About this game ROBO ARENA
Development notes
Why the last 30 seconds score double
Bot simulations showed the team ahead at the one-minute mark winning 84% of matches, and the team ahead with 30 seconds left winning 92%. On October 10 I doubled scoring for the final 30 seconds and overtime. Over 180 bot matches with random line-ups those figures fell to 69% and 80%, and lead changes rose from 68 to 103.
A sniper that ignored the core
Lens bots used to wait 9 m behind the core, spent 0.4 seconds a match on it and won 5% of simulated games. Now they cover from 5.5 m back only while a teammate holds the core and take it themselves otherwise: 40 seconds on it and 55% wins in the same test. Pop kept 190 health so a Lens headshot (192) still kills it. These are bot-versus-bot results, about ±9 points per hero.
Turning the robot theme into rules
Heroes, two abilities, a charged ultimate and a point to hold are the genre's skeleton, and at first the robots were only the look. Core chips and combo ultimates turn the theme into rules that come up every match and fit in one sentence. Every pair of heroes links the same way, so there is no combo table to memorise.
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