Ready or Not News

Hi everyone,

Welcome to our latest Dev Update on Ready or Not!

This week Community Manager Guinevere has stopped by with a look at how civilians make up a core part of Ready or Not's gameplay loop, and how the team are working to maximise player immersion when interacting with or playing around them.

Now it's over to Guinevere for all the details...


Introduction

Hey everyone,

It's time for our latest Dev Update for Ready or Not! This week we'll be taking a look at some of the animations for our Civilian AI as well as the process by which we're able to create them using Unreal Engine 4's MetaHuman technology.




A vital element of any police shooter is the role civilians play in it. They are what set police shooters aside from other games in the genre. Having to account for protecting, managing, and controlling civilians in a potentially hostile or dangerous environment with suspects adds another layer of complexity to each mission. Preparation becomes so much more important - breaching a room means minding your shots and acting quickly to ensure that in the chaos of a firefight innocent lives aren't lost. A suspect with a hostage requires an entirely different approach than one who's in a room alone.

Because of the importance of civilians to Ready or Not's gameplay loop, having them contribute to the player's immersion is a top priority. From their animations to their appearance to how they interact with the player, every civilian is crafted with their own background, motivations, desires, and behavior.

Civilian Preview
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

An essential tool in making sure each character is unique in their appearance has been Unreal Engine 4's MetaHuman technology, which has allowed us to greatly speed up the process of creation for every character in the game. In the images below, you'll see an example of a character that we were able to put together in just a few minutes. By utilizing MetaHuman, we can match the appearances of characters to the descriptions and histories our writing time has made for them.





Above: Examples of a character created using MetaHuman.


Conclusion

This brings an end to our latest biweekly briefing, this time focusing on civilian models and animations within the game. I look forward to seeing you all in two weeks for more development updates regarding Ready or Not!

Keep your feet on the ground.
Guinevere, Community Manager

Hey everyone,

Welcome to our latest Dev Update!

For this edition VOID Interactive CM Guinevere has stopped by to share a first look at the updated models for Ready or Not's SWAT officers.

Enough talk, it's time to suit up...




Hi everyone,

Over the course of Ready or Not's development, we've iterated upon the look of the SWAT team several times. For a tactical police shooter, it is imperative that your teammates' appearances fit the setting, are easily distinguishable, and, honestly, are stylish. We've worked hard to bring these concepts to life, and are excited to show off what we have.

One of the benefits of the new SWAT officer models is that they're highly customizable, allowing us to easily place the kit of specific characters from your squad anywhere on the model itself. No two officers in your squad will look the same.

In the media below, you'll see a sneak preview of Ready or Not's updated SWAT models in action and in different environments.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Above: A preview of the updated heavy armor variants for SWAT officers.

Given how frequently the player will be viewing SWAT character models, it is imperative that they're held to a high standard of quality that serves to immerse the player in the game. Variations between light, heavy, or even no armor allows for more diversity between players in cooperative play and in the single player Career mode.


Conclusion

This concludes our latest biweekly briefing and the first of a series that will focus on character models and animations. I look forward to seeing you all in two weeks for more development updates regarding Ready or Not!

Keep your feet on the ground,
Guinevere

Hey everyone,

Welcome to our latest Dev Update!

In this edition, VOID Interactive's Community Manager Guinevere is here to give you the low-down on how Ready or Not's environmental audio will drive player immersion, from creating a tense atmosphere to giving crucial audio queues - you'll want to listen up to ensure a successful operation!

Over to you Guin...




In a realistic police shooter like Ready or Not, the high stakes nature of each engagement means that a lot of time has to be spent preparing and deciding how to tackle a situation. The moments spent before things get loud can be some of the most tense that you'll experience, and a big part of that comes from the environmental audio of a level. Whether it's the steady tick of a clock, sirens in the distance, or rain falling on the roof above, it all plays a part in immersing the player and telling the story of the environment.

In the below videos, you'll hear Hotel's environmental audio in action in three distinct locations, each accompanied with panning shots of the areas themselves.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Ready or Not's environmental audio is not simply supplementary to the gameplay loop, but an intrinsic part of it. Paying attention to the sounds around you will help you better understand what's happened, happening, and how that can prepare you for the situations ahead.

Conclusion

This concludes our latest biweekly briefing and the final of three with a focus on the game's audio design. I look forward to seeing you all in two weeks for more development updates regarding Ready or Not!

Keep your feet on the ground.
Guinevere, Community Manager

Hey everyone,

We're back with Community Manager Guinevere this week who's been raiding the armoury and managed to grab some video audio of some the weapons you'll be getting to grips with in Ready or Not!

Let's lock n' load shall we...


Introduction to Weapon Audio

Hey everybody,

It's time for the 18th biweekly briefing for Ready or Not, the second of a three part series stretching over several weeks covering the game's audio design. In this segment we're going to look at updated weapon audio, with a particular focus on how recognizing gun sounds are an integral part of Ready or Not's gameplay loop.


Weapon Audio Showcase - M4A1, M45A1 & Python!

Over the course of Ready or Not's development we have continued to iterate upon our weapon audio. For a realistic, tactics oriented police shooter, having gun sounds that feel authentic and keep you in the moment are crucial for the experience. As such, we've taken in a lot of feedback about our gun sounds over the course of the last few months and have been hard at work redesigning the ones we didn't feel were up to snuff.

In the below videos, you'll hear the M4A1 assault rifle, M45A1 pistol, and Python revolver in action. For each of these weapons, we recorded them in use both in an external environment (the city streets) and an internal one (in a parking garage).

Updated Audio: M4A1
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Updated Audio: M45A1
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Updated Audio: Python
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Ready or Not's guns play an intrinsic role in the information gathering necessary to prepare for dangerous and potentially deadly encounters. Being able to determine where a gun is being fired from, whether it's several rooms over, on the floor above you, or in the basement will all help you better understand the situation in a level as it develops.


Conclusion

That concludes today's biweekly briefing, the second of our three part series checking out the game's audio design. I look forward to seeing you all in two weeks for more development updates regarding Ready or Not!

Keep your feet on the ground.

Guinevere,
Community Manager

Hey everyone,

Today we’re sharing with you an update on the state of play for Ready or Not!

We know you’re all eager for information so let’s breach and clear our way through today’s news…





Having been diligently reviewing the current status of Ready or Not the team has made the decision to push back the Beta access.

What does this mean for you? Beta access for Ready or Not will still take place later in the year, but later than originally planned. We know this will be disappointing for you to read, but we will continue to be open and update you with more information as soon as we can.


Why the delay?

Moving back a date, whether it's Beta access, Early Access or ‘full launch’ is never an easy decision, but we know it’s the correct one to make.

Everyone at VOID Interactive and Team17 wants to give you an amazing, unique experience with Ready or Not, and we don’t want to compromise that vision by sharing sooner than it’s ready. We owe it to both the game and to you, our awesome community.


Let’s get on the same page, what is Beta access?

Beta access for Ready or Not is a snapshot of the core gameplay loop. In this loop, you’ll get to peek through the window and glimpse the direction we want to take Ready or Not. We know this will also spark constructive feedback from our core fans, and it’s you the community we want to hear from.

Beta access has always been exclusive to anyone that has purchased Ready or Not through the VOID Interactive site, this has not and will not change.


What happens after Beta access?

For the weeks and months following Beta access, we’ll be taking your valuable constructive feedback, analysing the data and then weaving our learnings into our future production plans. At this stage, we’ll be evaluating what needs to be done and when we’ll be able to deliver on the next stage of our journey: Steam Early Access.

It’s worth noting that there’s a lot to do in-between Beta access and Early Access. We’re aware that the Ready or Not community is more accepting of seeing rougher versions of the game. Early Access will open us up to a wider fanbase, and we must prepare to deliver to a broader audience without compromising our core fans’ expectations.


So, what can I expect when Ready or Not launches into Early Access?

Current plans are for Ready or Not to launch into Early Access with the following –

• A selection of co-op / single-player levels
  
• A range of authentic weapons and equipment
  
• A pre-planning mechanic
  
• And more…
  

Of course, that’s just the beginning. Once we’re in Early Access we’ll be regularly updating the game with more content including new levels, weapons and characters. During this process, we’ll be talking to and listening closely to you all as we proceed through the Early Access journey together.

Your feedback matters and we look forward to collaborating with you!


Every cloud…

We know today’s news may come as a bit of a disappointment to some, so we’re sharing an early look at what we’ve been working on over the past few months. In the following section, we’ll discuss how we’ve re-evaluated the design of our most publicly shown map, Hotel.

Our artists have done a stunning job of crafting Hotel into what it is today, so we’ve snuck into the designers filing cabinet and acquired some insightful design feedback screens.

Hotel Atrium Level Design Update


One of our bigger goals within Hotel is to improve navigation throughout the map. One way we can do this is by crafting natural breadcrumbs in the form of subtle signs and maps around the level. These have a compounding effect on improving the atmosphere too, and coupled with added environmental furniture like construction safety signage, the scene is brought to life by telling a story about the past of this room.

Hotel Café (Looking to Reception)

Here’s another example of just how much we can add by evaluating how to improve on level design. This has a huge impact on immersion in other ways too. We wouldn’t need to include UI markers or HUD indicators to direct players through the world. Instead, the focus becomes the world, directed by the subconscious and organic methods that we’re all already trained to do in the real world.

Hotel Gym – New Cover and Collision



We’ve also focused more on collision and cover for players. Let’s be honest, there’s always a bit of extra fun gameplay to be found in cover, whether it’s sneaking up on the suspects or getting ambushed. In Ready or Not we also take into account cover density, as we have penetration mechanics through surfaces. In this scene, you can see how much extra value we’re going to add to the level design by going through in this second pass. Lastly, we’re improving the location of suspects and civilians in creative ways so that every playthrough is its own challenge.

Hotel Floor 1 – Flow Map



Here’s a birdseye look at one of Hotel’s floor plans. Let’s break it down further, so skip over this next bit if you want to avoid spoilers...


[spoilers]

Ok good, so you'd like some spoilers... ready?

We want players to tackle challenges from different angles. That’s pretty much been the premise and core of what we want for Ready or Not. However, we’d be fools to ignore good design structure for our levels that show the experiences a player will go through as they traverse this floor.

To take a high-level approach, we’ve broken this floor into three sections. Green for safe, and yellow and purple for the two different encounter loops that are available, each with many different encounters. The encounter loops also have primary starting locations that give our art teams better direction with the steps we covered in the paragraphs above.

Encounter Layout and Overview



Here’s a glimpse of how each of the encounters within a loop is broken down. To avoid nesting spoilers in spoilers let's just enjoy the image and know that we’re working hard at improving the user experience and design on a granular level.

[spoilers over]

Oh, and for those that aren’t into level design, here’s the Krinkov SBR



Debriefing

We’ll be making the most of this extra time and will continue to keep you all in the loop with our bi-weekly community briefings.

Thank you all for your patience and understanding with today’s news. If you have any questions, feel free to pop them in the comments section and we’ll jump in for a chat.

Thanks everyone!

Keep your feet on the ground.
VOID Interactive & Team17