Hey everyone,

Welcome to Dev Brief #104!

With Update 8 arriving in the very near future, this week we’re taking the opportunity to share with you some actions we’re taking in time for its arrival following player and community feedback from the PTE, last week’s Dev Brief comments and the following conversations here on Steam, as well as on our official sub-reddit and Discord.

The actions we’re taking are focused on re-arming, which we revealed last week, hit box changes to maintain a low TTK and a change to friendly fire to reduce some instances of accidental teamkilling.

We’re also pleased to share that as part of our continued effort to support Hell Let Loose’s global playerbase, three new servers in Japan have been added to our Asia region selection and are live now!

Full details on all of the above can be found below:





We’ve read all the feedback both in Discord and on the Reddit thread about our plans for re-supplying and re-arming Supply Boxes and Ammo Boxes. As such, we tested and then locked in the suggested changes that were most popular among the community after first implementing and testing them in a closed environment.

As such, moving into the trigger range of the Resource Nodes now halves the 5 minute re-arm time on these inventory items, while otherwise they’ll recharge on a global 5 minute cooldown. This will mean that Support players will retain their key feature without being entirely dependent on Resource Nodes, while being in the vicinity of a Resource Node will still have a positive effect on in-field efficiency.

In addition to this, we’ve increased the total number of Nodes able to be built, as we currently feel that even with the full complement built - teams were still running a large resource deficit.



Our PTE sessions gave us some great insight into the real gameplay effects that the introduction of more specific hitboxes would have on TTK. We found that the inclusion of the upper arm (above the elbow) and area above the knee meant that targets travelling perpendicular to the shooter would often soak up far more damage than desired - making the TTK feel far longer than desired.



We know that much of the appeal of Hell Let Loose is in the lethality of the bullets and the feeling that you don’t need to expend entire magazines to kill a target. Therefore, we’ve adjusted the location of the “extremity” hitboxes to only incorporate below the elbow and below the knee.

In testing, we’d found that this strikes the right balance between rewarding accuracy, while also maintaining a quick TTK for rounds placed at center mass.



We’ve looked long and hard at the teamkilling within the game, and the way in which the kills occur. Oftentimes noting that it’s nearly entirely accidental, and that any additional time after the killing shot is fired often reveals that your target was a friendly.

Therefore, we’re going to be trialling a new system in Update 8 that halves friendly player ballistic damage. Obviously, this will have no effect on damage dealt to enemies, but we feel that this will give single hit kill weapon-users the ability to realise their mistake without killing the friendly player. In our PTE, we found this has a perceptible effect in drastically lowering the number of teamkills across the game.





We’re very excited to announce that we’re now hosting three official Japanese-based servers on top of our existing Asia region support. We’ve watched players in the broader Asia region jump into the game but find that there are no appropriate servers with a good ping.

We’re now working on hosting Chinese and Korean servers.

Over the next month we’ll be working to address server absences in all other notable regions.



That wraps up this week’s Dev Brief!

Thank you to everyone who takes a moment to share their thoughts with us on Hell Let Loose on any of our platforms. As today hopefully shows once again, your voice matters and helps us shape the game - even including features that aren’t live in-game yet!

As per usual, we’ll be playing the update a large amount after introduction and will make any further changes based on community feedback. We look forward to watching the way these changes shape future gameplay and will be working to iron out any potential issues where and when they emerge.

If you’re yet to join us on the frontline, we’re currently 25% off in the Steam Autumn Sale!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/686810/Hell_Let_Loose/

See you on the frontline!

Hey everyone,

It's time for Dev Brief #103!

With Update 8 just around the corner, we want to make sure we communicate some key new features and changes :)



The Support role has been overhauled to now replace the current “build the box” mechanic with a hand-carried supply box. We’ve often felt that it’s important that one of the key gameplay loops in the game - building Garrisons - was able to be achieved with an infantryman - and that the entire team does not solely rely on a truck delivery.

This was done for many reasons - the key one being that a single player flipping a truck could lead to the entire capitulation of the front line and the loss of the game. Often, when designing Hell Let Loose we want to distribute total responsibility for victory or defeat across a large array of roles - as this way the success of a team is shared by the entire team - not just balanced on the actions of a single player. This places greater emphasis on team cohesion, as opposed to just having a singularly good player in the key role.

Now that Support is able to carry supply boxes, we’ve reduced the total number of supplies in them to 50. This is enough to build a Garrison or Resource Node, but not enough to fully construct the large scale defenses that we’re adding in Update 8. Our Supply and Resource economy is something that we’re going to be focusing on over the coming months as we play and interact with the systems. We don’t doubt that valuable community feedback will help us find the sweet spot, but we feel the current system is a good place to start.



German hand carried supplies



US hand carried supplies


The redeploy/rearm mechanic has been a persistent and ongoing ugly gameplay loop. Now that we’ve overhauled the hand-carried supply crates, we’ve also managed to overhaul the way in which supply crates and ammo boxes are re-armed in the field.

The basic design challenge here was attaching a cooldown to the dropping of Supply Crates, while also making sure that their re-arming was not continually contingent on the existence of Supply Trucks.

The conundrum was three-fold:

1. If we enabled Support roles to re-arm off truck-dropped Supply Crates, then we’d create the same issue we intentionally avoided (ie. one bad truck driver throwing the whole game).
   
2. If we allowed you to re-arm on death then we wouldn’t eliminate the cheesy redeploy mechanic.
   
3. If you could re-arm continuously in-field at no cost then it eliminated the need for Supply Trucks.

Ultimately, we realised that we had these design limitations:

1. Resupplying needed to be limited by time in order to make sure the resource flow didn’t render Supply Trucks obsolete.
   
2. Resupplying in-field needed to not hinge entirely on Supply Trucks.
   
3. Resupplying in-field needed to happen outside of the life-death loop.

So, we explored many different options and have implemented to following:

Previously: to restock a supply crate or ammo box you’d simply redeploy or commit suicide.

Now: walking within 50mtrs of a Manpower Resource Node will start a cooldown that will re-arm your Supply Crate at the end of the cooldown. Similarly, if you’ve expended your ammo box, walking within 50mtrs of a Munitions Resource Node will trigger your cooldown to re-arm the ammo box.

Some things to note:

• Once the cooldown is triggered, you do not need to stay in range of the node.
  
• Dying will not reset your cooldown - it will continue while you’re dead.
  
• We recommend placing the nodes near a key Garrison, or not far from a key Garrison so that you automatically replenish the bulk of your supply and ammo carriers as they respawn.
  
• Replenishing supplies crates and ammo boxes will reward the node-builder with score.
  
• The resupply zones are now marked on the map as circles around the nodes.
  
• A small HUD graphic and sound effect will play when the resupply is complete.
  
• Rearming takes 5 minutes from the point the cooldown is reset.

Munitions Node - Resupplies ammo boxes.
Manpower Node - Resupplies supply boxes.
Fuel Node - In-field function is still to come.



"Walking within 50 meters of a Manpower Resource Node will start a cooldown that will re-arm your Supply Crate at the end of the cooldown."


Ammo Type and function

Firearms Ammo - Resupplies firearm ammunition
Medical Ammo - Resupplies bandages, syringe, morphine
Explosives Ammo - Resupplies AT rounds, satchel charges, grenades

We will look to add more ammo, when and where it is needed.




In Update 8 you’ll notice that the total player level has been increased from 100 to 200, and that your relative veterancy is now distinguished every 50 levels with a medal attached to your name on both the scoreboard and your in-game icon. This is designed as we originally intended - to quickly demonstrate your relative experience within the game to the players around you.

For those of you long-time veterans who’ve reached level 100 - fear not! We’ve implemented this level cap extension in a way that respects your total experience gained. You may find yourself at levels well in-excess of 100 immediately following Update 8.

We also want to note that Update 8 sees the introduction of player icon scaling - where allied player icons get smaller over distance - leading to a far less cluttered HUD.


We’ve watched many videos on the topic of the meta changes (including Bill’s latest one on the subreddit) made in Update 7 that eliminated the use of red zone Garrison deployments and the mass redeploy mechanic as a strategy. The feedback has been useful to underline the issues introduced by that change and how it aligns with our design around the function of each spawn mechanic. Next week we’ll be talking through the future plans for the game.

Currently we’re using our Early Access period as one in which we can nail down the key metagame components and test many of these aspects (many of which we as developers are not yet happy with). This has been a challenge as we’ve often been dealing with legacy solutions, as well as working within a continuously adjusting timeframe - this has affected our ability to bring in additional features that will create new ways of spawning.

Next week we’ll chat through future plans for the metagame, as well as explore the current issues and how we think they will change in the future.



We have begun to officially contact those who’s VO’s we are likely to use. We apologise in the delay here, as we have been incredibly busy working on Update 8.

We offer our sincere thanks and gratitude to you for taking the time and effort to think up, record and send your voice lines in for the Hell Let Loose Wilhelm Scream. It can be a daunting task for one to publicly present their own work and voice to a community - especially for judgement! Assessing the submissions has been very difficult but also hugely fun. We have some very talented people in the community! Our sound designer Adam has been truly inspired by the submissions, even by the ones that won’t make it into the game.

If you made a submission and do not receive an email from us in the next 2 weeks, we want to thank you for your participation and implore everyone to get involved in the future and have another shot if we decide to run another VO submission or similar opportunity!

You will likely begin to hear the new VO’s come Update 9, and we will be making sure those who did make it into the final version get an in-game credit and a special role in the Discord!

That wraps up this week's Dev Brief.

See you on the frontline!

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Dev Brief #102!

In this week’s dev briefing we wanted to focus on something that has been requested for a very long time - and due to complexity and reliance on many other systems - was something that we’d had to keep bumping back in our priority list while we sorted out foundational systems. Finally, we’re excited to announce that transport and supply trucks will be coming to Hell Let Loose in Update 8. The Germans will take to the field in the Opel Blitz, and the US will be rolling in with the GMC CCKW 2½-ton 6×6 truck.

Let’s get rolling!




In Hell Let Loose, supply trucks are designed to create a risk/reward mechanic around large scale supply crate delivery to the frontline and other dangerous locations in the battlefield. Carrying two supply crates - each worth 150 supplies (a total of 300 per delivery), players can then use these construct and upgrade fortifications, garrisons and other deployables.

With two occupancy slots, the supply truck is the perfect vehicle to quickly deliver the supplies necessary to significantly fortify a specific location. These work hand in hand with the new Engineer deployables, and will be key to enabling the establishment of key firing positions.

To drop supplies, simply hold down RMB to unload them out the back of the truck.




German Supply Crate

US Supply Crate




Transport trucks in Hell Let Loose can carry 12 players, and can be used to insert a large number of troops at a specific location - or to ferry troops from different locations on the front line. We foresee them being a key aspect in the opening stages of the game, as well as being used in the late game to repair any potential front line collapses.

Please note: the time spent driving a Supply or Transport truck will reward the occupants with Support score on the scoreboard. Similarly, usage of dropped supplies, or multiple vehicle occupancy within a transport truck will multiply the score earned.

Please note: LMB blasts the horn and is useful for clearing unsuspecting infantry out of your path.




While players can be shot out of the trucks using small arms - especially high penetration weapons that can pierce thin metal - large rounds are particularly effective to the front portion (cab) of the truck and will often destroy it in a single round, while the rear portion of the truck (bed) will most often require two rounds.

We will continue to look at trucks and all vehicles in depth in Update 9 now that we have a mixture of both tracked and wheeled vehicles. Many players have commented on their wish for us to perform large scale balancing and functionality checks and improvements on the vehicles in the game and we’re very keen to look specifically at this.




We want to thank those who drove and gave feedback on the trucks during the PTE. We have made some tweaks which means they are less prone to getting stuck, and should be better at climbing steep inclines. There is still a degree of difficulty when driving, which means a certain skill level will be required to master them.



Have a great weekend and we'll catch you next week when we'll truck out another dev brief!

See you on the frontline.

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Dev Brief #101!

This week Max is here to give you a first look at the Engineer's deployables upgrade coming in Update 8!

If you are looking to shape the frontline and bend it to your will, then this will be of great interest to you...



Hi everyone!

As we run up to the launch of Update 8, we’re excited to introduce you to the beginning of our Engineer deployables upgrade.

Previously, the Engineer deployable array has been very lackluster (to say the least). Barbed wire provides nothing more functional than something to vault over and the most significant cover available was a small waist high sandbag wall. These were something that we wanted to get in as soon as possible when we initially released, but also something that we knew we’d come back to overhaul - rebuilding the logic behind them to better incorporate:

• Cross-role dependency (ie. working with another role to positively affect the flow of battle)
  
• Better integration of supplies as a resource
  
• Visual consistency polish (using the wrench to plan, hammer to build, FPP supply crates to drop etc.)
  
• Actual functionality on the battlefield (so that they’re appealing to build!)

First Steps:

In Update 8 Engineers will have their deployables loadout altered to now include the Bunker and the Barricade.



There are significant differences in the way these are used that we’ll describe below now.

First, the Wrench is now best thought of as a planning tool - which the Engineer can use to plan the layout of the fortifications to be constructed. Once they’ve placed down the “ghost”, you’ll need two things:

• A Hammer (many roles now will find this added to their inventory) to build the deployables
  
• Supplies

To construct your fortifications, simply build them up using the Hammer.



There are several things to note:

• In order to complete building you’ll need to make sure you have the required number of Supplies within 50m.
  
• You’ll find that our new Supply Trucks provide the perfect way of transporting the large number of Supplies that you’ll need to fortify a position.
  
• The more players building a structure, the faster it will progress.
  
• The enemy cannot see the ghost structures, so do not rely on them in a firefight!

Now, we get to the more exciting aspects of these structures.



Functional

We’ve worked hard to make sure that these structures not only visually integrate into all of our maps, but that they are also functional and useful. We felt that nobody would want to use them if we simply replaced old non-functional structures with new, more expensive non-functional structures! Each of these new ones offers a larger degree of cover, closed firing positions and the correct heights to deploy and conceal yourself in a number of positions.


Upgradable

In addition to their shape being functional, we’ve also incorporated the ability to continue to upgrade these structures. Initially you’ll build up the relatively cheap first stage of the structure. This one is thrown together quickly with wood - critically, it can be penetrated by high caliber rounds and destroyed by heavy weapons. It also offers the least amount of cover. From there, you can use additional Supplies to upgrade to level two - bolstering the existing wooden structure with impenetrable sandbags and making them slightly more impervious to heavy weapons. Finally, the most expensive and time consuming level - level 3 - will enclose the structure almost entirely and make it the most effective cover possible. It is important to note that we wanted to take the asymmetrical nature of the game further here - giving the Germans the ability to upgrade their structures to concrete - making them impervious to heavy weapons.

Destructible

In order to remove enemy structures from the battlefield, we’ve introduced the Satchel Charge to both teams and multiple roles. Set the fuse length and attach the Satchel to the fortification to destroy it.

Be aware that each Engineer has a limit to the number of fortifications that they can build. This is both to give greater significance to the tactical choice made in where they are deployed, but also to allow us to keep a cap on network performance for the game.

Finally, this new system is very robust, in that we can now start to look at creating different levels of effectiveness for nearly every deployable in the game. Don’t be surprised to see Resource Nodes and Repair Stations expanded to have different levels with commensurate effectiveness added beyond Update 8. This of course, will also play a role when we add new ground emplacements such as flak positions etc.




We are currently investigating a mass LOST CONNECTION TO HOST issue some servers are experiencing. We are actively working with GSPs to understand and get this issue resolved, as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile we have begun some testing of additional servers, to give the community more options. We will look to provide further details of this after testing is complete.

Thanks for your ongoing support and patience!



That wraps up this week's Dev Brief from Max on the new deployables coming to the Engineer's arsenal in Update 8!

We're really looking forward to seeing how you strategize on the frontline with these, especially with an increase in available supplies and bullet penetration dropping alongside these fortifications.

Have a great weekend and we'll see you next week when we'll be taking a deeper look at more content that you'll be getting to grips with in Update 8.

See you on the frontline.

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Dev Brief #100!

Today's post marks 100 consecutive weeks of our Dev Brief series, and damn has it flown by!

We're excited to mark this milestone with a special community powered interview with Project Lead Max as we talk the past, present and future of Hell Let Loose, answer a bunch of the questions you submitted to us last week and also drop some first looks, content reveals and take a stroll through overhauled Hurtgen.

The full interview sits at a little over an hour, so sit back and relax and join us as we celebrate Dev Brief #100...




For those who are after specific areas of the video, please find some useful timestamps below:

00:00 - 27:54 Introduction and the history of Hell Let Loose

Max and I discuss the history of Hell Let Loose, the importance of the Hell Let Loose community and talk about how our shared journey has crafted Hell Let Loose to the game it is today and will continue to do so in the future.

27:54 - 31:39 Hurtgen Forest overhaul preview & ????? gameplay first look

Spono has been exploring the upcoming Hurtgen Forest overhaul and captured some footage to show you how we've transformed the map ahead of its arrival in Update 8!

Paired with Max's voiceover, you'll get to see Hurtgen Forest like you've never seen it before. Oh and keep an eye out for when Spono takes a cheeky spin in a ?????...

31:39 - 68:27 Community Questions!

We go through and answer some of the questions that you submitted to us in last week's brief. What questions are we answering? Well...

• What can we expect in the next update?
  
• How much has the community influenced the decisions you make as a game dev?
  
• When will the balance of the tanks be corrected?
  
• When will the King Tiger be added?
  
• Hello dear developers! Are there any plans in the future, the introduction of bayonets for infantry and mortars for artillery?
  
• As the game continues to grow in both scope and player population, how do you plan to maintain this delicate balance between accessibility and complexity? And a second question if I may. Are there any plans for a magazine check ability?
  
• Could we find out more about the logistics system to come, if it will be necessary to transport material to the front for example and how will it be expanded?
  
• Are the updates going to be just big in the future, or do you plan to keep them coming more frequently (maybe with less content in each update)?
  
• With the metagame finally settling in, what approach are you taking to balance fast-paced infantry combat with meticulous and strategical management of resources? Will there be a way to cater to both A) players who are interested in the logistics of managing resource flow and B) players who are interested in the tactics behind infantry combat?
  
• Admin cam? Or other tools for custom event organizers such as locked classes or custom map layers?
  
• I would like to know if you could bring cooking grenades in the game in if its possible and makes sense for you guys?
  
• Can we expect earlier WW2 maps or every map will be post 1944?
  
• Seems the smoke and dirt from the explosion fades away too fast?
  
• How often do you browse suggestions from the community on reddit and discord, and how significantly do they contribute to your ideas moving forward?
  
• Campaign/Operations Mode, IIRC this will be a thing. Are you able to tell us more about this?
  
• Can we get some Eastern Front teasers soon, please? ;)

68:29 ??????




That wraps up our 100th Dev Brief, we hope you enjoyed it! We're looking forward to talking about all of the reveals with you over the coming days and weeks.

Here's to the next 100 Developer Briefings, it's a privilege having you with us on this journey!

See you on the frontline.

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Dev Brief #99!

This week we're having a blast as we give you a first look and listen at the new explosions coming to Hell Let Loose in Update 8!

These improvements to explosions will really ramp up the intensity of battle, so to go into all the glorious detail I'll hand you over to Lead Developer Max...



Hi everyone!

We’re diving in deep today on the new explosion sound effects as we know it’s such a critical area that we know has long been overdue for a proper rework.

Explosives are a prominent tool in warfare, and are a huge part of creating an iconic and authentic battlefield soundscape. They’re also an aspect of the game we haven’t updated since our initial release into Early Access (over a year ago!).

We’ve gone back to the drawing board on the way we build our explosive sounds - from both a sound and visual perspective (we’ll tackle the visual side in a later brief).

Drawing inspiration from different games, real world footage and film we have applied our own spin to the sounds whilst maintaining a realistic aesthetic. These will seem louder and more fierce than previous. We have taken a similar approach when creating the new explosion sfx as we did to our weapon audio. This method consists of using multiple layers that are mixed and attenuated individually in the game engine, allowing us to have a plethora of explosion variations without taking up too much storage space.

We can pick and choose assets from the categories “Small, Medium and Large” allowing us to mix and match sound layers depending on the type of explosive ordinance whether it be an MK2 grenade, an 88mm shell or a satchel charge.

The explosion audio uses our custom Audio Volumes that control the environmental layer of the sound meaning in time we will have interior reflections represented. We use a volume ducking feature to reduce certain sound groups when an explosion takes place, this method better highlights the explosion whilst maintaining its original volume to help it stand out within the whole audio mix. The soundscape should seem far more dynamic in Update 8 due to the fact we have extended the presence of explosions over a larger distance.

To add to this, what would new explosion sounds be without some new vehicle gun audio? Coming with Update 8 will be reworks of the vehicles main guns from the Luchs 20mm autocannon all the way up to the Howitzer artillery pieces. The vehicle shells will also have new ricochet audio and internal damage within vehicles will be touched up.

Don't forget within the Audio Settings we have the option to increase the amount of sounds heard at any one time, just set the Audio Channel Count from Low to Med/High/Epic allowing 32, 64, 96, 128 simultaneous channels.

The video below is designed to demonstrate the difference in explosions at different ranges. Please note that this is an early version of Hurtgen Forest used to demonstrate the distance differences. It is now far more complete!





That wraps up your first look and listen at our new explosions that'll be booming their way into Update 8.

Whilst we're really pleased with how they are, please remember they are a work in progress and we'll be fine tuning them before they drop!

Now, lets talk about next week and Dev Brief 100 shall we!

Next week is our 100th consecutive weekly Developer Briefing and what a milestone it is. To celebrate we'll be interviewing Lead Developer Max about all things Hell Let Loose, from where it began to where it's going.

That's where you come in! We want to ask some of your community questions to Max in the interview and get you some juicy answers.

To have your question put into consideration please post it in the comments section of today's brief. You have until Tuesday morning on October 27th as we'll be doing the recording on that day.

If you have any nice comments or stories you'd like read to Max, feel free to pop those down too - it'd be great to share them with him.

Now we'll leave you this week with a reminder that Hell Let Loose is 25% off until Monday afternoon, so if you've not joined the frontline yet now is a damn good time to:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/686810/Hell_Let_Loose/

Also a huge welcome to all our new players who have joined us in the sale so far, we hope you're having a brilliant time!!

Have a great weekend everyone.

See you on the frontline.

Hey everyone,

Today we're pleased to kick off a week long discount for Hell Let Loose!

From now until 5pm BST / 6pm CEST on October 26th you can pick up Hell Let Loose at a 25% discount:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/686810/Hell_Let_Loose/



To those of you that join us in the sale, welcome to Hell Let Loose and thanks for picking up our game!

You're joining us at a very exciting time as we head towards Update 8, our next big content drop:



As you can see we've got a lot of cool stuff (and more) on the way!

If you'd like to see learn more about what we're working on we share a community update each week in the form of a Developer Briefing, our weekly community check-in where we let you know what we're working on and take a moment to address your questions and comments.

Here's a selection of recent ones for you to check out:

Developer Briefing #98 - Unit Designation & More Hurtgen Forest Overhaul!
Developer Briefing #97 - PTE, Balancing and HLL Competitive
Developer Briefing #95 - Grease Gun, New Hitbox System & Flinching!

This stems from the core mantra of Hell Let Loose - community is the heart of the game. We're building the game through Early Access and beyond together and as such, seek to include the community in the process as much as possible.

On that note, our existing community are a great bunch consisting of players from all over the world, so you should totally get to know them!

You can find them (and the Devs) at the following locations:

Here on the Steam forums
Over on the official Hell Let Loose Discord
Chatting and memeing on the Hell Let Loose Reddit

That wraps up the post!

Welcome to Hell Let Loose, we'll see you on the frontline.

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Dev Brief #98!

Today we're going to be talking about some more cool new features coming in Update 8, some of which are a direct result of you sharing your thoughts on teamwork and team composition with us.

Lead Developer Max will be going into full detail below, and make sure to stick around until the around for some brand new Hurtgen Forest overhaul images and more...




Hi everyone,

We’re preparing for a series of weeks where we’ll be deep diving into some of the largest changes coming in Update 8. In the meantime, we wanted to touch on something rather small, but that will have a relatively significant impact on team coordination and communication.



We’ve received brilliant feedback from the community about the need to allow Officers to broadcast to the team what the function of their unit is. Currently in Hell Let Loose, the only information available is the unit name (which we keep consistent to allow for each inter-unit identification) and the type of unit it is (Infantry, Armoured or Recon).

The design of Hell Let Loose has always been a constant tension between keeping things functionally as simple as possible while allowing players to specialise into all manner of roles - both individually and as a unit. The community has often asked for specific unit types (artillery, logistics etc). While we totally agree with the principle of this, we’ve been very reticent to introduce more and more unit types, as the ruleset and architecture behind each is very specific and is delineated to make the code side of things as simple as possible.

That said, we’ve long recognised the need to allow Officers to let the rest of the team know that they’re focused on a particular task - especially so that the Commander is able to get a sense of the resources at their disposal.

Therefore, in Update 8 we’re implementing the ability to mark your unit in the deployment menu with several key designations to better quickly let your team know what your intended role on the battlefield is.

You can now select two different options:

1. You are a VOIP only unit. By toggling this, you will be indicating to the players who join the unit that they are expected to use a microphone.



2. Unit designation. This can be set at different points in the battle by your Officer. Clicking the little arrow will open up a choice of four different designations - Offensive, Defensive, Logistics and Artillery.



We feel that these additions to the UI will serve a key purpose in giving the team a much greater sense of coordination, as well as allowing mic-using players to specifically group together.

While we have designed much of Hell Let Loose to be playable without a mic, we strongly suggest that all players use one in order to have the best experience possible.



Update 8 is set to be another huge update. In the coming weeks we’ll be deep diving on some meaty changes to the game, including:

• Rework of resource nodes to play a specific function on the battlefield (not just something to hide!)
  explosion SFX and FX overhaul.
  
• Deep dive into adjusted bullet damage when it comes to being hit in the extremities and how we’re looking at weapon balance while preserving a fast TTK.
  
• New Engineer deployables, hammers and the ability to upgrade fortifications. We’ll also be addressing how these are destroyable.
  
• Transport truck and Supply truck functionality
  
• Hurtgen Forest overhaul (we’ve kept the topography of Hurtgen Forest, but introduced a lot more cover, but also more clear sight lines).
  
• Large scale optimisations
  
• New customisation options
  
• An expanded level cap and ways we’ll acknowledge your level in-game

Now an update on the Hurtgen Forest overhaul...

























That wraps up this week's Developer Briefing!

We hope you liked your first look at Unit Designations and how we're further empowering teamwork on the frontline. Finally Commanders, you'll know exactly who your Arty crew are and Arty crews, you can wear your unit badge with pride!

Those of you who paid close attention to the 'Coming Soon' bullet points will have noticed some more content reveals, we'll be talking about all of those in our upcoming Dev Briefs - so if you have a question you'd like answered on anything in that list let us know and it might well get answered when the time comes!

Have a great weekend everyone!

See you on the frontline.

Hi everyone!

This week we’re going to chat through the introduction of a public test environment, as well as the way we’re approaching the competitive side of Hell Let Loose.

What is a PTE?

A Public Test Environment is a version of the game available for download that lets you play unreleased, beta-phase content. It’s a way we can get your help in testing new content at a much larger scale than our internal QA. We’ll be testing new features, vehicles, maps, customisation, weapons and looking for bugs and server and client crashes. It’s also important to note that the content may have significant issues, bugs and incomplete features.

Why haven’t you done this earlier?

Until now we’ve held off on running a PTE as it has a significant effect on the impact of a release from a marketing perspective. The core playerbase - who follow the game closely - become hugely familiar with the content that is going to be released and this can then lead to lack of excitement around the release itself.w

Another issue is that an open PTE can cause large amounts of confusion as to what content is currently available in game, and tandem conversations begin to happen within the community - where some players may like or dislike the unreleased content, while some players may not have realised it was playable in the PTE. For example, releasing bullet penetration on the PTE will lead to conversations about that feature, but then cause players in the Release branch of the game to think that penetration is buggy or not working due to its absence from their game.

For both of these reasons, we’ve been keen to put the key gameplay pillars in place and finalise large systems overhauls before putting a PTE in place.

Why are you doing it now?

Whereas before our goals were to achieve quality systems that needed huge overhauls, we’re now changing pace slightly to focus on the finer tuning of the game, as well as catching large scale crashes and other endemic issues before public release.

Can I share content from it?

In order to create a focused feedback environment, we’ll be asking all those who join the PTE to submit their feedback in a designated channel so as not to mix feedback with the Release version of the game. We will also be placing the contents of the PTE under NDA, in order for us to keep some of the excitement around the coming content fresh. Please note that the features that you will be testing will also be incomplete, with ugly bugs occurring.

When will the PTE happen?

We’re keen to create focused testing at high capacity so that we can catch the worst high-population issues, as well as see how a particular feature is working when a server is at full capacity. We’ll be advertising specific test days in the near future.

How can I be part of it?

We’re currently setting the environment up and completing some testing to make sure it’s smooth to join. We’ll then release information shortly.

Competitive Hell Let Loose

We’ve been thrilled and surprised to watch the competitive scene in Hell Let Loose consistently establish itself over the course of our Early Access period. As developers of an unfinished game, we’ve always been very keen to support the competitive side, but we’ve also been aware of how many huge aspects of the game will shift as new planned features come online. Due to fundamental systems being absent our priority has very much been on filling out the game content as fast as possible while trying not to rock the boat too much (something that we hope to get better at as development continues).

A competitive scene is something that we hoped may emerge, but not something that we planned on this early in the life cycle of Hell Let Loose (especially while in Early Access). We consider our Early Access period a time in which we can flesh out the core Western Front content and the key systems and pillars that support the game.

That said, we want you as a community to know that we follow the competitive side and will be playing a much larger role in the discussion (and playing in matches) as time goes on and the meta starts to settle after the addition of some large features left to come in Early Access.

Asymmetrical Balance

In looking at the conversation around balance, we know that there are significant issues we can work on that will vastly improve the competitive experience while also having net positive effects on the public games. We’re aware of the advantages the US forces currently have - whether in terms of armor cost and balance, or overwhelming unit-level firepower. Over the course of our continued development, we’ll be making moves to adjust the potency of each faction in order to bring them into competitive balance. Our goal here is to reflect the historical asymmetry of the forces, but to achieve parity with regard to win/loss ratio. We’ll be working closely with the community in order to be very specific about our changes - as we don’t want to superficially nerf or buff something in a way that achieves balance by creating a worse experience for a particular player (especially something that contradicts the historical account).

Metagame

Separate from balance is the metagame. Our changes in U7 focused on creating a much more significant frontline experience. As a result, this has led to more static games that revolve around the center capture point. Fortunately, there are multiple tools in our toolbox to address these issues.

Dialling values (total number of Garrisons, distance of Garrisons and many more) is incredibly easy for us to do in seconds, and we’ll be working with the competitive community to achieve better results here. The second aspect is that we still have significant feature additions to come that will radically shift the metagame - especially around more ways to deploy friendly troops in enemy-owned sectors now that Garrisons can no longer be established in red zones. Halftracks, transport trucks, more Commander abilities and additions to role loadouts (gadgets and weapons) as well as many more features will give teams greater ability to orchestrate flanking attacks and other strategic maneuvers that were always carried out previously by dropping a Garrison.

Finally, we’re very aware of the issues around Offensive mode. The time it takes, the unsatisfying nature of it and the inherent issues within the gamemode. We’ll be addressing these issues as a focused effort during our Early Access period - with initial changes coming in Update 8.

Our Commitment Moving Forward

Lastly, we want to thank the community for playing such close attention to the game and the way it develops. We also want to assure you that we are hard at work finalising key aspects of the title and will be continually working on game balance and the satisfaction found in the metagame.

As we’ve stated, we have a very long plan for the development of Hell Let Loose and we look forward to continuing to work on it alongside the community in order to achieve the best gameplay outcome possible.

And that wraps it for this weeks DB, and again we really appreciate all the continual support & feedback.

We hear you!

See you on the frontline :D


New tanker customisation will be coming spoon...

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing #96!

This week we give you a unredacted all access pass into the wonderful world of QA in Hell... Let Loose.

In the coming weeks we'll once again focus on upcoming content but we wanted to share one of the most critical aspects of the dev process that's also rarely spoken about.

Toss a bug to your QA.

Without further ado it's time to go behind the curtain, let's hand over to David from Team17 QA!


A typical day in QA starts out with smoking the new build. This is a relatively short test plan that has checks for the most basic functionality of the game. The aim is to quickly identify any issues that could affect testing on the new build or that are incredibly noticeable and weren’t occurring in the previous build, such as Smoke VFX looking a bit off.



There’s always a focus for the day, and once the smoke is completed, we’ll begin working on it. In the case of new content, we’ll usually have a test plan that has been prepared by the lead QA with checks that cover all the design specifications for the new feature. The checks are divided into various sections, for example, on Recon Vehicles we have a number of checks for the Controls and Movement, Animations, Audio, Resupply and Repair, damage taken to the different areas of the vehicle, and of course the unique Recon Ability functionality.

Once the test plan has been completed, we’ll focus more on destructive testing around the new feature. This involves being as creative as possible in trying to find ways to break this feature of the game. When an issue is discovered we then work towards systematically isolating variables to find out which action or series of actions lead to the issue occurring. After identifying a solid set of steps, QA enter a bug report into our database, which then gets sent to Black Matter. The aim is to always provide BM with steps that are able to reproduce the issue 100% of the time.

Issues that are fixed then require QA to go back and regress them. We attempt to reproduce the issue to ensure that it is no longer occurring and that the fix hasn’t caused any knock-on effects or created new bugs. The issue is then closed if it has been successfully fixed, or reopened with additional information to help Black Matter with resolving the issue. In the instance below, fixing a texture issue on the stone fence ended up also granting it levitation powers.



QA also help by providing feedback on the game, either as part of our testing or as part of playtest sessions we occasionally organise with team members working on other projects. There are times when a new feature may take a relatively short time to implement but take significantly longer to test and ensure it’s bug-free, so QA is constantly communicating with Black Matter developers and production to ensure we are all on the same page.

While there is always an overarching plan, QA is always ready to adapt to the needs of the project and shift focus at a moment’s notice. Just to give some perspective, QA submit an average of 200 issues per month, and we have closed just over 6600 issues since the project began. The bottom line is that there’s no shortage of things to test in a game like Hell Let Loose, and we’re here to do our best in ensuring our players have the best possible experience!


While QA requires a lot of patience, attention to detail, focus, and hard work, you can always count on events or issues that will make you laugh, chuckle, or at least bring a smile to your face. We wanted to share a few images that (fortunately) never made it to the live environment.

This came about when we were testing debug commands on the main menu and realized we could move the debug camera.



The upcoming Golden Gun DLC for Update 008*


*QA are legally required to clarify that there is in fact not going to be a Golden Gun DLC for Hell Let Loose

This one was fuel for nightmares. It came about when all head cosmetics were updated.


Yes it occurred in-game as well, and bandaging the “creature” made for an eerie scene.



QA wanted to thank you for your participation in reporting issues you encounter. This is far more useful than you can imagine. Whether it be in-game, on the Steam forums, Discord, Reddit, you name it, your reports are hugely appreciated and greatly aid our investigations. Keep ‘em coming!


And with that, we leave you with QA’s mascot, the undisputed fan favourite, long gone, but never forgotten:

Original Mendez




That wraps up todays Dev Brief!

We hope you enjoyed a dive into the life of QA on Hell Let Loose, and a window into their very own front lines!

As always, we really look forward to hearing what you think of today's dev brief so feel free to put your thoughts in the comments below or over on the Steam forum.

Have a great weekend everyone!

See you on the frontline.