Major Update
We recently released a long time coming update to our hit registration, which was admittedly a much needed upgrade to our old system. Your feedback, clips, bug reports, and criticism were hugely helpful in getting hitreg to where it needed to be, so thank you.
Naturally, the whole dev team was involved with this last update, which saw the release of a number of new features, including a cooperative PVE mode, ranked penalty and MMR changes, grenade animations & ghosts, quality of life improvements, and more.
The team was actually in the middle of testing a few more features, and though we would have liked to ship those with this update, they need just a little more time before they see release. We will be running a variety of tests on our internal servers as much as possible to get these updates out ASAP.
Size on disk
Some people may have noticed the game got a bit bigger, and perhaps didn’t quite yet realize what good news this is. With the last update not only did we ship a lot of new content, we were able to decouple the map files from the rest of the game in an efficient manner. Now, we can ship small updates to Steam that fix maps without having to make you download another 7 gigs each time. Reporting map issues and other bugs in our Discord should yield quicker results now, thankfully.
Additionally, since the release of the update, we have found some optimizations and should be able to reduce the overall size of the game some more, which is nice.
Director’s Cut
As described near the end of the last devblog, our creative director has been cooking up a substantial update, one which covers a lot of ground. His development build is dedicated to a number of new features, some big, some small, all of them united in an attempt to not only introduce new gameplay improvements and features, but bring back some of the 'magic' or 'charm' of the early alpha builds of the game. To most of you, this won't mean much, but the aesthetic and feel of a game matter about as much as hitreg. Okay, that might be a hard sell, but we think these features are nevertheless pretty cool.
The Director’s Cut isn’t a 1.0 release of the game nor is it the name of a future update, but instead a development habitat for more experimental changes and personal touches. We will be cherry-picking successful experiments from this build and merging them into the main game over time.
We don't want to keep you waiting months on end for another update, so we plan on releasing as much of this 'Director's Cut' as possible, as soon as possible.
Upcoming Features
All features are works in progress, not final, and subject to change.
Sound
Nearly every aspect of the game's sound, top to bottom is getting upgraded. Improvements and features are listed below:
Audio Occlusion implementation (Hear what you should)
Weapon hit sounds (Whiffing feels good too)
Player death audio
Background soundscapes
Atmospherics
Gunfire audio improvement
Weapons & Gear
Sweeping changes headbob, recoil, inertia, of each weapon
Improvements to weapon feel
Edits to weapon meshes including iron sights and optics
Various weapon balance changes, as overall lethality of many weapons has increased substantially with functional hitreg
Animation death chaining (Animations do funny things after overkill damage)
LS-45 and Tub-12 receive a laser in brace fire
New scope shaders
New NVG shaders
Gameplay
New grenade warning indicators with additional audio
Doors will violently fly off the hinges when blown up
Locked door logic improved to be both more immersive and easier to understand
Door kicking rework
Gear interpolation 'physics'
The Riot shield returns
Enemy player collision
Light destruction
Improvements to the PVE’s solo-play
Maps
All of the map changes are currently going through playtesting.
Factory, KillHouse, Bank, and C-Store are all receiving changes to their procedural generation
Our goals with Factory are to provide it with more consistent feel and flow by using Conveyors, Generators, and Dock to greater effect
KillHouse has gotten a bit cramped. We are bringing back some fun rooms, making Hallway connect the map together nicely, and are improving various destruction and cover features
Bank poses unique problems as a tileset and our goal is to make entering the building less of a concern for attackers, and rotating around the map more consistently possible as defenders
C-Store is receiving updates to its spawn size, number of rooms, and new and improved versions of Storefront and Deli’s cover
Commentary on changes
Testing
Some of these changes are no-brainer upgrades to what we have now, and won’t need much playtesting, only debugging. Other changes might need substantial testing , such as Light Destruction, which entails players being able to shoot out lights and hide in the dark. Changes like that can pose serious threats to the balance and integrity of a match and just lead to frustration. As such, we’ll be rolling out more tests in the future, some for our playtesters, and others may end up on the PTE.
Sound
Audio has been serviceable enough for a time, but we had to use a lot of tricks and overrides to get there. With a comprehensive sound overhaul we can resolve outlier situations where you felt surprised, not hearing someone you should have. Often in those cases, that person could be right next to you. We want players to have better information during a round, and as a product of that, make better decisions. Sound is paramount in this regard.
Additionally, occlusion means we can improve reverb, making guns feel the way they’re supposed to; powerful, and lethal.
the Plan
We have tested and can release gunplay changes with a small update
Get feedback on the new maps and start shipping more maps with the new procedural generation as soon as possible
Continue to debug and later release as much of the ‘Sound’ section as possible
Release the Shield after playtesting
???
Profit*
*We are not profitable at all. We’ve basically been working for free.
More art from… gallows. And it’s a cat. Again. No surprise there, thanks gallows!
catch ya later
-rev