Major Development Update & New Public Server Slam

Major Development Update & Public Server Slam

It has been a while since our last development update here on Steam.

During this period, most of our smaller development updates, screenshots and testing announcements were shared through Discord, while the team remained deeply focused on development and closed testing.

The relative silence here was not caused by development slowing down. Quite the opposite.

Since wrapping up our previous public playtests, we have been working on a fundamental overhaul of Glory to the Heroes based on feedback from players and our own experience with the previous builds. A large part of this work involved rebuilding existing systems rather than simply adding more content on top of them.

Movement, character health, inventory, equipment, weapons, ballistics, game modes, networking, rendering, AI, progression and several maps have all undergone major changes.

Much of this work has been tested privately through repeated closed playtests with Patreon supporters and existing testers, allowing us to iterate on the game continuously before bringing the next large build back to a wider audience.

This post is meant to give a proper overview of what has changed - and, most importantly, announce our next public test.

Public Server Slam - Starting Aug. 28

We are excited to announce a closed public Server Slam, starting Friday, Aug. 28 and running for three days through the weekend.

The test will feature a major new pre-alpha build across Fight for Krynky, Chasiv Yar Canal, and an entirely new map - Izium Machine Building Plant.

This Server Slam will also be an important infrastructure test for us. Access will therefore be limited so we can increase player load at a controlled scale while monitoring server, backend and networking performance.

At the same time, this build represents one of the largest collections of gameplay, content and technical changes we have introduced so far.

PvPvE - AI in Multiplayer

AI combatants are back and are now active participants in PvP battles.

They are no longer limited to isolated PvE encounters or predictable defensive positions.

AI fighters range from poorly trained recruits to experienced combatants from both factions and may engage players, cooperate with them, fight other AI groups, or become involved in an ongoing battle from an unexpected direction.

They can appear in different roles and formations, including:

• Roaming SRG groups
• Hidden FPV operators
• Sniper pairs
• Regular infantry
• More specialised combatants

AI uses the same general categories of weapons, equipment, gear and tools available to real players.

The intention is to make the battlefield considerably less predictable. Not every contact is necessarily another player, and AI should exist as another organic participant in the battle.

Multiplayer Re-vision - Contact and Operations

We have also significantly changed how we approach multiplayer game modes.

Instead of trying to make one structure work equally well for matchmaking and persistent servers, these are now being developed as two distinct experiences.

Contact

Contact is our new matchmaking-focused mode.

It is designed around shorter, denser and much higher-stakes battles where participation requires commitment and where your character progression and equipment can be placed at risk.

Rather than treating matchmaking as a disposable round-based experience, Contact is being developed as a mode where preparation, survival, objectives and successful extraction have greater importance.

Operations

Persistent servers now operate under a different format called Operations.

Operations are long-running battles built around control of strategic objectives across a persistent battlefield.

Players can join an ongoing conflict without waiting for a traditional matchmaking queue, participate in the current situation on the map, leave and return later as the wider battle continues to evolve.

This format allows us to explore a much more open style of PvP and PvPvE warfare while Contact can remain focused, dense and high-stakes.

Character and Movement Overhaul

Character control has received one of its largest overhauls since development began.

The new character system includes:

• New movement and animation systems based on Motion Matching
• Reworked inertia and acceleration
• Vaulting
• Mantling
• Climbing
• Hand combat
• Melee combat
• Expanded character health and damage simulation
• More than 12 specialised medical items

Our goal has been to move away from the feeling of controlling a simple shooter capsule and toward a physical character whose movement, injuries, equipment and actions are all interconnected.

Medical gameplay has also been expanded significantly, with more specialised treatment types and brand-new medical animations for both characters and items.

Completely Reworked Inventory and Equipment

The inventory and gear systems have been rebuilt around a fully modular grid and slot-based structure.

Characters currently have 12 modular equipment slots, allowing different equipment configurations while also making it possible to operate with minimal equipment or, in some situations, almost completely unequipped.

More than 380 faction-based gear and loot items have been introduced, including:

• Uniforms
• Body armor
• Tactical vests
• Chest rigs
• Helmets
• Warbelts
• Masks
• Backpacks
• Equipment
• Loot items

These objects are represented as physical items in the game world and can be interacted with and looted directly.

A complete real-time looting system has also been implemented as part of this overhaul.

Weapons, Gunsmith and Ballistics

Weapons are also moving toward a substantially more modular simulation.

The new real-time weapon customisation system allows firearms to be assembled from individual components that can be removed, exchanged and modified.

Our current implementation of the AK-74 alone includes more than 80 different compatible modules, including:

• Handguards
• Stocks
• Dust covers
• Muzzle devices
• Optics and mounting equipment
• Additional weapon components

This system will continue expanding to additional weapon families.

The armour and penetration systems have also been reworked around new multi-class armour models.

Alongside this, we introduced a new ballistic simulation system responsible for more detailed projectile interaction with different surfaces and materials.

The arsenal itself continues to expand with both newly introduced and re-implemented weapons, including LMGs, RPGs and more.

Weapon and Battlefield Audio Overhaul

Weapon sounds and general battlefield audio behaviour have received another major overhaul.

This work goes beyond replacing individual sound samples.

Weapon reports, distant gunfire, environmental response and other battle-related audio cues have been reworked to create more convincing behaviour across different distances and combat environments.

Active tactical headsets are also now represented as part of the equipment system.

FPV Drones

FPV drones are returning with the simulation-focused control model that some players may remember from earlier versions of the game.

The new implementation integrates them properly into the wider equipment and role systems.

FPV gameplay currently includes:

• Dedicated remote controllers
• FPV operator kits
• Carried drones
• HE warheads
• TBG warheads

Persistent Characters, Vendors and Economy

The new build also introduces the foundations of our persistent progression systems.

This currently includes:

• Persistent player characters
• Faction-based personal stashes
• A beta version of the Vendors system
• Three faction-based Vendors
• Economy systems
• An experimental Tasks system

These systems are still actively being developed and will continue to change based on testing.

Their purpose is to create continuity between battles and give equipment, loot, survival and progression greater meaning beyond an individual match.

Fight for Krynky - Completely Reforged

Fight for Krynky has been almost completely rebuilt compared to its previous PvE version.

The village and its surrounding terrain were reconstructed to much more closely match the real-world location in both scale and content.

Dense rural blocks, abandoned courtyards, foggy Kherson forests, wetlands and flooded terrain now form a much more detailed and geographically accurate representation of the area.

Krynky has also served as one of our primary environments for testing many of the new systems described in this update.

The map supports persistent PvP and has undergone multiple rounds of closed testing and iteration with our testing community.

Its asymmetric battlefield design uses the geography of the area itself as part of the gameplay.

Ukrainian forces approaching the village from the direction of the Dnipro must navigate difficult forests, wetlands and disorienting swamp terrain before reaching positions inside the settlement, while Russian forces can use their existing position around the village blocks and defensive areas to establish control.

This creates a naturally asymmetric battle rather than placing both factions into mirrored starting conditions.

Chasiv Yar Canal - Major Overhaul

Chasiv Yar Canal has also received another substantial environment and optimisation pass.

The map now features:

• Multiple late-winter and early-spring weather conditions
• Expanded environmental detail
• A new Russian-occupied entrenchment zone
• Additional battlefield positions
• Visual improvements
• Extensive optimisation and performance work

The overhaul aims to improve both atmosphere and gameplay readability while increasing the density of meaningful combat terrain throughout the map.

New Map - Izium Machine Building Plant

The Server Slam will also introduce an entirely new location to Glory to the Heroes .

Izium Machine Building Plant is set during the 2022 Izium counteroffensive.

The map is large, but unlike many of our more open battlefields it remains extremely dense.

The industrial complex combines:

• Large factory structures
• Industrial yards
• Semi-enclosed areas
• Interior and exterior combat spaces
• Narrow passages
• Dense close-range environments
• More open areas surrounding the industrial zone

This gives the map a significantly different combat rhythm compared to Krynky and Chasiv Yar.

Its combination of industrial structures and semi-contained areas also makes it particularly useful for testing infantry combat, AI behaviour, close-range encounters and many of the newly introduced character and weapon systems. Map will be reavealed during the Server Slam.

Weather, Rendering, Networking and Performance

A significant part of our development time has also been spent on improvements that are less obvious in screenshots but extremely important during actual gameplay.

The dynamic weather system has been heavily reworked.

Rendering performance has received major improvements across the engine and individual maps.

We have also continued hardening replication and networking code as we move toward larger and more persistent multiplayer environments.

Performance and visual improvements have been made across practically every part of the current build, with further optimisation still ongoing.

The upcoming Server Slam is particularly important for this work because it allows us to observe infrastructure and game performance under a larger real-world player load.

And Much More

Even this is not an exhaustive list.

A large number of smaller mechanics, fixes, content additions, visual improvements, animation changes, networking improvements and experimental systems have been implemented throughout the game during this development cycle.

Many of these systems are still unfinished.

Glory to the Heroes remains in pre-alpha, and some of what you see during the Server Slam will continue to change significantly as development progresses.

That is precisely why these tests are important.

They allow us to move systems out of isolated development conditions and expose them to actual players, unexpected situations and real multiplayer environments.

How to Participate

Everyone is welcome to apply for the Server Slam for free.

Applications are available through our website:

The number of available seats is limited.

One of the primary purposes of this test is to evaluate the performance of our infrastructure at a controlled scale, so please apply only if you are confident you will be able to participate.

Patreon supporters and existing playtest key owners are automatically granted access and will receive additional information separately.

If you are eligible but have not yet received your playtest key, it will be issued before the beginning of the test.

Moving Forward

While development updates continued through Discord and our closed testing community, we concentrated most of our time on development itself and on repeatedly testing and rebuilding systems that were not yet ready for a larger public presentation.

Going forward, we working on expanding by hosting a big public test very soon, as well as sharing much larger and more exciting news on our upcoming plans.

The game has changed considerably since our previous public playtests and we excited to share that overhauled experince with you.

Thank you to everyone who has continued following the project, supporting development, participating in closed tests and sending us feedback.

See you on the battlefield this weekend.