Onward News

Hello Everyone!

We hope you’re all continuing to brush up on those tactics and improve your skills in Onward while we’ve been working on updates and patches alike. A new patch will release next week featuring anti-cheat measures, and we’ve started testing the long-in-the-making Update 1.8.8 earlier in the week. In this edition of the Devs’ Desk we will also outline our roadmap for the next couple of months.

The competitive scene is gearing up as season 11 of the VRML Onward league officially started this week! In addition, more maps have been added to the Custom Maps area of Onward. Check out the community center for the information related to this news.

From The Devs’ Desk:
First things first: recent events forced us to focus our efforts on an anti-cheat system we have been working on over the past couple of months, and we are planning to release patch 1.8.7.3 for Onward that will bring this brand-new system next week.

With one task completed we are looking to get back to the development of update 1.8.8 which remains largely unchanged from our previous Sitrep: it is centered around a large update of the game logic that controls player lobbies, game modes, and many other aspects of the game. This update has been very long overdue, and as those of you who regularly follow these Sitreps can attest to, very long in the making. Aside from these changes we are also including audio improvements and a night version of the Shooting range in this update.


Content is going to be our focus for the updates that follow 1.8.8, with Abandoned Day and Abandoned Night taking center stage for update 1.8.9 and Turbine planned to do the same for update 1.8.10. If you paid attention to the Seals in our April Fools ‘seals’ gag you may have noticed our buddy Andre who premiered the first glimpse of Abandoned.


While these maps are being released all signals are go for the programmers to work on some of the features we’ve mentioned in previous Sitreps: a party system that will allow you to quickly join up to lobbies with your friends, a ranking and progression system to keep track of your performances, and the lighting update in the form of Shadowmask. Last time around we were still waiting for a Unity update to be able to bring back Shadowmask lighting and other lighting improvements to PCVR, and we’re very happy to say that this update recently released, and work on our end can begin once Update 1.8.8 is out the door.

Although this is far from all that we’re working on, it should give you a clearer picture of what to expect from our updates in the next couple of months.

Community Center:
Season 11 for the VRML Onward league officially kicked off earlier this week! We are looking forward to watching the matches and seeing all the displays of teamwork and tactics that are sure to keep us on the edge of our seats. To watch the matches throughout the season check out the Onward section on the VRML website: https://vrmasterleague.com/Onward

The library of custom maps in Onward keeps expanding. We’ve highlighted four new releases for April:

Speedball by F.Lapinski
Speedball is a map with 4 unique fields scaled and copied from an official NXL World Series layout. Each field has its own boarders and each field can only be played depending on the Objective location. This map is best played with the preferred loadout of a Specialist Shotgun using only slug rounds and smoke grenades. This gives it a balanced chaotic feel to the game with such a small paintball field being used.


Preston Yard by KIRI
"Preston Yard is an ever changing, competitive focused map, that receives frequent quality of life changes based on player feedback. It's a map built for competitive play, by a competitive player. The map follows the traditional 3 lane system, and has a variety of interesting angles, points of interest and realistic world detail. Preston Yard has the potential to be a fan favorite map, and has received nothing but outstanding praise by everyone who has played it. I would LOVE to get this map in the VRML map pool, and work with the community to create one of the best maps Onward has ever seen!"


Apocalyptic by Nolomite
The fallout from the pandemic has led to World War III, and civil wars due to pandemic related deaths and political polarization. Two factions emerge to either cease or defend the most powerful weapon, the uplink.


Villapuma by Rubio
Marsoc is locked in Puma Village and must deactivate the uplink. The streets are patrolled by VOLK soldiers

Hello everyone!

We're very proud to announce that the Seals will make their first appearance in Onward, and are available in the game as of this announcement.

Onward has always focused on the battle between the Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) and the fictional VOLK militia. Although MARSOC will continue to play a central role in Onward's universe going forward the addition of Seals will accomodate upcoming changes in the game where forces will take up a special operations role deep inside VOLK controlled territory. We are looking forward to sharing more details about these changes soon.

It has been a long road to get this new class of warriors in the game, and we would like to thank the Seals and the Naval Special Warfare Command for working with us to clear the way during this long and complicated process. In particular we'd like to send our thanks to Andre, Gaston, Hoover, Midge and 'Popeye'.

Semper Fortis!

Hello Everyone!

We hope everyone is enjoying the 1.8.7.2 patch! 1.8.7.2 was a community driven patch and we wanted to really take time to focus on areas where we could improve your gameplay the most. The feedback you have given us has been overwhelmingly positive and a lot of you have reported issues have been fixed. If you still encounter any major issues then please use the official Onward Discord or website support form to reach out.

We know hopping in and playing with other like minded players is what a lot of you are looking for. While you are waiting for the Friends and Party system we discussed in earlier Sitreps, we are providing some tools/guides to help better connect and play with people. Please check out the Community Center below for more info.

From The Devs’ Desk:
Now that 1.8.7.2 has been released we will be moving our focus to update 1.8.8 and security improvements. Those of you who have been keeping up with our Sitreps may recall 1.8.8’s main feature is a coding refactor, so while it will not contain a lot of new content the update will fix a lot of outstanding issues with the game, especially when it comes to lobbies and game mode specific problems.

We will have new content for you as well. Included in 1.8.8 will be a nighttime version of the Shooting Range. In addition, testing will soon be underway for another map: the redesigned version of Abandoned which will be released in both a day and a night setting. After Abandoned we will be releasing more maps to keep the content coming. You might even see some teasers of the maps coming soon: be on the lookout!

The ranking and friends/party systems are also in the works. These are much bigger projects that will be worked on over a longer period of time. We are setting a higher standard for new features we develop to make sure they meet your expectations while making sure that the increased amount of features in Onward will not impact the game’s future development where possible.

Community Center:
We often get asked how the Friends Filter works in multiplayer and how to best find your friends and their lobbies. Below we have laid out instructions for how/when to use the filter and how to more easily find your friends’ lobby.

A guide to find and play with your friends in Onward Multiplayer

If you and your friends are on the same platform

SteamVR
Make sure both you and your friend are friends on Steam
One person will need to start a Multiplayer Game
Choose “Show Friends Only” from the filter options in Onward Multiplayer Lobby listings, press apply
You should now see just your friends game in the lobby list

Oculus Home
Make sure you and your friend are both friends/on friends list in Oculus Home
One person will need to start a game and put a helmet on in the tent
Choose “Show Friends Only” from the filter options in Onward Multiplayer Lobby listings, press apply
You should now see just your friends game in the lobby list

Oculus Quest
Make sure you are both friends/on friends list through the Oculus app.
One person will need to start a game and put a helmet on in the tent
Choose “Show Friends Only” from the filter options in Onward Multiplayer Lobby listings, press apply
You should now see just your friends game in the lobby list

If you and your friends are NOT on the same platform
Make sure you DO NOT have “Show Friends Only” selected in the filters
One person will need to start a match and put a helmet on in the tent
Ask your friends what game mode they are going to be playing
Filter by that game mode and search through remaining lobbies for your friends game

Now that you can more easily find your friends, you can now jump in together and really start building those skills together and develop some team tactics. To assist you with this we will soon be providing you with aerial/top-down maps in the Media area on our website. Use these to formulate your best plan of attack, and use them wisely!

The map makers in the community have been working hard and have developed some new maps for you to play on. Show them some love and give them a test run. For more information about joining the custom maps community, join our Discord server Discord.gg/Onward.

From user KIRI : "Weapons Factory" is my first successful attempt at making a map. It has a nice mixture of close quarters and long range engagements, and is tailored to competitive play, receiving frequent map updates based on player feedback. I hope to see this map become popular with the league community, as I feel it has potential to be an extremely fun and balanced map.

From user MOTYSHIZ: A procedurally-generated map? In Onward? sb_procedural tries to offer a unique CQB experience that trains players' moment to moment adaptability. This map will have its layout re-shuffled on a semi-weekly basis. Even without the weekly re-shuffle, the spawns rotate between rounds to keep the layout feeling fairly random. New pieces will be added from time to time, and some weeks may feature some very experimental modifications.
Motyshiz (sb_procedural creator) would like to credit LeonMail for the initial idea.

From Doomblade187: Backstreets is an urban map with three long, interconnected lanes and plenty of places to hide. Evade your enemies in the hotel, or watch the streets from your rooftop perch. Just keep an eye out for the VIP. This map is inspired by the America's Army 3 map, Alley.

That wraps it up March here at DPI. Make sure to keep an eye out on social media for some Onward Easter eggs beginning in April.

Spring has sprung, but Stay Frosty!

Hello again everyone!

Today we launch a patch for Onward: version 1.8.7.2. This patch is a bit more beefy than the last one and it includes a long list of fixes for issues that affect all of you: from audio and AI graphic issues, to walls that you could walk through on maps. Overall, the patch addresses some of the bigger issues affecting the gameplay and overall experience in Onward. Your experience is important to us and we value the feedback you the players provide us.

Among the key fixes included in this patch are bot visibility at long range, and smoke grenades correctly blocking visibility of objects behind them. Fixes for most lingering audio issues are also included. In addition, we have added changes/updates to some maps. See the list below for an overview of the fixes that are included in this patch.

1.8.7.2 is now live and should automatically prompt you for an update the next time you go to jump on the battlefield.

For all the details check out our blog post.
https://www.onwardthegame.com/devblog/

Hello Everyone!

February came, and now that February is pretty much gone it’s time for our monthly sitrep. The Developers continue to work hard on some much needed improvements, redesigned features and bug fixes.

Stay Frosty!

Kidding...

From The Dev Desk:
In our last sitrep we mentioned that 1.8.8 would come out quicker than our usual patches, but unfortunately that turned out to not be the case. We hit some speed bumps and are making sure it’s in the best condition for you. 1.8.8 will significantly reduce the occurrence of broken lobbies, which often cause problems such as voice chat issues, lobby lockups, and rounds not assigning points correctly. The update rewrites the code that is the foundation of Onward’s game modes. This part of the code interacts with a lot of areas in the game, and we’ve run into a lot of specific and unforeseen issues as a result. We appreciate the patience you’ve all shown over the past month, and we are working to get the update out as soon as possible.

Because of the delay with 1.8.8 we’re working to release a couple of patches to address the most urgent issues with 1.8.7, the first of which (1.8.7.1) has already been released. Next up will be patch 1.8.7.2. The 1.8.7.2 patch will focus on fixing issues that affect a lot of you, and issues affecting competitive play.
- Connection issues for PCVR players, where a registry reset was needed.
- A number of Voice/Audio fixes and adjustments while inside the tent, along with a design change to the team chat function.
- AI adjustments such as footsteps and visibility from a distance.
- Some Map adjustments, such as broken walls and railings are likely to be included.
- We are pushing to try and get improvements to tablets and smokes in as well.
A detailed breakdown of the fixes and adjustments will be given when 1.8.7.2 is released.

In addition to the focus we’re putting on the 1.8.7.2 patch and the 1.8.8 update we are making strides with future features: as Onward continues to grow the player base has increased exponentially. Having this many players (and lobbies) in the game means we have to rethink some of Onward’s features. For example we need to make it easier to find and play with your friends, and we want to make sure you have as much fun playing the game as possible. To get to that point we are working on implementing a party system to find and more easily group up with your Onward crew to get games going. With any multiplayer game, there are different play styles and different mindsets. We are also working on the features to help with toxic players, for example allowing you to mute them, and adding measures to prevent sustained team killing.

Also being looked into is an implementation of a ranking system. A place where you can get statistics on kills, deaths, revives, and more. Once we get closer to the final design we’ll share more details with you! Another addition will be a revamped version of Abandoned. The map is set in an old abandoned soviet factory located next to a lake in the harsh Siberian landscape. Also high on our list is improving graphics for PCVR users with the use of Shadowmask lighting. We don’t have an estimate on the Shadowmask update quite yet however, as we are waiting for a Unity update to start this implementation.

Community Center:
This month we have made a major update to our official Onward Discord channel. We have always shared a home with the VR Master league, whose roots lie in the Onward Discord. However, with the growth of both Onward and the Master League, the VRML has spread their wings and opened up their own server to give the Onward Discord community a chance to make some adjustments. Explore new channels and new ways to interact with fellow Onward players. If you’re not in the Discord, what are you waiting for? https://discord.gg/fYHHJFkwTr

Our Twitter campaign for finding out the fan favorite map is coming to a close! We are in the Semifinals and the Finals will wrap up at the end of the month. Make sure you check out our Twitter account (@OnwardTheGame) to see the progress and get your final votes in!

Starting in March we want to Highlight you, yes you, our community! We want to showcase our players and show off your Onward fandom. Send us your photos in a DM of you being an Onward fan for a chance to be featured on our social media Community Spotlight.

If you’d like to get to know a little more about the people who work at Downpour you can also follow our company accounts on Twitter (@DownpourInt) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/DownpourInteractive) , this month we are featuring our QA Lead, Kaysaun.

Stay Frosty!
(for real this time)