Spectator Mode, New Character & Map
Spectator Mode Since we started working on Cradle of Sins, we were mainly focused on developing the game from the players’ side; how the game feels and plays out from a first person’s perspective.
When we started the Alpha Cup tournament back in December 2019, we knew we needed to make it go out with a bang. The finale had to show off how far we’ve progressed into making the game since its early days – and that was the birth of spectator mode!
The game was planned from the start to become part of the esports community, and watching a game from the eyes of the player can be fun indeed, but there’s not a sport out there (physical or digital) were you, as a spectator, can’t have an overview of the entire field. Otherwise, you’d be hopping from one player view to another all the time and that’s just boring and bothersome, not to mention that viewers can easily miss out on the action because they couldn’t anticipate when two or more opponents will soon be running into battle against each other.
So, we designed and created the first version of our very own spectator mode, which made its debut on the Alpha Cup finale (if you haven’t already, you can watch the full stream here or the highlights here). Since it was the very first iteration and we didn’t have much time to test it thoroughly before the finale, we made it only accessible to those running the casting; so, it was pretty much internal still.
Our target is to have it accessible to all players so they can enjoy watching the live matches while they’re not playing themselves – maybe it will even help you guys develop some strategies from watching how others play without getting killed in the process! The mode still needs more work, as we already noticed several issues with it that need to be fixed or adjusted, as well as our current players’ feedback on discord which was quite useful; thank you all for your observations and comments.
New Character So far, we only have 4 characters players can choose from, and all of them are more or less damagers. We’re working on adding our latest character to the roster; a supporter type. This character will definitely be useful to new players as well as letting existing ones have more variety in choice and chances to experiment further with play styles. Stay tuned to our social media accounts for more updates in the weeks to come about this new character’s model, name and abilities.
New Map As well as working on optimizations for the existing map, another map is also in the making! Our map environment currently tells one part of the story of the game – our heroes are trapped on an island and their only escape is to fight each other for the sake of the mysterious Great Architect – and with the new map we intend to expand on that story through environmental storytelling, as well as offer our players something new. This will also be a chance for us to experiment further with our level design and see how different layouts affect the gameplay. We’ll keep you posted on the updates through our developer log and social media accounts.
See you on the Cradle Island!
