Insurgency: Sandstorm News

[h3]Today we are launching a playable preview version of our upcoming version 1.8 update. This includes a new map ‘Tell’, two new weapons (AUG A3, F1 FAMAS), a new mode in Co-op, new accessories, and more! See below for more info.[/h3]

This content is now available on the Community Test Environment. Go to your Steam Library and download “Insurgency: Sandstorm Community Test Environment” to play. Please remember this is a preview build, so some issues are expected (see 'Known Issues') and all content is considered work in progress. If you encounter any problems or have feedback for the development team please don’t hesitate to let us know in the CTE sub-section of the Steam forums. Also be sure to fill out our 1.8 CTE Feedback Survey. Our team will be monitoring feedback during the CTE and aim to push this update to players on the live version of Insurgency: Sandstorm in October. The CTE will be available until Monday evening.

Today we are launching a playable preview version of our upcoming Operation: Breakaway update. This includes a new map ‘Tell’, two new weapons (AUG A3, FAMAS F1), Underbarrel Shotgun attachments (Masterkey, M26 MASS, Buckshot Launcher), a new co-op game mode Outpost Mode, new foregrip attachments (Aiming Grip, Quick Draw Grip, Loading Grip, Point Shoot Grip), and more.

You can find some of the key new features and known issues below:

[h3]New Map: Tell[/h3]
Tell has support for the following game modes:

• Push
  
• Domination
  
• Firefight
  
• Checkpoint
  
• Hardcore Checkpoint
  
• Outpost

[h3]New Weapons: AUG A3, FAMAS F1, Underbarrel Shotguns[/h3]
We’ve added 2 new small profile bullpup style assault rifle weapons for Rifleman, Demolitions, Commander, and Observer classes: the AUG A3 for Security and FAMAS F1 for Insurgents. We’ve also added 3 new underbarrel shotguns as Underbarrel weapon upgrades: the M26 MASS for Security, Buckshot Launcher for Insurgents, and Masterkey shared by both factions.

• AUG A3 - Low fire rate, controllable recoil
  
• FAMAS F1 - Very high fire rate, small magazine capacity
  
• Masterkey - Tube-fed, available for M16A4, M4A1, AKM, AK-74, M16A2, and FAMAS F1
  
• M26 MASS - Mag-fed, available for M16A4, M4A1, and AUG A3
  
• Buckshot Launcher - Single shot 40mm buckshot shell, available for AKM, AK-74

The Masterkey and M26 MASS have no optics or iron sights. When using Aim Down Sights with them, they’ll point roughly at the center of the screen similar to the NVG Point Shooting upgrade. The Buckshot Launcher can use its iron sights to be aimed more precisely, but only has one shot until it needs to be reloaded.

[h3]Outpost Mode[/h3]



We’re adding a new co-op mode called Outpost, a re-imagining of Insurgency 2014’s mode of the same name.

Rules

• Players need to defend their objectives against 10 waves of enemies to win.
  
• If all players die, or their active objectives are captured, they respawn at the next objective area to defend it.
  
• If players are pushed all the way back to their final objective area, and it is captured or they all die, they lose the round.

Gameplay

• Players start with 2 supply points, and gain a supply point for every wave they defend against.
  
• Players can resupply in between waves in a “Preparing” phase.
  
• Enemies get better equipment as waves go on.
  
• Special enemy waves with unique loadouts and abilities come every 3 waves
  
• The final enemy wave includes all special enemy types and normal enemies

Outpost Mode is initially available on the following maps:

• Tell
  
• Crossing
  
• Ministry
  
• Hillside
  
• Outskirts
  
• Power Plant

[h3]AI Update[/h3]
This is the first stage in a series of changes to improve our AI. This stage focuses on the bot's knowledge of the player's location. Our goal was to explore and answer the broader design question, "when should a bot know where the player is?" The ultimate effect of these changes is that the bots will feel more fair. You should no longer be shot through walls or smoke unless you're really obvious about your location.

Specific Changes:

• Allowed AI to more clearly identify what sounds they hear (gunfire, dialogue, opening doors, footsteps) instead of just knowing that a specific player made noise and guessing at the cause.
  
• Adjusted which sounds provide AI awareness of a player's location, and at what range.
  
• When shooting a player, the AI will use the last known position of the player instead of their current position.
  
• When suppressing, since the AI don't know the target's specific location, they will no longer gain increased accuracy over time. Instead, they'll just spray the area inaccurately. If you're behind thin cover, you can move away silently to avoid getting wall banged.
  
• The AI have laxened their social-distancing policy. They will no longer automatically aim for the player's face if they are within 2m. They'll still shoot you though.
  
• The long range distance at which AI acquire targets has been reduced, and their time to fire increased.
  
• When AI retreat, they will no longer get confused and change directions at random.

New Configurations for Modders

• “Hear Aware Distances” have been added for Footsteps, Breaching, Doors, and Rigging Explosives to configure the range at which bots are aware of players taking the indicated actions
  
• “Sight Range Idle” is now the distance at which a bot can first spot a new target at.
  
• “Sight Range Alert” is now the distance that a bot will no longer be able to see a known target.
  
• “Can Grenade With LOS” can be toggled if you want bots to throw grenades straight at people, rather than lobbing over things
  
• “Grenade Minimum Distance” can be set when you want bots to be a bit riskier with their tosses
  
• “Rocket Minimum Distance” is the same but for RPGs
  
• “Rocket Squad Cooldown” is the time that bots within a squad will wait until using rockets again after the last rocket
  
• “Rocket Minimum Cluster Size” will set how many people must be close together before the bots break out the RPG and give you a bad day

[h3]Foregrips[/h3]
We know we’ve been a bit lacking in the foregrip department. We added 4 new grips available in the Underbarrel weapon upgrade category, and foregrip support for all Primary weapons except for machine guns and anti-materiel rifles. Each gives a different gameplay benefit at various supply point costs. The existing “Foregrip” upgrade remains unchanged, but we’ve renamed it to “Recoil Grip” to clarify its function among the others.

• Aiming Grip - Aim down the sights of your weapon faster
  
• Loading Grip - Reload your weapon faster
  
• Quick Draw Grip - Draw and put away your weapon faster
  
• Point Shooting Grip - When toggled, tilts and lowers your weapon for easier shooting in CQB. Requires a Siderail upgrade like a Laser Sight in order to be equipped.

Because we now have the Point Shooting Grip, a more intuitive and versatile way to use “Point Shoot Mode” style aiming, the Training upgrade called NVG Point Shooting available on night maps has been removed from all weapons that can attach foregrips. NVG Point Shooting is still available on pistols, machine guns, and anti-materiel rifles, and works as it did in update 1.7.

[h3]Gameplay Improvements[/h3]
Over the past few updates, we’ve received feedback that certain high caliber weapons are overpowered and serve as Sandstorm’s meta. We’re going to be making several nerfs to try to make these weapons feel more balanced among the others.

• Slowed down Aim Down Sights time of FAL, G3A3, Mk 14 EBR, and SVD
  
• Removed Extended Magazine upgrade from FAL and G3A3 in Versus and Competitive

[h3]User Experience[/h3]

• Updated the font used for compass heading numbers
  
• Updated the icon displayed when using Proximity chat to differentiate from Radio

[h3]Visual Improvements[/h3]

• Updated the main menu map to represent the Operation: Breakaway release

[h3]Notable Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed an issue where the smoke overlay would activate on players on the roof of buildings even if the smoke particles didn’t penetrate the roof

[h3]Known Issues[/h3]

• We have excluded a number of levels from this CTE build (they will of course be available in the full release):
  • Tideway
    
  • Summit
    
  • Refinery
    
  • Precinct
    
  • Hideout
  
  
• The tutorial is not available
  
• Playlist images on the CTE are missing
  
• Tell loading images are still generic
  
• Tell scenario names are displayed on the vote screen instead of the map name
  
• Occasionally players and bots are missing cosmetics, these typically return after that player dies and respawns
  
• There is a slight flickering no the scoreboard screen of the score and faction names
  
• Using the loading grip with some guns has the hands in positions that blocks the iron sights
  
• Bots will sometimes have invalid cosmetics assigned
  
• Objective status is not updating quickly and won't show you are stalemated until much later, sometimes when the point is clear it will say 'stalemated' leading to player confusion
  
• The bipod upgrade for the FAMAS F1 is not available for Insurgent Commander, Observer, and Demolitions
  
• The Quick Draw Grip is currently unavailable on the FAMAS F1
  
• The 2X Holographic optic is temporarily unavailable
  
• There is a potential crash that occurs when existing replays and local play
  
• Outpost Mode Restricted areas don’t align with what is displayed on the tactical map
  
• Smoke grenades are not applying the smoke overlay correctly

Update September 17, 2020 - Rules Clarification: After receiving a number of questions about what can be used in Submissions, we want to clarify that the following are okay to use in your mods, in addition to your own creations:

• Any assets (objects, textures, etc.) included in the "Insurgency: Sandstorm" game
  
• Assets for which you own the full rights so that they can be relicensed to Sponsor and related parties as agreed in these rules
  
• Assets which are in the public domain or licensed under a Creative Commons CC0 license
  

Additionally, we have posted a FAQ on the contest website with common questions. For further questions, please contact us at [email protected], and check the contest page regularly or join our newsletter for updates.

New World Interactive, are excited to announce the Insurgency: Sandstorm Mapping Contest in collaboration with Nvidia, Intel, Epic Games, Focus Home Interactive, Saber Interactive, and Mod.io

As a studio with deep roots in the modding scene, we are proud to be launching our first mapping contest for Insurgency: Sandstorm, and New World Interactive’s largest modding contest to date! 

Whether you are an experienced level designer or a complete beginner, this contest is open to all ability levels and is the perfect opportunity to download our Mod Editor, learn Unreal Engine and familiarize yourself with level design principles. 

Previous modding contests for Insurgency and Day of Infamy, have led to numerous incredible community maps, many of which have gone on to become official in-game content at a later date. With a 20 week contest and our largest ever prize pool, we can’t wait to see what fantastic creations level designers come up with, and wish all entrants the best of luck!

Brief:

Participants will have 20 weeks from 2:00 pm ET on Thursday, September 10, 2020, until 2:00 pm ET on Thursday, January 28, 2021, to create, test, and upload a custom map for Insurgency: Sandstorm to mod.io. Maps will be judged by the public and team at New World Interactive for the chance to win a pool of over $17,000 in prizes!

In order to allow maximum creative freedom, there is no theme for the contest, however, entries must be themed similar to Insurgency: Sandstorm’s art-style and created for one of the following core game modes using their default ruleset; Checkpoint, Push, Firefight, Frontline, or Domination.



Submission and Judging Criteria:

All mods must be uploaded and tagged as “2020 Mapping Contest” on or before 2:00 PM ET on Thursday, January 28, 2021 after this point no changes can be made to the entry until the final results have been announced.

On January 29, 2021, mod.io ratings on all eligible submissions will be reset and a one week period of public testing and community rating will occur.

The public judging period (“Public Judging Period”) will begin on January 29, 2021, at 12:00 AM ET and end on February 5, 2021, at 11:59 PM ET, during which Public Judging Period, the public will be invited to judge the Submissions by clicking the “Recommend” button on any Submission they believe should be in the 10 finalists.

The 10 qualifying Entrants whose Submissions have the highest result from calculating the number of Positive User Recommendations (Thumbs Up) minus the number of Negative User Recommendations (Thumbs Down), at the end of the Public Judging Period will be declared the finalists.

The 10 Finalists’ Submissions will be judged by a panel of judges comprised of New World Interactive team members and Promotional Partners, who are experienced industry level designers based on the following judging criteria :

• Gameplay (50 marks)
  
• Visual Aesthetics (25 marks)
  
• Performance & Optimisation (25 marks)
  

Advice, Guides, and Tutorials:

To qualify the map must be an original piece of content created specifically for this contest. Remakes of existing maps from Insurgency or other games are not eligible, nor are any maps created before the launch date of this contest (September 10, 2020).

If you are working as a team or using any custom content you must ensure you have full legal permission to use any and all work submitted, as well as being legally able to grant permission for New World Interactive and contest partners to use the submitted entry if selected. This relates to all map content including the design/layout as well as any assets.

The submitted entry should support at least one of the following core game modes, Checkpoint, Push, Firefight, Domination, or Frontline, and must be playable with the selected gamemode’s default ruleset, as per our official playlists. Please clearly state in your submission which game mode(s) it was designed for. If the entry supports multiple game modes, please specify which mode(s) you wish to be judged on.

No changes may be made to the submitted map file during the judging processes, for that reason, it is important to thoroughly playtest your entry before the deadline. We encourage participants to upload work in progress versions of their content to solicit player feedback early, as well as submit a final version of the project in advance of the deadline to ensure the file uploads correctly. No individual exceptions will be made to the deadline. This includes if you are unable to upload the file due to connectivity issues or forget to include any assets. Please do not leave your uploads to the last minute!

Given the limited timeframe, we encourage participants to think carefully about the size and scope of your entries. We are placing very few restrictions on entities in order to maximize creativity and are looking forward to being blown away by your entries, however, when it comes to judging quality is key.

To help players get started with creating custom content for Insurgency: Sandstorm, New World Interactive has created a series of guides and tutorials.

• Download the Insurgency: Sandstorm Unreal 4 Editor
  
• View the Insurgency: Sandstorm Unreal 4 level editor quickstart guide
• Find game mode specific tutorials and community guides on mod.io
• Join the Community Modding Discord

Click here to view full rules, terms, and conditions on the contest web page.

Big Money is back! Start with zero supply points and gain them as player score increases. Buy ALL the things! Available now until September 22nd!

Hello everyone, my name is Tim Perreault and I’m the Executive Producer at New World Interactive. August has been an exciting month for the Studio; we’ve been putting the finishing touches on and releasing Clean Sweep, announced an acquisition by the Embracer Group, made some big changes in our Player Support process, updated the hiring portal on our website, and are making huge strides in our 1.8 development.

Key Points of State of Production #11

• 1.7.1 Clean Sweep Release
  
• Embracer Group
  
• Player Support Site Update
  
• Careers Page Update
  
• Studio News and 1.8 Development

[h3]1.7.1 Clean Sweep Release[/h3]
We’ve recently released a minor update for Sandstorm, 1.7.1 Clean Sweep. This update was focused on responding to community feedback, optimization, bug fixes, and finishing our game engine upgrade plan. This was a huge opportunity for our programmers to focus on some bug fixes and optimizations they haven’t previously had an opportunity to work on. It also gave some of the other developers a chance to make some tweaks and fixes that have been on the back burner for a while. As Sandstorm continues to mature as a product, we intend to continue providing these minor updates between major content releases with more of an emphasis on responding to actionable community feedback.

[h3]Embracer Group[/h3]
It was recently announced that New World Interactive has joined the Embracer Group as part of Saber Interactive but continuing to operate as an independent studio. This is great news for Insurgency: Sandstorm as it means we will be able to leverage the skills and resources that come from being part of a larger group of studios. We are all extremely excited about what this opportunity means for our projects and we’re all looking forward to what the future holds. Check out our post here for a bit more information.

[h3]Player Support Site Update[/h3]
Over the last few months, we’ve made some big changes in our Player Support process. I’ve invited our new Player Support Lead, Luke Simms, to speak directly about the big changes going on:

Hey everyone! Recently, Player Support made some structural changes in order to better serve our community and playerbase. As of this SoP’s release, I am pleased to announce the major update of NWI’s Support Desk which is coming Monday, September 7, 2020.

The main purpose behind our website update was to improve the way we handle and provide customer support. In order to achieve this, New World Support will be utilizing Zendesk for all of our support suite needs. Zendesk will allow us to organize player-submitted tickets with little to no limitations. With AI feedback, centralization features, and new incentives, Player Support will be able to apply user reports and feedback to our games in a streamlined fashion.

In addition to our internal changes, Player Support will be improving on several current policies and procedures. Earlier this month, we updated New World Interactive's Official Community Guidelines with the goal of developing a more transparent look into our expectations of players. We're also working on better player reporting/ban appeal policies, as evidenced by our new Developer Ban Appeal Form. Creating thorough and concrete protocol will continue to be a top priority for our team in the coming months.

Above all, we want to make customer experience an intrinsic part of NWI’s culture. Gamers are some of the most vocal customer bases there are, and because of our consistent development cycles, your feedback plays an integral part in identifying issues and determining what should be prioritized. Our mission is to assist players as quickly as possible with any problems they may be facing so that they can get back into the battlefield as soon as possible. With all of that said, I’m looking forward to hearing from some new voices within our updated support channel!

We’re always here and happy to help.

support.newworldinteractive.com

[h3]Careers Page Update[/h3]
This month we rolled out an updated Careers page on our website in an effort to streamline our hiring process as we continue to grow. I’ve invited Roxann Morrill, our Special Projects Manager to talk about the new page:

When we arrived in Calgary our company was just over a dozen employees. Now that NWI is becoming part of the Embracer Group and Saber Interactive family, we are happy to announce the upcoming recruitment for many new positions that will enhance our development and production capabilities. We are also adding cool new tools to improve our hiring process. The integration of a new applicant tracking system (ATS) will ensure a smoother on-boarding experience for new hires and provide more visibility for prospective candidates. Our ATS will speed up the recruitment process enabling us to provide better and faster candidate screening. One of the highlights of the new ATS is the "Connect" tool, which helps candidates to submit their application, before jobs are posted, for departments they are interested in joining. In addition, candidates will be able to learn more about our team members from our new career website. Check it out here.

[h3]Studio News and 1.8 Development[/h3]
With Clean Sweep out the door, our development team is now completely focused on the 1.8 update. We’ll be wrapping up development at the end of the month before moving into final testing and polish. You can expect to see teasers for upcoming content coming your way on our 1.8 website. For the first week of September, the entire studio will be taking time off to give everyone a much-needed break. After the week off we’ll be back and firing on all cylinders to get this release finalized, do our public Community Test of the release, and get it shipped in October. Keep your eyes on our release website for the latest!

That’s it for this month’s SoP, until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Hello Gamers™,

fatherHank here - 2020 is both the longest and shortest year of my life and I don’t even know what season it is anymore. I think it’s August though, so a blog post is due.

First and foremost, New World Interactive has joined the Embracer Group! If you’d like more details please click here. I was personally camping in the mountains when this happened and it was quite the news to come back to. We are excited about the future and the numerous opportunities this will generate.

Update 1.7.1, aka Clean Sweep, was released last week. With it came nearly 100 bug fixes and a few feature additions. Make a drink and head here to read the whole seven pages of patch notes. I think my personal favorite addition is the transparent G36K magazine, it’s just so clean.. and sexy. I mean really, look at this thing. Should I be having these feelings about a magazine? Probably not, but let’s move on.



Oh yeah, death animations have been put back in place and the suicide bombers will not crash your game anymore! Below is a video of our team trying to replicate the issue. I find it endlessly entertaining but I am a simple man. Bombers go boom.



New World will be closed for the week of 8/31 - 9/4 so you won’t hear too much from us. We have a few social media posts ready to go, but we need a week to prepare ourselves for 1.8. It’s going to be a T H I C C update with a lot of included community requests. This month’s State of Production will also be available next week, on August 31st.

We just finished our bi-weekly Developer Livestream and the VOD is available here. We wanted to go into our studio closure with a bang, so we may have revealed a couple breadcrumbs about 1.8! We are Hansel-and-Greteling you all into the next release.



If you’d like to join our next few streams we will be revealing 1.8 content live instead of through social channels for this release. This is our tentative schedule for those streams:

• Thursday, September 10th, 2:00pm MST
  
• Thursday, September 17th, 11:00am MST
  
• Tuesday, October 6th, 11:00am MST (LAUNCH DAY!)

You can visit our 1.8 update website here for those details, and make sure to bookmark it as we will be updating it as we reveal more information.

More details will be announced in two weeks with our next Developer Livestream but we have revealed the official name of 1.8, it’s release date, and some art that will help you envision what it’s theme is….

Are you ready for Operation: Breakaway?