[2022] Developer Briefing #176 - Good Things are Coming Soon!

A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page here.

Hey Everyone,

It's time for another update from the trenches! After the rollout of the first two U13 PTEs, with players having their first hands-on experience with most of the U13 content, we have a LOT to highlight here today, including; the U13 release date, a new full time Community Manager, animation optimisation, Steam free weekend, and the new premium DLC bundle that will be rolling out alongside U13.

Update 13 ‘Burning Snow’ Release date Tuesday December 6th!
Time is almost upon us, as many have noticed over the last few months we have been highlighting and in some cases sneak peeking into the upcoming Burning Snow update for Hell Let Loose.

This week, we are excited to confirm that the update will be going live on Tuesday the 6th of December, across all platforms!



Burning Snow has some great features which we think players new and old alike will enjoy. We feel that providing a brief summary of some of the items in the update might be worthwhile for you all to get a glimpse of what is coming before Tuesday, December 6th.

Some of the items to watch out for in the new ‘Burning Snow’ update include:

New Vehicles:

• T-70 Light Tank
  
• Jeeps for all factions USA, Germany and Soviet

New Weapons:

• US: M2-2 Flamethrower
  
• GER: Flammenwerfer41
  
• SOV: Molotovs
  
• SOV: Bazooka

New Map:

• Kharkov (Snow map)

Additional Improvements:

• Updated and improved Player Animations
  
• Updated and improved Uniform Loadout presets
  
• UI Improvements

And a host of fixes and bugs squashed. In addition to the above, lots of work has been done to iron out a magnitude of small items like minor terrain glitches etc.

The above is merely a short summary of the bulk of the Burning Snow update. Upon release, we will disclose the full changelog which illustrates in detail all the improvements and changes made with this latest update.

Welcome to WombatMedic, the new Full Time Community Manager!

Throughout the last 12 months, both the Hell Let Loose team and community have continued to expand, and as part of that growth, we are thrilled to welcome and introduce Alisha ‘WombatMedic’, as our new full time Community Manager!

Alisha will be dedicated to supporting you on the frontlines, and has already been working away behind the scenes for several weeks and can’t wait to meet you all.

She’ll be jumping into Discord chat today to introduce herself, so head over there and give her a warm welcome!



Free Weekend December 01
Starting December 1st, there will be a free weekend for Hell Let Loose on all platforms. If you have a friend or family member that is keen to hit the trenches on the frontlines of HLL, this weekend will give them the opportunity to do so for a limited time, for free.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/686810/Hell_Let_Loose/

Animation Optimisation - Bones Rework
Amongst the quality of life updates we are implementing to U13 we have included the first iteration of an animation optimisation improvement. This is done through a rework of the animation bones used in the player models.

The purpose of the animation optimisation is to improve the look and feel of the animations, whilst optimising the performance of the third-person skeleton.

First, we optimised the TPP skeleton by removing excess bones which reduces draw calls and improves performance. This involved removing about 20 bones on the skeleton. This reduces calls by more than 2000 per frame to help boost fps. Next we added twist bone constraints and re-skinned all the skeletal meshes for more accurate bone placement. This improves fidelity of mesh deformation and makes for smoother animation visuals. Arms and legs bend cleaner and animations appear smoother and more natural.



Helmet Pack - Skull Bucket
With the release of Update 13 we are also rolling out a new DLC cosmetics pack for players to purchase and enjoy. With the adept name of ‘Skull Bucket’, this DLC pack will feature 2 unique helmets for each faction of US, Germany and Soviet forces. The helmets include the following:

• US - 101st Airborne 506th PIR Paratrooper M1
  
• US - 29th Infantry Division M1
  
• Germany - Paratrooper M38 Fallschirmjäger Helmet
  
• Germany - M35 Double Decal Police Helmet
  
• Soviet - 1941 Model Blockaded Leningrad Helmet
  
• Soviet - M36 Budenovka Winter Cap

Let's take a look at how these helmets look with some detailed renders by our character artist.


US - 101st Airborne 506th PIR Paratrooper M1


US - 29th Infantry Division M1


Germany - M35 Double Decal Police Helmet


Germany - Paratrooper M38 Fallschirmjäger Helmet


Soviet - 1941 Model Blockaded Leningrad Helmet


Soviet - M36 Budenovka Winter Cap


Community Highlight
Today, we are giving a shout out to the HLL Seasonal competition, which has been running for some time now, with many groups involved. The Seasonal has been a great insight into the competitive side of HLL. If you are curious, you can check it out below.

The HLL Seasonal Tournament, one of the largest worldwide community driven competitions, is returning for its fifth edition. Pitting 33 teams in 90 games over the course of 16 weeks, the HLL Seasonal Fall 2022 edition will once again be the peak of competitive HLL.

Again, the world's top teams fight for the fall crown in 4 stages: First, second, main and the feared play-off stage, with the event currently being in the main stage. All the games are being broadcast - check out discord.gg/hllseasonal for more information on where to catch the games live.

The Discord is also the best place for any additional content regarding the HLL Seasonal: make your predictions on the games, follow the map eliminations, and come support your team! The HLL Seasonal has, as always, a wide variety of casters from all over the world, which will cover most matches in English - and some in German, French, Spanish, Chinese and more. If you have missed a match, you may find some of them in #replayschannel of the HLL Seasonal Discord.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_U0OC5ilq8



War Correspondent, Content Creator and Community HLL Videos
Time for some more community highlights from the below creators. We highly recommend giving them a watch.
If you see a Video you like make sure to post in the Discord #hll-videos channel.

Most Chaotic Game Of Hell Let Loose I've Played - TallGrass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi1aozNLrOs

Battle Highlights: Carentan Offensive - November 9, 2022 - SoulSniper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz2fgwQM6Cw

Hell Let Loose Gameplay and Laughs 16 - Tiger_Mafia Gaming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z56MvLgqoFI

Don’t forget that if you haven’t checked out the other Hell Let Loose socials you should do so. Like our discord you will find them great places for information and community interaction.

[discord.gg]
Join the Discord here https://discord.gg/hellletloose

Our other social platforms can be found here:

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/HellLetLoose/
Twitter https://twitter.com/hell_let_loose
Youtube https://www.youtube.com/c/HellLetLoose
Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/HellLetLoose/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hellletlooseofficial/
Steam http://steamcommunity.com/groups/HellLetLoose

Well, it's time to free up some SSD space for U13 and wrap up today's Dev Brief.
See you all on the frontline!