Ready or Not News

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

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