June came by just like that and suddenly we’re already a few weeks into the second half of the year! A lot has happened last month so let’s do a recap of what went down:
RAISE YER CUP FOR THE TRIPLE-A CUP!
Big, big, big thanks to the Community Team for making this happen, and to you, our awesome players, for taking the time to join this experimental game night format! Almost 200 player scores were posted over the 5-round, 2-week rumble. Just amazing. Looks like our most hardcore of players got the top spots (yet again, hehe) but we saw a LOT of new players coming in as well.
We saw some interesting trend across skill usage as well: while most classes have a pretty even usage between their skills A and B, a couple of classes have noticeably imbalanced skill usage. This is something to consider as we continue to balance these Arcadians and their skills.
Another interesting data is the number of new users joining the cup begins to decrease as we go deeper into the tournament. Because of this, we’re reviewing how the scores are distributed per round (plus adding some twists!) so people who joined late can still have a fighting chance to get on the podium by end of the cup. You’ll see the details of the next tournament at the end of this article.
A NEW BUILD IS COMING
While the bloodbath was happening over at Alpha OP, we’ve been busy as usual with the next version of AA. Read on to see what’s coming up!
New batch of skills!
For the next build, we’re swapping our original batch with 10 completely new skills! As we continue to scale up the skills pool for each class, we’ll also do skill swaps every now and then so you guys can try them out without the older batch of skills getting in the way. This will also give us some valuable data for future balancing.
We’ll discuss these new skills in detail in a separate blog. Stay tuned!
New customization options!
Last month, we introduced customization with the release of Stickers. This build, we’re adding TWO more customization options: Custom BGs and Squad VFX! Custom BGs lets you show off your favorite arena whenever you attack, while Squad VFX lets you equip the portal that your Arcadian squad will use when they enter the arena. Both options are added to the updated Customize screen (check the tabs!).
On-hover tooltips!
As the Arcadeum Arena community grows with each game night, we felt the need to ‘ease in’ new players by giving them helpful information in the form of on-hover tooltips. Just move your pointer to a button or a hero card, and you’ll see relevant info about it. This is completely optional and you can switch it off in the settings screen anytime.
Game polish stuff!
One fact that I think we haven’t shared before is that all background art is made in 2D but assembled in 3D space in Unity. This means we can play around with depth and layers to add a bit of 3D effect — and that’s exactly what our artists and devs did with the pre-battle sequences! Look at those GIFs, aren’t they cinematic? We also added more ambient animation to makes the entire thing more alive.
Look at that 2nd GIF. Does it remind you of something?
Bug fixes!
We encountered a few big bugs at the start of the Triple-A Cup, and our devs brought out bug sprays to kill ’em. Some of the fixes we pushed are for the matchmaking issues, Arcadian loading bug, and other stuff. We still have a handful of bugs to fix, but at least the critical ones are done and gone. Let us know if you see anything!
WHAT LIES AHEAD?
So many things! Rarity (we haven’t forgotten about that!), new game modes, more skills, mobile support, and countless other features are in the pipeline. Quality of life fixes, UI v2, daily logins and daily quests and a big new tourney format that we’re letting loose for this weekend’s Arcadeum Arena Alpha 5!
Arcadeum Arena Alpha Tournament 5
As the previous Triple A Cup was the first of its kind, we decided to differentiate it with a new tournament name. We plan to associate the Triple A Cup with big, milestone tourneys and possibly turn it into a special recurring event. Kind of like English football’s FA Cup or PBA’s Governor’s Cup (but maybe more frequent than just an annual thing).
And so we’re bringing back the OG Arcadeum Arena series of tournaments with AA5. We will continue with this tournament title as the staple of Arcadeum Arena similar to how UFC does it: UFC 127, UFC 128, UFC 129 and so on. We will continue to test and evolve new formats with the community until we get THE tournament system of Arcadeum Arena. That will be the staple as we create other fun and different cups and competitions around it.
Now let’s get to the tourney coming up! AA5 is following a very similar format from the previous Triple A Cup with a few tweaks and changes. The most notable ones are:
- Prizes per round (for podium finishers) — now each individual round is not just a battle for points but prize money as well! That’s more wins and just rewards for excellent play.
- Top 20 — points scored now extend to the top 20 players of each round and prizes will go to the overall top 20 as well. Again, more wins across the board and tighter competition as players jostle for position across the leaderboards!
- FIRE ROUND — we have shifted to 3 round from the previous 5 rounds of last tournament but we are introducing the Fire Round for the 3rd and final round. This round raises the stakes and gives out more points to the top 5. We hope this gives an easier chance for those within reach to possibly come from behind and overtake their rivals in the standings.
Of course, Arcadians NFT holders get a multiplier too! Again, we are testing and evolving tournament formats and mechanics with the community as we build and develop the game and platform. Please continue to share your feedback and suggestions! We appreciate them very much.
Full tournament details are shared below. For constant updates, hop on over to our Discord. Try the game and get some practice runs in on Arcadia.
AA5 FULL TOURNAMENT MECHANICS
Overview
- 3 Round tourney
- 24hrs, 25 tries per round
- prize winnings per round for Top 3
- points scored for Top 20 per round
- Prizes for Overall Top 20
- 3rd round FIRE ROUND (higher points for top 5)
Schedule
Round 1: Fri-Sat, July 22–23, 9pm GMT+8
Round 2: Sun-Mon, July 24–25, 9pm GMT+8
Round 3: Tues-Wed, July 26–27, 9pm GMT+8
Point system (+ fire round)
1st: 35 (55)
2nd: 28 (43)
3rd: 22 (33)
4th: 18 (25)
5th: 15 (20)
6th: 12
7th: 10
8th: 8
9th: 6
10th: 4
11th-15th: 2
16th-20th: 1
Prize distribution (usdc)
Prizes for Overall Standings:
1st: 100
2nd: 70
3rd: 50
4th: 30
5th: 25
6th-10th: 15
11th-15th: 10
16th-20th: 5
random participant: 25
Prizes per Round (no Arcadians multiplier):
1st: 25
2nd: 15
3rd: 10
Total: 600
Arcadians Holders: 1.5x multiplier (only for top 10 finishers overall)
