Hello everyone, my name is Tim Perreault and I’m the Production Director at New World Interactive. February has been an exciting month for us, with update 1.9.1 releasing just before a free weekend on Steam. This SoP will be short and sweet, so without further ado let’s jump in!

Key Points for State of Production #17

• 1.9.1 Update and Hotfixes
  
• Free Week Results
  
• New Weapons: QBZ-97 and QTS-11
  
• Community Driven Update

On Tuesday, February 2 we launched our 1.9.1 patch which included various bug fixes, improvements, and two new guns. A big change in this update is our new in-game stats system including the updated end-of-round screens. The new system is much more robust and was designed to eliminate issues that could happen with the legacy system, such as missing level-up rewards.

We have released three hotfixes to address high-priority issues. We’ve been monitoring and investigating reports of players who are having issues with cosmetics they own not appearing to be unlocked in their inventory. We are also monitoring and investigating other issues listed as known issues which you can find linked on our new public Trello board (Shoutout to our new hire on the Player Support Team, Bruno Chasse! He drove the creation of the new public known issues site).

From February 4th until February 8th, Insurgency: Sandstorm was available to play for free on Steam. During that period a lot of new players tried the game. We saw concurrent user counts averaging just under 10,000 for the period. On the weekend alone, we had over 280,000 rounds played on stats-enabled servers. Free weekends on Steam are a big driver for bringing new players to Sandstorm, so I’d like to extend a big welcome to all the players who have recently joined the community!

Our latest update included two new weapons, the QBZ-97 for Insurgents and QTS-11 for Security. I’ve invited Lead Game Designer, Michael “Mikee” Tsarouhas, to speak about the selection, implementation, and balancing of those two rifles:

“Insurgency has a wide swath of weapons, but there’s always new ones we are considering that can offer new gameplay opportunities, unique aesthetics, and thematic appeal. The QBZ-97 and QTS-11 were added in an effort to expand the range of capabilities for the commonly used Rifleman, Demolitions, Commander, and Observer classes, as well as try to have better representation of modern Chinese firearms which could be seen in our setting. We’ve got plenty of international guns, but we’re a little lacking on the East Asian side.



Adding new assault rifles is an interesting challenge for a hardcore modern military FPS game designer. In real life, modern small arms have largely plateaued. The technological advances and distinctions between each weapon a military deploys are much more minimal than they were in the previous century. You have to really think and iterate when trying to make a new gun feel unique in the game but still real. The QBZ-97 gave us a chance to have a low supply point cost weapon that was an alternative to the AKM, firing 5.56 and featuring a higher fire rate. The QTS-11 was an opportunity to make a more expensive supply point cost Security assault rifle that fired flat and smooth with a unique toggleable optic type that keeps you deadly at both long and close range. The fire rate in particular was a fun piece to balance, as pretty much all our assault rifles fire faster than the QTS-11. We weren’t sure if it would be viable. It was a bit of an experiment, and it feels like it paid off.”

Our next Community Driven update (1.9.2) is on the horizon. We are still finalizing some of what that content will be, until then I wanted to touch on how we plan these updates.

The goals of our Community Driven updates are to address as many feature requests and bugs as possible. We do this by keeping track of what the most discussed issues are on various platforms. While we’re always looking at our community feedback, there are often requests that aren’t immediately actionable. These updates are the perfect time for us to review the list and take on requests that are too big or require too much testing for hotfixing, but are also small enough that we don’t need to plan them into a major update cycle. There are a lot of reviews that go on with lots of team members to evaluate the technical effort involved and also make sure the gameplay impact is in line with the vision of the game. Once we have a consensus on what is achievable we have our development team start working on the content, get a build put together and tested, and confirm we’re ready for our targeted release date.
We’ll be wrapping up the planning phase this week and scheduling development to start soon. In keeping with the theme for this year, we’re working on the update a lot earlier than normal to provide us with more time in QA.

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

• Community server names that include hate speech will no longer appear on the server browser

While we were lucky enough that this hadn't been an issue in the past, it was brought to our attention that a community server with a particularly egregious name had been showing up in our community server list. We'd like to thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Simple profanity (such as cursing) will not be removed from the server browser.

We do not condone any type of hate speech, and servers with names like this will not appear in the server browser moving forward.

We apologize to anyone affected by any of these server names and will work hard to ensure this doesn't happen again.

• Fixed a crash that sometimes occurred when loading a map or the Main Menu

To see the current known issues list, please see the bottom of the full 1.9.1 Changelist here: here. Please note: As 1.9.1 Hotfix 2 was a single bugfix, the 1.9.1 Hotfix 1 notes were amended to include that.

Greetings folks,

With the release of Operation: Cold Blood 1.9.1 that introduces multiple gameplay, UI improvements, bug fixes, as well as two new Weapons (QBZ-97 and QTS-11), we’re thrilled to announce a FREE WEEKEND until Feb. 8th.

Since the game’s launch back in 2018, Insurgency: Sandstorm has expanded its content with multiple major updates. We’ve added new game modes, new weapons, new weapon upgrades (including toggleable optics), new maps (and night versions for all maps), and plenty more community-requested features over the past two years.

Learn more about the game’s major updates here:

• Operation: Nightfall
  
• Operation: Breakaway
  
• Operation: Cold Blood

New players will now be able to dip into the blood pumping mayhem of Insurgency: Sandstorm and immerse themselves entirely in this intense modern combat, with all new content available.

If you already enjoy Insurgency: Sandstorm, get your friends in during the free weekend. If you are new this is the perfect time to try the game with your friends!

Play Insurgency: Sandstorm for FREE until Feb. 8th. If you enjoy playing and want to own the game, it’s also 50% off on Steam!

• Reduced AS Val’s Vertical Recoil to 23
  
• Reduced AS Val’s Horizontal Recoil to 10

• Fixed an issue where classes that were previously unlocked were showing as locked
  
• Fixed an issue where the XP enabled icon wasn’t showing in the Community Server Browser
  
• Fixed an issue where the QBZ-97 and QTS-11 were not available in Checkpoint, Hardcore Checkpoint, and Outpost game modes for some players if mods were installed
  
• Fixed an issue where the QBZ-97 Explosive Launcher was shooting projectiles at an extreme speed without being affected by gravity
  
• Fixed an issue where an improper weapon skin was appearing on the AKM when equipping both the Red Dark weapon skin and the Extended Magazine or Drum Magazine upgrade
  
• Fixed an issue where the reticle on the 3x YMA-95-1 Scope for the QBZ-97 was unlit
  
• Fixed an issue where a match draw was not being triggered in Push mode when the score was 1-1

To see the current known issues list, please see the bottom of the full 1.9.1 Changelist here.

Check out the full changelist and see what’s new in update 1.9.1.

There are two new medium caliber assault rifles available for Rifleman, Demolitions, Commander, and Observer classes: the QBZ-97 for Insurgents at 3 supply points, and the QTS-11 for Security at 4 supply points.







The QBZ-97 is an effective bullpup 5.56 caliber option for the Insurgent team at an affordable cost, putting rounds out a little faster than an AKM. The QTS-11 is an advanced special operations rifle with an integrated bolt-action grenade launcher, and fires flatter than an AUG A3 with its lower recoil and slower fire rate.

With 1.9.1, we’ve decided to remove Competitive official ranked matchmaking from the Play menu. We understand that this change could be upsetting to our competitive players, but we feel this is what’s best for the game going forward. Competitive matchmaking suffered from extremely low player participation, with players often struggling to even find a match. This is especially a problem for us because it means new players who decide to try a competitive experience on boot up will essentially be stuck, confused, and annoyed. We need to ensure any new player in our community gets quick and easy access to much stronger experiences like those found in Versus, Co-op, or community servers. We want every gameplay experience in Sandstorm to meet a certain standard, and Competitive was not up to that standard.

For more information, please see our January community blog post here.

For the next two weeks our regular limited time playlist will be a modified version of Competitive Firefight. Modifications include normal Versus Firefight classes and normal supply costs for weapons and equipment. Other rules seen previously in Competitive Firefight like faster objective capture, shorter rounds, and 5 v 5 players are still the same.

We will be revamping the Stats section of the main menu to streamline the way we collect game statistics. New end of round screens have been implemented, and backend logic has been revamped to ensure XP and cosmetic rewards are correctly earned. As a part of this effort, the Weapons section will need to be removed in this update and reimplemented in a future update. Your game stats will still continue to be collected, however the UI to display the information will be missing temporarily. When we reimplement the Weapons and Achievements sections, all stats you have earned since before and after this update will still be seen. These sub menus just need to disappear for a little while as we rework our system, with no actual loss of data. We apologize for any inconvenience or disruption this may cause.

Here are the list of changes:

• Replays are now found in Stats > History instead of Replays in the Main Menu
  
• Improved end of round screen by adding match history and statistics at the end of every round

• Added night equipment to the Firing Range

• Updated the Main Menu to improve the presentation of the 1.9 update
  
• Improved the Result Screen when the round or match ends

• Fixed lighting issues on the map to remove shadows appearing and disappearing unexpectedly

• Fixed an issue where a wall and door was missing

• Fixed two areas players were unintentionally able to reach

• Fixed an issue where walls were not appearing near Objective A on Push Insurgents
  
• Fixed an exploitable area REDACTED near REDACTED

• Fixed an issue where players who attempted to vault at a specific location on Objective C would become stuck in or enter underneath the floor

• Fixed an issue where the fire and explosion effects of destroyed vehicles were not appearing

• Fixed an issue with certain networking hardware that caused a crash when connecting to official matchmaking related to getting local IP addresses on Windows
  
• Fixed an issue where the mod download status would start to count in reverse after reaching 2 GB
  
• Fixed an issue where ammo carriers models were missing ammo pouches
  
• Fixed an issue where vest color variation was not being saved when loading or saving a preset in the Customization Menu
  
• Fixed an issue where old mod versions were not being deleted when new versions were installed
  
• Fixed a clipping issue where the 4x optics were clipping into the first-person camera on the G36K
  
• Fixed a visual issue with the player’s hands when approaching the standing turret on Bab Push Security at Objective A and vehicle-mounted turrets
  
• Fixed an issue where spectators were unable to see through the scope when a player toggles an optic
  
• Fixed an issue where the cosmetic presets were unavailable after the end of a round
  
• Fixed an issue on the M1 Garand equipped with an Explosive or Smoke Launcher where the animation to unequip the shell would not play when swapping weapons
  
• Fixed an issue where the fire rate would not increase when the Greased Bolt upgrade was equipped with the Mosin-Nagant
  
• Fixed an issue where the bullets can be seen floating during reload when the player is near a wall with the Mosin-Nagant equipped
  
• Fixed an issue where the smoke overlay was not appearing all the time while in smoke
  
• Fixed an issue where the Ordering Fire Support hint showed the keybind for Aim Binoculars as Unbound
  
• Fixed an issue where the tactical map on Hideout does not align with the compass
  
• Changed the respawn message on the UI in Checkpoint mode to “You will respawn when the next objective is secured” to clearly indicate that respawning will occur after the objective is secured after any counterattacks
  
• Fixed a UI issue where the Night Vision Goggles point shooting was not displaying as active
  
• Fixed an issue where the Crouch and Stand stances could be temporarily reversed
  
• Fixed an issue where the communication wheel would be missing text when swapping from a Commander or Observer class
  
• Fixed a sizing issue of weapon icons in the Loadout menu
  
• Fixed an issue where selecting a loadout preset would not make it the active loadout
  
• Fixed an issue on night maps where the Loadout menu would show duplicated grey slots
  
• Fixed an issue where the incorrect customization item would be incorrectly displayed on the Customization Menu

• There may be an issue where DLC weapon skins and character cosmetics (particularly Urban Digital) are locked and do not appear in the Inventory, Appearance, or Loadout Menu
  
• There is an issue where the floor may be missing in the Loadout menu when playing as Insurgents on Power Plant
  
• There may be an issue where players get stuck in the floor after vaulting
  
• There may be an issue where certain magazines may be missing in-game and in the Loadout menu. It could potentially be fixed by verifying the integrity of game files via Steam
  
• There may be instances where Insurgent AI and players occasionally appear as the default Security model
  
• There is an issue where the Contender achievement is still showing in the Achievements menu
  
• There is sometimes an issue when returning to the Main Menu after leaving a game where the screen may remain black and the frame rate drops before the Main Menu loads
  
• There is an issue where the Cycle Optic and Lean Right bindings use the same button on the controller configuration
  
• There may be an issue with collision boxes on players which could obstruct jumping
  
• There are issues with overlapping UI elements in Spectator mode
  
• There is an issue with scopes appearing elongated when aiming down sights on weapons equipped with toggleable optics
  
• There is an issue where the Recoil Grip is missing when the G36K is equipped
  
• There is a sizing issue of the Compensator when the AK-74 is equipped
  
• There may be an issue where unselecting a Loadout preset is not possible
  
• There is an issue where the 1.5x-1x A1 Scope on the AUG A3 has a black inner vignette when using focus zoom
  
• There may be an issue where the M99 equipped with the Whiteout skin only allows one magazine to be carried
  
• There is a visual issue causing blurring when aiming and using Focus on weapons equipped with the 6x-3x T Scope
  
• There may be an issue when a person dies inside a vehicle where they may see two ragdolls
  
• There may be an issue where magazines will not always drop from pistols when doing a speed reload
  
• There is an issue where Nvidia Highlights are not being triggered in the event when a player driving a vehicle is shot at by RPGs
  
• There may be an issue where an equipped Smoke or Explosive Launcher upgrade appears in the Main Loadout menu instead of within the Primary Weapon
  
• When the player attempts to swap an equipped bolt-action weapon with another bolt-action weapon, there is a chance that reloading will not work
  
• Mosin-Nagant Stripper Clip weapon upgrade does not push in properly when reloading in third person
  
• There are improper collisions with the concrete blocks in the parkade of Ministry
  
• The Wet Feet achievement may be unobtainable after completing Basic Training under Tutorials
  
• There is an issue where the Contender achievement is still showing in the Achievements menu
  
• AI-driven vehicles can get stuck in the Range level under Tutorials

Hello Gamers™,

We did it, we announced the next thing!

If you missed the stream on Tuesday we announced our next (minor) release, 1.9.1.

This update will be focused on celebrating Lunar New Year and will be releasing next week, on February 2nd.

1.9.1 will include two new weapons, new Character Cosmetic DLC, new Weapon Skin DLC, bug fixes, and some map improvements.

Normally we only have one minor release between major releases (i.e. 1.8.1 between Operation: Breakaway and Operation: Cold Blood), but this time there will also be a second minor release (1.9.2) coming before 1.10. We will have more details on that release in the coming months.

To reiterate: This is not replacing a major update nor is it the normal minor release that comes between ‘Operations’ - this is a standalone update to celebrate Lunar New Year.

The two new weapons coming next week are the QBZ-97 (for Insurgent Rifleman, Demolitions, Commander, and Observer) and the QTS-11 (for Security Rifleman, Demolitions, Commander, and Observer.



The QBZ-97 is a bullpup assault rifle with an optional upgrade for a unique 3x optic. It's the export version of the QBZ-95; the standard service rifle for the People’s Liberation Army since 1995. It offers single-fire and fully automatic firing modes. Cost hovers around $700USD.



The QTS-11 is an assault rifle with integrated grenade launcher and has been in service of Chinese military since 2015. The weapon has very low recoil and functions as a step up from the AUG A3, but has a slower fire rate at 550 rpm. It uses the 5.8x42mm ammunition along with a 20mm grenade. It also costs $78,000USD. Definitely not priced for Insurgents.

With 1.9.1 There will also be a new set of Character Cosmetic DLC and Weapon Skin DLC for each faction.

EDIT: After the publication of this blog the team at NWI decided not to release the 1.9.1 cosmetics. Thank you for your feedback.

---

Another change coming with 1.9.1 will be the removal of the Competitive playlist as an official playlist.

This was not a decision made lightly, but after a lot of discussion we feel it’s best for the health and identity of the game. Competitive didn’t really end up feeling like a complete experience and felt a bit forced. To be honest it didn’t really feel like Insurgency.

Competitive mode suffered from a low population problem and could be a very bad first time player experience - clicking on a mode and queueing for 10-15 minutes isn’t something that will help grow our community.

Since release, Co-op and Versus have been what the majority of the community responded positively to and were the more successful modes. There will likely be detractors stating that had we put more resources into the mode it may have been more successful - the team decided that it made more sense to put those resources into the modes that were already flourishing and helping them continue to grow. New maps, guns, modes, and weapon upgrades are a better use of our resources at this time.

People who still want to play competitive will have the option on community servers, and one thing we are looking into is converting the existing competitive mode into a limited time playlist that we can bring back from time to time.

I know this is short notice, but like I said, it was not a decision made lightly and it was being discussed up until very recently. It didn’t feel like something that should just be announced in a social post, so I felt it was necessary to announce it on a stream ‘in person’ before presenting it in text.

---

The next release for Sandstorm will be another minor release, 1.9.2. There is no concrete date for this yet, but it will be coming before 1.10 (would be weird if it came after to be honest, you know, because of how numbers work).

1.9.2 will more closely resemble the minor releases you’re used to - community driven, with quality of life improvements, more bug fixes, and light on content.

I keep a (very large) document of all your feedback, and as something starts to get mentioned more often or seems like a particularly good idea I bring it to our Production Team and we discuss:

• Is it a good idea in the way of game design?
  
• Is it feasible to implement this given the time we have?
  
• Will it please the (majority of) the community?

Using those discussions we make decisions and plan the release.

I think we have a pretty solid list to work off of, and as we nail down details I will bring that information to all of you so you know what is coming next. Soon is very subjective, so I will say that details are coming soon™.

After 1.9.2 will of course be 1.10 - this will be our next “Operation” or major release. While we have an idea of what this will look like, it’s a bit early to be sharing the details.

---

The first State of Production for 2021 came out a couple weeks ago and was a nice summary of what happened in 2020 (remember the before-times?), what we learned during the year as a team, and what the future looks like for us. It was a super strange year for pretty much everyone world-wide so I would recommend taking a look - Our Executive Producer, Tim, is a much more professional writer than I am.

You can read it here: State of Production 16

---

The Insurgency: Sandstorm Mapping Contest has officially come to a close and submissions have been… submitted.

Public voting has now begun, so please help us determine which of the submissions should make the Top 10. After that vote concludes, the top ten will move on to the next round where NWI will vote and discuss each submission.

You can find details on voting and more right here: Sandstorm Mapping Contest

---

The final week of DGL Season 4: Round 2 has come to a close, here's the news on the upcoming events and reminders about other existing events.

Oceania Open Cup
The Oceanic Cup takes place on the 30th and 31st of January.
DGL is working alongside the Oceanic Sandstorm Group Discord.

Event begins @ 6PM AEST on the 30th with the round robin group stage
- Each team will play 3 games in groups of 4
- The 31st will start at 3PM AEST with the semi-finals

DGL Season 4
The third round of DGL Season 4 is open for sign ups, starting on the 7th of February!

Any new teams signing up will start out at the bottom of the rankings.

For any new teams or players who are not aware of how the season works, each team plays a match a week with 2 maps played. For more information please go to the event page.

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New year, new community content; welcome to From the Field for the first time in 2021. We’ve got some 16 bit art, an S-Tier challenge from Insurgency (2014), explosive overkill, ESP, massive achievement, and of course a meme.


Ever wanted to see all the weapons in 16 bit form? SAME (from Hashashaaaa on Reddit).

One Knife. Three smokes. One Grenade. Brutal Difficulty. The Ninja Challenge (from Vakuta on Reddit).

I think they’ve played this map before (from ImaBuckDatAsh on Reddit).

Science experiment gone… right (via WintorOperator on YouTube).

Celebrate small victories (from ribeyeballer on Reddit).



The way to Hank’s heart? Dumb memes (from AcogTrust on Reddit)

---

That wraps up this month’s word pages. 2021 is already 1/12th over, and it’s already 12 times better than 2020!

It’s going to be a great year for Sandstorm and we are hyped to show you all what we’re working on.

fatherHank

Update February 3rd, 2021 - Update on public voting: New World Interactive has been made aware of some potentially suspicious voting activity in the Insurgency: Sandstorm mapping contest and is working with Mod.io to verify the authenticity of these claims. If found to be true, we will take appropriate action to remove any votes in breach of the rules.

As a reminder, entrants are not permitted to directly or indirectly encourage the use of duplicate accounts or automated scripts to manipulate votes, nor can any bribe, reward, or incentive be offered in exchange for votes, any entrants found to be acting in a disruptive or unsportsmanlike manner may be excluded from the competition. See Section 12 of the rules for full details.

After internal consultation, we have decided that we will extend the public voting period deadline until February 10th, 2021, at 11:59 PM ET while we investigate. During this time, we will also allow all entrants to make ONE update to their submitted file version; this can happen at any time until the new voting deadline.

If the integrity of votes can not be determined New World Interactive reserves the right to manually review all entries and select finalists based on expert evaluation from our judges.

In September of last year, New World announced the Insurgency: Sandstorm mapping contest in collaboration with Unreal Engine, Intel, Nvidia, and Mod.io.

Over the last 20 weeks, many talented community members have been working away crafting their own custom levels for Insurgency: Sandstorm using our mod tools.

We received over 30 fantastic entries from players of all experience levels, covering many game modes and unique settings. Over the course of the next 7 days a series of public testing and voting will occur to determine the top ten entries. Those top ten will go on to be judged by our team of experts and compete for up to $17,000 worth of prizes from New World and our sponsors.

As of the time of this post, public voting is now OPEN!

Voting will remain open until February 4th, 2021 @ 11:59pm EST.

After voting is closed we will tally the votes and the Top 10 will move on to be judged by a panel from New World Interactive.




To vote go to the “2020 Mapping Contest” section of Insurgency: Sandstorm’s Mod.io hub.

Install and test the entries, leaving a “Thumbs Up” recommended vote on any submissions you feel should go through to the top 10. This can be cast via the submissions mod.io page or the in-game mod browser.



The review scores for eligible entries have been reset. Only votes cast during the judging period (January 29, 2021 at 12:00 AM ET until February 5, 2021 at 11:59 PM ET) will be counted.
The finalists will be determined by the submissions with the highest number of Positive User Recommendations (Thumbs Up) minus the number of Negative User Recommendations (Thumbs Down). In case of a tie for a place among the Finalists, the tied Entrant with the higher total number of subscribers to their Submission will be chosen.

Full rules, judging, and eligibility requirements can be found at https://newworldinteractive.com/insurgency-sandstorm-2020-mapping-contest/

Good luck!

New World Interactive

Hello everyone, my name is Tim Perreault and I’m the Production Director at New World Interactive. The team and I are all back at work after our much needed studio closure over the holidays. This SOP will be a bit of a deviation from prior updates. Instead of discussing ongoing and upcoming development, I am going to reflect back on 2020 both in terms of successes and failures, discuss some of the key learnings we’ve made from both of these, and look forward to what 2021 has in store for Insurgency: Sandstorm and all of us at NWI!

Key Points for State of Production #16

• 2020 In Review
  
• Lessons Learned
  
• Looking Forward

2020 was not the year any of us expected. There were many challenges, successes, and failures. The running theme for the year at NWI was growth. Taken literally, the company grew significantly in size, hiring many key roles throughout the organization even creating entirely new departments, such as our Player Support group, as well as heavily expanding the size of other departments. The growth of the company also helped us mature the organization as a whole; both through the experienced individuals who joined us and what we learned from trying new things.

The year was marked by significant changes to our internal processes, both in terms of how we planned development for the year and how we executed on those plans. What that looked like was a plan to deliver four, evenly spaced releases over the course of the year. After our first release, we also decided that we wanted to include minor releases between major updates that would be more focused on quality of life and community driven changes. This process gave us a strong foundation to rely on as we navigated the various unexpected changes the year held for us.

Sandstorm itself went through a lot of growth in 2020. Some of the growth was evident to the players, updates such as Operation: Nightfall adding night maps with all the associated equipment, and four updates with maps, guns, and new equipment. Operation: Nightfall also heralded the arrival of cosmetic DLC, which is the first time we have done that at NW. The DLC offering turned out to be a successful addition to the game and the revenue helps keep development going.

While it may not be obvious to players, there were some significant changes made behind the scenes on a technical level. We have been developing back end tools and dashboards that help us manage Sandstorm in the live environment and development environment. This includes tools that give our community team the ability to control in-game messaging all the way to additional tools for our QA team. We’ve also started building out more automation in our pipeline, ranging from automated tests to automated deployments of our matchmaking services for testing new builds.

In the State of Production #11 we announced our acquisition by the Embracer Group as an independent studio operating under Saber Interactive. Since then our team has engaged more with Saber and we’ve started to experience the benefits of having access to greater resources. While it did take some time to get our pipelines setup, we now have a number of avenues of support from Saber with our development process and we will be able to continue building those over time.

While overall the year did show a lot of success, it was not without missteps and challenges. While undertaking a large, dedicated bug fixing and optimization sweep, we also undertook an engine upgrade which resulted in less time to spend on bugs and introduced a few new issues. We also ran into a number of design changes that didn’t end up having the intended impact we were looking for that eventually needed to be reversed.

The growth of the studio in size was a beneficial and a driving factor of our success in 2020; however, we did have a significant challenge early in the year, just before starting the majority of hiring, when the entire studio went fully remote. Onboarding new team members in a fully remote environment forced us to reflect on what the culture of our company is and how we can best share that spirit.

Finally, December 10th, 2020 marked the 10 year anniversary of New World Interactive. While circumstances prevented us from celebrating together in person. We are looking forward to our continuing development journey with Sandstorm in 2021. In particular, we continue to welcome your input and ideas, which we always consider in our planning; we're fortunate to have a great gaming community and sincerely value all of your feedback. We all look forward to sharing the next 10 year with you.

Over the last year, we’ve learned some important lessons from our successes and mistakes. We’ll be applying these lessons to all our future development efforts. Here are some of the key lessons we learned:

• Our new approach to development is working. Throughout 2020, we implemented new processes that have now been proven successful in terms of keeping us in scope and on schedule. We’ll be continuing to refine our process over time, and we are confident moving forward in our ability to deliver on our roadmaps.
  
• Communication is key. In late 2019 and throughout 2020 we have been doing a monthly State of Production. In 2020 we also started doing more regular Community Blog Posts, and Developer Live Streams. These, and all the other forms of communication and engagement with our community, have helped shape many of our development decisions.
  
• Keep a tight focus on content that we’re including in a release. We need to be careful to control the scope of each update, ensuring it is the right size for the available development time and leaving sufficient time to test the quality and gameplay impact on all new features.
  
• Focus on quality over speed. While we have dialed in on an appropriately sized update from a content standpoint, it seems like we’ve been pushing to get them out too quickly. We’re not leaving enough time for testing the quality and the gameplay.
  
• We must be extra diligent when we make changes that remove access from any feature to players. While the removal of certain features was done in an effort to improve the overall experience, we didn’t always achieve the results we were looking for. Sometimes even if content doesn’t always work well (questionable physics on the drivable vehicles) they still add an enjoyable element of gameplay that our players don’t want removed from the game.

2021 promises to be another great year for Insurgency: Sandstorm, building upon what we’ve done in 2020 and applying key learnings from where we have the opportunity to turn out some stellar updates. From a high level, I’ll touch on some changes you can expect to see coming next year both in-game and from our studio.

We understand, more than ever, that we need to take our time with releases. The quality of an update is as important as the breadth of content being delivered and we need to give equal time to the development of new content at a high bar of quality and to addressing bugs or other issues in the game. Accordingly, we’ve decided to reduce the total number of releases coming in 2021.

Instead of four major updates in the year, we’ll release three updates. Each release will still have similar content to what you’ve grown to expect, including new guns, new maps, new cosmetics, but with the extra time in development, we’ll be able to test, polish and fix bugs more thoroughly. We’re going to continue putting out minor releases in between our biggest updates and, in addition, we’ll be doing a special update early this year… more on that in the coming weeks.

The minor update for 1.9 Operation: Cold Blood will be coming in the next few months; our team will start determining what to focus on based on community feedback and the most desirable features. Our roadmap team will then evaluate and narrow down what can be implemented in the time we have available.

The end of our mapping contest is coming to a close on January 28, 2021. We’re all excited to see what has been created. For those of you who aren’t entering a map, remember there is a public judging element to this contest. From January 28 until February 5, the public can play and rate the entries to help narrow down the top contenders that will then be scrutinized by our judging panel. For full details check out the post here.

We continue working with Saber Interactive on the port to bring Sandstorm to consoles. They have brought a lot of experience to the table in terms of console development in general and porting in particular. We know people have been waiting for a long time, but we want to make sure when we release Sandstorm that it will be an experience we are proud of and that you enjoy.

Finally, last year, NWI announced that we would be opening a new studio in Montréal, Canada that will operate under the name New World East. This year we’ll be recruiting for the Montreal location with an eye towards opening an office as soon as the world is back open for business. We are all extremely excited about the upcoming significant growth of our team with the new studio. We will be adding many experienced developers that will support both Sandstorm and our other new projects.

While 2020 was not the year any of us expected, it has turned into a banner year here at NWI. I’m honored to have been a part of it and to have shared part of that journey with you. I am excited for what 2021 has in store for us and I hope you are as well. That’s it for this month’s SoP, we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming in February. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

• Fixed an issue where it was possible to use certain console commands to enter third person perspective

To see the current known issues list, please see the bottom of the full 1.9 Changelist here.