Hey newborn! How are things going?
Good! We're all a bit sleep deprived but we're really excited about how the game is coming together and all the positive feedback we've been receiving from the community and testers.

What made you want to develop an arena fps game?
Everyone in the development team loves arena shooters -- they've been our favorite type of game since the early days of Quake. Unfortunately, they to have been abandoned as a genre lately and we want to fix that -- we miss them.

What inspired you to model the reflex gameplay over cpm gameplay?
We feel like CPM is some of the most polished, fun, competitive gameplay than even after all these years, hasn't been "solved". Every time I think "Okay, this player is as good as any player will ever get", someone comes along to prove me wrong. So when we were thinking about a base for Reflex, it became an obvious choice. We'll get progressively less like CPM as we continue development but we felt there was no better place to start.



Will there be any different weapons compared to the Quake series? How do the same weapons differ (RL GL LG ect ect) from their quake counterparts?
We've got a few new weapons that have never been seen in any Quake game but the new spawn weapon is the only one we've got implemented at the moment (and it's currently playtesting really well). We're not talking about any of the unimplemented weapons until we've had a chance to shoot a few faces with them first though. I think every weapon is somehow different to what is in Quake (different projectile speeds, damage, reload etc), even if they might initially look similar.

Will there be any additional movement mechanics that are not in cpm?
We hope so! There's a few new tricks that are possible with one of the weapons we're not talking about and since our movement is being written from scratch, we won't be surprised if there's new movement "bugs" for people to find and experiment with.

How does the spawn system work currently? Are you looking to change before the release?
Right now, spawns are fully random and sometimes you spawn inside another player and have to switch to editor to unstick yourself -- there is zero chance either of those things will still be there on release ;). The current plan is a "biased random" system so that you can respawn at any point on the map but you're more likely to spawn further away from where you died. I'll probably try and tweak it to be as random as possible while still preventing players from being repeatedly stomped the instant they spawn.

Are you thinking of having multiple rulesets for reflex? Like one without air control or one with loadouts?
For rulesets, this isn't really something we have any interest in doing. We'd rather focus on a single ruleset that feels fun, responsive, competitive and allows for a broad range of skills and playstyles and have everyone playing that.



As for loadouts: nope, not going to happen. We see the problem they're trying to address but there are better fixes.

How will finding games work? Will Reflex have a matchmaking system or a ladder system? What regions will have matchmaking/ladder support upon release?
A matchmaking system will definitely be going in and is something we want to get up and running as early as possible. Ladders that can be filtered down to your region/country/city are also planned, along with custom ladders that players can create for their friends/work/school/etc. We can't really comment on what regions will be supported at this stage but we'd like to cover everyone.

What all that means is that "how will finding games work" is entirely up to the player. They could automatically be matched with players and servers through the matchmaking system, they could use the server browser to find a game the looks interesting and jump on that way, they could challenge someone directly from one of the ladders or they could join games their friends were playing.

Will there be a ranking system? If so how will players be ranked?
There will be a ranking system that will go hand in hand with the matchmaking and ladders. I've currently got a design mapped out for our own custom way of ranking players but we'll be testing a few systems to find out what works best.

One challenge right now for many developers is figuring out a viable ranking system for team games. Will players rank up simply by being on the winning team or will other factors such as kill to death ration and assists determine how a player gains/loses rank?
We won't do something as simple as just using the winning team to determine ranking gains/losses. Like you say, this is something that will have to be considered per gamemode. In TDM, kill/death ratio will be important but we may also factor in things like powerup control. In CTF, kill/death ratio is pretty much useless for assessing who played best so we'll have to look at things like captures, assists, defense, flag returns etc (we'll also be improving how some of those are assessed -- just because you got the flag return, doesn't mean you had anything significant to do with the play).

We can also look at the composition of the teams and award rank based on that. For example (and only for example since matchmaking will prevent this): If you play a 2v2 TDM against a noob (who you have a +15 K/D against) and a pro player (who you have a -2 K/D against), even if you win the game, the best player in the match was probably the pro.

All of this will also be tweaked over the entire lifespan of the game. For now though, we haven't decided on a solution be we agree that it's a problem ;)

What gamemodes will be supported for matchmaking/ladder?
Internally, we group all gamemodes in to "competitive" (modes like 1v1, TDM and CTF) and "casual" (modes like Midair, Instagib and a few we haven't announced). We would be aiming at supporting matchmaking and ladders for all the competitive modes at the very least.



Will you try to promote new maps over old ones for matchmaking?
That will ultimately be up to the players and what maps they vote on playing. That said, we want all of our maps to be of a high enough quality than a random map selection option would actually work, not just throw you in to maps that are too big, too small or just generally terrible.

Will you have any casual gamemodes? Similar to co op modes where players fight AI controlled zombies, monsters, robots ect ect?
We'll definitely have some "pick up and play" modes early on but we can't commit to things like team-vs-AI until we've got the core game nailed down. Bots are planned though and once those are in, there are some player vs AI things we'd really like to experiment with.

How much will reflex cost to purchase?
Price is usually worked out with distributors like Steam so we can't give a number right now but we'e aiming to be significantly cheaper than a AAA title.

Will you implement any microtransactions similar to Robot skins, weapon skins, effects, map skins? If so, how would these microtransactions work? Will it be developers only that create and sell such items or will users be able to create their own and sell them?
We're not opposed to microtransations since the money they bring in will pay for new maps, modes, features and competitions. Currently, we have plans to support cosmetic items but we have decided exactly how they will be bought or awarded or who will contribute to their creation. Any microtransations will be 100% optional though and have no impact on gameplay -- if that ever changes, I encourage people to angrily quote this part of the interview to me.

How will you be advertising/marketing reflex? Word of mouth? Twitch/Youtube hype?
As we near Kickstarter we'll be doing a lot more marketing but currently this game is entirely self-funded so a million dollar marketing campaign is unlikely ;). Word of mouth and Twitch/YouTube hype will be incredibly valuable to us in these early stages so if you're excited about Reflex be sure to spread the word!

Are you looking to support esports? In terms of features, developer funded events ect ect? Some people are arguing that team modes are what is needed in order for arena fps games to succeed instead of the traditional Duel mode. What mode would be the ideal flagship esports mode for Reflex?
We are absolutely looking to support esports -- we'll probably offer more than most games before we're even half way through our todo list. Support for GTV-style style servers where thousands of people can watch live games. Our own brackets and standings tightly integrated with the game itself. Making team sponsorship more commercially viable with custom skins for sponsored teams (and their fans), tasteful in-game branding for sponsors (things like loading screens, subtle wall decals and flags). The ability to "follow" teams to recieve updates. Tools to give casters all the information they could ever want. Instant replays. Twitch integration. Clan formation with rankings and features for arranging matches. And yes, we'd love to run our own large-scale, developer sponsored events ;).

As for a flagship gamemode, that's like asking us to pick a favorite child. If any of our competitive modes are unsuitable for esports, they will be considered "unfinished" until they are.

Thanks for answering the questions! Any departing words?
Thanks for asking them! For parting words, I'd just like to urge our fans once again: If you're excited about Reflex (or know someone who might be), spread the word! We're a small team taking a big risk and we can't do it without the support of our fans.

Check Me Out Broski:Twitter , Youtube

Once upon a time, a scientist named Ivan Pavlov had a dog. Pavlov's dog always salivated when he saw his food. From this statement, Pavlov's curiosity led him to conduct an experiment with his dog. Before he showed dog's meat, he would ring a little bell. Each time, and for a certain period of time, Pavlov would ring the bell and then show the food to the dog (in this specific order). After a certain time, the dog started to salivate right after he heard the bell. Therefore, the meat did not make him salivate any more. Pavlov changed the natural factor that would make his dog salivate for another factor (another stimulus). This is called classical conditioning.

Classical conditioning consists of an unconditioned stimulus that creates an unconditioned response. When the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is paired with a conditioned stimulus (CS), it transforms the unconditioned response (UCR) into a conditioned response (CR). All of this happens mostly unconsciously.

Therefore, Pavlov has proved that it is possible to associate any kind of behaviour with any kind of stimulus that is different from the natural cause of the said behaviour.

Now, is there any classical conditioning in video games?

Of course there is. Video games are virtual 4D environments in which the user acts and plays. In other words, the player's psychology remains the same but it is put in an environment that differs from the former one (the world commonly known as IRL). But how exactly does this work?

Let's leave classical conditioning and go further than that. The player's mind is shaped by the game's borders. A game's borders can be rules, physics (how fast can you move, how long can you move, etc), design (the maps - the more complex a map is, the more its limits will shape the player's reasoning in the game), time (timing of the items, round time, time limit, etc), and more. All these rules can be considered as stimulus and the player's play style (his reasoning) is a sort of response to it.

What about Quake? How am I conditioned on Campgrounds?

Now we can link some of the previous elements that make part of a video game with Quake. Quake has its whole environment to which the player has to get used to. To a certain extend, the game conditions the players to be successful. The "impressive", "excellent, "humiliation" and other kinds of rewards not only encourage but shape you to repeat these achievements and thus stay successful or become even better. Out side of Quake Live, its match-making and ranking systems as well as the awards are a source of attractiveness.

So what about your play style? Are you conditioned when you play? I believe most (if not all) of your assumptions and anticipations are mostly conditioned. After you have people a hundred times going to X place after they have been to Y place, you start to understand (unconsciously or not) that Y place means the will to go at X and therefore you will aim, pre-shoot, or do whatever action towards this place. Do not forget you can also do nothing instead (because the functioning of the brain is not that obvious eh) but still carry about it while you are playing. In the end, it is possible to assume that most part of an anticipation done by the player is due to conditioning and not real-conscious-straight-thinking.

One specific characteristic of this game I would also like to talk about is how much it encourages the players to have an unbalanced behaviour. A balanced behaviour means that you are either playing offensive or defensive in a fight and the opponent acts the opposite way. I often noticed that Quake encourages you to be unbalanced with offensive opponents. Some major fights I have seen, whether they were duels or group fights, often resulted in whoever was strong and bold enough to not back off and stick on the front would be the winner of that fight. Such a behaviour can surprise the opponent, as his expectation of the player backing off would be denied, and this surprise can give advantage to the targeted player.

It's not your fault if you're doing it wrong

Social facilitation means that an individual will be more likely to perform an easy action in a much better way if there are people watching that person. On the other hand, this same individual will also perform a task at its worst if the task is difficult. The fact of knowing that someone is watching you makes you feel pressurized, judged and evaluated as well. Therefore, you tend to give the best you can on something you already master because you have enough confidence to apply yourself in order to make it look nicer or better. As for the difficult actions, you will be more likely to fail big time because of the stress and the lack of confidence.

Therefore, if you're the last one alive in the game and things end up very badly, you know it's not completely a question of technicality ;) .

The famous "practice practice" is, obviously, meant to tell you to become better. But what does it really mean, to become better? It means to bring things down to a level of easiness for you. In other words, as you work on your technical skills, you pull down the difficulties to turn them into easy things so that you will have enough confidence in the future to treat them as "very easy" actions in front of people.

Why would Quake have a stronger influence on players than another game such as Counter Strike?

What makes Quake different from other video games is its environment and the frame it gives to players. The physics make you free. In other words, you can play at every speed you want, although the point of it is to play fast. A Quake player is used to think fast. For example, you need very quick counting skills to time the items in a duel match. You have to be fast in your movements, in your aim, and so on. The speed of this game influences the visual skills as well. By being used to see things flashing and flying so fast (and sometimes at variable distances), your aim is strong and perhaps better than the average players on another video game.

Therefore I think Quake players are usually very good on other games because they can easily restrain themselves to the game's frame due to the freedom and the visual skills they have acquired in Quake.

Conclusion

To conclude this article, it is possible to believe that video games condition their players to a defined environment. Some video games such as Quake may condition the players so strongly that their conditioned responses will appear in other games as well. A video game is a huge environment and it is important as a video game creator to think about how you would want your players to use the game and not only as "how to play it". As for the players, perhaps it would be interesting to think about these conditionings and how to deny them in order to not be on the same waves with your opponents.

References and further readings

- Classical Conditioning on Wikipedia
- Social Facilitation on Wikipedia
- Psychology Of Video Games - A blog on video gaming psychology written by a professional psychologist

Edited on Sat. June 14th to add the part on social facilitation.

Let me start saying what this guide is not:

- This article is not about bashing CA as a game mode. There are many aspects touched here where duel appears more complex, but "complicated" does not mean "better" (love relationships are a good example of that ;). Also, I played loads of CA back in the days, and it's the mode where I learned to love the core mechanics of Quake, so if you love CA, I know where you come from.

- This article is not about convincing you to play duel. Personally, I love playing duel, especially because it opened my eyes to so many things about Quake. But if you cannot be bothered with learning it, I won't argue with that. In fact, this article may scare some players away, as it shows how steep this road is.

- This article is not a substitute for practice.

- This article is not a one-time-read thing. If you are new to duel you should read this, practice for some weeks, and then come back to read it again, possibly iterating a few times. As it's true for many guides, there is definitely more to learn than what you can get in one read if you are new to the game.

What this guide is:

- This article is my attempt to put in plain words what I wish somebody had told me when I started playing duel, after various years playing CA in RA3. It's based on my own experience, on readings, and on discussions with better players. I try to double check what I write, and given this is esr, I expect people to point out any conceptual mistake.