Development Blog #9 [April 2021]

Welcome to the ninth devblog for Operation: Harsh Doorstop. In this update, we will be reviewing the work that the team completed in the month of April 2021.

First up, we wanted to make sure to reiterate the tentative roadmap/schedule of the planned updates and major features that the team is focused on creating leading up to a Steam Early Access release:



If all goes to plan, we should be looking at a Steam Early Access release sometime around December 2021-January 2022. This timeline is of course always subject to change due to the nature and reality of the complexity of game development, especially on some of the bigger ticket items on this list. Also, just to state for the third time (for good measure) we will be releasing into Steam’s Early Access program, meaning the game will still be very WIP and there will still be a long road ahead of us to take the game and the OHDCore platform to where we want to see it. We will be sure to keep everyone updated if there are any changes to this schedule.

Now on to the recap of the work the team did in April, including a very special announcement:

Expansions

[h3]Operation: Invictus[/h3]
We are very excited to announce that Drakeling Labs has now officially partnered with the ISMC development team! We have been quietly working with them behind the scenes for the past few months on Operation: Invictus, which will be another expansion for O:HD that is focused on modern era tactical gameplay where a PMC faction will be pitted against insurgent forces (and potentially other PMC forces in the future).

Here are some WIP images of some of the content that is being worked on:

Daniel Defense Mk18 (we have multiple variations of this, including suppressed, with/without attachments, and so on)

AKMN

WAR Afterburner Glock 19

PMC Character Model

Insurgent Character Model

On top of the content shown above, the following weapons will be coming very soon to further flesh out the arsenal that will be available in Operation: Invictus (and that will also be available for use in other scenarios as well): MP5, AK103, SCAR-H, SA58, MCX, HK417, and a shotgun and bolt action rifle (those two are still TBD). There are even more guns being discussed as well, so you can expect to see anything from the list above, or potentially other options beyond that list quite soon—main point being more guns! These will all be shown off in future devblogs, so make sure you keep an eye out for them!

The ISMC team is a great example of a team of talented and creative individuals with a passion for game development that will benefit from the OHDCore SDK. They are among the first to gain access to it to start working on content for O:HD with little to no restrictions set in place so that they will be free to fully explore and deliver the content that they want to bring to the community. Both of our teams have been vibing very well together and learning a lot from each other, so we are stoked to be able to have an opportunity to work with them—we can’t wait to share more with you as the project develops further.

If you are not familiar with their work, here is a recent video that Bluedrake did on his YouTube channel with gameplay from a major update to the ISMC mod for Insurgency: Sandstorm. Make sure you check out their other channels/platforms to learn more about them and track their mod: Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Discord

[h3]Operation: Rolling Stone[/h3]
In April, a significant amount of work was put into the Lam Dong terrain that is being made for the Rolling Stone expansion. Last month, we showed off Lam Dong while it was still in a very early blockout phase where the level design team was just starting to flesh out the environment assets, and place some of the building assets. Just a month later, here is the progress:



In addition to Lam Dong, work began on the NVA faction character model (courtesy of the ISMC team’s talented artists!):



As many of you have likely already seen, the NVA faction model is already much further along by the time this devblog came out (which will be showcased next month). The ISMC character artists are also going to be working on the US faction for Rolling Stone as well, so we will have more to share on that soon (we will likely be working a lot more closely with them on updating and/or replacing older/existing placeholder character models too, so stay tuned for that).

[h3]Operation: Overlord[/h3]
For Operation: Overlord, last month the level design team did some more work on the Monte Cassino terrain, continuing on with blocking out structures and major props on the level:



Nothing else to report for Overlord this month, but you can see how much further along the map and content is already a month later (just load up the Monte Cassino map).

[h3]Operation: Michael[/h3]
Work on the Meuse-Argonne Offensive map continued, specifically in regards to the trench environment props that are being made. You can see how these will look here:



Once again, you can see how much further along the map and content is already a month later (just load up the Argonne map).

Maps

[h3]Risala[/h3]
Further detailing and level adjustments were performed on Risala:



Risala is the map that we will be showcasing the first gameplay of Operation: Invictus on. We are still testing flag layouts, doing initial optimization work, and getting the map ready for the level designers to go in and start doing further detailing passes to give it a more lived in, war torn look.

[h3]Training Grounds[/h3]
Training Grounds has continued to receive detailing passes from the level design team:



We are also beginning to make it easier to test weapons out by making special factions dedicated to this map that will have all of the classes unlocked with all of the guns available for use on the various ranges, shoothouse, and so on.

Objects, Models, and Textures

[h3]Vehicles[/h3]
A first look at some of the upcoming vehicle models that will be used when the team pushes back into working on vehicle integration for OHDCore:

Humvee and MTLB

Much like we have done for Warfare 1944, you can expect to be able to mess around with the vehicles in the Training Grounds map before multiplayer implementation, so stay tuned for that.

[h3]World Props and Environment Assets[/h3]
The 3D modeling team also worked on a range of props, textures, and so on in order to fill out all of the maps:

New flags!

The Abbey of Monte Cassino for Overlord

More miscellaneous props for Lam Dong/Rolling Stone

Upcoming and WIP Features

[h3]Software Development Kit (SDK) and Modding[/h3]
As of the time of this devblog, all of the paperwork and other formalities that need to be taken care of with Epic Games are now completed, and we simply await the SDK going live on the Epic Launcher. We will be sure to make announcements and posts all over our platforms once this becomes available, so make sure to keep an eye out for that if you are planning on getting your hands on the SDK.

As far as any additional work done to the SDK in April goes, the lead programmer mainly focused on bolstering up the security of the internal repositories and prepping the scripts for public SDK deployment on Epic. We also began onboarding a number of modders and modding teams (such as the ISMC team and a few other modding teams that we will announce later) to get their hands on the internal SDK build and provide feedback directly to the programming team.

As a general reminder, please keep in mind that the initial release of the SDK will still be considered a first iteration, and is something that we plan on continuing to improve and expand upon over time (you should have a lot of free reign over what you will be able to create, however). Last but not least, please also keep in mind that Steam Workshop support will not come until later, so while modders will be able to start creating, there will not be a solution to distribute and run mods right off the bat (we figure it is better to get the SDK out earlier and let people start getting accustomed to it sooner rather than later). You can refer to the tentative roadmap schedule posted at the beginning of this devblog to gauge our estimated timeline on when we are aiming for these features to become available.

[h3]Bots/AI[/h3]
The bot/AI framework that we showed off several months ago is now taking a higher priority in the programming team’s to do list. Now that the first iteration of the SDK is ready, the next major focus is going to be getting the first versions of the AI systems into the OHDCore framework. In their most basic form, bots will mainly just capture flags and attack enemies when they see them, however, this will all be improved and made more complex over time of course (plus modders will be able to get their hands on this in the SDK).

We look forward to getting this major feature in and testing it out with the community—keep an eye on future devblogs and all of our announcements for when we are getting ready to test this.

—

Thanks for catching our latest devblog! We hope this was a good one and you all found the updates exciting. The future is looking bright for O:HD, and we can’t wait to share all of the upcoming content and plans that we have in store with everyone.

Make sure to join the O:HD Discord, and/or follow our Steam announcements to track updates, and if you would like to support us early on in development you can do so through our Patreon! See you all next time!

-Goomes, Lead Community Manager






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