Cleared Hot News

[p]Dearest Wishlisters, the time is finally here for me to share some news![/p][p][/p][h2]Cleared Hot will be released into Steam Early Access on November 20th, 5am PST ! [/h2][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]I am equal parts excited and terrified :D But I can't wait to let you guys see what we've been working on, and start the next chapter of the game. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]We chose to do Early Access for 2 reasons: [/p]

• [p]Letting the community guide the direction of the game[/p]
• [p]Give us the option to build more content as we go[/p]

[p][/p][p]Without early access, we would be much more limited on the scope of what we can do. You guys have been really great at providing feedback, and I want that to continue as we expand the campaign.[/p][p][/p][p]For now, we are launching with the first "chapter" of the campaign, which takes place in Texas. We are planning to do 2 additional chapters during early access, as well as expanding with side / contract missions. [/p][p][/p][p]We will be posting an early access roadmap before launch, which will give some more info on what you can expect. [/p][p][/p][p]We went on a helicopter spree and modeled + implemented 3 more helicopters since last devlog! They all have slightly different stats, movement, and loadout options. [/p][p][/p][h2]Mi-24 "Hind" [/h2][p]"A Hind-D? Colonel, what's a Russian Gunship doing here?"[/p][p][/p][h2]Bell 222 - "Sky Wolf"[/h2][p]A slightly modified version of the Bell 222, that has some extra guns and missiles :) [/p][p][/p][h2]UH-1 Huey [/h2][p]"Git some" [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Cleared Hot now has a loadout and upgrade system! I can't wait for you to try this and help us plan how to extend it. [/p][p][/p][p]In the loadout view, you select your helicopter, and equip it with guns and missiles. In the future we will expand this with other utilities. [/p][p][/p][p]In the workshop, you can buy and upgrade weapons. These are classified into Light vs Heavy guns and missiles. Each helo has corresponding slots. [/p][p][/p][p]This is just a starting point- we want to include your feedback in the future of the upgrade system. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]These last 21 days (who's counting?) are going to be super important for our launch. I'd really appreciate any help on sharing the game and just building the hype. We would've never made it this far without you guys, I really appreciate it. [/p][p][/p]

• [p]Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/XmMTqEjpQg[/p]
• [p]Join our Email List: https://www.clearedhotgame.com/email-list[/p]
• [p]Retweet: https://x.com/colin_k/status/1983881573125456344[/p]
• [p]Tell your favorite YouTubers / Streamers about the game[/p]
• [p]And of course, add it to your wishlist on Steam [/p]

[p]Thank you all for the support this whole time. I have been living this strange life making a video game for 5 years now. It's really hard to believe in 21 days the game will be out. Which reminds me... I should get back to work :D [/p][p][/p][p]Thanks everyone, we're almost there !![/p][p][/p][p]- Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team [/p]

[p]Dearest wishlisters, join me on this Saturday morning and feast your eyes on this big beautiful helicopter... THE CHINOOK![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]We had to improve our rotor wash FX just for this occasion.[/p][p][/p][p]Will the Chinook break the game? Will it fit in the hangar? Shhh... it's all taken care of. (I think). [/p][p][/p][p]It fits on the helipad at your home base, just barely. You might have to adjust the satellite TV after taking off. [/p][p][/p][p]It even fits inside the hangar (just barely)[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Hell, we even got a new game idea out of it. Thank you SeaBiscuit. [/p][p][/p][p]This thing is fun as hell to fly. I gave it a lot more mass and inertia. So it's slow to accelerate but actually pretty fast at it's top speed. [/p][p][/p][p]The movement requires you to think ahead a bit more which was a nice new addition. I have been playing all missions exclusively with it since I added it to the game. Can't wait to get your feedback on it soon... [/p][p][/p][p]Content! Content everywhere! My wrists are sore from making so much content. [/p][p][/p][h2]Humvee Avenger[/h2][p]We added the Humvee that shoots stinger missiles out of the back. The Avenger. [/p][p][/p][p]It has room for a gunner in the seat. We're not quite sure if we'll require an NPC back there or not. The other decision is if it should fire the same stinger missiles fired by NPCs. They are quite effective, and if fired in quick succession they're hard to avoid. [/p][p][/p][p]Looking saucy on that destructible bridge[/p][p] [/p][h2]Radar Turrets[/h2][p]We prototyped these awhile back but they have made their triumphant entrance into the campaign. [/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p][/p][p]These rotate fast and shoot you when you enter their cone of "vision". You can defeat them by hiding behind cover and shooting them when they're turned the other way. [/p][p][/p][p]They are more impactful in the game now because nearly all your cover is destructible. So you might be hidden but find that your cover is collapsing. [/p][p][/p][p]As we started adding larger buildings, we thought it would be interesting to be able to put stuff inside buildings that you discover after destroying them. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]This way you have to scavenge through the wreckage for friendlies to rescue, ammo, health, or dispense with enemies. [/p][p][/p][p]Our 3D artist has been killing it with our destructible models. He's been getting so good at making them that he can barely contain his modesty these days... Thanks, Mane ;D[/p][p][/p][p]Our friends at MicroProse presented Cleared Hot at Tokyo Game show. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the booth to play the demo![/p][p] [/p][p][/p][p]What? Huh? Who said something about a release date? [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Sorry I couldn't resist. We will announce the release date in the NEXT devlog. Consider this the release date announcement announcement. [/p][p][/p][p]There is so much happening in the game right now, it's exciting and terrifying. This has been a 5 year journey for me, from learning Unity in 2020 while stuck inside to releasing a game in 2025 (soon). [/p][p][/p][p]Thanks again to everyone who has followed along. We're almost there. Keep being awesome (and share the game with your friends).[/p][p][/p][p]- Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team [/p]

[p]Hello Faithful Wishlisters, [/p][p][/p][p]We are heads down on production but I wanted to give you a quick update on some new things! Gather round, it's time for some helicopter gunship gifs. [/p][p][/p][h2]New Mission - Defending Friendly NPCs [/h2][p]One of the new missions involves helping your NPCs on the ground defend various targets. It's pretty cool to see the battle raging below you, and to help defend your units as best you can. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Yes, that guy did get run over... it just didn't fit in the 5MB gif limit[/p][p][/p][h2]Convoy Mission[/h2][p]I'm pretty happy that we found a good spot for this mission. I know escort missions sometimes suck, but do they normally have flying trucks and mid-air missile explosions?! [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]My favorite feeling in helicopter games is being able to help the ground units fighting beneath you. I think that even goes way back to Desert Strike and being able to rescue people. It always felt unique. [/p][p][/p][p]So this was my motivation to want to have missions where you protect a convoy going from A to B across enemy territory. This one has a lot of ambushes and awesome physics moments. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]It's a trap. Yes screenshake will be able to be turned off for those of you with a weak stomach :) It's maybe a bit much right now. [/p][p][/p][p]We even found a way to still allow using the rope during it. I was worried that players could just carry the trucks straight to the end- but by having 2 trucks, you can't carry one without risking the other one. [/p][p][/p][p]We added the concept of armored targets into the game. Currently these just reduce the damage done by 75% except for any anti-armor weapons, which will bypass this reduction. This allowed us to make the tank more powerful, but give the player anti-armor missiles.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]These missiles launch slowly, but then accelerate towards the last target you were aimed at. They don't require any kind of lock, but we are considering adding that for a future missile type. [/p][p][/p][p]They feel quite powerful![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]We developed the game with a passenger system that allows NPCs to get into vehicles, and we've recently been extending that to other units. [/p][p][/p][p]We had talked about how cool it would be to see NPCs running towards an anti-aircraft gun when the spot you. You would have the chance to kill them before they become "more powerful" by getting on the gun. [/p][p][/p][p]I'm happy to show that we've implemented that in our latest changes! In this gif you can see the NPCs running to get into the turret, and me killing them before they can get there. We are still balancing this and trying to determine how much damage the NPCs themselves should take once they're on the turret. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Don't let them get on the AA gun![/p][p][/p][p]Once the NPCs get in the turret it becomes quite powerful, it shoots fast and packs a punch. The best strategy is to fly around behind it, since it can't rotate as fast as you can fly. [/p][p] [/p][p][/p][p]Our 3d artist Mane did a great job with this ZU23 model. It's an older soviet AA gun. We are working to make things grounded in reality- it feels like this would be some cold war era hardware that has been passed around a bit. [/p][p][/p][p]Those chairs don't look super comfy [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Our NPCs can go inside vehicles and turrets, why shouldn't they go into buildings? And if they were inside the buildings, they would probably come out when the building is getting destroyed...[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Knock knock[/p][p][/p][p]For some reason this gave me nostalgic memories of Strike games and also... Rampage. You would punch holes in buildings and discover what was inside, and it was a mix of good and bad things. Godzilla / Cleared Hot crossover title? Final Boss? [/p][p][/p][p]Just don't eat the toaster (or toilet)[/p][p][/p][p]We are building a mission right now focused mostly on destroying enemy bases, and having each destroyed building have a chance at giving an ammo or health crate. I wanted to see what it would be like if enemy NPCs came running out as you destroyed the buildings. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Trick or Treat?
[/p][p]Our publishing partner MicroProse was at Gamescom showing off the Cleared Hot demo this past week! We got a lot of good feedback from players and press. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Thank you again for your continued support, you guys are the best. I've been trying to keep up with your comments in Steam Community, Youtube, Email, etc. Really cool to get everyone's feedback and hear how much you've enjoyed the demo. [/p][p][/p][p]If you haven't followed our new company account on Twitter / X, you can do that here: https://x.com/notknowingcorp We have been posting pretty often there. [/p][p][/p][p]There's a lot more I wish I could talk about! I will post another update soon. We updated our release year in Steam to 2025 soooo... things are happening. We still have a lot of work to get through, but I can't wait to talk about it soon. [/p][p][/p][p]We are waiting a bit longer to release a demo update in order to keep our pace on production, but you can look for that soon as well. [/p][p][/p][p]Thanks for following along![/p][p]- Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team [/p]

[p] [/p][p][/p][h2]Thanks for playing the demo and giving us feedback! [/h2][p][/p][p]Releasing the demo was quite a milestone for us as a team, and for me personally. [/p][p][/p][p]I started learning game dev in 2020. I've gone a LONG time without a public demo for anyone to play. Imagine the pressure of having 100,000 wishlists and releasing the first playable build! [/p][p][/p][p]To my relief, people really really liked it. We have a lot of feedback on what to change, improve, and all that, but I think the core takeaway for me was: We are on the right track. That is SUCH a good feeling. [/p][p] [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Thank you for completing the survey as well- this data is super helpful for us. We are working on prioritizing game changes + future features based on your requests. [/p][p][/p][h3]Larger, Open-Ended Missions[/h3][p]We got a lot of feedback from people that- while they liked the demo- they missed having larger missions that were less scripted. We are adding a mission to the demo that will serve as our experiment with large missions. Once this is released, we want your feedback on how it feels. [/p][p][/p][p]The goal here is to explore some slightly large game loops that require the player to plan a bit: do I want to take on this next base, or do I want to go find health or missile ammo first? Is that missile crate guarded by enemies worth the risk? [/p][p][/p][h3]In-Game Full Screen Map[/h3][p]We have added a first implementation of this, and will include it in the next build. This is part of our goal of introducing larger missions. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Dodge[/h3][p]We are planning to make the dodge more useful, but with a more limited use. More info on this later. [/p][p][/p][h3]Better Ground Indicator[/h3][p]A lot of people mentioned not being sure where the helicopter was, especially when being shot by the enemy jet. We are going to work on making the ground indicator show on the water, and look into some other ways to make this better. [/p][p][/p][h3]Vehicle Relative Movement [/h3][p]This was the control scheme in the Strike series- so It makes sense. We are tracking this and going to do some playtesting with adding this as an option.[/p][p][/p][h3]Localization[/h3][p]We have started the technical work to localize all the text in the game and will have it translated to a first set of languages soon.[/p][h3][/h3][p][/p][h3]Additional Options[/h3][p]We're tracking a number of things here, a lot of these options are planned and won't be very difficult to add. [/p]

• [p]Option for minimal UI[/p]
• [p]Disable screen shake[/p]
• [p]Blood toggle[/p]
• [p]Adjusting UI position on ultrawide monitors[/p]
• [p]Some fixes for the profanity filter options[/p]
• [p]Better button binding- we will expose the movement buttons and fix some issues[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p]The above list is just what we're focusing on in the near term. We are categorizing the rest of your feedback and tracking it for the full game. So if you didn't see your request above, don't worry. [/p][p][/p][p]Along with the demo, we finally opened up our public discord. We will post changelogs and more details there: Discord Invite Link[/p][p][/p][p]Huge thanks to everyone for playing. We hope to deliver more to you soon![/p][p][/p][p]- Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team [/p]