Matchmaking

The Zero-K Matchmaker allows players to automatically find a game with other similarly skilled players to participate in. This solves the problem of highly rated individuals being disappointed by having to fight with newbies on their team.

Introduction

The Matchmaker can be found in the Multiplayer tab of most lobbies. The player will be presented with a list of possible game types to play, as well as a short description of these.

After selecting the preferred gametype(s), the player can freely join rooms or spectate battles until a game is found. If he decides to play in a custom battle, he will simply be removed from the Matchmaking queue without any further penalties.

Once a match has been found, the player will be informed both visually and audibly by a pop-up, asking him to confirm that he is going to play this game. Once the match has been accepted by all players, the game will be started on a randomly selected map from the game type specific map pool. Should one of the other players not accept the game, the searching player will be put back into the Matchmaking, until another game is found. If no response is made within 30 seconds or the request is denied, the player will be removed from the queue. Furthermore, ignored or denied requests will lead to a five minute exclusion from Matchmaking.

Algorithm

Once a player has joined a queue, the Matchmaker will continuously look for other players to pair him with. Each player is assigned a maximum rating span within which both his teammates and opponents have to lie. This span is progressively widened while the player is waiting, up to a maximum width. If there are enough players within rating range, the Matchmaker will choose the nearest ones and ask them to accept the match. If all players accepted, they will be assigned a map and a room and removed from all queues. Otherwise the Matchmaker will continue to look for possible games after the declining players have been removed from the queue.

Parties

Players can group up with your friends to join a game in the same team. This system is not yet implemented.