Hey there!

As the release draws nearer, we're bringing you our final Intel Report for V1036. Historically, we've always released one build version at a time with a public test prior to pushing it to the main branch. However, this time we'd like to do things a bit differently: first off, we are internally past the V1036 build, completing our roadmap back in the beginning of this month. While we continue to polish the build internally, we began work on V1037 on the road to GROUND BRANCH V1.0.

Today we'll be taking a closer look at more recent developments on the door lock and armor systems, the new Extraction mode, a couple of environmental overhauls, and miscellaneous visual upgrades for our characters. We'll also be checking out the new MK3 pistol — a specialized handgun for stealth operations.

It's been longer than usual since our last post, so we've made sure this one was a little meatier. Let's get to it, shall we?

We gave you a quick peek at the early days of development for the armor system in Intel Report #029[www.groundbranch.com], explaining how we're planning on having both "soft armor" (used in helmets and conventional body armor like our Bulletproof Vest) and "hard armor" (ballistic plates that go inside plate carriers such as the JPC or MPC) represented in the game.

We've also explained how armor will be able to take a certain amount of damage — depending on caliber, angle, location and number of shots etc. — before it is rendered useless.

With all of that in mind, we had to put it all together as a functional system in-game, and also come up with some type of user interface (UI) to display this information to players. Though the UI for displaying and adding armor in the customization screen is still being worked on, the in-game HUD is already in and working, as is the armor functionality itself for the most part.

The armor HUD is located right next to the Stance Indicator, in the bottom-right corner of the screen, and is comprised of a helmet icon (if a helmet is equipped), a body armor icon (if a bulletproof vest is equipped), and a group of plate icons (if a plate carrier with armor inserts is equipped):

Some plate carriers — such as the JPC — can only carry front and back plates, in which case the 'L' and 'R' side plate icons are hidden from the HUD.

💡 Minimal HUD enthusiasts will be able to hide the armor HUD in Settings › HUD › Show Armor.

Each icon has 3 possible statuses: intact (white), damaged (yellow and cracked), and broken (red and slashed across). Here they are in action:

Example #1: The player is being shot in the helmet with a pistol at close range. (In most cases, helmets can only stop a few pistol rounds at most.) Notice how the HUD icon for the helmet turns red and is slashed out — meaning it is now no longer effective and any new shots will pass through.Example #2: The player is shot in the torso with a rifle while wearing a plate carrier. The front plate (represented by the plate icon with a 'F' on it) first becomes damaged (with the icon turning yellow and cracked) and is eventually broken (red/slashed out icon) by subsequent pistol shots. The next shot then hits the player, going through the torso and hitting the back plate (B).And that's what we have for you so far on the armor system! We hope to get the customization interface and other details rounded out in the upcoming weeks.

New to our upcoming release is the door lock system.

In our last post[www.groundbranch.com] we told you about how regular doors will be breachable by destroying the door handle, while reinforced doors will require a breaching charge of some kind.

The logic for randomizing locked doors was done, but the door interactions were still in development. In this little demo below, we're showcasing the actual interactions — shooting out the handle of a regular door vs. planting a breaching charge on a reinforced door — including the first version of the door interaction animation (currently using a generic "pick-up" animation), and even a sneak peek of the new locomotion and sway:

It's a work in progress and we're still figuring some things out but it's all coming together, folks.

A new game mode coming to our next version, Extraction is what we're dubbing the PvE version of Hostage Rescue.

Developing this mode has been a challenge due to the fact that an AI-controlled hostage requires a considerate amount of new logic and content to be created, from the hostage himself to the AI captor behavior. Chris has been tasked with these systems, with Mike providing new animations for the scenario.

Here's one example of the current version in action:

So what is going on here? A hidden threat level for the captors raises in a similar way to alertness/detection: making noise, showing oneself and killing enemies in sight of the captors will increase the threat level.

As you probably guessed, once the threat level reaches the maximum threshold, captors will attempt to execute the hostage. Currently, there's a 1-second grace period. Here's how it goes down if you're not fast enough:

Once freed, hostages can be controlled in the same fashion as the friendly AI in V1034, following orders such as "Fall In", "Move To", "Hold" and so on.

💡 The work done for Extraction amounts to more than just a standalone game mode — it will also be used for any campaign missions featuring hostages or prisoners that players can rescue or take into custody.

As part of a broader upgrade to training map The Farm, we have remade the Ready Room from the ground up. This facelift is part of our attempt to bring the overall visual identity and quality together.

The Ready Room is now cannonically located inside one of Camp Peary's warehouses, and though the general layout remains similar, pretty much everything is brand-new. Here are the locker areas for the new Blue and Red sides:

💡 We wanted to make sure the new Blue and Red rooms feel unique and make it easier for players to tell which room they are in, hence the different styles.

Shooting ranges have now been set up with proper firing lanes, which also allow players to change the target's distance:

The room flow has also been simplified to allow players to quickly see both room entrances from the spawn — we don't wanna spoil that bit just yet, however.

Here's a bonus shot of the Ops Room on Blue side:

As mentioned previously, wilderness map Creek has undergone a small overhaul.

In addition to generally polishing the map's visuals (terrain, textures, assets etc.), Will established several goals for the rework: (1) raise the mine entrance area to a more level plateau in order to create a more defined area, (2) re-arrange buildings and landmark structures in a more inviting way while also better outlining their footprint, (3) make pathways a bit more obvious to improve navigation, and (4) replace the large ruins with European architecture with a more fitting structure, as well as making the surrounding area feel more like an abandoned settlement.

The map remains a fortified militia camp — just with nicer visuals and a more cohesive theme throughout.

💡 Set somewhere in the American south, Creek was originally devised as a PvP map by John but was later also set up for quick missions (PvE).

Now set west of a road with patrol cars blocking the north and south ends, players will be free to come up with their own lore for this map.

💡 Creek will not be part of the campaign, hence the less significant rework.

We hope you'll enjoy this overhaul as much as we are!

One interesting new piece of equipment coming to V1037 is the MK3 — an integrally suppressed pistol.

Chambered in .22 LR, the MK3 is considerably underpowered compared to 9 mm or .45 handguns. And with its single-file magazine, the capacity isn't great either: only 10+1 rounds. So what's the point of this gun? Well, its integrated suppressor is built to fire those underpowered rounds extremely quietly, making it an excellent tool for taking out sentries and doing other clandestine stuff without alerting every enemy in the area.

Pretty cool, huh?

💡 With its top-mounted rail, the MK3 is also one of the few pistols in the game that can attach a red dot sight. Neat!

As part of a general cleanup of various materials for V1036, Will has taken a little time to enable and tweak subsurface scattering for our characters' skins, as well as adding specular highlights to the eyeballs. Take a look at these comparisons:

He has also dialed in other values to make skin less reflective overall, while vastly improving how hair (and facial hair) is rendered:

Notice how the facial hair actually reflects the light now, appearing to have color and depth:

Another small tweak — this one courtesy of Pau — involved giving the player characters a slightly more determined/focused eye expression, toning down the wide-eyed effect. Some characters required a more noticeable adjustment than others, as this GIF shows:

Pau has also set new hair colors for each specific character, giving them some more personality and variety. Take a look at the new shades — and peep some of the new styles while you're at it:

As always, thank you for keeping up with GROUND BRANCH's development! We hope the scale of news and previews in this one makes up for the longer wait time.

See you on the next one!