Welcome back to another installment of Verdun’s “Weapon Wednesday”, we use these media updates to tease upcoming content and provide you with an update on the overall state of the games development. Today is particularly special as it marks the 97th anniversary of the signing of armistice, effectively the end of the Great War.



It is important for each and every person to understand the sacrifice our servicemen and women have made for us. We live in the world of today largely because of the actions of those who came before us. It is vital we never forget the sacrifices made by these people, regardless of nationality, race, religion, or creed, in all conflicts. They gave their future, so we could have ours.

We will Remember them.


M1909 Hotchkiss “Benét–Mercié”

The Hotchkiss M1909 was one of the machineguns adopted by the U.S in the rearmament of it’s military in 1890-1910. Developed by the French Hotchkiss manufacturer (founded by U.S weapon designer Benjamin Hotchkiss) the Hotchkiss was sold under contract to many nations including the U.K (cavalry/tank use), France, U.S.A, and to a lesser extent, Belgium, Spain, Brazil and Australia. With a 30 round 30-round strip-magazine, the weapon was quite susceptible to mud and dirt and wasn’t ideal for trench warfare. While only around 700 were produced, the U.S had a comparatively small army in 1909, the same year the 30-06 hand crank gatling gun was taken out of service.



The Hotchkiss in game will be used by one of the American squads and potentially also the British Tommies, this is still being decided. Boasting a high rate of fire, but a tricky reload and small magazine, the MG should feel more than at home in the trenches.

Game update status
Excellent reports come in from the 5.3 update tests of last monday. Both Douaumont and other maps seem to run smoothly. We’d like to encourage all active ( and well-behaved!) community members to join our beta testing team. here

We are aiming to go public with this as soon as we sort out the last few issues that were caused by the engine update.

Development status
Aside from promising work with Douaumont in the testing branch, we keep advancing on other fronts as well. The animation crew has been allocated to deal with both the massive amount of new weapons (progressing nicely!) but also with enhancing the immersion of the game - in the addition of death animations. We are planning to launch the gore system alongside fort Douaumont within the fortnight.




Here is a small teaser of one of the ‘slower’ death animations. We are adding many more features this very moment, including dismemberment, screaming and flailing, neck shots and more.




With regards to weapons, we have completed several animations this week. Two recently announced weapons: The Mle. 1892 revolver (which model was teased earlier). What was particularly tricky to create was the fact that, unlike most other revolvers from the time, player has to switch hands in order to reload:



Also spectacular and most fun to use ingame is the M1897 trench gun. This classic firearm can be found in many games and when we implemented it in Verdun it feels like a familiar powerful weapon. The Soon to be formed U.S marine squad will have a blast!




Screenshot of the Week
Gas assault on a sunday day, western front, 1915.



That will be all for this week. Tune in next week for more!

Welcome back to another installment of Verdun’s “Weapon Wednesday”, we use these media updates to tease upcoming content and provide you with an update on the overall state of the games development. Today is particularly special as it marks the 97th anniversary of the signing of armistice, effectively the end of the Great War.



It is important for each and every person to understand the sacrifice our servicemen and women have made for us. We live in the world of today largely because of the actions of those who came before us. It is vital we never forget the sacrifices made by these people, regardless of nationality, race, religion, or creed, in all conflicts. They gave their future, so we could have ours.

We will Remember them.


M1909 Hotchkiss “Benét–Mercié”

The Hotchkiss M1909 was one of the machineguns adopted by the U.S in the rearmament of it’s military in 1890-1910. Developed by the French Hotchkiss manufacturer (founded by U.S weapon designer Benjamin Hotchkiss) the Hotchkiss was sold under contract to many nations including the U.K (cavalry/tank use), France, U.S.A, and to a lesser extent, Belgium, Spain, Brazil and Australia. With a 30 round 30-round strip-magazine, the weapon was quite susceptible to mud and dirt and wasn’t ideal for trench warfare. While only around 700 were produced, the U.S had a comparatively small army in 1909, the same year the 30-06 hand crank gatling gun was taken out of service.



The Hotchkiss in game will be used by one of the American squads and potentially also the British Tommies, this is still being decided. Boasting a high rate of fire, but a tricky reload and small magazine, the MG should feel more than at home in the trenches.

Game update status
Excellent reports come in from the 5.3 update tests of last monday. Both Douaumont and other maps seem to run smoothly. We’d like to encourage all active ( and well-behaved!) community members to join our beta testing team. here

We are aiming to go public with this as soon as we sort out the last few issues that were caused by the engine update.

Development status
Aside from promising work with Douaumont in the testing branch, we keep advancing on other fronts as well. The animation crew has been allocated to deal with both the massive amount of new weapons (progressing nicely!) but also with enhancing the immersion of the game - in the addition of death animations. We are planning to launch the gore system alongside fort Douaumont within the fortnight.




Here is a small teaser of one of the ‘slower’ death animations. We are adding many more features this very moment, including dismemberment, screaming and flailing, neck shots and more.




With regards to weapons, we have completed several animations this week. Two recently announced weapons: The Mle. 1892 revolver (which model was teased earlier). What was particularly tricky to create was the fact that, unlike most other revolvers from the time, player has to switch hands in order to reload:



Also spectacular and most fun to use ingame is the M1897 trench gun. This classic firearm can be found in many games and when we implemented it in Verdun it feels like a familiar powerful weapon. The Soon to be formed U.S marine squad will have a blast!




Screenshot of the Week
Gas assault on a sunday day, western front, 1915.



That will be all for this week. Tune in next week for more!

Welcome back to another installment of Verdun’s “Weapon Wednesday”, we use these media updates to tease upcoming content and provide you with an update on the overall state of the games development.

Stielhandgranate M1917 + Geballte Ladung M1917 6x / 9x
Earlier during the war both French and Germans experimented with explosives tied to wooden sticks. The Germans actually took this concept and created the infamous “stielhandgranate” (stalk hand grenade) line of grenades. While the M1915 which is currently in-game has the simple string taped to the stick, the M1917 model (5.5 sec fuse) used a cap at the bottom of the stick to prevent both humidity from affecting the string and offering better safety (far more difficult to accidentally detonate). The cap had prongs lining the bottom of it to allow for better grip in the muddy trenches.

We have also decided to include 2 “geballte” ladung (concentrated charges), effectively an improvised explosive made by the Germans out of several of the m1917 stick grenades. It was used nearer the end of the war to counter allied tanks. The main disadvantage with these bundled grenades was they could only really be thrown short distances (due to obvious weight issues) and this makes for a far riskier task for the grenadier getting within range of target.



Ingame the updated stielhandgranate and “geballte ladung”s will be in the hands of the German Pionier units. With extra explosive power to deal with enemy strong points. More information about the new units will follow in later installments.

Game update status status
Again our efforts to deal with performance spike issues continues. We have found some issues with the way character art is being loaded from the disk resulting in massive stuttering. To deal with this we are building a new system to render the characters, however there are some engine limitations with this so we are forced to find a work around. As you may have guessed, that does means a slight delay in the performance updates. We expect a performance patch to be able to go live before the weekend if everything works out with the new engine update and loading system. In addition we hope to have dealt with the hike in performance and some bugs related to invincibility as well. The update should also tackle the issue where people are experiencing crashing when loading levels.

For those who didn’t notice, during the halloween sale, rats overran the main menu! This was only visible during the 30th and 31st of October 2015.:



You might consider it a little teaser for the gore update which will in time allow us to create much grittier maps

Game Development Status
Tests last week with the upcoming Fort Douaumont map proved that A) The map is awesome and B) has several issues that need to be resolved. Most importantly we had errors with the way the fort was being rendered, we’ve been exploring fixes for this. Secondly we had to change the way the capturable sectors were ordered. The scenario for Fort Douaumont is the French Assault on the fort on the 22nd of May, 1916. In this assault the French succeeded in capturing some locations on the site. They were violently repelled. In light with this, and gameplay mechanics (fighting down the long hallway proofed a challenge). We decided to change the sectors as to better reflect the fighting and concentrate the battles more around the western side of the fort.


An impression of the massive scale of Douaumont (In-game)

On the weapon front things are advancing well asol, we hope to have finished animating most existing firearms by the this week and then new set in the coming week, ready for trials. One of the latest additions is the hard hitting Reichsrevolver, which due to it’s difficult reload and single action mechanism will certainly be a weapon for the veterans!


Work in progress M1883 reichsrevolver reloading loop

Screenshot of the Week
A British soldier falls victim to poison gas at the Battle of Loos, Artois


That will be all for this week. Tune in next week for more!

Welcome back to another installment of Verdun’s “Weapon Wednesday”, we use these media updates to tease upcoming content and provide you with an update on the overall state of the games development.

Stielhandgranate M1917 + Geballte Ladung M1917 6x / 9x
Earlier during the war both French and Germans experimented with explosives tied to wooden sticks. The Germans actually took this concept and created the infamous “stielhandgranate” (stalk hand grenade) line of grenades. While the M1915 which is currently in-game has the simple string taped to the stick, the M1917 model (5.5 sec fuse) used a cap at the bottom of the stick to prevent both humidity from affecting the string and offering better safety (far more difficult to accidentally detonate). The cap had prongs lining the bottom of it to allow for better grip in the muddy trenches.

We have also decided to include 2 “geballte” ladung (concentrated charges), effectively an improvised explosive made by the Germans out of several of the m1917 stick grenades. It was used nearer the end of the war to counter allied tanks. The main disadvantage with these bundled grenades was they could only really be thrown short distances (due to obvious weight issues) and this makes for a far riskier task for the grenadier getting within range of target.



Ingame the updated stielhandgranate and “geballte ladung”s will be in the hands of the German Pionier units. With extra explosive power to deal with enemy strong points. More information about the new units will follow in later installments.

Game update status status
Again our efforts to deal with performance spike issues continues. We have found some issues with the way character art is being loaded from the disk resulting in massive stuttering. To deal with this we are building a new system to render the characters, however there are some engine limitations with this so we are forced to find a work around. As you may have guessed, that does means a slight delay in the performance updates. We expect a performance patch to be able to go live before the weekend if everything works out with the new engine update and loading system. In addition we hope to have dealt with the hike in performance and some bugs related to invincibility as well. The update should also tackle the issue where people are experiencing crashing when loading levels.

For those who didn’t notice, during the halloween sale, rats overran the main menu! This was only visible during the 30th and 31st of October 2015.:



You might consider it a little teaser for the gore update which will in time allow us to create much grittier maps

Game Development Status
Tests last week with the upcoming Fort Douaumont map proved that A) The map is awesome and B) has several issues that need to be resolved. Most importantly we had errors with the way the fort was being rendered, we’ve been exploring fixes for this. Secondly we had to change the way the capturable sectors were ordered. The scenario for Fort Douaumont is the French Assault on the fort on the 22nd of May, 1916. In this assault the French succeeded in capturing some locations on the site. They were violently repelled. In light with this, and gameplay mechanics (fighting down the long hallway proofed a challenge). We decided to change the sectors as to better reflect the fighting and concentrate the battles more around the western side of the fort.


An impression of the massive scale of Douaumont (In-game)

On the weapon front things are advancing well asol, we hope to have finished animating most existing firearms by the this week and then new set in the coming week, ready for trials. One of the latest additions is the hard hitting Reichsrevolver, which due to it’s difficult reload and single action mechanism will certainly be a weapon for the veterans!


Work in progress M1883 reichsrevolver reloading loop

Screenshot of the Week
A British soldier falls victim to poison gas at the Battle of Loos, Artois


That will be all for this week. Tune in next week for more!

Welcome back to another (belated) Verdun Community Update. This week no weapons (there are plenty to come though!), but the announcement that we will be starting closed beta access to the upcoming map "Douaumont".

To celebrate this, here are two promotional teaser screenshots of a french assault on Fort Douaumont:





Soon you will be able to mount your own assaults on the fort with your squad! Keep an eye out on our facebook page, as in the next few days we will be teasing the map some more!



Game update status: V227 - V230
This week saw major team efforts to crush the bugs introduced with the V227 update. The most critical ones have been fixed in the intermediate V229 and V230 patches. Our work to improve the performance for all players continues. We take the issues some of you have very seriously and it is our main objective to have most of the hick ups sorted out in the next two weeks.



Game Development Status
Obviously the main task of improving performance on all fronts is at the very center of our development cycle. This means that the introduction of gore will also have be paired with a major overhaul of the character LOD system and the way characters are rendered. This should improve performance especially in full matches.

Next to that efforts have gone into developing the new first person animation system and starting the major task of adding all the new animations. In case for instance of the lee-metford:



Many more teasers of the new animations will be coming soon. The development of the new weapons is going pretty smooth.




Screenshot of the Week
Intense grenade warfare in the Argonne sector, supplied by veteran community member "MasterMasco":



That’s all for this update. For all the people in the closed beta group: We will be rolling the update out tomorrow. The rest will have to wait for a little longer. Next week: more weapons. Before that: we have a Halloween surprise in store ;)

Welcome back to another (belated) Verdun Community Update. This week no weapons (there are plenty to come though!), but the announcement that we will be starting closed beta access to the upcoming map "Douaumont".

To celebrate this, here are two promotional teaser screenshots of a french assault on Fort Douaumont:





Soon you will be able to mount your own assaults on the fort with your squad! Keep an eye out on our facebook page, as in the next few days we will be teasing the map some more!



Game update status: V227 - V230
This week saw major team efforts to crush the bugs introduced with the V227 update. The most critical ones have been fixed in the intermediate V229 and V230 patches. Our work to improve the performance for all players continues. We take the issues some of you have very seriously and it is our main objective to have most of the hick ups sorted out in the next two weeks.



Game Development Status
Obviously the main task of improving performance on all fronts is at the very center of our development cycle. This means that the introduction of gore will also have be paired with a major overhaul of the character LOD system and the way characters are rendered. This should improve performance especially in full matches.

Next to that efforts have gone into developing the new first person animation system and starting the major task of adding all the new animations. In case for instance of the lee-metford:



Many more teasers of the new animations will be coming soon. The development of the new weapons is going pretty smooth.




Screenshot of the Week
Intense grenade warfare in the Argonne sector, supplied by veteran community member "MasterMasco":



That’s all for this update. For all the people in the closed beta group: We will be rolling the update out tomorrow. The rest will have to wait for a little longer. Next week: more weapons. Before that: we have a Halloween surprise in store ;)

Welcome back to another installment of Verdun’s “Weapon Wednesday”, we use these media updates to tease upcoming content and provide you with an update on the overall state of the games development.

United States Rifle, cal .30, Model of 1917

When the U.S declared war on Germany in 1917, it was far from being equipped enough to handle a conflict of the scale seen in WW1. The standard issue rifle for the U.S army being the Springfield 1903, there were not enough 1903 rifles around to equip the influx of soldiers that joined the army. The U.S government faced two options, convert its factories creating Pattern 14 rifles for the British to factories capable of creating the Springfield OR simply rechamber the Pattern 14 to the U.S round. The latter option was chosen, it was the quickest, cheapest and easier option to go with - and thus, the P17 came to be. The rifle itself was a successful rifle, boasting decent accuracy and a reasonable rate of fire … though many U.S soldiers would still swear by their 1903 Springfields.



The P17 will be the main battle rifle for the U.S ‘doughboys’ - with reasonable accuracy and a fair rate of fire, this rifle will very much so feel at home in the trenches.

Webley-Scott MKI Model I

The British army had been using revolver style side arms for officers and other units ( artillery etc) for some time. It was very slow to pick up on the idea of a semi-automatic firearm and was seemingly steeped in the traditions of its wars in Africa and other parts of the world … where a hard hitting revolver was all that was needed. While the Webley & Scott only really saw official military issue in other branches of the armed forces (Royal Navy, possible trials in the Flying Corps) the pistol was a popular private purchase weapon for those officers who had the funds available. Chambering the same powerful .455 round as the revolver, and offering 7 rounds for the users disposal it was a marginal improvement on the Webley MKVI


The W&S MKI in game will see a hard hitting round, good rate of fire and reasonable reload speed, but it still falls somewhat short in regards to performance and capacity vs some of the other small arms used within the theatre.

Development status
This week has seen a great deal of effort in implementing the new weapon animation system, as we double down on the new upcoming content with bringing the total weapons to about 60, we have also brought on board another animator to deal with the massive workload. Douaumont has been prepared for launch and we hope to test this in the next few days. Lots of work has been going on in other areas including work on our new night raid scenario map as well as some finalisation of the character gore system.

Game update status: V227
Our main focus this week, however, has been releasing the update. We have had some issues with the new load screen mechanic. Which actually now displays several historical images, maps and high-quality in-game scenario screenshots. Here are some examples of this new system:


Vosges


Picardie


The main menu loading screen will display general information about the war

The information about the sectors is still work in progress, currently the text specifically mentions one playable scenario, but in the future info will be available on numerous historical scenarios. More generic text providing information on the entire frontline sector (such as artois or vosges) will also be added over time.

The full changelog:

• Performance update, should increase performance around 10-20%
  
• New loading screens
  
• Grayscale when you are waiting for spawn no longer pixelated
  
• New LOD system where changing to a lower quality now smoothly fades out instead of harsh popping(does not work on trees)
  
• Unity 5.2
  
• Improved Squad information at minimap to be more accurate
  
• Solved Banning issues where players would get banned when they did not cheat. Overhaul in anti cheat system
  
• New terrain shader which increases overall terrain texture sharpness and a new Parralax Occlusion mapping effect which gives depth to textures.
  
• Better anti piracy protection
  
• Fixed UI issues
  
• Fully fixed deploy exploit(Crouching while deploying is no longer possible)
  
• Tommies Bomber loadout no longer using F1 but Mills

We realise some issues may occur in terms of stuttering as a result of the unity 5.2 upgrade. However overall our observations and calculations have indicated at 20% fps increase. We are working to resolve any issues as fast as we can. We needed to release this update into the public because of the many issues with the banning system and identify any other bugs. We are aware of a good few bugs that need fixing, and will be looking to do so in the next few days. the easiest way for us to go about identifying these bugs and nailing them is to go live - so please bare with us!

Screenshot of the Week
A dramatic defence of a trench in the Ypres salient..


That’s all for this week. Next week we have something special in store for you!

Welcome back to another installment of Verdun’s “Weapon Wednesday”, we use these media updates to tease upcoming content and provide you with an update on the overall state of the games development.

United States Rifle, cal .30, Model of 1917

When the U.S declared war on Germany in 1917, it was far from being equipped enough to handle a conflict of the scale seen in WW1. The standard issue rifle for the U.S army being the Springfield 1903, there were not enough 1903 rifles around to equip the influx of soldiers that joined the army. The U.S government faced two options, convert its factories creating Pattern 14 rifles for the British to factories capable of creating the Springfield OR simply rechamber the Pattern 14 to the U.S round. The latter option was chosen, it was the quickest, cheapest and easier option to go with - and thus, the P17 came to be. The rifle itself was a successful rifle, boasting decent accuracy and a reasonable rate of fire … though many U.S soldiers would still swear by their 1903 Springfields.



The P17 will be the main battle rifle for the U.S ‘doughboys’ - with reasonable accuracy and a fair rate of fire, this rifle will very much so feel at home in the trenches.

Webley-Scott MKI Model I

The British army had been using revolver style side arms for officers and other units ( artillery etc) for some time. It was very slow to pick up on the idea of a semi-automatic firearm and was seemingly steeped in the traditions of its wars in Africa and other parts of the world … where a hard hitting revolver was all that was needed. While the Webley & Scott only really saw official military issue in other branches of the armed forces (Royal Navy, possible trials in the Flying Corps) the pistol was a popular private purchase weapon for those officers who had the funds available. Chambering the same powerful .455 round as the revolver, and offering 7 rounds for the users disposal it was a marginal improvement on the Webley MKVI


The W&S MKI in game will see a hard hitting round, good rate of fire and reasonable reload speed, but it still falls somewhat short in regards to performance and capacity vs some of the other small arms used within the theatre.

Development status
This week has seen a great deal of effort in implementing the new weapon animation system, as we double down on the new upcoming content with bringing the total weapons to about 60, we have also brought on board another animator to deal with the massive workload. Douaumont has been prepared for launch and we hope to test this in the next few days. Lots of work has been going on in other areas including work on our new night raid scenario map as well as some finalisation of the character gore system.

Game update status: V227
Our main focus this week, however, has been releasing the update. We have had some issues with the new load screen mechanic. Which actually now displays several historical images, maps and high-quality in-game scenario screenshots. Here are some examples of this new system:


Vosges


Picardie


The main menu loading screen will display general information about the war

The information about the sectors is still work in progress, currently the text specifically mentions one playable scenario, but in the future info will be available on numerous historical scenarios. More generic text providing information on the entire frontline sector (such as artois or vosges) will also be added over time.

The full changelog:

• Performance update, should increase performance around 10-20%
  
• New loading screens
  
• Grayscale when you are waiting for spawn no longer pixelated
  
• New LOD system where changing to a lower quality now smoothly fades out instead of harsh popping(does not work on trees)
  
• Unity 5.2
  
• Improved Squad information at minimap to be more accurate
  
• Solved Banning issues where players would get banned when they did not cheat. Overhaul in anti cheat system
  
• New terrain shader which increases overall terrain texture sharpness and a new Parralax Occlusion mapping effect which gives depth to textures.
  
• Better anti piracy protection
  
• Fixed UI issues
  
• Fully fixed deploy exploit(Crouching while deploying is no longer possible)
  
• Tommies Bomber loadout no longer using F1 but Mills

We realise some issues may occur in terms of stuttering as a result of the unity 5.2 upgrade. However overall our observations and calculations have indicated at 20% fps increase. We are working to resolve any issues as fast as we can. We needed to release this update into the public because of the many issues with the banning system and identify any other bugs. We are aware of a good few bugs that need fixing, and will be looking to do so in the next few days. the easiest way for us to go about identifying these bugs and nailing them is to go live - so please bare with us!

Screenshot of the Week
A dramatic defence of a trench in the Ypres salient..


That’s all for this week. Next week we have something special in store for you!

Welcome back to another installment of Verdun’s “Weapon Wednesday”, we use these media updates to tease upcoming content and provide you with an update on the overall state of the games development.

M1911
The Colt 1911 was adopted as the standard issue firearm by the U.S army in 1911. during the latter parts of the 1800’s and the early parts of the 1900’s the U.S were rapidly altering their military arsenal and come the early 1900’s were in need of a reliable self loading pistol. In steps John Browning, famous for his work with firearms throughout the period, with his design for the Colt 1911. Replacing a variety of different service revolvers and semi-automatic firearms, the 1911 offered the best of its predecessors in one package. The colt 1911 had good stopping power, it was accurate enough for the use it was intended for, reliable and well made - it made for a nice rounded package ideal for close quarters combat. Serving from 1911, it is still used with some military branches today and saw lots of use during WW2, Korea and Vietnam.



The 1911 in game will be hampered by it’s medium capacity magazine, the pistol will feel much so on-parr with the other pistols and - as always - will be deadly in the right hands.

Gewehr 1889 ‘Belgian Mauser’
The Mauser Gewehr 1889 was developed by the Mauser company for Belgium in the latter parts of the 1880s. Like many nations in Europe around the time, Belgium was looking to modernise its forces, and this modernisation required a bolt action rifle that would match any potential enemies arsenal. The Mauser 1889 was developed in it’s earliest form in the mid 1880’s and rejected by Germany during trials. The rifle had a ‘cock on close’ mechanism, similar to that of the British Enfield rifles from the period, which made for a faster bolting mechanism vs that of the cock on open design used with many firearms at that time. The rifle would see use in modified versions (much like the Gewehr 1898) in other conflicts of the 20th century.



Boasting a reasonable rate of fire, good accuracy and good stopping power, the main drawback of this rifle will be the 5 round capacity, which will be noticeable with a faster rifle.


Mauser Gewehr 1889 Carbine
The Mauser 89 Karbine was effectively just the carbine version of the Mauser 1889. The model, like many carbines from the period, was design for use with units needing firepower - but not on a similar level to that which an infantryman might need. Reduced in length, weight and streamlined for use with cavalry units - the rifle offered a nice medium between a small arm (pistol) and a long arm (rifle). When the German army invaded Belgium in 1914, the small Belgian army didn’t always have enough G89’s to arm their forces with, so it was not uncommon for belgian troops to be issued with the K89 (much like France had issued the Mle92 to some of its forces) The Belgian forces being a defensive squad in game, use of slightly rarer weaponry would be quite common - and the K89 was common among engineers and artillerymen.




The rifle in game will boast excellent handling and a very good rate of fire, however, due it it’s very short barrel length - not quite as much accuracy as some of the other carbines.

Development status
Extremely busy times for the development team! As one mapping project draws to a close, work on another immediately begins! The first small playtests have been extremely promising! Douaumont has entered the final post-production stage. Most of the workload of this week has been on areas like the new LOD system and its impact on unity limitations. We had to go to quite some lengths in order for this to work, but the results are good. In one of the latest tests an increase of 20 FPS on Artois with ultra settings was reported. Public testing will begin soon! Alongside the wrapping up of Douaumont and general optimisation, the gore system is taking shape, but you will have to wait a little while longer to see this.

Game update status
The next update is currently being prepared and will be ready for deployment in the beta section at some point within the next few days. We will invite people to come and test the new performance thoroughly, as well as a few little fixes here and there. The next update should also address the issues with the ban-system that some people have been experiencing problems with.
In addition to this beta, Douaumont beta testing will start early next week as we start to prepare for the launch of the Horrors of War free thematic expansion pack.

Screenshot of the Week
Canadian bombardment of the German lines, somewhere in the Ypres salient, Flanders:



See you next week, where we’ll be continuing with this pattern of updates!

Welcome back to another installment of Verdun’s “Weapon Wednesday”, we use these media updates to tease upcoming content and provide you with an update on the overall state of the games development.

M1911
The Colt 1911 was adopted as the standard issue firearm by the U.S army in 1911. during the latter parts of the 1800’s and the early parts of the 1900’s the U.S were rapidly altering their military arsenal and come the early 1900’s were in need of a reliable self loading pistol. In steps John Browning, famous for his work with firearms throughout the period, with his design for the Colt 1911. Replacing a variety of different service revolvers and semi-automatic firearms, the 1911 offered the best of its predecessors in one package. The colt 1911 had good stopping power, it was accurate enough for the use it was intended for, reliable and well made - it made for a nice rounded package ideal for close quarters combat. Serving from 1911, it is still used with some military branches today and saw lots of use during WW2, Korea and Vietnam.



The 1911 in game will be hampered by it’s medium capacity magazine, the pistol will feel much so on-parr with the other pistols and - as always - will be deadly in the right hands.

Gewehr 1889 ‘Belgian Mauser’
The Mauser Gewehr 1889 was developed by the Mauser company for Belgium in the latter parts of the 1880s. Like many nations in Europe around the time, Belgium was looking to modernise its forces, and this modernisation required a bolt action rifle that would match any potential enemies arsenal. The Mauser 1889 was developed in it’s earliest form in the mid 1880’s and rejected by Germany during trials. The rifle had a ‘cock on close’ mechanism, similar to that of the British Enfield rifles from the period, which made for a faster bolting mechanism vs that of the cock on open design used with many firearms at that time. The rifle would see use in modified versions (much like the Gewehr 1898) in other conflicts of the 20th century.



Boasting a reasonable rate of fire, good accuracy and good stopping power, the main drawback of this rifle will be the 5 round capacity, which will be noticeable with a faster rifle.


Mauser Gewehr 1889 Carbine
The Mauser 89 Karbine was effectively just the carbine version of the Mauser 1889. The model, like many carbines from the period, was design for use with units needing firepower - but not on a similar level to that which an infantryman might need. Reduced in length, weight and streamlined for use with cavalry units - the rifle offered a nice medium between a small arm (pistol) and a long arm (rifle). When the German army invaded Belgium in 1914, the small Belgian army didn’t always have enough G89’s to arm their forces with, so it was not uncommon for belgian troops to be issued with the K89 (much like France had issued the Mle92 to some of its forces) The Belgian forces being a defensive squad in game, use of slightly rarer weaponry would be quite common - and the K89 was common among engineers and artillerymen.




The rifle in game will boast excellent handling and a very good rate of fire, however, due it it’s very short barrel length - not quite as much accuracy as some of the other carbines.

Development status
Extremely busy times for the development team! As one mapping project draws to a close, work on another immediately begins! The first small playtests have been extremely promising! Douaumont has entered the final post-production stage. Most of the workload of this week has been on areas like the new LOD system and its impact on unity limitations. We had to go to quite some lengths in order for this to work, but the results are good. In one of the latest tests an increase of 20 FPS on Artois with ultra settings was reported. Public testing will begin soon! Alongside the wrapping up of Douaumont and general optimisation, the gore system is taking shape, but you will have to wait a little while longer to see this.

Game update status
The next update is currently being prepared and will be ready for deployment in the beta section at some point within the next few days. We will invite people to come and test the new performance thoroughly, as well as a few little fixes here and there. The next update should also address the issues with the ban-system that some people have been experiencing problems with.
In addition to this beta, Douaumont beta testing will start early next week as we start to prepare for the launch of the Horrors of War free thematic expansion pack.

Screenshot of the Week
Canadian bombardment of the German lines, somewhere in the Ypres salient, Flanders:



See you next week, where we’ll be continuing with this pattern of updates!