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Snapshot 4

Home / Project Voyager

Snapshot 04 is one of our biggest updates yet.

This update touches nearly every part of the Arena: match pacing, bots, classes, objectives, gunplay, respawning, the economy, UI, performance, networking, and more.

More importantly, many of these changes come directly from what we learned during our last playtest.

Snapshot 04 continues pushing the game toward a clearer 5v5 FPS/MOBA identity, with more defined class roles, stronger team objectives, escalating matches, and fewer mechanics that get between you and the fight.

As always: everything is still a prototype. Numbers will change. Systems will change. Some ideas may disappear entirely.

That’s why we playtest.

MATCH FLOW

Three-Stage Bot Fights

Bot waves now escalate as the match progresses.

Stage 1 — Skirmish | 0:00–4:59

  • Waves spawn every 20 seconds.
  • Each wave contains 2 Slims + 1 Big Boy.
  • Early game is focused on building your economy, establishing defenses, and taking territory.

Stage 2 — Armored Siege | 5:00–14:59

  • A global warning sounds at five minutes.
  • Goliaths begin joining bot waves.
  • Goliaths appear every fifth wave.
  • Expect lane pushes to become substantially harder to hold alone.

Stage 3 — Overtime | 15:00+

  • Waves accelerate to every 18 seconds.
  • Slims leave the standard wave composition.
  • Waves become 1 Goliath + 2 Big Boys.
  • Goliath XLs begin spawning every five minutes.
  • Goliaths XL alternate lanes each cycle.

The longer the match continues, the more aggressive the Arena becomes.

Lane Entity Cap

Normal bot waves can no longer endlessly pile into a stalled lane.

  • Each team is capped at 12 bots per lane by default.
  • If the lane is full when a wave is scheduled, that wave is skipped.
  • The wave schedule continues normally.
  • Special purchased units and Goliath XLs are not affected by the cap.

NEW & REWORKED BOTS

Goliath XL

The Goliath XL is our new late-game siege unit.

It is specifically designed to help break stalemates.

Siege Battery

  • Fires long-range mortar volleys.
  • Mortars can arc over cover.
  • Targets players, towers, shields, and exposed cores.
  • Players are intended to be the primary counter.

Missile Lock

Attacking a Goliath XL can cause it to lock onto you.

  • A targeting laser warns you first.
  • A personal warning alarm follows.
  • The Goliath XL then launches a tracking missile toward your predicted position.
  • Multiple attacking players can each receive their own missile.

Stomp

Getting too close isn’t safe either.

  • Goliath XLs can perform a large ground slam.
  • Damages nearby bots.
  • Knocks players away.
  • Applies a slow.
  • A holographic ring communicates the blast radius.

Rage

Goliath XLs become more dangerous as their health falls.

At 66% and 33% health, the Goliath XL enters a stronger rage state.

Expect:

  • Faster attacks.
  • Longer engagement ranges.
  • Additional missiles.
  • An expanding scan pulse that can reveal nearby players.

Weak Point

Don’t just dump ammunition into the armor.

  • The glowing red weak point on the Goliath XL’s head takes critical damage.
  • Weak-point effectiveness increases as the Goliath XL rages.
  • Attacking during certain windups provides additional opportunities for damage.

Meltdown

Destroying a Goliath XL starts a 9-second self-destruct.

When the timer expires:

  • The wreck explodes in a massive energy blast.
  • Nearby enemies and structures can take damage.
  • Coins, health, and ammunition erupt from the wreck.
  • The team that destroys it receives a bounty.
  • Unclaimed loot disappears after 45 seconds.

Goliath

The Goliath has been rebuilt as a dedicated frontline escort.

Plasma Cannon

  • Fires two-round volleys of plasma.
  • Plasma loosely tracks targets.
  • Projectiles stick to targets before detonating.
  • A targeting laser and warning tone provide time to react.

Frontal Deflector

  • Enemy fire is stopped by the Goliath’s shield.
  • Friendly bullets, rockets, and healing pass through it.
  • Shield damage is visually represented on the barrier itself.

Auto-Fortify

Breaking the Goliath’s frontal defense causes it to automatically Fortify.

While Fortified:

  • The Goliath deploys a large protective dome.
  • Friendly players and bots can use the dome as cover.
  • Enemy players can physically enter the dome.
  • The Goliath stops firing.
  • Breaking the dome forces the Goliath to march unshielded for eight seconds.

Weak Point

  • A glowing red weak point is located on the Goliath’s back.
  • Flanking and attacking it deals critical damage.
  • The weak point can still be attacked while the Goliath is Fortified.

Slim Rework

The Slim has become a dedicated lightweight lane drone.

  • New unicycle design.
  • Primarily attacks bots and structures.
  • Only attacks players who get in its way.
  • Glowing lens acts as a critical weak point.
  • New positional movement and weapon audio.

And if one kills you, the announcer may remind you that you just died to a Slim.

Big Boy Rework

Big Boys are now heavier lane brawlers.

  • Uses a ranged blaster.
  • Uses a close-range spinning punch.
  • Punches can knock players down.
  • Three uninterrupted core attacks can help crack the core shield.
  • Visor acts as a critical weak point.

CLASS BOTS

Each class now has access to a specialized bot designed around its role.

Soldier — Juggernaut | 250 Coins

A walking artillery platform.

  • Fires mortar shells over cover.
  • Does not require direct line of sight.
  • Can siege towers from outside their normal range.
  • Amber ammunition hopper acts as its critical weak point.

Heavy — Goliath Jr. | 350 Coins

A frontline battering ram.

  • 700 HP.
  • Charges nearby enemies and structures.
  • Prioritizes towers.
  • Ground pounds damage structures and bots.
  • Players caught nearby are launched and slowed.
  • Highly resistant to knockback and explosive splash.

Goliath Jr. is intended to create the space Heavy needs to advance.

Sniper — Disruptor | 250 Coins

A reconnaissance and disruption bot.

Every six seconds it emits a 360° scan pulse.

Players caught in the scan:

  • Are revealed to the enemy team.
  • Can be seen through walls.
  • Are temporarily prevented from using certain movement and class abilities.

Solid cover blocks the scan.

Scout — Swarm | 200 Coins

The Scout’s class bot is the Swarm, a fast pressure unit built around the Scout’s mobility-focused role.

  • Designed to overwhelm through numbers and speed rather than durability.
  • Creates additional lane pressure while the Scout rotates, captures objectives, or harasses elsewhere.
  • Intended to complement Scout’s generalist and objective-focused playstyle rather than act as a heavy siege unit.

Medic — Mender

A personal healing drone.

  • Spawns alongside the Medic who purchases it.
  • Follows its owner.
  • Heals nearby teammates.
  • Uses a visible healing beam.
  • Does not heal its own Medic.
  • Has 125 HP and a critical weak point.

CLASS ROLES

One of the strongest pieces of feedback from the previous playtest was that classes didn’t feel distinct enough.

Snapshot 04 begins addressing that.

Classes still have no hidden passives, but their damage profiles now give them clearer jobs.

  • Scout — Mobile generalist and strong objective capturer.
  • Soldier — Excels against heavy units and structures.
  • Heavy — Strongest wave-clearing class.
  • Sniper — Excels against players and heavy units.
  • Medic — Lower damage output in exchange for team sustain.

These values are highly experimental and will continue changing through playtesting.

Additional Class Changes

  • Heavy crouching no longer improves Minigun accuracy.
  • Sidearms no longer add camera recoil.
  • Heavy and Medic primary weapons no longer force the player’s camera upward while firing.
  • Ammo upgrades have been significantly strengthened.
  • Buying an ammo upgrade now immediately refills the affected weapons.

MEDIC — JUICE CHARGE

The Medgun now has a new ultimate-style mechanic inspired by TF2’s ÜberCharge.

Building Juice

Healing teammates builds the meter.

  • Approximately 40 seconds of active healing fills it.
  • Healing a full-health player builds charge at half speed.
  • Dying resets your charge.

Activating Juice

With a full meter, use Medgun alt-fire to activate it.

For 8 seconds:

  • The Medic becomes immune to damage.
  • The Medic’s current healing target also becomes immune.
  • Switching targets transfers the protection.
  • The previous patient retains protection briefly after the beam disconnects.

You’ll probably hear and see it coming…

SNIPER REWORK

The sniper has received a major firing overhaul.

Hitscan

The sniper rifle is now hitscan.

  • No bullet travel time.
  • No bullet drop.
  • Your shot resolves against what is under your crosshair when you fire.

Charge

  • Charge now builds while scoped.
  • Moving no longer drains charge.
  • Damage scales from 1× to 3× based on charge.
  • Headshots deal critical damage.
  • Fully charged shots can kill lighter classes with a body shot.
  • Fully charged headshots can kill any class.

New Scope UI

The old charge bar is gone.

A segmented charge meter now wraps around the scope itself and displays the current damage multiplier.

HITSCAN GUNPLAY

All conventional bullet weapons now use hitscan.

This includes:

  • Pistols.
  • SMGs.
  • Shotguns.
  • Miniguns/LMGs.
  • Sniper rifles.

Rockets remain physical projectiles, and the Medgun remains a beam.

Beyond making gunplay more immediate, this substantially reduces the amount of collision work required for every shot. Previously, a single simulated bullet could require dozens of collision sweeps before reaching its target. Hitscan resolves the shot with a single straight-line check while retaining impact effects, tracers, penetration rules, and server validation.

MID OBJECTIVE REWORK

The old mid revive objective has been removed.

Mid now contains an evolving neutral objective.

Bot Buffs | Starting at 3:00

The objective randomly rolls one of three permanent bot upgrades:

  • +20% Damage
  • +25% Maximum Health
  • +15% Movement Speed

Capture takes 12 seconds before player-count and class bonuses.

Once captured:

  • Every living friendly bot receives the buff.
  • Future bots spawn with it.
  • Duplicate buffs can stack.
  • Another objective becomes available three minutes later.
  • The buff phase ends once one team captures three objectives.

Capture Speed

More teammates capture faster.

Scout also receives a capture-speed advantage when present.

THE ANNIHILATOR

At 15:00, the mid objective transforms into the Annihilator.

Capturing it:

  • Destroys all standard enemy bots currently on the map.
  • Causes their loot to drop for the capturing team.
  • Deals 60% maximum-health damage to enemy Goliaths and Goliath XLs.

The Annihilator costs 1,000 coins to activate.

  • The cost is divided between players capturing the objective.
  • Coins are consumed as capture progress increases.
  • Running out of money stalls the capture.
  • Money already contributed is not refunded if the objective is abandoned or stolen.

After activation, the Annihilator returns every five minutes.

CORE & STRUCTURE CHANGES

Core Shield

Inhibitors have been removed.

Each core is now protected by a large energy shield.

The siege progression is:

Lane Towers → Core Guards → Core Shield → Core

  • Core Guards become vulnerable once a complete lane tower chain falls.
  • Destroying both guards unlocks the Core Shield.
  • While the shield stands, the Core cannot take damage.
  • Breaking it exposes the Core.
  • If attackers fail to finish the siege, the shield eventually regenerates.

The shield communicates its health through its appearance instead of another floating health bar.

Structure Damage

Players can now damage structures from outside their normal engagement range.

  • Damage remains full inside the structure’s normal range.
  • Damage falls sharply at longer distances.
  • Long-range damage bottoms out at 10%.
  • Bots are unaffected by this rule.

Protected structures no longer give misleading hitmarkers, sounds, or damage numbers when your attack cannot actually damage them.

Forcefields

Arena barriers now respond to siege progress.

  • Territory-gate balcony barriers fall with their associated towers.
  • Base-perimeter fields open once a lane’s second tower has been destroyed.

The Arena physically opens as teams push deeper into enemy territory.

RESPAWN SYSTEM REWORK

Individual respawn timers have been removed.

Players now return in team respawn waves.

This means players who die near one another are more likely to return together rather than trickling back into the fight one at a time.

Respawn timing changes based on:

  • Match stage.
  • Whether your team is attacking or defending.
  • When you died relative to the next wave.

Normal respawns are capped at 10 seconds.

Attackers receive slightly faster respawn waves to help prevent late-game stalemates.

CLASS SWAPPING

The old substitute-class system has been removed.

You can now:

  • Choose any class while dead.
  • Spawn as your newly selected class.
  • Change class while alive by returning to your spawn room.

You’re no longer locked into your original class composition for the entire match.

UPGRADES & ECONOMY

Upgrade Permanence

Upgrades purchased while dead or inside spawn can be refunded at 100% value.

Once you leave spawn:

  • Those upgrades become permanent.
  • They remain permanent through death.
  • They remain permanent if you swap away from the class and return later.

New upgrades purchased after dying can again be refunded until you leave spawn.

Ammo

  • Ammo Capacity increased from +25% to +50% per rank.
  • Extended Mags increased from +15% to +25% per rank.
  • Ammo upgrades now immediately refill carried weapons.
  • Starting ammunition remains unchanged.

LOOT & REWARDS

Heavy units now provide more satisfying payouts.

Goliath XL

Destroying one causes:

  • Large coin explosion.
  • Claimable cash.
  • Ammo drops.
  • Health drops.
  • Team bounty.

Goliath

Destroying one causes:

  • Coin burst.
  • Claimable cash.
  • Health drops.
  • Standard bounty.

Unclaimed heavy-unit loot disappears after 45 seconds.

Kill rewards continue to pay directly to the player rather than requiring you to retrieve your own bounty.

HUD & UI OVERHAUL

Snapshot 04 introduces a unified visual language across the Arena.

New Top Board

The top-center HUD now combines:

  • Team information.
  • Core health.
  • Core Guard status.
  • Core Shield status.
  • Match clock.
  • Current mid objective.
  • Objective capture progress.

Several older HUD elements have been removed as a result.

New Player Card

The bottom-left HUD now shows:

  • Class
  • Health
  • Critical-health states
  • Rage/Energy when applicable
  • Coins
  • Money earned and spent
  • Overheal

New Elimination Callout

Kills now produce a compact event chip near the crosshair.

It displays:

  • Elimination reward
  • Headshots
  • Kill streaks
  • Running streak rewards

New Scoreboard

Hold Tab to see:

  • Score
  • Kills
  • Deaths
  • Assists
  • Bot kills
  • Damage
  • Ping
  • Structures destroyed
  • Mid captures
  • Healing
  • Coins earned

Team Identification

Player bodies are now tinted according to team:

Blue vs. Orange.

This allowed us to remove several additional teammate markers and reduce HUD clutter.

TURRETS & INTERACTIONS

Turret Menu

The turret interaction screen has been completely redesigned.

It now clearly displays:

  • Turret level.
  • Health.
  • Repair cost.
  • Upgrade cost.
  • Whether you can afford the action.
  • Interaction progress.

Repairs

  • Turrets can now be repaired after any amount of damage.
  • Repair health is applied immediately when the repair completes.
  • Damage received while repairing still reduces the final amount restored.

Interaction Range

Structures are easier to interact with while moving.

  • Purchases can be initiated from farther away when aiming at the structure.
  • When several structures are nearby, the game prioritizes what you’re actually looking at.
  • Close-range interactions continue working without precise aim.

HEALING & REVIVING

Healing Feedback

Players being healed now receive a subtle green screen-edge effect.

Health pickups produce a brief version of the same feedback.

Overheal is now clearly represented on the player HUD.

Revive Feedback

Dead players can now see:

  • Whether a revive disk has been placed.
  • Whether a Medic is actively reviving them.
  • Current revive progress.

Revive beacons are also more clearly tinted according to team.

SETTINGS & MENUS

The in-game settings menu has been rebuilt.

Video

  • Window mode.
  • Resolution.
  • V-Sync.
  • Frame-rate cap.
  • Quality.
  • Field of view.
  • Brightness.
  • Motion blur.

Audio

  • Master volume.
  • Effects volume.

And yes.

The volume sliders work now.

Controls

  • Mouse sensitivity.
  • ADS sensitivity.
  • Invert look.
  • Key bindings.
  • Toggle crouch.
  • Hold crouch.

Diagnostics

Optional displays for:

  • FPS.
  • Ping.
  • Packet loss.

ESC now opens a proper pause menu with Settings, Resume, Main Menu, and Desktop options.

The main menu has also been redesigned around the same Arena visual language.

PERFORMANCE

This was one of the highest-priority areas following the previous playtest.

Some players with RTX 3070 and GTX 1660 Ti laptops reported 15–18 FPS regardless of resolution.

Additional optimization includes:

  • Arena lighting moved from Lumen to baked lighting.
  • Virtual Shadow Maps rolled back.
  • Numerous unnecessary actor searches removed.
  • Bot scans and gameplay systems now update at more appropriate intervals.
  • Off-screen UI/world elements stop unnecessarily updating.
  • Coin pickups no longer update collision transforms every frame.
  • Jumbotrons update at a controlled frequency.
  • Stowed weapons no longer perform unnecessary first-person updates.

On the development RTX 5080 laptop at native 1080p:

Frame time: ~14 ms → ~6–7 ms
Game thread: ~8.5 ms → ~4–5 ms
GPU: ~5.5 ms → ~2–3 ms

Real-world results on playtester hardware are what matter, so we’ll be validating these improvements during the next playtest.

NETWORKING

Bot Movement

Bots should now move significantly more smoothly for connected clients.

Previously, AI bots moved correctly for the host but could visibly snap between replicated positions for everyone else.

Simulated bots now:

  • Continue moving between server updates.
  • Smoothly reconcile against authoritative positions.
  • Correct invalid replicated velocity values.
  • Remain within a small distance of their server-authoritative position during testing.

Launch Pads

A networking issue causing repeated movement corrections during launch-pad flights has been fixed.

The client now receives and preserves the server-authoritative flight-speed limit during corrections and movement replays.

Replayed movement also correctly re-triggers the launch without duplicating its audiovisual effects.

Translation:

Launch pads should rubber-band substantially less online.

AUDIO

A broader positional-audio pass has been completed for bots and heavy units.

Changes include:

  • Bot weapons now use positional audio.
  • Bot footsteps and mechanical sounds use appropriate distance falloff.
  • Shield sounds are positional.
  • Lock-on warnings vary based on threat.

ARENA

Additional map changes include:

  • Base catwalk approaches opened to accommodate heavy units.
  • Stadium end walls cleaned up.
  • Spawn entrances integrated into the new wall layout.
  • Additional lighting added beneath base catwalks.
  • Fog reduced.
  • Arena lighting rebuilt around baked lightmaps.
  • Reflection and volumetric lighting updated.
  • Mid converted to the new neutral-objective system.

KNOWN / FOLLOW-UP ITEMS

Snapshot 04 remains a prototype build.

A few items are already flagged for follow-up:

  • Balance values for class roles, class bots, mid objectives, respawns, and heavy units are deliberately experimental.
  • Performance needs to be validated across actual playtester hardware.

Expect things to break.

Please tell me when they do.

Snapshot 04

This is a big one.

The Arena now escalates instead of remaining static. Classes have clearer jobs. Bot armies have more personality. Mid matters. The core siege is easier to understand. Gunplay should be more responsive. Respawning should keep teams together. And the game should run considerably better.

A huge portion of these decisions came from watching you play and listening to your feedback.

So now comes the important part:

Put it in your hands and find out how much of it I got wrong.

See you in the Arena.

Posted in Project Voyager, Snapshot by hkomarTags: