Hello, after a bit long absence we are back with another devlog! Today we will describe how the ladder, matchmaking and seasons work.
We would like to point out here that the system itself or specific numbers used for calculations during matchmaking and places in the ranking may change. We care about the end result, i.e. a fair system that rewards committed players. This does not mean that we will neglect people who want to play casually or have less time. We will try to implement a system that will offer rewards and challenges for everyone.

The gameplay and ladder climbing itself will be divided into seasons. How long each will last is a matter to be determined at a later date. At the end of the season, players will automatically receive rewards based on their placement. It can be premium currency, unique skins, sounds, particle effects or even special titles visible next to the nickname. Some of the rewards will only be available for one season, while others may appear later as easier to earn. This may seem strange but we want to avoid a situation where an interesting skin is only available to a handful of people. This way, committed players will have exclusive rewards for a while and after that more people will have access to them. We plan to properly mark unique items so that it is clear in advance what is worth investing your time and currency in.

The first seasons will be a kind of testing ground and an attempt to determine which mechanics have caught on and which we need to change or abandon. We want to test both a simple ladder, division into leagues or a qualification stage that will determine the current level of the player and help you quickly match opponents while also skip the tedious climbing up the lower part of the ladder. We are also considering converting the final points of the leaderboard to the starting position in the next season. This would ensure more predictable matches and no grouping of players with extremely different levels at the start of each season.

The matchmaker itself will be pre-built with initially two components. First one, publicly visible, is your current place in the ranking. On its basis, the system will search for players of a similar level. At the beginning, the search interval will be small and with the time passing in queue it will increase to a certain predetermined level. After reaching that level, the player will be informed about the possibility of further searching for a match, which, however, will be associated with a drastic reduction in rewards or penalties. This is a failsafe mechanism designed to protect one’s ranking during periods of low player activity. The second component is partly hidden, but it's no secret. The game will take into account the last 10 matches and determine the current form of the player. For the unlucky ones who lose again and again, this will be a tool to help in choosing the right opponents with a lower rank. Similarly, players with a lot of victories will be able to be grouped with better opponents to make the game more challenging for them and at the same time adequate to their skills. However, we are seriously considering adding the optionality of this solution in the form of a pop-up window when searching for a match and adding appropriate rewards for participation.

In addition to joining a solo queue, we want to allow the possibility to play with a friend. In this case, the higher ranking of two will be considered. In the initial stage of the search, the system will try to match only players queued in groups to protect the interests of solo players as much as possible. If this fails, solo players will be matched according to the general rules and will receive bonuses depending on the number of players in the groups. A win will mean more ranking gains while loss will mean less points lost.

In the future, after release of the base game, we plan to add a separate queue for entire teams. In this mode, it's not the players who earn points and climb the ladder, but the entire team. It doesn't matter who represents it. Please note that only players with enough team games played will receive rewards in this mode at the end of the season.

Finally, we want to to discuss the so-called “smurfing”, i.e. the creation of new accounts by experienced players in order to match easier opponents. While we don't think this could be a big problem for our game, we'd love to hear your feedback and suggestions for a fix this beforehand. In our opinion, the game is supposed to reward and give pleasure, not frustrate, so we are not afraid to experiment and look for new solutions even after the game's release.

Would you like to read about something specific? We will be happy to answer your questions both in the next devlogs and on our Discord.

Regards, Neural Studio!