Hey everyone,
Welcome to Dev Brief #118!
This week we're going to touch base on what we're up to on the map making front. We're also sharing the details on Utah Beach's upcoming addition of Offensive Mode for both American and German forces in Update 9!
So, I'm going to hand straight over to Max now as he's got all the juicy info, including plenty of pictures as we take you through what you'll find when you land at Utah Beach in the near future...
A Message From Max - Making Maps & Utah Beach!
Hi everyone,
We have a large number of maps cooking in the oven currently - from the SMDM rework, to several Eastern Front maps - to an unannounced Western Front map. As such, we’re taking this time to go back to our current map rotation and flesh out Offensive mode varieties alongside optimising and reworking trouble-spots on specific maps. Ultimately, we’ll introduce Offensive mode for every map in the game, and have standardised the practice of implementing Offensive mode alongside all new maps.
In addition, Update 9 will see some under-the-hood changes to the Offensive mode that we’re making in a move to make the gamemode equal in time length to Warfare, as we realise that the sheer time it takes to finish an Offensive battle can be off putting to many players and cause the game to drag on in an unintended way.
Ultimately, Offensive and Warfare modes will be determined by the selection made by teams during Campaign mode, so we’re keen to make sure that they’re equally succinct and as satisfying as we can possibly make them.
Utah Beach Offensive Modes
While many of you will have played Utah Beach many times before, we’re excited to add Offensive modes for both the US and German forces. Each brings its own weather and lighting to add to the totally new way you’ll experience this map. Like Omaha, the US will also land in Offensive mode via boat - providing an intense new beach landing experience.
You’ll also notice that we’ve worked on the hedgerow assets, as well as extended the cover range of grass as much as we can before negatively affecting the performance in the map.
Upgrading and improving the visuals and performance cost of each asset - especially foliage - will be a continuing process over the course of development.
Optimisations
We’re continuing our work in optimising the entire game, and Utah Beach has benefited from this, with increased FPS on all machines profiled.
Due to the way we’re reusing and batching assets, we’re confident in our ability to continually improve performance across the game, as we’re aware that this is one of the key technical barriers to people being able to enjoy the game.
Watch the Hell Let Loose Winter Seasonal Finals this Saturday!
Today we're excited to share with you that the finals of the epic community organised and led tournament, the Winter Seasonal, are being broadcast live on Twitch tomorrow.
From 16 teams of 50 players down to two, this final is going to be a battle like no other!
To share the details we spoke to tournament organiser and all round community bastion, Heidegger:
This Saturday will conclude the Winter Seasonal and crown the champion for this season.
After a fierce competition between 16 fully fledged teams of 50 players (and their reserves, registering upwards of 1600 players), only 2 teams remain in this 2 months tournament : WTH and EXD will battle on the fields of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, Saturday 13 March at 7PM UTC.
Luckily, the match of the titans will be broadcast by multiple point of views, from both teams, accompanied by a live commentary.
Watch live here: twitch.tv/dasaltberg
Onwards to the weekend!
That wraps up this week's Dev Brief!
Let us know what you think of the changes and addition to Utah Beach, it'd be great to hear your thoughts on it!
Also if you're looking for something to do, check out the Winter Seasonal finals and get immersed in the competitive side of Hell Let Loose - it'll definitely be one hell of a show!
Have a great weekend everyone.
We'll see you on the frontline.