In case you did miss that important meeting on reddit, and rewrote by Hylis on the official Maniaplanet Forum, Hylis answered to some questions from Reddit users. We had the feeling that it was important to copy it here, since he speaks about real important thing. So, right after the publishing of his "Hello Planet #3" Hylis keeps on talking about how he feels the future of the game. Just check this out.

The Hylis's Reddit Q&A :

Are you working on fixing disappearing rockets? Why is this happening?
We are not working on it, and it is not normal. Either they should continu, either they should hit. No reason to just disappear. One could be that the rule script does not handle well the elimination message. I know it is there since some times, but priorities are priorities, we can not duplicate ourselves. I will keep you informed in the changelog when it is isolated.

Are you going to add a hit box to the firing arm of player models? Why is there no hit box there?
I answered it for the youtube video. I don't think it is clear the way I did it, but I still prefer to let the answer be published as intented.

Are we going to see a toggle on variable jump?
Not at the moment. Maybe in custom titles options one day.

Can we filter by game type in the browser settings in the next update(including new GUI)? Plans for GUI?
Game modes can be filtered, so I expect it to be by game mode settings. It is not on the list of things to do at the moment, even if we would like to do it. it is difficult to make so many custom things (custom modes with custom browsing options etc.) We may improve the GUI along the way, when we will have more time.

Are we going to see any net code changes?
I would like to work on deeper things in that area, but later.

Is there going to be new marketing plans in the US (Tv?)
There is communication carried out by Ubisoft there. I don't have the plan.

Any discussion on adding pass-through lasers? (If two Defenders are grinding on each other, it gives you a double kill if it goes through both)
It is done, but we want to test it more before release. Don't know if it will be for release. The three dot question made it quite complicated ^_^

Are we going to continue to see Tournaments with cash prize pools for Shootmania along with dedicated LAN events?
My priority is to see many players, many teams, many competitions with many rewards. I care less about the size of the players or the size of the prizes.

What are the plans exactly for matchmaking? What type of queue types will there be, and what kind of rank system?
I am describing it in Hello Planet #3 blog a little. We are improving it and will improve the lobby system. Going with it, we also target to improve ladder with specific functions for specific modes. In the next update, we will take into account the rank of the opponent and the scores to make it more precise. Good teams will increase so faster than less good team, and with the weekly balance, I think it will be a good start. After, we may introduce tweaks, such as number of matches made, loss of points on more important matches etc.

What will happen with hitboxes that are going through cages. Will this be fixed? Or will it stay?
One part shall be removed, and make the laser incapable to hit through. The other, the overlapping of the hitbox and micro blast radius of rocket, I don't know yet. I know a lot of players are asking for this, but most important is that it is fair for both. In a physical way, faraday would tell you that it is not closed, so I am not sure we can prevent it ^_^ Just saying that the goal is not to describe what would be physical, but to make it fair. In Trackmania, cars are going through each others, and the reality of things is far less discussed.

What are you plans to improve gameplay? Any new weapons at all, ever? New game play variables? (like the grapple, or wallrockets..)
We are trying to add another weapon at the moment. We look for many questions while designing one. After, the combination of them and some sort of programmability for the titles should enable to make the concepts of power ups to an endless number of weapon (but not all sort possible) The goal is to keep the basics solid, simple and efficient. Gameplay can more easily evolve with relation to the blocks. We are adding the power-walljump and power-jump atm.

What are you plans for Anti-Cheat, and when will it be released? (We know VAC is not a reliable AC, and I hope this is not your solution)
It is already running since some time. We caught some cheaters, but unfortunately, the biggest accusation in top competition where wrong ones. At least, since it is harder to say that someone is not cheating that someone is doing it, our system was good. I avoid to speak of it. I can tell we are still working on additional parts, but that's all I can say.

Why is it, that when you are spectating someone, their mouse movements are smoothed out(The delay on their flicks as well)? And why is this also carried into replays? Will you be able to display the actual movements of the user?
We do it to make it smoother to look at, probably because of unaesthetic things when you are having the packets in real time, with extrapolation while you are waiting for the next. But we wish to develop a 'true' vision later, by taking the info from the server and make them with a delay as accurate as possible. It would also enable the relay and avoid spectate hack with the ingame spectate mode. The option to smooth should be an option by the caster, at the desired level. Replay saves from the server are accurate, I don't remember for the camera if there is a smoothing, or an interpolation (since we do not save everything) Most important part of the replay editor will be to enable logs to be made for replay interface. That's a big job.

Why the is there no auto-kick for high ping?(There is in server settings, but it does seem to work. I never could set a max ping on my servers or filter by regional players only)
Strange that you could not put a limit. Normally, this is the spirit. You set a limit above which the player with the bad ping is is having trouble instead of making one for everybody. It would need further tests if it does not work. That's part of the focus we should do, with the players, in order to improve as much as possible the condition of network play, either on the parameter side, either on the netcode side.

Why does a competitive PC FPS game have lag compensation? What are your plans on improving online play?
There is one reality on the server, and only there. You may have innacurate vision of the scene on the client, based on your ping and the snapshot delta time, but if you fire to somebody at a given time, and he was there at a given time, nothing will prevent the server to tell you have hit him. Whatever you do, there has to be something wrong, because the ping makes things wrong: either in a more visual way, either in a more 'shared reality' way. But we choosed to make the unique reality, especially because it is a competitive FPS. I think it would deserve more explanation and discussion, in order to eventually even open to some parameters for custom titles for a start, but I have seen that it was sometimes tricky to discuss in itself. My plan is to try to improve things as much as we can, of course.

What are your plans for allowing users to change FOV? Any changes coming for that?
I like the spectator to have the same vision as the player, and I would rather avoid to force the spectator to watch in a really wide fov. I think it is better that we set the fov for the players, also because of this. I also tend to avoid to let too much of setting when it starts to be done if it is to make them extreme for whoever would like to play top level as well.

We can all agree that for new players the Main Tile System is confusing and not effective. People don't know about Elite and other modes. Will there be a major overhaul for this?
Shootmania enables multiple games to exist altogether. This is the main tile system and it is very valuable to have separate rankings, datas, news, competitions and modes. It is early stage now, but with time, people will understand it more and see more the advantages. We will explain a little more to people what it is all about. Shootmania is more like a system than a single game, so it makes it look it more like an operating system. Once it is familiar, it is more efficient. We still have to do things, such as shortcuts for experts and welcoming explanations for beginners, but when it will be done, I think the system will be solid.

Will the ranking system be changed to a proper ELO system, where you gain and lose points respectively? Atm the the highest rank is determined by who plays the most... which is just not right...
You can try to reach a wall by making each step an half of your remaining distance, and never reach it. The more you get high above your "true rank" the less you win points, much less. So, you may be capable to reach 20% above your real level, but a really good player will play against you and win ten to hundred times more points in a match. combined with potential loss of ladder points in top ladder on a weekly basis, and you will start to see that losing points or the opportunity to win them is quite similar. We may introduce loss of points, but partially and in some conditions. We also may introduce a time of play in the balance, but with caution as well. Anyway, we need an efficient ladder system, and it is logical to be careful. Please do not underestimate our thinkings on this, even if the question looks like it is a little doing that. we made a multiplayer ladder first since 8 years. We made a system where you where losing points first and changed it since then. With the current system, there are some key advantages, like people being less angry and insulting at others when they lose because of them. The same reason why you think it is wrong not to lose point, it is the reason why people are also more cool with the loss of games. Mathematics combined with reality can be surprising sometimes. And if you play Starcraft, the bonus poinst are a bias of the system as well.

Will the (in)ability to use a grappling hook after jumping of a wooden slide finally be fixed?
Yeah.

Source : http://www.reddit.com/r/Shootmania/comments/1baxpy/we_are_visiting_the_nadeo_studios_next_week_any/