Ready or Not Developers have given a briefing on New Difficulty Modes and a lot of behind-the-scenes details. You can find the complete development briefing.
After years we’ve homed in on the current state of difficulty for Ready or Not, meanwhile every player is subject to their personal preference on how it could be. Now it’s ready for a refresh. Read on below to discover how we’re approaching the in-development new difficulty mode system, with ‘Casual’, ‘Standard’, and ‘Hard’; and how we’re taking in measurable player feedback to help inform future development.
We loved to see your reception to our last dev briefing where we dove deep into our design philosophy for the Home Invasion levels and Ready or Not as a whole. Especially from people in our modding community or pursuing game development! For those of you interested in our level design process—the second half of this dev briefing breaks down our “Leviathan” mission from Dark Waters with the help of one of our Level Designers, Tisa!
Note: These development briefings serve to keep you in the loop about parts of our ongoing support for Ready or Not, however the briefings do not encompass everything that we’re working on at a given moment. Please keep in mind that the content in our development briefings may still be a work in progress and subject to change.
New Difficulty Modes
Our game’s level of difficulty is now in a more mature state, with our playerbase growing and players’ skill level ever increasing. We find ourselves in a spot where it suits us to refine the standard difficulty experience and offer options for officers to either ease themselves in or challenge themselves further.
Introducing our in-development new difficulty system with the modes of ‘Casual’, ‘Standard’, and ‘Hard’.
This is a largely mission-by-mission fine-tuned process considering a vast range of values affecting Civilians, Suspects, and SWAT officers. The system is still evolving and preparing for our internal testing phase; therefore, some details may change and we will also not outline all of the potential values being considered.
More details will be provided when these modes eventually release with changelogs!
Note that in order to unlock certain achievements you may be required to play on a specific difficulty mode, for example meaning you may have to play ‘Standard’ or ‘Hard’ to unlock them.
- ‘Casual’: Provides an ‘easier’ or ‘more casual’ introductory difficulty for players who are new to the game and less familiar with the genre
- ‘Standard’: The standard experience for officers, aiming to offer a rewarding and diligent challenge. This mode will be a slightly refined version of the current game difficulty.
- ‘Hard’: Provides a more challenging difficulty compared to ‘Standard’, heavily emphasizes coordinated team-play and masterful decision making.
In a general sense, the difficulty modes will modify values like reaction time, likelihood of surrender, accuracy while moving, accuracy at distance, and much more. For suspects specifically, changes to their threat level (stimulus tracking, reaction times, values that might affect the Suspect’s “time to kill” the player) as well as a number of other modifiers to things like traps, stuns, rules of engagement, and squad behavior are all options.
Since these difficulty values are able to be set on a global as well as a mission-by-mission basis, it allows us to tailor the difficulty to the context of each mission.
For example, we have the ability to adjust the maximum suspects in a level but may avoid increasing that number for levels that require a specific number of suspects for level-specific story or gameplay reasons—shifting instead to other ways to modify the difficulty for that mission.
AI Community Sentiment Survey Completion
Thank you all for adding your thoughts to the recent AI sentiment survey; we received over 13,000 responses during the days that it was open! The data has been exported into internal documentation and shared across our relevant departments, accompanied by graphs and analysis commentaries for us to use as a valuable detailed resource going forward.
The survey data complements existing feedback received across our other social platforms, such as in our Discord.
Improved Player Telemetry
We are adding metrics to help us better understand broad playerbase activity (telemetry), such as how many people are playing on a given DLC, what game version they’re using, and measuring player retention. This will help us measure the effectiveness of our development efforts.
In this process no personalized identifying information is collected; all info anonymized—just as before this telemetry; we do not collect any personally identifiable info in the first place.
Level Design Deep-Dive on “Leviathan”
Continuing with our series of level design deep-dives, today we’re showing off behind-the-scenes insights on Leviathan. This breakdown is courtesy of our level design team member Tisa!
Capturing the Experience
With developing the “Leviathan“ mission, we wanted an experience that was markedly different from typical missions while still centering around *Ready or Not* gameplay DNA at its core. We aimed for players to feel immersed within a cold environment—dark steel structures surrounded by crashing waves—far away from any sense of coastal safety.
Leviathan Narrative Background
Rig HeavyWell A-101 is granted permission as the first rig allowed drilling rights in highly lucrative heavy oil reserves off Los Suenos coast—a contentious topic since its inception due to battles over licenses and construction debates. Eco-terrorism group UPF has attacked this rig taking workers hostage while LSPD SWAT responds under jurisdictional amendments.
Background Research
Once we knew what direction this level would take, research began into offshore oil rigs—from small setups up through massive constructions—to ground each room’s purpose realistically within gameplay mechanics.
(Images below: Examples of types of oil rig machinery)
The oil rig depicted isn’t based solely upon one layout but rather combines various interesting rooms discovered during research.
(Images below: Examples of styles of rooms in oil rigs that ended up being considered as inspiration for Leviathan)
Interestingly enough—the smallest type rig became Leviathan! (Images below: Sizes and construction apparatuses of offshore oil rigs used in RoN)
Level Layout
Designed with an arena-style layout centered around drill tower landmarks—this structure allows seamless movement paths crucial for AI engagements while helping players maintain orientation within multi-floor environments.
The inclusion also facilitates helicopter systems giving aerial support during missions.
Player Starting Points
Three distinct starting points across varying heights aim at offering unique approaches per playthrough.
- The Helipad offers high vantage points but requires careful planning upon landing.
- The Bridge connects large sections providing access across different floors.
- The Boat Landing introduces immediate tension through visual storytelling elements.
(Images below: Various starting point visuals)
General Gameplay Intro
Despite its size—the map promotes close-quarters combat (CQB)—introducing helicopter support which enhances situational awareness during encounters.
Threats
With arena-style threats scattered throughout—players face challenges clearing hostage scenarios without civilian casualties while managing environmental hazards like high-pressure pipes obscuring line-of-sight.
Mission Objectives
The objectives include:
- Bring Order to Chaos.
- Rescue all Civilians.
- Stop Livestream.
- Shut down Rig Drill.
Players must dynamically adapt since livestream locations vary per session alongside hidden objectives requiring keen exploration throughout levels.
Interactables
Interactive elements breathe life into gameplay—reportable bodies signal escalating violence among factions while worker voice lines react dynamically enhancing immersion.
The control room contains radios allowing communication with COAST regarding hostage situations alongside hidden keycards hinting at deeper conspiracies within UPF ranks.
A fresh approach towards challenging gameplay awaits along with informed development thanks directly from your feedback combined with improved telemetry systems fortifying support efforts moving forward.
The original source can be found here: Original Source Link.
