Beyond The Wire News

Development for Beyond The Wire is now motoring along rapidly with weekly alpha testing helping us prepare for launching on Steam later this year. With that release now on the horizon, the team have begun looking at life Beyond The Wire once we're in the Early Access phase and reassessing some of the decisions in several areas. One of the subjects of discussion is level design and the library of maps we are planning on releasing. We have already revealed that the three maps that will be coming to Early Access would be Passchendaele, Argonne and The Somme. Due to our level design being tailored to sizes that promote the atmosphere, immersion and gameplay that we are aiming for, we have decided to make a slight change in direction for the naming of these maps.



The battlefields and front lines of The Great War were on a massive scale, so large that our maps can only depict certain areas that don't necessarily justify the name of the whole battle. Taking this consideration into our plans for environments and playable areas, both current and future, we have made changes to the names of the three maps we're launching with. Our maps are more representative of specific sectors within the larger battle and our naming convention now aligns with this.



These name changes reflect more accurately the sector that they are inspired by and also gives us room to expand on the frontlines of these three battles with future maps. Having multiple maps portraying these huge battles opens up possibilities for us to explore in the future as our game becomes more feature-complete and Beyond The Wire moves towards full release. All of our future maps will now follow this naming convention and we're looking forward to showcasing these new environments before too long!

Passchendaele will be changing to Zonnebeke.

Argonne will be named Ansoncourt.

The Somme will become Frise.

Frise is the final map we are due to showcase, and we are planning on delivering that very soon so keep the eyes peeled for that developer blog! For the meantime, here is a first screenshot of the map from in-game!






As always Soldiers stay posted for the next update!

In our player roles developer blog, we mentioned orders that Section Leader’s are able to activate which affects nearby section members. This week’s instalment will look at these Officer abilities and how they will benefit a section’s effectiveness in battle. The effects are placed on section members who are within range of their Section Leader when the ability is activated so sections that move together will get the most out of these abilities and will drive the momentum of the battle. With only one ability allowed to be active at any time, Section Leaders are responsible for issuing these orders for the right times and situations.

The Section Leader abilities are the first implementation with the values, durations and cooldowns going through reiteration as we test balancing. We will also be looking at adding additional orders as we move through development, with potential faction-specific abilities coming later down the line.


[h3]Increase movement speed[/h3]


This effect will increase the movement capabilities of the section. Motivating his section to cover ground, an Officer can help ensure his section crosses open terrain quicker to avoid excessive casualties during the advance. While this ability is active, the sections movement speed is increased by 50% for 3 seconds.

Effect: Increased player movement speed

Duration: 3 seconds

Cooldown: 5 minutes



[h3]Reduce damage taken[/h3]


Section Leader’s have the option to support their unit by reducing all damage taken. While this buff is active, the section is able to withstand higher levels of damage beyond normal limits while clinching objectives or holding an overwhelmed flank. Active for 3 seconds, this ability reduces damage taken by 25%.

Effect: Reduces damage taken

Duration: 3 seconds

Cooldown: 5 minutes



[h3]Reduce stamina cost[/h3]


To prevent weariness from the exhausting crossing of no man’s land, Officers can push their section the extra distance to safety. This ability reduces the drain all actions have on stamina. Take the fight to the enemy by being fresh and battle-ready when reaching the opposing trench line. This ability lasts for 3 seconds and reduces stamina cost by 50%.

Effect: Reduces stamina cost of any action

Duration: 3 seconds

Cooldown: 5 minutes



[h3]Increase charge speed
[/h3]


With bayonet’s fixed, Officers are able to boost their section’s sprint speed during bayonet charges. This increased speed allows a unit to close the distance with the enemy en-masse to get within striking range. The charge buff is active for 3 seconds and increases charge speed by 50%.

Effect: Faster sprint speed while bayonet charging

Duration: 3 seconds

Cooldown: 5 minutes



We'll be posting updates on these abilities as we move through development and refine this system. Stay posted for further dev blogs!

For this developer blog, we are showcasing our animations and the gore system that will be featured in Beyond The Wire. These aspects will be central to the experience we’re aiming to deliver and having realistic animations and an extensive gore system will help immerse players into the atmosphere of the war.



[h2]Animations[/h2]

With a priority on realism, while considering gameplay aspects, we have built and tailored our animations to find the balance that best achieves the feeling that players are controlling more than just a camera. Aspects such as inertia gives a physical quality that grounds the animation in the environment and contributes to immersion.  From movement speed to weapon reloads, our team has fine-tuned all aspects to ensure players are able to manoeuvre through the battlefield and engage the enemy while maintaining balance across the various roles that are available.

In order to deliver a realistic look for the characters in-game, we use references from period photographs and video that can give us the starting point for the various poses and stances of soldiers. Our animators, along with our historical advisors, then go through the key poses for each animation to ensure everything is correct. From these points, we blend the poses to ensure a realistic movement is presented in both third-person and first-person viewpoints.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We have placed initial priority on the first-person animations that players immediately see, but we have also placed emphases on third-person animations so that soldiers moving around you help contribute to the authentic experience. We have implemented a wide range of movements in Beyond The Wire which covers various speeds, stances and traversing obstacles and cover elements. Being able to climb and vault allows players to navigate obstacles and the environment itself, while stance changes let players take advantage of different types of cover and concealment.



[h2]Gore[/h2]

The industrialization of warfare at the turn of the 20th century had devastating effects on the soldiers who fought in this war. In order to deliver a true WW1 experience in-game, we have begun developing an early gore system that will bring these horrors to life. Fragmentation grenades, artillery shells and heavy calibre weapons all have brutal effects on your character and if you cannot avoid these, there is small hope of recovery. The damage to your character will have a direct effect on whether your teammates can revive you to return to the fight. If your character has suffered any dismemberment, you cannot be revived and will need to respawn. This is the first iteration of the system and will be changing as we move through development.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Note: Gore effects exaggerated for demonstration purposes.

The impact of this system on your character will vary depending on the projectile type and area of the body that’s hit. In addition to player movements, we also have a ragdoll system that replicates the effects of force on the player model. The severity of the ragdoll will change dependant on the projectile type. Our system differentiates based on impact force so players will go from a slump animation after receiving a sniper round, to blown out of a trench from a large artillery shell. Our gore system can be disabled for those players who prefer to play without the system active.

Standby for the next instalment of developer blogs, Soldier!

After recently adding more weapons into the mix with the Armament Update article, this week's developer blog will be a presentation of the weapons we've revealed with some in-game footage. With weapon handling being a core component of the game, our animations and systems have been built to create engaging gun play in every firefight. Mixing a blend of accurate bolt-action rifles, scathing machine gun fire and shells from above, players can utilize a host of weapons to approach the battle.

In order to generate the atmosphere we’re wanting to deliver in Beyond The Wire, special attention has to be paid to the sound and visual effects. With the introduction and heavy use of weapons systems such as machine guns and artillery, our sound design has been built to bathe the player in the cacophony of a WW1 battlefield. In addition to sound, our visual effects are also needing to deliver an authentic experience for the players. Gas clouds, artillery explosions, grenade explosion and impact effects are all part of this system that we hope will deliver the most immersive WW1 experience to date.


[h2]
French Republic[/h2]

The French army had to meet the new threat of war with various innovations and improvements to their equipment. From the increased demand for semi-automatic pistols to reliable, efficient machine guns, the French arsenal went under vast improvements from the demands of the conflict.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]
German Empire[/h2]

The German Empire had been investing vast resources towards the armies’ needs in the build-up to the start of the war. New technologies were explored which led to some of the finest weaponry of the modern era.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]Off-map support
[/h2]
The deployment of industrialized artillery is available to commanders from each faction. These systems are offered as call-in options from off-map support including artillery, gas and smoke shells. These support functions will be going under several reiterations and improvements throughout development.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


See you at the next briefing, Soldier!

For this week's instalment of developer blog, we're revealing some of the game modes that will be coming to Early Access. These modes and the objectives are pivotal to delivering the authentic WW1 experience we are aiming for. Beyond The Wire will be launching to Early Access with two game modes, with more coming soon after. These game modes will feature all factions on all three maps to deliver our interpretation of the ebb and flow of The Great War.

Bear in mind these game modes will go through changes and adaptations as development progresses.



[h2]Frontlines[/h2]

Aiming to replicate the push-pull, attack and counter-attack of trench warfare, this game mode will pit forces against each other as they both attempt to gain control of the same territories across the battlefield. This mode will require players to take control of the open areas of the battlefield before pushing on to the enemies trench system, where the engagements become close quarters.

The game mode is broken up into a number of timed phases. During each phase a sector of territory with multiple small capture points will be contested, the team that controls the majority of the capture points at the end of the time will win the phase and move onto the next territory in direction of the losing team’s HQ. The team that holds the most territory at the end of the phases, or the team who captures the enemy’s HQ, will win.






[h2]Assault
[/h2]
For this game mode, one team will need to prepare for an assault from the enemy team. The attacking team needs to capture sectors and work through the battlefield to push the defenders back to the HQ. Defending forces simply need to hold until the assaulting team has run out of time. Attacking teams will need to break from the safety of their entrenched positions in order to apply pressure on the objectives. This initial advance will be the toughest challenge but the momentum can be maintained once the positions are secure

Each sector must be captured before the assault can advance, and each sector may have different amounts of capture points. These objectives will become strategic positions that can be exploited to assist the next advance. If attacking teams capture one objective they will need to ensure they remain in control of that area as they continue to capture the remaining objectives in the sector.







Keep those eyes open for further detail, Soldiers!