inktheory3

[inktheory3]

My problems with the S-BLAST

This post is going to compile a lot of things I've had on my mind about the S-BLAST, and seeing as a new and really powerful kit is going to come out next season, (the S-BLAST '91 with burst bombs and the booyah bomb) this weapons going to be more relevant than ever.

The first minor thing I'd like to point out is a really really small problem. I had previously predicted that the S-BLAST '92, would get a second kit along the lines of "S-BLAST '92 Deco" or more likely something more unique like "Retro S-BLAST '92". I had also assumed that the Snipewriter 5H's second kit would be called "Snipewriter 5H Nouveau".

This is because every main weapon has an associated splashtag title part, but all weapon kits under the same main weapon share the same title part. Splattershot and Tentatek Splattershot players both use the "Splattershot User" title part and N-ZAP '85 and N-ZAP '89 players have "N-ZAP User". Only the part of the name that's shared between the two kits is used in the title part, so the title part can apply to users of both weapons. This also applies to weapons with unreleased kits! The Nautilus 47 and Bamboozler 14 Mk I are currently the only weapons by that name in Splatoon 3, yet their respective title parts are "Nautilus User" and "Bamboozler 14 User" because the Nautilus 79 and Bamboozler 14 Mk II, while both not referenced in Splatoon 3, internally or externally, are sure to come soon.

The problem is that in the updates that released the S-BLAST '92 and Snipewriter 5H, the title parts "S-BLAST '92 User" and "Snipewriter 5H User" were also released, leading me and many others to believe that their second kits would have unqiue names, and instead have names similar to the examples I gave in paragraph 2. Now that we know that these kits will be called the S-BLAST '91 and Snipewriter 5H, I really hope that Nintendo realises this and changes the names of the title parts.

All that text for a problem I said was really really small... Anways! On to my actually relevant and possibly controversial thoughts on the S-BLAST.

The Most Incongruous Design in all of Splatoon:

First off: A quick explanation of what the S-BLAST is. The S-Blast is a Blaster, obviously... It's one of few main weapons, and the first Blaster in Splatoon to exhibit 2 firing modes. It's first firing mode is short-range with a massive explosion, statistically similar to the Luna Blaster, and the second firing mode is long-range with a tiny explosion, similar to the Range Blaster.

One firing mode is activated while grounded, the other is activated while airborne. I won't tell you which is which just yet, because part of the problem with the S-BLAST is that it isn't obvious which firing mode is activated in which position.

Lets look at 2 other Splatoon weapons and a concept I've previously come up with, all of which feature multiple firing modes, to try and understand why the S-BLAST's design is inferior.

The Splat Roller's horizontal and vertical flicks are very easy to understand. The most natural motion when holding a Splat Roller would be it's namesake; holding it flat to the ground and rolling it. The most natural movement between holding a Splat Roller by your side and holding it to the ground is flicking it horizontally, so it makes sense that the horizontal flick would be the Splat Rollers firing mode while Grounded. The Splat Roller's vertical flick, while not a natural movement for a human being when obeying the laws of physics, it's an extremely common form of attack in fiction and specifically in video-games. if you play any fighting game, especially Super Smash Bros., if you play a character that primarily uses a sword (or other long weapon like a bat or axe) and attack in mid-air, they'll do an overhead swing. This kind of attack is incredibly common in video-games, so it makes thematic sense for the Splat Roller to do an overhead swing while in the air, the vertical flick.

The Squeezer is a champagne bottle. Look up a video of a champagne bottle popping; the first moment is a high power pop that send the cork and champagne flying, and after that is a steady stream of fizzing champagne. Using the Squeezer, when you hold down the ZR trigger you get a single long-range, high damage bullet, followed by a steady stream of low-range, low power bullets that land in a wide spread. This mirrors the popping of a champagne bottle 1:1, it's probably the most perfect design a Splatoon weapon can ever get! If you're familiar with the design inspiration of the Squeezer, it would come naturally to you that you'd need to tap the trigger repeatedly to get a consistent string of "pops" and that you'd need to hold the trigger to get a steady stream of bullets.

Finally, we have my own concept, a Sub weapon called the Sensor Bomb. The short unspecific explanation is, if you press R while in Swim Form, the Sensor Bomb gets deployed under your ink like an Ink Mine. If you press R while in Kid Form, the Sensor Bomb is thrown and explodes like a Point Sensor. What I think is neat about this design is that the Sensor Bomb behaves exactly how you'd expect it to. If you're under the ink, it gets placed under the ink. All other bombs and most other Sub weapons get thrown, so when you're in Kid Form with access to your arms, the Sensor Bomb also gets thrown.

Do you see a pattern with these examples? You don't really need to know the intricacies of each of these weapons to understand their firing modes. If all you're given is an image of the weapon, the 2 firing-modes and the 2 ways these firing modes are activated without knowing which activation method is for which mode, you'd be able to connect the dots without fail. The same can't be said for the S-BLAST. The S-BLAST's long-range firing mode is activated while grounded and the short-range firing mode is activated while airborne. You can make wishy-washy arguments explaining why this is the way that it is, but the reality is that you can just swap these 2 firing modes and make another argument with just as much strength behind it.

Why is the S-BLAST the way that it is?

We obviously don't know the process Nintendo used to design the S-BLAST, Nintendo is probably the least transparent game developer out there. But, I can offer an educated guess.

The S-BLAST is given it's name and appearance by the Super Scope, a successor the the N-ZAPs Nintendo Zapper that was a huge failure.

The Super Scope doesn't immediately and obviously lend itself to being translated into a weapon with multiple firing modes, but there are 2 avenues you could go down:

First, unlike the Nintendo Zapper, the Super Scope had multiple buttons. Of course, only one of these buttons would actually fire a shot, and the rest of the buttons would either pause the game, turn off the Super Scope or have a completely different effect depending on the game you were playing. This obviously doesn't give a coherent explanation as to why the S-BLAST has 2 firing modes. The S-BLASTs second firing mode could have been an arced projectile like the Explosher and it would've had just as much justification through what I'm calling the "Multiple Buttons Explanation". If this was really the primary thought process Nintendo went through, I'd be very disappointed.

Second is the explanation that I think is much more likely. The Super Scope has a scope! You could use the Super Scope with or without its Scope. Nintendo obviously advertised it as a scoped gun but people could just as easily use it unscoped so the 2 firing modes could be a reference to the 2 ways people used the Super Scope.

I believe this explanation is the case, but there are still a few problems with it.

How are people supposed to figure this out and apply this to the S-BLASTs firing modes?

The S-BLASTs model has the scope in it. The design of the weapon and the multiple firing modes would kind of make sense if you could use the scope in gameplay.

Why does jumping equate to an unscoped shot? People wouldn't jump around with the Super Scope, they'd be sitting or standing still regardless of how they used it.

If you go through this thought process in your head, sure, the S-BLASTs 2 firing modes makes some sort of sense. But it certainly isn't a good design. Imagine if the base Splat Charger had a scope and it wasn't used in gameplay. That would be insane.

One last problem I have is that the S-BLAST associates jumping and fast movement with the short range blasters, and stationary grounded play with the long range blasters, but this isn't true either! Range and Rapid Blasters jump around just as much as Luna and Clash blasters, and the S-BLAST sends the wrong message as to how Blasters should be played. Like the Splat Charger analogy, imagine if the Ballpoint Splatlings main firing mode was it's short range, inaccurate mode. All other Splatlings prioritise range over bullet spread, it would be insane if the Ballpoint Splatlings design tried to convey some other message.

What would I have done differently?

Personally, I think it's a crime to have a weapon designed after the Super Scope not use a scope in gameplay. I've thought the idea of scoped weapons should've been expanded to non-charger weapons a long time ago, and it's really frustrating that Nintendo missed such an obvious opportunity.

Like the other scoped weapons in Splatoon, the scope would slowly come into focus, but I don't think it's fair to lock the S-BLASTs long range shots behind a long start-up time. The way I see it working is that you'd hold down the ZR button, after 15 frames of start-up lag you'd fire a shot. If you keep holding down the ZR button, the screen would fade into a scope, your movement would slowed and you'd be able to continuously fire more shots. Scoped shots would have slightly more range (around 1-2 units) but would otherwise be identical to the unscoped shot.

The way you'd fire the short-range shots would be simple. Just quickly tap the ZR button. Video-games are capable of telling apart tapped and held inputs people, it's not that hard.

You could argue that this means that my new S-BLAST has 3 firing modes, (guess what, the S-BLAST had more than 2 buttons :P) but I don't consider an extra unit of range to be different enough. Do you consider the Rapid Blaster/ Splat Charger/ E-liter 4K to have a different projectile to the Rapid Blaster Pro/ Splatterscope/ E-liter 4K Scope?

I also believe that this change makes a lot more sense gameplay-wise to compliment the S-BLASTs design. The scope actually gets used and it's clear which firing mode is associated with which input. Like all other scoped weapons, you have to hold down the trigger for your long-range scoped shots. Otherwise, you have to tap the trigger for your more powerful short-range shots.

~

So, what are your thoughts on all of this? I know a lot of people love the S-BLAST the way that it is, and a lot of people don't really care about it. But the S-BLASTs design really bugs me and I have no idea if my opinions are controversial or not.

[inktheory3]

Hey y'all! It's been quite a bit since my last post. (240 days to be exact)

I've been really busy with, well, living. But I haven't stopped playing Splatoon and thinking obsessively about it!

I'm just making this post as a reminder (if anyone was actually counting down the days till my return) and as a little push to get me to start posting here again, because I still have a lot of ideas.

I'll probably be doing some needlessly long posts again soon!

[inktheory3]

Wild card question

Talk about anything you like about the following:

Main weapons

Hey, sorry all for taking a while to respond and for not messaging on this blog for a fair bit, life's gotten in the way of my free time for a long time now!

There is a lot to talk about when it comes to main weapons! I could spend hours analysing how amazing the concepts behind the weapons in Splatoon are, from their sound design to their models to their mechanical feel to the inspirations for their names.

One thing I truly love about Splatoon is how well their approach to weapons fits into the theme of the game. Splatoon's all about collaboration and customisation and being fluid and flexible, from the worldbuilding to the main characters to the fundamental biology of inkfish!

Unlike other fps games, where options are more limited (in Valorant you can have any gun, but can only use the abilities associated with the agent you chose, in Overwatch the hero you pick decides your primary weapon and abilities and so on) Splatoon has a whole order of magnitude of possible weapons, and each individual part of your kit is its own separate weapon that aren't explicitly tied to eachother. This isn't to say games like Valorant and Overwatch are bad, quite the opposite, (well at least design-wise) But the way Splatoon handles weapons fits the themes of the series so well and I admire it so much.

~

Of course this can't be an Inktheory3™️ post without me dragging out the length of this post with my own additions to the game.

This time its new main weapons! For the third time... (Brella and new weapon class posts)

Today I'll be going through my ideas for new weapons for every class other than the Brellas.

Shooters:

Now with the introduction of the Splattershot Nova into Splatoon 3, we have a Shooter for every situation. See this table:

This doesn't mean there's no room for even more shooters in the game, I see nothing wrong with that, as long as other weapon classes get just as consideration. Really, there are only 2 ways to add more unique shooters.

One is to make more extreme weapons (like how the 96. Gal is a more extreme 52. Gal with its pros and cons magnified), as all combinations of average stats have already been covered. This options not very enticing to me, because the ideas are very obvious and boring.

The second option is more semi-automatics, shooters with a unique rate of fire or multiple firing modes! I have 1 idea for a new shooter. There's no name for it as all my brainstormed ideas ended up a bit too edgy for my liking. I'm just imagining a water gun wrapped in tubing with a pentagonal nozzle that slowly winds up multiple shots through the tubing when you press the trigger.

Essentially this is an expansion of the concepts behind the Nozzlenoses. Both Nozzlenoses finish firing quickly after you tap ZR and have minimal end-lag, allowing you to have a near constant stream of bullets. My idea for this weapon is that firing takes time and you only need to press ZR once every few seconds. Upon pressing ZR the tubing wrapped around the shooter lights up as ink fills up through it. After 0.5 seconds of delay pressing ZR, 5 high power bullets shoot out over the course of 3 seconds. They're fast, travel far and you need 2 of them to deal lethal damage.

This weapons a high risk/ reward weapon, where you can't always control when you'll be able to shoot and is vulnerable to being sneak attacked, but can wreak havoc when played well.

More Main Weapons!:

Now that we're out of the way of the lengthy preamble that comes naturally when talking shooters, lets rapid fire a main weapon idea for the remaining classes!

Spring-Pop Dualies:

Dualies based off of pogo sticks! The Spring-Pop Dualies have similar damage and range to its cousins the Splat Dualies and Tetra Dualies, but with a unique dodge roll. While dodging on the ground, it rolls slowly and doesn't go very far, around half the distance of most Dualies, but dodge rolling mid-air causes you to fast-fall while moving the full distance of your roll (unlike other dualies that drop like stones) all the way to the ground and immediately bounce in the direction you tilted the L stick!

The Spring-Pop Dualies would only allow you to rebound upwards up to your max jump height so you can't get to areas that are normally inaccessible. It'd have 100% accuracy during its rolls and low damage fall off so shot spread and damage fall of don't hurt it as much while midair.

Tri-Fold Blaster:

A semi-automatic blaster! This blaster fires 3 blasts every time you press ZR, each with more range and less blast radius than the last.

The Tri-Fold Blaster's first shot would be lower range than the standard Blaster with a bigger blast radius, the final shot would have DOUBLE this range and half the blast radius, with the middle shot sitting right in between them in terms of range. They all deal the same damage, and you need 2 direct hits and an indirect hit to deal lethal damage.

This is a more supportive blaster design. It can be hard to get splats with, as a person in range of a direct from shot 1 will be far too close to easily get hit by shot 3, and person in range of shot 3 will be too far away from shot 1. It would excel in situations where enemies are running away, as these enemies would get hit by all 3 shots, but its mainly a blaster focused on getting assists, slightly better painting power and threatening chip damage in a large area.

Inkball Machine:

The Inkball Machine is a unique Splatling. It's a gumball machine with a huge chamber to fire inkballs. Unlike other Splatling's that that rapid-fire bullets, the Inkball Machine takes a long time to charge up and fires large bullets at a consistant rate of 3 bullets per second. These bullets explode on contact, dealing 12 damage on contact and 20 damage to enemies caught in the explosion, for a total of 32 damage per bullet to a target. This weapon even explodes when hitting terrain, so aim is less of a factor with the Inkball Machine, albeit it'll be a 5-shot splat if you only land explosion damage.

Hyper Stingler:

This weapon is actually inspired by a post I saw on reddit, designed by @steriskks and modelled + rendered by u/HiddenBlade2757 on reddit.

This weapon design is honestly perfect, full credits to the artists, (especially steriskk, look at their blog!!) and I'd only make 2 changes to the it's design. One, I'd remove the scope as 'gimmick' chargers tend not to have scopes, and two, the red cross is a protected symbol and having it in your game technically violates a Geneva Convention so it'd either have to be a different color or be replaced with the symbol of one of Splatoon's brands.

Mechanics wise, like the Snipewriter 5H, the Hyper Stingler tows the line between Splatling and Charger. Instead of firing a single long-ranged bullet, it charges to unleash a laser of ink that pierces targets (but not objects) and deals damage over time for a couple seconds. It would reach max range at ~67% charge, and charging past that point only serves to extend its uptime after releasing ZR. Its tapshot functions identically to other Chargers, except it can pierce targets.

I think this is my favourite name i've come up with for a Splatoon weapon. Hyper comes from 'Hypodermic' and Stingler comes from "Sting" and "Tingle", how you feel after getting a shot. I wanted to steer away from terms like Needle to keep a disconnect for younger players afraid of needles. I'm just happy how the name ended up!

Deep Sizzler:

The Deep Sizzler is a slosher based off of a deep fryer! It has 2 vertical trays to fling 2 clumps of ink side-by-side, and after the ink hits the ground it sizzles and explodes a second later similar to a Tri-Stringers bombs!

The Deep Sizzler is intended to be fast and mid-ranged with wide paint coverage, with a slower kill time than its cousins being a 3 shot kill. It's main draw is that the ink it flings can still explode and deal damage if an enemy covers it up, so it has a lot of threatening area denial!

Sickle Roller:

The Sickle Roller is a curved Roller! It's a segmented Roller, with 3 smaller brushes on a spoke to create a curved look. It rolls very slowly, but its flicks are fast and ink hungry. In fact, the Sickle Roller's vertical flick is even faster than its horizontal flick! Horizontal flicks fling ink very far in a diamond shaped pattern, ink from the middle Roller flicking the furthest and 2 more points landing behind it to its sides.

The Sickle Rollers vertical flicks are a bit more interesting, they fling 3 volleys of ink in quick succession, and moving while flicking allows you to curve and spread out the shot in a triangular pattern, similar to a Slosher's curved arcs!

Squeaky Brush:

The Squeaky Brush is a mop! This is a long ranged brush that sacrifices a bit of damage and speed for extra-long reach!

There really isn't much to say about this one, its pretty self explanatory.

Waxed Cari-Bow:

Stringers are an interesting class to design a new weapon for. Most other weapon classes have a core of 3 basic main weapons; a standard weapon (Splattershot, Splat Charger, Splat Roller) a lite weapon (Splattershot Jr., Squiffer, Carbon Roller) and a heavy weapon (Splattershot Pro, E-Liter 4K, Dynamo Roller).

In Splatoon 3's code, the Tri-Stringer is intended to be the standard Stringer. The Tri-Stringer is 'Stringer_Normal_00' and the REEF-LUX 450 is 'Stringer_Short_00'. So the logical next Stringer would be an even longer range, heavier Stringer!

Introducing the Waxed Cari-Bow! The Waxed Cari-Bow is a heavy Stringer with a scope! Like the name suggests, (Cari-Bow/ Caribou) This Stringer has antlers as the limbs of the bow! It fires 2 bullets side-by-side, like Dualies, meaning you can't get a direct hit by aiming at something at the centre of your screen (though jumping vertically aligns both shots in the centre of the screen).

The Waxed Cari-Bow fires heavy, slow bullets that explode on a 2/3rds charge or a full charge unlike its cousin the Tri-Stringer! It slightly outranges the E-Liter 4K, but has a similar lack of mobility and ink efficiency. It cannot hold its charge, as the weapon is always scoped.

Other kits for this weapon would change the 'Waxed' part of the name, such as the Lacquered Cari-Bow and the Glazed Cari-Bow.

Splatana:

With the Splatana, similar to the Brush and Stringer, it should get a heavy variant. I don't actually have a good idea for what this weapon could be based off of after hours of research into it. Stats-wise it'd just be a modified Splatana Stamper with more range, damage and charge time and less ink efficiency and speed, similar to other heavy weapons.

I'm sorry to leave this post on a low note with the Splatana but I really couldn't think of anything.

Please tell me your thoughts about my weapon ideas! <3

[inktheory3]

Post Patch Thoughts:

Hey all, after playing this patch, getting every new weapon to 1 star and playing the 2 new maps in every ranked mode, I felt it appropriate to revise some of the comments I made on this patch.

~

On the topic of the Inkopolis DLC, a thing that really feels awful is that Shelly and Donny, when explaining a weapon to you, re-use Sheldon's dialogue. It's a minor nitpick, but them instantly flickering between their stuttering childish dialogue to Sheldon's trademark pedantic speeches is really tragic and immersion breaking.

Otherwise, I'd like to dedicate this reblog to talk about the maps and the weapons.

Maps:

Manta Maria is a fine addition. It was one of the better maps in Splatoon 2, but the changes they made to it feel a little bit worse to play on, as is the norm with Splatoon 3's map reworks. Despite this, it its still one of the better maps in Splatoon 3, because it really doesn't have any competition.

Um'ami Ruins feels a bit rushed. The middle of Um'ami is far more open than most maps in the game, but a lower section around mid would have suited the map so well and the boundaries of the map just feel off. A tweet from Yaga (@a_bog_hag on twitter) better illustrates this point.

A lower section would really let the map breathe, give players more options and give a reason to exit mid from the lower pit to the left of spawn that as of now is a death trap.

Um'ami is a fine map, it's not on the level of Mincemeat Metalworks and Scorch Gorge where I actively avoid rotations that they're present in, but it still has its problems, which is disappointing.

Finally for maps, lets talk about the changes to existing stages. To be blunt, they're garbage. Most of these changes don't really do much of anything, and other changes actively enforce the playstyles they were trying to nerf. The Splat Zones stages that got smaller zones are now easier to contest with even a single special like Triple Inkstrike, making it much harder to defend the zone itself. The stages that got a pole in the middle of their zones are actually cover for chargers! They allow E-Liters and Splat Chargers to be completely defended while being able to fight back while in the zone!

I'm still hopeful that these smaller map changes will open the doors to big changes that actually impact the game healthily, but I'm still scared for the future of this game.

Weapons:

My guesses before the patch dropped were correct. All of these weapons have synergistic kits and are fun to play! It's a huge step up from Chill Season 2022's kits.

I think my problem lies in the 2 new specials.

First off, Super Chump is a god awful special. It feels clunky to use and it's difficult to aim it where you want it to be. In 12 hours of gameplay I didn't see a single splat or assist from Super Chumps. It tries to be a displacement special like Booyah Bomb, Triple Inkstrike and Tenta Missiles, but it miserably fails.

The former 3 specials threaten displacement. Once they are used effectively, you cannot stop them covering up your ink, and if they're used on you, you have to move or die. They all threaten lethal damage. Booyah Bomb and Triple Inkstrike also have dynamic counterplay. You have to think about when and where you use them to stop yourself from getting splatted while using them.

Super Chump cannot threaten lethal damage. If you aim it at someone, they can literally walk and shoot in a random direction and be completely safe from its damage. Even if you stand still you likely won't die to them. It doesn't paint enemy ink, because even weapons like the Luna Blaster and Carbon Roller are capable of breaking 90% of the bombs before they can explode. And finally, there's little to no combo potential with it. You have to cast them far away from you. By the time you can get to the spots they landed, they've landed in such spread out spots that the only ones that could possibly threaten enemies and paint important ground are already destroyed. It's essentially a worse Tenta Missiles, but instead of reworking Tenta Missiles to be healthy for the game, they made a completely inferior version of it AND kept Tenta Missiles in its broken state.

Finally, Kraken Royale has me worried about the future of this game, specifically surrounding power creep. Kraken is fundamentally broken. It completely outclasses Ultra Stamp and Reefslider. In fact it's laughable that Ultra Stamp and Reefslider could possibly exist in their sad state next to Kraken Royale. It oneshots Crab Tank, it is capable of reaching Booyah Bomb and Inkjet, and 3 shots both. It oneshots Big Bubbler. It completely breaks Tower Control; with enough Kraken Royale users you can control the tower forever with no way to push them off. When this special gets on a mobile shooter, it will be overwhelmingly strong. With how they've treated nerfing Crab Tank, I'm scared for the future of how Kraken Royale will be balanced.

This patch was amazing mechanically, everything thats new feels and looks great to play. The problem, like always, is that the balancing of this game is very concerning.

My thoughts on the Fresh Season 2023 update!

Hey all, this is a different kind of post, where I'll be going over every new addition to the game, serving as an update post and my thoughts on the new content!

So lets just jump right into it!

Splatoon Fresh Season 2023: 3.0.0

Inkopolis DLC:

This update introduced the first wave of paid DLC! DLC owners can now travel to Inkopolis, essentially serving as a new hub world skin. (note the wording used, "Travel to this city?" perhaps more hub worlds are coming?)

Inkopolis is functionally identical to Splatsville, which is disappointing but understandable. There's no Squid Jump, the former arcade machine is now a terminal to order items from Hotlantis, and all shop owners share the same stock as the Splatsville shops. Some people hate these choices, but they make sense as parity decisions between the 2 hub worlds. What I am disappointed about is the Grizzco and pvp lobbies being identical to Splatsville's. Even the graffiti is identical!

The new and returning characters and settings have phenomenal designs, as expected for the series, and I appreciate the compact and sleek hub design as opposed to how spread out and chaotic Splatsville is. I will forever cherish Shelly & Donny's designs and mannerisms (Donny calls the lobby the WOBBY!) and Fred Crumbs is a new favourite character of mine.

Overall, Wave 1 of the DLC is great, it's essentially an entrée. You don't pay for reservations at a restaurant to eat breadsticks, but its important to serve them to keep us busy while the real meat and potatoes of the DLC, Side Order, is in production.

The Catalog:

As per usual, a new Catalog is coming. There really aren't critiques to be said. Flipping through it, all the new clothing, decorations, stickers, splashtag title parts, banners and emotes look wonderful.

Thanks to datamining, I've already seen all the new emotes. Every season the emotes get more and more expressive! Rootin' Tootin' is going to be permanently equipped as soon as I hit level 73. Again, there is 1 disappointment for me. The Reppin' Inkopolis emote (which is completely free, you don't need the DLC for, which I appreciate incredibly) doesn't have new Splatoon 1 style animations for the 6 weapon classes introduced since then. (Dualies, Brellas, Stringers and Splatanas; including Brushes and Blasters which were distinguished from Rollers and Shooters respectively in Splatoon 3) The emote is a nostalgia trip for me but having it play the default win animation for new weapon classes is really disappointing.

Related to the catalog, we have a new gear brand, Z+F. It's a collaboration between Zekko and Firefin and the name is a real mouthful. I don't like it at all. There were so many good ideas for mashups of Zekko and Firefin; Zekkofin, Finko, Z-Fire and so on! Z+F isn't a bad name per say, but it is disappointing to be included among all the other amazing brand names.

There are 2 more incredibly welcome changes to the catalog system though! From now on, in mystery boxes and shell-out capsules, you have a small chance of receiving catalog exclusive items. Previously, if you didn't get a catalog exclusive item during the season it introduced, it would never appear in your shops, and the exclusive emotes, banners and title parts were gone forever. Now you still have a chance, which is really great!

Finally, in the last week of every season, you'll get a 1.2x closeout bonus for catalog points, helping you finish out your catalog before the new season starts. These are 2 amazing changes to help players with less time on their hands to get their hands on content without making players who earned it the old way feel cheapened.

New Stages:

Um'ami Ruins and Manta Maria have been added to the game! As of now I can't speak on them, as they aren't playable, but from datamined screenshots they seem to follow the unfortunate Splatoon 3 trend of reworking older maps to be cramped and creating 1 dimensional new maps.

New Special Weapons:

2 new special weapons have been released!

The Kraken Royale is a transformation, turning you into a Kraken for 8 seconds. (up to 10 with special power up) You can squid roll and surge during it, and colliding with an enemy deals 60 damage, while a charged attack deals 100 piercing damage.

This weapon is a complete counter to Crab Tank, it oneshots the Crab Tank user with a single charge attack. Other than that, I'm a bit concerned about the invincibility of the special weapon, despite the start and end vulnerability, invincibility was a problematic part of Splatoon 1 and 2's special design.

It also steps on Ultra Stamp and Reefsliders toes a little too much for my liking. These other 2 specials are simply outclassed by Kraken! In addition to being buggy and under-tuned, Krakens invincibility and mobility outclasses them both on a mechanical level, which is a shame.

A new special weapon, the Super Chump, was introduced. Horrible name aside, this weapon allows you to pick a spot on the map to deploy a barrage of bombs! Once you pick a location, a dozen Super Chumps create fake super jump landings and stick to the ground, exploding 4 seconds later. Enemies won't die to a single Super Chump, as they only deal 30-60 damage on their lonesome, but they are excellent displacement tools.

Similar to Kraken Royale, this weapon steps on a lot of toes. It is essentially another variation of "random bullshit go!" where you pick a spot to throw a bomb(s) to force enemies to move. It didn't need to be this similar to Booyah Bomb, Triple Inkstrike AND Tenta Missiles! In fact it is essentially a replacement for Tenta Missiles, seeing that the 2 weapons that have it also have identical sub weapons to their Splatoon 2 kits, without the Missiles!

There really was an obvious way to make Super Chump unique. The super jump landings are an interesting idea, but they're very useless. They don't function any differently to other special indicators, as no one will believe 12 super jumps at once all in their own ink. Rather, Super Chump could have been a unique engagement special, where you are also shot forwards alongside the Super Chumps, forcing the enemy to either run and and concede the space to you, or try to guess which super jump landing is the real one and try to splat you.

Overall, these specials are cool and well designed, but their similarities to existing specials puts a sour taste in my mouth.

New Main Weapons:

Of course we can't have new specials without new main weapons.

Here they are:

Neo Sploosh-o-matic: Squid Beakon/ Killer Wail 5.1

Neo Splash-o-matic: Suction Bomb/ Triple Inkstrike

N-ZAP '89: Autobomb/ Super Chump

.96 Gal Deco: Splash Wall/ Kraken Royale

Custom Jet Squelcher: Toxic Mist/ Ink Storm

L-3 Nozzlenose D: Burst Bomb/ Ultra Stamp

Rapid Blaster Deco: Torpedo/ Inkjet

Clash Blaster Neo: Curling Bomb/ Super Chump

Krak-On Splat Roller: Squid Beakon/Kraken Royale

Z+F Splat Charger/ Splatterscope: Splash Wall/ Triple Inkstrike

Tri-Slosher Nouveau: Fizzy Bomb/ Tacticooler

Now all of these kits are phenomenal. Ignoring the viability of certain subs and specials, all of these kits work and look fun. In the last season we got a couple of stinkers like Snipewriter 5H with Sprinkler/ Tacticooler. This time every kit makes sense. There's a valid playstyle and a weapon for everyone here which I really respect. In a perfect world where all of these main, sub and special weapons are balanced well, all of these kits would have their time in the spotlight.

My only issue is the obvious preferences the Splatoon Devs have for kits. Only FOUR shooters are yet to get a second kit, while Brellas, Stringers and Splatanas remain completely unrepresented. Every other class has only 1 or 2 secondary kits! This is a shame because Splatoon promotes inclusivity and that needs to be apparent in the game and its updates. The new kits need to give something new to play with for every type of player, and they simply aren't.

Online Functions:

Pools have been added! They're essentially the same as Mario Kart 8 lobbies, or arenas in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. You can create a pool, choose whether its open or password protected, and people can join and play! This is amazing. It allows for so much versatility in playing with friends, playing with chatters on stream, new people on discord or with people in tournaments and LAN meetups! Really, a phenomenal addition.

Tableturf Battle can now be played online! You can even spectate regular battles, not just in private lobbies. This also comes with 23 new cards! This is a welcome addition, and I understand why it wasn't packaged in the base game, but I'm happy it's here either way.

Salmon Run:

A new King Salmonid has been added! Horrorboros, the flying serpent, charges and shoots Booyah Bombs at workers. A new Big Run event is also happening right away which is really promising for the future of events in Splatoon.

New Scale rewards have been added! Splatoon 2 Grizzco gear has been added in a new tab of the Scale Shop, and Splatoon 2's "Gloopsuits" have been added, as a counterpart to the Slopsuits, if you'd like a different work look. All good additions!

In addition, Eggstra Work has been added, making use of the Salmon Run scenario feature. In this 2 day event, you must assemble a team with your friends and run through 5 preset waves to get as many eggs as possible, getting rewards for what percentile of eggs you collected in 1 shift. This is also a welcome addition, more modes are always great, but it's a bit troublesome.

First of all, it steps on Big Runs toes. The addition of Big Run already lowered how many Splatfests we get, and now theres a 3rd weekend event! They could of course have every event happen 2-3 times a season, but I'm concerned about the Devs tuning down the amount of events every month.

Secondly, it doesn't feel like a weekend event in the same way Big Run and Splatfests are. There are elements of surprise in the former 2 events, but in Eggstra Work, once you've played it once, you've played it a million times. Unlike Big Run there is a maximum amount of eggs you can get. It will get boring over the course of 2 days, and you need friends to play it, it can't be played in freelance.

I really wish they didn't make Eggstra Work a limited event. It would've been great as a permanent game mode that rotates monthly! A sort of counterpart to freelance the same way that League Battles were a counterpart to X Battles. at the turn of every month a new map, weapons and scenarios are selected for the Eggstra Work shift, and teams of 4 compete for top leaderboard spots throughout the month.

People tend to grind out weekend events, and I feel that Eggstra Works repetitiveness will lead to burnout if it gets condensed to a 2 day period.

Balance Changes:

I am disappointed with the Devs fear of making big changes to Splatoon 3's meta. They only changed 1 main weapon, the Big Swig, this patch. They didn't directly nerf Crab Tank, only giving Inkjet, Trizooka and Ultra Stamp damage multipliers against the Crab Tank's armor. They buffed underused weapons by decreasing their special gauge by 10p, which really doesn't fix their problems, as for weapons like Ballpoint Splatling, Aerospray MG and N-ZAP '85, their problems aren't that their specials are too hard to get, its that their specials aren't particularly good when you get them.

Finally, they changed maps, which is promising. I don't mind small changes to maps, despite my feelings about the above small balance changes. I appreciate them understanding that they went wrong with their maps and small changes are a gateway to big changes, but as of now, the small changes they've added feel like bandaid solutions to an underlying problem with the map design.

The Jukebox:

Every song in Splatoon 3 has been given a name! The Jukebox is a great addition to Splatoon, allowing you to pick what songs play in the lobby. Again, I have a small gripe. It is annoying that you have to pay every time you want to use the Jukebox, when in Splatoon 2 you could listen to every song for free.

Badges:

There are a whole slew of new Badges and I really appreciate the direction they're going in.

Of course there are new badges for the special weapons, Horrorboros, Eggstra Work and Z+F. They also added badges for the Inkopolis shop keepers, adding another incentive to swap between hub worlds, which I really like!

Finally, they added Level and X rank badges. There are 12 Level badges, for reaching level 30/50/100/200/300/400/500/600/700/800/900/999, and X rank badges for reaching top 3000/500/10 on the leaderboards. This expands on the direction I like, but also highlights a glaring flaw.

It's impossible to 100% Splatoon 3's badge system, it's meant to a system to let you show off the way you play Splatoon! But I don't really like the design of the badges themselves.

In the case of most badges, the colors have inherent symbolism. Bronze means 3rd place, Silver means 2nd place and Gold means 1st. Once you get a gold badge variant, the rest are inferior. If you use the bronze or silver badges, its implying to other players that you aren't the best at this milestone you're showing off. Even if you dedicate all your time to Salmon Run, if you don't put thousands of hours in, your badges will always look worse than what you could have. This is especially in the Level badges, the level 999 badge is stunning, and other impressive milestone badges, like the level 100 badge, looks horrible. You have players putting in so much time and effort for badges that are a downgrade to others.

Even if you do put in a lot of time into the game, unless you specialise in a specific game mode, your badges won't look good. I have over 1k hours in Splatoon 3, but my playstyle's given me 90+ mediocre badges and 1 or 2 impressive badges. I have the 5 star Hydra Splatling badges, acquired 300 hours in, and fifteen 4 star weapon badges, a couple silver Salmon Run and Special weapon badges and so on. I put a lot of time into this game but I have nothing cool to show off, my current badge layout on my Splashtag doesn't have an identity to it, it looks just like a Splashtag someone with a couple hundred hours in Splatoon 3. It doesn't speak to my achievements, my playstyle, it conveys that my milestones aren't the peak, that my Silver Booyah Bomb badge isn't impressive because there are people with Gold Booyah Bomb badges.

1 thing I'd do to remedy this is make badges for getting badges. This would help players who don't specialise in anything and instead are good at everything. I don't know what this badge would look like, but badges for getting 10, 30 or 100 badges would be cool.

I'd also like Sheldon badges! You get badges for getting stars on your gear, why not badges of Sheldon for getting stars on weapons. I've counted, I have over 200 combined stars on my weapons, and nothing to show for it.

Finally, I'd like every badge to be more unique, and not just be recolored variations of eachother. What if the Gold Maws badge wasn't gold, and instead it was stylised art of Maws lunging at the screen. What if the N-ZAP '85's 5 star badge was pixelated. What if the Hydra Splatling's 5 star badge was on fire. What I'm saying is, instead of making the tiers of badges just recolors of the lower tiers, they should look visually different, to make them stand out more and give lower tiered badges purpose for existing and remove the negative connotations with their coloring.

Minor Changes:

There are quite a few small additions in this update! of course there's new gear. But there's a lot more coming!

Lockers can now be wiped clean with the - (minus) button if you want to start over. The amount of items on display in shops has been increased to 9 from 6. You can preview Scale reward items at Grizzco, similar to Hotlantis! Color Lock was adjusted during Tricolor Battles to accommodate for colorblind players. Winners of 10, 100 and 333x battles will be broadcast to your friends and on the Anarchy Splatcast!

Connection Errors are now dealt with player-side. Instead of the match grinding to a halt, laggy players will be notified and have their controls removed if the lag persists. Terrific!

Closing Thoughts:

Overall, despite my complaints, I really like this update. The team over at Splatoon is doing a good job and I'm excited. With these changes they're heading in the right direction and we can only hope they keep on this trend with bigger and better changes. I'll see you all on the battlefield! Stay fresh!

[inktheory3]

My thoughts on the Fresh Season 2023 update!

Hey all, this is a different kind of post, where I'll be going over every new addition to the game, serving as an update post and my thoughts on the new content!

So lets just jump right into it!

Splatoon Fresh Season 2023: 3.0.0

Inkopolis DLC:

This update introduced the first wave of paid DLC! DLC owners can now travel to Inkopolis, essentially serving as a new hub world skin. (note the wording used, "Travel to this city?" perhaps more hub worlds are coming?)

Inkopolis is functionally identical to Splatsville, which is disappointing but understandable. There's no Squid Jump, the former arcade machine is now a terminal to order items from Hotlantis, and all shop owners share the same stock as the Splatsville shops. Some people hate these choices, but they make sense as parity decisions between the 2 hub worlds. What I am disappointed about is the Grizzco and pvp lobbies being identical to Splatsville's. Even the graffiti is identical!

The new and returning characters and settings have phenomenal designs, as expected for the series, and I appreciate the compact and sleek hub design as opposed to how spread out and chaotic Splatsville is. I will forever cherish Shelly & Donny's designs and mannerisms (Donny calls the lobby the WOBBY!) and Fred Crumbs is a new favourite character of mine.

Overall, Wave 1 of the DLC is great, it's essentially an entrée. You don't pay for reservations at a restaurant to eat breadsticks, but its important to serve them to keep us busy while the real meat and potatoes of the DLC, Side Order, is in production.

The Catalog:

As per usual, a new Catalog is coming. There really aren't critiques to be said. Flipping through it, all the new clothing, decorations, stickers, splashtag title parts, banners and emotes look wonderful.

Thanks to datamining, I've already seen all the new emotes. Every season the emotes get more and more expressive! Rootin' Tootin' is going to be permanently equipped as soon as I hit level 73. Again, there is 1 disappointment for me. The Reppin' Inkopolis emote (which is completely free, you don't need the DLC for, which I appreciate incredibly) doesn't have new Splatoon 1 style animations for the 6 weapon classes introduced since then. (Dualies, Brellas, Stringers and Splatanas; including Brushes and Blasters which were distinguished from Rollers and Shooters respectively in Splatoon 3) The emote is a nostalgia trip for me but having it play the default win animation for new weapon classes is really disappointing.

Related to the catalog, we have a new gear brand, Z+F. It's a collaboration between Zekko and Firefin and the name is a real mouthful. I don't like it at all. There were so many good ideas for mashups of Zekko and Firefin; Zekkofin, Finko, Z-Fire and so on! Z+F isn't a bad name per say, but it is disappointing to be included among all the other amazing brand names.

There are 2 more incredibly welcome changes to the catalog system though! From now on, in mystery boxes and shell-out capsules, you have a small chance of receiving catalog exclusive items. Previously, if you didn't get a catalog exclusive item during the season it introduced, it would never appear in your shops, and the exclusive emotes, banners and title parts were gone forever. Now you still have a chance, which is really great!

Finally, in the last week of every season, you'll get a 1.2x closeout bonus for catalog points, helping you finish out your catalog before the new season starts. These are 2 amazing changes to help players with less time on their hands to get their hands on content without making players who earned it the old way feel cheapened.

New Stages:

Um'ami Ruins and Manta Maria have been added to the game! As of now I can't speak on them, as they aren't playable, but from datamined screenshots they seem to follow the unfortunate Splatoon 3 trend of reworking older maps to be cramped and creating 1 dimensional new maps.

New Special Weapons:

2 new special weapons have been released!

The Kraken Royale is a transformation, turning you into a Kraken for 8 seconds. (up to 10 with special power up) You can squid roll and surge during it, and colliding with an enemy deals 60 damage, while a charged attack deals 100 piercing damage.

This weapon is a complete counter to Crab Tank, it oneshots the Crab Tank user with a single charge attack. Other than that, I'm a bit concerned about the invincibility of the special weapon, despite the start and end vulnerability, invincibility was a problematic part of Splatoon 1 and 2's special design.

It also steps on Ultra Stamp and Reefsliders toes a little too much for my liking. These other 2 specials are simply outclassed by Kraken! In addition to being buggy and under-tuned, Krakens invincibility and mobility outclasses them both on a mechanical level, which is a shame.

A new special weapon, the Super Chump, was introduced. Horrible name aside, this weapon allows you to pick a spot on the map to deploy a barrage of bombs! Once you pick a location, a dozen Super Chumps create fake super jump landings and stick to the ground, exploding 4 seconds later. Enemies won't die to a single Super Chump, as they only deal 30-60 damage on their lonesome, but they are excellent displacement tools.

Similar to Kraken Royale, this weapon steps on a lot of toes. It is essentially another variation of "random bullshit go!" where you pick a spot to throw a bomb(s) to force enemies to move. It didn't need to be this similar to Booyah Bomb, Triple Inkstrike AND Tenta Missiles! In fact it is essentially a replacement for Tenta Missiles, seeing that the 2 weapons that have it also have identical sub weapons to their Splatoon 2 kits, without the Missiles!

There really was an obvious way to make Super Chump unique. The super jump landings are an interesting idea, but they're very useless. They don't function any differently to other special indicators, as no one will believe 12 super jumps at once all in their own ink. Rather, Super Chump could have been a unique engagement special, where you are also shot forwards alongside the Super Chumps, forcing the enemy to either run and and concede the space to you, or try to guess which super jump landing is the real one and try to splat you.

Overall, these specials are cool and well designed, but their similarities to existing specials puts a sour taste in my mouth.

New Main Weapons:

Of course we can't have new specials without new main weapons.

Here they are:

Neo Sploosh-o-matic: Squid Beakon/ Killer Wail 5.1

Neo Splash-o-matic: Suction Bomb/ Triple Inkstrike

N-ZAP '89: Autobomb/ Super Chump

.96 Gal Deco: Splash Wall/ Kraken Royale

Custom Jet Squelcher: Toxic Mist/ Ink Storm

L-3 Nozzlenose D: Burst Bomb/ Ultra Stamp

Rapid Blaster Deco: Torpedo/ Inkjet

Clash Blaster Neo: Curling Bomb/ Super Chump

Krak-On Splat Roller: Squid Beakon/Kraken Royale

Z+F Splat Charger/ Splatterscope: Splash Wall/ Triple Inkstrike

Tri-Slosher Nouveau: Fizzy Bomb/ Tacticooler

Now all of these kits are phenomenal. Ignoring the viability of certain subs and specials, all of these kits work and look fun. In the last season we got a couple of stinkers like Snipewriter 5H with Sprinkler/ Tacticooler. This time every kit makes sense. There's a valid playstyle and a weapon for everyone here which I really respect. In a perfect world where all of these main, sub and special weapons are balanced well, all of these kits would have their time in the spotlight.

My only issue is the obvious preferences the Splatoon Devs have for kits. Only FOUR shooters are yet to get a second kit, while Brellas, Stringers and Splatanas remain completely unrepresented. Every other class has only 1 or 2 secondary kits! This is a shame because Splatoon promotes inclusivity and that needs to be apparent in the game and its updates. The new kits need to give something new to play with for every type of player, and they simply aren't.

Online Functions:

Pools have been added! They're essentially the same as Mario Kart 8 lobbies, or arenas in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. You can create a pool, choose whether its open or password protected, and people can join and play! This is amazing. It allows for so much versatility in playing with friends, playing with chatters on stream, new people on discord or with people in tournaments and LAN meetups! Really, a phenomenal addition.

Tableturf Battle can now be played online! You can even spectate regular battles, not just in private lobbies. This also comes with 23 new cards! This is a welcome addition, and I understand why it wasn't packaged in the base game, but I'm happy it's here either way.

Salmon Run:

A new King Salmonid has been added! Horrorboros, the flying serpent, charges and shoots Booyah Bombs at workers. A new Big Run event is also happening right away which is really promising for the future of events in Splatoon.

New Scale rewards have been added! Splatoon 2 Grizzco gear has been added in a new tab of the Scale Shop, and Splatoon 2's "Gloopsuits" have been added, as a counterpart to the Slopsuits, if you'd like a different work look. All good additions!

In addition, Eggstra Work has been added, making use of the Salmon Run scenario feature. In this 2 day event, you must assemble a team with your friends and run through 5 preset waves to get as many eggs as possible, getting rewards for what percentile of eggs you collected in 1 shift. This is also a welcome addition, more modes are always great, but it's a bit troublesome.

First of all, it steps on Big Runs toes. The addition of Big Run already lowered how many Splatfests we get, and now theres a 3rd weekend event! They could of course have every event happen 2-3 times a season, but I'm concerned about the Devs tuning down the amount of events every month.

Secondly, it doesn't feel like a weekend event in the same way Big Run and Splatfests are. There are elements of surprise in the former 2 events, but in Eggstra Work, once you've played it once, you've played it a million times. Unlike Big Run there is a maximum amount of eggs you can get. It will get boring over the course of 2 days, and you need friends to play it, it can't be played in freelance.

I really wish they didn't make Eggstra Work a limited event. It would've been great as a permanent game mode that rotates monthly! A sort of counterpart to freelance the same way that League Battles were a counterpart to X Battles. at the turn of every month a new map, weapons and scenarios are selected for the Eggstra Work shift, and teams of 4 compete for top leaderboard spots throughout the month.

People tend to grind out weekend events, and I feel that Eggstra Works repetitiveness will lead to burnout if it gets condensed to a 2 day period.

Balance Changes:

I am disappointed with the Devs fear of making big changes to Splatoon 3's meta. They only changed 1 main weapon, the Big Swig, this patch. They didn't directly nerf Crab Tank, only giving Inkjet, Trizooka and Ultra Stamp damage multipliers against the Crab Tank's armor. They buffed underused weapons by decreasing their special gauge by 10p, which really doesn't fix their problems, as for weapons like Ballpoint Splatling, Aerospray MG and N-ZAP '85, their problems aren't that their specials are too hard to get, its that their specials aren't particularly good when you get them.

Finally, they changed maps, which is promising. I don't mind small changes to maps, despite my feelings about the above small balance changes. I appreciate them understanding that they went wrong with their maps and small changes are a gateway to big changes, but as of now, the small changes they've added feel like bandaid solutions to an underlying problem with the map design.

The Jukebox:

Every song in Splatoon 3 has been given a name! The Jukebox is a great addition to Splatoon, allowing you to pick what songs play in the lobby. Again, I have a small gripe. It is annoying that you have to pay every time you want to use the Jukebox, when in Splatoon 2 you could listen to every song for free.

Badges:

There are a whole slew of new Badges and I really appreciate the direction they're going in.

Of course there are new badges for the special weapons, Horrorboros, Eggstra Work and Z+F. They also added badges for the Inkopolis shop keepers, adding another incentive to swap between hub worlds, which I really like!

Finally, they added Level and X rank badges. There are 12 Level badges, for reaching level 30/50/100/200/300/400/500/600/700/800/900/999, and X rank badges for reaching top 3000/500/10 on the leaderboards. This expands on the direction I like, but also highlights a glaring flaw.

It's impossible to 100% Splatoon 3's badge system, it's meant to a system to let you show off the way you play Splatoon! But I don't really like the design of the badges themselves.

In the case of most badges, the colors have inherent symbolism. Bronze means 3rd place, Silver means 2nd place and Gold means 1st. Once you get a gold badge variant, the rest are inferior. If you use the bronze or silver badges, its implying to other players that you aren't the best at this milestone you're showing off. Even if you dedicate all your time to Salmon Run, if you don't put thousands of hours in, your badges will always look worse than what you could have. This is especially in the Level badges, the level 999 badge is stunning, and other impressive milestone badges, like the level 100 badge, looks horrible. You have players putting in so much time and effort for badges that are a downgrade to others.

Even if you do put in a lot of time into the game, unless you specialise in a specific game mode, your badges won't look good. I have over 1k hours in Splatoon 3, but my playstyle's given me 90+ mediocre badges and 1 or 2 impressive badges. I have the 5 star Hydra Splatling badges, acquired 300 hours in, and fifteen 4 star weapon badges, a couple silver Salmon Run and Special weapon badges and so on. I put a lot of time into this game but I have nothing cool to show off, my current badge layout on my Splashtag doesn't have an identity to it, it looks just like a Splashtag someone with a couple hundred hours in Splatoon 3. It doesn't speak to my achievements, my playstyle, it conveys that my milestones aren't the peak, that my Silver Booyah Bomb badge isn't impressive because there are people with Gold Booyah Bomb badges.

1 thing I'd do to remedy this is make badges for getting badges. This would help players who don't specialise in anything and instead are good at everything. I don't know what this badge would look like, but badges for getting 10, 30 or 100 badges would be cool.

I'd also like Sheldon badges! You get badges for getting stars on your gear, why not badges of Sheldon for getting stars on weapons. I've counted, I have over 200 combined stars on my weapons, and nothing to show for it.

Finally, I'd like every badge to be more unique, and not just be recolored variations of eachother. What if the Gold Maws badge wasn't gold, and instead it was stylised art of Maws lunging at the screen. What if the N-ZAP '85's 5 star badge was pixelated. What if the Hydra Splatling's 5 star badge was on fire. What I'm saying is, instead of making the tiers of badges just recolors of the lower tiers, they should look visually different, to make them stand out more and give lower tiered badges purpose for existing and remove the negative connotations with their coloring.

Minor Changes:

There are quite a few small additions in this update! of course there's new gear. But there's a lot more coming!

Lockers can now be wiped clean with the - (minus) button if you want to start over. The amount of items on display in shops has been increased to 9 from 6. You can preview Scale reward items at Grizzco, similar to Hotlantis! Color Lock was adjusted during Tricolor Battles to accommodate for colorblind players. Winners of 10, 100 and 333x battles will be broadcast to your friends and on the Anarchy Splatcast!

Connection Errors are now dealt with player-side. Instead of the match grinding to a halt, laggy players will be notified and have their controls removed if the lag persists. Terrific!

Closing Thoughts:

Overall, despite my complaints, I really like this update. The team over at Splatoon is doing a good job and I'm excited. With these changes they're heading in the right direction and we can only hope they keep on this trend with bigger and better changes. I'll see you all on the battlefield! Stay fresh!

[inktheory3]

wow, another concept that perfectly puts into frame what I had in mind for the Ink Fridge! Your little sketches of the characters and map are the perfect blend of simplicity and cuteness for concept art!

Ink fridge functionality concept for @inktheory3

Ink fridge concept by inktheory3

[inktheory3]

this really brings to life the idea I had in mind for the Silly Slapper! Thank you so much!

I love the expressions you drew and your cute button indicators!

Silly slapper functionality concept for @inktheory3

I forgot to draw that it can also roll around on the ground and walls

Silly slapper concept by inktheory3

[inktheory3]

First of all just, wow! Your art is gorgeous! It really fits into the style of Splatoon 3. I really appreciate this! I love all your names, especially the Steam Machine and Star Steamer Pro!

Please never apologise for being passionate about what you love, I loved reading through this.

Me again!(I like your answers) splat 1 introduced 6 weapon classes. Splat '2' added '2' more. Splat 3 has added 2 more classes so far, but to reach the namesake '3' it requires 1 more weapon class. What would you make for the final Splat 3 weapon class.

<3 and I like your questions too!

~

I actually do think 2 new weapon classes are sufficient for Splatoon 3. After all, following this pattern, in the next 10 years we'd have ~20 weapon classes, which would frankly be far too much.

That being said, I have had a weapon class idea bubbling around in my head for a long time, so I'll dedicate a short post to it.

If we look at all the classes in Splatoon, they're mostly all based around combat and dealing damage. The only real exceptions are Brellas (and some individual weapons like the Explosher, Splattershot Nova, Aeropsray, Big Swig Roller, Rapid Blaster/ Pro etc). These weapons can still fight adequately, but they also do other things for their team.

I think there is room for another weapon class with deployables like the Brella shields, but I really haven't given that enough thought yet. Today we're talking about Steamers!

What is a steamer?

Like how Splatanas and Stringers are the Splatoon equivalent of swords and bows respectively, Steamers would be the equivalent of flamethrowers.

There would be a lot of possible inspirations for different main weapons in the Steamer class. Basically anything that heats water or sprays water vapor; a shower head, humidifier, clothing iron, kettle, spraypaint and so on.

Essentially, using a Steamer would cause mist to spew in front of you for as long as you hold ZR. I imagine this mist would cover everything it touches in your ink, which is why I'd compromise it with generally slow movement while holding ZR to manage their potential ink coverage.

When enemies are in your mist, they take chip damage every 0.5 seconds. It wouldn't be a lot of damage, just enough to splat after 2-4 seconds of exposure depending on the weapon you're using. In addition, there would be variable damage in the mist, the centre being a sweet spot dealing the most damage per second, and the edges being sour spots dealing less damage.

In all honesty, I've only really thought about this as 1 weapon so far. There is a lot of potential for 5-6 more unique Steamer weapons, different mist effects, different mist shapes and so on.

I've just named my 'standard' Steamer, called the Deep Steamer, a big blocky humidifier that sprays mist out of multiple vents. It'd be a middleweight weapon with range to spray mist and ink across a large area with decent damage and balanced by its lack of mobility.

~

This felt a lot different to type out than my other posts so far, not really any analysis in this one, just me talking about something that I'd think would be a cool addition to the game! I do think Splatoon is sorely missing an area of effect main weapon, and adding in Steamers would round the game out to include most of the weapon archetypes present in multiplayer games!

[inktheory3]

Me again!(I like your answers) splat 1 introduced 6 weapon classes. Splat '2' added '2' more. Splat 3 has added 2 more classes so far, but to reach the namesake '3' it requires 1 more weapon class. What would you make for the final Splat 3 weapon class.

<3 and I like your questions too!

~

I actually do think 2 new weapon classes are sufficient for Splatoon 3. After all, following this pattern, in the next 10 years we'd have ~20 weapon classes, which would frankly be far too much.

That being said, I have had a weapon class idea bubbling around in my head for a long time, so I'll dedicate a short post to it.

If we look at all the classes in Splatoon, they're mostly all based around combat and dealing damage. The only real exceptions are Brellas (and some individual weapons like the Explosher, Splattershot Nova, Aeropsray, Big Swig Roller, Rapid Blaster/ Pro etc). These weapons can still fight adequately, but they also do other things for their team.

I think there is room for another weapon class with deployables like the Brella shields, but I really haven't given that enough thought yet. Today we're talking about Steamers!

What is a steamer?

Like how Splatanas and Stringers are the Splatoon equivalent of swords and bows respectively, Steamers would be the equivalent of flamethrowers.

There would be a lot of possible inspirations for different main weapons in the Steamer class. Basically anything that heats water or sprays water vapor; a shower head, humidifier, clothing iron, kettle, spraypaint and so on.

Essentially, using a Steamer would cause mist to spew in front of you for as long as you hold ZR. I imagine this mist would cover everything it touches in your ink, which is why I'd compromise it with generally slow movement while holding ZR to manage their potential ink coverage.

When enemies are in your mist, they take chip damage every 0.5 seconds. It wouldn't be a lot of damage, just enough to splat after 2-4 seconds of exposure depending on the weapon you're using. In addition, there would be variable damage in the mist, the centre being a sweet spot dealing the most damage per second, and the edges being sour spots dealing less damage.

In all honesty, I've only really thought about this as 1 weapon so far. There is a lot of potential for 5-6 more unique Steamer weapons, different mist effects, different mist shapes and so on.

I've just named my 'standard' Steamer, called the Deep Steamer, a big blocky humidifier that sprays mist out of multiple vents. It'd be a middleweight weapon with range to spray mist and ink across a large area with decent damage and balanced by its lack of mobility.

~

This felt a lot different to type out than my other posts so far, not really any analysis in this one, just me talking about something that I'd think would be a cool addition to the game! I do think Splatoon is sorely missing an area of effect main weapon, and adding in Steamers would round the game out to include most of the weapon archetypes present in multiplayer games!

[inktheory3]

How would you fix the brellas, and how would you make a new brella?

A really good question and a topic I've been meaning to talk about!

First we need to identify the problems with the Brella class as a whole, and you'll find out soon enough that their problems aren't really that deep.

~

The first Brella, the Splat Brella, released on August 12th, 2017, a few weeks after the launch of Splatoon 2. But we should notice something from before they released.

In Splatoon 1 and the early weeks of Splatoon 2, shooters were strong. They've always been the most accessible and versatile weapon class and they naturally draw in players.

Shooters never really had a definitive counter in the frontline. They outranged Rollers and Brushes, they could close the gap on Blasters and capitalise on their inaccuracy and were much more accurate and forgiving to use than Sloshers. Splatoon 2 was no different in the beginning; Shooters consistent movement and damage outclasses the Dualies burst movement and damage.

So what you end up seeing in this time period was all these weapon classes ended up having different matchups with eachother, but Shooters were the best and had enough tools to deal with everything else, the 'apex predator' in this ecosystem.

And then the Splat Brella released and it shifted the ecosystem. Brellas, at their peak, were weapons that Shooters could not handle on their own, but Dualies and Blasters etc., could handle Brellas. This shifted the meta and created a really nice sort of weapon triangle.

Shooters get beat by Brellas, Brellas got beat by everything else, and everything else got beat by Shooters. Suddenly there was no one answer to everything and every weapon had a place in the meta. To continue the ecosystem analogy, Brellas were the keystone species of the Splatoon 2 meta. If they were taken out of the equation, Shooters run wild.

Now we know what happened in Splatoon 2's meta. Shooters got buffed, again and again and again. And Brellas got nerfed, again and again and again. Every update Shooters got slightly better at dealing with Brellas and they slowly got pushed out of the meta. Which brings us to today, in Splatoon 3 where Brellas are still completely pushed out of the meta.

Another thing to note is the kits that weapons are given. A kit can make or break a weapon. For example, the Splash-o-Matic. Even if the Splash, the Burst Bomb AND the Crab Tank all receive heavy nerfs, the Splash-o-Matic won't be irrelevant simply because the kit synergises well with eachother. A thousand people have already explained why this kit synergises so well so I won't go over it here.

On the other hand, Brellas don't get good kits. Undercover Brellas kit is objectively awful. Splat Brellas kit is held up purely by Triple Inkstrike being strong, but they don't synergise with eachother. For what its worth, Tenta Brellas kit is good, its just hit the hardest by my final point.

Brellas are buggy. The past 6 months of patch notes have not begun to scratch the surface of how buggy Brellas are. I could go on forever but I won't. The most important thing to know is that bugs cause inconsistency, and even if a weapon has objectively good stats, being inconsistent will make it feel bad to play.

In summary:

Shooters were overbuffed.

Brellas were overnerfed.

Brellas have worse kits on average.

Brellas are buggy.

There really isn't an inspired solution for the problem of Brellas being bad. Sometimes you just need to analyse why something is the way it is and the solution appears in front of you; balance the game without giving bias towards certain weapon classes, give worse weapons better kits and fix bugs.

New main weapons?

Now that this is out of the way, lets talk about new main weapons, along with a short analysis on how main weapons are decided.

Every weapon class has its hallmark, standard weapon. The Shooters have the Splattershot, the Chargers have the Splat Charger, and the Rollers have the Splat Roller. These weapons don't tend to do anything special, but they're consistent and they showcase the class as a whole. Once you see a Splat Roller in action, you have a general idea for what the Roller class is like.

Then these standard weapons get expanded upon with a lightweight weapon (faster, more efficient, less range, less damage) and a heavyweight weapon (slower, less efficient, more range, more damage), that are simply variations. They don't really change the mechanics; The Splattershot Jr. and Splattershot Pro work identically to the Splattershot, they're just light and heavy variations.

These 3 weapons build the core of a class, and the next main weapons in a class change and expand upon mechanics drastically to provide a more unique experience. The Squiffer, Splat Charger and E-Liter 4K are all similar weapons functionally, but the Bamboozler, Goo Tuber and Snipewriter are much more varied.

Looking at the Brella class, we have a standard weapon (the Splat Brella) and a heavyweight (the Tenta Brella). We don't actually have a lightweight Brella. The Undercover Brella isn't a simple variation of the standard Brellas, it has unique mechanics. It can shoot while flaring up its shield, and is the only Brella that can regenerate its shield early (by splatting or assisting a splat on an opponent).

So we need a lightweight Brella, and I'm also thinking we need another unique Brella, and luckily I have ideas for both!

Parasella:

This is a lightweight Brella! Unlike other lightweight weapons, it doesn't have much less range than the Splat Brella, it instead has a little less damage, far less shot spread and more damage fall off, forcing you to be more accurate for longer periods of time.

What sets it apart is the Brella itself. 0.5 seconds after holding down ZR, the Brella will shoot off and move fast and far. Of course it doesn't have a lot of health, only 200, and enemies can take care of it easily. (this is identical to the Undercover Brellas current health, but ideally, every other Brella would be getting health buffs) Finally, the Brella shield would regenerate after 2.5 seconds, allowing you to deploy multiple Brella shields at once on the field.

I imagine a supportive kit for this weapon, something like Autobomb/Killer Wail 5.1 or Fizzy Bomb/Zipcaster with a similar playstyle to the Custom Splattershot Jr. It would bombard enemies with deployables and chip damage and go in for the kill once they're distracted.

Octogami Brella:

The Undercover Brella adds new mechanics to the Brella class, namely shooting while shielding and regenerating your shield. I want to create a Brella that expands on a mechanic, contact damage. Brella shields deal contact damage, but it isn't a main part of the Brella playstyle.

The Octogami Brella has a large square shield, made out of paper. Holding down ZR after shooting causes the shield to start to fold up into the shape of an Octoling! It decreases in size, but due to it compacting, the health of the shield dramatically increases! The shield deploys after 2 seconds and it moves very quickly and has a large hitbox, forcing enemies to move out of the way or take serious damage. Finally, if enemies don't destroy the Octoling shield fast enough, it'll explode once it decays.

I don't really have stats for this weapon in particular, just a strong concept behind it, so feel free to suggest anything you like for it!

As always, thanks for reading everyone!

[inktheory3]

Thoughts on the Goo Tuber:

The goo tuber is one of the most unique weapons in Splatoon's history. Most people disregard it and consider it to be a horrible weapon, well, because it objectively is a horrible weapon.

I'm actually one of the few people that finds the goo tuber really fun, and as someone who's played it for hundreds of ranked matches, I think I'm in a good position to analyse it in depth.

~

The goo tuber was a main weapon included at launch in Splatoon 2, showcasing a brand new feature of the charger weapon class, charge storing. During the development of Splatoon 2, several weapon classes were reworked to add new features, and new main weapons were designed specifically around these features.

The Flingza Roller was the most successful out of these new main weapons, a roller with an extra powerful vertical flick. The Goo Tuber was another story.

You see, the difference between vertical flicks and charge holds is that the former unlocked new gameplay expressions for the roller class. Charge storing simply increased the already present capabilities of Chargers. On weapons that were already good, (Squiffer, Splat Charger, E-Liter 4K, or just every other charger with a charge hold) this new mechanic amplified their playstyles and increased their skill ceilings. But the Goo Tuber is unique in the fact that it is a bad main weapon without it's unique ability, (prolonged charge storing) therefore it is still a bad main weapon with its unique ability.

Let's explain the mechanics of the Goo Tuber:

First, what's unique about it?

The Goo Tuber can store it's charge for 5 seconds. (The E-Liter 4K and Splat Charger can store charges for 1 second, the Squiffer 1.5 seconds.

The Goo Tuber is capable of dealing lethal damage with a partial charge. (A 67% charge deals 100 damage) These partial charges cannot pierce, but a full charge can.

It has relatively good ink efficiency and painting output via tap-shots compared to other chargers.

Now, all of this naturally has to come with compromise, if the Goo Tuber had all of these attributes AND the stats of a Splat Charger, it would be incredibly dominating. So naturally, the Goo Tuber has been completely gutted in every other stat.

As a middleweight weapon, It takes LONGER to full charge than a Splat Charger, only 0.28 seconds less than an E-Liter 4K, and only has 20 more range (in units) than the Squiffer, a lightweight weapon. Of course, charging to 67% would only take 0.83 seconds, but that comes with losing your piercing damage, even less range, and the chance of coming up short and only dealing 99 damage instead of lethal damage.

Disregarding the 5 second charge store, this weapon is objectively inferior if played in the role of any other charger. Which begs the question, what role did the developers have in mind with this weapon? To answer that we need to go elsewhere.

The little cousin of the Charger class, Splatlings

Splatlings are an incredibly similar weapon class to Chargers, both standardise playing in the backline role, and have to charge before shooting. There are 2 important distinctions between Chargers and Splatlings:

Splatlings charge to fire a volley of shots, instead of one single shot, allowing them to hit multiple targets, and deal substantial damage even with short charges.

Splatlings were not given the ability to store their charges in the shift to Splatoon 2.

1 weapon in the Splatling class reveals some insight into the developers decisions with the Goo Tuber, and can explain it's shortcomings. The Nautilus, released on the 1st of August, 2018, almost a year after the Goo Tuber's release.

Like the Goo Tuber, the Nautilus sports a charge store, unique to it's class. But unlike the Goo Tuber, this weapon is actually good.

In the Nautilus's early history, people also disregarded it and came to the conclusion that it was a bad weapon, much like the Goo Tuber. This isn't a crazy conclusion to make in hindsight.

In general, Chargers and Splatlings are backliners. In Splatoon 1, the Squiffer, Bamboozler and Mini Splatling were exceptions. When the Nautilus released, it was a weapon with similar range, damage and charge time to the Heavy Splatling, and people played it in the backline role, quickly discovering it was inferior to the Heavy Splatling in every way when played in this position, as the charge hold didn't really benefit it.

This wasn't how the developers intended the Nautilus to be played, though. In fact, it is a midliner and a pretty damn good one at that. It's charge hold allows it to charge from safety and skirmish with a stored full charge, punishing out of position enemies with its longer than average range, while still being mobile. In this role, the Nautilus is exceptional, and once people discovered this superior playstyle, the Nautilus flourished.

This weapon is clearly meant to be a counterpart to the Goo Tuber, with not many differences between the two. So why didn't the Goo Tuber flourish the same way Nautilus did?

The Goo Tubers gameplay

Clearly, the developers intended a similar playstyle between the Goo Tuber and Nautilus. But the Nautilus is a much more forgiving weapon in a midline role than the Goo Tuber. The general strategy in a midline role once you snag a kill is to retreat to safety to join your team, avoiding getting revenge killed and pushing together with your teams numbers advantage. The Nautilus, once it gets a kill, still has bullets in the tank. It isn't vulnerable after moving forward and unloading on a target, and it still isn't vulnerable once it stops firing. It can threaten lethal damage with very short charges. The only thing longer charges do is allow you to fight for longer and give you leeway in missing shots, short chargers are still viable methods of attack.

The Goo Tuber is just completely vulnerable after firing. You're forced to retreat and there isn't enough time to threaten another kill with a partial shot. Any reasonable player knows to fight a charger after it just fired, but other charges are protected by playing in the backline, a luxury the Goo Tuber doesn't have for its lack of range. Even worse, if you miss your initial shot, you instantly lose your advantage and get counter killed. There is no room for error when playing the Goo Tuber, and even if you play perfectly, there is still ample amounts of counterplay from the enemy team.

So I think that puts it well. The Goo Tuber is optimally played as a midline skirmisher like it's cousin the Nautilus, except it has none of the tools that make midline weapons work.

Well, how do we go about buffing it?

I think an obvious buff for the Goo Tuber is to have an indicator for when your partial shot is capable of dealing lethal damage. I think an audiovisual indicator would work well, a pinging sound and a visual change in the Goo Tuber when you're ready to deal lethal damage, similar to the Ballpoint Splatling's audiovisual indicators for switching between firing modes. This would make the Goo Tuber more intuitive to play and make it easier for people to threaten lethal damage.

Other buffs, though, are far more dangerous. Buffing it's range too much would make it clearly superior to the Splat Charger, and buffing it's charge time too much would make it clearly superior to the Squiffer. I do think there is a middle ground though.

By virtue of its partial charge mechanics, I don't actually think the Goo Tubers charge time needs to be adjusted. Rather, a small range buff to put it's range around halfway between the Squiffers and Splat Chargers range would do it well. Really, even just 10 units of range, buffing it to 208 (compared to the Splat Chargers 240 and the Squiffers 168) would be a welcome change.

Finally, I want to suggest both a buff and a nerf. Simply by looking at the Goo Tubers shape language, animations and ink coverage, it really doesn't convey being a comparatively more ink efficient charger. Instead, I'd like to nerf it's ink efficiency, perhaps 15% => 24% per full charge. In exchange, the Goo Tuber would be capable of dealing lethal damage with even less charge, from 67% to 50%, or even 40% charge for 100 damage, depending on how much the other buffs and the ink efficiency nerfs change it's viability.

I think these changes would do the Goo Tuber well and help it fit into it's playstyle and help distinguish it from other chargers. The slight range would help it fight more safely as a midliner and the partial charge indicator and damage buffs would make it feel much more powerful and capable of threatening kills, despite being much less ink efficient.

So what are your thoughts? If you'd like to see more content, or want to request something for me to talk about, please leave a friendly comment or shoot an ask my way!

[inktheory3]

BLOG CONTENTS

What's the deal with custom weapon kits?

An essay on custom weapon kits, a proposed implementation, and some silly new weapon ideas.

Posted on February 9th, 2023

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An ask about gear customisation:

A comparison between TF2 and Splatoon, a rant about the state of gear, and some drafts about upcoming ideas on gear and weapon customisation.

Posted on February 12th, 2023

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Thoughts on the Goo Tuber:

An analysis of the Goo Tuber and proposed changes.

Posted on February 20th, 2023

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Opening up about Brellas:

A talk about the history of the Brella class, proposed changes and ideas for 2 new main weapons!

Posted on February 21st, 2023

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A new weapon class?

An ask about a new weapon class I'd like to see in Splatoon!

Posted on February 21st, 2023

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Fresh Season 2023!

An analysis of the contents of the 3.0.0 Splatoon update.

Posted on February 28th, 2023

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A lot of new weapons!

An ask leading to new weapons for every class in Splatoon!

Posted on March 13th, 2023

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Hiatus

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Scoping out the S-BLAST!

A post airing out my problems with the S-BLASTs design.

Posted on November 25th, 2023

[inktheory3]

TF2 succeeds in supporting a vast variety of different ways to play the same character through sidegrading. For example, let's consider the Scout. The default Scattergun produces a shower of pellets at close range, letting you run up, blast someone (not killing them usually, but softening them up), and then get the hell out of dodge. The Force-A-Nature has far fewer shots that deal much more damage, and a massive recoil that lets you jump. The Shortstop has fewer pellets but far tighter bullet spread, letting you keep distance from enemies so they can't annihilate you. You may wonder why I'm talking about TF2 when this is a Splatoon blog. Well. The game has been in development for a long time, long enough that there is a casual and professional scene, but none of the classes are really stuck in a specific meta. Every class has at least a few ways to play it that is fun. Is there any way to configure Splatoon's gear to have this possible as well?

This is a really interesting question!

Apologies about not responding sooner, I was busy with the Splatfest (#teamdarkchocolate4ever!!!). But now that I'm free (in my uni class) I can provide a response.

Full disclosure, I have very limited knowledge on TF2. From an outside perspective, though, it seems very difficult to translate this idea to Splatoon.

In TF2 there are only 9 characters. Disregarding their abilities and weapons, they all have different stats; health, speed, hitboxes etc. I think this is the key difference between TF2 and Splatoon. Inklings/Octolings all have the exact same stats no matter what weapon you use, the only exception being speed. Instead of having 9 base classes that you can customise to your liking, you instead have 1 base that you customise with gear abilities and ~60 main weapons and ~40 sub and special weapons, all of which function the same no matter what combination you choose.

Now, that isn't to say Splatoon's system is perfect.

I do think that the gear and weapon systems in Splatoon have good concepts behind them, but just fail to hit the mark. I already talked about how I would update the weapon system, (and I will talk about how I would update individual main weapons, as I already spoke about updating subs and specials) so why not dedicate this ask to talking about gear abilities.

Abilities, Explained:

In Splatoon you have 12 gear ability slots. Each piece of gear has 1 main slot and 3 sub slots, and you can wear 1 piece of headgear, clothing and shoes each, adding up to 12.

There are currently 12 main abilities and 14 regular abilities.

Regular abilities are basic. They effect your characters stats, making you run faster, swim faster, more ink efficient, respawn faster, charge your special faster, and so on.

They have an ability power score, a regular ability on a sub slot has 3 AP, and a regular ability on a main slot has 10 AP. Meaning an individual piece of gear has 19 AP worth of slots, and a whole build has 57.

My problem with regular abilities is simple. They don't really do a lot.

In most competitive builds, you want a spread of a lot of useful abilities, but this leaves you with less individual AP of each ability. Having 10 Swim Speed AP is an increase, but it really isn't noticeable. An enemy can still track you in the ink just fine. It helps but it doesn't give you a sense of power. Maxing out your AP of a certain ability doesn't do that much either. 57 AP of special charge up reduces the time taken for a full charge by around a second.

It's a similar problem to most modern RPGs. Yes sure, equipping this armour will give you 5% poison resistance and 20 more defence, but what do those numbers even mean? Yes technically it is better than your previous gear, but you'll be able to clear the game just fine without it and the vast majority of players wouldn't even notice if they accidentally unequipped it.

I see the same issue with Splatoon's regular abilities. Yes, you know what every ability does in a broad sense, and you can have a sense of which builds outperform others. But you don't feel the difference. You don't see your enemies build and understand innately that your inkling has different capabilities than them and that their gear enables a wildly different playstyle. Abilities give minor advantages, and there's no power fantasy in using a coveted gear set. Using the Hydra Splatling makes you feel like a powerful juggernaut. Using the Carbon Roller Deco makes you feel like an assassin, a looming threat. But you don't feel anything using different gear sets.

Lets put that thought aside for a second and talk about Main Abilities. Main abilities are exclusive, (ninja squid and respawn punisher are only found on clothing, meaning you can only equip one and not the other on a build) and they generally aren't raw stat buffs like Regular abilities.

They can be split into 3 categories:

Passive abilities (adds a new layer to your character, adding effects to your actions): Ninja Squid, Respawn Punisher, Tenacity, Haunt, Thermal Ink, Object Shredder, Stealth Jump

Active Abilities (adds new actions for your character to utilise): Drop Roller

Conditional Abilities (gives you flat AP of regular abilities when meeting certain conditions): Comeback, Last-Ditch Effort, Opening Gambit

Ability Doubler doesn't fit into a category because it is completely useless. doubling 3 sub slots gives you 18 AP, when having any other regular ability in the main slot would give you 19 AP.

In my opinion, Conditional Abilities should be removed from the game. Main abilities should not buff stats that regular abilities buff, they should change your playstyle! Regular abilities already don't change your playstyle, they only slightly buff the default playstyle for a weapon, and Conditional Abilities just do the same.

Second, Passive Abilities can be great, but they can also be bad when they encourage negative play. Ninja Squid allows you to play stealthily, Stealth Jump allows you to get into the action and play agressively, and Object Shredder allows you proactively deny enemy subs and specials. The other 3 are all based around respawn timers and getting splatted. They all encourage players sitting around staring at their death screen, and don't actually encourage a new playstyle.

Finally, Active abilities can also be great, if the Devs expand on them. Drop Roller requires you to tilt your stick to dodge roll when coming out of a super jump. It's a novel concept and fun when you execute it correctly, but it's completely outclassed by its cousin Stealth Jump (primarily because the developers haven't realised that active abilities need to be more powerful than passives because they require you to be constantly aware of when and how to use them effectively. Or they're just too scared to buff Drop Roller).

I envision Splatoon having 12 main abilities, 6 active and 6 passive. But I won't be going into detail about them in this post.

Playstyle Changing Abilities:

Ninja Squid and Drop Roller are cool and all, but they weren't exactly what you were talking about.

The Force-A-Nature doesn't make scout invisible while swimming (though it would be funny). It changes how his weapon functions!

I really do think this is a cool mechanic in games, but it doesn't translate 1:1 in Splatoon. For example, slightly increasing The Splash-O-Matics range and shot spread doesn't make it a different variant of the Splash, it makes it an N-ZAP. Changing how the weapon looks doesn't apply either, because that's already in the game to allow different weapon kits (and still applies under the Starfish Class System I talked about in my last post).

But we absolutely still can give weapons different attributes, we just have to be very careful about how we do it. So I'm going to overhaul an important part of Splatoon based on an inspiration from 1 ask.

You should recall the Starfish Class System, sorting sub and special weapons into 1 of 5 categories, POWER, ENGAGE, SCOUT, CONTROL and SUPPORT. Initially, I didn't think I could apply this to main weapons. There are far too many to sort evenly, and they don't really fit neatly into 1 category. Most main weapons have attributes that fit into all 5 classes!

Every weapon can somewhat fit into all 5 classes, but what if they could spec into a specific class. Lets imagine that aside from Main and Sub abilities, every gear set had 1 Key ability that gives a new attribute to the main weapon. Of course, there would be 5 Key abilities for every weapon, one for each Class in the SCS.

I couldn't possibly explain (hell I haven't even come up with any yet) every attribute for every main weapon in one post. But I'll leave you with an unfinished example.

Splattershot Jr.: POWER: The Splattershot Jr does 4 extra damage on every hit (28 => 32) [note: This is still a 4 shot kill, as dramatic damage increases can be problematic]

ENGAGE: The Splattershot Jr. has its shot spread decreased massively while the aiming crosshair is directly on an enemy.

SCOUT: Enemies damaged by the Splattershot Jr. can be spotted through walls.

CONTROL: Enemies damaged by the Splattershot Jr., while still nearby, take damage over time.

SUPPORT: Allies recover health and lose status effects faster while standing or swimming in ink painted by the Splattershot Jr.

So, what did you think?

[inktheory3]

Custom Weapon Kits?

Custom weapon kits are one of, if not the most requested feature to be added to Splatoon. On the surface, this seems like a great idea, being able to pick and choose subs and specials to your liking surely would vastly increase weapon diversity. But it's just plain wrong.

Adding in complete custom weapon kits would actually vastly DECREASE weapon diversity.

Every one would play 52. Gal with Burst Bomb and Tenta Missiles. The meta would be permanently ruined day 1.

Every weapon would have a clear best kit. Every Hydra would have Ink mine/Big bubbler. Every Explosher would have Burst Bomb/Wave Breaker. There would be thousands of possible kits but you'd only see around 10 weapons at the highest level of play.

Even if every sub and special was balanced enough to warrant kit diversity, it would still be frustrating for players to go up against completely different threats every battle. Is that Splash-o-Matic running Crab Tank? Wave Breaker? Tenta Missiles? It's a gamble every time you get into a new match.

There's really only 1 realistic solution to this. Nerfing and buffing weapons based on what kit they have. e.g. Burst Bombs cost 20% more on the 52. Gal. But this is really inconsistent too. With regular custom kits, even though it'd be horrifyingly unbalanced, at least you know what every main, sub and special is capable of. But you'd have to keep in mind a thousand minor tweaks for every weapon to know what you're up against every time, even if the game is more balanced for it.

There are other fixes, like assigning a weight system to every kit component so you can't exceed a certain power level. But they are just as restrictive and overcomplicated.

I intend to bring about a new system, called the Starfish Class System!

What is the Starfish Class System?

The Starfish Class System is simple. Named after a starfish for its 5 classes. Subs and Specials are split into 5 classes, namely Power, Engage, Scout, Control and Support.

POWER weapons, such as the Splat Bomb and Crab Tank are hyper offensive weapons that focus on damage above all else.

ENGAGE weapons, such as the Burst Bomb and Ultra Stamp are flashy weapons that substitute damage for the ability to break through enemy lines and provide openings for your team.

SCOUT weapons, such as the Torpedo and Killer Wail 5.1 are high damage but difficult to hit attacks that displace enemies and provide information on their locations to your team.

CONTROL weapons such as the TOXIC SPRINKLER (more info later) and the Wave Breaker are low damage weapons that aim to take control of and defend areas.

Finally, SUPPORT weapons such as the Squid Beakon and Big Bubbler are purely defensive weapons that give tempo to your team-mates by protecting and empowering them.

You might've noticed the Toxic Sprinkler, a new sub weapon I designed, back there. In my mind I envision 3 sub weapons and 4 special weapons in every class. Those of us reading who can multiply know that there aren't enough weapons int he game to fill up those numbers. So I designed and tweaked ~20 new and existing subs and specials. POWER:

Splat Bomb, Suction Bomb, Fizzy Bomb

Trizooka, Ink Jet, Crab Tank, Silly Slapper

ENGAGE:

Burst Bomb, Curling Bomb, Bubble Wand

Kraken, Ultra Stamp, Zipcaster, Reefslider

SCOUT:

Bowling Bomb, Torpedo, Highlighter

Killer Wail 5.1, Tenta Missiles, Booyah Bomb, Countdown Rocket

CONTROL:

Sensor Bomb, Toxic Sprinkler, Ink Wire

Triple Inkstrike, Ink Storm, Wave Breaker, Ink Fridge

SUPPORT:

Splash Wall, Squid Beakon, Sponge Eraser

Big Bubbler, Ink Vac, Tacticooler, Super Scrubber *new weapon names are subject to change.

EXPLANATIONS:

Any weapons NOT mentioned here are unchanged mechanically. Of course, their stats would still be adjusted, but they mechanically stay the same.

SUCTION BOMB:

The Suction Bomb can now stick to enemies! If you land it perfectly on an enemy, it will suction to them. The timer for the Suction Bomb to pop starts when it attaches to an enemy, but you can shake the controller, jump and move the L and R sticks around to defuse it.

TRIZOOKA:

The Trizooka now has R button functionality! Pressing R with at least 1 shot remaining makes the Trizooka explode! It deals lethal damage to anyone close to you and flings you into the air.

INK JET:

The Ink Jet also has R button functionality! Pressing R moving causes you to dash in the direction the L stick is pointed in, similar to a dodge roll.

SILLY SLAPPER:

The Silly Slapper is the first new special weapon! It's based on a slap bracelet. Activating the special wraps a slap bracelet around you. This acts as a shield, giving you bonus health. Pressing ZR launches the bracelet forward, making you temporarily lose your bonus health. If the bracelet collides with an enemy, it grabs and pulls them towards you! (The grabbed enemy takes damage, but is immune to further damage and cannot act while being pulled) Finally, holding down L makes you fall on your side and roll around in the Silly Slapper, even allowing you to climb up walls.

CURLING BOMB:

The Curling bomb now ripples ink out of its sides, doubling its inking power and making it much easier to follow.

BUBBLE WAND:

The Bubble Wand is a reworked Bubbler Blower! Press R to enter a slow animation where you blow a bubble the size of an inkling. It bounces forward and inks the ground behind it at a rate that's slightly faster than the average inkling run speed, allowing you to play around it. The bubble itself doesn't get bigger or smaller, just popping and dealing lethal damage to nearby enemies once you deal 100 damage to it, or dissipating once an enemy deals 100 damage to it.

KRAKEN:

The Kraken is back! It's functionally identical to its appearance in Splatoon 1, but it now has 300 health instead of being invincible. Unlike the Crab Tank, you can actually swap between Kid and Swim form with the Kraken, both of which having a shared 300 health that does not recover. The Kraken can also use the Squid Surge and Squid Roll abilities. Finally the Kraken is affected by swim speed modifiers, except for Ninja Squid's debuff.

REEFSLIDER:

Tilting the L stick in a direction during the Reefslider explosion now launches you a short distance in that direction.

BOWLING BOMB:

The Bowling Bomb is a combination of the Baller and the Autobomb. Picture an Autobomb rolling around in a hamster ball! The Bowling Bomb is thrown underhand like the curling bomb. If no enemies are nearby it simply explodes at the point it landed on. The Bowling Bomb sticks onto surfaces, and tracks enemies. It can even follow them up walls and grates! It leaves behind a very thin trail of ink, technically capable of being followed in swim form, but very difficult to perform once it starts turning.

HIGHLIGHTER:

The Highlighter is a reworked Angle Shooter! It is the same except for one change. Previously, upon hitting a wall the Highlighter would deflect at an angle equal to the angle it hit the surface at. Now, if an enemy is in its range, it will instead deflect straight at them.

TENTA MISSILES:

The Tenta Missiles can now only be used on targets damaged by you. Once you deal any form of damage to an enemy or Rainmaker Shield through your Main or Sub weapon, you can use Tenta Missiles to send 8 missiles towards all targets you've damaged. If you activate the special and no enemies have been previously damaged by you, there will be no targets to select and it immediately deactivates. Tenta Missiles now has much less end lag after firing the missiles. This forces Tenta Missiles users to become proactive in fights.

COUNTDOWN ROCKET:

The Countdown Rocket is a firework rocket with a wrist watch wrapped around it! Activating the special causes you to hop onto it as it flies directly up! While it's flying upwards, the clock starts ticking and nearby enemies are highlighted (similar to Tenta Missiles and Killer Wail 5.1). Once you face an enemy, pressing ZR causes you to kick the rocket towards them as you plummet to the ground. If you don't press ZR before it reaches its max height and the clock rings, it explodes mid-air, causing lots ink shrapnel to fall to the ground below as you drop (similar to the Torpedo).

SENSOR BOMB:

The Sensor Bomb is a combination of the Point Sensor and Ink Mine! Pressing R in kid form causes you to throw the Sensor Bomb, exploding after a short delay, dealing minimal damage and marking enemies caught in the blast. Pressing R in swim form causes you to plant an Ink Mine instead!

TOXIC SPRINKLER:

The Toxic Sprinkler is a combination of the Toxic Mist and the Sprinkler! Pressing R deploys the Toxic Sprinkler. Once it shoots in on a spot of ground, Toxic Mist will form above the ink that will not decay even if the ink is covered. The mist only disappears once you destroy the Toxic Sprinkler. It has health comparable to the splash Wall.

INK WIRE:

The First completely new Sub weapon! Similar to the Ink Mine, the Ink Wire can be set on allied ink. It is barely visible as it lays on top of your ink, and remains if enemy ink covers it. (though it becomes more visible once enemies ink over it) If an enemy walks through or jumps over the Ink Wire they become marked and given the Toxic Mist debuff for a few seconds.

INK STORM:

The Ink Storm now has much lower damage over time! Now, once enemies have less than 15 health in the storm, they are instantly executed by a lightning bolt coming from the cloud above. This encourages Ink Storm users to force fights in the storm rather than just setting and forgetting.

INK FRIDGE:

The Ink Fridge a mini-fridge that spews frozen mist! Deploying it causes all allied and enemy in a radius around it to freeze up. You can still paint over ink, but instead of taking slowing down in enemy ink, all players now slip on opposing ink! The control you have over your character while on frozen ink is increased by ink resistance.

SQUID BEAKON:

Squid Beakons now mark enemies who get close to them.

SPONGE ERASER:

The Sponge Eraser is half sponge, half whiteboard eraser. It sticks to all surfaces once thrown, and allies can pick it up and stick it on themselves by walking nearing it. After a couple seconds, the Sponge Eraser explodes and leaves static in a sphere around it, absorbing up to 150 damage from projectiles.

SUPER SCRUBBER:

The Super Scrubber is a big rotating car wash sponge. Enemy ink is deflected by it, and when allies make contact with it, they are healed to full health, lose the effects of any enemy status condition (Haunt, Thermal Ink, Marked and Toxic Mist), and are launched away by the force of the spinning sponge!

*All new weapon mechanics are subject to change!

NOW WHAT?

Now that all the explanations are out of the way. Lets describe how the Starfish Class System works. Essentially, every weapon kit gets a class prescribed for it.

For example, the Splattershot would have POWER/POWER as its kit. When you use the Splattershot, it can have any POWER sub weapon, and any POWER special weapon.

It could have Splat Bomb/Crab Tank, Fizzy Bomb/Silly Slapper, Suction Bomb/Inkjet and more! But the important part is that no matter what combination it has, you know what the Splattershot's role is and what it generally can do.

It also makes sure other variants of weapons will play a different role and feel different no matter what kit you choose for it. The Tentatek Splattershot could have SCOUT/ENGAGE as its classes for example, instantly making it unique compared to the Vanilla Splattershot.

Finally, this makes balancing a whole lot easier on the developers end while still allowing a whole lot of customisation on the players end. Of course, some weapons will still prefer 1 kit over any other. Ballpoint players will naturally gravitate towards Squid Beakon, and Carbon Roller players will gravitate towards the Carbon Roller with the ENGAGE class for Burst Bombs. But if executed well, the limited choices of combinations would lead to a lot of diversity in what weapons see play.

Please forgive any spelling or grammar errors. I wrote this in a haze. Thanks for reading this far, please tell me your thoughts?

[inktheory3]

WHAT IS THIS???

I'm an autistic person with a huge ego who thinks that if I were in charge of Splatoons development, it would literally be perfect.

So I'm gonna do a whole lot of posts about changes I'd make to Splatoon. I'll only really go over multiplayer mechanics, because I'm not a great level designer and Splatoon already has that nailed.