Cleared Hot News

Today, we announce the REAL Apache. For those that don't know, the previous Apache announcement turned out to be a Cobra announcement. Oops.

And let's just say, it slipped by totally unnoticed.



Thanks to Semper Scrotus and Major Borngusfluunduch8694, nothing gets past you guys :D

It was just a test to see if you were paying attention. Anyways...




As compared to the Little Bird, the Apache is:

• More powerful (heavier main cannon, more advanced missiles)
  
• More armor / can take more damage
  
• Accelerates more slowly
  
• Longer cannon and missile range
  
• Flies at a slightly higher altitude (but this can be controlled)
  

The best thing is, it actually feels a heavier in-game. This is why I love having physics based movement in Cleared Hot. You just increase the mass, and maybe the center of mass, and it instantly feels different.


I hear you already, Seargent Scrotus- "but wait, there's only 2 seats in the Apache, why are 3 NPCs running towards it?"

[h2]Anything is a seat if you're brave enough[/h2]

I was updating the passenger system for the Apache when I started wondering, has anyone ever sat on the outside ledge before?



To my suprise, this has been done in real life. I did some research and went to the discord for feedback.


Feedback received.

Whoever drew the short straw can throw down a little return fire themselves.



[h2]New Missile: AGM-114 Hellfire[/h2]
This is the base missile on the Apache, and does more damage than the standard Hydra missiles on the Littlebird. The missiles start out at a slower speed, but accelerate as they fly.



Getting the missiles to hit directly where they were aimed didn't come "out of the box". Most everything in the game is physics based, so flying fast and shooting a missile would result in a different missile path than firing it when not moving.

This is a gameplay decision- but for now, I wanted the missiles to hit the spot they were aimed when you fired them. It also is possible that for higher damage missiles, maybe they should be a bit harder to aim. You might have to consider which side of the helo they're firing from, and your speed.

[h2]Blessed by the Youtube Gods[/h2]


I uploaded the new trailer to our YouTube channel, that had maybe 13 subscribers. I really didn't expect anything. Well, to our surprise the trailer took off. We're now at 337,000 views, which is INSANE.

I can't tell you how exciting and motivating this is for us. Thanks for all the likes and comments.

[h2]Join the Email List[/h2]

If you're just joining us, sign up for the email list here: https://clearedhotgame.com/email-list/

We will be using this list to release small playtest builds. We don't have a date for this yet, but people on the email list will get it first.

As always, thanks for your support. We are really cranking away on things and can't wait to share more with you soon.

- Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team

Hey Everyone,

Today we released our new trailer! There's a lot of new content in this one. Grab the popcorn and have a watch below.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Feedback[/h2]
We want to hear your feedback! What were your first impressions? Ideas? Thoughts? You guys are our hardcore fans so we want to hear from you.


We posted a gif from parts of the trailer on /r/gaming this morning, and it has been BLOWING UP. It is a little surreal. It has been at the top of /r/gaming all day and it's now in the top 25 of r/all.

This is pretty much our best case scenario for increasing awareness of the game. I am sitting here refreshing like an idiot. I will get back to work Monday, okay.




We've updated all the screenshots and gifs on the main page, along with the descriptions and tags. I've received feedback from some of you about the text + tags, and that has been super helpful.




We're also tweeting the new trailer as part of a twitter event called #pitchyagame, which is followed by players as well as publishers. Every like + retweet helps!




You all have been amazingly supportive. Some of you have been here for over 2 years! That is hard to believe. Thank you. Making games is hard, but your support makes it way more motivating.

Lately I feel as if we're gaining momentum, especially with the help of a really solid small team. This trailer feels like an important milestone, I hope you enjoy it too. All of your interest and wishlists have got us this far, so thank you.

Colin

Hello again!

You all seemed to like the "I f*cked up" post, it got way more likes than any other devlog. I guess my takeaway is: make more mistakes :)

Seriously though, thanks- it's great to have your support.

On to what we've been working on the last few weeks.

[h2]New Level[/h2]

We've been building a new level that will be a combat heavy high action mission. As the game progresses, the missions will be more focused around combat, and we're finding that heavily defended bases make for fun gameplay.




I'm really happy with the direction of this level, we're learning a lot about how these combat heavy missions can look and feel.

Big thank you to Mane aka @m4ndrill who I managed to hire after DMing him on reddit awhile back! He's been wrangling our 3d art and lighting on this new level. I'm really happy how this level came out, I can't wait to show you more. Mane would also want me to tell you this is a work-in-progress, despite it looking amazing.

[h2]Prototyping Gameplay Directions[/h2]

I find that development goes in cycles: prototyping, implementing, testing, bug fixing, repeat. Sometimes it's helpful to prototype things without any visual assets, what people call "gray-boxing".

Now that we have a handful of enemy units, and the core of things is generally working, we're exploring a few other game design prototypes to understand where our levels will go.

I consider the 5 second game loop to be just the core mechanics: flying, shooting, dodging, landing, picking things up with the rope. Those things are all pretty solid and feel good (although we will tweak these continously).

The 2nd level game loop is somewhere between 5 seconds and 1 minute. It's using the combination of core mechanics to do something a bit more complex. It's like, understanding the patterns or limitations of enemies and using that to your advantage.

For example, Desert Strike, near and dear to my heart, had you exploit a few things:

• Approaching AA guns from behind
  
• Shooting units from outside their range
  
• Using map knowledge to approach from easier directions
  

Since we have the benefit of 30 years of game engine and CPU/GPU progress, we get to expand on this a bit. We also have physics :flex:

In order to do this we're building up some quick tools to easily make builds with these grayboxed / prototype levels. I'm a kid of the PS1 era, so I always think of metal gear solid "VR" missions, where they basically gave you some difficult prototype missions that made you perfect all the mechanics.



Right now we're building up tools to allow us to make "playtest" builds that are just prototype levels, to play between the team and our friends, as we explore some different directions the game can go.

This was my first experiment, the UBER turret.


You can survive for about 0.3 seconds infront of this thing. It is however, fast to kill. It helps to really enforce certain behavior, and it actually feels really fun to go up against difficult enemies.

Things we're exploring:

• Altitude in level design: hiding from turrets from below or above
  
• Variations in turrets: extremely dangerous but slow to turn
  
• Missiles: making it more effective to shoot them down, and other strategies
  
• Using map knowledge to approach from easier directions
  
• Making NPCs a bit less random, and dangerous if not avoided
  
• Directional damage: making the player approach from behind
  

We're also exploring different ways to defeat the anti-air turrets. This includes new types of missiles, with different strategies to defeat them. Both dodging and shooting down the missiles should be feasible.

One strategy is to just redirect them back :D



[h2]Thanks[/h2]
Thanks for reading! Let us know if you have suggestions or ideas of gameplay you want to see prototyped!

As for what's next, we'll be working on gameplay until the next update, as well as the new teaser video. Stay tuned for more updates soon, or follow along on Twitter for more content.

Colin

Last week I posted about adding the Apache helicopter, but there was a problem.

It wasn't an Apache.

It was a Cobra.

In a game about helicopters, I added the wrong helicopter. Lol.



[h3]Why It Happened[/h3]
The simple answer is, I used the wrong 3d model. My policy is to use 3rd party assets when they fit the style of the game, modify them when needed, and then create our own for the rest. If we're doing this right, everything should look consistent.

I was working on a lot of different tasks for this new mission, and I didn't give the actual Apache model the attention it needed.

The Apache Cobra wreaking havoc

[h3]How I'm Fixing It[/h3]
We will be creating our own Apache model for the game, and I will update you when that is done. On an unrelated note, the game will now feature the Cobra as well. ;)

It feels a bit scary showing more of our process, but I think it helps build trust. I'd like you to come along for the ride with us as we build the game. We're depending on your feedback to help us get there.

On that note- thanks for being such a supportive community. Those of you who pointed out that it was actually a Cobra model, thanks for doing that in a clear way.

I'll be posting more frequent devlogs about the things we're actually working on at that time. This should work better for us, since we're posting about things we're currently thinking about, and it should be better for you, because you get to see a more transparent update on the game.

So let's try it, starting... now.



[h3]New Teaser Video[/h3]
Including the Apache is part of a larger effort to create a new teaser video. The video will show some new levels, and one of them will start with the Apache. I won't explain too much because I don't want to spoil that part of the story.

[h3]Free Camera Tool[/h3]
Ariel and I worked on updating a tool to take screenshots in the game. This tool allows you to pause the game and move the camera around, change field of view, and take high-res screenshots.



We can run the game in slow motion from this viewpoint, which is pretty fun.





[h3]Trigger System[/h3]
Ariel added a trigger system to the game, to control actions within a scene, similar to the system used in Starcraft map making, or even in the command & conquer editor.

Ariel's gamedev wisdom appears in moments like this, where he's able to pick the right level of complexity for the task. The trigger system lets us make actions happen within a scene, without writing custom code for each scene, and it's all done within the Unity hierarchy.

This is huge because it's quick to add things, and you can create new high-level behavior while staying in the Unity editor.

We're using the trigger system to build a cinematic shot for the upcoming teaser video, and to use for new missions.

Here's a quick example, using the trigger system to launch NPCs:

A trigger configuration to eject any passengers and... fling them.

This trigger set up allows us to eject all the passengers to what we call "hand-holds", basically a spot they can hang from on the helicopter. Then it takes over control of the helicopter and sends control input to it, to simulate a hard strafe.

This will be helpful for us to test certain physics interactions with consistent input, as well as making fun gifs...

Thankfully there is no fall damage... yet.

[h3]What's Next[/h3]
This week we're working on a new level + mission that will be featured early in the game, which includes an entirely new area. We'll be shooting more video for the teaser, and updating the screenshots on the steam page.

We're also exploring how to expand what is destructible in the game, in a way that is efficient for us to develop, and keeps the performance high.



Thanks again for your support, and thanks for being patient. This game wouldn't be the same without you. I'll be working to keep you updated.

-Colin

Welcome back, faithful wishlisters. I have news for you, Cleared Hot now has twice as many helicopters to choose from :)





After playing the game with only the littlebird for a couple years now, it is really cool to experience it with a new helicopter.

As compared to the Little Bird, the Apache is:

• More powerful (heavier main cannon, more advanced missiles)
  
• More armor / can take more damage
  
• Accelerates more slowly
  
• Can only carry 1 passenger (co-pilot seat)
  
• Bigger range
  
• Flies at a slightly higher altitude (but this can be controlled)
  

[h2]New Cannon: 30mm Gun[/h2]

This thing packs a punch. It feels a lot chunkier when shooting it, and it will kill any ground troops in one shot, including any nearby splash damage. It's also effective against lightly armored vehicles.



[h2]New Missile: AGM-114 Hellfire[/h2]
This is the base missile on the Apache, and does more damage than the standard Hydra missiles on the Littlebird. The missiles start out at a slower speed, but accelerate as they fly. This was actually non-trivial to add for a few reasons.



Spawning a missile at a slow speed could result in the player running into his own missiles :) This was fixed by processing collisions on the missile more manually- allowing us to check what it hits and selectively ignore whatever is shooting it.

Getting the missiles to hit directly where they were aimed didn't come "out of the box". Most everything in the game is physics based, so flying fast and shooting a missile would result in a different missile path than firing it when not moving.

This is a gameplay decision- but for now, I wanted the missiles to hit the spot they were aimed when you fired them. It also is possible that for higher damage missiles, maybe they should be a bit harder to aim. You might have to consider which side of the helo they're firing from, and your speed.



[h2]New Environment: Classified [/h2]

These gifs are recorded on a work-in-progress level that I will write more about soon. It involves a more combat mission that happens in the beginning of the career mode.

[h2]Thank You![/h2]

As always, thanks for your support, it really does help. We have a lot more coming, new vehicle features, a vehicle passenger rework, lots of NPC updates. Stay tuned.