Hawken
HAWKEN SHIRTS NOW AVAILABLE!
-vR.Augmentia interviews CapnJosh. Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc14D4gtT5A
Dev Update - 2015-10-23
[LIST="1"]
<*>Storm services are now 100% Latency Based Records, so you will be connecting to the closest set of Storm servers.
<*>We have hired 2 new tech artists and we're ramping up a UI/Gameplay programmer. Still interviewing other candidates.
<*>We've got some back-end fixes and improvements to the tools systems - so much faster now.
<*>Build servers are up, and we're able to build new stuff reliably :)
<*>We've created all-new documentation and issue tracking servers, and we've been migrating over what's current.
<*>We elected to drop the Atlantic region.
<*>Weapon adjustments will require some other changes to how weapons are configured, so that sort of balance will have to wait for future patches.
[/LIST]
Stuff happening soon:
[LIST="1"]
<*>Halloween Spooky ghost repair drone event - complete 7 matches over the weekend and you'll get 7 days of the spooky drone.
<*>We're getting up to speed on how the UI code works - the previous devs have been quite helpful. Some good guys there.
<*>Our new art guys are going to start looking into how mechs and maps are constructed. We're also going to be reviewing how they're set up in code. We've got some designs that need to be evaluated from a technical perspective now. It's mostly back-end stuff still.
<*>We'll be setting up another environment for testing out more drastic changes.
<*>We are working on some deeper Storm-level changes that allow for updates to authentication systems
<*>We want to test out Storm performance in more remote locations relative to the data layer endpoints.
[/LIST]
I'd characterize the past few weeks as pivotal in development. It's been long-awaited, but we now have significant development action. The two artists that started each have 14 or more years of experience in the industry, and they've worked on everything ranging from mobile games to Tomb Raider on console, Star Wars games on PC, and Nintendo 3ds projects; it's been a pleasure getting to know them and see them start to tackle stuff. I'm excited.
Test Drives: Raider, Sharpshooter, Grenadier
Here's a pic of the spooky ghost repair drone, because no post is complete without pictures:
Free Mech Test Drive: Scout, Bruiser and Predator
Dev Update - October 9th
What's happened over the last few weeks:
[LIST]
<*>We added a new set of Storm servers in the East Coast of the US
[LIST]
<*> We now have them on the West Coast and East Coast
<*> Other locations will be evaluated
[/LIST]
<*>We changed to using latency-based DNS records for Storm
[LIST]
<*> This means your client talks with the closest set of Storm servers
<*> It also means Hawken has multi-region redundancy
<*> We're watching telemetry to ensure things remain stable
[/LIST]
<*>The first Hawken challenge coins have been delivered
[LIST]
<*> Tweet out pics when you get yours :)
[/LIST]
[/LIST]
-
Get 'em here
[LIST]
<*>We have a TeamCity build server up and running for deploying Storm, tools, and playhawken.com
[LIST]
<*>Client and server build machine is in the works now
[/LIST]
<*>Interviewed 5 more candidates
[LIST]
<*> Technical artist is looking good
<*> UI artist/3d artist is looking good too
<*> Gameplay/Generalist is still in process
[/LIST]
[/LIST]
Upcoming work:
[LIST]
<*>We've created new cleaner, simpler build scripts, so we're going to be putting together build servers for the client and server binaries. Obviously that's pretty exciting. After that will be building out deployment processing. After that will be the process of working out the bugs and testing deployment systems.
<*>We're going to have to do some work on how some of the UI panels are constructed; it's not clear how long it will take
<*>We're having to upgrade and fix some bugs with the Meteor SDK used in the client; it's not particularly exciting work, but it's necessary.
<*>Some additional analytics-related tasks are starting up too, and these should help make things a little easier in the mid-term future.
<*>We've actually hit some significant milestones. Granted, they're mostly rebuild-related, so they're not very visible publicly. However, for me, the build-related tasks have locked in the most interesting progress.
[/LIST]
HoloTaunt Fiesta Weekend
- Anonymous
For the weekend, we've taken to heart a few suggestions we've heard bandied about. In short, we've dropped the HoloTaunt prices to a flat 38HC each, so you can really stock up on these things. AND, for every HoloTaunt you purchase, you'll get a full refund by Wednesday. This means you can litter the battlefield in ways you never thought possible.
Anybody here excited to see the screenshots? This should be fun :)
Just to get in the mood....
Data-lord-capnjosh was ranting about how there's no logging for when a HoloTaunt gets used. Now that would have been loads more fun. Send him your condolences.
Hawken T-shirt Design Contest
Ideal submissions should be vector based or Illustrator preferred (we'll also accept high-resolution). Winner will receive a free T-shirt with their design. All submissions must be your own work.
So let's see your creativity!
Bot-Culling Weekend Event Extended to Wednesday
That underwater cable break at the bottom of the Atlantic over the weekend really messed things up, especially for players in Europe. It took a good 1.5 days for it all to clear up. As a result, we thought it'd be only fair to extend things by 2 days, since everyone has school and work now.
So, jump in those CoOp Bot games and wreck some bots.
New Servers in Iceland in a new Region - "Atlantic"
During the QnA earlier today someone brought up hosting in Greenland as a possible means to let European and American players compete against each other on a [more] level playing field. I had started looking into hosting in alternative locations kind of like that in recent weeks, so I thought I'd take another look.
After looking at this map and a few others, I focused on Iceland. Ultimately I came across Advania, and since they were able to turn around something very quickly, I set up a host.
So, we now have servers in Iceland hosted with Advania using QStack. I'm pretty excited, though I'm sure we'll have to figure out how CloudStack-driven servers really behave under the brutality you all will subject them to ;)
So the next time you log in to Hawken, look for the "Atlantic" region. I'm hoping it could be a way for players in North America and Europe to be able to play on the same servers. Check it out and let us know what your experience is.
What is this "different regions" thing of which I speak? Here's a screenshot of where you can find it in Hawken:
Weekend Event - The Bots Need Culling
The requirements for this event? Kill bots in either of the 2 CoOp Bot game modes.
The number of bots you kill by Monday, September 14th at 17:00 UTC will reward different emblems:
Kill 100 bots (usually 3,844 HC) "HWK Army":
Kill 300 bots (usually 288 MC) "HWK V2:
Kill 500 bots (usually only part of the"Battle Brigade Bundle" on Steam) "MEK-WINGZ":
Yeah, if you hit 500 kills, you'll get all 3 :)
We've added a bunch of BotsTDM servers, so join now and kill some bots!
Never knew you could change out your pilot emblem? Well, you've been missing out! In the Hawken Main Menu screen click on your pilot name at the top right, then click on your emblem and you can choose a new one.
Never heard of the "BotsTDM" mode? Here's how to get to it:
From the Main Menu screen:
[LIST]
<*>Click "Play"
<*>Click the "CoOp Match" tab at the top
<*>Click the "Co-op Team Deathmatch" tile:
[/LIST]