July 2024 Patch Notes

Happy July!

Welcome Sky Captains!

It's officially summer time! Time to break out the lawn chairs and and some potato chips. Fire up that barbecue! Sky Link 2 has been moving in a new direction, and we've put a lot of work behind it already. I'm pretty excited to go over all of the changes, so let's get to it!

(The world of Sky Link)

Quality of Life Updates

First and foremost, we have a quality of life update that everyone has been asking for in all our playtests. Now when you leave Sky Link, your settings will save and be available for you on your return!

(Controller settings were added earlier this year!)

Some Quick Planned Updates

And if that isn't enough, we have a whole world of changes to go over this month too. Modular weapons are coming! Today each drone is set with a specific weapon, and our developers are working to open this up so every load out can be as unique as the pilot themselves. In our last play test I was able to test this out and it's already working great on the back end. Keep your eyes peeled for updates on this, as it'll be a big one.

Along with modular weapons on the drones, we've been implementing new abilities as well. With the missiles deadly homing ability we have created flairs you can equip that will attract the missiles. I hope to see the flare reach the game for everyone's use this next month. The flair's sound effect is also awesome!

Also planned for the future, our devs are working on something we're calling chaos destructibility. Keep your eyes peeled for more about this in the future!

(Cyclops' Stasis Field can create chaos in battle!)

Map Updates

Lots of changes to our maps in June to go over. Sandstorm has had a few holes patched, and the spawn points have been adjusted to prevent spawn camping. The Sandstorm map is also larger now, to better accomodate our physics based flight. In Sandstorm, and in Split; the trees now have collision as well, so watch your flight path! Audio setup on Sandstorm, Fjords, and Center arena have been improved, with better ambient noise and reverb.

(The Sandstorm map is shown above)

Party System

Our party system is strong as it's ever been with our latest round of updates. The invitation system now allows you to select all your friends and invite them at once, and it's working like a dream! There's never been a better time to get your friends into Sky Link!

Tons of changes and fixes go in every month. One issue we have noticed in our play tests was a crash that would randomly occur when a new player entered the match as the match was ending. This has been fixed on the back end, along with issues on the play button's visibility. The Discord Button in the game has also undergone an operation in June that has brought it back to full operation.

(Party System in Game shown)

Game AI

A lot of work has been put into the Artificial Intelligence in the game. During gameplay bots can now be added to a Team Death Match, and they will follow a designated leader on each team. We've had some 16 player battles in this orientation, and it's smooth and fast. The bots themselves now use all weapons and abilities, and have much more intelligence in their actions. They are now a little bit scary to be honest. Bots damage statistics also required some correction in June.

Missile logic has also had a huge make over in June. If a missile has target lock and the target gets obstructed by an obstacle, the missile will now extrapolate the target's next position based on last tracked position and velocity. Missile guidance has also been moved server side to make missiles more reliable. Missiles will now also lock onto the closest target when more than one is in range.

(Bots are far more deadly now!)

[VFX]

And last but not least, our visual effects expert has been crunching all month. There's so many changes in VFX to go over! All visual effects have had a new scale parameter added on the back end, to help dynamically match explosion to damage. The barriers had a lot of attention. The shields would inhibit some of the view while in first person and this feedback has led to a new iteration of shield that isn't going to block your view when you play.

Tons of work and a lot of passion and excitement from the team this month as we round through July. Lots of excitement to come as well, I look forward to seeing you again next month!

(You can see multiple explosions as they change over time)

[PLAYTESTS]

Join the Sky Link discord to play in the beta test!

Our open beta test is now running Fridays and Saturdays. During these events we do beta testing; checking balance in game while learning to master the finer mechanics of flight. Sky Link: Freefire is difficult to master, though truly easy to pick up and just play.

Playtests are streamed live, and we encourage you to stream it too! We make sure you have enough credits to buy all the skins and show off the game, and I'll always do my best to help you look good on stream too. Let's get together and have some fun!

We get together every Friday at 1 PM PST and Saturdays at 4:30 PM PST.

Check out Sky Link on Youtube:

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have an incredible summer!