Maintenance Update (The New Update 10)
Update 9 turned out very well and introduced a few impactful things to the game, mainly loadouts and the Siege game mode. Just as I figured, a lot of you have really been having a good time defending the base [and yourself] on Combat Base, but there are still a lot of things that could be polished, fixed, and tweaked. Because of this, I decided to push what was meant to be U10 to U11 so I can really set the current state of the game in stone before I add any more major content.
I'll work on a maintenance update next that does those things I just mentioned (polish and bug fixes, mainly) for the new content as well as the rest of the game. I have received a lot of super great suggestions from a few of you, some of my favorites being:
- Additional holster layout options
- Magazine tapping on your helmet
- Additional spawn points for S&D mode
- A left-handed option
- Grenade pins being able to be pulled with your teeth? (it's unrealistic, yes, but can be fun for gameplay. Let me know your thoughts on this)
Plus a lot of others that I plan to include or at least work on for this maintenance update, including balancing for: AI, the Siege gamemode, level design, health, and so much more.
While this update will relieve a lot of issues and improve many quality of life aspects, it may not be as exciting as a content update like U11 due to most of the things being behind-the-scenes changes/additions. To fix this, I'm planning on adding in as many new weapons as I can!
I'm talking:
-SMGs like the MP40, MAT49, and the Owen Gun
-Rifles like the MAS 49/56, Arisaka, SKS, and SVD
-Pistols like the Hi-Power and Makarov
-Machine guns like the DP28, RPD, and RPK
I probably shouldn't have went overboard with the weapon naming like that because
not all of them will be added in this update
, but I do have a lot of gun models ready! It depends on how long the fixes and changes take, but I'd love to add as many as I can before November, especially now that there are custom loadouts!
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Update 11
After Update 10, when everything is more polished and rigid, I'll start work on U11 which will return the focus back to helicopters!
I plan on adding at lease 2 new helicopters in this update, one being the AH-1 Cobra and the other being the Huey Gunship (one variant with rockets and another with quad-M60s), as well as a beach assault mission.
For the Cobra, I aim to make both the pilot and the gunner role playable. The pilot will have an AI gunner that engages any target that comes in their view. You'll be able to fly around freely and take out objectives with your rockets & machine gun. To keep the non-linear feel of other missions while playing in the gunner seat, the idea is that you'll have a map that you can point to which will give your AI pilot a waypoint that they fly to and loiter around while you clear out enemy positions. I'm excited to see how this will play out and what doors it will open up for future missions.
The planned mission that will come with U11 will be a full assault on a beach and medium-sized village. You'll be able to play as different roles on either the attacking or defending side.
I'm planning an infantry role where you fly over the village once in a Huey and get to shoot the mounted M60, then you land and push your way up the beach to secure the village. I'll add a few combat helicopter roles and maybe a transport pilot role too, but I'll have to see how everything works out for the timeframe and mission design.
The defending side will have access to heavy machine guns and rockets to defend the village from the "birds" and it's your job to hold them off for as long as possible, a similar style to the mission Paddies.
All in all, this will be a very exciting update and I can't wait to see how it turns out!
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The Next Campaign
The next campaign will start development after U11 drops and will likely take more than the one month update schedule, but hopefully no longer than 2 months.
This campaign will have you playing as a Viet Cong sapper and will be focused on stealth. Missions will be designed in a way that will make your standard shootouts even more challenging than they already are to encourage staying undetected, although a guns-out approach will not be directly punished and you'll still be able to play however you want/need to. A few of the missions include laying & escaping from an ambush, sneaking into a combat base, assassinations, and sabotage.
Along with this, I plan on reworking enemy AI to work well with this stealthy set of missions by giving them more realistic behaviors like having a more difficult time seeing when it's dark and the ability to detect dead bodies. This campaign is inspired by the classic stealth games from the early 2000s and late 90s and will be taking a lot of mechanics and aspects featured in those games.
If all goes as planned, I'll start work on the campaign at the start of December and have it ready by the end of January, 2023. I'll keep you all updated and will be able to have a better idea for the release schedule after U11.
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If you experience any issues while playing and/or have additional suggestions, don't hesitate to let me know through one of the links below or on the Steam forums. Good luck and remember to check for leeches!