Shrewd, crude, devious dude dressed dapperly in the thinnest veneer of propriety.
The world needs more empathy.
(R6 Siege dev, TTRPG fan, Excel guru, weeb.)
In case anyone from the R6 Siege community checks this account wondering "who's this guy"?
I was the game designer for Ram, and I'm working on some of the upcoming ops. Before that I did work on the new Battle Pass system, Crossplay, and MouseTrap.
Now you know!
As promised, a thread about R6 Siege loadouts!
[1] Generally, an operator's designer decides the kit, though our loadout balancing expert also has a lot of input.
We mainly focus on complementing the operator's gadget, intended gameplay style, and general aesthetic.
Me and
@zMin95
's Blackbeard Rework Concept!
It started with me and
@g_havenner
having the idea on our podcast, I LOVED the idea, so I asked if zMin could hook me up with their amazing visuals, and they DELIVERED!
Meet the FANMADE Blackbeard Operator Gadget:
The "Redline".
The season is approaching, so here's a few vagueposts to whet your appetite.
Only a few though, because I'll be honest it'll be hard to say much this time without getting into actual spoiler territory.
Fuck it, let's spoil.
So the next operator I'm working on is actually a drone with a knife strapped to it. It rolls up and stabs people in the legs to immediately DBNO them.
I call it Ankleshanks. Ankleshanks the Angry Drone.
I think the statute of limitations is past for me to share this beautiful screenshot from an old in development build.
Sometimes I use it for memes internally.
To the people sending me private messages of encouragement, I appreciate the kindness.
It's not like I don't understand where people are coming from being mad about the new season. Some of the comments are a little harsh, but I also get that it comes from a place of passion.
I've got a weird question for you all.
What would you say are the most "iconic" Siege operators? Not in terms of power, but for how well known they are.
This is my impression (not in order within categories). I wonder if I overcorrected for personal and recency biases. Thoughts?
Latest internal test of my next op was really promising. Got my reveal panel script written up too...
There is still much work to be done, but I can't wait to show you all what we've been cooking!
Appreciation thread for Siege devs that I know are active here!
Just remember, these are the personal accounts of people that work on the game, not official support channels, so please be mindful of that.
Also, if you are a dev and I missed you, speak up!
Since I keep getting asked about it, may as well talk a bit more about Deimos' primary choice to give a bit more clarity on why we made that call.
[1] Basically, when Deimos had a strong primary, people kinda just stopped using his gadget and played him purely for the gun.
New op aside, in especially excited for the Nokk rework and the shooting range while matchmaking.
The AI attackers is also a very big step forward for that playlist.
✨ MID-SEASON ROADMAP UPDATE ✨
Here's an early look at what's coming in Y9S3!
⚖️ Balancing: Solis, Dokkaebi, Nøkk
🎯 Shooting Range During Matchmaking
🏆 Siege Cup PC Beta
Find the full roadmap here 👇
Full disclosure: I work on designing new operators for Siege. I don't have a hand in reworking or balancing old ones, other than sharing the occasional feedback.
I can only offer my perspective as a third party designer when it comes to those topics.
About to cast our office recreational league. Going to try to channel the energy of the SIs and Majors.
I don't have the power to rock a cherry red suit though.
Following my other post, I decided to compile the results so far for a little assessment.
It's not exactly big data, but it does show some trends...
Alt Role means requested for the other side (Atk vs Def), and Notes just includes recurring specific requests.
[14] I originally wanted to go “All-American” and give Deimos the M4, but we determined it would be too strong. Same reason he didn't get most guns.
We picked the AK-74M because it's mid, has a big mag to compensate for the Vendetta, and is a quintessential “bad guy” weapon.
Here's a little glimpse of the sheet I use to know what guns are used by whom (as of Y9S1; sorry, no spoilers). This is filtered to only include the primaries used by one or two ops (excluding special ones).
I'm curious, which one(s) would you most like to see reused?
Finished recording my part of the S3 reveal panel moments ago. Really excited!
...Though I only realised as I was getting into position that I totally forgot my badass wedding ring at home today T_T
[2] We use mid-range guns as placeholders to start, define the loadout more firmly as we test, and then lock in when the design is finalised and production begins.
We avoid changing things during production, though we might give ourselves options that we narrow down later.
[20] Oh, another detail you might find interesting!
Weapons have multiple balancing levers, but some are much harder to change than others. Recoil and damage are easy, but changing the fire rate has many knock on effects (audio, for example) that make it much harder.
Less than one week left before the Y9S2 reveal!
I won't be presenting this time (though I make some subtle cameos), but a few good friends of mine will be making their debuts. : )
Had I known about her two years ago there is a non-zero chance Ram's design would have been affected (in the best way, of course).
That shot was cool as hell.
[3] We do have guidelines we try to follow. 3-4 weapon options total, shared between primary and secondary. Ideally, we avoid 3+ options for either type, though on some rare occasions it happens. Also, 2 secondary gadgets on launch max. We want to leave room for balancing later.
[5] Personally, I prefer using guns that are underrepresented when I can (I made an Excel table that tracks loadouts to help me with this). I also like to try using weapons used by the operator's nation of origin. However, these objectives come second to what's good for gameplay.
Also, people keep asking me about giving Nokk a new gun lol. It's not my jurisdiction. Personally, I'd also like to see her buffed, but there are a lot of ops for balancing to look at.
Realistically, the more practical solution would be to buff her current gun(s) and/or gadget.
Since I've been getting a lot of DMs on the subject lately, just a reminder that I work on the dev side of Siege. I have nothing to do with account management or the marketplace.
I wish I could answer your questions and solve your problems, but that's a job for
@UbisoftSupport
[6] We avoid making new guns frivolously because we already have many. We try to only add new weapons when they would be meaningful, like as a signature weapon or as an important balancing lever for the operator. When that happens, the gun is designed right along with the op.
[4] Utility weapons like the Bailiff, secondary shotguns, or the Gonne-6 should be used sparingly. We only add them when it would really be important to the operator's kit, and impacts or breach charges wouldn't do the trick. Again, these can be a balancing tool.
Big shoutout to all the folks at
@R6RoundTable
as well as everyone who cosplays our game.
As someone who's done their own cosplays and knows how much work goes into it all, seeing the passion you put into it impresses and inspires me immensely!
[8] The core fantasy of the gadget we ultimately picked (the DeathMark) was a Wild West shootout, and Deimos was meant to have a cowboy vibe, so many gameplay choices were aligned based on that. Key words included mastermind, intimidating, close range, aggressive, and lethal.
To any R6 eSports orgs, or Ubisoft itself, I am looking for sponsorship!
I run the premier online store for cosplay props in
#RainbowSixSiege
, have worked with Ubisoft several times & other Orgs on various projects. This is my sole livelihood. RT please!
[19] That's all for now! If I see questions I'll try to answer, but it's 2am and tomorrow's a work day, so now it's time to get ready for bed!
I hope you enjoyed the peek behind the curtain!
I leave you this:
Ever worked at a store and had a customer get mad because you didn't have something in stock? Maybe there was a good reason for it, but that isn't going to help the annoyed customer...
That experience exists in every service job, in one form or another.
Not gonna lie, the fact that opinions are divided on whether Deimos is too strong, too weak, or just right is quite satisfying. It suggests to me that he's strong in the right hands, but he requires technique and isn't overpowered.
That's pretty much exactly where we wanted him.
[11] The Vendetta's custom red dot is there both to improve the sight profile (iron sights were bad) and to give us a balancing lever (we could maybe add zoom). For technical reasons, sidearms can only have one sight option, so I chose the scope, despite the lore inconsistency.
[13] I chose an AR and a shotgun for Deimos. AR for versatility, shotty to double down on close ranged combat (also because cowboy aesthetic). I thought about a DMR too, but it felt redundant with the revolver, plus we didn't want him to be a long range fighter given his gadget.
@sirKaosx
I've pulled something like this before when people were disrespectful in matches, but that delivery was perfect. Definitely stealing this line for the future.
[7] For the next points, I'll contextualize some of what I said with Deimos.
From the very start we knew Deimos would have the Vendetta, and we wanted it to be an important part of his kit. Most of our gadget concepts for him were linked to the gun somehow.
[17] I thought people might use smokes on Deimos to mask their approach while they used their DM ping to target. I even recorded an alt version of the reveal panel segment depending on what gadget got cut. Honestly, I was a little surprised at how universal the feedback was.
[18] Flashes were out of the question for Deimos because you could flash a DeathMark target for a basically free kill, which felt cheap. If frags could still be cooked, no way would he have gotten them. It was fortunate timing with the nerf that allowed that option.
[9] We wanted the Vendetta to have a wow factor, which is where the damage and destruction came from, but testing showed it was way too weak compared to defenders with SMGs, and compared to his own primaries. Multiple iterations resulted in adding the sight and minimal recoil.
[15] The Mossberg was a late substitute in Deimos' kit. I wanted a more Western shotgun and it got suggested. I love that gun (Mute main here), so I jumped on the chance to use it. Even if it's used by a lot of ops, it wasn't added to a new one recently, so we were fine with it.
@Dr_Wolflow
Funny enough I pitched something like this for Deimos.
We dropped it in the early concept phase. One of the gameplay reasons (asking several) was that as a defender your best strat was to team kill downed allies.
That doesn't mean criticism isn't valid or even unwelcome. We need to hear it to know what people really want. So for that, thank you.
Just try to remember, keep it respectful. Devs are people too.
[10] The idea was that the Vendetta would be a quick “kill or be killed” gun. You had massive potential if you got close enough to the enemy to use it, but you needed to get close (damage dropoff), and your margin for error was low (6 shots).
Always remember that behind every visionary designer, there's a team of excellent capable developers getting the hard tasks done. Even if you don't see their faces, they do great work, and they deserve recognition for it.
Thinkers are nothing without the doers supporting them.
[12] Since the Vendetta was key to Deimos' kit, we needed to give him primaries that wouldn't outshine it and make it feel like a downgrade during a DeathMark. During testing he originally had the ARX and SIX12 as placeholders, but those soon changed.
[16] Deimos originally had Smoke Grenades as a third gadget option. The plan was to test and remove the one people saw as the least appealing. The feedback that smokes weren't interesting for him was pretty unanimous, so they got cut.
@angelnoukie
I totally understand your concern and if I believed we messed up I'd be right there with you, but as someone who knows a lot of North Africans, she definitely still looks like one to me.
In fact, she's got a striking resemblance to an Algerian friend of mine...
It's been a while since I did a thread, but I'm having a hard time deciding on a specific topic, so let's do a game dev Q&A instead.
Got any questions about the games industry, or how games are made? Ask, and I'll try to answer.
Note: This one's not going to be Siege specific.
[21] Thought of another one.
Reusing a defender gun on attack and vice versa is risky, and usually avoided. What makes a gun fair on attack/defence differs. A DMR on def is a recipe for spawnpeeks, for ex. It also makes it harder to tweak the gun, since you affect both sides.
It's not like the frustration isn't entirely without merit either, given your perspective.
I'll just say this. There's a lot of work being done that you don't see (or haven't seen yet), and despite rumours otherwise, we're always committed to improving the game.
The name is more literal than you think, but it's also probably not the definition you're thinking of.
That goes for a lot of the operator. There are many predictions out there that are half correct.
Just checked in with my buddy Chris and I think you'll want to see it. We know this is a tough subject, so this isn't going to be a PR spiel, but a real conversation.
To use his words, we'll "get into the weeds", so check it out!
Keeping teams together is integral to the Siege experience in Ranked 2.0.
On June 4th,
@TitaniumRolo
and Live Content Director Christopher Budgen will discuss Ranked 2.0.
Join us during the event to know more!
(1/8)
I lied. Here's one more given the responses to the official teaser.
If I'm not mistaken, the new weapon is present. But most of you aren't looking at it.
The season colour may be purple, but there might still be some red herrings.
I was hoping to go to the Manchester Major, but sadly that one isn't in the cards...
You'll for sure see me in Montreal and the SI at least. Wouldn't miss those for the world.
Happy
#TransDayOfVisibility
!
Always remember that you're as deserving of love and respect as anyone else, and nobody has the right to tell you otherwise.
[5] Though for the record, I totally sympathise with people who wanted the M4. Players (myself included) always want us to reuse the good guns, and with good reason.
However, a good gun means needing a trade-off somewhere else, so we have to be selective with them.
Finished my Battle Pass for the season and I may have had some of the best luck I've ever had.
Five Black Ice, three of which were in a row and two of which are on guns I main.
Also some nice luck with the Bravo legendaries.
Feels good.
Following the SI, I'll probably tone down the posting, but I'm not gone! I'll still be listening in and responding if poked, and you can bet I'll be silently lurking in a bunch of your communities.
Never be afraid to send me a message. I will be happy to hear from you!
I ended up doing another mini-thread about weapon creation. How can I say no when a 2x world champion asks?
Reposting so those of you who are interested can see.
@Pengu
Thank you kindly, Mr Niclas! It was indeed a great chat!
Yes, I think I can do that. :)
I touched on it in my loadout thread here: but I can dig into the subject a bit more.
New Op will be free more effective in a coordinated team, but even if they don't have that, they can still be very effective at dismantling an uncoordinated enemy.
@PunkieVert
The main challenge with anything involving putting a physical object in the game is avoiding navigation exploits, like climbing onto furniture to get to positions you shouldn't be able to reach because of an awkwardly timed vault prompt, or blocking access through a window.
[4] In short, having a stronger gun tends to make people play dumber, and we wanted Deimos to incentivise smart plays. He's a strategist and playmaker first, fragger second.