Open Letter to the Vertical Shift Community

Written By Vertical Shift

Introduction

Hi everyone,

I'm Ben Snowden, Vice President of Game Design for Corrupted Media Productions and one of the lead developers of Vertical Shift. 

A bit about me, I co-founded Corrupted Media with Sean Feeser in 2020. I started as a PC gamer, playing competitive sports, CSGO, Paladins, Overwatch, Valorant, and other competitive online games.

I fell in love with the competitive nature of Esports and what it could become.

I went on to Kennesaw State University and learned to make games, with a focus on VR games. At a point in college, those Esports and VR paths crossed and became one. When I was given my first VR headset, after about six months of use, I grew a distinct passion to build an Esport for VR. 

I wanted Esport to have all the standard elements that aid gamers to improve, practice their craft, and give them a platform to complete. That goal and vision grew into Vertical Shift.

I know it's been quite a quiet year for us so far, so I wanted to write this and catch everyone up on what we've been working on. We may have been quiet, but we've been busy! In this letter, I want to show you what we've been working on, what we're going to work on, and what's next for Vertical Shift.


The Beta (VS2.0)

We've been overjoyed with the response to the Vertical Shift beta so far. We've seen a lot of great feedback from players, and we've been working hard to implement as much of it as we can, as fast as we can.

However, despite all the updates we've made, we do not believe the current Vertical Shift Beta is the dream we set out to build. Big changes still need to be made, so we've made a big plan.

We're planning on releasing a few more map updates for the Beta, but after that, we're going to be shifting our focus to the full release of Vertical Shift. To do this, we will rebuild Vertical Shift from the ground up.

While we're proud of our Beta and know that thousands of players have loved it, we may have bit off more than we can currently chew with its scope. The Beta includes 6 Story Mode Missions, 4 Game Modes, 7 maps, Social Features, and Avatar options. Meanwhile, we know from our metrics that most players focus on Freeze Tag and Infection.

Corrupted Media has always been a small team, and we are spread thin by the bulk of the game. For each game mode, mission, and map, we double the testing and coding efforts necessary for a quality update. 

When we started Vertical Shift back in 2020, most of our team had just graduated from college. We've learned a LOT since then, and that's been repeatedly made clear as we go in and patch out old bugs that, frankly, shouldn't exist. 

This is why we plan to rebuild Vertical Shift for the full release with two main goals:

  • E-Sports Focus

  • Efficient and modular code architecture

To be clear, the Beta is not done yet! Over the next several months, we will be regularly releasing new maps and bug fixes reported by the community. We are planning to keep the servers for the Beta up and running as close to the Full launch as we can! So stay tuned for more information on the coming updates.


The Full Release (VS3.0)

For the full, paid release, we're going to be rebuilding Vertical Shift from the ground up with a core focus on being an exciting, fun, and social VR Esport.

At release, this Vertical Shift (which we are calling 3.0) will be entirely focused on Freeze Tag and social features to find and spectate Freeze Tag matches. Other game modes, such as Infection, will be added after the initial launch. Story Missions will come back further down the line in a secondary release.

We want VS3 to be the best possible application for the competitive version of the current FreezeTag Game mode. I will list some features we would like to bring into VS3. This list is still subject to a lot of change, but I wanted to give you an idea of what we’re working on.

  • Matchmaking: Quickplay / Competitive MMR tracking.

  • Custom lobbies:  Good for practice, scrims, or trying new strats.

  • Bots: Super Helpful for practicing at your own pace.

  • Networking: Upgraded networking catered towards competitive games. 

  • Regions: To help keep ping low between players. 

  • LAN Capable: One day the idea of in person events would be cool, this would allow us to do it properly.

  • New Spectator System: A better spectate experience and tools to watch matches.

  • New Cosmetics Systems: We aim to release more cosmetics more frequently so you can always have something new to wear into the arena. 


3.0 Development and how to help

We plan to count on our community heavily throughout the development process of VS3.0! Just as your feedback has been invaluable to the Beta, we ask for your help in the coming months. Throughout Discord, we are planning polls, play sessions, experiments, and loads of other activities to help define the future of our Esport.

 The development of VS3.0 will be divided into 3 phases:

  • Pre-production

    • The team will meet regularly to iron out and prototype every feature and system in Vertical Shift, ensuring they all fit together. During this phase, we need the community's help through surveys and answering questions in the discord.

  • Development

    • The actual coding and creation of the game. During this phase, we will regularly need help with testing and rapid feedback on builds. 

  • Testing/Refining

    • Once the game is built, it needs to be sharpened to a competitive tip! Before launch, every system is tested, corrected, then tested again. Community playtesters have always been a massive part of our QA pipeline, and we hope for the same support with 3.0!

Corrupted Media is currently deep in the Pre-production stage, and we've had a lot of excellent meetings to start with. Recently, we sent out a survey to the players with an overwhelming response rate, hopefully setting the pace for player involvement throughout this development process!

If you want to provide financial support for Corrupted Media while we work on VS3.0, there are a few ways!

  • Purchase MINTS in the game!

    • Mints allow you to buy new avatar upgrades in-game and can be purchased from the store menu. Mint sales go directly to development of Vertical Shift.

  • Join our Patreon

    • You can access closed testing, special merch, and a copy of Vertical Shift upon full release through our Patreon. 

  • Buy Vertical Shift Merch!

    • T Shirts and posters are available at our website, Verticalshift.net. Wear your shirt with pride and show the world you shift!


What we’ve been up to

Now a confession, we didn't get right to work on 3.0 at the beginning of the year. After almost 3 years working on Vertical Shift, we needed a bit of a vacation.

So, we made another VR game. Consider it a "creative refresher.”

Our team plans to implement a lot of new development strategies and processes to achieve our final launch of Vertical Shift, so we decided to test them out with a new title. We gave ourselves a deadline to complete this new game in 4 months, and thus Grenade Junky was born!

You'll be hearing a lot more about Grenade Junky soon. It will be a paid, single player, VR experience. Development is wrapped up, and we're currently preparing for release on App Labs. It's a lot of fun, and I can't wait to share more with you, so stay tuned!

With Grenade Junky almost ready to ship, we're focused back on Vertical Shift Pre-Production!

Thank you for your support

We want to thank you all for supporting Vertical Shift so far. We're really excited about the game's future, and we can't wait to share it with you.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us on Discord or Twitter.

Thanks again!

Sincerely,

Ben Snowden

Vice President of Game Design

Corrupted Media Productions

Vertical Shift