Welcome back to another installment of Verdun’s “Weapon Wednesday”, we use these media updates to tease upcoming content and provide you with an update on the overall state of the games development.
Awards
First of all, we have some very exciting news: Last wednesday we won two awards at the Dutch Game Awards! We received both the “Economic Achievement Award” for best selling game as well as the prestigious “Industry Award” which was voted for by our fellow Dutch game industry professionals. Winning these awards has given us a great boost in morale and we’ve been putting in more effort and energy to the further development. It’s also a great feeling of recognition for the hard labor and effort put in over the last few years.
Lee-Metford Mk II
The Lee Metford was father to the British SMLE, it was the first adopted iteration of Enfield bolt action rifles used with the British army; it earned a reputation for being a reliable and accurate rifle during the Second Boer War and in other empire related conflicts. The rifle would see action again in the early years of the Great War. The Metford rifle was often issued to BEF scout patrols and to highland regiments in the opening weeks of the war, and saw seldom use as a sniper's rifle beyond that. While the rifle was being phased out by the SMLE rifle come the start of the Great War, it saw it’s swan song during the battles of 1914 and early 1915.
In game, this rifle will behave in a similar manner to the SMLE, however, the lack of the clip bridgeframe will make for a far slower reload. These rifles will be very uncommon on the frontlines, their reliability and speed they should provide an interesting comparison between old and new. Seeing use mainly in Historical Scenarios and Attrition/Rifle Deathmatch … this rifle was just far too iconic for us not to include, and who knows - may provide us with a solid base on which to add more exotic units in the future.
M1883 Reichsrevolver
Like most European powers in the latter part of the 1800’s, Germany looked to adopt a repeating handheld firearm for its military. The M1879 Reichsrevolver was solution, this standard issue sidearm was granted to officers and artillerymen from the late 1870’s until the early 1900’s. The original design was heavy and cumbersome, but had a large 10.6mm round (equivalent to a .44 S&W). In the early 1880’s Germany decided to make the revolver a little easier to handle. In reducing its weight - the M1883 came to be. A single action revolver, which was still ‘old tech’ for its time ... but did the Job until the C96 mauser and P08 luger came along.
In game the Reichsrevolver M1883 will have excellent stopping power, however with a slow reload rate and limited numbers being issued, only the more seasoned trench fighters might truly make use of them as an effective combat weapon.
Development status
Good news everyone! our new LOD system seems to have helped us gain about 20% more FPS overall, which is a very promising start. We are however facing some setbacks as the new version of the game engine is temporarily preventing us from creating a new build.
Both the Gore system and Fort Douaumont are only a couple of days away from completion and will soon be ready for some very intensive testing. Initial concept work has also been started on a new map, which will see night fighting, ideal for those budding trench raiders out there. The Verdun sector ‘Fort Douaumont’ map will be explained in detail in a massive teaser campaign begining some time in the next few of days.
Screenshot of the Week
Combined allied offensive near the Aisne by User[KK]IINAYDOGII: