Rework Playtest 5

As we progress closer to releasing the rework, we want to open a short test to make sure we have everything working as intended! We'd love for you to come and help us test this Saturday December 7th 7:00PM - 8:00PM GMT.

HOW TO ACCESS
Right click Project Sparrow in your steam library > go to properties > betas > then in the 'Beta Participation' dropdown, select 'rework - rework'.

Note: If you want to swap between playing the live version of the game and the rework, you'll have to come back here and change from 'rework - rework' to 'none'.

PATCH NOTES:

GAMEPLAY

• Added new ability: Pocket Dust - Throw a cloud of dust in front of you, blinding any player it hits for 3.5 seconds. Cooldown: 8 seconds
• Reduced cooldown on fire and smoke arrows from 18 seconds to 16 seconds
• Reduced blink strength but increased active time (similar distance still)
• Kick now has two variants: Strong (cooldown: 8 seconds) and Weak. Strong kick activates when it's off cooldown. The strong version of kick has it's cooldown indicator shown near the ammo counter in a red circle. Kick can be used by using melee whilst in the air, otherwise you will punch melee
• Roll now has two outcomes: jumping within 200ms of activation boosts 2m; after 200ms, boosts 5m
• Rolling backwards now functions the same as forward/side directions.
• Increased dash strength from 1200 to 1300
• Increased dash height strength from 200 to 250
• New buffs added in all maps
• There are 3 different buffs; Double Damage, Extra Move Speed & Health these will spawn 60 seconds into the round. Buffs last for 15 seconds for the player that picked them up
• Ultimate orbs have been moved from the middle of maps and are now on the sides
• Ultimate orbs now spawn 30 seconds into the round
• Reduced ultimate orb regen from 100% to 50% ult charge
• Arrows now use lag compensation up to 160ms
• Reduced cooldown on fire and smoke arrows from 18 > 16s
• Increased trail lifespan and width for special arrows
• Smoke arrow activation time reduced
• Smoke arrow exiting/entering now has distortion effects
• Added blink VFX
• Reduced screen tint camera effect in shadowform
• Player hit VFX updated to red; world hits are sparrow yellow
• New gates added in spawn areas that open at the start of each round
• Added a countdown timer with faction logo in the 5 seconds before a round starts
• Now able to open loadout whilst dead
• Players are no longer locked in movement during the loadout/shop/buy phase
• Updated spirit bombs mesh and effects
• Reduced smoke brightness from smoke arrow
• Added new VFX for slide, wallclimb and walljump
• Added ultimate orbs and buffs to the tutorial / training range maps
• New VFX for shadowform and powershot
• New materials and effects added for each buff type

MAPS

• SANCTUM

The last greybox we showcased in the previous test called Eversong has now been fully complete with assets. Current name for this map going forward will be Sanctum, but open to any other names! We may also use Chamber or Echo

• FLAGSTONE

A new map in it's early days. A rainy cliffside environment with sharp edges and caves. This map will be smaller and tighter than SANCTUM

• KINGS REST

Kings has had a few tweaks, along with collision and performance improvements. Especially in areas where wall climbing would fail

• MAIN MENU

Changed greybox to use new assets and set default max menu fps to 60 (was 30)

AUDIO

• Lowered volume of heal pickup SFX
• Added new announcer volume category
• Reduced delay of powershot sound on activation
• Friendly/ally sound effects on certain abilities are now quieter

UI

• All ability icons have been replaced with newer versions
• Added new broken shield icon when shields have been broken
• Added team/faction icons and names to the scoreboard
• Colors have been changed to Amber/Blue for teams rather than Red/Blue
• Added climb passive information to the character info panel (F1)
• Renamed dash to "movement ability" in keybind settings
• Added F1 character information popup to the tutorial
• Fixed uneven teams making top-scoring UI uneven
• Updated replay controls
• Added HUD indicator for kick strong cooldown
• Fixed a bug where UI information (e.g., combat text, hit markers) wasn't being displayed sometimes
• Styling updates to scoreboard and match result
• Interact styling updated
• Updated shield broken effect in the floating combat text to show a broken shield icon

BUG FIXES

• Fixed multiple loadout hints not showing when more than one player was in the buy zone
• Fixed tutorial navigation indicators not working correctly
• Fixed match outcome not displaying correctly
• Fixed hit markers persisted after being shown in a replay and respawning
• Fixed arrow trails disappearing instantly for special arrows
• Fixed victory/defeat screen showing over round-winning kill
• Fixed pressing F in the menu did not close the friends list
• Fixed particle effects attached to characters causing flicker artificing
• Fixed a bug where players could see arrows inside the camera when spectating others
• Fixed melee/kick not working on spirit bombs
• Fixed arena closing SFX playing every time a banner update occurred on the HUD
• Fixed a bug causing loadout to get stuck on screen when opened while holding the scoreboard
• Falling off the map in the tutorial and training range should now respawn you correctly
• Fix multiple loadout hints to show when more than 1 player was in the buy zone
• Fixed tutorial not working correctly
• Potentially fixed a bug where you could spectate other players when you respawned
• Fixed if you held the scoreboard whilst opening the loadout, the loadout would get stuck on the screen

KNOWN ISSUES

• Loadouts now saving between games
• Ziplines sometimes not functioning correctly
• Ultimate's reset at the start of each round