Update log
Full GROUND BRANCH update
The complete published notes, normalized for clean reading and source attribution.
Repeated intro
Hello, everyone!
Extracted changes
- Gameplay
- Performance
- Maps
We're back with our Intel Reports, this time as we make our way to GROUND BRANCH V1036.
On the road to our next major release we'll be trying to do these dev blogs more often, as our schedules permit. We don't want to take too much time away from development, and these posts can be a lot of work. So, in order for them to happen more frequently, we'll have to keep them a little shorter (which we assume is okay with most of you anyway).
With that out of the way, let's get right into it.
Pau Peñalver officially joins the team
We're happy to finally announce that artist Pau Peñalver, who has been blessing our Intel Reports for years with his amazing character art, has been officially integrated into the GB dev team!
What started as a freelance contract to build our clothing, equipment, and model skins has evolved into a full-time role. He is now focused on updating our campaign and enemy assets and polishing new player content.
Pau has spent the best part of last year creating dozens of character assets for an in-game faction we're dubbing MENA (Middle East and North Africa) for now. Though these assets were primarily created with our future Libya hotspot in mind, they will likely be used for multiple different factions in GROUND BRANCH's campaigns as they're versatile militia-themed assets.
🛑 WARNING: Pau renders
Keep in mind these renders by Pau use some very nice processing and far better lighting than our engine and systems can handle in real-time.
💡 Some of the MENA character assets have also been adapted for player use in V1036. These include the Fingerless Gloves (a couple images below) and Running Shoes (second image, bottom-right).
Though not as modular as player characters — both to simplify our workflow and maintain performance (more parts = more textures to load) — these new enemy assets are still very modular, allowing us to easily set different colors to different areas, as well as mix-and-match parts (heads, upper bodies and lower bodies, plus optional accessories like headgear and vests) to create a good degree of mob variety.
💡 Pau has since moved on to the US PMC faction, which we'll showcase in a future report.
New maps incoming
As the first developers on the team to start working exclusively on V1036, our trusty environment artists Will Bullen and Elliot Burgess have been very busy with a handful of maps: some new, some remakes. We'll be showcasing one of each kind today.
Airbase: a 747 remake
The 747 map, originally created by John (who created the classic 747 map in Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear for those of you ancient enough to remember it), has received a remake by Will and is now known as Airbase.
💡 With the exception of the airliner, this is a complete remake of the map.
Like Power Station, much of the general layout has been preserved, with landmarks being roughly in the areas you would expect. Though not technically much larger, the new map feels like a bigger environment — likely due to the more numerous and fleshed out buildings, as well as other environmental details.
Now officially set in Libya — sharing a mission hotspot with Power Station — Airbase still portrays a small airport in the desert, but has had its boundaries slightly expanded and a considerable amount of infrastructure added to fit
Source