Welcome to another weekly Verdun update! First of all the entire development team wishes you a happy 2016. During the christmas truce a massive 12.000 christmas cards were sent from the frontlines and the whole event received quite some attention on the web.
Secondly we want to update you on the development of the game. Over the past few months we have showcased our new arsenal, we’ve had 17 weekly (or near enough!) updates and have written around 35 pages of update text. We will continue to update with more other media which will showcase the progress towards the upcoming free content updates. This week we’ll keep it snappy as there is a lot to prepare for the forthcoming launch of the free content.
M1917 Wechselapparat “Wex” Flamethrower
The German Wechselapparat Flamethrower or ‘wex’ was developed in 1917 after successful but outdated Kleif flamethrower. Flamethrowers had seen use since the early years of the war, one of the first recorded uses being during 1915 near Verdun. As the war progressed flamethrowers grew in complexity as well as size - including the famous british Livens flamethrower. Come 1917 the Germans were in need of a lighter weight, more adaptable flame thrower - capable of being handles by one or two crew members. The ‘wex’ saw effective use in 1917/18 and was the basis for a number of flamethrowers including the Model 40 German flamethrower and portable No 2 British flamethrower in WW2.
The Wex will be used by German pioneer troops to counter the U.S marine squads. With limited range and fuel capacity, the wex will be a tricky weapon to master… however given the correct handler, it could quite possibly be the deadliest weapon to see action on the fronts of Verdun.
Verdun Beginners group
During the holidays, the people behind the verdun league and other community members have started an official verdun beginners group geared towards helping the crazy amount of new recruits who joined in during the christmas sale. If you are new to the game and want to become better you can sign up here.
Game development status
We did not cease development during the holiday season. In fact we made great strides on the performance front in the last two weeks with the new clustering technique for the levels. Several community members with some long standing issues are now reporting their performance being improved considerably on the testing branch. This should go live soon.
Content update
We are happy to report that the free content updates are on the horizon now. While we are still working to finalize all all of it, we can state that there will be new squads, weapons, map and more coming your way pretty soon. We are not releasing any statement on the timeframe at this point, however we are in the final stages of production and deployment on most fronts to give you an indication of its status.
Screenshots of the Week
“A shell claims the life of an unteroffizier, Argonne sector, 1915”
Awards
We were also awarded IndieDB’s 2015 editors choice “Best Multiplayer”, and we were in the top 10 players’ vote. Thanks for voting for us!
That will be all for this week. Next week more info on the deployment of the free content!