Operation Valor News

[h3]The Playtest is now open for Shoothouse. Go try out our Squad Leader training! Multiplayer opens on May 14th - Saturday at 3 PM EDT.[/h3]

If you have any questions, please join our discord.

[h3]Beta Access Details[/h3]

• PvP Beta Test will take place Saturday, May 14th from 3PM EDT to 5 PM EDT.
  
• Shoothouse will open at least 24 hours prior to the PvP Beta Test (RIGHT NOW!)
  

You will not be able to join a Frontlines/PvP server until the designated time above.

[h3]Beta Summary[/h3]
The PvP portion will take place on Sumersgate. The Shoothouse portion will launch at least 24 hours prior to the PvP test. The Shoothouse now includes a class training for Squad Leader. Be sure to try your skills out at the target shoothouse and the live fire training with AI

We will be testing the following major components:

• New vehicle physics that greatly improve vehicle interaction in all aspects
  
• Destructible buildables (this is NOT destructible buildings/environment)
  
• Class training in Shoothouse - Squad Leader
  

Thanks so much for your time! These beta's help us so much!

[h3]The Playtest will open early for Shoothouse. For PvP there is a specific timeslot so please read![/h3]

If you have any questions, please join our discord.

[h3]Beta Access Details[/h3]

• PvP Beta Test will take place Saturday, May 14th from 3PM EDT to 5 PM EDT.
  
• Shoothouse will open at least 24 hours prior to the PvP Beta Test.
  

You will not be able to join a Frontlines/PvP server until the designated time above.

[h3]Beta Summary[/h3]
The PvP portion will take place on Sumersgate. The Shoothouse portion will launch at least 24 hours prior to the PvP test. The Shoothouse test will be similar to our March Shoothouse Alpha test.

We will be testing two new major components:

• New vehicle physics that greatly improve vehicle intereaction in all aspects
  
• Destructable buildables (this is NOT destructable buildings/environment)
  

We've increased the difficulty on the live fire section of Shoothouse.

We will be having a live stream on Twitch tonight around 11 PM EST. We will be walking through the current Shoothouse and answering questions! Operation Valor Twitch

We've done a lot of back-end work on the AI, adding more triggers and parameters for us to make them more life like. There is still weeks and weeks of work ahead of us but this has helped us lay the ground work.

We have greatly increased the reaction time of the bots in many ways as well as added some more "realistic" aim features. Now... it's not perfect and sometimes they will still have aimbot but we are getting there! We appreciate everyone's feedback so far and keep posting any bugs you find.

After this test, we will do a giant bug fix for the level - such as places you can get out, places you can vault and shouldn't be able to, etc.

Be sure to fill out the survey regarding the Shoothouse alpha and please wishlist us if you want. The survey helps us keep track of all our feedback in an organized manner and wishlisting us on Steam really helps our discoverability.💖

The alpha test for Shoothouse will run until March 31st.

Join our discord for more information!

The alpha test for Shoothouse will run from March 24th to March 31st.

Join our discord for more information!

[h2]Steam Playtest Details[/h2]
As announced in our February 19th Beta test, we are now using the Steam Playtest. This is a new feature added to Steam in 2021 that allows us to create a Playtest button on our Steam page. This allows people to easily apply to test our game and allows us to easily manage access.

[h2]What is Game Developer Con (GDC)?[/h2]
GDC is a game dev convention. It takes place over a week in San Francisco, CA. There are a lot of talks regarding various areas of game development as well as an expo. It's more of a developer convention than a gaming convention, however we've been working hard to get something new out for GDC. We don't have a booth at GDC and we aren't presenting (maybe one day!) but we used it as a time mark for us to get some new cool stuff in the game - which brings us to our Shoothouse Alpha.

[h2]Shoothouse Alpha and AI/Bots[/h2]
A lot of feedback we received from players new to top-down shooters was that it took awhile to get used to the game. This is something we've heard before, we just didn't have the time to truly focus on building something to help new player integration.

The Shoothouse and AI/bots are very work in progress. This is what we have predominantly been focused on since our February 19th beta. You'll notice some areas you shouldn't be able to vault in and some audio being off, that will get fixed in the coming weeks.

The AI/Bots are very new and we know they need some work in terms of their behavior and difficulty. This is a very work in progress system and should be considered alpha work. We will make them harder and more realistic as time goes on - but we also will be split working on other things as well (like maps!).


[h2]Replay System[/h2]
As a reminder we do have a replay system and these replays are stored locally. You will need to bind the key in your keybinds!



To record a replay you must hit the Start Recording keybind and then the Stop Recording keybind (check the keybinds!). Once the recording is started you will see a little camera icon bottom left.



The replays are saved locally and can be transferred from one user to another via file transfer. The replays will remain on your computer and available for you to go back and watch even after the Beta closes. We have various spectator controls to hide UI, etc. This is how we filmed our trailers, you will also have access to the spectator controls.

[h2]And more![/h2]
Be sure to fill out the survey regarding the Shoothouse alpha and please wishlist us if you want. The survey helps us keep track of all our feedback in an organized manner and wishlisting us on Steam really helps our discoverability.💖

For every Steam Wishlist we receive until next Sunday (Feb 20th) we will donate $1 to Stack Up, up to a maximum of $5000.

Stack Up is a veteran run charity that helps veterans by bringing them games and gaming systems. “Veterans are our mission. Gaming is our passion”. https://www.stackup.org/

A few days before launch you’ll be able to sign up for the beta via our Steam page with Steam’s new Playtest feature. More details to come!