Earlier this week, the free-to-play battle royale game Ring of Elysium implemented their first major patch of 2020 to bring the new season into the game. The new season is shaking the gameplay up considerably, with new gadgets and playable characters completely altering the array of strategies players can approach the game with.
Now that 2019 is at an end, though, the developers of Ring of Elysium are getting introspective. Their update today saw them looking back at the year as a whole, with a special focus on the methods that they’ve used to design maps and implement changes. More than anything, they’re paying attention to maps in regards to them being the most common subject of feedback that players offer them.
It only makes sense that map balance is such an integral part of balancing the game. After all, weapons are well and good, but the flow and design of a map is arguably the most important factor in what affects the balance of the game.
Aurora Studios knows that this balance needs to be struck with flow and design, and have utilized their methods of creation in their latest Developer Insights. Specifically, they focus on the map Europa Island and their intentions with pacing, traversing, line of sight, and the art style of the map.
#RoESteamNews Developer Insights- New Maps Are Coming https://t.co/wtvVezfbDD
— 📺Ring Of Elysium📺 (@ElysiumVideos) January 5, 2020
“When we first designed Europa Island, we wanted to give players the ability to move around a vast, open landscape to provide a truly immersive experience,” Aurora Studios states in the Insights. They go in-depth on how this originally worked to give the game a near-MMO feel, but that it swiftly became too large of a space for sixty people to play in without serious downtime between firefights and events that actually mattered. No one likes spending half an hour looting before getting sniped from someone they never saw in the first place, and Aurora is seeking to make sure no one has to.
In terms of the upcoming map, Aurora is going to do their best to ensure a faster pace. The map will be smaller with less water, and with a much more open line-of-sight to help with pushing firefights closer together. A new art style will also be coming to give the map a distinct feel.
There will likely be some changes to the current maps of the game to help improve them, rather than leaving them to rot in mediocrity. When those changes will come isn’t known yet, but Aurora Studios have made it clear that they have every intention of spending 2020 improving Ring of Elysium as much as possible.
