Hey Squaddies,

Got a minute?

We’re back with a brand new year and we’re already in the final stages of bug fixing and testing for Alpha 10. Your feedback during the Alpha 10 public test before Christmas was invaluable in making the test period for us that much less crazy.

There’s absolutely no replacement for those dedicated boots on the ground! The insane amount of enthusiasm and positiveness around the playtest fueled our drive to make Alpha 10 one of our most polished releases yet. Gib A10!

Alpha 10 Status

Since entering testing, we’ve squashed more than 323 separate bugs and issues with no small thanks to your bug reports! We only have a few more left before we’re happy going to a full release, but rest assured the day where we can finally move on is coming soon. In fact, some of the artists are already working ahead!

In the meantime, we’d like to show off development in other areas of the game that are coming after the Alpha 10 release. Unlike previous recaps, this will focus more on content that is extremely close to completion and will most likely be added in the near future. One caveat is mapping, where it is usually an area that is developed on an independent schedule, so the content shown there will vary in levels of completion and release schedules. Let’s see what the future holds!

Art and Modeling

British Army Update

A faction teased since the beginning of the Kickstarter, the Brits have been stewing away for quite some time now and they’re almost ready to make war. With their own array of weapons, uniform and armament, they will prove to be another flavour on an already rich battlefield. #Melbolyfe

New Insurgent Soldiers

The Insurgent models currently in use are the last marketplace assets still widely used in our art library. We’ve been hard at work modelling a completely new set of our own. With them comes a large variety of civilian and paramilitary styles to make the faction look a little more versatile visually. Rigged up and just about good to go, they’re undergoing a bit more texture polish before deployment.

Technical’s Improvised Armor Package

One other improvement we’re adding to the unconventional factions is an improvised armour set for their light vehicles. Sometimes-reluctant workhorses of modern combat, these vehicles generally sacrifice speed and handling for much greater resistance to shrapnel and small arms fire.

BGM-71 TOW Missile Emplacement

Also in the pipe is our first foray into guided missile systems with the BGM-71 TOW. Equipped with a high magnification day-sight, this weapon fires wire-guided anti-tank missiles over extreme distances. This should give a bit more teeth to American FOB defences.

PKP

Alpha 10 will see the introduction of the PKM, but soon afterwards will come its modernised cousin, the PKP. Complete with a mount for optics, this Russian weapon will make their machine gunners even more fearsome.

Heavy Machine Gun Optics

Conventional factions will also be getting an upgrade to their heavy machine gun emplacements in the form of mounted optics. This will allow for greater target acquisition capabilities for HMG gunners, and also make HMGs a more formidable weapon to go up against especially on maps with little cover.

Mapping

With a new year comes a new year of mapping! This year we will try to keep the community abreast of the current state of maps as they develop so things may be a little more work in progress than perhaps in the past.

Let’s check in with the mapping team!

Kohat Expansion

An expansion to Kohat Toi River Valley will bring improvements to the eastern and southern portions of the map, providing more variety and capturable areas. In addition, the eastern edge of the map will house a brand new United States Army FOB, complete with helicopter landing pads.

Logar Valley Expansion

As part of a step to revamp some of the older maps we have retrofitted the main town in Logar and replaced about 40% of the buildings with more two story and larger internal space structures. In addition, many more damaged and ruined buildings were added throughout the map as well as a few new bisecting roads to keep those vehicles nimble.

Kamdesh Highlands

Building on our experience with Operation First Light, we’ve begun work on a new map visually based on a more rugged portion of Afghanistan than previous projects. Covered in a thick pine forest, the hilly terrain will increase the risk of ambushes leaving even seasoned veterans on the edge of their seats!

Checking in with Fallujah

Continuing progress on the layout of our long-term project Fallujah. We have moved into the second phase of the city creation and the environment team is working through the creation of larger urban structures to populate the core of the city. Expect monthly updates on this one as it moves towards release in the later part of the year.

Annnnnd that brings us to the close of the first regularly scheduled Recap of the year. We hope you’re as excited as we are to see what’s coming to Squad in the near and distant futures.

Offworld out.