Attention Officers,
Thank you for joining us for 72nd edition of our Ready or Not development briefing, April 12th, 2024!
Today we're doing an early overview discussion of how our first piece of Downloadable Content, “Home Invasion”, will work and as well as provide a bit of initial info regarding its contents.
We want to have an accessible approach to our paid DLC, release a free game update parallel to Home Invasion to create a broader 'Home Invasion Release,' and expand upon our in-game narrative in a nuanced, impactful manner.
DLC content is just one component of our ongoing support for Ready or Not. We have many bugfixes and free content updates in the pipeline.
These development briefings serve to keep you in the loop about parts of our ongoing support for Ready or Not, however the briefings do not encompass everything that we’re working on at a given moment.Please keep in mind that everything in this development briefing is work in progress and subject to change.
Vol. 72 Development Briefing Summary Points:
(not a changelog)
- Free general game update launching parallel to the paid Home Invasion DLC, bringing forward some planned Quality of Life improvements and features
- DLC maps are available to be played at full quality by everyone in multiplayer matchmaking as long as their lobby host owns the DLC
- To be properly revealed at a later date for the Home Invasion DLC:[list]
- 3 new maps
- 2 new weapons
An Accessible Approach to DLC
A core continuous sentiment from us at VOID is how we want to avoid splitting our multiplayer playerbase across DLC content. Our DLC content should therefore be as accessible as possible, regardless of whether someone owns the DLC.
For multiplayer, this means allowing DLC maps to be played in multiplayer matchmaking at full quality by anyone regardless of DLC ownership as long as the lobby's host owns the relevant DLC. Years ago previously in one of our Frequently Asked Questions there was speculation about having the free multiplayer version be lower resolution in some respect, but we have decided against that.
As previously mentioned in our Vol.68 briefing: we will release additional bugfixes for the base game during the same timeframe that DLC content is being released. Furthermore, all our planned DLC will come with free new base game weapons, a DLC-exclusive player outfit, and new maps. Last but not least, DLC 1 is of course free for Supporter Edition owners per our original plans.
Home Invasion in particular will come with 3 new maps following a new narrative premise and 2 new weapons.
We hope that by making the DLC weapons free and allowing easy free access to DLC maps via host in multiplayer you will all still be able to enjoy the effects of each DLC launch, regardless of whether you specifically own it.
Simultaneous Free Game Update
“Home Invasion” has become more than just a DLC release, it is now going to be accompanied by a parallel free update for the base game as well.
This means we’ll be adding some features and improvements aside from just bug fixes that should release as part of this broad “Home Invasion Release.” The feature list should consist primarily of Quality of Life improvements.
To provide some development context on how this is possible, our different departments are developing future releases at the same time as the Home Invasion Release— including new general content updates and DLC.
This process aims to expand our scope of active development beyond whatever immediate content is upcoming; making use of the natural development bandwidth that opens when projects are be passed from department to department. Our new Lead Producer who we’re welcoming on board will assist us greatly in coordinating these sorts of processes.
For an example in a nutshell:
Once the Level Design Team passes newly developed Home Invasion levels to the Art Team, the Level Design Team can begin partial work on other new levels in the time between any subsequent necessary Level Design-related changes to the Home Invasion levels.
Meanwhile as our Engineering Team (consisting of different programming specialties) and other departments wait for a level to reach them, they are already working on bugfixes, improvements, and additions in other areas and for future updates.
Nuanced Narrative Continuity
The criminal conspiracies in our existing mission narrative run deep and abhorrently dark. Although that is an unfortunate reality of Los Sueños, our Home Invasion narrative will take you away from the stark darkness of those criminal rings to a much broader spectrum of disturbing grey.
In this new narrative a disaster strikes, and every day people are left to pick up the pieces or use them as a weapon of opportunity. Complicated interests and self-preservation are driving forces in this liminal space with people across walks of life seeking any means to an end.
We understand the emotional impact and reflection that existing missions like Ends of the Earth evoke with our players regarding their activities within the game world. The three new maps included in the Home Invasion DLC will carry that torch forward into the labyrinthine world that is Los Sueños.
Conclusion
Our intention with paid DLC, including Home Invasion, is to provide ongoing support for RoN that can benefit everyone regardless of whether they own the relevant DLC.
With a parallel free game update for the Home Invasion Release, 2 new weapons, and easy free multiplayer access to the 3 new DLC maps via lobby hosts we are showing examples of how we want to achieve our intentions.
The disturbing grey area of our Home Invasion narrative meanwhile represents our desire to branch out and evolve on our mission content.
This concludes our 72nd development briefing, thank you again for joining us. Be sure to fall in next time for more development news!
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