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LawBreakers - Cliff Bleszinski's failed multiplayer shooter

fantadomat

Arcane
Edgy Vatnik Wumao
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Bulgaria
Lol this is amazing!It is like watching two trucks with nukes crashing in slow motion!
 

TheRedSnifit

Educated
Joined
Jul 6, 2017
Messages
55
What genre founder? It's dumber tf2.
Yeah totally forgot about that shit.But still they are different,after all you can say that TF2 is boring version of team deathmatch from Half life.By that logic we can say that every game is shitty iteration of DOOM!

TF2 being a boring version of HLDeathmatch is pretty weird given Team Fortress predates it by almost a decade, lol.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,228
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...-numbers-theres-more-to-come-from-lawbreakers

Despite low player numbers, there's more to come from Lawbreakers
"I told y'all we aren't stopping."

The people behind Lawbreakers have outlined the various features due out for the game over the course of the rest of 2017.

jpg

The Lawbreakers Q4 2017 content roadmap.

Lawbreakers, a multiplayer shooter built by Cliff Bleszinski's studio Boss Key Productions, launched to positive reviews from both critics and players on Steam, but has so far failed to find a meaningful audience.

On Steam, Lawbreakers is not in the top 100 games based on concurrent player count, which means it has fewer than 1000 players at the time of publication on Valve's platform.

Last month, Bleszinski told Eurogamer "it's a marathon not a sprint" when asked about Lawbreakers' low number of players.

"We're going to continue to raise awareness, continue to support the product - if you look at the phenomenon that was League of Legends, it built off a Warcraft 3 mod then slowly but surely blossomed into this immense amazing thing, and I'd rather be the game that comes up and has that hockey stick ramp with a slow burn and builds up rather than the triple-A hype machine where you have a bazillion people playing it month one and it goes down exponentially then they follow up with an annual product."

Well, Bleszinski has made good on his word. In a tweet, Boss Key outlined a raft of new updates for Lawbreakers due out over the course of the rest of 2017 as part of a Q4 content roadmap preview.

The roadmap reveals new maps, new features such as skirmishes, a ranked mode called Boss Leagues, a new class and more rapid fire updates are all coming to Lawbreakers over the course of the next four months. The best thing is all future gameplay content will be free.

"I told y'all we aren't stopping," Bleszinski said in a tweet. "Thanks for the support."



Of course, there's no guarantee that the new features will provide Lawbreakers with the shot in the arm it so desperately needs, but it's good to see the developer stick with it despite the less than ideal launch. "LawBreakers is an inventive, electric and expertly engineered classic competitive shooter that deserves your time," Jon Denton wrote in Eurogamer's Lawbreakers review.


:hailcthulhu:
 

deama

Prophet
Joined
May 13, 2013
Messages
4,352
Location
UK
Unlike lawbreakers, league of legends didn't actually have any competitors other than the warcraft 3 mod for like a year or two (until heroes of neweth came out, though you had to pay for that one).
 

Arnust

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Dec 22, 2016
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Spain
That roadmap is actually pretty good. I wonder what the shaded character is; seems to be a heavy weapons wielder. Maybe some BFG/Plasma Caster type weapon, as there are already staple heavy weapons like a Minigun and a Rocket Launcher, and different "energy" tipes like several electric and laser-based weapons. Also, something's either REALLY off with the head shape or it's another robot, which's fine by me.

I can still have some nice matches with some chums on the official Discord and FrothyOmen's, but even that shows that the player count needs to be raised to the four digits. Maybe we need Jesus Christ resurrected, or Nexon giving a fuck.
 

fantadomat

Arcane
Edgy Vatnik Wumao
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That roadmap is actually pretty good. I wonder what the shaded character is; seems to be a heavy weapons wielder. Maybe some BFG/Plasma Caster type weapon, as there are already staple heavy weapons like a Minigun and a Rocket Launcher, and different "energy" tipes like several electric and laser-based weapons. Also, something's either REALLY off with the head shape or it's another robot, which's fine by me.

I can still have some nice matches with some chums on the official Discord and FrothyOmen's, but even that shows that the player count needs to be raised to the four digits. Maybe we need Jesus Christ resurrected, or Nexon giving a fuck.
I don't believe that resurrection is possible.The priest runned out of mana and the resurrection scrolls are far too expensive.
 

Arnust

Savant
Joined
Dec 22, 2016
Messages
680
Location
Spain
I don't believe that resurrection is possible.The priest runned out of mana and the resurrection scrolls are far too expensive.
We can only resort to the heretical ways of sorcery and The Occult, AKA proper motherfucking marketing promotions and some other change in the game accordingly.
 

deama

Prophet
Joined
May 13, 2013
Messages
4,352
Location
UK
Anyone have any links to a good article or video that reviews the game proper? From the reviews I've seen/read, they just said the game isn't good, or "doesn't feel good to play".
 

fantadomat

Arcane
Edgy Vatnik Wumao
Joined
Jun 2, 2017
Messages
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Location
Bulgaria
I don't believe that resurrection is possible.The priest runned out of mana and the resurrection scrolls are far too expensive.
We can only resort to the heretical ways of sorcery and The Occult, AKA proper motherfucking marketing promotions and some other change in the game accordingly.
For this to happen the game must be renamed and released later.
 

Arnust

Savant
Joined
Dec 22, 2016
Messages
680
Location
Spain
http://lawbreakers.nexon.net/en/news/article/25113/lawbreakers-q4-2017-content-roadmap

LAWBREAKERS - THE ROAD FORWARD
Q4 2017 CONTENT ROADMAP

Greetings -


It’s only been four weeks since LawBreakers launched… as you can imagine it’s been an exciting and challenging time. We are all extremely proud of LawBreakers, and we’re thankful to our fans who found it, love it, and are sharing their feedback about the game with us.


As we approach the 1 month post launch mark, we want to share our vision for the rest of the LawBreakers year. While we have mentioned some of the planned updates in tweets, or talked about potential new modes, and even teased new features in the game…we have never made a full announcement of what we on the LawBreakers team are committed to bringing our players in 2017 (and beyond). That changes right now.



BEGINNING IN SEPTEMBER

New Onboarding Experiences

We recognize that new players might be turned off due to a lack of knowledge on the ins and outs (and ups and downs) of the game. We are improving our new player onboarding experience with new tutorial gameplay features along with new tutorial videos. We believe these new changes will give players (both new and old) the knowledge they need to begin competing at a high level and to understand the nuances of the game and the classes.



Continued Game Improvements

LawBreakers is not a fire and forget title. It’s a game we crafted to run for years. But before we talk long term, we start by thinking small… this is why we are committed to continual, rapid fire updates to the game. This allows us to be responsive to issues brought up by the community and iterate on balance changes as is needed. Some games go months between updates and while that may work for them, it doesn’t work for LawBreakers. We’re going to continue to listen to your feedback and update the game rapidly, so keep sharing your thoughts with us.



New Map

The inaugural post-launch map release is Namsan, the first map set outside a post-shattering United States. It is currently in testing and is slated for release later this month. As with everything map, mode, and class related in LawBreakers, all players who own the game will get this map for free.

1namsan.jpg




Skirmishes

Our content update coming soon isn’t just about a new map, we’re also experimenting with entirely new modes. We call these Skirmishes, and each one is temporary. They’re all about playing the game different than you can in Quick Match, and to start things out we’re going to drop our Team Deathmatch Skirmish in a brand-new playspace. Yep, we’ve been listening.


2skirmishes.jpg




AND THEN…

Competitive Ranked Mode: Boss Leagues

This is the big one! You won’t want to miss what we have in the works for you in the coming months. The brand new Competitive features are coming and when they drop, you’ll have a chance to see how you match up to the best LawBreakers has to offer. We’ll have a bigger update closer to the release, but here’s the official Boss Leagues logo!


3boss_leagues_logo_main_grunge.png




We’ll have more news about this huge feature and what’s included when it’s closer to deployment later in 2017. We can’t wait to share this with you. Stay tuned.


New Map: Gateway -> Blitzball Goes Big Time!

We’re not going to say that we enjoy Blitzball so much that we made an entire arena for it, but we enjoy Blitzball so much we totally made an entire arena for it.


4gateway_1.jpg


5gateway_2.jpg




New Time-limited Skins

Oh, and be on the lookout for some special time-limited, Blitzball-themed weapon and character skins you can only get during this update.



END OF THE YEAR...

A New Class

Yep, our latest class is out of prototype and in art production. His kit is locked and approved by our QA and design teams and we can’t wait to show him off in action. While both the LAW and BREAKER variants are being art’d up, we want to whet your appetite for what’s coming. Any predictions? Let us know! We’d love to hear what you think he’s capable of.


6newclassv2.jpg




New Map: Valhalla

One of the first concept pieces done for the game, back when it was called Project BlueStreak is coming to light as a brand-new playable map. Here’s a sneak peek and a blast from the past…


7bluestreakprocess.jpg


Right now the map is called Valhalla, and it’s cool to look at the original concept piece done back in 2014 and how it’s matured into an upcoming map below!


8valhalla.png



Valhalla is our first asymmetric map set in the Sequoia National Forest. Right now we’re playing with a few ways to to mix up the gameplay as well, with some pretty awesome environmental hazards and unique spawning locations for the both the LAW and BREAKERS. We look forward to showing you how the map is shaping up for release later this year.



PLAYER ENGAGEMENT

The big question everyone is asking is about CCU… we are all acutely aware of this and realize that it is an issue that not only impacts gameplay, but community morale. Depending on your region, we’ve seen how it takes some people longer than others to find a match, and we’re working around the clock to improve this by optimizing the game, adding lots of new content and onboarding to increase the number of players.


When we made LawBreakers, we did so with a long lifecycle in mind. We have planned and designed new features to bring new players into the action every month also to challenge and excite LawBreakers players. This dual pronged approach is actually a design philosophy that we will implement every post-launch update: make the game better for those who already have it, and to make the game more exciting and appealing for those who don’t.


In game terms, we believe this philosophy will bear more players short and long term, which should drive CCU increases with each improvement.


For example, the “Onboarding Experience” changes may seem like it’s designed only for new players… but we also wanted to create better tools for all players to improve in the game. If you want to try a new class, or if you want to understand how to better play against a class, we think these tools will help everyone.


Namsan is another great example of this philosophy at work… and one reason we’re really happy with our “Post Purchase, Maps, Modes, and Classes are Free” approach. We are really proud of the design and the lore of the new Namsan map; it’s made to fit in with the Zero-G world… but with a slight twist to expand the combat. We think that anyone who owns the game will have a great time playing it, and we’re hoping it excites some of the players who stopped playing for a bit, bringing us back to higher CCUs.


It’s also why we’re coupling the Skirmishes with this map update. We will always work to make sure the game offers tons of way to play. Adding different ways to play the game outside Quick Match with unique modes should help. LawBreakers was created as a high mobility, high reward game, but we know that sometimes you need a break between super intense matches. With this in mind, we are crafting unique modes that lets both rookie and veteran player experience the game in new ways.




CONCLUSION

We hope this glimpse into our development plan has answered some pressing community questions and reinforced our team’s long-term commitment to the game.


On the surface, this may look like a simple list of new stuff, but we believe that the upgrades and new content we have in the works---coupled with a renewed marketing campaign--will help get more people into the game, keep them in the game longer, and improve the CCU numbers that are impacting matchmaking.


We want to thank all of the LawBreakers fans-- not just for playing the game, but for talking to us on how to make the game better. We are listening to you and hope you can see how input from the community is reflected in each patch and content update. Please keep the feedback coming and we hope you look forward to the amazing content and updates coming soon.


It is an honor to make a game that has such passionate fans and we look forward to exceeding your expectations over the rest of 2017 and beyond.


- The LawBreakers Team


We always welcome your feedback and questions, so follow @lawbreakers and @bosskey on Twitter for the latest news and updates as well as at LawBreakers.com.


BACK TO TOP
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
5,869
CliffyB can suck a cock. This edgelord Overwatch clone never had a chance - this is what you get for trying to cater to attention-addled, mongoloid streamers. No one buys your shit.
 

Arnust

Savant
Joined
Dec 22, 2016
Messages
680
Location
Spain
tl;dr New maps are coming this month, there's a Blitzball oriented one coming later this year, Skirmish/TDM is also coming, 10th class is out of prototype and will be released end of 2017, BK adresses player count and wants to keep the game updated for new players to come and keep already interested players.

CliffyB can suck a cock. This edgelord Overwatch clone never had a chance - this is what you get for trying to cater to attention-addled, mongoloid streamers. No one buys your shit.
I guess justice is served, now leave and go wank to more OW Winston x Widowmaker ^^
 

Deflowerer

Arcane
Joined
May 22, 2013
Messages
2,052
The lit-up overexposed futuristic style is getting stale as fuck. It's like you're in a bathroom or something, everything glossy as fuck. But I guess it knows its place then.
 

fantadomat

Arcane
Edgy Vatnik Wumao
Joined
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Messages
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Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,228
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/cliff-bleszinski-on-lawbreakers-i-have-to-keep-thi/1100-6453333/

Cliff Bleszinski On LawBreakers: "I Have To Keep This Game Alive"
"It's been very humbling for me."

Cliff Bleszinski knows the player figures for LawBreakers right now are low. But he isn't losing faith. Games can be slow-burners--just look at Warframeas an example--and developer Boss Key has big plans to get lapsed players to return and bring in new ones. In an interview with GameSpot this week, Bleszinski spoke frankly about LawBreakers. He told us he's been humbled by the low player figures; he talked about the mistakes he made in the direction of the game. He said launching near "Destiny season" probably didn't help. And he said said he wants to be "less of a dick" with his interactions with people online.

Released in August for PC and PlayStation 4, LawBreakers is a team-based shooter that you might say resembles Overwatch in some ways. But for Bleszinski, he says he never wanted to try to go head-to-head with Blizzard's juggernaut. LawBreakers has an edgy, R-rated tone, you might say, while Overwatch is more colorful and lighthearted. Bleszinski spoke extensively about Boss Key's layers of differentiation, and the game no doubt stands out from the pack. But the game's release did not go entirely to plan. As mentioned, player figures fell off a cliff, at least on PC; the current player count on PC is reportedly very low, with a peak concurrent player figure of 181 over the past 24 hours; it had an all-time peak of 7,482 players, according to Steamcharts. These numbers may not be entirely accurate, but it is clear that player figures are low on PC. The PS4 edition is "doing fine," Bleszinski said. The console and PC communities have different mindsets when it comes to judging success, the developer said.

"There is a situation where players look at numbers on Steam; that doesn't happen on PlayStation 4. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but you look at PC, [concurrent user] health versus PS4, PS4 is doing fine," he said. "People cough up 30 bucks and hop online and they don't overthink it. On PC there is you wanting to declare something a success or a bomb by this internet culture that loves to just observe things. But it's like, guys, you know, the small bit [of players] that we have, we're going to continue to iterate and engage. As we issue content drops, maybe there's going to be sales or potential free weekends down the line, continue to fluff that CCU up."

One of the big issues with low player figures is long matchmaking times. Here in Australia, GameSpot has not been able to find a match on PS4 at all over the past two weeks after multiple attempts. We stopped trying the last time after 45+ minutes of matchmaking.

Boss Key has big plans for LawBreakers going forward. In addition to "rapid fire" updates for quick fixes and changes, the studio is working on new maps, new features (the much-requested Team Deathmatch is coming!), a ranked mode called Boss League, and a new, defensive-minded class.

"It's a marathon. Not a sprint," Bleszinski explained. "We're going to keep iterating keep working on it. At the end of the day, I didn't want to make the exact same archetypes that everybody else did. I wanted to make a game that was first and foremost a shooter for shooter players."

Bleszinski believes LawBreakers could have a trajectory similar to Warframe, which he says launched with low player numbers and scaled up in time due to developer Digital Extremes' commitment to release new and exciting content. For LawBreakers, Bleszinski says the team is also overhauling the game's marketing. As you may have seen, the game's logo--a Blink 182-like sad face with Xs for eyes--does not look all that inviting or one that would espouse positive feelings. The new marketing campaign for LawBreakers will take steps to help people understand the appeal of the game; principally that it is a white-knuckle, high-action, over-the-top shooter that is fun to play with friends.

"We need the bodies. We need to keep fluffing up the CCU," Bleszinski said. "We need to do what we can to let people know this is a really sweaty palm type of experience that can hopefully lend itself to eSports. But you know, I have to keep this game alive, first and foremost. I can be very cocky and very brash on social media. And realising that, you know, we have a fledgling player base. It's been very humbling for me. I'm going to continue to iterate on this game, continue to add to it. And try to be less of a dick, honestly."

The excitement of what it feels like to play LawBreakers is "not coming across right now," Bleszinski acknowledged. One further element of Boss Key's attempts to bring back lapsed players and draw in new ones is an overhauled onboarding experience. The full details are not known at this stage, but it'll include new tutorial videos and other guides to help players learn the ins and outs of each class.

Also in the interview, Bleszinski candidly spoke about what he would have done differently. There was no Team Deathmatch at launch (but it's in the game now through the Skirmish playlist), and Bleszinski unequivocally said it was a mistake to not ship with it; a mistake he made because he wouldn't budge on his vision and development mantra.

"I didn't want to do the exact same stuff everybody else did. The funny thing was, making a character-based, class based shooter--even though it's not as simple as a traditional arena shooter, it still has a lot of that kind of feel underneath it all," he said. "In hindsight, I think it was a mistake to not ship with it. I was stubborn. I was like, 'Ohh, everybody's [already] done TDM.' Even Blizzard's like, 'Screw it, we need to put TDM action in Overwatch.' Fundamentally, at the end of the day, players just want to get in and shoot some stuff sometimes. That's one of the things that I consider my strengths: I am willing to admit when I am wrong. I think people in the public eye--it would do them a great benefit to do that more often."

The lower-than-expected player figures for LawBreakers might have come as a surprise to Bleszinski, Boss Key, and publisher Nexon. After all, the game received a lot of praise in the press and from fans. Reviews on Steam are designated as "Very Positive," while the press mostly enjoyed the game as well. Whatever the case, the player figures are low, and Bleszinski is the first to admit his mistakes.

"I have a reputation for being brash and loud, but I am the first person to admit when I'm wrong," he said. "We certainly did make our share of mistakes with the game. In spite of the mistakes, we're going to continue to update and iterate, and the reviews do not lie."

LawBreakers is the first game from Bleszinski's studio, Boss Key, which he founded after leaving Epic Games. Because the studio is so new, and relatively small, at just 65 people, some "concessions" had to be made in regards to the content that would be in the game at launch. Bleszinski wanted to put his employees first--and that is an notable, admirable thing, given the stories of extended crunch and overly stressful working conditions we often hear about.

"The problem with what we were trying to pull off with this company and this title was shipping a quality product with a team of 65 people without ruining everybody's marriages," he said. ""So certain concessions did have to be made from a production standpoint. It's easy for me to sit there and go, 'Ah, we should have shipped with this,' 'We should have shipped with that.' [Or] change the date. In hindsight, it would have made sense. But hindsight is always 20/20. If I could go back in time I'd find a way to change the schedule and ship with more of those things."

"Those of you who have been kind enough to drop $30 on this; we've got your back and we're sticking with it."

:hailcthulhu:
 

AMG

Arbiter
Joined
Sep 15, 2012
Messages
374
It's called Lawbreakers, because it's illegal to flop this hard.
 

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