Disclaimer: You can't actually push the bomb

Push mode is here! You're probably thinking, what is push mode? And why have I not heard of this before now? Well, to put it simply we shifted some of our attention from our future plans to this new gamemode, and in a few weeks have managed to add it to our game while also fixing a myriad of issues along the way. To spearhead this, the game's Creative Director Baard has something to say in regards to the why of push mode. Similarly to our last big patch with weapon balance, we're trying to help our players understand the motivations behinds the changes.

Note from the creative Director

Why push mode:

1. Experienced players have been asking for a respawn-based mode for some time now, often suggesting deathmatch or Gun Game modes. They want a way to hone their skills for their scrims/10 man games.
2. We've also seen a number of complaints in the past about the game having too much downtime, even after our patches to address these issues. We believe this mode can offer something to players who simply want to shoot something.

What about fragmenting the community?

We want to do this for two reasons:
1. Push mode allows newcomers to learn Due Process without letting their team down in casual matches, which is a major pain point for the new player experience.
2. We can't stop players who aren't interested in a game about planning and execution from buying Due Process, but we can give them another mode to play instead.
   • We hope that this alternative mode will mean that those who are playing casual matches are only doing so because they are interested in planning and execution. If the pool of players queuing for this mode are higher quality, it follows that the matches will be higher quality as well.

Why push mode is objective-based:

1. Our maps aren't designed for pure deathmatch games, so we'd have to make a new class of map for a mode that isn't the heart of what due process is about.
2. An objective-based mode lets us leverage our existing maps and capitalize on our unique map rotation. What this means is that metas can develop on each map and players can find interesting strategies for how to play push.
3. Objective-based modes naturally graduate people into teamwork. We were surprised at the level of coordination and planning the cadets demonstrated while testing push, and we hope that this mode will serve as an on-ramp to get people into the 5v5 planning and execution modes this game is all about.
4. It's a lot of fun! I'm surprised at how much fun this mode turned out to be.

Future opportunities:

I think we can all agree that Due Process is a lot of fun when both teams are successfully coordinating against one another, but this doesn't happen often enough. If push mode can cover for long matchmaking times, we can put together a better-balanced casual match, and we can have casual matches last for much, much longer than they do now. We'd like to get the game to the point where it has the ease-of-use of modern session-based multiplayer games, but has the familiarity and sense of community of your favorite dedicated server.
Push has allowed us to improve our matchmaking to consistently create high quality casual and ranked games where players do something they simply can't do in other titles: talk, form a plan, and execute.

Patch Notes:

Push Game Mode Overview:

• Attackers and Defenders have unlimited respawns
• Rounds are six minutes long, with no planning period
• Bomb takes 30 seconds of defusing to fully defuse (still saves progress when not being defused)
• Spawn zones make players inside them invulnerable/heal to full health instantly.
• Two rounds max. Winner is always decided on round two. (Max 13 minutes)
• Players automatically spawn with a random weapon set that is already loaded but can still use the weapon wall to manually pick up a gun.
• Players automatically spawn with either a flashbang or a molotov for attackers and defenders respectively

Push Related Additions:

• Beta version of Push Gamemode Added (we are still working on it and appreciate feedback!)
• Players can now queue for Push separately or simultaneously with other gamemodes
• Push maps are a subset of the existing map pool with specifically placed spawn points with short travel times to the bomb
• Push gamemode shows status of bomb defuse even while not being defused in a new alternate bomb defuse UI that is always on screen while the bomb is armed
• Push gamemode shows damage immediately upon death, instead of waiting for end of round. Damage shown is total damage taken and given on that life, so it can be more than 150 if you heal or the enemy respawns.
• Push gamemode shows total kills to enemy players per player when alive
• Push gamemode has weapon walls are modified to reduce or remove some equipment which causes too much friction in the game mode
• Defenders have access to some attacker equipment in the Push mode
• Items in Push gamemode can despawn if on the ground too long
• Items in Push gamemode have individual respawn and despawn timers unique to the item
• Players are not squad-merged at the end of a push match with the other squads.
• Players are not prompted to "queue for ranked with team" at the end of a Push match.

Push Related Changes:

• Killfeed now cycles when more than 12 entries are present to show latest events
• Dome no longer plays certain voice lines related to how many players are left in gamemodes where there are respawns
• Dome voice announcer has cooldowns on kill/death related lines in gamemodes where there are respawns
• Heavy optimizations for spawning items at runtime
• Better networking for spawning items during a round and deleting items during a round. Deletions should be reliable.
• When joining a match in progress, item creation is throttled to give the game time to catch up to the current game tick.
• Heavy backend work to support Push mode.

Base Game Changes:

• Casual is now referred to in the UI as "Unranked" to not confuse between the ultra-casual nature of push and the less casual nature of unranked
• Made landing sounds play with less delay in most circumstances
• Added controls option to change how long you have to hold for "hold" operations (for right now, just hold to swap)
• Clients no longer have to press enter to send password in private matchmaking filter box
• Added config variable (no UI yet) for satellite view being default map view
• Kill Log UI now shows player names in teamcolor on suicide
• Hint prompts now can say either the bound keybind or "Unassigned" if the keybind for the suggested action is not bound
• UAV lasing behavior now changed, the primary benefit of which is that it should not lase defenders who stuck their head in the ceiling
• Flashbang effects tweaked, end of concussion effect should no longer jerk violently for intense concussions and should be spread out over the concussion effect
• Various networking changes in order to smooth out certain events
• Friendly nametags should now always show through walls properly instead of being hidden a few feet around the corner

Base Game Fixes:

• Changed level loading to better encapsulate when levels are actually done loading and not wait too long or too short
• Fixed backend issue associated with changing outfits
• Fixed client errors related to admin GUI
• Fix mouse softlock caused by Mic Calibration UI being opened during certain events
• Fix mouse softlock caused by Player Profile UI being opened during certain events
• Fixed text error in Mic Calibration UI
• Added several debug features to admin UI
• Minor changes to training item respawns to accommodate changes to push. Now items in training are subject to similar lifetime rules as push.
• Fix circumstance where end of match screen hud could be wrong on a tie game.
• Fix client error from UAV (x2)
• Fix client error from Environmental Audio Source
• Fix client error in training from tutorial UI
• Fix client error in Weapon Ammo UI
• Fix client error in Gun Laser
• Fix client error in Gun Muzzle Effects
• Fix client error in some audio sources that can be destroyed
• Fix round GUI not being able to handle gamemodes with rounds not in multiples of three
• Fix admins not being able to change which team a player was on
• Fix tons of misc bugs related to Push mode implementation
• Fix client issue with floating magazines
• UAV now properly respects some hitboxes it did not used to respect
• Cleaned up some unnecessary and spammy logging
• Matchmaking UI overlaps online player list instead of wrapping under it in square aspect ratios

New Known Issues:

• General lag spikes and hitches in Push gamemode
• Hint prompts can say "Unassigned" for reload prompt when it is bound due to there being like three other ways to bind reloads
• Joining a match in progress can have some unspawned items or weapons for a small amount of time while the client catches up due to throttling