Posted on Behalf of SOF Studios, President, Tom
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Hello H-Hour community!
Last Friday we introduced a major update to H-Hour and we have spent the weekend reading and watching your feedback. This update introduced two key elements to the game. First, we presented the team's first pass on the third H-Hour map. This map, as voted by the community, is a nighttime urban map set at a mannequin factory. It is a close-quarters style map with tunnels, rooftops and a destructible sky bridge. In edition to this new map, we added a third game-mode to H-Hour. This game-mode has been coined Sabotage and is a twist on Demolition mode. In Sabotage, the SOF team spawns with a bomb and attempts to destroy the terrorist base while the terrorists defend.
For detailed patch notes on this update, please follow this link. In addition to the map and game-mode, several bugs were fixed, details of which are included in the notes.
Kevin posted in the official forums with a bit of information about the new content, asking the community for their feedback and thoughts. His post can be found here, at the head of a thread in which all community members are welcomed to voice their opinions about the factory map and the Sabotage game mode OR you can leave your thoughts on this thread.
We have read through the thread so far and the development team would like to take a moment to address some of the major thoughts touched on so far in relation to the new content:
- Bomb Location Indicator: A few people expressed an interest in the team implementing some method to indicate the location of the bomb in Sabotage mode. This will not be included. The objective of Sabotage is to work as a team to defend multiple areas without knowledge of exactly where the bomb will be placed. The element of surprise is part of the challenge.
- Lighting: Some have mentioned that the map is very dark, necessitating a change in settings to be able to see clearly. The lighting on the factory map is definitely still a major work in progress. There are a few things the team wishes to do to boost the lighting while still maintaining the gloomy, nighttime feel of the map.
- Sound Effects on Metal Grates and Stairs: We are missing the sound for walking on metal currently, which is why the sound is not finalized when players walk across metal grates or climb stairs. Nathan will work to get us this sound and it will be coming in the near future.
- Side Switching: There seems to be a back-and-forth between community members who have varying opinions on whether side switching would make sense for the Sabotage game mode (enabling players to alternate between offensive and defensive play). Side switching was not in Socom so it is not something that the team currently has plans to implement. Players can change teams in the lobby if they wish to experience both styles of game-play.
- Weapon personality: Now that we have a close-quarters map, extensive work can begin on weapon personality. On the previous maps (both of which are large and open) different weapon personality resulted in weapons that didn't work for the map (i.e. players could not hit enemies across the map). With factory so tight, work can begin in earnest on fine tuning weapon personality.
- Map Name: Yes, the official name of the third map will be Fear Factory, as favored by map creator Russ. The development team is still using the working title of simply Factory for ease. Every map has a plain working title during development. Sismis was known as "Village" and Wolf Run was known as "Valley" during development. Also, please remember that most props have not been added to the map yet (there aren't even any mannequins in the mannequin factory!) These are upcoming editions, which will add to the character of the map. Please keep your feedback coming! We'll be back next week with more updates. In the meantime, enjoy this screenshot of Fear Factory compliments of one of our community members, Eagle F15: