I love this game. I love the competitive nature, I love the challenge, I love the sweaty lobbies and I love the community. I haven't had this much fun playing a FPS in a very long time and I knew early on that I would be investing a lot of time into the game. So far, I've accumulated over 5 days worth of game time since release and I've had a blast. Hyper Scape has so much potential and although I could talk about the positives of the game, that is not the topic of discussion I'd like to make on this post. Like most of you, I've spent a lot of time in pre-game lobbies staring at the player count just to think about Hyper Scape's current state and potential ways to fix it. Currently, the game is in a uncomfortably unhealthy state. The game rarely has full lobbies, fails to retain new users, fails to achieve high twitch views, fails to introduce potential players to the game and fails to listen to the community.

The Game Rarely Has Full Lobbies

I play mostly Solo but watching streams I understand squads are experiencing similar issues. During peak hours of the game I rarely see a full lobby. Normally a lobby will fill up to around 60-70 players (20-25 in squads) max. I live in Hawaii and am able to switch between WUS and EAU/WJA (same server I've noticed) during both location's peak hours with a similar result. In Hyper Scape's current state, there are only ever 2-3 lobbies/games running at a time per datacenter and most of the time you will be queuing up with the same people consistently. You get to know names, you know them in game by their skins and you know them by the amount of fights you exchange. It gives a real small community vibe. This is a result of simply having a low, overall, player count. It is discouraging to people wanting to continue playing the game. The map generates with collapsed sectors, you're fighting the same people continuously and the game isn't being played as intended. Who wants to invest time into a game that seemingly has less people playing it every time you log in?

Fails to Retain New Users

This is the biggest issue I feel plagues Hyper Scape. I've introduced a number of people to this game. I'd say I've had around 10-15 of my friends try the game out and play with me on my recommendation. Currently, none of them have any intention to play the game on their own and only play when I ask them to or when they see me online. I've inquired about it, and they explain how they constantly get destroyed by sweats (note: commonly killed by the same names/squads is frustrating) every game, the skill gap is too high and the game is too dead. Talk about an ironic cycle when considering a player doesn't want to play a game because it doesn't have enough players. However, due to the low lobby turnouts, they notice we are getting matched with the same people. Most of whom are players, like me, who play the game A LOT.

As mentioned previously, this game has a high skill gap and when a new player matches against a seasoned player it is unavoidably noticeable. When you encounter these same players on a very consistent basis, it's discouraging to new players. The general consensus between the people I introduce to the game is that it's not fun to get sh*t on by the same people over and over. Note, I didn't say its not fun to get sh*t on over and over, but specifically it's not fun to get killed repeatedly by the same people. The difference here may seem slight at first but I feel it is a key component to be examined. They aren't mad that there are better players or the understanding that they need to practice to get to that level, but that there is no escape from ALWAYS playing with the SAME outmatched groups. In other games, if you are getting absolutely skunked, there is an escape. Once the game is over, you queue up and are faced with a fresh group and a fresh start. This is not the case in Hyper Scape and it is a huge turn off to a lot of new players and shouldn't be ignored.

I know a lot of the people here will argue that it's just part of the game or process. "You need to play against people better than you to improve yourself", or, "there's a skill gap - get used to it". These sayings and those similar to them, though not entirely wrong, are honestly a lazy cop out for actually recognizing this as a real issue that unquestionably convinces people to quit playing. It's hard to convince someone to continue to play when in their eyes, there is no hope of defeating a squad (or squads) they know will be in the next match. It's difficult to retain a large player base, when those players are constantly (read: every game) queued into a lobby where a majority of the other players are able to devote significantly more time to the game than the average player. You're left with the core group sweats continuing to improve and the new players leaving, perpetuating the problem as time goes on.

Fails to Achieve High Twitch Views

Unfortunately, this is an important component of bringing players into the game, especially with younger crowds. I've tried to get a few friends to play who refuse to because of, simply, the low view count on Twitch. This game is one of the most integrated games with Twitch I've seen and its devastating to see how outside of tournaments and paid sponsorship play, the game hovers around or under 2k views. It has to be said: There is a large player base that follow trends on Twitch. Having such a low viewer count on Twitch deters a whole group of potential players. It falls down to progression. People don't want to invest the time into something they think is dying. Twitch views are undeniably a direct indication of a game's health to many potential players.

Fails To Introduce New Players to the Game

How do new players get introduced to the game? Over casual conversation with friends, work colleagues, etc, we've brought up games we play and I always bring up Hyper Scape and they, without fail, have never heard of it. There is a seemingly large lack of exposure to attract new players to this game. I am not a marketing expert nor do I have any sense of understanding on how to go about advertising. However, I do have some ideas on how to outreach to a larger audience which I list in the potential solutions below.

Failing to React Quickly to the Community

Aim assist on PC. Controller setting options on console. Cross Platform. Audio Bug. Hexfire on Console. I don't think the community thinks the devs aren't listening, or that the community managers aren't relaying the appropriate information. In fact, I'd say as a whole the community would agree that they do take the community input seriously and actively use it to change the future of the game. However, the issue is the length of time it seems to make these changes. Once a problem has been determined, act as swiftly as possible to stuff them. When the audio bug was in full swing at least one person in my squad would get the bug every single match and that lasted for weeks. Last night, playing Faction War we were still getting the bug (though much less frequently). Aim assist on PC has been a hot debate topic since beta (and I'm sure before), why has this continued to go unaddressed? I'm not trying to take jabs at the development team, I'm just trying to address a real area of concern, there are a lot of issues with the game that the community waits too long to get resolved.

Potential Solutions

The purpose of this thread is to get ideas going about ways to improve the game and open a discussion on what exactly the solutions to root or core issues could be. If you agree or disagree with points made here, please bring it up so we can discuss it further. Below is a list of potential ideas I think could be beneficial to the health of the game. I've come up with a list of potential ways to help bring Hyper Scape back to life. I both agree and disagree with some of the things listed below, but want to encourage a healthy discussion.

Offer the game on Steam and other gaming platforms.

Cross Platform Play.

Team Deathmatch Styled LTM. (I've heard new players complement Faction War)

1v1 Tournament Game Mode. Compete 1v1 in a tournament bracket. Each 1v1 match gets their own sector to fight in. Could even have all players spawn in same instance, and once a player has won their 1v1 sector, the sector collapses and forces them to their next 1v1 and closer to the final round. Last one standing gets a solo win.

More incentive for gameplay outside of battle pass. Rewards, unlocks, titles, etc.

Robust in-game leaderboard for overall & seasons.

Shooting Range available for squads w/ Friendly Fire for practice. In-Game aim trainer w/ challenges & leaderboard would be insane.

If possible, try to diversify the lobbies, try not to match the same people frequently together to give a fresh start feel. Consider (soft) lowering total players in each lobby while total player count is so low. I'm curious to know if people would be more willing to play with a fresh variety of players over having large lobbies.

Immediately address community concerns.

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