Ready or Not News

To the Ready or Not community,

It's hard to believe that 2021 is almost gone. For VOID Interactive, December alone has felt like a whole year! We are incredibly humbled and grateful for all the support and attention Ready or Not has received.
We've been fortunate enough to spend some time with our families this holiday season, and the team is excited to continue working on our next update. In the short run, we expect to release a content update onto the Supporter Alpha sometime in January, and after a period of testing and validation, launch it onto the main Early Access branch for all players.

5 Game Modes Added to Existing Maps
- Raid on 213 Park Homes, 'Twisted Nerve'
- Bomb Defusal on Port Hoken, 'Hide and Seek'
- Hostage Rescue on Caesar's Cars Dealership, 'Buy Cheap, Buy Twice'
- Active Shooter and Hostage Rescue on Wenderly Hills Hotel, 'Checkin' In'

New and Improved Voice Lines
- New voice actor for Tactical Operation Command(TOC).
- Removal of outdated legacy voice lines.
- More voice line variety for civilians.

New Weapons
- R7: magazine fed, highly customizable pepperball gun.
- MK.16 SCAR L: 5.56 assault rifle.
- Krinkov SLR: Powerful and compact carbine.
- MK1 BCM: 5.56 assault rifle exclusive for Supporter Edition owners.

Improved Weapons and Equipment
- Improved weapon descriptions in the Loadout Menu.
- G19 model upgraded to Gen5.
- M9A1 new model.
- CS Gas, Stinger, and Flashbang new models.

Other Improvements Include
- Alpha testing for other language localization: German, Korean and French(More to come later)
- Application of Vivox for improved in-game comms -- better clarity and volume, ability to change input devices.
- Improving and reworking Rules of Engagement/use of force penalties.
- Adjustments to Civilian A.I. morale and likelihood to surrender.
- Improved Voting and Player Control: Server admins and ability to kick players as host.

Along with these new additions, we will be releasing patches and bug fixes as often as we can. Once again, we would like to thank you all for the tremendous amount of support we have received. If you are enjoying playing Ready Or Not, we encourage you to leave a review and follow us on Steam.

We liked what we saw of the SWAT-style shooter Ready or Not when we got our first look at it in 2019. Set in a crumbling and corrupt near-future US, it features gameplay inspired by the original Rainbow Six and SWAT series that challenges players to "defuse hostile and confronting situations." At the time, it was expected to release near the end of 2020, but instead it debuted in Early Access on December 17 of this year...
Read more.

Put yourself in the shoes of a member of the Los Suenos police department's S.W.A.T. team with this video tutorial. Learn the basic mechanics of Ready or Not and what modes are available in Early Access.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

If you haven't already, make sure to wishlist Ready or Not on Steam here!

To the Ready or Not Community, Present and Future

As you may be aware, we have been working alongside Steam to secure more game keys for the Supporter Edition of Ready or Not, but we hit a roadblock. While unfortunate, we hope that this will result in welcome news for many of you. We can no longer generate new Steam Keys unless we also go live on Steam, and since we absolutely depend on pre-sale income to continue developing Ready or Not, we have decided to go live on Steam Early Access by the end of 2021.

Why have we been so hesitant to go live on Steam?

Simply put, while Steam is an excellent platform for indie developers, it is also a very crowded marketplace, with tens of thousands of titles all competing for limited attention. To really stand out on Steam, we believe that we have a responsibility to deliver a solid product that speaks for itself. We did not want to risk launching a game that we felt wasn't up to snuff for our audience. However, under present circumstances, we feel that the best course of action is to transition to Beta (albeit early stage), so that we are able to resume providing Supporter Packages to our backers and secure the resources necessary to continue the game's development. This will also allow Steam's large audience to have the opportunity to experience Ready or Not sooner than they would have otherwise.

Many AAA Studios have incredibly deep pockets and spend tens of millions developing their games, a luxury that VOID Interactive does not have. We live and die by the support of our community, and we are extremely grateful for those of you that have followed and continue to follow us on this journey.

What can you expect in the near future?

We plan to Go Live on Steam Early Access before the end of this year.

To Our Supporters – You will receive a new key to load the game into your Steam library. This build will essentially be the same as what you have now, including recent patches, and it will represent a transition from Alpha to Beta.

Owners of the Supporter Edition who purchased Ready or Not via our website will continue to have access to the game's Alpha Branch to test new and upcoming content. We are working with Steam in order to make this available for those who purchase the Supporter pack on Steam as well.. Supporters will also continue to get exclusive access to the dev team through monthly live Q&A sessions, community polls, and playtests on the Supporter Discord. These new benefits are in addition to what is already included with the Supporter Edition. Upon going live on Steam, the Supporter Edition and upgrade option will continue to be available for purchase through our website, and will also be available for purchase directly on Steam.

Standard Edition Buyers – Access to the Beta build will finally be open to you upon launch on Steam Early Access. If you purchased the game through our website, Xsolla will be emailing you your game key to the email address on record. With this key, you will gain access to the game as you currently see being streamed, which includes cooperative and single player action.

In Conclusion

Please remember that the Beta build that will be available soon is still an incomplete version of the game. It will still have bugs and quirks, and will require lots of additional content before it is ready for full release. Because of our Supporters and with your help, we will continue to push Ready or Not, adding more content (new maps, missions, characters, weapons, etc.), and further refining it to get the game up to the standard that you deserve. We ultimately want you to be able to turn the lights out, crank up the volume, and be immersed in the action – bringing order to chaos.



We encourage you to pre-order Ready or Not from our website located here. If you haven't already, please make sure to wishlist and follow Ready or Not on Steam here.

Until next time, keep your feet on the ground.

Guinevere,
Community Manager

Hi everyone,

Welcome to our latest Dev Update on Ready or Not!

This week Community Manager Guinevere is here to reveal some of the models and animations of various Suspects you'll be encountering in Ready or Not's Hotel level.

Now it's over to Guinevere for all the details on who you'll be going up against...




Hey everyone,

In Ready or Not, every encounter is defined by the presence or lack of a suspect beyond the next threshold. Is there a suspect in the next room? If so, is he armed? What weapon is he using? Does he have a hostage? Does he have friends there waiting for you? Managing your squad members and the behaviour of civilians both play a large part in the core gameplay loop, but the majority of decisions that a player makes in a level will revolve around when and where they find suspects.

In the video below, you'll be able to see a brief preview of suspect models and animations.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Because suspect interaction is vital to a police shooter like Ready or Not, the game's suspect A.I. has been crafted with immersion and variety foremost in mind. A suspect's background, experience, and motivation will determine the equipment they have as well as how likely they are to surrender or respond to force. More experienced suspects will put up a harder fight and might have gear designed to counter the tools you've come to rely on: gas masks for tear gas, welding masks or goggles for flashbangs, body armour for beanbag rounds and bullets, and more. Lower tier suspects simply staging a robbery, by contrast, will likely be far less prepared and surrender when the pressure gets to be too much.

The challenge that suspects pose is not just in their potential lethality, but in how they force the player to react and make choices. It is in the hands of the player to determine when getting a suspect to surrender is unfeasible and when lethal force is a necessity. As preservation of life is of the utmost importance, deciding how to handle potentially dangerous and volatile suspects will be a cornerstone of Ready or Not.


Conclusion

This brings an end to our latest biweekly briefing, previewing some of our suspect models and animations. Let us know what you thought about what you've seen and read today in the comments section, we all look forward to hearing what you think!

Keep your feet on the ground.
Guinevere, Community Manager