MENACE News

[p]This week, we mainly focused on finalizing the MENACE public demo. Fixing bugs, adjusting the difficulty (aka making it more difficult), adding missing icons, and lots and lots of playtesting.

To publish the demo, we also have to prepare a Steam Build that can be uploaded and updated.

Apart from that, the whole project had to be transitioned to Unity 6, which also tied up a bunch of resources.

The tasks mentioned above unfortunately are not making up a juicy dev diary, so we don’t really have a lot of new stuff to show.

What is worth mentioning, though, is that the week began with a big media push as a bunch of new articles and previews about MENACE got published. On Monday, Jan and I invested an afternoon in visiting German streamer and YouTuber HandofBlood in his studio for a live MENACE play session, the first time.

To round things out, we also published a teaser for a MENACE cinematic that is in the works. The whole cinematic will be approximately 1 minute and 20 seconds long and will be released later this year. Syama Pedersen directs it, who is known for his video series "Astartes," and it was produced by the Canadian visual effects studio Hoplite.

To help you bridge the time until the demo is released at the end of the month, we have compiled a list of links to new articles and media for your viewing pleasure.

Enjoy!

Gamesradar and PC Gamer Articles.
[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Interview with PC Gamer.[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]MENACE Play Session with HandofBlood.[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Party Elite[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Grid Commander[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Marbozir[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Easily Distracted Games[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][h2]Engage, Explore, and Stay Informed[/h2][hr][/hr][p]That's it for now! We'll see you next Friday.

You can find us on Discord, BlueSky, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit for discussions, updates, and feedback. You can also subscribe to our monthly MENACE newsletter on our website — just scroll to the bottom of the page to sign up.
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[p]As we approach the release of a public demo for MENACE, the pace has picked up, and the team has shifted from implementing new features to bug fixing, polishing, and balancing.  [/p][p][/p][h3]Preparing the Demo – Tactical Focus and Replayability[/h3][hr][/hr][p]As we announced earlier, there will be a public MENACE demo in late September. We are currently working intensely on preparing and testing the demo to ensure it offers a substantial amount of playtime and has as few bugs and issues as possible. [/p][p][/p][p]The demo will focus on the tactical combat aspect of the game and will feature a full-scale operation comprising a series of procedurally generated missions. The missions themselves will be different every time you start the demo -- just like the item rewards, enemy army compositions, maps, and so on. Replaying the demo is highly encouraged, as you will find and encounter new things with every run! [/p][p][/p][p]The demo is set in an advanced game state, where players have already completed 8-10 operations. Players will have a wide variety of squads and equipment to choose from, and the tactical battles will be of a decent size. [/p][p][/p][h3]Pirate Idle Variations – Distinct Faction Identity[/h3][hr][/hr][p]Up until now, all human entities in the game drew from the same set of animations. This was necessary as we need to make the most of the limited resources available. With the zoomed-out view of the game, individual soldier animations are not a top priority for optimization.

However, we always loved how, in other games, different factions feature different animation sets, especially their idle animations. This helps to quickly identify units of different factions and also really helps build the world, as the animations are a visual tool to tell players about the factions.

A pirate will have a completely different body language than a combat-trained Marine. The pirates are wild, undisciplined, drugged up, and not well-trained. This should reflect in their animations. They have to be immediately recognizable, even at a distance, by breaking up the classic “combat-ready” marine silhouette we have been using so far.

This is why we started adding unique idle animations to this faction.

We hope to keep expanding on this system to include more factions and more animations as development continues:
[/p][p][/p][h3]Alien Wildlife - New Enemy Units[/h3][hr][/hr][p]For the alien wildlife faction, we started creating a flying creature that gives the faction a lot more mobility and speed to disrupt the players' plans. Up until now, the aliens have been restricted to moving on the ground, which makes it easy to predict their next move and assess their threat range.

The new flying creatures will move over long distances, ignoring obstacles in their path, and are a lot less predictable.
[/p][p][/p][h3]Testing and Balancing - Polishing Before Early Access[/h3][hr][/hr][p]We have now reached the point at which we have shifted our development focus to playtesting and balancing to improve progression, game flow, difficulty, and so on.

The whole game in its Early Access state is now playable, but it still lacks a lot of polish, minor fixes, and improvements. This includes such trivial things as missing item icons -- and yes, the EA build will have some placeholder icons in it. But it also extends to finding out why certain lights do not work properly under some lighting conditions or why an enemy unit refuses to use a certain skill effectively, which can take a lot of time.

In order to minimize the impact of new content messing up balancing, breaking up systems, or introducing new bugs, we almost stopped adding new things to the game and instead focused on improving everything that is in the game.

After launching into Early Access, we will go back to regular large content updates, of course. [/p][p][/p][h3]Squadleader VOs – Bringing Characters to Life[/h3][hr][/hr][p]All the Squadleaders and Pilots in the game will come with voiced combat barks. There will also be VO for certain characters and situations outside of combat. Over the past week, we had numerous recording sessions with professional voice actors, alongside SIDE, who have already worked on games such as Cyberpunk, Kingdom Come, and Baldur's Gate 3.

The voice lines really help bring the characters to life and push the immersion to a new level. With the extreme range of different backgrounds that have to come together to fight the MENACE, bringing on a new SL into combat always brings a fresh angle and new barks. Each character has their own lingo, attitude, expression, and speech patterns.

[/p][h2]Engage, Explore, and Stay Informed[/h2][hr][/hr][p]That's it for now! We'll see you next Friday.

You can find us on Discord, BlueSky, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit for discussions, updates, and feedback. You can also subscribe to our monthly MENACE newsletter on our website — just scroll to the bottom of the page to sign up.

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Hey MENACE fans!

Hooded Horse team here. As Jan and Paul make their way back home after an eventful Gamescom, we wanted to share the promised updates on MENACE in their stead.

While at Gamescom, Jan & Paul gave press and content creators some hands-on time with MENACE. Expect to see some new information and footage from those sessions in the coming weeks.

And we know that you all are eager to get your hands on the game as well. So we’re excited to share that the development team will be releasing a demo of the game in late September!

For the sake of transparency, we’d also like to confirm that MENACE will not be released in Q3 of this year as originally planned. We’ll have a more detailed community update to share in early September regarding the new release timeline, so keep an eye out for that.

Thank you all for your ongoing support of the game and the team, and for your patience as they make MENACE the best it can be. We look forward to hearing all of your thoughts on the upcoming demo!

– The Hooded Horse Team

[p]In this Dev Diary, we will show the basic infantry armors in MENACE and explain how the armor system is set up, what variants are, and how armor tiers are implemented. Bear in mind that this is just the baseline, and more armor will be added during development.
[/p][h2]Armor Class System Setup[/h2][hr][/hr][p]The whole armor system for infantry in Menace is set up to mimic how body armor works in real life and also how body armor is classified. The baseline of armors is a relatively straight progression from armor Class I to armor Class VI, with each class offering more protection, but also increased supply costs to deploy.

The rating of armor classes works like in real life, where the armor has to withstand shots from a certain caliber to rate in its respective class.

The same holds true in MENACE, where, for example, a Class III body armor will reliably stop the first shot from an SMG over five tiles, while a Class IV armor will stop the first shot from an assault rifle over the same distance.
[/p][h2]Armor Variants[/h2][hr][/hr][p]On top of the basic six armor classes, MENACE will feature variants of certain armors. Variants are basically sidegrades that specialize in certain aspects. This might include versions for assault troops with additional accessory pouches or commando versions that feature improved camouflage and lightweight materials.
[/p][h2]Armor Tiers[/h2][hr][/hr][p]While armor variants are mostly sidegrades, armor tiers are straight upgrades. Usually, modernized or otherwise enhanced versions of existing armors that offer more protection and other benefits for an increased price. It is also possible to have an additional tier of an armor variant, really opening up the system to add a lot of different armors eventually.

[/p][h3]Armor Class I: RMC Fatigues[/h3][hr][/hr][p]The standard RMC fatigues are usually worn by the crew on board. They offer no protection and have only limited space to store accessories.

[/p][h3]Armor Class II: Soft Armor[/h3][hr][/hr][p]A soft armor graded as class II, designed to protect against shrapnel from explosions mainly. It will not stop any bullet fired from short distances.

[/p][h3]Armor Class III: Small Arms Protective Plating[/h3][hr][/hr][p]A class III-rated Small Arms Protective Plating (SAPP). Trial testing includes ballistic tests from SMG caliber weapons over medium and long distances. These calibers will reliably be stopped as long as the armor is still intact.

[/p][h3]Armor Class III Marine Variant: Marine Infantry Bodyarmor[/h3][hr][/hr][p]The Marine Infantry Body Armor (MIB) is the standard armor worn by all basic Marine detachments. It is light but durable and easy to maintain. The protection value is limited to an official class III level, but the armor is way better designed and crafted than the widespread SAPP armors.

[/p][h3]Armor Class IV: Improved Small Arms Protective Plating[/h3][hr][/hr][p]The Improved Small Arms Protective Plating Class IV is rated for stopping assault rifle-sized calibers reliably with a maximum penetration rate of 10% over medium distances.

[/p][h3]Armor Class IV Marine Variant: TCR Marine Tactical Armored Platesuit (MTAP)[/h3][hr][/hr][p]The fighting TCR Marines employ standard-issue armor in all environments. Offers good protection against most small arms and explosives while not hindering movement. Very durable but hard to come by in the Wayback.
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[p]Note: The Wayback is an isolated frontier system, far from the Core Worlds, where your strike force has been deployed to bring order and reassert control.[/p]

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[/p][h3]Armor Class V: Enhanced Small Arms Protective Plating[/h3][hr][/hr][p]Class V and higher-rated body armor will be reserved for specialized assault units that can afford to sacrifice speed, agility, and situational awareness in exchange for superior protection. Enhanced Small Arms Protective Plating (ESAPP) provides reliable defense against the majority of handheld caliber munitions, including those fired from assault and battle rifles.

[/p][h3]Armor Class VI: Extreme Small Arms Protective Plating[/h3][hr][/hr][p]Extreme Small Arms Protective Plating (XSAPP) is designated as Class VI armor. It significantly restricts mobility, maneuverability, and field of vision. However, it provides protection approaching that of mechanized walker armor, capable of deflecting large-caliber rounds and withstanding most low-powered energy weapons.

[/p][h3]Armor Class VI Marine Variant: TCR Navy Breaching Armor Suit - Heavy[/h3][hr][/hr][p]Developed for Navy boarding commandos, the Breaching Armor Suit - Heavy (BAS-H) offers extreme protection. Its carapace plating will stop almost all kinetic projectiles, even over short distances. Movement and perception are hindered, though.


That's it for today!

With Gamescom 2025 next week, there is no Dev Diary next Friday; take the chance to catch up on any previous entries you may have missed.

[dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h2]Engage, Explore, and Stay Informed[/h2][hr][/hr][p]That's it for now! We'll see you next Friday.

You can find us on Discord, BlueSky, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit for discussions, updates, and feedback. You can also subscribe to our monthly MENACE newsletter on our website — just scroll to the bottom of the page to sign up.

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This week, we are spinning back and taking a look at one of the features within our Operations system that we talked about in Dev Diary #18. Strategic Assets are important rewards for completing missions within an operation, but enemy forces are also not sleeping on improving their combat odds.
Let’s take a closer look.

Note: Operations are branching mini-campaigns of three to five procedural battles. You choose one mission per tier, carry all damage forward, and end with a single showdown. Clear the chain, and your roster is restored while you bank OCI points, Authority, faction trust, gear, and temporary Strategic Assets; fail any mission, and the operation ends, costing you the top rewards. Dev Diary #18 has more details.

[h3]What are Strategic Assets[/h3][hr][/hr]Early in development, we decided not to have singular missions. Still, we wanted to create an entirely new dynamic and procedural system that creates ever-new campaigns with connected and branching missions. The result of this effort is our Operations system, which we discussed in the Diary linked above.

Each completed mission gives the player a variety of rewards, mostly new items but also experience in the form of promotions to hand out to squad leaders. Also, players get OCI points and trust with the local faction as rewards for completing the whole operation. What was still missing was the actual outcome of each mission and how it affected the rest of the operation.

Armed clashes always have a goal or a reason to happen. Each side wants to achieve something and is risking their lives for it. This outcome of a mission is what we decided to call a strategic asset.

The name might change, as it does not fit a hundred percent.

So, in short, a Strategic Asset is a boon, resource, opportunity, item, or any other kind of advantage that the player earned by completing a mission. These assets depend on the mission type, and many are unique to specific missions. Often, there are multiple different possible strategic assets for each mission, and it might be a different one when playing the same operation and encountering the same mission later.

Most strategic assets will only be active for the duration of the current campaign and are reset once the campaign is resolved. However, there are some where players get permanent rewards like additional items, promotion points, trust, or others.

[h3]Why Strategic Assets[/h3][hr][/hr]When designing the game, it was important to us to add immersion, choice, and consequence, and believability to the operations. They are all about adding context to each mission, and this not only includes the mission preparation and briefing, but also the outcome and aftermath. After all, there was a good reason to set up that specific mission by local command and the Impetus Staff.

An example would be a mission to free loyal local forces soldiers from Rogue Army holding cells in a rescue mission. A possible strategic asset could be two local forces squads joining the players' army for the final mission of this operation.

Another would be more manpower in the form of Squaddies to join the player’s forces. Another mission might have the player ambush Pirate reinforcements along a road.

If the player succeeds, the Pirates might suffer from reduced supply points in all following missions.

[h3]Strategic Asset Examples[/h3][hr][/hr]The mission “Rescue Settlers” in which you have to sweep in and stop alien critters from killing local settlers:


Securing a settlement might bear various effects; in this case, the player gains the bonus of a Hunting Lodge. These hunters can be very helpful in bringing down large aliens that might lurk in the area:


The assignment to clear and secure a landing zone will often be the first when starting an operation and setting up a bridgehead to advance from. This might be a strategic asset from such a mission:


Searching and destroying Pirate weapon caches might have you gain access to some piratey equipment:


Oftentimes, opposing forces are fighting over the control of fringe settlements. The reasons might be many, but often it is about gaining access to powerful facilities that help the ongoing efforts, like a repair workshop:


[h3]Enemy Assets[/h3][hr][/hr]The enemy factions are, of course, also not sitting idly by. They do have their plans and ways to acquire strategic assets, which in this case are called “Enemy Assets”.

After the initial operations, which are relatively short, longer and more difficult operations start to appear. These might have missions that are not strategic assets, but enemy assets as rewards. In case the player decides not to take on the mission with the enemy asset attached, but does another mission on the same level of the operation, the asset gets activated.

Just as with the strategic assets, it will only run for the rest of that specific operation, but given that Operations can be up to 5 missions long, this can really add up.

The enemy assets are faction-specific and resemble efforts of, for example, the pirates, to establish advantageous conditions on the battlefield. Here are some examples of what to expect:

Pirates love to tinker, break apart, and Frankenstein together new equipment. Letting them set up a metal workshop will help them improve the durability of all their armored units.


Being the unorganized bunch they are, the Pirates suffer from low discipline and can be beaten back even when attacking with superior numbers. They might want to work on that weakness and give their units a little nudge in the right direction. Allowing them to establish a propaganda center that boosts their morale will make them much more resilient on the battlefield, recover faster from suppression, and be less likely to flee.


As you can see, both strategic assets and enemy assets can be decisive to the outcome or difficulty of a campaign. Going for permanent goodies like items can be viable.

Still, it will come at the cost of not getting an immediate advantage that helps to win the operation with better results and fewer losses.

Additionally, stopping enemy assets is crucial to avoid giving the enemy an edge. However, missions involving enemy assets do not provide a strategic advantage, so players are missing out on any immediate advantage.

We want players to not only face complex decisions on the battlefield itself, but also before that on the operational level.

In combination with all the other factors like mission type, difficulty, expected reward, weather conditions, and strategic or enemy assets, there are a lot of factors that have to be taken into consideration when selecting not only the next mission but also planning a way through the branching operations.

[h2]Engage, Explore, and Stay Informed[/h2][hr][/hr]That's it for now! We'll see you next Friday.

You can find us on Discord, BlueSky, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit for discussions, updates, and feedback. You can also subscribe to our monthly MENACE newsletter on our website — just scroll to the bottom of the page to sign up.

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