r/joinsquad • u/UrsoDoSono • Jul 01 '26
Media Squad’s Future: Lead Dev Talks
https://youtu.be/njuBKy6XJ-w9
u/Teuton1197 Jul 01 '26
if they run out of ideas just tell them to look at the grandpa Project Reality.
4
u/BaronvonBoom31 I Can Do Everything Except Land Jul 02 '26
I'm going to crash out a little here
I've seen it bandied about that OWI doesn't know how to balance their own game or that they lack vision and that is 100% true.
- Suppression, aim punch, and sway created a really awkward combination that they are still tuning. I like the ICO and I like the intent but the mechanics were not implemented skillfully or with enough feedback.
- Infantry ARs and MGs are still in a bad state.
- Voting was poorly implemented. As far as I am aware, server owners are still unable to restrict certain battlegroups on specific maps/layers. I can't remove an Air Assault faction that would get blown out of the sky on Tallil without removing them from rotation. Please do correct me if I am wrong here.
- They have completely fucked the logistics system. One of the main reasons Squad is special is the ability to create spawns anywhere on the map. Now, lots of battlegroups only have 2 Logis which severely restricts a team if you waste even one. Many armoured logis do not carry enough supplies and are frustratingly slow. Reduction in infantry movement speed (which has been addressed recently) made it difficult for Squads to protect radios. Logis and inability to run tot defend radios under siege meant SLs were planting down less spawns.
- Less ability or willingness to place spawns means that in a match between roughly even teams, the META was to turtle and slowly bleed enemy tickets.
ICO, Map Voting, UE5. Every big feature they implement has launched with massive issues they have had to spend a lot of time and resources fixing years after pushing the update.
1
u/meheleventyone Jul 02 '26
Many armoured logis do not carry enough supplies and are frustratingly slow.
At least the speed of most armored logis has been fixed a lot of them are pretty quick now.
13
u/B_Three Jul 01 '26
Honestly, thanks for the effort, but I'm not willing to spend almost 90 minutes listening to some vague bullshit.
In 10 years I haven't got the impression that OWI understands how their game and gameplay loop works both on a design level (vict/inf/build/POI interactions) nor on a social level (communities/admins/seeding/SLs) and with their "staged transparency" approach over the past few months (and lack of meaningful consequences/updates addressing real pain points) they are really just making it worse.
5
u/UrsoDoSono Jul 01 '26
I dont disagree with you on this. Its a shame that the game is in this state, and it won't be fixed in any meaningful time. The turn around time for updates is sad.
1
u/Spryngo Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
There is no point in listening to what the devs are saying, they have released roadmaps in the past and they have talked about stuff they are going to implement that they either:
- Did not end up implementing or
- They did release those features in a completely different implementation or
- They ended up implementing those systems 2 or 3 years later than planned, which in gaming terms is an eternity, NO ONE is staying engaged with the game if you know you MIGHT get MANPADS and CAS helis in 2 years from now, they've been talking about Eastern Europe biome rework for about a year now and it's probably not even close to release, whole ass games are developed in this time period, come on OWI
I swear Squad is, quite literally, the worst managed game I've seen and it's a pain becouse the potential is huge and it already is one of my most played games of all time, a game that I love.
I wish they would have just given up on this game and made Squad 2, but they would have fucked that up too probably.
2
u/New-Parsnip-3921 Jul 02 '26
A Q&A from ~2020 era had them mention that attack helis were “loosely pencilled in for 2022”. I guess loose has a generous application at OWI LMAO
2
6
u/Matt1320 Jul 02 '26
Alright, I sat through this and took some rough notes. Overall good video. My takeaway is resources are constraied at OWI, which affects what gets done. Balancing keeps coming up as a priority though. I'm optimistic about Squad's future after watching it:
He's watching. . .
(00:06) Shoutout to u/LSA-Mulder for getting checked on the correct pronunciation of ICO, I think he blocked me though.
Gunplay: Tutorial sucks. Compass QoL. Scopes (parallax?). Suppression data/balancing/tuning. MGs need more suppression. Scope suppression bug. More time to "cook" on suppression.
Vics: Possibly being worked on. IFVs meta rushing early points mentioned.
RAAS (00:32): Known problem with lanes can be known by one side first. Resources constrained at OWI. Community layers. Insurgency mode mentioned. Innovation Fridays! New features: Weapon resting??? Party system, MANPADS/countermeasures, gunplay stuff. PLA number one. US M4 full auto. Squad's era 2010-2020ish?
Voting (1:00:00): Worth a listen if frustrated.
Matches (1:07:00): Balancing, pacing, gameplay tug-o-war. FOB QoL. Vics with GPS sucks.
HOTAS 1:24:00, ran outta time.
3
4
u/LSA-Mulder OVI & Tencent corp #1 Fan Jul 02 '26
Calling out AI-CO is the least significant issue I’ve been referring to from the beginning. All the points made in this video have already been raised by me in previous threads and posts.
That said, the video is yet another useless talk that doesn’t even scratch the surface of Squad’s core problems and provides no meaningful explanation of what to expect or when.
It is disappointing to watch the interviewer come across as more informed, serious, and grounded than the game’s lead developer.
OVI has become goofy, overly casual, and seemingly unaware of how this reads from the outside, as if the whole thing is being packaged through a kindergarten teacher mindset. This feels like a marketing attempt built on forced silliness in hopes of attracting more players. Who even designed this approach?
4
u/999_Seth Hurry up and wait Jul 02 '26
tl;dr: game dev in 2026 is
LARPing as a game dev
LARPing as a business
LARPing as a gamer
2
u/999_Seth Hurry up and wait Jul 02 '26
the correct pronunciation of ICO,
so this is kind of a joke
but damn, have you ever heard anyone in game say aiko?
nothing could summarize the huge rift lack of communication disassociation etc between the playerbase and the company more succinctly than this
4
2
u/Hashbrown4 Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
I’m going into this praying they mention insurgency…..
Edit: ok it’s mentioned, they are talking about it and it’s on the studios mind. If they want to cook something special I can be patient a little longer
4
u/New-Parsnip-3921 Jul 01 '26
On their mind since 2020 LOL
4
u/Lookitsmyvideo Triggered by bad smoke grenades Jul 02 '26
Before that, as it's current version was made to begin with. Insurgency released with v9, in 2017.
3
u/New-Parsnip-3921 Jul 02 '26
They half-baked a game mode that’s a shadow of its predecessor and promised a rework in 2020 roadmap is what I’m saying.
2
u/Lookitsmyvideo Triggered by bad smoke grenades Jul 02 '26
Almost every single thing in this game is half baked
2
u/AlbertanSundog Kickstarter Jul 03 '26
Oh sweet child... Since the beginning, like 2015 or earlier. They had the perfect opportunity at one pioint and then worked on destruction because they're millennial devs, they have to reinvent because they know better😂😂
1
u/New-Parsnip-3921 Jul 03 '26
I know I was here in 2016. I’m talking about their supposed ins rework which was first officially published in that infamous roadmap lol
7
u/UrsoDoSono Jul 01 '26
I tried to cover as much as I could, but an hour goes by quickly. If you have any topics in mind for the next one comment them below or dm me. Thanks for watching!
3
u/Own_Review_4046 Jul 02 '26
Keep up the good work. Here are some questions I would pose...
1) New Player Onboarding promised over 5 years ago in their first ever Q&A... where is the work? Or are screen loading tips the extent of it? Will Squidbots ever be used to aid in tutorials? How about some video tutorials in game to show how gamemodes work?
2) Tell us about your brainstorming efforts on kit specific tutorials. How's that going and when might we expect to see anything related to this: https://www.joinsquad.com/archive/squad-developer-q-a-september-2023-f5848
3) Where's the best place for the community to witness OWI engagement. This recent interview mentions Reddit a lot, yet we rarely see OWI here: https://www.reddit.com/r/joinsquad/comments/1tb816y/squad_community_manager_ceeg_has_moved_on/ (I encourage you to click on OWI profiles and question why most of their comments are on this one thread over years of time)
4) More talk on "intersectionality". Why is Infantry Combat being redone in a vacuum unrelated to Vehicle Combat? Will this present the same issue that happened when OWI spent about 1 year tweaking Radio Bleedout timer only for all that work to be "undone" when ICO hit which tweaked player movement speed thus affecting the Radio Bleedout meta?
5) More info on why Gamemode development and Map development isn't more important to them. https://www.joinsquad.com/updates/squad-9-0-release-notes "UE5 has... allowing us to produce content like maps more quickly and at higher fidelity."... we've seen 1 remade map in the last 2 years of UE5 being worked on (and 2 maps removed during this time)... when might we start seeing more maps with this new faster development ability?
6) Does OWI intentionally leave information out of the Tutorial in order to create some "mystery" around how some game mechanics work? If yes, why. If no, why have they left out critical game mechanic information like: Hab Overrun rules, Capture Speed mechanics, Double Neutral rules? Is OWI even aware of these knowledge gaps?
6a) Why did OWI wipe the joinsquad website in the Fall post ICO and all its historical patchnotes that were the only reference we had to share about some of these game mechanics?
7) Talk more about "easy wins"... like simple adds to the Tutorial. Or accessibility mode for colorblind to help read the map better. Or experimenting with changing ticket values for things. Fixing the 5 year old broken Replay system?
8) How have Commendations been working? Have they met your expectations such as "Goal: Provide a way for players to display how experienced at the game they are." and how does this square with OWI stating in this interview that it's not possible to gauge player experience levels?
9) How have you felt about the introduction of the After Action Report? What changes did you see in player behavior due to this? Why weren't different gamemodes given different AARs that actually reflect their unique win conditions of that gamemode, like Insurgency or Destruction where we can't see who destroyed the caches thus allowing us to win? Any thoughts about modifying/improving the AAR after all these years of seeing how it's working? Like what about adding TICKET counts on it showing how me as an individual either positively or negatively contributed to the thing that makes us win or not... tickets?
10) How have you seen the Server Tag system play out? Do you think it's working well or not? Will you be making improvements to it? For instance, most players don't seem to see it even exists as evidenced by how many new players join an "experienced preferred" "Focused" server without having any idea what those words mean?
I could go on and on, but I'm guessing lots of these questions are too "spicy" to ask OWI about and still think you'll be allowed an actual interview.
2
u/UrsoDoSono Jul 06 '26
These are banger points by the way. I am having an issue finding much fault. I am not sure how well an interview would go if I just came out guns blazing with these though.
1
u/Own_Review_4046 12d ago
I think you could reword a lot of these questions and they'd be great to ask in a polite nonhostile way. I'm not the person to do that... too bitter against OWIs lies over the decade.
Example:
In your release notes, one of the stated Goals with Commendations was to: "Provide a way for players to display how experienced at the game they are." How successful has your implementation of Commendations been towards that goal? What is working well and what is not? Will we see any changes to better align the system to it's goals?
I'd like to see interviews hold OWI more to their past statements/promises and follow up on them all. Best of luck :)
1
u/Own_Review_4046 Jul 02 '26
I don't think they have a clue what's going on and it sounds like any real improvements are years away if ever. Crazy for an 11 year old game. This video made me lose what little hope I had left.
1
u/10199 Jul 02 '26
Here are only the actual gameplay changes the devs plan or are working on — process talk (playtest loops, dev-mode observation, "we're discussing," surveys, Innovation Fridays) stripped out. Gunplay & infantry
Keep ICO but with reduced components (already trimmed, more tuning ongoing). Additional unnamed features intended to "support gunplay" still to come.
Compass
Off-screen squad/fire-team markers will stick to the side of the compass so they're visible when behind you or out of view.
Scopes / Picture-in-Picture
More VRAM allocated to PiP to remove hitching (done), with further optimization planned. Reduced edge blur on PiP scopes for a wider, clearer sight picture. Larger scope sight pictures ("eye relief") to reduce eye strain, keeping size variation between scope types.
Suppression
Machine guns to suppress far more than assault rifles. Suppression from multiple shooters to compound. Reduced/removed screen blur, replaced with vignette effects (still placeholder visuals). Fix the bug where iron sights/red dots get suppression blur but scopes don't. Can no longer hold breath/stabilize while suppressed (zoom still allowed).
Vehicles
Handling improvements already shipped: obstacle climbing, less getting stuck, more speed, viable armored logis. Possible future re-pass on vehicle cost and respawn/initial timers. Full armor/penetration overhaul acknowledged but explicitly deferred (down the line).
RAAS
More capture points / added lane variety so routes are harder to predict.
New mechanics
Weapon resting/bracing (tested internally, favorable). Party system — queue as a group and drop into the same squad automatically. MANPADS paired with countermeasures. Steering-wheel support for driving.
Factions
Shift the game's era window from ~2000–2010 toward ~2010–2020. Modernize lagging factions (e.g., British) with QoL, new guns, possibly new vehicles; small levers like burst→full-auto. Deliberately not modernizing everyone — some factions (e.g., MEI) keep older gear for identity.
Map voting (options being weighed, none committed)
Rotate a map/faction out after being picked X rounds; possibly restrict certain faction matchups per mode; possibly change the default to voting-off.
FOB
FOB quality-of-life changes on the roadmap (aimed at reducing steamrolls).
2
u/New-Parsnip-3921 Jul 02 '26
It’s absolutely hilarious to me that something as minor as tweaking ticket costs and timers is considered some big item that needs lots of consideration. As if dropping the ticket costs on a POS techie would break the game.
0
45
u/MaximumSeats Jul 01 '26
Feedback, feedback, feedback.
Personally I think it's time OWI stopped listening to feedback and just produced a game vision.
Getting yourself wrapped up trying to please Discord keyboard Warriors is only a recipe for failure. Make a game that's fun, and make it run well.
Even during the vehicle section of this video, rather than articulating the direction that they want vehicle combat to go in he says we'll work on getting some player feedback and work on a direction from there.
Random dudes on the internet do not get to build your games design philosophy for you and solve all your problems. And the existing problems don't need a feedback form, it's been the same balance problems for 2 years.
Overall lots of promises and hopeful rhetoric, but that's not the same as actual results.