This article documents all known entries in the MultiVersus Developer Series, a blog series which debuted on the game's official website on April 11th, 2024. The series detailed new features that appeared in the Full Launch, alongside changes from the game's Open Beta period.
Hey there, everyone!
We hope you enjoyed our recent MultiVersus Developer Update video. Leading up to launch, we’ll be releasing several blogs that take a closer look at the new features and changes that’ll be heading to MultiVersus when we launch on May 28. We couldn’t be more thankful for the invaluable feedback we received from the community during our Open Beta period, and we’re looking forward to showing you all what we’ve been working on.
One of the first aspects of the game we wanted to address was how MultiVersus felt to play online. That’s why the team has been working hard to make sure that we provide the best online experience possible. In short, when MultiVersus launches, it will incorporate a smoother, more reliable netcode that has been rebuilt from the ground up. Let’s dive right in, shall we?
REBUILT FROM THE GROUND UP
During Open Beta, our original netcode tried to consistently sync animations to the right timing on your machine, but ultimately everything was decided by the server. The problem with this was that depending on how far you were from the server, you might not see or hear something that happened before it impacted your character on the screen. For example, even if you saw a projectile and dodged it perfectly, it would occasionally still hit you. That experience is never optimal, but it felt even worse if you didn’t have good ping.
To provide a better player experience, we made the decision to create and implement rollback netcode that would be tailor-made for MultiVersus. Simply put, rollback netcode still sends player inputs back and forth, but each button press is accompanied by a precise timestamp, marking the exact moment of activation. This allows the client to reconstruct what would have happened had it received the input at the intended time. By leaping backward, then instantaneously simulating back to where you were, the game delivers an experience that feels smooth and enjoyable. With rollback netcode you’re seeing exactly the same thing as your opponent, meaning that their position and frames of animation are always updated to the most accurate position which continues to be predicted from there.
Rollback netcode is often thought of as the gold standard for fighting games, but we did look at many different network models before we went down this path. As great as rollback netcode is, it can present some challenges, so we needed to make sure we were making a choice that would be best for MultiVersus. For instance, it wasn’t ideal when a lot was happening at once on screen (like a full blown 2v2 or Free-for-All match) or if your machine couldn’t handle re-running frames. Ultimately, we just decided to build a bespoke rollback netcode from scratch, that did everything we needed it to do.
Once we made the call to switch to this networking style, we began the heavy lifting. An aspect of this approach involves making sure that everything is exactly the same on everyone’s machine for every single frame. But most of the software we used to during Open Beta didn’t easily support what we wanted to accomplish with our new netcode, so we needed to rebuild different parts of the game, starting from some boxes moving around, to Shaggy being able to 1v1, to the entire roster being back and playable. Our goal continues to be to deliver a world class online experience that is fair, dependable and flexible enough to support the launch of MultiVersus and beyond.
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These videos demonstrate MultiVersus’s rollback netcode in action. First we showcase the lower ping environment. The blue line indicates the path that the client predicted and the red line indicates the state after rollback has happened.
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Next we show a higher ping environment. You can see that even with higher ping, the game still manages to maintain a smooth look and feel.
BETTER CONNECTIONS & MORE FUN
With improved netcode comes improved matchmaking. During Open Beta, matchmaking was often determined by latency, meaning that people were often matching with opponents in nearby regions, since being in closer proximity would yield higher quality matches with lower ping and better connections. Our new netplay will allow for people to play more seamlessly with friends and opponents who are farther away. We’ve been actively testing with very positive results so far, ensuring better connections for players with noticeable improvement to the overall experience.
This has all been very important work towards our goal to have the MultiVersus online experience feel as though you’re sitting next to your friends on the sofa playing locally, only with less sharing of the snacks.
THANK YOU
We can’t thank you enough for being a part of the MultiVersus community. Be sure to warp into our Social Channels and join us on Discord to discuss our netcode improvements.
We’ll be sharing more game information with more blogs posts to follow leading up to the game’s launch on May 28. See you next time![1]
Hey there, everyone! Our last blog highlighted all the big revisions to the MultiVersus netcode. This week we’ll be digging deep into the upcoming Combat Refactor and some of the exciting changes to the way the game is played.
From seasoned vets to brand new players, the combat in MultiVersus needs to make sense for players of all skill levels. From a combat philosophy perspective, we always want to make sure MultiVersus combat rewards smart, well timed, calculated play in a fun, engaging and fluid way. During Open Beta, MultiVersus prioritized combat that was flexible and snappy, emphasizing the moment-to-moment combat encounters. We loved the fluidity of that combat, but we wanted to equally reward more strategic play without removing the fluidity. While our evolved combat prioritizes more strategic and “neutral” play, we feel that these changes for our launch still preserve the soul of MultiVersus combat while evolving it in a positive direction.
MultiVersus has a diverse group of characters with many different abilities, skills and playstyles. When we decided to rebuild our netcode from the ground up, it gave us the opportunity to rebuild our entire roster of characters in an overall effort to tune the cast to be both fun to play as and against. In short, when we launch, MultiVersus combat will be easy to pick up, but truly challenging to master. Let’s get into the details.
Improving Clarity
There is a lot going on during a MultiVersus match, with flashy moves and explosions all over the place. During Open Beta it became clear that a number of players found it challenging to track the details of combat during matches, so we made a number of changes to improve the overall clarity of battle. While the fundamentals remain the same, we think you’ll appreciate the tweaks we’ve incorporated to improve the flow of a match, making the moment-to-moment easier and clearer for players to observe.
New Engine
Old Engine
You may have noticed that characters seem a bit bigger this time around, and you’re not wrong. We think it’s very important to be able to quickly react to what your opponents are up to and having larger characters really leads to improved readability. Our in-game camera is also more dynamic and will pan and zoom accordingly, depending on what is going on in-game. When you’re fighting an opponent 1v1, the camera will zoom in to bring you closer to the action, but when combat moves to the wider parts of the map, you’ll see the camera pull out to capture allthe mayhem. The dynamic camera does a fantastic job of keeping the game feeling snappy and fast, while improving readability so that you can better understand your opponents’ actions.
Next, we added a set of animations that will not only improve the game visually but will also help you to identify exactly what your opponents are doing at all times. You’ll now be able to see unique animations that showcase which state both your character and your opponent are in. Many of our updated animations not only help players read gameplay tactically, but also improve how visceral it feels. We want to make sure that your hits feel impactful and satisfying when you land an attack. We’ve also paired these animations with revamped sound effects that help to add to that visceral impact. On top of that, as we discussed in our last blog, the game’s new netcode will improve both the clarity and accuracy of combat, leading to a much more consistent and reliable experience for you and your friends, even across the country.
Dash Attack
A new dash attack has been added to all characters! Dash attack is an intuitive combat entry that can quickly close the distance between you and your opponent. After beginning your run animation, dash attack allows you to strike your opponent with a bit of extra forward velocity on your side. This addition gives players more flexibility and creative possibility as it can be used to start a combo or be weaved into the middle of combo strings. You also can input forward direction twice in quick succession to use your dash attack, enabling you to use it as both a quick attack, or a powerful combo ender. The dash attack speeds up combat in an organic way while adding greater complexity, mobility and player expression to your toolkit.
Parry has also been added to the game and it’s kind of a big deal! Parry is a high skill mechanic that gives you a new defensive option in MultiVersus. When properly utilized, a player who parries will recover more quickly than the attacker and will have the opportunity to launch their own attack. This gives a tactical advantage, but it requires precise timing to pull off and if you miss that timing, you could be left in a vulnerable spot. One goal of ours is to keep combat moving and fluid, and a parry gives you a ton of defensive expression, while not slowing the pace of battle. There is a great risk/reward mechanic to attempting a parry – do you risk parrying an opponent’s attack knowing the more precise timing could leave you exposed? We hope making these trade-offs during real time MultiVersus combat will add fun dimensions to how players can express themselves.
Character Kits
At launch, every character from our Open Beta period will receive kit tuning to improve their overall feel. Some characters will also receive all new abilities to replace previous moves, such as Harley’s balloons. Digging a bit into the details, the hit volume, timing and placement of all hits has been adjusted for every single move. Now, no matter which character you pick, their moves feel much more precise and impactful. A lot of attention and care has gone into designing the MultiVersus character kits, and we’re looking forward to you getting your hands on these reworked characters.
We can’t wait for you to put your hands on our combat experience when MultiVersus launches on May 28. However, we’re not done! We’ve built a variety of tools that allow us to continue to improve the game over time, meaning that once the game is live, we’ll take in your feedback and continue iterating, so that our community continually has something to look forward to after launch.
Please be sure to follow us on our social channels and join the official MultiVersus Discord for the latest news about the game. We’ll be back with more updates soon. Stay tuned!
Hey there, gang! We hope you’ve been enjoying all our blogs and updates leading up to launch. So far we’ve touched on our new Net Code and Combat refactor and now we’ll be taking a look at the all-new PVE (Player vs. Environment) mode. Our new PVE Mode is called “Rifts” and it’ll give players an entirely new way to experience MultiVersus. We love our competitive PVP (Player vs. Player) modes and want to give players the option of playing MultiVersus in different ways. Rifts Mode will allow players to travel the multiverse and fight their way through a series of encounters, flavored by wacky combat mutators and unique experiences. We’ll be updating the mode frequently, so each season should look different than the last.
What is MultiVersus Rifts Mode?
Rifts Mode is a way for all players to play MultiVersus and progress their skills, outside of our competitive PVP modes. Each Rift will have a sequence of battles or challenges around a particular theme, whether it’s The Joker infiltrating the Batcave or Batman and Velma teaming up to decide who’s the best detective. These themes will be organized around seasonal “Attunements,” such as Chaos, for the Clown Prince of Crime that is joining our cast in season 1. The same way every MultiVersus battle is bubbling with character interactions, we wanted to make each Rift “Uniquely MultiVersus”, every season.
When first diving into Rifts Mode you’ll learn the basic systems and mechanics within a special Tutorial Rift, but soon enough you’ll graduate to Seasonal Rifts. Seasonal Rifts have unique stages, skins, characters and mutators, that make them both memorable and challenging. Rifts get more tough as you progress, so it might take you an entire season to battle your way to the finish line.
While you can play Rifts Mode entirely solo, you can also team-up online to play Co-Op with your pals. Co-Op Rifts are a great way to earn rewards as a team and learn some teamwork to apply to other modes as well. It should also be noted that when you team up with friends, you’ll both share in the rewards!
When we launch on May 28th, Rift Mode will be in its first iteration and it will continue to evolve within the season, and from season to season. Our goal is to constantly test new mechanics in Rift Mode and continue to surprise you, the player, with great gameplay experiences that are unique to MultiVersus.
Expanding Combat Possibilities
For us, MultiVersus has always strived to give the player the utmost flexibility to create unique moments of combat joy Our goal is to expand the tools of gameplay creativity and we utilized that same perspective when building the Rifts Mode.
Encounters in Rifts Mode are injected with a variety of different effects called mutators. Each node that you participate in will have different mutators that’ll lead to wild, loony and challenging combat encounters. Some of the mutators you experience will be influenced by that Rift’s theme, while others will just be tweaked for maximum chaos.
For example, have you ever wanted to try full aerial MultiVersus combat without ever hitting the ground? The Infinite Jumps mutator could be up your alley. Or, maybe your tastes are a little more eccentric and you’ve dreamed of using your chicken hands to turn your opponent into a rotisserie chicken… then Chicken Gauntlets Mutator might be for you.
Some of the nodes in a Rift may be fresh new gameplay experiences outside of a core MultiVersus battle. We have over a dozen of these “mini-games” within season 1 of Rifts alone. These mini-games could be a quick matching game or a snappy game of volleyball. We constantly want to try new things in MultiVersus and as we design new mini-games, we’ll put them in future Rifts seasons.
Finally, we’re introducing Boss Battles within the Rifts mode. The idea of fighting a boss at the end of a stage or a game is ingrained in our DNA as gamers. We want MultiVersus players to have that experience, as well. Each Rift will end with a Rift themed boss battle aimed at challenging your abilities in a creative and fun way.
Remember, more mutators, mini-games will be coming in new seasons, so what you see on May 28th will only be the beginning!
Rewards and Progression
There are numerous rewards for progressing in Rifts Mode and new challenges will be updated regularly. As you progress through your nodes, you’ll complete various optional mission objectives that reward you stars (up to five stars), each one giving you more and more rewards. Additionally, we will have season-long events that reward you for beating bosses at increasing difficulty levels. As you navigate through a Rift, you can always go back and replay any battle you particularly liked or to try to get more stars and rewards on that node.
So, how exactly do you power-up to beat those bosses and take down a Rift? In Rifts Mode, each player has three sockets to place Gems. Gems are power-ups that will give you bonuses that will make tougher nodes less challenging. There are three types of gems: Offense, Defense and Utility and each gem has an associated “Attunement” like the Rift Attunements for that season (i.e. Chaos). When you get multiple versions of the same gems, you can level them up, instead of sitting in your inventory as duplicates. Various gems of different rarities can be discovered and plugged into your sockets leading to an increase in power that you can then use to tackle even the toughest Rifts. There are a ton of ways to earn gems through organic gameplay and completing your Battle pass, so eventually you’ll be powered-up and ready for battle in no time. We think you’re really going to enjoy this new system and can’t wait to see what builds you come up with to tackle whatever Rifts we throw your way.
THANK YOU
Thanks again for hanging out with us and checking out our Developer Series. We can’t thank you enough for being a part of the MultiVersus community. If you haven’t had a chance to check our other Developer Series blogs, you can find them here. Be sure to warp into our Social Channels and join us on Discord to discuss Rift Mode.
Hey there, everyone!
We hope that you enjoyed our last blog where we highlighted the various changes related to the game’s new Rift’s Mode.
This week, we’re going to discuss how returning and new players with a linked WB Games Account can earn a variety of in-game rewards. We’ll also touch on updates to the Battle Pass and game economy.
Free Content – Thank You to the Community
We have something special for all players who complete the new tutorial… a seven-day reward calendar that will allow you to unlock a new character – Banana Guard from Adventure Time – at launch, for free! If that wasn’t a-peeling enough, if you complete all seven days of this reward calendar, you can also pick up the Lady Banana Guard character variant. We hope everyone has as much fun playing with Banana Guard as the team had designing them.
Free Content – Returning Open Beta Players
For our returning players from Open Beta, if you log in to MultiVersus by June 11, you’ll receive access to Season 1 premium Battle Pass for free! And as part of that you’ll get the Jason Voorhees character from Friday the 13th as your first reward. We’ll talk more about that in a moment.
Additionally, Open Beta players who return to MultiVersus at any point will receive a special edition Snow Suit Finn commemorative character variant, a special edition Rising Stars ringout, and a special edition Banana Guard announcer pack.
Battle Pass Updates
It’s incredibly important for the Battle Pass to be fun and rewarding, and we’ve taken steps to improve the experience.
First, if you’re a returning player and log in by June 11, you’ll get the Season 1 premium Battle Pass for free.
We’ve increased the number of high-value items in both the free and premium tiers by adding more ringouts, character variants, taunts, and currency. You can also now earn premium currency (Gleamium) through both tiers, which can be used on many different in-game items, whether it’s for new characters or saving to use towards the next season’s premium Battle Pass.
For Season 1 at launch, we’ve loaded up the premium tier of the Battle Pass with a lot of great rewards, including a new character – Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th) – plus more variants, ringouts, taunts, and currency. The premium battle pass also allows you to earn enough Gleamium to get the next premium Battle Pass. And keep in mind, while the new fighter (Jason) is a premium tier reward, returning players who log in by June 11 will get this pass for free, plus he’ll also be available via character tokens or in-game currency when the pass is over.
Another Battle Pass update is its duration. At launch, the Season 1 Battle Pass will be eight weeks, and the final tier of the pass will be repeatable, so you can keep playing and earning rewards even if you reach the end of it early.
Currency Updates
During the Open Beta, players may have acquired Gleamium, character tokens, and Battle Pass tokens – all of these items will still be available at launch and can be used in the same way.
In the Open Beta, characters tokens were only acquired through the Founder’s Pack and used to unlock characters. When we launch, we will not be offering new character tokens, but if you already have existing character tokens in your inventory, you can still use them to unlock characters.
Similarly, Battle Pass tokens were used to unlock the premium Battle Pass tier during Open Beta and were also only acquired through the Founder’s Pack. When we launch, we will not be offering new Battle Pass tokens, but if you already have existing Battle Pass tokens in your inventory, you can still use them to unlock the premium Battle Pass tier.
We are, however, making some adjustments based on learnings from the Open Beta. Specifically, we’ll be introducing new replacement currencies to focus more on specific reward types.
First, there is Fighter currency, which can be earned in-game and used to obtain fighters. Keep in mind, Fighter currency is different from character tokens, and it cannot be exchanged for character tokens. As we mentioned above, we will not be offering new character tokens. On top of this, you can also try out new characters through our weekly free character rotation, which will work the same way as it did during the Open Beta.
Next, there is a separate Perk currency, that you can use to get… you guessed it, perks.
And we’re introducing a Prestige currency, which rewards players for all of the items and cosmetics they collect for their favorite fighters.
Here’s how Prestige currency works: Each cosmetic item you acquire awards its own Prestige currency value based on type and rarity. Eventually, you’ll use your Prestige currency to unlock Prestige cosmetics, which represent the rarest cosmetics in the game. These items can only be unlocked using Prestige currency.
When we launch, all returning players will receive an allotment of Prestige currency based on the number of cosmetics they acquired during the Open Beta as a reward for all previous purchases and unlocks.
Here’s a look at the different currency types available at launch and how to get them:
You’ll notice that Gold is not included above. That’s because Gold will no longer be available in the game. In its place, we’ll be providing commemorative cosmetics that correlate to a player’s Gold earned during Open Beta. These are exclusive items that can’t be earned any other way. Keep a lookout for them in your inventory.
Perks Updates
As a refresher, Perks are powerups that you can attach to characters to give them particular buffs during combat. Following the Open Beta, we found that most players only used a few key Perks while others often went unused. They can be a fun way to spice up gameplay, so we wanted to find a way to make them more valuable to players. In an effort to adjust the system, we removed the old Perks that players rarely used, reworked favorites, and added new Perks that should enhance the gameplay experience. To make this fair for all players, we’ll be resetting all Perks from Open Beta, which provides the opportunity to acquire as few or as many of the new, adjusted Perks as you see fit, it’s up to you.
As mentioned above, Perks will now be unlocked using the Perk currency, attainable through playing the game, and all players will receive an allotment that correlates to the number of Perks unlocked from the Open Beta.
So, what does this mean for mastery? Well, mastery tracks for characters will also be changing. To keep everything fair for all players, both player and account mastery tracks will be set to level 1 at launch, giving everyone an opportunity to earn those rewards. Mastery tracks are a great way to give you both short-term and long-term goals when starting out, and ultimately, we want to give all players the chance to earn lots of items.
We hope that you’re as excited as we are for the launch of MultiVersus on May 28. Please be sure to follow us on Discord and our social channels for the latest news. We’ll be back with more updates soon. Stay tuned!
