Six Days in Fallujah News

Authenticity in Six Days in Fallujah doesn’t come to a full-stop after discussing the gear Marines wore into battle. There’s plenty more to consider, and we wanted to continue this conversation with some of the weapons and attachments fielded by the USMC.

Just like our Marine equipment, our reference material for weapons includes thousands of photographs and hundreds of videos. Military documentation and reports, alongside the hundreds of first-hand conversations with Marines we’ve met along the development path, are key components to driving authenticity home.

Weapon authenticity poses a few more challenges for us as a team. The beginning of the Global War on Terror saw a huge wave of advancements in the weapons industry, and several weapons and attachments were produced in a very short period of time. This meant that Marines in some units had access to certain optics, for example, while others a few blocks away may have been stuck with iron sights. We’ve spoken with Marines who fought with different hand guards, attachment arrangements, and optics on their weapons. Factor in the number of weapons available, and things begin to get tricky.

DEVELOPER COMMENT:
The interesting thing is you’re going to have Marines who were in Fallujah and carried these weapons who see our showcase and say, “that’s not what my weapon looked like,” and they’re not wrong. Others are going to say, “that’s exactly what my weapon looked like.” Because of how much variation there was for this time period, there’s no one right answer.

Like Marine blouses and trousers, weapons weren’t always in spotless condition after a day of combat. Showcasing varying degrees of use with dust and particles takes hours of reference from high-resolution photos to get finer details correct. In Six Days in Fallujah, players will find Mesopotamia's chalky dust collecting in certain ridges and valleys of the weapons.

Please remember that this is not an exhaustive list and all assets shown are currently a work-in-progress.

There’s only one place to start when considering USMC weaponry in Fallujah, and that’s with the military-issued M16A4. Considered the “bread and butter” for infantry, the M16A4 was a staple for many Marines. Its versatility is unmatched with the sheer number of attachments that were placed on the weapon and used in Fallujah.



The modeling process varies per weapon, but for the M16A4, we began with a scale reference model and made finer revisions by hand to land with a model that passed our consultant checks. Once the modeling process was complete, our artists passed the weapon to our animation team to rig the weapon.

We teased our ACOG sight in our last SITREP on gear authenticity, but now we’re taking a closer look. Vertical Grips and PEQ-2 Laser Sights were also highly requested by the community, and you can finally see them mounted to the M16A4.



Another variation of the M16 includes the M203 under-barrel Grenade Launcher and Leaf Sight. This load out gave members of the USMC increased grenade range in a package that was both versatile and easy to handle. Used for direct engagements or close-fire support, players will become very familiar with this kit.



Let’s talk about the M16A4 reload animation and the community feedback we’ve received since our announcement. Our first reload iteration involved pulling the charging handle every time the player reloads the weapon when, in fact, there are various conditions that lend to different reload procedures. For example, the order of operations to get the M16A4 back to “combat ready” is different when the magazine is emptied and dry-fired than if it were to be reloaded mid-magazine.

Proficient gunmanship is obtained through hundreds of hours of practice, and we sought expert council on proper M16A4 usage to deliver an authentic product. It’s hard to resist the “rule of cool” when creating a game, but pulling the charging handle on an M16A4 every time the player reloads the weapon is simply not the entire picture.

As far as audio is concerned, each weapon component that can animate has its own componentized audio. This means existing animations can be edited and new ones created without having to remake the sound effects. The charging handle only makes sound when it moves, and our animators can move it faster or slower or not at all. Whatever we choose, the sound will always match the movement.

Upon full release of Six Days, players will see various reload animations depending on the state of the weapon. For now, here’s an updated iteration of the M16A4 reload with help from our community.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

There were many situations in which Marines couldn’t carry their primary weapons and resorted to using secondaries. The interiors of Fallujah heavily favored CQB, and some layouts were so small that the only option available was the M9 sidearm. In other cases, the M9 proved useful after expending all ammo on primary weapons.

Our M9 was modeled completely from scratch, as there wasn’t a reference model that satisfied our authenticity checks. We hope our community enjoys this model just as much as we do.



Next up is the M4 Shotgun, which saw some personalization by members of the USMC. Let’s start with some context: Marines are responsible for every piece of equipment issued to them, and losing anything in the heat of battle is the absolute worst-case scenario. The more expensive the gear, the more likely Marines would take additional steps to ensure this didn’t happen. And so, they improvised! Some used zip ties to secure their attachments from being knocked off their person while others used 550 paracords.

[h3]“You had 550 cord to dummy proof everything, make sure your optics were tied on with something in case it gets knocked off or you lose it. Because, if you lost your optics, it didn't matter if you are a private or a colonel. You lose your optics, and they're not dummy proofed? You're done. You're screwed. You're just done.” – LCpl James Maxey[/h3]

We referenced photos of flashlights zip-tied to rifles and shotguns and found it to be a grounding detail that spoke to the culture of the Corps. In Six Days, players will see flashlight attachments zip-tied to the M4 Shotgun.



For situations that call for heavy suppressive fire, players will have access to the M249 SAW. Having this in fire teams was crucial for creating opportunities to control the battlefield with flank and maneuver tactics. Players will employ these same tactics in both single-player or cooperative play for mission success.



While there are several degrees of variation when considering weapons used by Marines in Fallujah, our team is confident that our loadouts are a solid representation of the Fallujah Marine’s tools of the trade. As we continue development with community feedback in mind, we welcome comments and suggestions on assets shown in this entry. As for the next SITREP, we’ll continue with weapons on the Insurgent side in Six Days.

[h3]“You're running with 100 lbs of gear on your back at full speed in a sprint, while you're taking machine gun fire. And the whole time, you're looking straight ahead, but you're also looking down to make sure your feet are still moving below you.” — LCpl James Maxey[/h3]

Authenticity stands at the core of the experience we’re building in Six Days in Fallujah. More than 100 Marines, Soldiers, and Iraqi civilians who were present during the Second Battle of Fallujah entrusted their stories with us so we could have the opportunity to share them with the rest of the world. It’s an opportunity we intend to get right, and so it’s become our responsibility to develop a game that’s both rooted in realism and unlike anything that’s come before.

Of course, developing the most authentic military shooter to date requires countless amounts of reference material. For Six Days in Fallujah, we’ve gathered thousands of photographs and hundreds of videos to accurately portray the people, places, and objects from this period of history. Alongside our growing archive of media, we actively collaborate with consultants for verification checks. These consultants live around the world, from California to Cairo, Boston to Baghdad.

With reference photos and videos in our pocket and consultants on deck, we also purchase surplus military gear and clothing from the Middle East to use as tangible reference material for our artists. We achieve more accurate results with these references in-hand almost every single time. As a result, our gear is as close to real-world material as technology allows us to be.

However, some of the equipment featured in our earlier marketing assets were not exact. We want to take this opportunity to thank our community for highlighting these inaccuracies so we can showcase the improvements today and provide additional context. In some cases, you’ll find elements adjusted for gameplay. For example, baggier clothing causes for sloppy animations, and so a Marine’s gear may appear tighter fitting than in some of our reference material. This allows the team to tighten character animations for an improved player experience.

Please remember that all assets shown are currently a work-in-progress.

We know how passionate community feedback was on Marine headgear, and so we’ll start with helmets. In 2004, there were at least three different helmets being fielded by the USMC—the Cold War era PASGT, the newer and improved USMC Lightweight Helmet, and the even more streamlined Advanced Combat Helmet. What’s more, Special Operations units were fielding newer MICH helmets during this period as well. As you can imagine, all this variation caused for some confusion. We took a look at community feedback and sought after additional helmet models at the studio. From there, a complete remodel of Marine headgear was underway.



The model and remodel processes pose a few challenges. First, every piece of art is interconnected in a long chain. Any tweaks or adjustments made have a good chance of affecting other pieces of this puzzle. Assets are continuously passed back and forth between character artists, animators, and technical artists to meet authenticity goals both outside and inside of the game engine. There have been cases in which equipment models were identical to our reference material, until they were imported into Unreal. It’s a very dynamic process, and we want to commend our entire art team for the long hours dedicated to getting the details right. Now, our players can rest assured knowing our base Marine character wears a USMC LWH with a more accurate upward curve at the back.

Next up are our flak jackets, or plate carriers. As it turns out, one of our references was a bit too new. The USMC had made some subtle changes between the time of the battle and when we took photos of Marines at Camp Pendleton shortly afterward. Upon realizing we needed to “go back in time” to get closer to the real thing, we acquired the correct Interceptor Body Armor vest. From there, our artists went back to work in a similar fashion to our helmet rework. Now, our flak jackets are more authentic with fewer molle webbing rows.



Let’s talk about the variety of pouches featured in Six Days as we received some community feedback on coloring. After digging into more reference material (some of which was provided by the community), we’ve found different levels of color variation. In some cases, magazine pouches were colored coyote tan. In others, they were woodland. Instead of a “one size fits all” solution to coloring, we’re now including multiple variations to paint a more accurate picture as a whole.

DEVELOPER COMMENT:
Part of our design pipeline uses recolors on our models. We identified an issue in which colors tended to wash out, and we'd lose details from the base texture that was not making its way to the end with the recolor. Now, our new recolor tech is immensely more accurate in terms of color chroma to the actual colors used in factory camouflage patterns and fabric. Taking things one step further, we even aged them slightly as Marines were not typically wearing anything that was 100% fresh off the military quartermaster.



On the topic of hydration pouches, we appreciate the conversations regarding the standard issue versus the CamelBak. However, we decided to go with something similar to the CamelBak for a few reasons. While Marines were given standard issue hydration carriers and canteens, most found themselves wanting more to work with. They often brought their own CamelBaks (alongside personal goggles and sunglasses) into the field. Some Marines we spoke with even preferred the CamelBak to the standard issue! In fact, "CamelBak Products says its sales figures over the last decade indicate that 80 percent of military personnel in the gulf have the backpacks” (source, 2003).

We received some feedback on the shaping of dump pouches, and we want to provide more context on our design decisions. We intentionally designed these to be open-top for animation purposes, as emptied magazines will fall towards the dump pouch to be disregarded.



There has also been community interest in equipment durability, and we want to take this opportunity to tease our progress. Our artists have the ability to control the dirt intensity on faces and equipment as players complete operations. This “dirtiness” is tailored to support our very specific pieces of gear as players will even find dirt along folds, crevices, and straps. There’s more work to be done on this feature, but we hope this drives authenticity even farther for our players.

Authenticity in every aspect, including gear and equipment, is fundamental to the entire team working on Six Days in Fallujah. We are committed to getting the details right as we share the stories of those who were there In 2004. Another big thank you goes out to our community for sharing the feedback necessary to help make these visual changes to gear happen. As we continue development, we welcome this same feedback as we work to improve our game every step of the way.

Victura and Highwire Games announced plans to nearly double the size of the team developing Six Days in Fallujah and delay release of the game until Q4-2022.

“It became clear that recreating these true stories at a high quality was going to require more people, capital, and time than we had,” according to Victura CEO Peter Tamte. “Doubling our team is just one of many things we’re doing to make sure Six Days in Fallujah brings new kinds of tactical and emotional depth to military shooters.”

Conceived by a Marine who was badly wounded during the battle, and developed with help from more than 100 Marines, Soldiers, and Iraqi civilians, Six Days in Fallujah mixes documentary with gameplay to recreate true stories from the 2004 Second Battle for Fallujah. The game aims to give players a deeper understanding of urban warfare through the stories and struggles of both service-members and civilians. Six Days in Fallujah is being developed for Victura by Highwire Games, which is led by many of the people who co-invented the original Halo and Destiny games.

Six Days in Fallujah is now scheduled to release for PCs and consoles in Q4-2022.

[h3]"When you’re going through these houses, it’s dark—there’s no electricity. And they know you’re coming. They’re hiding in the dark, waiting on you."—SSgt Paul Starner[/h3]

Traditionally, most game engines “pre-bake” their lighting. While this approach can yield strong visual quality, it comes at the cost of a static game world—sunlight, shadows, lamps, and most other lights are all fixed from start to finish. Of course, in the real world, light and shadow can change constantly—and this often has a huge impact on combat.

Marines, Soldiers, and civilians didn’t have the luxury of memorization and trial and error when navigating Fallujah. In Six Days in Fallujah, players don’t either. And so, we sought a solution that would compete with baked lighting in visual fidelity but also offer the flexibility needed to match our gameplay goals. We arrived at Global Dynamic Lighting.



Even something as simple as clouds moving across the sky can change player visibility. As the clouds reposition across the sky, the intensity and distribution of light also changes across the game world. Ultimately, this affects how the player’s eyes adapt to this light.

Take the two screenshots above as an example. In the first, intense sunlight creates very specific and targeted areas of visibility. However, the increasing cloudiness in the second screen distributes light more evenly, exposing insurgents who would otherwise be hidden. In other conditions, clouds might hide these threats.

Global Dynamic Lighting combines with another Six Days innovation—Procedural Architecture. As we announced earlier this year, Six Days in Fallujah re-shapes the architecture inside and outside of buildings each time you play. With ever-changing lighting, and buildings that change shape every time you play, you can never predict what’s about to happen. Even if the same map is replayed over and over, you’re always going in blind—just like actual combat.

DEVELOPER COMMENT:
Let’s examine a case using Team Fortress 2's popular map, Badwater Basin. If you’ve never played TF2, you still probably recognize the map. If you were a regular, you likely played it with your eyes closed. A community member modded the map, leaving players very disoriented afterwards. Most were convinced the actual geometry of the map had changed, when in actuality, the modder simply rotated the angle of the sun by 180 degrees. Areas that used to be in shadow were now fully lit. Subconsciously, players were using lighting as a means for map memorization. There was little strategy involved—simply choose the light path versus the dark one after leaving spawn.

Global Dynamic Lighting peaks with outdoor environments in direct sunlight. With an open canvas during middle parts of the day, the scene isn’t overly complicated and approximating sunlight becomes less challenging. To achieve exterior authenticity, we found the exact position of sun during the first day of Operation Phantom Fury. Plotting this data to a curve with accurate height and angles, we mapped the complete arc of the sun for this entire period. With this, we possess the ability to dramatically change gameplay scenes by simply changing the angle of the sun. All on a realistic trajectory.

However, interior lighting poses more of a challenge. While other titles can completely separate interior and exterior levels, Six Days doesn’t have this luxury because players move seamlessly between houses. Marines were constantly moving between bright, wide-open outdoor spaces and dark, claustrophobic interior rooms throughout this battle. So, our interiors needed the lighting contrast and visual fidelity traditionally offered with baked lighting. But, just like our outdoor lighting, Procedural Architecture means our indoor lighting also had to be dynamic because the walls, furniture, windows, and other indoor components can change every time you play. So, we had to create our own unique dynamic lighting system.

With this Global Dynamic Lighting system, we have more creative control over Six Days. As shown in the video below, the transition from interiors to exteriors can be blinding and create various degrees of stress when being fired upon. This lack of visibility requires you to devise new tactics before entering many buildings. On the other side, moving from a bright afternoon into a dark basement can drive feelings of claustrophobia. On both accounts, the player walks into each scenario feeling unsettling emotions—uncertainty, hesitation, and fear.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Lighting, or lack thereof, is as much of a threat as enemy insurgents. You’re fighting the darkness as well as the boogieman, one just as relentless as the other. While the enemy is clearly discernible in other shooters, dark-clothed insurgents lurking in the shadows are entirely different entities. At its core, it’s a different fight with different strategies the player may employ. In one case, you may see muzzle flash firing from a doorway in the distance. In another, swinging ceiling lights may indicate enemy movement. Do you shoot blindly, expunging crucial ammo, toggle your flashlight for more clarity at the cost of your position, or simply hold and wait?

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

With Global Dynamic Lighting, time of day is no longer a development obstacle, as we are also featuring night operations in the game. Lighting plays a significant role here, with flares being deployed to light the area of operations. We have the ability to move these flares as needed as they fall, without any inconsistencies in world shadows. As you know, flares are not a consistent source of light, and the player returns to a dark night in Fallujah as the flares taper off. What’s more, enemy AI is tuned to better notice players when visible in light or when holding flashlights.

Working alongside Procedural Architecture, Global Dynamic Lighting is fundamental to giving our players a unique experience each and every time. Until recently, it was believed that Global Dynamic Lighting in high-end 3D shooters was only possible on the most recently released game consoles and high-end PC graphics cards. However, we are bringing this extraordinary technology to previous generation consoles and mid-range PC graphics cards, as well as the newest, next-generation systems, when Six Days ships in Q4-2022.

Check out a sneak peek of Six Days in Fallujah gameplay via IGN:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]