Hello everyone!
Welcome to the last Sitrep for 2020! Work continues on update 1.8.7, and although we had hoped to release it before the end of the year we had to acknowledge that making sure this update is as good as it can was the more important factor in that decision. With Christmas approaching that meant that the update wouldn't release until mid-January. We'll be spending the coming week working on the last few bugs and improvements, and polishing the new features.
One of the key new features coming in 1.8.7 is the overhauled audio system. The audio update is currently being tested and the general picture is that it will be a big improvement in both accuracy and immersion. We have been working towards providing better audio across the board. The changes to note include gunshots that are more consistent in their quality, more immersive and understandable footsteps, higher quality voice chat, more immersive environmental sound, and more consistency between the volumes of different sources. New are also the options to adjust the volume of sfx, gunshots, the volume of voices, and the audio mixer being used. Customised audio will also be available again for our custom map gurus!
If you've been keeping up with the Sitreps over the past couple of months you'll know that the second big new feature coming in update 1.8.7 is the re-release of a fan-favourite map: Snowpeak! Last month we teased the layout of the map, and this month we're ready to share some on-the-ground images of what's coming your way soon.
Keep an eye out for improvements throughout the game. These improvements include the smoke bombs behavior change that we detailed last month, and a fix for a bug where AI would ignore smoke grenades. We've also applied a small boost to the night vision to make it brighter in dark areas. A memory leak that would result in crashes if players stayed for extended periods of time in respawn-enabled game modes has been fixed and should help those of you who like playing in the Shooting Range. A final highlight of the small changes is that you'll be able to set custom time limits in private Uplink matches now. Keep an eye out for the full change log when the patch releases!
We would be remiss not to mention an issue that's been affecting Onward's competitive scene. The "jiggle peek" issue is being worked on and we are hoping to have a fix that will come out in the new year soon after the 1.8.7 update releases. Speaking of things we're actively working on for the new year: we haven't forgotten about the graphical improvements we mentioned a while ago, and continue to research and develop improvements in that area, including shadowmasks and various shader and lighting improvements.
Unit 51 continues to be a great help and valuable asset for helping test some of these new features and help provide valuable feedback. In December we found that we needed to recruit new members to the unit to help with the evolution and expansion of the game. We received over 300 applications and are grateful for everyone's interest. From that we picked and added our new members to the unit. Due to the overwhelming interest and limited space we weren't able to invite everyone we wanted to based on their applications this time around, but we'll definitely have more recruitment drives in the future.
Switching gears from development news to community highlights we'd like to give a huge shout out to the Onward Master League. After intense battles the VR Master League (VRML) has finished Season 10. Congratulations to the Beginners for topping the league, Aimless Gaming for making sure they don't get too comfortable up there, and Bossfight & Mayhem for completing the podium with nothing to separate them.
Season 11 will be starting up in the new year, so make sure to hone your competitive play skills if you're looking to participate. If you are interested in joining the league for season 11, check out the Onward Master League website for more info.
We have our Winter Community contest running and have a lot of great prizes to give away including up to an RTX 3090 graphics card or an AMD 5950X processor with a high-end motherboard! There are prizes for three categories. Fan Art, Videos & Custom Maps. We have been seeing some very promising entries coming in already, and we're looking forward to seeing more coming in over the next couple of weeks!
To put the cherry on top of our year, Onward has been titled Best Action Game of 2020 by Oculus Quest. We are incredibly proud and happy to provide players with a great action experience and we are very grateful to Oculus for this recognition. Of course we'll want to grab similar titles on all platforms next year as well!
Finally, we wish all of you, your friends, your family, and everyone else a very Happy Holiday Season, and however you celebrate it we hope you are staying safe and healthy. We've got a lot in store for 2021, so keep looking Onward!
We know it's cold out for most of you: Stay Frosty!
