've matched made
2116s deliberately to invite your friends
2118s together you can all go in the shooting
2120s range there and if that all goes well
2121s we're also going to be enabling a PVP
2124s toggle so then once you're in there you
2126s can start shooting each other and solve
2127s your 1v1 gun fight aspirations for who
2131s is better on the draw when you get into
2134s that situation one-on-one so that could
2137s be fun uh we're definitely looking at it
2139s we'll have more updates on the shooting
2140s range as it makes progress but that's
2143s another initiative both for giving
2145s players that that you know PVE just like
2147s one of these weapons do with the ranges
2149s and how they feel and also that you know
2151s straight up PVP of like if it's just the
2153s two of us with guns who's winning yeah
2155s that sounds really awesome I'm sure
2156s there's a lot of people are going to be
2157s really really happy about that I know
2159s it's something that people have asked
2160s for quite a long time and we have the 3D
2162s viewer which is an amazing feature and
2164s you know there isn't really anything
2166s else out there like it at the moment and
2168s and to be able to then add on to that
2170s again with the shooting range it's going
2171s to be a really kind of big help to a lot
2173s of especially for beginners but I'm
2174s almost certain the content creators in
2176s particular are going to love this like
2177s you said the 1v1 aspects are just
2179s astronomical so um but yeah I know it
2182s sounds like a really really cool feature
2184s um and I think you know as as we're at
2186s the the kind of the latter half of the
2187s year and we're kind of looking more to
2189s the Future and we were talking about
2190s numbers and the game growing and
2192s everything like that
2193s um what does that kind of mean for um in
2195s terms of like reporting systems and
2197s stuff like that I mean we know that as
2198s games get larger people generally tend
2200s to have more and more concerns about you
2202s know bad behavior and everything that
2203s goes on uh in game so are we going to be
2206s looking to kind of enhance our systems
2208s in any way to kind of you know counter
2210s this increase in the population recently
2213s um yeah we're gonna definitely look at
2215s the reporting system uh it's definitely
2217s something that's important to us that
2218s you use I know some people feel like
2220s it's kind of a black box
2222s um I've heard people say yeah I don't
2223s bother reporting but we do look at them
2225s it does matter we have all the data
2227s going back for years so your reports do
2229s matter if you encounter uh that bad
2232s behavior the toxicity uh the things that
2235s just make hunt not a great experience
2236s online we love our proximity chat we
2239s would hate to have a culture that
2240s developed where we ever had to turn that
2242s off or just players just were always
2244s disabling it for that so we want to keep
2246s the prox chat alive we want to keep you
2248s know a civil and fun place for people to
2251s play so please do use the reporting
2253s system uh if you encounter anything in
2256s there that you think is worth reporting
2257s and we'll chat more about it later in
2260s the year about how we can be more
2261s transparent about the results uh and
2263s what we're doing to to make it more
2265s meaningful and more effective so we
2267s appreciate all of your help in uh
2269s policing the Bayou when it comes to Bad
2271s actors who are out there in it so please
2273s use it and we'll come back and talk more
2275s about it later in the year sure and like
2277s not only do you have the report system
2279s currently in game you can also report uh
2281s report people for anything you need to
2284s through huntshowdown.com as well um
2286s through your support site so just to
2288s kind of keep that in mind you know we
2289s talked earlier on about technology
2291s improvements and you know the first half
2293s of the year is going to be focusing on
2294s the server side of things the net Ops
2296s and and everything like that and that
2298s task force what can we see in terms of
2300s say the engine side of things and how
2303s that will play into hunt and its
2306s performance and everything in future
2308s yeah so so hunt last integrated to you
2312s know kind of the main line of cryengine
2314s back at version 5.6 and that's four
2316s years ago so Hunt's running on a
2318s four-year-old version of cryengine and
2321s this year we're going to start that
2322s integration to take it up to the latest
2323s 5.11 version of cryengine so that's
2327s going to bring with it a bunch of things
2328s the big thing is it paves the way for
2330s the proper gen 9 version um where we can
2332s have the PS5 and Xbox series consoles
2335s where we have the dx12 running natively
2337s we'll be pushing graphic Fidelity on the
2340s PC as well as those consoles uh after we
2342s get to that latest uh greatest version
2345s of cryengine here at 5.11. uh when the
2348s work is done the consoles and PCs should
2350s benefit from HDR FSR 2.1 and direct
2354s storage at release so we know that will
2356s be an enhanced experience uh visually
2358s and just uh in the terms of loading and
2360s where the assets are and how you get
2362s into matches and it's another Long View
2365s initiative so we'll come back with more
2367s details later in the year as we make
2368s progress address on it but it's
2370s definitely a big part of where we're
2371s putting our resources this year as we
2373s prepare hunt to go on for years and
2375s years and years so you know we have this
2377s road map we're talking about for this
2379s year but you know we have we have a plan
2381s for the franchise that extends well
2383s beyond 2023. for sure and I I'm sure our
2386s console Community very very happy to
2387s hear that we are you know progressing
2390s and working on at least the the current
2391s Generation update for the PS5 and the
2393s Xbox series you know
2395s um so it's really great to hear thanks
2397s for sharing that you say again you know
2398s hunt for years to come and I think this
2401s is it's it's something that's going to
2402s hopefully inspire a lot of hope within
2404s the community that um you know hunt does
2407s have a lot more in it it has a long way
2409s to go and you know five years in we
2412s still haven't started yet you know we've
2413s scratched the surface we have lots more
2415s um that we want to do so let's while we
2419s kind of um finish off there on the kind
2421s of the end of 2023 and like I said we'll
2423s come back with another video
2425s um around July ish or July August to
2428s kind of go through through a bit more
2430s detail of the second half of the Year
2431s let's take a little bit look further
2433s Beyond uh that and maybe kind of into
2435s 2024 and some of the things that we
2438s might potentially have coming up ahead
2440s one thing that people are probably going
2441s to notice from this video is one one
2443s particular topic that we have not talked
2446s about so I would like to mention it
2449s um we haven't talked about a new map yet
2451s I mean the soul came out last year maybe
2455s a bit longer forgive me for not
2457s remembering the exact date but uh yeah
2459s we haven't had a new map in a while so
2461s what's the story there
2464s yep so we do have a new map and a new
2466s biome underway so it's not just a new
2469s map made up of these assets that we have
2471s but an entirely new biome as well it
2473s won't be out in 2023 so we're deep into
2476s it and we want to release it as close to
2478s Flawless as we can uh we don't want it
2480s going out all buggy uh broken or uh
2483s having the issues it could if we didn't
2485s give it that time that it needs
2487s um it also ties into some of the tech
2489s that we're building and the things that
2490s we're doing here in 23. so right now the
2492s new map uh with the new biome is
2494s tracking for early 2024 so I know
2497s that'll be disappointing for some of the
2498s people clamoring for the new map but we
2501s want to make sure we have it right and
2502s we want to make sure that it's a
2503s meaningful different and just wonderful
2505s experience when it goes out uh some
2508s other things a lot of people ask about
2510s other little small modes or prototype
2512s modes we will be looking at Proto modes
2515s um I have a lot of experience across all
2517s the shooters I've made over the years
2518s making many many game modes it's easy to
2521s start them and it's really hard to
2522s finish one that's actually worth
2523s shipping and so you can go in with the
2527s best of intentions you can talk all
2528s about it uh and then you just wind up
2531s never delivering it and you know we've
2533s had some in the history of hunt that
2535s we've talked about like a nightmare mode
2537s um I'll tell you right now it's not in
2538s development anymore it was a thing being
2540s considered uh we don't want to get it
2542s caught up in those traps but we will say
2544s that we have some prototype modes um
2547s that we're not sure if they would land
2548s in the end of 23 it might be safer to
2550s consider that they'll come in 24 but the
2553s big mode efforts this year are that
2554s scripted tutorial in the shooting range
2556s uh there will be more that come in 2024
2558s because as we grow the game and all the
2560s things you hear us doing we'll look for
2563s new modes and new ways for players to
2564s engage on there and then custom lobbies
2567s another one very near and dear to my
2569s heart I want them pretty badly uh we
2571s have to do the engine integration and we
2574s have to refactor the back end and finish
2576s a bunch of those stuff none of which uh
2578s looks like it would line up to have the
2580s custom lobbies this year
2581s um so those custom lobbies would be a
2583s fast follow in early 24 but really
2586s important for us for people and
2588s communities to be able to get together
2589s load into hunt uh play it the way they
2591s want to earn it you know to have some
2593s competitions
2595s um or even just to help friends get
2597s acquainted to the game and play it you
2599s know the way they like to so those will
2601s be some of the far-reaching things as we
2603s get closer to the end of this year
2605s hopefully they come into better focus
2606s and we can talk about what we see for
2608s 2024 at the end that's awesome and I
2611s know there's a you've touched on a lot
2613s of different things that I'm sure the
2614s community are glad that we're actually
2616s discussing I mean we haven't spoken
2618s about custom lobbies in a while or
2619s prototype modes or anything like that so
2622s um it's good that you know they're still
2623s on the radar um and they haven't just
2625s been kind of pushed off to the side and
2627s and you know bear Gathering dust so um
2629s that's really really great to hear so
2630s look I think uh for that we should
2633s definitely we should leave it at that I
2634s am that is everything that we have on
2636s our list to talk about today so um David
2638s first off let me say thank you very very
2640s much for taking the time out of your
2642s schedule to join us for this video today
2644s I am I very much appreciate it and I'm
2646s sure the community will very very much
2648s appreciate having some insight from the
2650s general manager of hunt so once again
2652s thank you very very much for joining us
2654s today yeah thanks for having me again I
2656s love the franchise I'm loving the
2658s community so uh this is just a great
2661s ride I am very happy to be on with all
2663s of you that's awesome thanks very much
2665s so with that that is the end of our
2667s developer roadmap video thank you very
2669s much for joining us today
2671s um if you like this make sure to like
2673s And subscribe on the YouTube channel and
2676s make sure to follow us all over the
2677s place just search for hunt Showdown on
2680s all channels Twitter Facebook Instagram
2682s uh Tick Tock and twitch as well also
2685s keep in mind that David does join on
2687s some of our gameplay live streams as
2689s well with some of the community managers
2690s and other team members so be sure to
2692s check them out you never know we might
2694s actually end up getting um some extra
2696s information in them so with that we just
2698s want to do one last shout out to you the
2700s community as a big thank you for all of
2702s your support in 2022
2704s um it's been really amazing uh being
2706s able to develop hunt for you guys and
2708s you know create something amazing but
2710s it's even been more uh special to see
2712s what you guys have been doing with it so
2715s um thank you very much from all of us
2716s here
2717s um and uh that's it we'll see you again
2719s next time
2722s foreign