Ready or Not News

Ready or Not developer Void Interactive has confirmed that it suffered a significant hack that saw at least some of the game's source code stolen, but said that no data relating to Ready or Not players or its own staff was taken...
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If you've been waiting to pull the trigger and finally bring law to the lawless streets of Los Suenos, then now is your chance!

During the Steam FPS Fest, Ready or Not will available for 33% off

Get out there and do your job, officer. Protect. Serve. Survive.

Thank you for joining us for 72nd edition of our Ready or Not development briefing, April 12th, 2024!

Today we're doing an early overview discussion of how our first piece of Downloadable Content, “Home Invasion”, will work and as well as provide a bit of initial info regarding its contents.

We want to have an accessible approach to our paid DLC, release a free game update parallel to Home Invasion to create a broader 'Home Invasion Release,' and expand upon our in-game narrative in a nuanced, impactful manner.

DLC content is just one component of our ongoing support for Ready or Not. We have many bugfixes and free content updates in the pipeline.

These development briefings serve to keep you in the loop about parts of our ongoing support for Ready or Not, however the briefings do not encompass everything that we’re working on at a given moment.Please keep in mind that everything in this development briefing is work in progress and subject to change.

Vol. 72 Development Briefing Summary Points: (not a changelog)

• Free general game update launching parallel to the paid Home Invasion DLC, bringing forward some planned Quality of Life improvements and features
  
• DLC maps are available to be played at full quality by everyone in multiplayer matchmaking as long as their lobby host owns the DLC
  
• To be properly revealed at a later date for the Home Invasion DLC:
  • 3 new maps
    
  • 2 new weapons
• The Home Invasion mission narrative will provide continuity with the base game, yet also provide a nuanced experience that will take you away from the stark darkness of criminal ring activity to a much broader spectrum of disturbing grey.

[h2]An Accessible Approach to DLC [/h2]

A core continuous sentiment from us at VOID is how we want to avoid splitting our multiplayer playerbase across DLC content. Our DLC content should therefore be as accessible as possible, regardless of whether someone owns the DLC.

For multiplayer, this means allowing DLC maps to be played in multiplayer matchmaking at full quality by anyone regardless of DLC ownership as long as the lobby's host owns the relevant DLC. Years ago previously in one of our Frequently Asked Questions there was speculation about having the free multiplayer version be lower resolution in some respect, but we have decided against that.

As previously mentioned in our Vol.68 briefing: we will release additional bugfixes for the base game during the same timeframe that DLC content is being released. Furthermore, all our planned DLC will come with free new base game weapons, a DLC-exclusive player outfit, and new maps. Last but not least, DLC 1 is of course free for Supporter Edition owners per our original plans.

Home Invasion in particular will come with 3 new maps following a new narrative premise and 2 new weapons.

We hope that by making the DLC weapons free and allowing easy free access to DLC maps via host in multiplayer you will all still be able to enjoy the effects of each DLC launch, regardless of whether you specifically own it.


[h2]Simultaneous Free Game Update [/h2]

“Home Invasion” has become more than just a DLC release, it is now going to be accompanied by a parallel free update for the base game as well.

This means we’ll be adding some features and improvements aside from just bug fixes that should release as part of this broad “Home Invasion Release.” The feature list should consist primarily of Quality of Life improvements.

To provide some development context on how this is possible, our different departments are developing future releases at the same time as the Home Invasion Release— including new general content updates and DLC.

This process aims to expand our scope of active development beyond whatever immediate content is upcoming; making use of the natural development bandwidth that opens when projects are be passed from department to department. Our new Lead Producer who we’re welcoming on board will assist us greatly in coordinating these sorts of processes.

For an example in a nutshell:

Once the Level Design Team passes newly developed Home Invasion levels to the Art Team, the Level Design Team can begin partial work on other new levels in the time between any subsequent necessary Level Design-related changes to the Home Invasion levels.

Meanwhile as our Engineering Team (consisting of different programming specialties) and other departments wait for a level to reach them, they are already working on bugfixes, improvements, and additions in other areas and for future updates.


[h2]Nuanced Narrative Continuity [/h2]

The criminal conspiracies in our existing mission narrative run deep and abhorrently dark. Although that is an unfortunate reality of Los Sueños, our Home Invasion narrative will take you away from the stark darkness of those criminal rings to a much broader spectrum of disturbing grey.

In this new narrative a disaster strikes, and every day people are left to pick up the pieces or use them as a weapon of opportunity. Complicated interests and self-preservation are driving forces in this liminal space with people across walks of life seeking any means to an end.

We understand the emotional impact and reflection that existing missions like Ends of the Earth evoke with our players regarding their activities within the game world. The three new maps included in the Home Invasion DLC will carry that torch forward into the labyrinthine world that is Los Sueños.




Our intention with paid DLC, including Home Invasion, is to provide ongoing support for RoN that can benefit everyone regardless of whether they own the relevant DLC.

With a parallel free game update for the Home Invasion Release, 2 new weapons, and easy free multiplayer access to the 3 new DLC maps via lobby hosts we are showing examples of how we want to achieve our intentions.

The disturbing grey area of our Home Invasion narrative meanwhile represents our desire to branch out and evolve on our mission content.

This concludes our 72nd development briefing, thank you again for joining us. Be sure to fall in next time for more development news!



Follow Ready or Not on Steam here.
Our other links: Discord, X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook.

[h3]Stack up and clear out.
VOID Interactive [/h3]

Thank you for joining us for the 71st edition of our development briefing, March 29th, 2024!

This week we’ll look at our new dynamic dialogue-related systems for AI which will give us more flexibility and nuance for storytelling, as well as showcase some of the recent work on our lip sync system.

These development briefings serve to keep you in the loop about parts of our ongoing support for Ready or Not, although they do not encompass everything that we’re working on at a given moment. Please keep in mind that everything in this development briefing is work in progress and subject to change.

Vol.71 Development Briefing Summary Points: (not a changelog)

• Dynamic Dialogue System
  • Allows for easily creatable dialogue strings between multiple characters
    
  • Intricate level of customization
    
  • Complements existing reaction voice line system
    
  • New dialogue being written and recorded
• Lip Sync System
  • Video showcase of the recent early implementation of our lip sync system

[h2]Dynamic Dialogue [/h2]

When you and your SWAT AI officers are moving through missions you may have noticed their penchant for verbally reacting to their environments. With a few notable exceptions, these reactions are generally single one-liner style voice lines prompted by moving through invisible spaces that we call “reaction volumes.”

What we are working on now is a supplemental new, more streamlined and nuanced dialogue system that will allow for easily creatable dynamic dialogue strings between characters on a large scale. These interactions can be triggered by invisible spaces called “dialogue volumes.”

A great beauty of this new system is the extreme ease and depth with which the dialogue parameters can be customized by any developer working on a level.

How and when dialogue is triggered, the number of participants or voice lines involved, how dialogue audio is emitted, and granular elements of dialogue content are all among the variables we can adjust.

For the dialogue volumes themselves we can tweak the trigger delay, which specific characters can trigger the volume (i.e. SWAT, the player, civilians, suspects), and which characters must be present to trigger a particular dialogue.

To avoid repetition, we can also specify whether a dialogue is supposed to be repeated as well as give certain dialogue strings or lines a random chance of occurring in the first place.

The dialogue voice line emitter can be attached to practically anything, which opens up a lot of avenues. This also means that static environmental characters like those in the Station can easily have dialogue as well.

(Image below: Examples of some static character scenes around the Station that may benefit from this system)

The content of the lines for each participant in a dialogue string can be set to play a specific voice line, or a randomized voice line that corresponds to a given situation. The given order of each voice line and which character says it are also conveniently specifiable. If a character isn’t present or required for a dialogue, then their line can be specifically left out from the dialogue string.

We have more dialogue on the way being written and recorded that should be able to plug right into this setup too.

All together, these feature configurations harmonize to create a dynamic character-rich atmosphere that complements our existing reaction voice line system.


[h2]In Sync [/h2]

The lip sync animation system that was mentioned in our previous development briefing has undergone a facelift during implementation which we're ready to show off.

After plenty of tweaking to get out of the prototype phase, the lip movements generated by our system are progressing nicely and pairing with some additional facial animations.

Still, the feature is in its early stages, pending work on improved animation integration for head and eye tracking movements relative to in-game objects. In its completed state it will serve as a nice level of polish to our dialogue system and voice lines.

(Video below: SWAT officer model making callouts with the WIP lip sync system, utilizing alert and angry voice lines)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



As you can see, our longer-term AI enhancements are not just limited to behavior but also cover improved storytelling and immersion across the game.

These new systems are potentially applicable to both current content and future content.

This concludes our 71st development briefing. Be sure to tune in next time for more development news!

Special thanks to Zack for his photos and brilliant work on the new dialogue system, and to Alex and killowatt for their work and footage on this high fidelity lip sync system.



Make sure you follow Ready or Not on Steam here.
Our other links: Discord, X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook.

[h3]Stack up and clear out.
VOID Interactive [/h3]

Thank you for joining us for the 70th edition of our Ready or Not Development Briefing, March 15th, 2024.

This week we’ll be covering work that’s being done regarding animation as well as an outline of our community feedback integration process.

In other news, the Steam Spring Sale has just recently sprung, so you can now get Ready or Not at 33% off from now until this March 21st!

Please keep in mind that everything in this development briefing is work in progress and subject to change.

Vol.70 Development Briefing summary points: (not a changelog)

• We are building out our own comprehensive animation library filled with animations and movesets for future potential additions. WIP examples below:
  • Tased character collapsing animation
    
  • New ‘heavy’ animation movesets for suspects with light machine guns
    
  • 5 animation loops for perimeter NPC patrol officers
    
  • Higher fidelity shield animation movesets
    
• Lip sync animation system being implemented for increased immersion
  
• Outline of our community feedback integration process with four main stages:
  • 1) Player feedback on social media platforms
    
  • 2) Initial internal documentation of community feedback, organized and centralized
    
  • 3) Directors/leads assessing and delegating tasks to address community feedback
    
  • 4) The creation of development tickets for tasks to be fulfilled and implemented

[h2]Animation: [/h2]

Our animation team has been working hard at building a motion library and fleshing out a lip sync system for voice lines, including heaps of animations that can be mixed, matched, and modified according to our needs post 1.0.


[h3]Motion Library [/h3]

Formed from the motion capture and other animation work we’ve done, our RoN motion library is massive and comprehensive in a way that will help take the game to another level. The library is filled with animations and ‘movesets,’ a.k.a. numerous strings of interrelated animations, that serve as a foundation for potential future additions.

Keep in mind that there are many steps that must occur before each of the motion library’s WIP contents can be properly implemented into the game itself.

Some WIP pieces included in this motion library are additional taser reaction animations, perimeter officer animations, higher fidelity animation movesets for shields, and a ‘heavy’ moveset that could be applied to suspects with light machine guns.

The new taser reaction animations in our motion library span several different outcomes when a character is tased, notably including instances where the target physically falls over. We have 5 variations falling forward and 5 variations falling backward for these scenarios alone where the target falls over. We plan for these collapsing reaction animations to simulate physics once they are falling to allow for appropriate environmental collisions.

(GIF Below: 2 of the 10 WIP potential variations for the collapsing taser reaction animation, showing falling forward and backward)

Seeing patrol officer NPCs maintaining a perimeter for your team can enhance immersion and worldbuilding. Therefore, we currently have five new dedicated loops of animations in the library that are intended for NPC perimeter police officers to use. A combination of these loops timed at different intervals would provide for a livelier police perimeter.

Our updated shield movesets in the library offer a high-fidelity representation of movement across many actions and directions. One thing to be aware of is that the speed of movement for these animations is adjustable within the game engine in order to fit gameplay. This means situations where the motion capture actor moves too fast, for example, will be adjusted to an appropriate speed.

(GIFs below: Higher fidelity shield animation movesets)

Last but not least from these examples, the new heavy animation moveset would entail different walking gaits and ways of moving about the world that more appropriately reflect the heavy weaponry a suspect may be using. This sort of application would be primarily noticeable in levels like Brisa Cove or Neon Tomb where suspects often wield LMGs.


[h3]Lip Sync System[/h3]

We are working on implementing a proper lip sync system so that voice lines from characters in the game will match with corresponding facial movements. This system, like many other of our animations showcased here, serves to increase your immersion into the game world. Currently we’re transferring the lip sync animation system onto in-game models and adapting them to look more natural.



[h2]Community Feedback Integration Process: [/h2]

Our community feedback integration process is ongoing following 1.0! For transparency and in response to community interest on the topic, in this section we’ll outline how it functions at a formal level.

The feedback integration process follows a linear path along 4 main stages. The process goes through 1) player feedback on social media platforms; 2) initial internal documentation; 3) directors/leads assessing and delegating tasks to address community feedback; and then 4) the creation of development tickets for tasks to be fulfilled.

1) The first stage is feedback gathering, which is done across various social media platforms in locations such as YouTube, Reddit, Steam, and our official Discord server, among others. The Official RoN Discord server’s feedback forum channel is one of the most effective ways for us to keep track of feedback. This is because it is searchable pure feedback in one place, with each post inherently formatted via required categorical tags, titles, and body content.

2) Feedback is then organized onto an internal document where it is assigned a general estimate of community sentiment prevalence, general date of initial prevalence, category (e.g. AI, UI/UX, Level Design), title, and description, among other factors. Prevalence is an important factor but not the singular guide of feedback applicability or substance, as some feedback might simply not be suggested as often as others.

3) Directors and departmental leads then discuss the feedback on the documentation to determine how it can be best addressed, and how the tasks should be delegated.

4) For the fourth and final step, the departmental leads most associated with the feedback assign specific tasks to relevant developers in their departments/themselves, working to address the feedback through implementing game changes.




Aside from continued bug fixing and optimization of the game referenced in the past couple development briefings, the work in progress on the animation additions mentioned here will hopefully add to your in-game experience.

The community feedback integration process outlined will also continue to aid us in identifying key opportunities to better meet player expectations. You may in fact recognize taser collapsing reaction animations, improved perimeter officer set pieces, and more realistic/fair elements of suspect movement with the heavy movesets among some of the community feedback we've received on animation.

Once again, the Steam Spring Sale has also begun, so you can now get Ready or Not at 33% off from now until this March 21st!



This concludes our 70th development briefing. Be sure to tune in next time for more development news!



Make sure you follow Ready or Not on Steam here.

Our other links: Discord, X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook.

[h3]Stack up and clear out, [/h3]
[h3]VOID Interactive[/h3]