Development Blog #6 [January 2021]

[Drakeling Labs 0]

Hello Drakelings!

Welcome to the sixth devblog for Operation: Harsh Doorstop. In this update, we will be reviewing the work that the team completed in the month of January 2021.

We are excited to announce that we are targeting March 1st for our returning playtest sessions for O:HD! You may have also noticed that all of the temporary testing keys that we handed out in the past have been revoked—we will be redistributing a new batch of testing keys for the next playtesting sessions, so there will be plenty of opportunities to get another one.

Here is how you will be able to gain access to the next playtest sessions:

1. You can pick up a permanent key for O:HD by backing us on our Patreon (these keys will never be revoked and you will have access all the way up to early access release and beyond). If you are already a Patreon backer, just have the game installed and you will be good to go!
   
   
2. If you are unable to or do not want to support us via Patreon, once the playtest sessions begin and are officially scheduled here on Steam and on the O:HD Discord, there will be windows of time roughly one hour prior to when the test times begin where people who are present for them will be able to contact me directly via Discord to receive one of the new temporary testing keys (Goomes#7668—please do not contact me for keys before this, you will have to wait until we actually make the announcement in the Discord!). These keys will likely last up until early access release, at which time they will be revoked again—at that point the game will be free though!

If you have any questions about this, please direct them to the O:HD Discord linked above. Now let’s get into the development work recap for January:

Maps

New Map: Risala

Some initial early blockout work was done to establish the layout for our new upcoming map: Risala.


Very early layout for determining building placement locations and overall map flow

Risala is a neighborhood of Fallujah located to the southwest of the city. This map will be 1x1km (so roughly ¼ the size of Khafji), and will be more focused on CQB-oriented combat. Fallujah has been done many times, so we wanted to do something a little different by focusing on just one area vs. recreating the entire city. This will also give the 3D modelers an opportunity to further expand our asset library of buildings so we have a more diverse range of structures to use on future maps.

We will have more images for you on future devblogs as the team makes progress, so keep an eye out for more later on!

Khafji

In January detailing and polishing work continued on Khafji. The level design team is wrapping up their work in February and preparing the map for the first initial release into early access. Work will continue on the map in the future, but right now our focus is on having a first fully playable version that will be sufficient enough to accommodate numerous infantry-based layers covering the major points on the map. This will also be a great opportunity for us to receive community feedback so that when the map receives more attention we can be sure to cover as much of it as possible.
















In next month’s devblog we are planning on doing a more thorough showcase of Khafji with a final set of images outlining the last detailing passes the level design team will be putting into place. It should be fun to take a look at the final results compared to the ones from the first devblogs to see the evolution of how our maps are made, so we look forward to sharing that with you all!

Objects, Models, and Textures

World Props and Environment Assets

More world props and assets for placing in our environments were completed and fully textured, including a slew of new buildings such as our embassy model, various housing models, and a military heater unit:

Upcoming and WIP Features

Squad VOIP

The first implementation of squad VOIP was brought in and is undergoing bug testing. Now it is possible to not only communicate with your teammates in local proximity, but you can also do so within your own squad. Once this system is refined and polished a bit more, the focus will shift to squad leader-to-squad leader communication.

FOBs and Outposts

Work on FOBs and outposts has begun. Our goal is to have a basic version of this in the game for early access release. Once FOBs/outposts come in, rally points will also be adjusted so that only your squad members will be able to spawn on an RP placed by your squad leader (currently the entire team can spawn on RPs for testing purposes), and the entire team will be able to spawn on FOBs/outposts making them a critical strategic piece in winning a match. We should have more for you on this on the next devblog.

Warfare 1944

Now that many of our major milestones for O:HD are starting to come to fruition, the team will be focusing on updating Warfare 1944 with all of the improvements that have been made to OHDCore and the underlying framework. This means that here soon Warfare’s main branch will receive features like leaning, prone, tracer effects, suppression, improved rally points/ammo bags/med bags, squad VOIP, a squad grouping system, a radial menu system, and some other “under the hood” improvements (optimizations and so on).

Once these updates are in, we will begin picking back up playtest sessions for Warfare again as well, so stayed tuned for that! As usual these will be announced via the Warfare 1944 Steam hub and the O:HD Discord.

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That’s all for this update folks—we look forward to sharing all of our work and playing with everyone in the next playtest sessions for both O:HD and Warfare 1944!

Make sure to join the O:HD Discord, and/or follow our Steam announcements to track updates, and if you would like to support us early on in development don’t forget you can always pick up a key for O:HD on our Patreon! See you all next time!

-Goomes, Lead Community Manager






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