Features first, polishing next. That was the motto of this update, laden with various changes to the usual Hunter experience. As we briefly mentioned, 0.32 could be considered the first step of a two-part preparation for the big test that commences in mid-May. Given the sheer number of features we added, it was exciting to describe and deliver a substantial chunk of new stuff (and not write about different rock hues for once). The changes also affected the playtest cadence: instead of the usual three playtest sessions + Steel Lab, we had only two, with the missing third one being reserved for the Supertest of the upcoming update. All in all, 0.33 will have the longest playtest in the history of this project so far: a 12-day-long, non-stop session! Polishing and fixing things takes time, but we want to ensure that new players will see the best version of Steel Hunters. Does it mean we won't have fun on the way? Of course not. Expect an influx of new and unfamiliar faces during pretty much every leg of the tour, but please don't bully the newcomers; they are just starting out! We'll barrel through various playtest configurations, host discussions with the devs, and will have to survive several wipes on the road to the final long session of 0.33. But enough of the future, let's focus on the past and present. [h2]That Heavy Feeling[/h2] We've always positioned our Hunters as big, strong war machines made of metal. And one thing that metal certainly isn't is weightless. So, movement should feel impactful, a bit forced, and befitting a creature that's taller than a three-story building. To convey this feeling of mass and girth, we've implemented inertia and played with acceleration. Overall, this feature was positively received by you guys, and we're happy to proceed with the rest of the Hunters who are on the bench right now. Based on the feedback provided, we've singled out the areas in need of improvement: Hunter movement states, camera positions, and foot-sliding reduction. The ultimate goal is to find the right balance between adding weight to characters and ensuring smooth, responsive gameplay. This is definitely something we'll come back to in future versions. [h2]Give Me a Shoulder[/h2] Significant innovations have been made in the department of shooting: the so-called no-reg cases, which have been spoiling the fun for the majority of players and making life especially hard for Heartbreaker mains, have been addressed with the new weapon management system. For those new or unsuspecting, "no-regs" refers to situations where a bullet has been fired, the shot visually lands, but no damage is inflicted to the enemy. Now you understand why this issue was exceptionally frustrating for HB users, who have very few bullets in the magazine to begin with. We've checked it: the system works, and the number of no-reg cases for Razorside, Weaver, and Heartbreaker has drastically decreased. But that wasn't the hot topic of our Discord community. Everyone was wondering where shoulder swapping went and why we disabled it. As mentioned in our Game Guide, there was a mechanic that allowed switching the camera angle from the right-shoulder view to the opposite one by pressing the default X button. This feature mysteriously vanished from the game with a brief mention in the Changelog, which didn't provide adequate explanation. So, here's the long-awaited answer: we have two and a half reasons for disabling this: [list] [*]Like any other third-person shooter, we strive for precise aiming. Consequently, we care a lot about offset limitation. In our title, we currently use a system called Turning Point Distance, which is very sensitive to changes in camera position. Swapping shoulders created situations where the angle of the camera and the actual trajectory of the shot didn't match, leading to the assumption that the shot landed where in actuality, it didn't.[/*] [*] Design-wise, not every Hunter was born to swap hands. While Razorside or Heartbreaker could theoretically simply switch their weapon to the other hand, Prophet's firing force is built into his dominant hand. As the weapon muzzle is closely connected to aiming as we mentioned above, shoulder swapping for a range of Hunters would be out of the question. [list] [*]The last argument is about the origin of this feature itself. Initially, shoulder swapping was created as a debug feature, and it remained in the game without any explanation or tutorial for the entire time it was implemented. Because we didn't explain it to new players, people just joining the test would sometimes accidentally swap the camera position, and this led to the assumption that something was broken or the game was buggy, which isn't the impression we want to give our new Hunters. And while we were polishing everything for the next big test, we considered all those cases that brought confusion. The easiest and fastest solution was to cut the feature.[/*] [/list] [/*] [/list] We understand that for those of you who actually used the shoulder-swapping functionality, it's a frustrating change, but we hope that by reading the rationale behind it you might now understand our reasoning. We'll investigate whether we can bring this feature back in the future, but in the meantime, you can hold X and use the free cam to peek around corners that aren't easy to play around. If you want to delve deep into the technical aspects of shooting and aiming, I recommend this [url=https://steelhunters.com/blogs/entry/191-the-forge-gunplay/][u]Forge article[/u][/url] [h2]Original Flavor, New Packaging[/h2] Well, you've cracked the code incredibly fast! Our usual Systems and Mods underwent a visual makeover with the addition of stat increase points. After a couple of upgrades, old and experienced Steel Lab members realized that the system is pretty much the same in essence but looks different. Based on questions and comments, we've expanded our Forge article about the whole switch in Hunter Leveling (very convenient timing, I might add), addressing the points made. To avoid repeating ourselves, here's the link to the latest [url=https://steelhunters.com/blogs/entry/197-the-forge-hunter-progression/][u]Forge article[/u][/url] with our answers. TLDR: You're so old that you might have witnessed Noah's Ark and be able to spot the similarity between two features, but such a change is aimed at improving the overall experience of interacting with Mods, especially for new players. This System Tree model is flexible and brings lots of merit for future development as well. The Gear system, while being enlarged by the implementation of upgradable levels and rarities, also didn't change at its core. You still have two types of Gear, now renamed as Attack or Defense, but the depth of customization has increased. [h2]Playing in the Dirt[/h2] Pssst... I have a secret to share. During the Steel Lab playtest, we set foot on our third map—Quarry—and sniffed every nook and cranny for potential out-of-bounds experiences, not to mention me drowning my Weaver in the sea. We haven't had such fun in a while, so it was refreshing to roam unfamiliar grounds and act as a launchpad for teammates and enemies alike—that was the spirit of feature testing. The feedback we got from this test will help us prepare the map for the next update, and it looks different from what you've tested in this one. [img]https://sh-publishing-static.gcdn.co/sh-publishing/assets/img/retro/032/v032_Retro_Quarry_2.jpg[/img] [img]https://sh-publishing-static.gcdn.co/sh-publishing/assets/img/retro/032/v032_Retro_Quarry.jpg[/img] After all the fixes have been made and must-have objects added, Quarry will be available for public playtesting starting from Update 0.33, joining the usual roster of Maryland Heights and Crimson Ridge. One of the interesting things we would like to shed light on is that during development, we had concerns about the Hunters' perception of this map, as almost all landmark objects are so gigantic in real life and in the game that we were afraid it would mitigate the feeling of your Hunter being an 8-meter-tall death machine. We were relieved when we got the answers from the test, indicating that our Hunters still seemed big and strong in your eyes, even when standing close to the ginormous trucks and all. [img]https://sh-publishing-static.gcdn.co/sh-publishing/assets/img/retro/032/v032_Retro_Quarry_scale.jpg[/img] Another valuable piece of feedback comes from the topology perception topic. Last summer, we stated in the related [url=https://steelhunters.com/blogs/entry/138-quarry-edition/][u]Forge article[/u][/url] that we intended for this map to be UK-based (very prophetic, given our team's current residence). It was surprising to see that the castle, the coastline, and the overall setting didn't evoke that association in your minds. This is something we want to address and work out in the span of future updates. Because, like any other map, Quarry will see many iterations before we deem it a done deal. [h2]All the Small Things[/h2] In addition to the big-big stuff, small quality-of-life fixes and polishing improvements have also been delivered. We have clarified the rules and rewards for both new battle missions, Tag Hunt and Bounty Hunter; added new voice lines; and introduced the first variation of the Sportsmanship Rating. The latter birthed lots of pre-emptive discussions, but the actual test showed that it's not as dire and cruel as it might have initially seemed. And your constructive feedback from both sessions and Steel Lab has solidified the trajectory we set for this feature. It needs work, but the basis is good. [h2]Do Better[/h2] I would like to round up this recap with some constructive feedback we've received from the community, because it's not always sunshine and rainbows. Steel Lab members felt that we missed the mark with the way we handled the session with them by not providing a list of actions or features to test, as well as not foreseeing the inability to access things due to tight time constraints. These are valid points that we admit and want to improve upon in the future. While we followed the usual preparation pipeline, with each passing day, the number of added features grew. While some of them could be experienced from the get-go on clean accounts, like onboarding or the System Tree, a select few were designed with the mid- to end-game in mind, like Gear. We now understand that if you have one test with 3–4 hours of game time, you may well need different account setups to test different things. While sacrifices had to be made for the playtests we've completed, we'll be careful to avoid this in future and put more time and attention into planning. As a conclusion to this rather long retrospective, I want to say that this update was a good teaching moment for all of us: we tried something new, learned a lot from our experiments, laid the groundwork for the future, and delivered important changes. Losing progress is not fun at all, and this update stripped the slate clean for all of you. So, we commend your willingness to roll up your sleeves and dig into the game with unyielding vigor once again. We treasure each and every one of you, and I can't wait to see you all in the future version. It will be a wild ride! Your personal Weaver launchpad, MirAi