Hello everyone!
July has been another incredibly busy month for the team, just like June. Following all the valuable feedback we received during the Alpha, we made the difficult decision to slightly delay our roadmap.
If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check out our updated roadmap in our previous post.
Now, let's take a look at everything we've been working on this month alongside managing the Alpha.
On the art side
The port is almost complete! However, we've temporarily paused work on it to focus on improving the fire station because... let's be honest, it still felt a little empty despite our little improvements.
To make it feel more alive before players head out on missions, we're adding a control room, additional office spaces, and a storage area. This also meant creating plenty of new props such as telephones, computer towers, keyboards, office furniture, and many other small details that help bring the station to life.
Tada! Still WIP but that looks much better
We've also continued polishing the Provence map based on Alpha feedback: floating objects, terrain issues, collision problems, and more.
On the development side
As mentioned previously, our private Alpha took place in July. Since then, we've spent a significant amount of time reviewing every piece of feedback and fixing many of the issues reported by our testers.
We've also started migrating the project to Unreal Engine 5.8, allowing us to benefit from the latest engine improvements.
Here are some of the features we're currently working on:
Mission statistics: end-of-mission summary so you can review your performance and everything that happened during the mission.
Mockup VS WIP
Semi-rigid suction hoses: allowing you to pump water directly from retention basins and other water sources.
Focus system improvements: making interactions smoother and more intuitive. As a reminder, the Focus System lets you zoom in on complex equipment, such as your fire truck's pump panel, making it much easier to operate.
Controller support: improved gameplay and full menu navigation with controllers.
On the sound design side
We're excited to introduce a brand-new section in our Dev Diaries!
A Sound Design intern recently joined the team, which means we'll now have much more to share about the audio side of the project. Although he's contributing to multiple projects, he's already made great progress on Rescue Ops: Wildfire.
Ambient sounds for daytime, nighttime and coastal environments
New jingles for victories, defeats and mission cinematics
A complete overhaul of hose audio, including valve operations, hose connections, deployment and rewinding, water jets, water impacts and steam effects while extinguishing fires
New equipment sounds, such as bags (opening, placing them on the ground, storing equipment, ...) and flashlights
New character voice effects, including coughing and breathing, both with and without a breathing mask
If you'd like to hear some of his work, be sure to join our Discord, where we've been sharing exclusive sound previews.
Have you watched our Player Controller Rework and Hose System Rework videos yet? If not, we highly recommend checking them out! They offer a concrete look at many of the improvements we've been discussing throughout our recent Dev Diaries.
Finally, we'd like to sincerely thank our entire community for your patience and continued support. We can't wait for October and for all of you to finally get your hands on the public demo!
See you next month for another Dev Diary.
❤️ Rescue Ops: Wildfire team