Hello Onward Community,
We hope you have enjoyed all the images that have been appearing on our social channels throughout the last month. All of the posts related to things included in the upcoming update 1.10. This month on the Devs’ Desk we will be discussing the images, their meaning, and how they relate to the upcoming update.
We know you are excited to play on the new map and use the new weapons. Update 1.10 is expected to drop on February 21st. Keep your eyes on our socials to know the exact time the update becomes available for download.
From the Devs’ Desks:
New Map
We can now confirm that our next map, Egress, is coming in update 1.10. Egress is a snowy urban map taking place in a port city in Estonia, with a focus on CQB and medium-range combat. Establishing lore and story background in Onward is important to us, and we’re trying to emphasize deeper immersion through story with our future level content. The newspaper articles that were shared on our social media actually appear in-game, placed throughout the level. Each one gives hints as to why Volk and MARSOC are there, and what led up to the fight. When you load into Egress, you’ll see a location and summary of the engagement as with all our other maps. But if you can connect the dots there with the articles, you’ll learn much more. See below for the mission summary seen in the loading screen:
Volk has bribed a dockhand to falsely report a bomb threat, causing an evacuation. Volk aims to kidnap a scientist on the CBRN response team. Nearby MARSOC on a joint training operation have been given permission to move in.
For the level design of Egress, we knew we wanted to emphasize the close-quarters weapons available in Update 1.10. The map is tightly packed with alleyways, warehouses, loading docks and a centralized hotel that make for a variety of ways to strategize with your team to cover ground effectively, outflank your opposition and make gameplay fresh with each round. We want to take this moment to share more images showcasing some of the outside areas on this level and leave the rest for you to discover.
New Weapons
In our very first teaser image, in addition to lore and setting, we left a nice little hint as to the weapon content coming in 1.10. Those in our community with a keen eye could see there was text in the bottom right hand corner of the page in that image reading “1316G1B”, which decodes as follows:
13 = M (13th letter of the alphabet)
16 = P (16th letter of the alphabet)
G = 7 (7th letter of the alphabet)
1 = A (First letter of the alphabet)
B = 2 (Second letter of the alphabet)
M - P - 7 - A - 2
We can confirm that the “MP7A2”, an oft requested PDW style SMG, is coming in 1.10 with the SR-2MP Veresk as its counterpart. Two image teases for the weapons showcased the amazing work the team does on the details when making weapons for the game. We showed extreme close ups of both guns, and then later showed off full on renders. You can see the close ups compared to the full weapon images below.
It was important to us that these new pieces of content fit together in a cohesive way that makes sense for both the gameplay and setting. These two PDWs are perfect for the confined urban CQB of Egress since they are small, lightweight, tight quarters weapons designed to be used against conventional armored combatants. Furthermore, we can see that the MP7A2 is used by both American and Estonian SOF, with Russian forces making use of the SR-2MP Veresk on their end as well. With adding these two guns, we have grown our CQB play and further expanded our suite of weapons in a way that makes sense for the update’s map and all other Onward maps, not to mention finally getting an SMG onto Volk!
Major Features
In addition to the other two major features we talked about in previous Sitreps (regional servers & improved AI animations), we wanted to highlight that major fixes and updates will be applied throughout our maps. The foundations we've laid in our previous updates now allow us to refocus on releasing improvements we've spent the last year working on in the background, such as map fixes etc. Starting in update 1.10 you will start to see a big flow of map updates coming out again. This includes things like updated textures, misaligned collision fixes, fixed exploitable locations, and more.
More details for all the features and bugs fixes that are included in update 1.10 will be announced with the patch notes when the update goes live.
Community Center:
VR Central shared a fun video of some of the interesting things that happen during his gameplay in Onward. Some of the clips included are some skilled kills, funny moments, and some acts of ultimate betrayal during game sessions. We are glad to see that he has such a good time during his game sessions and makes the most out of some of the situations that happen on the battlefield. You can check out the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbHlPa8VwZs
The Custom Map Makers have done it again this month. We have 6 new custom maps for this month! Make sure to head over to the Workshop in game and add them to your library to test them out.
Shadow_Base submitted by !Lejam009 [PC & Quest]
The official home base map for SSF commissioned by Astro from SSF. This map was inspired by the 125 Fighter Wing base in Jacksonville FL
Lazer Quest submitted by Timemaster111 [PC & Quest]
Somehow you stumbled into the Lazer Quest arena. Reports are the enemy is here too... have... fun? (P.S. Try me with Night Vision and a Laser!)
Tactical Map& Battle Map Tachikawa submitted by Knyam_Gee [PC & Quest]
Cloud & Cloud Night submitted by TNK_tarematsu_JP [PC & Quest]
You are above the clouds. Be careful not to hit the fighters!
For night mode Your night vision is broken. Must use a flashlight.
Stay Focused, Stay Alert