LawBreakers is back at PAX East and developer Boss Key is finally ready to show off some of the new content in the fast-paced online shooter. Lead designer Dan Nanni talked with iDigitalTimes about the new content and revealed plans for the game’s road to release.
One thing gamers who haven’t played LawBreakers in a while may notice is the game is much faster than before.
“During and after the alpha, we did a lot of things to increase the speed of LawBreakers,” said Nanni. “Movement speeds, ability speeds, animation speeds have all been increased across the board to make it feel like a faster experience.”
Once the right feel for the game was reached, the company started adding in the new content. “We were missing some pieces of the puzzle. We only had four roles, so we started filling that out,” said Nanni. Roles are the character classes in LawBreakers. “Here at PAX we have three new roles, so almost double the content in terms of character roles,” said Nanni.
While Boss Key is showing off three new roles at PAX East, that’s not all there will be. Ultimately, LawBreakers will be releasing with nine roles, as well as a number of maps and game modes. Up to this point, only the Overcharge game mode has been playable, but the upcoming closed beta will introduce the new mode Turf War.
“Turf War is control point driven, but we wanted to add our own spin to it. You have three capture points on the map, and as soon as you capture it, the point locks,” Nanni said. “You’ll score a point for your team and have to move on. Once all three points on a map are taken, you enter into a sort of intermission giving teams 30 seconds to prepare for the capture points to unlock again.
Nanni said the first team to score 13 points will win the match. “It works a little like speed chess, and you’ll have to think on the fly,” he said.
While there are still two mystery roles in LawBreakers, those will be revealed in due time. Nanni said the company isn’t planning on holding back any content until launch, as that is ultimately detrimental for development. “We’re trying to get as much feedback as possible on everything so that when we launch, we’ll have a tight, tight game,” he said.
As for a release, more betas are planned, but nothing is set in stone yet. “Based on how the feedback is from the closed beta and how things are on the back end, and any pressing issues players bring up, we’ll keep on pushing out betas until we’re in a comfortable place and open it up wider until launch,” said Nanni. Ultimately, Boss Key is trying to have a full release out by the end of 2017.
So what do you think? Are you excited to see the new roles in LawBreakers? Have you signed up for the closed beta? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.