Oct 10, 2019

Update 3 - Omaha Beach & Offensive Mode Live Now!

Hell Let Loose - Jonno

Hi everyone!

We’re excited to bring you Update 3! It’s been absolutely huge for us - especially the mixture of different major features (who knew landing boats could be so logistically complicated?) alongside a highly iconic map and a large number of bug fixes.

We see our time in Early Access as a key period in which we can iterate, expand, optimise and polish content. We’re working hard and fast to bring a balance of new content, while fixing any and all issues that you - the community - raise.

Free weekend

To celebrate the launch of Omaha Beach and the Offensive Gamemode we’ll be running our first ever free weekend!

We’re very thankful for a warm and receptive community. We ask that this weekend you help us to welcome brand new players to the battlefield and give them the best experience possible. As you can imagine, it’s going to get very, very crazy.

Major Content Additions

Omaha Beach map

Omaha has been an immense undertaking. We’ve strived to create the most accurate representation of the Dog Green landing site ever seen in a video game. You can learn more about the process in our dev briefing here. Get ready to jump into a Higgins and cruise into shore for one of the most iconic landings in history.

Offensive Gamemode

You can learn in depth about the second gamemode to come to Hell Let Loose here. Currently this gamemode will be only available on Omaha Beach. We’ll be watching this closely over the weekend as well as playing alongside you in order to make sure we iron out any bugs and make sure the experience is working as intended in a live environment. We’ll then begin rolling out the Offensive gamemode to each current map (as well as applying Warfare to Omaha Beach) in coming patches and Updates. This will include attacker overlays for both teams, creating three significantly different ways to play a single map. We will be creating new weather conditions for each of these overlays, giving you a fresh experience on each map.

All new firearms sound overhaul

We’re gearing up to switch our sound engine over (this will most likely be happening for U5 due to the large level of testing that will be needed to ensure this happens smoothly) and part of that process is rebuilding our firearms sounds to be of much higher quality and much more flexible than our previous systems.

Patch Changelist

Gameplay

Allow a player to remain zoomed in after firing a shot with the sniper rifle if they continue holding RMB.
Greatly increase MG deployment flexibility and smoothness. This will continue to be improved as we bring in the new animation systems.
Created a nice smooth camera dropping to the ground effect for when a player dies. This is to both boost immersion, but also to telegraph the way you died. We feel that the straight cut to the black screen or critical screen doesn’t help players understand the context of their own death. We’ll continue to make this more immersive and useful in understanding the way you died or were critically wounded.

Performance

Created LODs for all vehicles.
Use soft references for Scope / Seat Widgets to help with VRAM usage.
Various VRAM optimisations across all assets.
Various LOD additions across all character models.
Various LOD additions across all weapon models.

SFX

New weapon fire sound for Springfield rifle
New weapon fire sound for M1 Garand
New weapon fire sound for K98k
New weapon fire sound for M1 Carbine
New weapon fire sound for G43
New weapon fire sound for STG44
New weapon fire sound for BAR
New weapon fire sound for Thompson
New weapon fire sound for MP40
New weapon fire sound for MG42
New weapon fire sound for M1919 Browning
New weapon fire sound for Colt 1911
New weapon fire sound for Luger P08
New weapon fire sound for Walther P38

Visual Improvements

Added all AA settings to the Options menu to allow players to customise their AA without needing to adjust the ini file.
Allow option to use stock FXAA and TAA in Options menu.
Added the ability to turn motion blur on to create a better looking game experience.
Tanks now dynamically rock backwards from the recoil of firing their main gun.
Hull and infantry muzzle flashes are now visible when viewed front-on.
Fixed: Foy loading screen is missing the map name
Fixed: Building decals can be seen to pop in and out when observed on lower resolutions
Fixed: There is a noticeable draw distance issue with a particular barbed wire barrier asset found on every map it's in
Fixed: Incorrect anatomy of dismembered soldier
Fixed: Multiple uniforms appear to display incorrectly when viewed from range
Fixed: Multiple small assets have been observed to be missing reflective maps resulting in assets appearing white on the low and medium presets
Fixed: Inconsistency in text format on the 'Redeploy', 'Leave Server' and 'Quit' confirmation messages
Fixed: On the Scoreboard, the Mute Icon displays the same tooltip as the Kick Icon
Fixed: Stuttered FPP sprint animations can be observed when the Player runs inside waist high water
Fixed: On Utah, LMGs can be deployed in midair on a specific area of the Chapel and cause a graphical issue
Fixed: Helmets do not change texture when the player dies to an explosive or is dismembered
Fixed: Inconsistent naming convention is used for "Game Mode" on the Enlist screen
Fixed: Inconsistency between the punish teammate notification window and the vote to change map/kick player windows
Fixed: Adjusted gravestone texture set up to be more optimised and more attractive.

Customisation

Fixed: The Officer M1 Helmet is missing the white bar in the middle of the helmet.
Fixed: Career Level is displayed as level 1 on the Scoreboard on following matches
Fixed: Leaving early message will show if the player tries to leave after the match has concluded
Fixed: Leaving early warning message does not show if the player tries to leave via the deployment screen
Edited “leaving early” message to reflect the fact that your progression HAS saved, however you won’t earn any of the end of match bonus modifiers (NOTE: you progression has always saved as you play the match however the “leaving early” message made this sound like it wasn’t the case).
Fixed: Rotation slider resets to the middle without rotating the player model
Fixed: The US Medic has no armband if they are wearing the winter uniform.
Fixed: In the Barracks, the M1938 Tanker Helmet's Tooltip has inconsistent capitalisation.
Fixed: inconsistent capitalization of Allies uniform within the Barrack.

Bug Fixes

Fixed: Players killed within the second seat of either an Artillery Cannon or an Anti-Tank Gun will experience an incorrect critical stance view
Fixed: LMGs now deploy correctly on 6-pane windows
Fixed: Leaving any server briefly displays the Axis Rifleman on the Front-End before the model changes to the Allies Rifleman
Fixed: When Vsync is set to 'On', stuttered ADS animations are present when the player pans the view left to right and, or up or down with all weapons
Fixed: The tool-tip box extends past the text inside for both the American and German Career Level unlock helmets
Fixed: The American bombing run ability starts two seconds after confirming resulting in the plane teleporting and the audio for the plane flying being out of sync
Fixed: The user cannot exit the 'Options' sub-menu using the [Esc] key
Fixed: Markers placed by leadership roles can be seen on the map but not in-game
Fixed: Deploying an LMG within 5 meters of an Outpost or Garrison causes a FPP animation issue
Fixed: Inconsistent capitalization of unit names within the Create A New Unit screen
Fixed: Players cannot scroll down on the scoreboard resulting in certain squads or players being cropped off
Fixed: There is a low chance that an Outpost will be invisible to the player that placed it
Fixed: On one occasion, the first garrison a user placed as a US Officer was invisible
Fixed: There is a chance a player's resource node can be invisible in-game when constructed
Fixed: Players inside the Tiger Tank have experienced losing connection to the host
Fixed: Punish function does not work if no reason is given
Fixed: Anti-Aliasing method does not change when the preset Master Quality is changed.
Fixed: Switching from a grenade at the same time as initiating a throw while on a high ping server will cause the users equipment to stop functioning.
Fixed: Adjusting the engine.ini file to have a value above 0 of TemporalAASamples causes a graphical issue where the craters flicker
Fixed: The "kicked for team killing" chat notification message is sent by all team members
Fixed: In FPP, the grenade cooking animation gets stuck when the player repeatedly presses "Shift" and LMB right before the grenade leaves the hand
Fixed: When loading into a map the player will briefly see under the map in between the loading screen and team selection.

RCON

Fixed: Users are unable to preform some in-game RCon functions to player's with spaces in their names
Fixed: RCon Client and Console display 'Success' messages when a map that is already in the rotation list is added again
Fixed: Banned or Punished players can not see the full reason given if it contains spaces

Foy

Fixed LOD issue occurring some of the log pile assets

Sainte-Marie-Du-Mont

Fixed: large puddles produce bullet hole decals when shot
Fixed: a specific rock asset has incorrect collision

Utah Beach

Fixed: a certain type of grassy terrain on Utah produces stone bullet decals when shot
Fixed: a specific curtain has incorrect bullet collision
Fixed: there is a draw distance issue with an outhouse found in A5 of Utah
Fixed: LOD issues observed with the low poly version of the Repair Station on Utah Beach
Fixed: the player has no collision with a broken wall inside the church of sector F5
Fixed: 2 instances of door frames being misaligned with a building wall in Utah
Fixed: the player is able to get stuck between a stone fence and bushes in sector I6

Hurtgen Forest

Fixed: a specific concrete fortification has incorrect bullet collision

Known Issues

[/list]

Players can experience a crash when changing the game from a greater resolution monitor to a 1080p monitor
Application can become unresponsive during the transition from the Enlist screen to a server while minimizing the window
Occasional performance drop within Omaha (we’re currently aiming to patch this as soon as possible)

Currently Working On (in no specific order)

Server queuing (capped to 6 slots).
Fleshing out ping system and non-verbal communication - including map marking systems.
Enabling ability to select customisations options in-game during role selection.
Enabling ability to tailor loadout during role selection. This will allow us to offer slightly different loadouts per role without limiting content or creating non-historic weapon usage. We are looking at potentially tying this to role level progression (ie. an Officer will unlock the ability to take a G43 at Officer level 3). We want to reward experienced players with greater flexibility without sacrificing historicity.
Stats system to tie into the Barracks.
Implementing melee combat.
Overhauling FPP systems to make them far more fluid and photoreal.
Overhauling TPP systems to use recorded mocap animations.
Replacing current fat FPP hands with photoreal hands and integrating new sleeves to reflect new uniforms.
Working on Western Front urban/countryside map for U4.
Working on Western Front map for U5 (this will have a focus on armor and bridge control).
About to add 20 additional German helmet options to the career level progression.
About to add new uniforms for all US roles in the role level progression.
Currently working on new uniforms, helmets and heads (including more grizzled and appealing options for heads).
Setting up new map to be paired with Hurtgen Forest.
Currently working on the US answer to the Tiger tank.
Currently working on Scout Cars.
Continued overhaul of stock UI and HUD features to make them better looking and better functioning - including pinging, marks, Commander screen, role selection screens, vehicle HUDs, artillery HUDs, heavy weapons HUDs.
Lining up new implementation of audio engine and continued audio overhaul.
Flamethrower FPP setup.
Re-assessing supply boxes and ammo boxes to remove ugly “redeploy” gameplay loop.
Continued visual upgrades and optimisations on all maps and fx.
Continued bug fixes across the entire spectrum.

Where to next?

We’ll be updating our roadmap shortly to version 3. This will lay out what we have planned for U4 and U5, as well as patches between them.

Animation

Currently, our animation team are separated off from the main project in their own branch. We’ve been looking at FPP and TPP systems that we would consider to be AAA or world-class in their look and functionality and we’re continually jumping in and testing the system as it’s built. The new gunplay feels far more fluid, solid, responsive as well as visually appealing than what we currently have. The upgrade to new photoreal hands, as well as the ability to quickly match the FPP sleeves and hands to your customisation choices are going to take our FPP gunplay experience to where we as developers feel it needs to be. Matched with a ballistics system upgrade, we are keen to roll this out as soon as possible. We’re looking at U5 or U6 for this - subject to testing. A caveat on this, is that finalising these systems will allow us to add new weapons very quickly. This clears the path to add more US and German weapons, as well as begin on new faction weapons. It also enables us to add open vehicles with ease.

Reload 1
Reload 2
Reload 3
Reload 4
Reload 5

Mapping

We’re very excited to add a new map with a focus on urban warfare in U4. This map is currently in the final development stages and we’re beginning to QA with greater focus. In the background, we’re half way through a new map that’ll eventually be paired with Carentan during the Campaign. It has a distinct focus on armored combat and bridge control. Finally, we’re setting up a new map that will be paired with Hurtgen Forest. Like Hurtgen, this will be dense forest but with a greater emphasis on small villages and industrial sites. Our approach to mapping is to have three in progress at any one time, with no end in sight. In tandem to this, we’re thinking about overhauling both SMDM and Hurtgen to use more optimised solutions, greater asset variation and to create more interesting micro terrain. We’ve learned huge amounts about the type of gameplay our mapping creates and we’re keen to polish and improve on the maps currently in the game. We see Early Access as a great time to do this (before we move forward into new theatres).

Customisation

Our amazing character artists are constantly working on new options to unlock in your progression. You’ll see the first 20 additional German helmets added in U4, shortly followed by more uniform and head variants. We really enjoy creating these, as well as seeing clans and groups roleplay with these on the battlefield.

Audio

When approaching the weapon sound design for Hell Let Loose, we wanted to deliver an experience that would balance realism with cinematics. Using a mix of real weapon recordings and combining them with other related sounds allowed us to create a satisfying and powerful soundscape across all of our weapons. We have taken onboard your feedback and have improved on the fidelity of the sounds as well as enhancing the low frequencies of all weapons to give you the punch you expect when firing.

Weapons contain multiple layers that attenuate and crossfade depending on the distance you are from the firing position, assisting in a more realistic way of judging the distance with the goal of promoting more accurate battle planning on the fly. In particular we had 4 main layers to each weapon: Initial punch, weapon shot, mechanics and environmental report. In addition to this, we have a new system in which we play weapon sounds allowing us to optimise audio much better, helping to reduce performance cost.

In the future you can expect more audio changes and additions for the weapons.

This will include:

Realistic reflection of the environment you are firing in, whether that be in the forests of Hurtgen, or the fields of Sainte Marie du Mont to the bunkers of Utah beach.
Ability to judge the direction of weapon fire.
New weapon foley audio overhaul to match the new animations in the FPP overhaul.
Audio delay for weapons firing at distance.
Improvements on suppression audio and bullet flybys.

Thanks - we’ll see you on the beaches!

If you’re enjoying Hell Let Loose, you can help us by leaving us a review on Steam.

Oct 4, 2019

Developer Briefing #43 - Introducing the Offensive Gamemode!

Hell Let Loose - Lauren_Team17

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing #43! This week we’re thrilled to share with you a first look at new gamemode coming to Hell Let Loose!

What is the 'Offensive' gamemode?
The Offensive gamemode is the second to be introduced to Hell Let Loose, and with Warfare will make up the two key game modes that will sit within the Campaign metagame (we’ll explain more about this in the months to come). While Warfare is about two teams attempting to push each other back, Offensive pits one team of attackers against one team of defenders.

We felt that the best way of introducing the Offensive gamemode was with one of the most iconic Offensive battles of World War Two - the US landing at Omaha Beach.

Key features:
Instead of defending a single sector against the enemy team, Defenders will now need to defend two strongpoints per sector line. Should both of the strongpoints in this line be captured, the defenders will need to fall back and defend the new frontline. If they are able to hold the line for 30 minutes, they will win the battle. Once they lose a strongpoint, they won’t be able to retake it. It is important to note that while a player can capture a sector from anywhere inside it in Warfare - in Offensive they must be within the strongpoint.

Win Condition:
Attackers:
Must capture all four sector rows before finally capturing one of the enemy’s two HQ strongpoints in the final fifth sector row in order to win the game.

Defenders:
The defending team must stop the attackers from gaining a sector row within the 30 minutes. If they hold the attacker at a row for more than 30 minutes they will be victorious.

Opening Stages
Attackers:
On beginning the game, Infantry and Recon units are able to decide their sector of attack. Once they’ve chosen it, they’ll spawn into one of several Higgins boats in that sector and begin the journey to shore. As they reach shore, the ramps will go down and they’ll need to clear them immediately and get straight to cover - be it a sunken obstacle or sandbar. From there, they’ll need to push up to take the first strongpoints in order to progress up to the bluffs.

Armored crews will be able to choose a sector to spawn in much like the Infantry, however the Armored crews won’t spawn on landing craft. Instead they’ll spawn beside their Armored landing craft and will need to scramble to quickly mount up in their tanks before the Germans get to their positions on the bluff. From there, the Armored crews will need to begin shelling the bluffs and suppressing the MG positions in order to protect the first landing wave. Note that the attackers begin the game with 1000 resources.

We’ve studied large numbers of Veterans accounts to recreate the specific mix of armor and infantry that landed on the beach that morning.

Defenders:
On beginning the game, the Defenders have two primary choices as to where they spawn - at front line Garrisons, or at the rear HQ.

Be aware that the Defenders start with 0 resources, and will therefore need to quickly construct resource nodes in order to begin using Commander abilities, artillery and to spawn in vehicles. The reason for this was to emulate both the surprise of being attacked, as well as to balance the ability for attackers to make headway in the first sector row.

We also felt that being shot by a Luchs while you’re in a Higgins boat on your way to shore would not be an enjoyable experience (and that historically the Germans were caught without their armor to assist them at the beaches).

Layout:
Two randomly chosen sectors per row are active. They can be separated by an inactive sector.

Tips:

We recommend the US Commander begin calling in support on the bluffs in order to screen the initial landing.
We also recommend the Officers to prepare smoke to mask the landing location prior to the ramp dropping.

Offensive and Warfare have been designed to be universal and will be available on all Hell Let Loose maps. Over the coming patches and updates, we’ll be introducing layers to existing maps and new maps. For example, Foy will receive both an Offensive German layer (in which the Germans attack and US defend), as well as an Offensive US layer (in which the US attack and the Germans defend). To differentiate these different layers, we’ll be setting them up with different weather and lighting conditions. For example, the Allies may attack at dusk, while the Germans may attack in dense fog. We feel this is a great way to create new experiences in maps that players are already familiar with.

Lastly, please know that we as a team are committed to creating the best experience possible. We’ll be watching for your feedback about the battle on Omaha Beach, as well as the Offensive mode more broadly.

Please note: Offensive Gamemode is the renamed Invasion Gamemode. We felt that “Offensive” was far more accurate in the context of World War Two and would apply to all maps - new and old.

That's it for this week! We'll see you back here next week for another Hell Let Loose developer briefing!

Sep 26, 2019

Patch #7 - Live Now!

Hell Let Loose - Jonno

Hi everyone!

This week Patch 7 is bringing you the first iteration of our progression and commendation system, alongside a bunch of other crash fixes and functionality improvements. We’re very hard at work on Omaha Beach and our new Offensive gamemode that will accompany it.

We deep dived into how our progression and commendation system works in detail HERE.

Patch Notes

Features

The progression and commendation system has now been implemented into the game! This is an early iteration of this and we’re sure that we’ll need to balance this further according to community feedback.

During the first few weeks of implementation we’ve restricted the total amount of customisations options available while we make sure the rate of progression is near where we want it. If we can quickly confirm that the rate of progression matches our testing, we’ll start introducing new customisation options for both career level unlocks and role unlocks.

Ultimately, we’ll be continually introducing new customisation options in nearly every patch and update as we progress through Early Access. In addition to this, the customisation options you’ll initially have access to will be more on the vanilla side of things. We’ll be introducing historically accurate but much more visually appealing options for the higher levels as we go (this applies for all three categories of optimisation).

Please note, if we introduce a new customisation option for a level you’ve already unlocked then it will be available to you immediately.

To do

In the near future we will be implementing the Barracks customisation functionality in-game when you go to select your role. This will allow you to change your uniform, character and helmet in a map-appropriate setting. We will also be introducing the ability to change your primary weapon loadout with this addition too.

Functionality

Fixed:

Kickstarter/Pre-Order Helmets remain equipped in the Barracks/In-Game after a user disables the DLC.
Kickstarter helmet mouse over info now correctly shows that the Kickstarter helmet is for Captain tier or higher.
We now stop players being able to repeatedly switch teams before they spawn. This is to make “ghosting” much harder to achieve.

VOIP

Fixed:

Players can still use leadership voice when not part of a Unit if they create and leave a Unit.

Bug Fixes

Fixed:

Player retains the limited camera rotation from vaulting or climbing by having the map change via RCon or Map Vote whilst mid animation.

UI/HUD

Fixed:

Front-end UI headings do not remain highlighted when they are currently selected.
Removed unnecessary kick con on a player’s own name.
Removed unnecessary scroll bar in the 'Common' section for the 'Keybindings' sub-menu.
Faction emblems appeared to be of a low resolution on the Victory screen.
On the scoreboard while in-game, 'next match in 0:00' appears instead of the time remaining in-game.
The Unit UI does not visually update correctly if a player that was kicked on the Deployment Screen joins or creates a Unit.

RCON

Fixed:

Swapping a players team via 'Switch Teams Now' and 'Switch Teams On Death' on RCon does not update the players team for leadership VoIP.
Swapping a Commander using RCON "Switch Teams Now" or "Switch Teams On Death" automatically makes them a Commander on the team they were swapped to and causes multiple other major issues.

Visual Improvements

Fixed:

Soldier customisation appear to not decrease in detail over distance once rendered in by being nearby.
Two US helmets had a noticeable LOD drop off at close range.
Added a tooltip to the score type icons in the tab scoreboard and after round scoreboard.

Foy

Fixed:

On Foy, player is able to get stuck within a tree's collision box when approaching while in prone position.

Utah Beach

The R667 bunker had incorrect bullet collision.
There is a scarecrow inside a house that had blood particle effects when shot.

In Testing

Omaha Beach
Offensive Gamemode
Queuing for servers.
Making MG deployment more responsive, fluid and polished.
Total firearms sound overhaul.
Large scale skeletal mesh and vram optimisations.

Currently working on (non-exhaustive list, we just want to give you some idea):

Continuing HUD and UI updates.
Implementing mocap and making large changes to our TPP animation systems. These will result in a much more natural look and feel.
Our FPP experience - with a focus on gunplay - is being overhauled in a separate branch.
This is to both match our new TPP look, but also to greatly increase the fluidity of the FPP experience.
Continued optimisations.
Diving (performed by proning while sprinting). This is wrapped up with our FPP overhaul currently.
Bullet penetration.
Map balancing (addition of cover and other features in locations that are either boring or creating a tedious gameplay experience).
Wheeled vehicles.
Three new maps are currently at different stages of development.
Updating all audio and SFX. We’ve been testing reflections and different reverb volumes alongside all new weapon fire and reload sounds.

If you’re enjoying Hell Let Loose, you can help us by leaving us a review on Steam.

See you on the frontline!

Sep 19, 2019

Developer Briefing #41 - Progression System!

Hell Let Loose - Jonno

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing #41! This week we’re sharing a look at the beginnings of our progression system!

When creating the progression system we wanted to make sure it was fair, engaging and rewarding for our players. Our key goals were:

Allow other players to get a sense of your experience - both generally and specifically per role.
Use it as a way to unlock new customisation options.
A way to reward long-term players, with an emphasis on rewarding all types of play - including non-combat play or great teamwork or atmosphere.

Please keep in mind, this is the first iteration of progression. We want to make sure it works as intended and isn’t open to boosting abuse, so we’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback on the system when it goes live in Patch 7.

Also note, if aspects of the progression system are tested in a live environment and have significant issues (e.g. leveling too fast or too slow) we’re keen to reserve the ability to wipe progress made for all players. However, if no significant changes need to be made once tested in a live environment, we’ll will not seek to wipe. If any wipe does occur, we’ll notify the community in advance.

Time to level up!

Progression in Hell Let Loose will have two different paths, ‘Career Progression’ and ‘Role Progression’. What they are and how they work is explained below:

Career Level / Player Level

This is your ‘main’ level-up. No matter what role you play you will always be contributing to this score and increasing it.

Total levels: 100

Scoring: Your total experience is derived from your score in-game - with a particular focus on your score at the end of the game.

Your score is made up of the following -

Combat (destroyed vehicles and killed infantry)
Attack (time spent in enemy controlled territory)
Defence (time spent defending your own territory)
Support (aka non-combat role actions - reviving players, deploying Outposts and Garrisons, dropping ammo etc.)

Score is calculated in the following way -

Step 1:

At the conclusion of the game, we take your personal score (500) and add it to your total unit score (2000). This is to represent the unit-based effort and reward players who may have contributed greatly but not had it rewarded (the driver of a tank vs a gunner with 100 kills).

Step 2:

Add points for your time in match.

For each minute you spend in-game, you’ll be awarded 5 experience points (with a total of 450 for a full 90 minute battle). This is to reward the players who stick out the total battle until the very end.

For the sake of example, let’s say you played a full game (2500 + 450 = 2950).

Step 3:

Your current total score Match completion multiplier: Victory +50%, Defeat +25%.

Perhaps the most significant modifier on your experience earned is whether you win or lose. We felt that incentivising total team victory was the most important thing above all. Hell Let Loose is a game of individual moments that make up a much, much larger battle. We also felt that it was important to reward players who lost, but stayed for the whole battle.

For the sake of this example, let’s say you won (2950 + 50% = 4425).

Step 4:

Commend.

After the game, you’ll be presented the scoreboard and have a chance to Commend one other player on your team (you cannot Commend yourself). You can do so by simply clicking the Commend icon next to their name. Commending a player takes their total score and adds another 10% on top of it. A single player can earn up to 5 Commends.

We recommend that you use your Commend to reward:

A Medic who was running through gunfire to pick you up.
An Officer who communicated well and lead you to victory in gunfights.
A Commander who organised the team and consistently delivered Supplies and Strikes as you needed them.
A new friend made on the front-line
A veteran teaching a new player the ropes

Hell Let Loose is about communication, strategy and tactics. We know that if we tried to mechanically reward players for awesome moments of interaction we’d fail miserably, so we’re keen to give you the power to do so.

When designing the exp gaining mechanics for progression we were keen to make sure every role had viable and equal progression options – all you need do is play your role! For example, Medics won’t be at a disadvantage to more kill focused classes and Riflemen can earn exp by having teammates use their ammo box and capturing zones. What we’re saying here is your KDA isn’t the defining driver of exp gain. We’d much prefer you to settle in, chat to your unit and try to win, than attempt to grind out levels.

We also felt it important to reward both victory and defeat, giving those who won the match a larger boon whilst also rewarding those on the opposition who fought until the very end a boost for their valiant last stand and keeping the action going until the match climax.
Please note, leaving midway through a battle will result in only your player score being saved to your progression. You will not receive the end of round bonuses.

TLDR:

Calculation of player score is done at a UNIT LEVEL, this is designed to reward good unit play and those fulfilling the responsibilities of their role.

Winning and losing side both earn match completion bonus, with the amount depending on which side they were on.

Role Level

Each of the 14 roles in Hell Let Loose has an independent ‘Role Level’. This progression is separate from your Career Level but levels up alongside it.

Total levels: 10 per role
Scoring: Same as Career Level
Further points: As above.
Match completion multiplier: As above.
Note: Takes longer to level up than Career Level.

This progression system is for players to show their experience within a given role, to give the specialists and ‘mains’ a badge of honour to show that they’re experts in a given role.

How does this look on the frontline?

Both a player’s Career and Role Level as visible in-game on their teammate’s HUD and Scoreboard.
The HUD, when visible, will look like this:

[Player Name]
[Player Level][Role Level][Role]

Having both Player and Role Level viewable will mean that players using a role they don’t normally play can still highlight their overall game experience.

The scoreboard, like this:

Rewards

As you level up in both Career and Role Level, players will unlock new customisation options to show off their veterancy or otherwise use as they see fit.

Note: These cannot be purchased with real world money and are only earnable through gameplay.

The types of customisation rewards players can earn will fall into three categories:

Helmets
Faces
Body/Uniform

When progression first launches we are offering a small amount of new unlocks, primarily winter uniforms for the applicable roles.

This is intentional, before we go all in with the customisation unlocks and add more we want to make sure the progression system is working as intended and not open to boosting/glitching.

The team already have more content lined up on both Career and Role progression trees, we just want to make sure it isn’t open to abuse. In our eyes these cosmetics should be rewarding and hold prestige for those that have earned them.

Progressing with progression

As mentioned at the start of the briefing, progression is coming in Patch 7 pretty soon. This is the first iteration and we look forward to hearing what you all think when it arrives!

More customisation options unlocks are coming once we’re happy with the systems performance!
Let us know if progression works for you, or if it doesn’t!
Which role are you going to specialise in first, if any?
If necessary, we can tweak exp values etc!

If you’re enjoying Hell Let Loose, you can help us by leaving us a review on Steam.

We’ll see you on the frontline!

Sep 11, 2019

Developer Briefing #40 - New Roadmap!

Hell Let Loose - Lauren_Team17

Hi everyone!

We’ve been assessing and prioritising a large amount of content we’re currently working on, as often implementing one feature too early can have negative consequences for other areas of development - causing us to have to re-do work. As you can imagine, we’d much prefer to work efficiently and quickly, so we’ve been revising our roadmap continuously before updating it. One of the biggest challenges we face is making sure that we keep you abreast of developments, without overpromising or having to drastically delay release.

Now that we’ve implemented many important back-end features in Update 2, we’ve turned our gaze towards new content, game modes and systems overhauls. We’re excited to reveal our updated roadmap.

First off the block is Patch 7. This will include key components of the career and role progression system, as well as a rework of the game-end screens. We’ll do a dev briefing on both the exact ways experience works and is calculated, as well as our thinking behind their design - and the types of effects we hope they will have. We want to roll this out quickly, as it underpins our customisation system and will allow us to feed all sorts of features into it - such as personal stats collection, and potentially vehicle skins down the line.

Update 3 is going to be a monster. It’ll contain our new Offensive gamemode, new map, as well as a large array of continued systems changes, tweaks and optimisations. The new gamemode has been renamed from “Invasion” to “Offensive” in order to make it more universal and fit better to attack and defend battles that weren’t simply the beginning of an invasion. The Offensive gamemode is a play on our current gamemode (Warfare). It maintains the same level of intensity, but we feel that it’ll really help some roles shine that otherwise struggle in Warfare, as well as give you a whole new set of strategies in what objectives you choose to attack or defend. The defenders will make good use of emplacements, mines and built deployables, while the attackers will need to channel a mixture of aggression and problem solving as they work to break the strongpoints and slice through the defenders front line. Fear not - we’ll be going into detail about how this will work closer to release but we’re very excited to proverbially and literally step off the Higgins boat.

Many of you guessed it, but we felt the best map to launch Offensive on would be Omaha Beach. In collaboration with one of our amazing Kickstarter General-tier Backers, we’re focusing on the Vierville draw at the west end of Omaha - where the terrain was steepest and the fighting was fierce. Dog Green is going to be brutal and we’re excited to see how each team fares. We’ll be showing the tactical map, screenshots and sharing more details of this map in the coming weeks.

We also have a lot of other overhauls currently in the works - sound, animation (TPP and FPP), new arms/hands (with hands and gloves appropriate to each uniform you unlock) and the rest of the vehicles. Two maps (other than Omaha) are currently in production - with more to follow. In addition to this - UI upgrades, customisation items - the list is endless.

Thank you for your passion and patience as we work. We’re really excited to show you everything we’ve got planned. Once this roadmap’s worth of content has been released we’ll be updating the graphic again for the next batch.

See you on the front line!