Ready or Not News

Welcome to our expanded iteration of our community newsletters! Just as with the legacy editions of the community newsletters, we’ll look at a variety of mods from newsletter to newsletter, but we will also include a deeper look into community content, including streamers, videos, shorts, and art!


If you didn’t see PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted last night, we announced the release date of Ready or Not: Dark Waters, coming this December 10th.

Check out the Official Trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbxznEErPZQ


If looking back is more your style, our COO Stirling Rank recently did an interview with Gaming Founders to speak about the humble origins of the project that would become Ready or Not:

Gaming Founders Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi1N1YmYJug


For this newsletter we’ll be going over some of the creators that continue to represent the ever-growing community of Ready or Not, from our newest partners to some of our oldest.

To start, we won’t exactly be featuring a creator, instead we’ll be featuring our partnership with the National Esports Centre located in Cork, Ireland. As an Irish-based studio, we’ve been aiming to support the growth of gaming in Ireland and would love to share what they’ve been building up. Though Ready or Not is not an Esports game, we love the gaming scene. In an effort to give back to the community, we've taken steps to support the NEC in both the local and global stages, utilizing the tense and tactical gameplay of Ready or Not to better prepare their teams for action in the greater Esports scene.

NEC Promo Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgBYq_jDllI


Next, we'd like to mention a creator whose dedication to the minute of Los Suenos and those that fight over the carefully teetering balance of Law and Order is nothing short of admirable. Over the last year and a half, Shayne of the channel ‘Shayne, Please Shut Up’ has leveraged his eye for detail alongside masterful prose to shed light upon every detail we’ve packed into Ready or Not.

However Shayne's attention to detail most certainly doesn’t stop at Ready or Not, you can check out the channel below. Recently, Shayne moved his lore videos to a secondary channel ‘Shayne, No one Cares’, be sure to keep an eye over there as well.

Main Channel Link:
https://www.youtube.com/@shaynepleaseshutup

Lore Link:
https://www.youtube.com/@ShayneNoOneCares/


Following closely alongside Shayne, we’re going to talk about the other titan of the Ready or Not lore scene, Isaac Morgan. Isaac leverages his talents to tell the tumultuous story of Los Suenos, however he relies much more on incredible editing and cinematography to help tell his story over raw prose.

Channel Link:
https://www.youtube.com/@TheIssacMorgan


Lastly, but certainly not least, we’re going to talk about the King of Ready or Not shorts, FAC TAC. Though there has been a short lapse in their shorts and a slightly longer in more substantial videos, what is there are showcases of RoNs quirkiness, the occasional smattering of humor, and FAC TACs significant mechanical skill on display.

Channel Link:
https://www.youtube.com/@FAC_TAC



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Going forward, we can’t wait to see what else the community brings to the table as we update the game to give modders more functionality to play with and as they improve their own work.

Outside of our drops, you can find more of this wonderful content here:
https://discord.gg/TjyfbXTU28 or https://www.nexusmods.com/readyornot/

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

Keep your feet on the ground.
VOID Interactive

new trailer for Dark Waters, the second DLC for the hit SWAT simulator Ready or Not, appeared at the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted today, delivering a cinematic setup for cops vs. robbers on the high seas...
Read more.

[h3]Attention Officers,

Incoming rapid response call to nominate Ready or Not for the "Better with Friends" Steam Award. Get your squad together, we only have a 1 hour window to get this done.

Other intel incoming this afternoon.[/h3]

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

Welcome to our 80th Ready or Not Development briefing, November 22nd, 2024!

Hope you’re all doing well today, we have some in-depth info to share about game design philosophy around player flexibility and a few details around the upcoming DLC 2 launch, it being free for Supporter Edition owners, a future free content update for everyone next year, and our prototype merchandise line’s launch.

You can already grab our prototype first-release merch line on our official website here. We’ll have a more extensive and fleshed out second line of merch coming later.

Note: 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 the content in our development briefings may still be a work in progress and subject to change.


[h2]DLC 2 Free for Supporter Edition Owners [/h2]

Our second DLC, Dark Waters, is in view with more info to be on feed shortly.
[Image below: "SWAT, this is Air Support on call, you have eyes in the sky."]

In Dark Waters, each mission takes place in a Maritime setting, where your team will take on an expansion of their responsibilities along the Los Suenos coastline in partnership with the California Offshore Air and Sea Team organization (C.O.A.S.T).

On launch, the Dark Waters DLC will be available for free by default to Supporter Edition owners in their Steam Library, similar to DLC 1.

Other than expressing our continued gratitude to these early supporters of Ready or Not, DLC 2 is being made free in part as a recognition of the DLC Weapon Packs that did not come to fruition—a result in part of how we decided to include new DLC-related weapons as free for everyone.

One thing to be aware of is that we will be concluding the otherwise unused Supporter Alpha playtesting Steam branch due to its outdated purposes and unintended issues it is causing for players still using it.

This playtesting Steam branch was first made as a good faith continuation of the pre-Steam Early Access Alpha testing perk for Supporter Edition owners. It offered brief periods of testing prior to updates since the Steam Early Access launch was in some way a transitionary Alpha/Beta stage. However, that style of playtesting perk is no longer supported after 1.0, long after our Alpha stage.

Also, it turns out a number of players still had their game set to that outdated branch, unaware of the fact that it was outdated and that it could interfere with their ability to match-make with players who are on the normal branch of the game. With all of this in mind, we are going to be officially making that outdated Alpha branch unavailable.


[h2]Philosophy towards Player Flexibility [/h2]

As keen-eyed officers among you may have noticed, several of the features we’re going to be adding with the update surrounding Dark Waters (i.e. arrest canceling, multiple headgear equipped at once) and others that are planned for future updates follow a certain theme of somewhat increased player flexibility.

In recent months we deliberately made a slight shift in our game design philosophy focus, moving away from surface level balancing of loadouts and customization and instead focusing on enhancing player flexibility. Our goal with this is to empower players to make more meaningful choices and offer richer customization options, affecting weapons, quality of life features, and gear.

Part of supporting our game entails a certain degree of evolution, something that is benefited by increased development bandwidth that we have now compared to when we were implementing tons of other features in the past.

[h3]Weapon Flexibility [/h3]

Quality gunplay has always been a key element of Ready or Not’s development with three key pillars being customization fantasy, gun utility, and feel. Where things don't feel realistic it is generally a design choice made because it doesn't feel 'right' or 'fun' for the game.

We realized it isn't very fun, engaging, or realistic to force players to make a decision between different attachments for balancing sake. This is a major part of why we’re planning on implementing multiple rail attachments to be used at once, i.e. a flashlight and IR sight equipped together. This is something we wanted to include in DLC 2 but were not able to properly fit it in.

Meanwhile, you can look forward to a few fresh up-caliber upgrades to your weaponry with Dark Waters.

[h3]Gear Flexibility [/h3]

The changes in gear flexibility applies to the headgear changes showcased in the last dev briefing, Vol. 79. For example, forcing players to pick between whether to take NVGs or a gas mask ultimately seemed unnecessarily limiting more than fun or realistic, including the cosmetic benefits of the flexibility to customize your gear to that degree. It looks cool to wear the two together.

[h3]Quality of Life Flexibility [/h3]

Our moreso quality of life focused flexibility changes, such as adding arrest canceling, are not intended to change the deliberate pacing of the gameplay in a major way but rather to reduce circumstances where the game might lock you into something you realistically no longer want to do. Although you can now cancel your arrest, you still have to quickly re-orient and decide how to deal with the immediate threat that may be facing you. Keeping your area safe and secure before going in for arrests is still the ideal option.


[h2]Future Free Content Update[/h2]

Although many of our recent content updates have released next to a paid DLC, this is of course not the plan for all updates going forward. Our next content update is planned for next year and will be free for everyone. Expect more details regarding this update in the new year!


[h2]First Line of Prototype Merchandise [/h2]

Once again, on our website you can find t-shirts, hats, and a hoodie with RoN branding and designs.

We have many other types of merch and designs that we're planning for our second line, however you can get your hands on this prototype first line now! By buying this line of merch you also help us gauge what sort of sizes and quantities we should plan to have readily available in the future.

[Image below: One of the t-shirts from our first-line merch]




Player flexibility is an area we’d like to continue to explore in the future, and something you can look forward to enjoying with our second DLC, Dark Waters. To our Supporter Edition owners, thank you again for your dedication to the early state of the game and we are happy to offer the Dark Waters DLC for free for those of you. We have no shortage of juicy info that is going to be put out in the coming weeks and in the free content update for everyone that's next year.

This concludes our 80th development briefing, thank you 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, Spotify.

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

Attention Officers!

Today we'll be explaining more about the mapping competition.

[h2]Mapping Contest 2.0[/h2]

Unlike our first contest where our contestants had the freedom to make whatever their heart desired, the idea this time around would be the create a map that's directly based on an existing map either past or present.

From gutting an existing map and completely remodeling it in your image, tweaking it however you see fit or reviving a old map or version of a map with your own twist on it. That being said, the amount of effort taken in the remodel will be taken into consideration. For example, a siege on a freshly repaired and remodeled post-meth head infested Twisted Nerve would be judged much more favorably than Port Hokan with with just a change of weather.

Maps that do not meet a minimum threshold of effort [i.e. just increasing the amount of AI on an otherwise stock RON map] will not be considered as valid entries.

No matter the option a mapper chooses, the maps themselves can be either ripped from the game and modified or reproduced from ripped assets but the core idea is that the maps must be based on an old or current VOID Map.

For the ease of use, all past maps and blockouts are free game for the competition.

[hr][/hr]
As with the last competition, there will be a cash payout for our winners with more prize support coming as we secure it.

First Place: $3,000 USD
Second Place: $2,000 USD
Third Place: $1,000 USD

[hr][/hr]

Further contest rules and submission guidelines are available on our Discord, as well as a continually updated FAQ section. Any questions not addressed there or here are free to be directed to my DMs on Discord or in the comments following this post here.

We can't wait to see what our extremely talented modding scene brings to bear this time.

Keep your feet on the ground.
VOID Interactive