Asphalt 9 Dev Chat (February 2021 - Open Session)

The February 2021 Dev Chat was the 6th Dev-Chat and was done on February 26, 2021, it wasn't centered in a specific topic but centered in responding question of different topics.
==Full #Dev-Chat-Answer==
Alright everyone got their popcorns ready?
Welcome everyone to the 2nd Devchat for the year (yes it's already almost the end of Feb the year is flying). For this one we opened up the topic to anything so thanks everyone for all of the questions you have submitted. I've gone through the entire list and will pull out as many as I can to answer. Many of the questions were duplicated or variations of the same one so if you don't see your specific one it could be due to this or just me rephrasing it. And if you still don't see then sorry it might be one of the ones we don't get to.
As so many different questions came in covering lots of areas of the game
===Q&A===
I'll try to answer them by area so if you have other questions try to ask when that area comes up, as it will make it a bit easier for me to see them (if you care).
so let's start off with some general miscellaneous questions
====Miscellaneous====
Question 1:
A simple question: When would you say was the exact time GL sold its soul to the devil? sometime in 2016
Answer: Well GL was hitchhiking down a long and lonesome road. All of a sudden,There shined a shiny demon, In the middle of the road, And he said! Play the best song in the world, or I'll eat your souls.. Sadly that song was copywrited by Tenacious D so here we are
ok on to some other less fun ones
Question 2:
Q: What is Gamelofts stance on players using emulators like bluestacks to gain advantage over other players? Should it be in terms and conditions ?"
A: While using a game emulator is not expressly prohibited, please note that we strongly discourage their use. The game is not designed to support them, and an account using an emulator may unintentionally appear as if it was modified. This can lead to a ban, or a complete reset of your game profile. Use at your own risk. Basically if you do something that gives you an unfair advantage you run a risk of being banned
a follow up question to this
Question 3:
Q: Is it acceptable to GL/A9 in Windows for us to setup keyboard macros to map keys (i.e. I want to map my "f" key to generate an "s" key press) ?
A: Currently it is not support so could cause problems, we don’t have anything against using it but as with emulators you can end up getting banned if it gives you an unfair advantage. So use at your own risk.
Question 4:
Q: Hide emoticons from the notification section of the game when you have them turned off.
A: We can do this and I have added it to the backlog for code to do so, it's something we will look at working on.
Question 5:
Q: Can we have our own custom decal option, like from the game OverDrive City? There's literally custom decal system. We wanna look cooler in mp.
A: sadly as much as we would like to do this we have a ton of restrictions on decals due to licensing constraints so it is not something we will be able to bring in.
The next one I thought was a good question
Question 6:
Q: Update the game icon it’s been the same one since launch
A: Interestingly enough (well for me) we actually run different A/B tests continually throughout the year to test different icon styles, colours etc. The reason we have kept the current one with the Lamborghini is it keeps coming out on top as the one people like the most. So as long as it keeps people clicking in the stores we are unlikely to change it
Question 7:
Q: Have a training mode where we can practice on any given track without losing fuel and wasting tickets and I don't care about gaining rewards.
A: Something I didn’t get a chance to talk about in the last Q&A but can talk about now is that we are working on a private lobbies system that will allow you to create a lobby, invite up to 7 of your friends and race with most of the cars in the game (you will also have the option to set rules from a list and control which cars people can use). This should let you practice easier as well as just race for fun and try out cars. Additionally once done we will be moving these options from this mode across into the club races as well (it uses the same screens etc).
Question 8:
Q: add a confirmation pop-up for every item that can be bought with tokens or credit coins in order to avoid non intentional buying
A: In fact I just had a meeting this week about it and it is a task that we have on our shortlist to start working on in the next update or 2
and one of the most popular questions
Question 9:
Q: Increase garage level
A: This is something we want to do in the later part of this year as part of another big feature update we have coming (hint it’s around clubs). We are looking at how much we will increase the garage level at the moment (it will be at least 2 new levels if not more). The update will mean not just new garage levels but also updated cars and associated packs
Question 10:
Q: Allows us to “rent” a car out to a club mate. There can be a minimal fee in tokens the renter pays to the rentee (which can be waived if the rentee so chooses) with a limit on the number of days the car can be rented out. Once a transaction has been executed a cool down period will commence to prevent spamming.
A: I’ll answer this in the general area as it touches on a few things we are looking at how we can help players try out more cars than they have unlocked and the idea of renting a car has been brought up. Current thoughts are to look at it as something you could have in MP world series but we are also looking at other areas of the game and working out exactly how it could be used.
Question 11:
Q: a bunch I'm seeing about graphics issues
A: It is something the code team is looking to fix this update
Question 12:
Q: do we play test the game
A: yes we do, keep in mind the game runs across multiple platforms which in the case of android and windows can have a ton of variations of devices so it is difficult to find every issue even with the QA team we have working on the game full time to test
Question 13:
Q: Car catalogue still a thing
A: yup, was also discussed this week in the meeting were we covered car catalogue, confirmation of token spend and a few others
====Multiplayer====
Ok moving away from general stuff onto MP
so first 1 about MP
Question 1:
Q: Make rewards for MP leagues more valuable as you go up in leagues
A: In fact this is how it works in the current update for the MP series, the league reward increases with each league you reach.
hopefully everyone is enjoying the changes we implemented this update on MP, we are keeping a close eye on them and seeing how involved everyone is and will make future adjustments based on this
Question 2:
Q: MP series car rewards not changing and people having these cars
A: So this was something that was brought up last devchat. Without going into specifics (we still need to set them up and test) as to which cars I can tell you that for the next update we are adding 3 new cars into the packs for MP series rewards so that we can cycle between different combinations to increase variety and will continue to do the same in future updates.
Question 3:
Q: Car selecting in leagues based upon the cars and not just the league (e.g. in Legend not just S class cars but also some top A class etc)
A: This is something we are discussing and seeing what we would need to change in the code to allow this and to work as well as decide on what it would take to do (It’s a ton of work to setup the individual cars in filters and not everyone can agree on were each car would go). So no concrete answer now if it will happen but we are looking into it
it might be something we look at doing for a one off MP event first to test how it works out
Question 4:
Q: make multiplayer limited series playable by tickets instead of fuel tanks, so that everyone can get all milestones rewards
A: This is something I'd like to change, not necessarily tickets as used elsewhere in the game but have cars in these types of events have their own fuel pool (be it fuel, tickets or something). Myself and our Tech lead had a look at what we would need to do to make the change and are moving onto the planning stage so we can see the scope of work (how long) and work it into the schedule.
Question 5:
Q: variation of tracks 120 in MP, 
A: yes we can look at doing a MP series with longer tracks in the future
Question 6:
Q: Increase MP league ELO ratings
A: we are looking at adjusting the league ELO ranges and as part of this we will add to the ELO cap.
As I'm seeing a bunch of Club questions, I'll move onto them now
====Clubs====
Question 1:
Q: Increase club size 
A: Yup I want to increase the size, if you remember we did a devchat last year about clubs and people voted on what size they would like (30,40,50 or same if i remember correctly). There were quite a few people who don't want an increase so it hasn't been a big priority so far (also we have big club features coming this year so will try to do it all at 1 time)
Question 2:
Q: About keeping increasing club milestones 
A: So we have kept them the same for a while, there was 1 update when we added on top to give clubs which were maxing out more rewards to aim for but everyone complained so we removed this back to were it was. And we are against botting
Question 3:
Q: Can we ever have a trading system. We could try to either trade blueprints/epics with club-mates, or we can type someone’s player id to trade with them
A: Short answer is yes, long answer is yes but no idea as to when, we have a rough design concept but need to work out how to fit it in with all the other things we want to do in the game. The 2 biggest limitations we have with any feature is time and resources and sadly other things come up that are a higher priority so this feature gets pushed back. Having said that we are looking at improving clubs overall this year with addition of new feature for clubs as well as a number of smaller improvements so we are slowly working our way through the list. And to give you an idea of club improvements we are looking at (in no particular order other than the 1st one) 
* Big cool new club feature/game mode 
* Club search/join/recruit and club information for people in clubs 
* Club races (more tracks and options) 
* Trading/helping club mates 
* Emoticons in chat to name a few
if we increase club size we don't plan to increase milestones.
Something I brought up in the last devchat and is worth repeating, when it comes to milestones we are looking at % of people who accomplish them and based upon that we will look at adding additional ones on top but if not many get there then we won't change it
Question 4:
Q: add a sort of filter for the clubs to make it easier for people to join the club while the club can stay open and no low level players will join. So u can set requirements of rep and garagelvl but the club is public and not restricted.
A: see above 
Question 5:
Q: When will we get Back Custom Logos for our Club Please Reply GL
A: Currently there is no plan to bring back custom logos for clubs. Between potential technical issues and legal constraints we have decided to not have them available for now.
====Special Events====
Question 1:
So SE
Q: Reruns for previous SE when there is a LP exclusive so that non LP players can also progress at the same time.
A: While we won’t necessarily have them in a SE we are slowly bringing back cars that were previously LP exclusive (or hard to get) so as to give more players a chance at these cars. For instance in the next update we are bringing back 2 older cars in 2 different events.
Question 2:
Q: about using old SE while a LP-exclusive SE is running
A: we run multiple events in parallel so while something exclusive is running there will be other things for you to do. As for it being a SE no guarantee it will be that but we are looking at our schedules and will keep adjusting them. Keep in mind even LP holders might want to participate in an old SE so we can run into issues with their being to many options for people and then everyone complains about having to play to much.
Question 3:
Q: You have released Techrules AT96 GP so I want to say that next time plzzz bring GP with two types : Rookie Grand Prix where ppl will get key and second one Elite Grand Prix (it is still existing) where you will get Epic Import Part.
A: In fact this next update will have both a normal GP (where you can get the key) as well as an Epic Prix (import parts). We are also bringing back previous GP cars for 1 of the events.
and we are looking at a 3rd GP format called Epic GP (working title and it gets confusing) which will have its own set of rewards
Question 4:
Q: bring new cars and release them as unleashed events…
A: So without saying what the car is, next update this is happening
Question 5:
Q: Make a new weekly event epic hunt which allows us to get epic imports for random cars. You can also make it a class based event. We have a daily class based event which gives out blueprints of a particular class cars. So another event can give out epic imports of the same class
A: All I'll say on this is we are looking at our epic import parts and have some new ways coming that will let you get these.
Question 6:
Q: Please re-add the old roster of vehicles in the Weekly Elite cups. My huayara and hurracan are no longer able to compete and sit in my garage collecting virtual dust
A: Well these car's aren't top of class anymore so they are no longer "elite". However we will take a look at a different weekly cup. Also we have something coming this year were having more cars will be of a benefit
so older good cars will be valuable
Question 7:
Q: A third weekly event to go along with the Weekly and Elite competitions: the Weekly Premium Event. In this event, rather than being class-based and relying on a player’s garage size, this event will feature a different vehicle each week at a regulated performance level, and will rely solely on player skill in a competition to earn tokens and premium card packs (the ones you can buy 5 of for 325 tokens.) This will not only help players improve their racing technique, but will also allow newer players to obtain some nice rewards to help them get a foothold in the game.
A: quick answer this is what the Elite prix are for
Question 8:
Q: Make the weekly events more interesting by bringing in new tracks every week rather than same old tracks. The blueprint rewards in the weekly class based events should also be improved to provide more variety of blueprints. Link the blueprints given out in those events to the player's garage level.
A: interesting fact the tracks actually change each week and it takes 11 weeks before we repeat a track. We keep a track constant for the week so as to keep the event balanced, if we had to rebalance it for each random track it adds a lot of overhead and would result in us actually being able to use fewer tracks overall
Question 9:
Q: Change the Exclusive Weekly Car Hunts I think it is time for those cars to change, they have been there since Day 1, and I'm sure the majority of players will appreciate the change, to presumably better cars.
A: We have actually added new cars since day one. Also we keep these fairly constant as they are big help for new players to help catch up.
Question 10:
Q: add another weekly competition called "deluxe weekly" in which we can use class c cars in one week and b,a,s class cars in the next weeks
A: we have elite class A,B,C,D week after week.
Question 11:
Q: keeping 1 car in the elite class event permanently 
A: Not really as in theory if a better car gets released eventually it would not be elite which breaks the purpose
====Shops and Drop Rates====
Alright let me talk about the shop and drops a bit
Question 1:
Q: Guarantee key drop 
A: It is not ideal if you open lots of key packs and don't get the key (It sucks, probabilities can be fickle). We have a bad luck protection mechanism in place to help reduce this (basically it helps guarantee something for a car after X count and resets once you get it)
and we are looking at breaking down further so we can give even more specific control for rewards and help with bad luck protection.
Additionally as we did with multiplayer challenges (and yes there is a new one coming in a couple week I believe, don't have a calendar in front of me) we are bringing in new GACHA pack types that will give different options (e.g. re-roll if you don't like a reward, guarantee a specific reward after X packs and a bunch of others)
Question 2:
Q: update the cars in the legend shop 
A: yup this is being worked on
Question 3:
Q: Show drop rate chance for featured items for packs
A: This is something we have on our backlog currently, when we will get to it I don’t have an answer for but it is something we want to do and is something I've been trying to fit into the schedule since last year
Question 4:
Got a question sort of related to this about rewards, which I think is worth answering. I'll try to keep it high level as it goes into probability maths for the full answer (and nobody wants to do maths on a friday) So the question was: How do we design rewards
A: We have data that shows how many races players do on average per day, how far people are progressing in a season (both points gained as well as reward collected). We use these to distribute the rewards. When we do these calculations we set it up so that earlier rewards are easy to get and later rewards can be achieved but require more consistent play and dedication. If you just do the bare minimum each day you will get most but not all of the rewards, in general the final milestones are for those who are more active and push themselves to compete.
Question 5:
Q: Add more decals to the legend store
A: As decals are something everyone wants and we don't have a ton we are keeping them currently for rewards in events (be it in the various Prix or others)
====Car Hunts====
Ok let's move to car hunts
Question 1:
Q: Car hunts guarantee X BP every X races.
A: They do currently, there is a system in place were you are guaranteed BP based upon the number of gacha packs you open the system guarantees it (see above about bad luck protection)
Question 2:
Q: Better drop rates for car hunts or limited tries, 2 tickets feels expensive for no drop of BP
A: I'll answer this in 2 parts Firstly no plan at the moment to change the ticket cost Secondly with regards to BP drop rates. Something we have done is increase the total number of BP that are given away in car hunts. The actual drop rate of BP has also been increased slightly from other car hunts, however it does vary between hunts based upon the cars so keep this in mind if you try to compare 2 different car hunts
also car hunts repeat on a cycle so if you don't get it all done in 1 don't panic it will come around again.
Question 3:
Q: New car hunts
A: We add new ones regularly and have added a new format which has a guaranteed key reward
Question 4:
Q: Increase number of days available for car hunt cars for higher stars
A: We keep the number of days available for several reasons, firstly it keeps the schedule balanced as there is a ton of live operation events so we need to plan everything out to ensure not to much is going all at once so a consistent length helps with that plan. Secondly keeping them all the same length gives everyone the same play opportunity for the cars (imagine a car you wanted but only had 2 days to get and you were busy those 2 days). Thirdly car hunts repeat so if you don’t get it done the 1st time round it will come round again.
Question 5:
Q: players vote on car hunts?
A: I'm not adverse to this with a few caveats, we could provide a list of cars for the community to vote on to see which ones they would like to have as car hunts (if we keep it open it will all be Chiron or we will get to many to get a decent answer).
So what I will do is work with Mina & Clauwudia and work out the best way to give you all some input
Question 6:
Q: Car Hunts: Giving maxed hunted cars a purpose Please make the hunted cars more useful in their own hunts. For example, having an objective requiring the hunted car (in the same style as you did with the key hunt for the Cayman GT4) which grants a good amount of credits, tokens, or even a few epic imports (depending on the number of stars your hunted car has you'll get more rewards). This motivates players to play hunts even if they already have the hunted car at maximum stars.
A: The purpose of maxed out cars is to use them in the car hunt riot after the car hunt to get epic import parts.
====Miscellaneous Questions====
Will go back to some miscellaneous bits and pieces i'm seeing in the other channel
Question 1:
Q: car hints for 6* cars 
A: I actually made these less helpful last update as we got a ton of bugs and it annoyed me. In general 6* cars are SE related
Question 2:
Q: Fix the drifting on the Bentley Continental GT3
A: With the next update we have fixed a number of cars, the bentley, valhalla, SF90 and a few others
Question 3:
Q: make drop rates viewable 
A: I answered it above (I think, losing track) yes its something we can look at across the board
Question 4:
Q: do something about players who switch clubs to get rewards 
A: we have for this upcoming update, if you jump clubs during the season you will lose out on rewards
Question 5:
Q: daily login/daily mission type thingy
A: Yes it is something we want to bring in, just a matter of time and resources we have a design now we need to work out how and when we build it
Question 6:
Q: not all devices having 30/60 FPS support 
A: I don't remember the full explanation off the top of my head but there was some technical limitation as to which devices we could apply this to (manufacturer based)
Question 7:
Q: Switching garage background 
A: this comes up a bunch, as of now we don't plan to allow switching it ruins the nice UI proper answer we can look at it, but it will be low priority for us this year
Question 8:
Q: Can career chapters be increased 
A: We are looking at revamping career to make the layout more user friendly, help new players and allow us to expand it further. So yes we will eventually increase it
Question 9:
Q: Make the game cross platform playable 
A: Answered in previous Q&A we can't due to technical issues and cross platform is not a simple thing to solve for a game once live. (plus it's not just A9 but all other GL games that use the same server system so lots to coordinate)
Question 10:
Q: New tracks 
A: we have 1 new track coming this year (it feels awesome) and have started work on a 2nd one. Given we have a bunch of tracks in NA, Europe and Asia. We are looking at Africa, Oceania or SA for the next few
Question 11:
Q: When is DS4 coming
A: This year
Alright closing the chat down for this month. Thanks everyone for taking part
Category:Asphalt 9 Dev Chats