Navigating the game

This page will give you an overview of what you can find in the menus.

## First start of the game

When you load Nock for the first time, you will be entered into a guided tutorial aimed to familiarise you with the base mechanics.

## The Lobby

After you have completed the introduction you will find yourself in the lobby. If you have already completed the intro and loaded the game, after seeing the Normal logo, shoot the ball and you will be in the Lobby. Here is your portal to the world of nock, check the news, leaderboards and much more

Lets start at the far left...

## Latest News Panel, Music Toggle, Show/Hide Menu

   To the far left of the menu are 3 items of interest.

* Furthest left is the latest news panel. It will periodically rotate between a few different screens. Here you see information about new updates, upcoming content and messages from the developers.

* In the middle you will see a speaker playing music. This is the Music Toggle. Shoot it once to stop the music. Shoot it again to resume music and play the next song. The current in-game music is by Take 45.

* Next to the music speaker is a show/hide menu button. Shoot it to hide the menu and ping the ball around as you please without accidently pressing the menu buttons.

## The Main Menu

### Play Now

Shooting the PLAY NOW button opens a secondary menu with 3 further options detailed below.

#### Quickmatch

Shooting the QUICKMATCH option will start searching for a game in ANY mode, Casual & Competitive 1s, 2s & 3s.

#### Play Online

The PLAY ONLINE button lets you select what mode you search for. The top row consists of **casual** 1v1, 2v2 and 3v3.

The bottom row is competitive 1v1 and 2v2. Simply shoot the modes you want to play then shoot FIND GAME to begin searching.

While searching for a game you can hangout in the SOCIAL LOBBY or get some practise in the Practise Arena, the game will continue searching for a match while you play.

#### Custom Game

Shooting the CUSTOM GAME button will open a new area.

Here you can select teams, add bots[LINK TO CHANGING BOT DIFFICULTY], choose an arena and modify the game with custom settings.

First select your team by shooting the JOIN YELLOW / JOIN BLUE floating buttons. Next to the avatars are buttons to add/remove Bots from the teams.

Secondly choose your Arena by shooting the ARENAS button then shooting the map you want to play on.

To customise the game, shoot SETTINGS to customise your match with any combination of the following

* Body KOs on/off
* Mercy Rule on/off
* Infinite Arrows on/off
* Match Length 30s / 3min / 5min / 10min
* Arena Size 1v1 / 2v2/ 3v3
* Ball Weight 0.5x / 1x / 2x

Now simply shoot START MATCH to begin!

#### Practise Arena

After selecting a game mode to play from PLAY NOW you will be returned to the lobby to wait for a game.

You have a few options to pass the time

* You can hide the menu[highlight and link to hide menu toggle] to shoot the ball
* You can do something out of game. Refill your water, talk on discord etc.
* Hang out in the social lobby

or you can play in the practise arena!

In the lobby you will see a new Matchmaking window has opened. Here you can see the progress of the search, cancel matchmaking or visit the Practise Arena!

You can shoot the "Practise Arena" button to be taken to a dark arena with bots. Here matchmaking will continue while you play against bots, the number of bots will always be equal to the number of players in your party (up to 3 players)

You can change the bot difficulty from the pause menu.

### Settings

Here you'll find a set of options to adjust your individual experience.

#### General

* Bow Hand - Swap what hand your bow is in.
* Turn Style - Select from 3 modes of rotation, disable it if you have stick-drift or like to turn your head IRL.
* Heads Up Display - Enable/disable the time and score tracker on your screen, good for recording or capturing clean footage.
* Reticle - A MUST, enable this to show 3 dots where you are aiming.

#### Voice Chat

* Voice Chat - Master switch to enable/disable all voice communications.
* Microphone - Enable/disable sending of your voice, you can still hear other players.
* Hear Other Players By default - If enabled you will need to un-mute players from the pause menu one in-game.

#### Locomotion

* Pull
* Ski Pole A detailed explanation can be found here Gameplay FAQs

## Custom Game

Next on the list from the main menu is "Custom Game".

With up to 6 players in a party you can arrange a game where you can select teams & bots(if any).

In 1.2.0 the Obsidian Arena was added, you will see the option to play in the new arena to the right of the Start Match window.

* Shoot "Custom Game" in the menu.
* From here you can select yellow or blue team
* Shoot the + or - buttons to add or remove bots from either team.
* Select your arena by shooting the small card next to the 'Start Match' card.
* When you are ready shoot the "Start Match" image to begin
* Bot difficulty can be changed from the pause menu

## Training

From the main menu shoot "training". Here you can replay the introduction and view controller mapping.

* Introduction
* Controls

## Avatar

In 1.2.0 two additional unlockable bows were added!

Go to Avatar - Launcher to see what you have unlocked!

## Avatars and party members

Directly in front of you is a mirror of your avatar, your friends will also show up here.

There are 4 additional visible pads for party members but you can have up to 6 people here.

You will also see a floating ➕ (plus) icon for joining and creating parties/rooms but we'll get to that soon.

## Online Player Information

Above your avatar you will see some information about the current players online.

This rotates between 2 different views.

* First in green is Online Players, this is always visible

1) first in blue is Players In Lobby

2) Second in yellow is Players Looking For Game

## The Leaderboards

To the right hand side of the avatars are the leaderboards, rotating through 2 views.

* Global Top Players shows the current highest ranked players in the world!

* Top Players (Close to you) shows the players closest to you in rank, watch out for these players.

## User Information

To the far right of the menu is information about you! Woo From the top,

* Your current rank icon
* Your current rank name
* Username
* XP you have collected
* Your current level
* A progress par showing XP needed to next level

## Credits

Turn 180° in the main menu and you see a credits button.

* Shoot it to see the the wonderful people behind Nock.

# The Main Menu Pt.2

## Creating & Joining a Room/Party

* From the main menu shoot one of the floating ➕ (plus) icons. One is next to the avatar the other is next to the default room code, near Online Player Information.
* This will open a keyboard and equip you with little drumsticks for typing.
* You can type anything in here up to 5 characters, this is what your friends need to type in to join you so make it memorable.
* Once you are happy press "Join Room" and tell your friends the code.