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Interviews with Featherweight Games

First QnA

Hi FW, what’s up with Botworld, behind the stage?

My name is Eren, I am the Social Media & Community Manager at Featherweight Games. On behalf of our team, I want to thank you and the Botworld community for the amazing support that you have shown us. I am happy to go over some of the exciting questions from you regarding Botworld Adventure.

Q&A from june 2022, game version 1.6.4

• Every new update comes as a coordination of several areas, from creative works (art, writing…) to game design (balance, economy…) and development (bug fixes, new systems…). Can you tell us a bit about each team and their priorities?

As an indie studio with just 11 current team members we don’t really have teams, in fact each member of the studio has many responsibilities on Botworld (as well as work on Rodeo Stampede and developing new titles). In the Credits section of the game you can see our team members and what they specialize in. The quality and scope of Botworld as well as the rate of new content is a testament to the talent of everyone in the studio.

• Not every update is about bringing something new to the game, sometimes game design and development are about going back and adjusting or correcting what’s already there. How do you balance the two?

We have to balance between fixing bugs and creating new content for players. We try to work on both within a deadline so we can deliver on both ends. But sometimes when we have a big update, we focus on bugs less and when we have a small update, we focus on bugs more often.

• We’ve had a very significant balance change recently with the max level increased from 25 to 30, is that any indication of new content to come?

The goal of the level increase was to smooth out the progression of what was previously level 20-25 to create more levels but make them more easily achievable, it wasn’t intended to lengthen the game. This has been part of an effort in recent updates to improve the experience for end-game players. There is more to come on this front now that we feel like the early-game has gotten to a good state.

• There has been a couple iconic bugs over the course of the game’s history, many of which have now been squashed like the famous “naked T-pose” loading screen. What’s the one that stood out as the most annoying to fix?

The most annoying ones are probably the ones we haven’t been able to fix yet. Anything device specific, or that only happens occasionally is very hard to track down. We struggled a lot with the “Invisible Bots” issue and the fix involved a major restructure in the back end.

• Some mechanics have been frequently questioned as well, like the poison stacks or AI decisions (from some bots, recruits, or enemy botmasters). Such changes can’t be easy fixes, how do you evaluate which ones you feel are worth coming back to versus implementing new features?

We have to weigh every issue on a few factors: how much it affects the player experience, how many players it is affecting and how hard it is to fix. On top of that we are trying to add enough new features and content to the game to keep it interesting every 6 weeks. It’s a giant juggling act and we do our best to keep all the balls in the air but sometimes they drop.

• It’s been a year now that we still don’t have any new maps coming to the game. Are there any new maps currently in development? or are they just finished that they need to wait to add new lore and story quests?

We’ve been focused on adding content to the existing zones and more reasons to explore them, but adding new zones and expanding the world of Botworld is something we’re always interested in. There are some existing zones we’d like to improve and we are trying to flesh out the lore and character of the zones we have through the side quests and achievements rather than adding more zones that might feel sparse or empty so there is nothing currently in development but we’ve deliberately kept that option open. (edited)

• There has been a regular pattern of having a new bot with every season, often a couple botpack modules too, and a major update every now and then with new game modes or massive changes. Do you have any set timelines for such updates, or plans to dictate which updates will be more about content, balance, or new features?

We try our best to have a new bot, modules and costumes with each new season as a minimum while the larger features come out when they are ready. Bugs and balance changes get slotted in based on their urgency as we hear feedback from players. We have some large new features lined up but we also listen to what players want and where we think the game can be improved as we go.

• The community has been prolific in imagining new bots, do you have any that you found particularly close to a bot you had in mind already? Or that you took inspiration from?

We love seeing the ideas for new bots just for our own entertainment and there are some fun ideas out there. There are two main ways we come up with new bots. One is to fill a hole in the roster, for example Bullseye was created because we didn’t have an epic, high damage, slow moving ranged bot. The other way is we think of a new mechanic which will open up new strategies or create interesting combos and then build a bot around that, e.g. Sheller and Phantom. The recently announced Community Bot Event will be the first time we are directly inspired by a community made bot.

• Guild events - they’re a very exciting addition to the game, and it’s easy to tell by how much people talk about it. It feels like you’re still testing concepts and introducing new kinds of objectives and rewards… Do you have any directions in mind you can share with us already? Or design goals driving your crafting of guild events in general?

The Guild feature is one that we were very excited to introduce and was based on the community’s request for it. As of now, the Guild feature is still in its early stages and we are constantly discussing and working on upcoming updates that will enhance the Guild experience for players. Guild events are meant to be sometimes challenging so players can plan and work together to achieve certain tasks in specific events and in other cases they may be more fun and less demanding. Each event is unique and its difficulty level may differ from the next. However, as Guild events are new to the community, they are also new to us and we are gradually learning from the community based on their feedback to help us better structure and improve them in the future. As for the direction we have in mind, we do have some events that will be themed after certain holidays of the year but we will also work on unique themes that will be fun and competitive in their own merit.

Get in touch with FW on socials

Where can I find Botworld Adventure on social media?

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BotworldGame
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BotworldAdventure
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/botworldadventure/
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@botworldadventure

And of course, join the discord server! https://discord.gg/FsJzvtFrgq