A fix has been released to address a security concern related to the custom maps. We have disallowed specific components on custom maps. All existing custom maps will continue to work, but any newly submitted or updated maps that do not follow the new security protocols will show up to players as corrupted.



Custom maps that go corrupt will become inaccessible to players until the custom map creator makes the required updates. In the event this happens, please remove the map from your library. You can follow the custom maps channels in our official Discord for updates of when some removed maps might return.

We will be reaching out to the Custom Map Creators directly to make sure these adjustments get made to minimize the amount of maps affected.

Updates made to workshop area to address a security concern related to custom maps

Happy 2022 Everyone!

2021 was quite a year for us here at Downpour! From large backend updates to settling into a new home for our studio, and new guns and mechanics, the team has done a lot this year to enhance Onward. We continued to work to make sure we can build on and make improvements to the game. We love what we do, we love our community, and we want to continue to build the best game we can for you all to enjoy.

The 2021 Summary for Onward:
4 New / redesigned Maps added
2 New weapon Interactions added
A major code refactor
Hundreds of bugs fixed & adjustments made
Performance Enhancements throughout the game
New anti-cheat system
2 new weapons
14 new custom community maps added

In addition, we have been updating some of our graphic assets in different parts of the game to improve the visuals for PC and Oculus players throughout the year. These are additional graphics updates that are different from the upcoming PC graphics update being worked on by the team currently.

Example of Old vs. New graphics that has been updated in the game:



Onward continues to be a labor of love for everyone here at Downpour. We ended the year releasing update 1.8.10, which received tons of positive feedback due to the additions of the two new guns and the rerelease of Turbine. This added some new ways to play and tactics to explore throughout the game. We understand there were some hiccoughs with the newly added weapons after the release and we made it our priority to get those corrected at the start of the year.

We will continue this year by working on finalizing some bigger projects that have been in the pipeline for a while now. The Devs desk will go over some of the major projects that we are currently working on.

The physical gunstock is a gaming accessory that holds your VR controllers in place to simulate the pistol grip and foregrip of a weapon. These have been used to help with accuracy and immersion when playing. The Gunstock calibration feature will help calibrate physical gunstocks to the guns in Onward for a more realistic feel when aiming and firing.


Major improvements to player character models and AI models; character models will now have more realistic walking and arm movements. Originally the plan was to have the AI animations come out first and then release the player animations shortly after. We have since decided to release the animations together. We would also like to take this moment to introduce the person who was brought on to lead this project, TomN.

“Hello, I am the lead animator for Downpour Interactive. I have been a professional animator (among other titles) for 23 years. Originally, I trained to become a traditional animator. During my last year in college, I realized the media industry was evolving and changed gears. As such, I devoted myself to the exploding field of computer animation. Soon after graduating, I joined a small video game studio, Point of View, Inc.

From there I started crafting game cinematics for a variety of other studios and their projects. This led to animating commercials, music videos, television series, and over 20 feature films. Recently, I worked with Disney Imagineering - where I created visual effects and character animations for upcoming attractions at Disney theme parks. I came full circle 18 months ago and returned to video games animation. Among these, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond with Respawn Entertainment and character rigging for The Odd Gentlemen, a small boutique studio in Los Angeles.

Dante reached out in 2020 and asked me to lead the animation team. This team of talented professionals Dante assembled is a daily pleasure to work with. We’ve been hard at work revamping and developing new animations for Onward. Expect remarkable creations from Downpour!”

The IK system is the system that renders your hands holding the controllers and how and where those hands are in the game. We are working on making improvements to this system to be more accurate with where someone is located.

Getting together and jumping into Onward with your friends is a popular method of playing the game. The game is offered across three different platforms and with a large player base, we understand that it makes it a bit difficult at times to easily find your friends' lobby to jump into. We are looking into developing some new methods to help make connecting with your friends easier.

While most of the intensity experienced is on the battlefield, the tent is the main hub where the majority of setup and communication happens. It’s important that when you first join a lobby you feel that immersion when in the area where you begin your setup and communications for the objectives to come. We want to improve the experience you have when you are in the tent. Below are first ever looks at some concepts of design work for an improved tent environment.




Did you notice after the holidays the increase in lobby pages? There are more lobbies and games being played than ever before! We want to take this time to welcome all the new members to the Onward community. We hope you are enjoying the different game modes and the new teammates you have met. Please make sure to review our community guidelines and have a great time playing out on the battlefield.
https://www.onwardthegame.com/community-guidelines.html


Cap Practice submitted by FLapinski
Create a private competitive lobby and join volk. Once you load into the round you will be able to disable the code even before the timer is over. This is one of the best ways to increase your capping speed.

Homestead submitted by Glitch0320
Intel suggests that Volk forces are setting up operations on a small farm in the Midwest. A Marsoc unit is sent to investigate and eliminate the threat.

Refuel submitted by Koiz
A beautiful Caribbean island once home to a South American cartel is now under Volk control. The island has become a major contributor to the Volk war effort, and you and your squad have orders to dismantle the smuggling operation and eliminate any hostiles found.

Lookout submitted by Gridder
MARSOC deploy around the mountain region in northern Europe for suspected VOLK activity. Recon has found a small forward operating base that VOLK are using to operate around the area and MARSOC begin the assault on it.

There is a lot in store for 2022 and we have only just started! Stay updated here and on our social media pages.

Stay Frosty!

Hello everyone!

We’ve just released a hotfix to address an issue where an incorrect pivot point caused an issue where the AK104 wasn’t handling as expected.

The patch is available now, and will download to your device automatically.

Stay frosty!

After our release of update 1.8.10 we saw a lot of community excitement and positive responses to the new map, Turbine, and new weapons that were introduced. However, one thing that unexpectedly happened was an unintended change in how Virtual Gunstock operates. This became our top priority and we immediately went to work on getting this fixed for you.

While we were working on this fix, we were able to review additional community feedback, and we were able to include some other bug fixes, as well. Please see the list below for detailed information on the adjustments included in this patch.

• Virtual Gunstock functionally has been reverted back to expected speed and usability

• Fixed a bug where if players disconnected during spawn jail time when they rejoined, they were unable to damage other players
  
• Fixed an issue where using elevators would cause a player to appear to be flying into the elevator as it reached its destination
  
• Fixed an issue where where players would appear to be flying to their spawn point in gun game

• Fixed an issue on Cargo on containers that was allowing some bullets to pass through parts of the container
  
• Audio adjustments have been made on Downfall to lower the volume of the wind when in the tent
  
• Fixed a bug on Bazaar Night that would cause performance to drop for some players after selecting their loadout
  
• Fixed a bug where elevators on Community Made Custom Maps would not function on custom maps

• Fixed body armor to correctly absorb damage on the chest
  
• Virtual Gunstock placement for the AK-104 has been adjusted to be more accurate
  
• Speed reload function will now work more consistently on the AK-104

• Some Oculus Home users have a issue where the game does not launch; for steps on how to fix this, please check our FAQ in the Oculus Home section on our website https://www.onwardthegame.com/support.html
  
• There is a chance that when using an Oculus headset on SteamVR with bHaptics it may not connect. If you restart bHaptics and relaunch Onward, this should fix the issue.
  
• Quest players can hear MARSOC team chat upon joining the lobby
  
• There is an significant performance drop when playing the game for long periods and then loading into a custom map
  
• Some PC players may experience performance problems causing framerate drops around the park area and near the burning building on Suburbia Night
  
• Some objects may not render correctly on tablet when using the air drone
  
• Players can hear audio from different elevations if another player is around the same vicinity but on a different floor

Hello everyone!

Update 1.8.10 is here! This patch is coming in hot with high anticipation from the community's desire to get their hands on the new weapons and feel performance enhancements. We wanted to make sure to take some quality time to address the issues with the rising performance reports we were receiving. We felt it was important to get the game back to a better feeling state during gameplay. You will feel the improvements when loading into the game and while playing.

New features for Onward introduced in this patch include two new weapons, the MCX Virtus and AK104, and the return of the map Turbine. The addition of new weapons and environment should give you an enhanced way to experience the game throughout different game modes and other maps. Developing fresh tactics and enhancing ways to play, whether it be against AI or others on the battlefield. There are so many unique things to discover with these additions. Check out the New Features section for details on the new items coming.

In addition to performance improvements, we took some much needed time to review the environments you play in. We analyzed many locations throughout all our maps, including ones reported by the community, and made adjustments to them to improve the experience of the firefights that happen in these environments. Other changes to improve your gameplay experiences have also been included. For the full list of changes in this update please see the changelog below.





MCX Virtus
Class: Specialist (Marsoc)
Caliber: .300 Blackout
Type of ammo: Subsonic
Rate of fire: 800 RPM
Barrel length: 6.75 inches, with built-in suppressor

Created for the needs of special forces operators for operations behind enemy lines where, thanks to subsonic ammunition and an integrated suppressor, they guarantee the maximum flexibility in any condition. This weapon is chambered with .300 BLK rounds, which even in their subsonic configuration guarantee excellent stopping power in short to medium range engagements. The .300 BLK is a new ammunition type being added to Onward. Its subsonic nature will allow you to engage more covertly.



AK-104
Class: Specialist (Volk)
Caliber: 7.62x39 mm
Type of ammo: Supersonic
Rate of fire: 600 RPM
Barrel length: 12.4 inches

Created to be the first 7.62x39mm weapon in this class. What makes this weapon "unique" is the proper rail system on top and on the front side. Modern looking magazine and stock. The compensator attachment makes the weapon more stable while shooting.




This hydroelectric dam near Kazakhstan provides power for the region and serves as a strategic chokepoint that each faction strives to control. MARSOC and Volk forces control opposite ends of the dam. It's time to break the stalemate.

Some of you may remember Turbine from the 1.7 PC version of the game. The map has been redesigned and optimized for crossplatform gameplay. This map features 4 levels and multiple rooms throughout. There are working elevators to get to other levels on the map, but make sure you are prepared if the enemy team is waiting for you on the other side of those doors. Communication will be key when playing on this map.

• bHaptics support has returned for Quest devices
  
• Fixed an issue where if you un-equip the in-tent VR goggles while holding both the trigger and grip buttons at the same time, the NVG effect pops up in the tent
  
• Fixed an issue where if the Host is in the VR spectate goggles when returning to the tent for map select, they will have no UI in the tent
  
• Fixed an issue where if you started the game using Oculus VR mode from Steam you couldn't finish Basic Tutorial after the first dialog box
  
• You can now join full lobbies as an a Observer on PCVR
  
• The Give Up button now locks to head movement when alive or downed
  
• Fixed an issue where observers could bypass entering passwords for lobbies
  
• Corrected instances where whiteboards pens would face the wrong way
  
• When displaying Player IDs in the tent the number is now fully visible

• The fog light reflection has been adjusted when using an Air or Ground Drone with NVG on certain maps
  
• Fixed a bug where kills and teamkills during a round reset would get counted in the tent and did not get cleared
  
• Fixed a bug where if a player drops their pistol in One In The Chamber, and then kills a player before the pistol floats back to them, they were not awarded a bullet
  
• Round resets no longer add a death to your kill/death counter on Uplink
  
• If you are downed and the round ends, you will now get a death point
  
• Fixed a bug in Operations where if the host changed twice, the new host was not able to change mode, difficulty or number of bots until they click on loadout
  
• Removed the spawn button for fireteam leader in the tent when there are no tickets left
  
• Points will properly be awarded in competitive Assault lobbies at end of rounds
  
• On Suburbia when objective is upstairs the tablet will now show an arrow
  
• Targets in the basic tutorial will now turn black when shot, as intended
  
• Fixed players getting an extended movement area after the syringe injecting phase of the tutorial

Global Adjustments

• Added Turbine Day and Turbine Night maps
  
• Optimized GPU and CPU performance for Quest players
  
• Improved shipping containers models on Cargo, Tanker, Abandoned and Quarantine
  
• Fixed several locations where spectators and drones could fly outside the map
  
• Fixed several exploits where players could see through some walls
  
• Improved numerous cross platform prop placements and map fog setting inconsistencies
  
• Added more movement freedom for Casters/flying spectators in most scenes
  
• Fixed several issues that allowed AI to walk through solid objects
  
• Improved visual transitions for distances on all maps
  
• Improved graphic overlay issues on several maps
  
• Made adjustments to walls and floors on all maps to prevent players from being able to see through them
  
• Adjustments made on several maps to adjust for possible exploits

Abandoned

• Improved the textures on the metal buildings
  
• Fixed an issue where players on PC would turn pitch black in certain areas of the map
  
• Adjusted spawn points and added several additional objective possibilities to Escort gamemode
  
• Improved several objects' collision throughout the map
  
• Fixed a spawn in Abandoned COOP where players spawn on top of the crashed Chinook.
  
• Abandoned Night map selection thumbnail is now slightly brighter
  
• Fixed an issue where water would sometimes appear black or missing when spectating in the tent

Bazaar

• Fixed several collision areas in Bazaar
  
• Fixed areas on map that would block casters/flying spectators

Cargo

• Fixed an issue where users couldn't deploy their drone in a certain area

Downfall

• Fixed several collision issues throughout the map
  
• Fixed an inaccuracy in the buildings where players aren't getting correctly lit by the lights inside
  
• Fixed an issue where several props in the PC version were shinier than desired
  
• Fixed an issue where some of the caster UI would get overlapped by graphic textures placed in the PC version
  
• Fixed a spawn point for Gun Game and One In The Chamber where players, upon spawn, would get stuck

Quarantine

• Fixed an issue with the skyscraper building north of the motel that allowed AI to walk and shoot players through it

Shooting Range

• Adjusted the first set of stairs in the killhouse that prevented players from being able to move up the stairs in smooth motion
  
• Fixed the terrain from shifting its shape aggressively in the target course for PC

Snowpeak

• Fixed an issue where the small cars in Snowpeak reacted to gunshots as concrete objects
  
• Adjusted collision throughout the map
  
• Removed a visual texture seam on the terrain in Snowpeak for Quest

Suburbia

• Ambient cricket audio in Suburbia Night has been lowered in volume
  
• Adjusted collision throughout the map
  
• Fixed multiple vehicles that would cause the player to get stuck when running next to them
  
• Fixed an issue with several objects in the PC version of Suburbia where objects appear to be very shiny
  
• Fixed the spectator camera from spawning below the floor after using the spectator goggles

Subway

• Adjustments made around the stairs and railings. Including an issue where players were unable to shoot through railings
  
• Fixed many visual bugs throughout the map

Tanker

• Adjusted collision throughout the map
  
• Adjustments made so AI no longer walk through shipping containers

• Added the MCX Virtus to Marsoc Specialist Class
  
• Added the AK104 to to Volk Specialist Class
  
• When the AUG empties a magazine, the bolt now holds open mechanically and visually
  
• The AUG bolt no longer stays closed when shooting
  
• The dust cover on the AUG no longer clips through the back of the gun when the charging handle is pulled back
  
• Fixed a bug that could cause weapons to freeze in place when fired
  
• Shotgun shells will now appear in the chambers of loaded shotguns, SPAS and M1014
  
• Fixed a bug that caused players to not be able to get tased in the upper chest
  
• If there is ammunition left on P90 it will now show in the magazine
  
• The TAR-21 now has an animation on its dust cover when shooting/pulling the charging handle
  
• Fixed a bug when pulling back the M16 or Mk18 charging handle on an empty magazine that would cause the bolt to not release
  
• Removed bolt release function from the SKS and SVD to mimic the real weapons' functionality
  
• The Box magazine's bullet chain link is no longer visible through flash & smoke effects
  
• The Mk17 magazine no longer clips through the weapon's body
  
• The FAMAS magazine on PC has been adjusted to face the correct direction
  
• The holographic sights were corrected to align properly on weapons
  
• The left and right angled sights corrected to align properly on weapons

Caster Mode

• Casters can now hear players during game play, but no longer hear players in the tent
  
• Flare Guns and Smoke will no longer toggle the Caster's NVBoost off
  
• Fixed only 5 players appearing on the leaderboard and in the camera selection
  
• Fixed an issue where where if you are zoomed in before snapping to a player, after leaving their perspective your camera will zoom in again
  
• Players with NVGs active will no longer have their camera views blocked
  
• Fixed an issue where if you are moving when you snap to a player, upon escaping from their view your camera will still have momentum and move in the direction that you were flying prior to snapping to them
  
• Player names will now rotate to face the caster while in first person perspective
  
• If a player turns a flashlight on/off near the Caster while their NV Boost is on, it will no longer toggle the NV Boost off
  
• Fixed an issue that was casing The PKM and Glock to have no texture and have bright white puffs of smoke when shooting
  
• Fixed The hostiles counter being too big for the given box
  
• A message will now be displayed if the caster lobby is full
  
• Player's laser will no longer be stopped by boundaries
  
• The minimap will now show the correct position of the caster's location
  
• The caster's in-tent camera view has been adjusted so that it no longer cut off the the Scoreboard and player list
  
• Mitigated an issue where If a caster opens the spacebar menu after a player has died, it would cause a chunk of the minimap to disappear

Known Issues

• Some Oculus Home users have a issue where the game goes not launch properly, for steps on how to fix this please check our FAQ on the Support Page
  
• There is a chance that when using an Oculus headset on SteamVR with bHaptics it may not connect
  
• Quest players can hear MARSOC team chat upon joining the lobby
  
• There is an significant performance drop when playing the game for long periods and then loading into a custom map
  
• The elevators on Turbine can cause some visible teleportation issues for players
  
• PC players may experience performance problems causing framerate drops around the park area and near the burning building on Suburbia Night
  
• Some objects may not render correctly on tablet when using the air drone
  
• Players can hear audio from different elevations if another player is around the same vicinity but on a different floor

Hello everyone!

It’s that time again: November is half way over and like most of you, we are looking forward to the upcoming holiday season. But we are not just talking about vacations, we are also looking forward to having Update 1.8.10 out in early December. That means you can spend some time during your holiday breaks exploring Turbine, the new map, and testing out the new weapons.

That’s right! The two new weapons that we announced previously will be coming in Update 1.8.10! They were originally planned to be included with Update 1.8.11, but we’ve been able to get them included earlier. More details on the guns and other details about the upcoming update can be found below in the Devs’ Desk.

Be sure to also check out the Community Center to see the winners for our Onward Community Clips Contest as well as this month’s new custom maps. There are some great ones we think a lot of the community can relate to.

From The Devs’ Desk:
Last week we reached what we call ‘feature lock’: our internal deadline for submitting new features and content for an update, and have given the Update to our QA teams for testing. It is currently going through our internal QA team and will be set up for our Unit51 Beta testers to perform a closed beta test very soon.

As you may know, the first major addition to 1.8.10 will be the new map, Turbine. In our previous Sitreps we mentioned Turbine, the story behind it, and how it will differ from the Turbine some of you may recall from the 1.7 days. Today we want to show you never before seen images of what the map will look like so you can start developing strategies.





Frame-rate and performance are a major focus as we want to ensure a smooth experience when playing Onward; we shared details on some of our performance improvements in last month’s Sitrep. In addition to performance work you can look forward to the return of bHaptics support for the Quest and Quest 2. We have also made adjustments and improvements across all maps already included in the game.

Back to the new guns: for now we are continuing to keep the second gun under wraps. We do however want to give you more details on the MCX that was announced previously.

MCX VIRTUS
Class: Specialist
Caliber: .300 Blackout
Type of ammo: Subsonic
Rate of fire: 800 RPM
Barrel length: 6.75 Inches, with built-in suppressor

Created for the needs of special forces operators for operations behind enemy lines where, thanks to subsonic ammunition and an integrated suppressor, they guarantee the maximum flexibility in any condition. This weapon is chambered with .300 BLK rounds, which even if in subsonic configuration, guarantee excellent stopping power in the short to medium range.

Subsonic, specialized ammunition
.300 Blackout is a caliber with very high stopping power despite its subsonic character, and is frequently used by Special Forces around the world for this reason.

A unique weapon for Marsoc, with an integrated suppressor and a caliber new for Onward. This gives them a powerful additional weapon for close-range firefights. A perfect weapon for new tactical opportunities.





Community Center:
Our Clips contest has ended and we had some great videos sent in! A big thanks to everyone who sent submissions. Check out the winners and honorable mentions.

Cinematic - Submitted by Onward VR Legends
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trXl3gphxec
Trailer - Submitted by Laurence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgR1fs9XAYg
Clips - Humor - Submitted by Charliedeets
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWxhxJiWCiQ
Clips - Skill - Submitted by ReadyUpVR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8mjv6vZrlE
Clips - Hype - Submitted by TeaVR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZYtxk3Dgfs

Honorable Mentions:
Raptors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyau6Sac8uA
TeaVR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yb5iCHRDoE

New Custom Maps Released
Community member Mantis has some great videos displaying our custom maps and highlighting some great gameplay on them. Make sure to take some time and take a look at all the different types of environments you can play in, in addition to the core game mode maps.
https://youtu.be/eM4aykVKWCQ
https://youtu.be/Xuz8Vu-VmNQ
https://youtu.be/PLDRgbLT_6g


If you are interested in getting into mapmaking join our Discord and head to the Custom Maps channels. There are lots of helpful members and documents to start you in the right direction toward building environments in Onward. Discord.gg/Onward

Now, onto the newly released custom maps!

Warzone 2047 (PC) By Siubakyeung
The Volk army seizes the secret base in the snow mountain in an attempt to destroy the world. The MARSOC was ordered to stop.


Shelter: (Quest/PC) by Gridder
During an international exercise MARSOC have been in exercises with local Finnish forces around urban ops. During one of these VOLK are uncovered as this causes MARSOC with other exercising SF forces to take back control of the bunker system.


Runway - Night: (PC/Quest) by Tatoskok
Volk has intercepted plans of a VIP visit to a remote MARSOC airfield and has launched their attack! Secure the warheads, protect the classified intelligence, and rescue the VIP!


Arctic - Night: (PC/Quest) by Heclak
The Arctic Research Labs have created an outpost in an undisclosed location in the Arctic region.


Sand - Night: (PC/Quest) by Koiz
MARSOC has been deployed to this small village to restore freedom and root out the Volk cell rumored to be hiding there.


This is the end for this Sitrep. Keep looking out for more info on our social media pages.

Stay Frosty!

Happy Hauntings Everyone!

We are releasing our October Sitrep a bit early so we can get you an update on everything we have been working on. We didn’t release a September Sitrep because our focus was on getting the patch 1.8.10 launched. However, after evaluation of the feedback we received from players and our own QA testers, we decided to give Update 1.8.10 a bit more time in the oven to tackle some community needs including a big focus on the overall performance of the game. Taking on this work has shifted priorities across multiple departments and changed estimated release times on some of the features we previously stated. For more details on the current feature schedule please keep reading.

From The Devs Desk:
With the concerns surrounding the frame rate and performance that were brought up when reviewing Update 1.8.10, we wanted to make sure we took the time to listen and investigate the concerns the community had. The team has taken the time and is working hard on improving these issues. Here is a deep dive from our lead programmer:

“Hello everybody, I'm the lead programmer on Onward, and I want to share some insights into our recent programming work. Today, I’ll be going over our issue with the frame rate of Onward and why we’re taking extra time to improve it. To the dismay of our community manager, this is a larger technical topic so I have broken it up into a few different parts that you can jump to.

What does frame rate mean for Onward?
First, frame rate is very important when it comes to VR as lower frame rates can make you feel sick because your movements in game don’t match your movements in real life, throwing off your balance.

One of our main goals in Onward is to make sure that you, the player, feel comfortable while playing the game, so you can keep playing until you want to stop instead of when you have to stop from nausea. We have spent a lot of time on our systems to prevent motion sickness. For example a lot of design went into making sure the movement system doesn't throw you off balance. Frame rate plays a key role in your comfort and therefore earns priority at the top of our development to-do list.

Why has Onward's frame rate decreased?
The main reason our frame rate decreased over time has been the addition of new features and large changes. New features almost always come with an additional cost to run, so this extra cost needs to be offset with additional performance improvements in other areas of the game.

What are the steps to begin improving Onward's frame rate?
To improve the frame rate in Onward we have had to tackle the problem from several different directions. Our starting point is to profile the game. In the code we can identify code that is taking too long to run, code being run too frequently, and code that is high impact because it runs all the time.

After we’ve identified the problem areas in the code we can go through and try to improve them. We generally start with trying to improve performance by simplifying code and caching data for quicker retrieval. If simplifying the code and caching aren’t enough, then we have to take more drastic approaches such as replacing the code faster or removing functionality. Removing functionality is a last resort.

What have we been working on to improve Onward's frame rate?
I’ll provide a few examples out of the many parts of code we worked on during the performance improvements instead of going into more general explanations of how to approach performance improvements.

First, our projectile system was creating new bullets instead of reusing pre-existing ones in situations with heavy gunfire. The creation of new objects is expensive, so to prevent this we try to create objects before we need them. When we create objects we try to hide the frame rate drop they cause with loading screens. We then try to reuse the objects when possible as reusing is much cheaper than creating.

Another one of our major wins was bringing in a new system to turn off objects that could not be seen so we were rendering fewer objects at any one time. The system used for this is called occlusion culling. We had been using a Unity occlusion culling system which was expensive on the CPU and sometimes cost more performance than it saved. To fix this, one or our programmers wrote a new occlusion culling system that runs really quickly at the cost of extra memory usage over CPU use. This helped bring down costs on both the CPU as it had less calculations and the GPU as it now has fewer objects to render.

The examples above just scratch the surface of the work that has gone into the performance improvement work but we hope give you a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes.

Until next time, here is a fun bug QA caught that was caused by an optimization to the bipods.”


In addition to the performance improvements, the extra dev time gave us the ability to include the return of bHaptics to Quest users in 1.8.10. This feature is currently in testing and is looking good to return sooner than we previously stated. Also expect major bug fixes such as Abandoned spawn locations, AI walking through walls on several maps, and updates to spectator mode.

Turbine Day and Night will release with 1.8.10. Some changes including spawn points and environment adjustments have been made to the map based on feedback from our Unit51 playtests. Previous images may not reflect some of these changes, but we will be showing off Turbine on our social media soon.

We continue to work on the two new weapons and the gun stock calibration we mentioned in our August sitrep. If everything lines up, we are trying to have them included into the 1.8.11 Update. Update 1.8.11 was originally slated to include AI animation improvements, but we’re working hard to get more animations included. We’ll keep you updated as we continue to work toward this future patch release.

Our long-term development goals remain unchanged. These projects include the Party system, Friends system, and AI gameplay improvements.

Community Center:
Last Thursday we launched our Onward Community Clips contest. We’re excited to see your creativity and the different ways you enjoy the game. There are prizes for multiple categories and themes in the contest. For all the details on categories, prizes, and official rules for entry, check out the details here.

Custom maps are back and new ones are now available, which leads us to this month's community member spotlight. Tatoskok has submitted two new amazing maps for the month of October, one of which is perfect for the October spooky season.

Graveyard, by community member Tatoshok
MARSOC SIGINT intercepted Volk communications coming from a remote region of Transylvania. A permanent layer of dense fog obscures satellite imagery requiring aerial drones to provide coverage. Prepare your fireteam for impaired visibility and perform a reconnaissance to discover what the Volk cell is hiding. The region is well known for roaming packs of feral wolves.




The Streets, by community member Gridder
A recent attack in NYC by Volk has caused major chaos all around but the city has been put in lockdown. Due to the area the only way to counter this is to send a MARSOC to deal with Volk in pretence of being national guard.


That’s the Spookiness for this month, Stay Frosty!

Next time you're out on the battlefield make sure to bring your camera with you! 🎥
Prizes will be awarded for a variety of different categories. 🏆

Check out all the Details on the Official Contest Page:
https://onwardthegame.com/clipscontest2021

Hello Everyone!

August flew by, and it's a big milestone for Onward: earlier in the week we celebrated our 5th anniversary since our first release on Steam! Now, let’s jump right into things! Last week we released Patch 1.8.9.1 to address an issue with the Workshop. Custom maps are a big feature in Onward and we corrected the issue as fast as we could with a hotfix. If you are still experiencing issues with the Workshop, please make sure you update to 1.8.9.1.

It’s been a little over a month since the release of Update 1.8.9. We continue to receive positive feedback about the new weapons interactions, Abandoned Map, and we’ve even seen mini games being made using the Dolphin in Abandoned free roam.

With 1.8.9 in the rear-view mirror, the path in front of us includes the return of another map and new features the community has been asking for. Read on for more details on what’s coming.

From The Devs' Desk
Our next update will be 1.8.10. The focus will be on the re-release of the map Turbine. PC players will remember this large map with its long-range firefights on top of the hydroelectric dam, and the close quarters combat in its many below ground-level floors. This map will also bring back some unique elements, such as working elevators. Buildings have been added to the surface of the dam, which has also been redesigned to feature a curved road, allowing for new, semi-covered approaches. Also included in 1.8.10 are continued adjustments for the Quest 2 audio.






1.8.11 will follow the 1.8.10 update and is shaping up to include improved animations and performance. The first animation improvements that will roll out is to the AI in Co-op mode. The major joints for bots have been tackled and updated, including better wrists and knees. They will bend better making their overall movement look more realistic. We are also working on adding the ability to vote kick players during matches using the tablet. Finally, we are hoping to reimplement bHaptics support for Quest users in this update as well.

If you have been reading the previous sitreps, you know that we are working on big features for the future like a friends and party system and AI gameplay improvements. This month we have some new features to talk about! We will be starting development on a completely new map, gunstock calibration, and two new weapons. We can reveal one of the new weapons will be the SIG MCX and we will reveal the second new weapon at a later time.


Photo by Mike Searson*

Community Center
Last weekend VRML wrapped up Season 11 for Onward. Congratulations to Raptors for placing 1st! Beginners came in 2nd, Vikings in 3rd, and Peacekeepers in 4th. There were some great matches with some great plays throughout the games. We are looking forward to seeing the start of season 12. If you would like to watch the reply of the semi-finals and finals, head over to YouTube: Semi-Finals https://youtu.be/mM6RFQFFJDw Finals https://youtu.be/NKhLL1FN6DI

Custom Maps:
Currently, there is a known issue with being able to upload and update custom maps. We are working on this and hope to have a fix soon. This adjustment shouldn’t require an update to the game, so keep an eye out on our social media and Discord for this fix to be announced.

We have the pedal to the metal moving into September and have a lot of things we are working on. Keep an eye out for the 1.8.10 release and as always, Stay Frosty.



*CC-BY-SA 4.0 - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Hi everyone!

Today we have released a hotfix to address an issue that caused the Workshop area of the game to no longer function properly. A fix for the related issue where custom map makers are no longer able to upload new maps or update existing maps is coming soon, but will not require a patch for the game.

We are still looking into an issue that causes a small number of Oculus Home users to not be able to launch the game. Please contact our support team if you’re facing issues launching the game through Oculus Home (PC).

The patch to address the Workshop issue is available now, and will download automatically to your device.

Stay frosty!