answers

[neon herald]

[vivid finch]

What's going on everybody! It's NAKAT, one of your Community Managers over at Player First Games, and the team and I are excited to participate in our first Discord Q&A. We are looking forward to answering some of your questions regarding MultiVersus! Today we have:

Devin Gajewski - Technical Systems Designer ( @boreal birch )
Grant Ervin - Level Designer ( @grizzled pumice )
Corey (they/them) - Tech Artist ( @neon herald )
Angelo Rodriguez - Community Manager/QA Analyst ( @red radish )

[neon herald]

Hello! I'm Corey. I've been with PFG for nearly three years now! Excited to answer some of y'alls questions

[boreal birch]

Yo! I'm Devin aka "Reslived." I've been at PFG a little over 2 years. I work mostly in combat/gameplay design so I'll do my best to answer any questions there!

[grizzled pumice]

Hey friends, I'm Grant. I joined PFG last fall and focus on making our stages as awesome as possible. Lets get this party started!

[red radish]

Hey everyone!!
First up we have @celest saddle
What are your thoughts, goals, and changes with armor? It was by far the most annoying and frustrating thing in the game because most characters didn't have good armor breaking moves to actually deal with the armor spam. In the case of Tom & Jerry they had dynamite which was nerfed to no longer bounce. Which killed them being able to effectively deal with armor. #questions message

Armor changes were a big focus for the team to make sure there is a healthy balance amongst characters. Armor now uses some defense meter, and the startup has been looked at for the moves that use them. There are also more characters that have an armor breaking move, or multi-hit attacks that can successfully challenge armored moves. This will allow a balance for offensive and defensive use, rather than getting to use armor as both without much drawback.

[vivid finch]

As someone who mains a character that centralizes around armor usage, I definitely understand its past strengths in the Open Beta. As stated above the team has come together to give characters more consistent tools to deal with armor as a whole. Armor is still strong, but even as I play Wonder Woman now, I notice that it doesn’t retain the same potency as it has in the past making it overall much healthier.

[boreal birch]

Armor and armor-break still remain core mechanics in our combat. But I definitely agree it can feel really frustrating when characters don’t have easy access to the tools they need to beat armor. To that end we tried to make armor break accessible in new ways with new attacks and new perks, and we adjusted existing armor break attacks so they didn’t feel useless in the context of a fast-paced fight. For example, we’ve already shown Batman’s new down attack that can break armor. And we’ve shown Garnet has kept her ability to give armor break to allies with her singing attack. We’ve also tweaked how often armor can be applied, so players can’t get away with overly defensive and campy play.

[red radish]

Next up we have @hearty robin
Will the blast zones be adjusted due to the larger character scale? #questions message

[grizzled pumice]

Yes, we have fine-tuned blast zones on every stage so that the 1v1 and 2v2 experience feels great. Blast zone adjustments are just one of the ways we have improved stages on a case-by-case basis to reflect the new character sizes.

[red radish]

Up next we have the new mechanic Parries and how it interacts from @tardy steeple
How will a parry interact with an armored attack? #questions message

[boreal birch]

Oooo good call. Parries are tricky to pull off, so we want to make sure you get the reward you deserve for timing your perfect defense. Currently, if you parry an armored opponent it will break their armor. If you parry an opponent from a long range, it will bring them closer to you so you can get your punish.

[red radish]

This one is related to how a character is assigned a class in MultiVersus from @slender kite
From initial character brainstorms, we always bring our focus to how to best represent a specific character in a way that is fun and true to the source material. The fighter class often comes directly from that. For example, virtuous and honorable characters are unlikely to be assassins, and their kit tends to naturally follow that as well. There are times when a character could potentially fill multiple class roles, depending on how we design them, but we never want to force a character into a specific class, it should come about naturally as we explore what makes the character unique. Occasionally, the game needs more of a specific class amongst its roster, like a tank for example, and then the question is, “which character have we been exploring will make a good tank?” #questions message

This was a response from @neon herald whose discord crashed and I sent this over for them.

Seeing this question pop up a lot on twitter regarding parries.
Can you parry projectiles?

[boreal birch]

Easy answer: Yes! Parrying a normal projectile will destroy it.

In that same vein we’ve updated the “Clear The Air” perk – if the wearer parries a projectile they will reflect it instead.

[neon herald]

I'm back y'all.

[red radish]

From @potent talon
Will new stages have hazards and different layouts so people can have a laugh and have fun?

[neon herald]

Oh! I feel quite Passionately about this one! In studio playtests, I hover just on the casual side of the competitive/casual spectrum. I love when we test fun layouts, new mechanics, and interactive elements in our maps, and always voice my support. I am happy to say that many of the maps in development were initially designed with an eye for casual gameplay and unique map interactions, and then more competitive variants were explored. A lot of our newer maps have distinct versions for competitive and casual play. It's not just about toggling hazards anymore.
Following the Open Beta closure, one of our combat designers Ryan led a lot of level design and pushed really exciting ideas. Now, we have Grant leading maps and has brought our map design to a new level. In a lot of ways, our maps are just as important as our characters, and Ryan and Grant have really gotten us to that point. There are so many faithful adaptations, easter eggs, and surprises in each of our maps. I could go on and on.

[grizzled pumice]

Corey hit the nail right on the head. All I will say is buckle up buttercups!

[red radish]

👀

haha Ok we have @raven mulch up next with a question on perks
Any information that can currently be given regarding potential changes to perks? Are they still in the game? If so, does your character level still need to be level 8+ to equip a full set of perks? #questions message

[boreal birch]

Yes! Well also no. I don’t think I’m at liberty to talk about all the specifics yet... but perks have been updated in a BIG way!

To answer your question directly: You will always have access to at least one full set of perks.

[vivid finch]

Getting into some of the combat refactor goods! Next question from @dim trout ! How did the team come to the decision for a Parry battle mechanic added rather than a Block button? #questions message

[boreal birch]

Oh man so many parry questions lmao. This one is a big one so let me see.... One thing we learned during the Beta was that dodging in a direction was almost always more powerful than doing a neutral dodge in place. So we wanted to find a way to make neutral dodge more impactful and more interesting as a defensive mechanic.

We tried a lot of different options but landed on our current parry design because it filled the niche of high-risk/high-reward defensive option. Steven Universe already has his special blocking passive and we played around with giving more characters a similar mechanic... so it’s not out of the question to see something block-like in the future. We can always give our core mechanics new options with new perks in the future!

[vivid finch]

Also coming in from @modern portal . Will there be options to customize the camera? #questions message

[grizzled pumice]

There are no plans for Camera customization at this time. Camera behavior in PvP needs to be consistent for all players to ensure a fair experience. The customization options for scoreboard, cooldowns, character outlines, and other settings will all be returning from Beta.

[red radish]

From @hasty charm on the hit pause changes.
What was the reason for the decision to increase the stun time in the hitlag and a rescaling of the character, why those big changes? #questions message

[boreal birch]

Heck yea good question. We’ve covered this a bit already in our Combat Refactor Dev Blog , but the goal with our updates was to make the combat more approachable and impactful for new players while maintaining competitive depth. All of the changes to our combat were made in service of that goal.

Bigger characters and higher hitpause (hitlag) really make the combat feel weightier and stronger, and it's much easier to follow the action on screen when everything "pops." But we didn’t want to lose the speed and movement that players came to love in the Beta. Rest assured – combat is still satisfying and fluid even with our larger characters.

[red radish]

From @rugged merlin
Breze here! Aside from the new mechanics and polished attacks (which look amazing btw), what other changes can we expect to character movesets? (Ex. Attack speed changes, hitboxes, complete moveset revamps) #questions message

[vivid finch]

Some character moves will function a lot differently this time around. Moves that you may have been once familiar with whether it be attack speed or hitbox may actually have different properties or potentially different frame data. I think the thing that stands out the most is that time to kill has decreased with the introduction of some past moves now being able to kill.

[boreal birch]

Gonna link it again but def check out our Combat Refactor Dev Blog 🙂

But just to reiterate here: every attack on every character was reanalyzed and reevaluated for launch. Every character has at least one new move (dash attack), but the updates range from characters feeling very similar to their Beta version, to characters having a whole new game plan.

[red radish]

Got a few questions on the netcode next
From @amber jetty - What challenges have you run into with the new netcode? It's one thing to test connections from Wired PC to Wired PC, but how is this fairing out with wired and wireless connections on console? #questions message

[grizzled pumice]

The challenge has come from rebuilding every part of the game from the ground up to fit the requirements of our netcode goals. With the new netcode I’ve personally had matches on wifi and vpn, fighting a player an ocean away, and it felt like we were playing locally. 🌎 🌍 🌏

[red radish]

From @simple finch
Will the game still feel like launch but less laggy like floaty and fast paced or was it tweaked? #questions message

[vivid finch]

I can actually answer this 🤟

I have not had any issues with the netcode. As I previously once said it is among the best netcode I have had the pleasure of ever playing. The most important thing was to build something that not only supports four players, but also supports players who are not connected via a lan adapter. In terms of gameplay I believe the speed is primarily influenced by player skill. The game is still quick, but it is not at a chaotic pace that does not allow spectators to watch it easily and it is not so fast that you can’t properly punish the guy who is abusing the fact that he can play safe 24/7.

The things that made MultiVersus unique are still in the game and are still intact. You just now have different ways of bringing it out and incorporating it into your game. Decision making, spacing, defense, AND offense are all crucial this time around vs back in the day when what mattered the most was evasion, safe moves, and catering towards a very certain gimmick most of the time. If you are better than your opponent, you should be winning.

[red radish]

From @whole vortex
What was most challenging about converting the game to Unreal Engine 5? #questions message

[grizzled pumice]

UE5 has been a fantastic tool, but like any new technology there’s occasional growing pains. Most of the challenges in rebuilding the game’s stages came from making them work with our new netcode rather than the engine itself.

[neon herald]

Every single team had their own heavy lifting to do in the port. On the tech art side, a lot of visual systems needed work. Things like mirroring, prop visibility, dynamics, and scaling all needed broad adjustments and reworks. Some of the other tech artists, like Jake and Justin made sweeping changed and reworks. It was then a long process of tracking down every lingering visual bug. We all check each others work, in that way. Tech art might do our initial pass on a lot of things, but then animation or QA will review our work. It’s an ongoing process.

[vivid finch]

Next question from @rough saffron ! What's the process behind adding a character into the game? Is it difficult to balance the new mechanics these characters might bring to the game? #questions message

[neon herald]

As a tech arist, I am often involved in the character pipline quite early. The design team has free rein with the character kits, but when it comes time to build the art assets, modeling, tech art, animation, and design will all get hands on the ball. We work together to make the big ideas work in game.

We initially prioritize getting basic representations of the character and their kit into builds as soon as possible so we can playtest them and give the design team feedback, and to track technical and visual issues for the art teams. This is when the animation team really starts flexing. As animations get added, and the kit is fleshed out, the character just comes to life. From there it's a matter of testing the full kit, as well as how it interacts with the existing cast.

I won’t speak too much on the design process, but the character constantly evolves. Almost daily, there are new things to explore in playtests. At some point the character will just “click” and everybody gets really excited. Then a bunch of meticulous bug fixing, optimization, and balance happens.

[red radish]

From @teal lake
How do you balance creative freedom with technical limitations when developing a game? #questions message

[neon herald]

I think a great exampl of this is our cartoon characters. Cartoon animations, with lots of squash and stretch, and highly deforming faces, are a real challenge to implement into a real time enviroment. Before I had joined the team, a lof of talented folks, including Khai and Artak, developed a lot of amazing tools and pipelines that really allow us to capture a broad range of animation styles in game. We have an unwritten rule here, if we can't do a character right then we don't do the character. Technical limitations have never gotten in the way of that.

[grizzled pumice]

Technical limitations will almost always produce more innovative solutions than having complete creative freedom when developing games. Our team at PFG is always trying to push the envelope while being as resourceful as possible.
Beta maps provided a special challenge when trying to make them better and reflect player feedback after Beta ended. We took stock of our catalogue of maps and did as much as possible to make each stage feel great, applying new standards of level design across all the Beta maps to fit the gameplay overhaul.
We’ve also taken great care in curating map pools for matchmaking queues.

[red radish]

Apologies Discord putted Grant to offline mid answer 😂

[vivid finch]

So @alpine rivet is asking will you guys ever share more concept art for stages, characters, and variants? #questions message

[grizzled pumice]

Yes.

[red radish]

Absolutely
Everyone really enjoyed seeing the ones released so far, and in the future we hope to keep that excitement going.

[vivid finch]

@stray saddle Asks do you acknowledge that we are so glad your back? #questions message

[boreal birch]

🙌

[vivid finch]

Much love! Thanks for the support

[grizzled pumice]

[red radish]

Extremely easy answer
We absolutley love this community and appreciate the support every day

[neon herald]

of course! the excitment of the community is absolutely infectious. W scrub socials and forums to gauge reactions to every updated we publish, no mater how critical,and strive to exceed expectations. Delivering the best possible game to the community is why we do all this hard work!

[red radish]

Final Question for today's Q&A! From @honest nova
Which out of the current roster is your personal favorite?

[vivid finch]

Wonder Woman, Gizmo, and......well I guess you’ll see in a few weeks ;D

[grizzled pumice]

Bugs Bunny is my favorite...for a few more weeks.

[red radish]

Batman is my favorite character in all of media, and he is also my favorite to play in MultiVersus. Wonder Woman has also become a favorite of mine in this version of the game. There is also another..... guess you will find that one out very soon 🙂

[boreal birch]

haha oh man... I do truly love playing the entire cast. I think it's important for me to get the feels on whoever I can.

But lately I’ve been enjoying Iron Giant and Steven Universe... They’re both really interesting character designs and I’ve been doing a lot of work to make sure they feel extra good for launch.

[neon herald]

I will always have a place in my heart for Batman, but there is a character coming down the pipes that inspired me to prototype a new way of interacting with our characters. That new... thing... might just end up in game. I hope players get to see it, and I can’t wait to take this unique character into queues.

[vivid finch]

Thanks for stopping by everyone and thank you for your awesome questions!

[neon herald]

Thanks all, for your time and attention today! It means a lot to me personally. I'm sure the team feels the same!

[boreal birch]

❤️ thanks everyone