Hey everyone,
Welcome to Developer Briefing #49!
As we close in on one full year of weekly community updates we felt it was a good time to do a community Q&A here on Steam.
We want to say a big thank you to everyone who took the time to submit there questions, we were humbled by your response.
After going through all the submissions we put 36 of your burning questions to Hell Let Loose's Lead Developer Max, you can check out his answers below - get ready, it's a biggun!
Your questions, our answers!
We’re currently finalising our animation overhaul for both the first person perspective, as well as the third person.
When this is complete we will immediately start to implement open-topped vehicles. We’ve held off on this as it would have required reworking all animations and systems within a couple of months and we’re keen to be as efficient about this as possible. We’re estimating we’ll introduce the first wheeled vehicles in the next couple of months (March at the very latest).
We’re currently balancing rounds of development of core infrastructure with optimisation. We’ll be continuing to improve FPS and profile GPU and CPU usage, with large pushes made throughout Early Access. We feel that this needs to be finalised for our launch from Early Access.
Yes! We’ve got a fix for this but our server queue and exp bug issues have taken priority!
When we leave Early Access - sometime next year. We want to make sure there is a large and fully fleshed out level of content to accompany it!
1. Yes! This is a very under-developed area at the moment. Prepare for significant deployable defences - such as Pillboxes, concrete AT positions and more, as well as MG nests and heavy weapons locations.
2. Currently we’re watching and looking at the way players divide themselves up in-game. We’re going to use Early Access as time to nail these elements down before we look at adding an additional Unit type.
3. This is definitely the double-edged sword. We’re going to keep an eye on it, but fundamentally we think it will reflect the character of the community. With Hell Let Loose, we’ve always been keen to introduce new players to the hardcore FPS genre and to remove as many gatekeeping aspects as possible. We know that it’s a constant balance of encouraging the right players to the right role, but we ultimately hope and rely on the community to make the game an encouraging and welcoming place.
You can expect the same or similar number of weapons, vehicles, customisation options and other support that the current factions have received. We’ll most likely implement the British after the Eastern Front, as they will need specific maps and theatres of their own.
We’re very, very happy and flattered by both by our sales, sales rate, CCU and CCU peak. We know that there is strong competition for World War Two and FPS experiences, and we’re thrilled that so many players are enjoying the game in the early stages of development. We still feel that we’re at the beginning of the Hell Let Loose journey and are excited to expand, polish and optimise the title.
We’re planning to support Hell Let Loose for several years after our Early Access release - working in the same method and manner that we do now - with an Update every 6-8 weeks and a patch every 2-3 weeks. There are many forces, theatres, weapons and vehicles we’re excited to implement. We are enjoying the rhythm we’re in and working together as a team.
We would be keen to make a second Hell Let Loose title at some point, however, the theatre may change. ;)
Yes. We’re going to be doing continued sweeps to look for props that should either be passable (or eventually destroyed) by vehicles. It’s definitely a battle against engine limitations and systems.
We’ll be addressing turret turn speeds in a later patch to better tune the gameplay.
We feel a minimum of three iconic and very different maps is expected - specifically tank warfare and urban oriented maps. You can expect the full Russian forces in the same breadth of content as the current German and US forces, as well as customisation options to follow.
We’re going to look at that closer to implementation! It could potentially be a crate dropped by the Support player.
We’ve thought a lot about doing this, and I think we may be able to introduce it. The main issue we have is that storing and replicating a vast array of weapons across the server can become very costly on the network if not managed properly. We’re having a think about how we do this so that it doesn’t affect network performance, but also isn’t open to cheating (via a client-side option).
Not next update, but soon after. We’re finalising the new hands and arms before we introduce melee. It’s something that we’re really looking forward to.
We’re fixing the loading times in a coming patch, but we’ll look at seeing if we can expose match details in the server browser!
We’re at approximately 85% completion on the FPP systems, while our TPP systems sit at around 75%. We feel that it is going to be a hugely significant visual and functional update that will lift the experience to a AAA level. We’re aiming to have this in by early next year at the latest.
Yes! And matching airborne for the US.
This is exactly the reason we’re going with loadouts for each role - specifically to create lateral and interesting loadouts - often to encourage player creativity instead of just pure buff. Your description of the Sapper loadout is exactly what we’re thinking for the Engineer. That is the exact direction we’re keen to head with it.
The Support role has become a bit of a foundational and beloved role, and we’re keen to reward it with much better game design and functionality. We’re going to work in new quantities of Supplies that can be transported around by them, the ability to replenish your Supplies at base and using specific vehicles, the ability to actually construct specific deployables, the ability to use a minesweeper and more. The Support will straddle numerous logistics roles and be one of the most creative roles in the game.
We’re going to have an ongoing look at how and if we could do destructible elements in the game. Our dream is that everything would be destructible, but unfortunately we’re bound by several aspects of the engine. ’
Yes! We’ll look at this functionality once we’ve overhauled our FPP experience. We want to make sure that if we do it, it feels useful and doesn’t cause horrendous visual glitches (like looking into your own body).
We’re working on this at the moment. We’re quite limited by the Vivox system and may strive to move away from it. It’s definitely an issue we’re experiencing too.
We want to fully flesh out the Commander’s ability to mark the map, direct Units to different locations, synchronise Recon marks with artillery and off-map support.
We’re going to overhaul the Commander screen - both visually and functionally so that you can:
see the area of effect of your abilities
see and use many more abilities
See the team structure and quickly parse through locations of vehicles, units, deployables, supplies, mines etc.
We’re also going to notify your entire team when an ability is used and where it’s used (eg. Encouraged is active in The Orchard!), as currently the Commander is using many abilities without the rest of the team being aware and able to coordinate.
We have tons of abilities yet to come. Some include force respawning specific vehicles, spawning completely unique variants (that don’t normally spawn on that map - ie. spawning a King Tiger in Foy), reconnaissance planes, naval barrages, nebelwerfer barrages, airdropped temporary Outposts and many, many more.
I totally understand this concern. Our design goal here is to use the loadouts to create variety amongst existing roles, as opposed to lifting the overall quantity of automatic weapons in the game. While we announced the Officer role as having a secondary loadout that has a different primary weapon, the majority of new loadouts will allow the player to focus specifically on a different style of play for their role, and often won’t feature a new weapon.
For example, the Support role may choose a loadout where their grenades have been swapped out for a new deployable emplacement. Where we do feature new weapons - the weapon will fundamentally match the role. For example, the Machinegunner will have access to the MG42, or the MG34. We won’t allow another role to take the new MG34, as that would dilute the effectiveness and unique aspects of the machine gunner role - as well as introduce far more firepower onto the battlefield.
Yes! We are not fans of the current animations in the game and our coming mocapped animations will lift the visual experience and make all movements feel far more human. Part of that will be implementing the classic German single handed sprint that you’ve referenced. The benefit of our new animation system is that it’s far more in line with modern AAA standards - allowing us to quickly iterate and polish aspects in a unified way - including creating bespoke animations where we need to.
Yes! The logistics side of the game at the moment is very, very early and nowhere developed as it needs to be. We have a lot of features coming that will focus on the logistics metagame - the management and delivery of supplies and ammunition to the front line.
This will also tie into each individual role as well as the Commander role. It will also tie into the Campaign metagame. We don’t plan to restrict or break systems, but to create this economy in a way that will benefit those who use it with skill and thoughtfulness.
Yes! We’ve got many to add - the entire mechanised infantry component of the game is totally absent at the moment and we’re excited to add these new vehicles. This ranges from half-tracks to scout cars to mobile artillery.
This will be fixed in the next update. We’ve learned a lot from the implementation of Offensive mode and there are some final changes that need to be made to make sure that it runs much more smoothly for both attackers and defenders.
We really wished we could do this but at the moment the team is totally at capacity working on the multiplayer experience. In the future we’re keen to look at story-telling ways of teaching players the fundamental aspects of the game though.
Yes. This is next on our list in terms of major overhaul/infrastructure. The Commander needs to be able to communicate quickly and effectively via the map, and Officers need to be able to communicate to other Units, while their own unit need to be able to communicate to them. There are also gameplay elements that will tie the Commander to the Officers that are yet to be implemented.
We’re going to keep refining the two current gamemodes, but we feel there could be space for a Resistance style gamemode that pits a French resistance style force comprised of civilians and resistance fighters against occupying Axis forces. This is a long way down the line though!
That Commander functionality is currently being worked on - as well as much more!
We’re going to look at mounting and weapon resting. It’s certainly do-able!
Trucks, jeeps, half-tracks, scout cars, more armor, mobile artillery and more.
We’ll be including that with our animation overhaul.
Yes. We’re going to introduce this with our new animation system.
1. Early next year at the latest!
2. We’re going to look at this, as it’s evident that many maps could be very interesting with this as a mechanic.
3. We’ll be adding night maps for many existing maps.
We currently have three maps under development at any time, as well as map refreshes for earlier maps (to include optimisations, gameplay refinement, look refinement and new gamemode and weather implementation). We’re excited to announce the maps we’re currently working on as they’re significantly different to what is currently in-game in both look and gameplay.
We’re planning to add bullet penetration at the same time we rework our ballistics model. Coinciding this with the new FPP gunplay experience will significantly lift the total first person experience and make it feel far more fluid and reliable.
In terms of bullet penetration, we’re keen to create a system that is as self-evident as possible. We’ve found that many systems can become highly overwrought and lack performance or reliable outcome. Like our tank armor system, we’re keen to create a hierarchy of projectile categories that will interact with a hierarchy of material types. For example, a low caliber pistol won’t be able to fire through the same material that a .50 cal could!
Possibly. We’ve made some upgrades and changes to how we make maps so we’re going to look at where and how we could include this in the future.
Questions, answered!
We hope you enjoyed today's community Q&A and the answers we provided! If it goes down well we'll certainly look at doing more in the future.
The team really enjoyed the opportunity to collate and answer your questions on Hell Let Loose, so thank you!
If you're enjoying Hell Let Loose we'd love you to leave us a Steam review.
See you on the frontline!
