Happy December Community, As 2023 is wrapping up, we are going to be doing this month’s Sitrep a little differently. We want to take time to reflect on everything that has happened this year, showing a summarized view of all the major updates we have made to the game. In the Community Center we will look at some of the improvements to player interactions we have made and different community events people have participated in. Additionally, we will be showcasing some of our devs’ highlights from the year in the Devs’ Desk section. The Downpour Interactive Team will be taking time off for the holidays to spend time with family and friends. The office will be closed from 12/20 through 01/02. This includes community & support. If you are looking for support during this time, please check our FAQ or our official Discord. 2023 - Code Name: W.O.L.F [b]W.[/b] hat will have the most impact [list][*] What parts of the game can we work on for a large number of our players?[/list] [b]O.[/b] ffer assistance [list][*] How can we develop features to solve the problem(s) the players are having?[/list] [b]L.[/b] ook for opportunities to expand [list][*] Can the feature be expanded to give more to the players?[/list] [b]F.[/b] ortify with testing [list][*] Does this feel like a good solution? [/list] Some of the major features that you saw come into the game in 2023 were the result of us taking the opportunity to be a bit more flexible and stretch our creativity. We wanted to develop new things while also taking on difficult challenges. The team started to look closer at major requests the community was asking us to address. Working closely together to review these topics, having amazing discussions, and forming solid plans for how to move forward; This was the year’s result: [h3]New Features[/h3] [list][*] FOUR New Weapons (MP7A2, SR-2MP Veresk, M240L, & Ultimax 100 Mk3) [*] THREE New Maps (Egress, FOB Bassett, Cargo: Night) [*] Regional Servers Implementation [*] New Animations & Movement system (for Player & Bot Models) [*] New Tent Hub and Tent Interactions [*] New Watch Design and Watch Functions [*] Scores & Global Leaderboards (Shooting Range & FOB Bassett) [*] New Glove Models [*] New Game Mode (Fire Fight) [*] New Main Menu Environment [*] Loadout Expansions & Cloud Saving (Quest & SteamVR) [*] NEW NVG Goggles & Filter Colors (Amber Phosphor, White Phosphor, Green Phosphor, and Digital) [*] New Night Mode Equipment (IR Strobes, IR Lasers, Chem Lights) [*] Added Basketball - Freeroam Mini Game [*] Added Quest 3 Graphics & Performance Support [*] Weekly quick play rotations for PvP and PvE modes [/list] [h3]Major System Improvements[/h3] [list][*]Added Ability to Simultaneously Hold Weapons in Both Hands [*] Improvements and Re-design to Social Game Modes (Gun Game, One in the Chamber) [*] Update to Game Engine [*] Redesigned Gunstock Calibration [*] Updated Tutorial & Training [*] AI Refactor & Co-Op Adjustments [*] Improvements to Night Mode Equipment (Flare Gun, Laser Sights) [*] Updates to Environment Graphics & Parity [/list] That’s a lot of big features that got added! Not to mention there was a ton for quality of life improvements and bug fixes not included in this list. [h2]From the Devs’ Desks:[/h2] Our developers are the unseen and unspoken heroes behind all the features, updates, and fixes you experience in the game. A passionate team filled with people who have been at DPI and working on this project for several years. We all have different playstyles and skill levels in Onward. This gives us a unique opportunity when we design, develop, and test features. It allows us to look at the wider player base and not focus on any one style or skill set. We also take time to play with the community to make sure we are in touch with what players are looking for. With the studio now being a smaller team, we have looked critically at our development process and doubled down on prioritizing things that we believe will be the most impactful to the players and continue to push the game forward. This has truly shown how talented and dedicated this team is to making Onward one of the greatest VR tactical shooters. “The AI refactor has been on my to-do list since the Quest port. Co-op is a large player group, but most of our past updates focused on PvP so it’s nice to do something for them. New navigation and waypoint systems, new cover systems, and moving to a simpler and easier to expand behavior system allowed us to get more bots on Quest than we used to on PC, bring back weapon dropping, and create a better balance to difficulty. We now have a solid foundation to improve future PvE content.” [i]Dan - Engineering & Environments[/i] “My favorite feature I worked on this year was probably Procedural Gun Game, but that's because I'm a sucker for procedurally generated content. But I think overall, the IR Strobes in night mode are more impactful. They aren't as large as, for example, the leaderboards, but they stand out to me because of how relatively quick they were to implement versus how big of a difference they make in how night maps are played.” [i]Brian - Engineering[/i] “I have two favorite features that I worked on this year; one was the scanline effect for night vision. Adding them felt like I completed the night vision effect after all this time. My other favorite feature was updating the player gloves. Replacing the old gloves while not affecting any of our animations was a challenge, but the impact of having distinct faction specific gloves in the game was well worth it!” [i]Guzzy - Art[/i] “A lot stands out to me this year, and going through the list has made me take a step back to see the bigger picture. Despite the challenges that 2023 served up, we’ve managed to hit every single internal release deadline for Onward. Some times more comfortably than others, but we did hit them. And we delivered a lot of fresh content and gameplay while doing so.” [i]Kasper - Production[/i] “One of the things that I really enjoyed was designing and planning all the unique UI elements for the new …. Oh, we can’t mention that yet? Sorry.” [i]Whoops - Canary[/i] We are looking forward to sharing more about what is being developed in the January Sitrep. [h2]Community Center:[/h2] Hey Everyone! SyrinS0ng here, your friendly fire Community Manager. “My favorite thing in 2023 was seeing the team work hard on features that would really benefit the whole community. Things like Server IDs and the FOB Basset map, gave players easier ways to connect and meet others. I strongly believe that forming bonds and friendships is always an important part of gaming.” [i]SyrinS0ng - Community[/i] Seeing players connect while in and out of the game always brings me immense joy. 2023 was a great year in the community. Not only did the team include some very important in-game community driven features, there were also lots of events and custom maps for players as well. I wanted to highlight some of these major events and features. [list][*] Developers making improvements to reporting tool to cut down on toxicity [*] Developers adding Server IDs so players could quickly find and connect to friends, regardless of platform [*] Custom Map Makers added 82 New Custom Maps to the game, providing fun new environments to play on, or hang out and practice with your squad [*] The VRML competitive league had a successful Season 15 with 1227 players in 70 teams, which amounted to 561 matches to compete for the winning title and prizes [*] VR Charity ran 2 amazing charity events raising just shy of $10,000 to help charity programs for causes like Make a Wish & Suicide Prevention, with hopes to do even more next year [/list] There are lots of ways to connect with other players for a variety of different playstyles. Whether it’s for high scores, creating content, or a good cause; having those moments where you play some amazing matches and you want to keep going until your headset dies is a rush we hope everyone gets to experience while playing. It’s what we will continue to strive for. Happy Holidays! ~ Downpour Interactive Team