MMC Dev Notes: From the Trenches (Dec 6th, 2021)

[Mini Militia Classic Alpha Force]

Hello to the most amazing alpha testers!

We were hoping this email would be release notes and not another informational/preview message. But, here we are. The release isn't quite ready. The latest round of app development has been extra challenging. Implementing ad networks isn't easy under normal conditions and it turns out that working with an unreleased app offers several more hurdles to jump over. If you really want to know about our ad network troubles, jump on our Discord server and ask Comms Officer Martin for the details. (https://discord.gg/d6A2UjwA25)

There are some other things happening in the background that are interrupting work like a legal challenge to one of our trademarks and balancing work/life with winter holidays. Despite all the interruptions we have started testing and building a punch list of the last things that need to be done. So we can offer a bit of information about what is coming up like a few screenshots and an update to the roadmap. There are a lot of new screens but unfortunately that punch list of work includes fixing many items on those screens that are still not working correctly.

Thanks to player research and feedback we've found and fixed several bugs as well as made some adjustments that should improve elements of game play:
Bug Fixes
- Fixed altered ammo issue (handled by server now). Players should see an improvement in the ammo state and clip management between drop and pick up of ammo.
- Fixed ammo label so that items without ammo no longer say 0 (like machete or flag)
- Fixed (again?) extra "ghost weapons" being drawn (a graphical glitch
during loadout selection)
- Fixed grenade crash and the zoom/grenade bug.
- Fixed menu in Survival so quit button now works.

Adjustments
- Improved health bar display. This is a better reflection of the server controlled health state. The player should not see 0 on their
health bar until the server confirms it.
- Players can no longer have the same type of weapon in the primary and secondary slot (no more double sniper).
- Added when a player is defeated they should drop all their gear (now including grenades).
- Added weapons will fade slightly before despawn
- Updated leaderboard to show the latest season on top and seasons will display a name.

But wait, there's more! Check out this list of new stuff:
New
- Update to the menu/lobby ad bar. Ads can be hidden after 15 seconds and will be visible again when a new ad is loaded.
- Added a new customized avatar shirt and pants.
- Added melee damage to fist attacks
- Added spectate mode to Custom games.
- Added extra grenade and punch buttons to Controls. Players can now have two punch and grenade buttons on the screen.
- Added new VIP custom game mode. This new game mode utilizes mechanics that are already in place. The server will pick one player on each team to become VIP (the flag). Eliminate the VIP and your team will score a point. When a VIP is eliminated the server will pick a new player to be VIP. The team with the most points when the timer runs out, wins.
- Added menu changes to the "Subscription" section to support the new in-game economy. Some screens are place holders and not yet functioning (subscriptions). Others are not fully implemented with more features being added in the future (sponsor tokens). Changes include new screens for earning sponsor tokens and spending them to remove ads.
 
Attachments

Updated roadmap - yellow items are assumed to be ready for v0.6.0 release (currently being tested)

Earn token - new screen to earn sponsor tokens for watching ads

New game mode VIP - new game mode is found in the custom game settings

New pants & shirt - new items can be found when customizing your avatar

The new token system is just the start.  Tokens are earned via ad views (ad supply willing!) We want to make this a rewarding part of the game, and not a grind. After tokens we will look at in app purchasing and then subscriptions. Its going to take a while to get through all those steps. Hang in there!

We have a new Game Mode. This was a side project effort for the next phase. It came along far enough we can start testing it. It is team based, like CTF. Protect your team's VIP for the victory.

We added a new piece of clothing for avatar. An MMC tracksuit. ;) 🔴🔺🟥(⭐☂)
Not referencing a popular IP at all, just a track suit with an MMC logo on it... ;)

Some words from Hunter [ (that he snuck into this email >;) ]

Hey all!

Congrats on reading this far. We are SO CLOSE TO DONE on the final pieces of a partial release for "Beta Phase 0" part 1 of ? (probably 2, maybe 3) It took us a while to get here, there is just more testing/fixing to do, but this has major major changes under the hood to support our idea of what "game modes" is going to mean going forward. The promising piece to come out of this work is how simple it was to add VIP to the system. It is not trivial, but its not impossible. When we added CTF we moved heaven and earth to try that, and there is good reasons we never tried that again. That attitude and concern is dead now. We're doing the work to make the future brighter than it ever has been. We hope you like it, it may be buggy as hell, please let us know what's working and what's not. Also if this release isn't great for you, then hang in there and let us know what's not working as always. We're going to work on Classic as a game mode next after this release as well as add more monetization things (and try not to ruin the experience.) And we're really excited about that and eager to achieve that vision of a unified past (Classic v4) AND the future to come (Classic+).

Winter holidays are tough for me to work through. I have a lot of family commits and kids (and I do miss spending time with them as they grow older...) It is a time we gather (as safely as we can), game, and take comfort as the darkest nights pass by. This might be the last major content update of 2021. I can't say. The month is young. We're coming up on our MMC Alpha anniversary of Dec 27 2020. I can't believe this has been a year. I wanted to be where we are last June! But we do what we can. We're ready to get this game out there and find out what's broken so we can fix it for launch. Thank you all for coming along on that journey.

-Hunter (and the rest of the team)