HOMEFRONT

[[SCUM] OUTLAW]

all formats

From the makers of Desert Combat..

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

[[SCUM] Miginty]

*imteresting vvveerrrryy interesting * = in bad rusian accent

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why russian ?
:)

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why russian ?
:)

But it does look quite good, i like the drones you can use and it cant be any worse than Black OPS :)

[[SCUM]-Tommee Gunn]

But it does look quite good, i like the drones you can use and it cant be any worse than Black OPS :)

so black ops is not that good?

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If it worked the way it's supposed to then it would be goodd but apart from that it also feels just like an expansion pack as there is nothing that sets it apart from the other things..

I dont like the way the weapons are given out as i found the perfect range of weapons and perks for my playstyle very quickly,after that there was really no incentive to unlock or purchase other stuff. I then just spent money on camo and other non essential items as i had cash to spare ,the wager matches are nice but the contracts are flawed as they dont work properly, the Perks system has been balanced so nothing is overpowered but for me i wanted to use my old setup from mw2(ghost,scavanger and marathon) but i can't do that now as ghost and scavanger are on the same tier ,marathon and ninja are also on the same so i have to balance the style i want to play.

The connection situation and general laggyness sometimes make the game feel like a chore to play and there have been moments where i have been killed at critical moments because the game "Stuttered". When the game works the way it should it plays well ,everything can be countered and the game modes work as they should.

if all of these flaws get ironed out then maybe it would be alot more enjoyable but then we'd need more control of the server as most of the options we're used to have been locked down.

One of the things i miss from MW2 was the emblems and banners,they added an incentive to play for as well, even though BO has emblem maker, some of us cannot be arsed or just dont have the time to create a good one, maybe an import option ?

The bottom line for me is that it makes me miss BC2 and MOH Combat missions as they felt a lot more fun. When the game works well it's a lot of fun but them moments seem to be hit and miss, i have a 50/50 chance of getting a good game which really shouldnt happen, this is definately a console port and it shows.

[[SCUM] Miginty]

why russian ?
:)

well for once its not against russia or germany, its them pesky koreans :P

[[SCUM]-Tommee Gunn]

If it worked the way it's supposed to then it would be goodd but apart from that it also feels just like an expansion pack as there is nothing that sets it apart from the other things..

I dont like the way the weapons are given out as i found the perfect range of weapons and perks for my playstyle very quickly,after that there was really no incentive to unlock or purchase other stuff. I then just spent money on camo and other non essential items as i had cash to spare ,the wager matches are nice but the contracts are flawed as they dont work properly, the Perks system has been balanced so nothing is overpowered but for me i wanted to use my old setup from mw2(ghost,scavanger and marathon) but i can't do that now as ghost and scavanger are on the same tier ,marathon and ninja are also on the same so i have to balance the style i want to play.

The connection situation and general laggyness sometimes make the game feel like a chore to play and there have been moments where i have been killed at critical moments because the game "Stuttered". When the game works the way it should it plays well ,everything can be countered and the game modes work as they should.

if all of these flaws get ironed out then maybe it would be alot more enjoyable but then we'd need more control of the server as most of the options we're used to have been locked down.

One of the things i miss from MW2 was the emblems and banners,they added an incentive to play for as well, even though BO has emblem maker, some of us cannot be arsed or just dont have the time to create a good one, maybe an import option ?

The bottom line for me is that it makes me miss BC2 and MOH Combat missions as they felt a lot more fun. When the game works well it's a lot of fun but them moments seem to be hit and miss, i have a 50/50 chance of getting a good game which really shouldnt happen, this is definately a console port and it shows.

thank you for that honest assessment.

[[SCUM] McPhil]

Black ops is fun in the short run just like all the others since BF1942... It's who you're gaming with that makes a difference you bastard Smokie and your damn exploding RC car!

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i do love the crossbow though !

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Homefront Multiplayer Preview


By: Jeffrey (CJ) Strike, aka Deadly Cyclone



Disclaimer: Everything in Homefront, and thus this preview, is subject to change. The Battle Points costs and points received may change between now and launch, some of the point costs, etc. had been accelerated in our demo, you have been warned.


An occupied America; a unified Korea; our towns and cities being torn apart by war. These concepts are rarely thought about by the modern world, much less thought even possible by most, but are the themes for Homefront, KAOS Studios and THQ’s newest IP in the first person shooter genre. Recently, THQ held a press week in New York City on KAOS’ home turf to show off part of its 2011 line-up, concluding with Homefront. The main emphasis of the Homefront day was to debut a new game mode called Battle Commander and show off the multiplayer aspect of the game that pits American rebels against the Korean occupiers. Homefront has a lot to compete with considering recent releases of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam, as well as Crysis 2 and Killzone 3 which both debut in March alongside KAOS’ offering. The question is, does Homefront separate itself from the pack enough to be a worthwhile purchase in a sea of war-based first person shooters, or does it merely get lost in the shuffle?
Homefront day in NYC started with an appearance from Microsoft’s Major Nelson (Larry Hyrb). Major had made the trek from Redmond to announce that Homefront will receive DLC first on Xbox 360, and that the Xbox 360 would be getting an exclusive multiplayer map, “Suburbs.”

“Homefront is a first release IP. We are up against stiff competition in the genre. For Microsoft to put their full weight behind us as a priority title and to announce something like this, it is a huge win for KAOS Studios and THQ,” KAOS Community Manager Jeremy Greiner states, “On top of that, Microsoft’s audience is going to get a first taste of DLC. It is not out of the norm in this genre as well, and we are really thrilled about that relationship.”
This announcement is not to say that KAOS is only focusing on the Xbox 360 version of the game. KAOS had single player available at the event running on PS3 and PC as well. While I did not get hands-on with either, I did view some of the PC gameplay. Digital Extremes has done a great job thus far, the frame-rate was buttery smooth and the graphics looked fantastic.

When David Votypka, Creative Director and General Manager of KAOS, took the stage there was a palpable feeling of excitement in the air as the press had been told that a new part of the never-before played multiplayer would be unveiled, and it would be playable on the sixty-some Xbox 360 units set up around the show floor. The announcement came and “Battle Commander” was debuted. Battle Commander is a mode based on the revenge concept that drives teams to eliminate the opposing team’s best player(s) to unlock “Battle Points” rewards.
So before getting into the base multiplayer preview of Homefront, let’s take a look at what makes the Battle Commander (BC) mode unique, and unlike anything this genre has seen. The Battle Commander itself is not a human, but an AI that assigns certain star-based threat levels to all players in a BC match.
Take Battle Commander Team Deathmatch for example. The match begins as any other team deathmatch contest begins, by killing the other team, earning Battle Points and vice-versa. However, let’s say there is one annoying sniper in the back corner of the map camping in a tower and taking out a good portion of the other team. In Battle Commander mode, this sniper would begin to receive stars (think GTA “Wanted” level, with your opponents as the cops). After a few kills, the sniper gains one star, thus alerting a few people on the opposing team that this player has begun to become a threat by displaying a gold circle on the mini map, along with an icon on the HUD of the general area the sniper is in. As the sniper gets more and more kills without a death, his stars increase up to five total, and the amount of Battle Points he is worth dead also increase. As the stars increase, the amount of players from the other team that find out about his streak and see the zone where he is hiding increase as well. When he hits five stars, the entire enemy team sees his exact location, and the amount of Battle Points awarded for killing him hits the max possible.

“[Battle Commander is] basically a gametype that keys in on gamer instincts. Everyone wants notoriety, everyone wants revenge...” states Greiner, “...So that’s great, the guy who gets the five star gets the notoriety, the guy that’s not the super-skilled gamer still gets to have his moment in the sun by taking out the five star. So it’s palatable to a large, broad audience, and it’s really nice.”

With Battle Commander, it is not just one player on each team that accrues stars, it is anyone and everyone in the game. So various players with various star levels will be running around worth various amounts of Battle Points. The stars you accrue are separate in every killing mode, i.e. if you are using a chopper drone and get 3 stars and someone blows it up you are back to no stars on foot. The mode basically fuels your revenge need after a death, and allows people to see if they are actually a good player, or if they just found a great hiding spot and should help to keep players moving around the map.
With the description of Battle Commander out of the way, let’s move on to multiplayer overall. Until now, KAOS has kept the multiplayer in Homefront to a select few in online tests. At the New York event, it was opened up to a group of journalists fueled by soda and beer with the urge to take out their fellow man. The first thing to say about Homefront’s multiplayer is that it feels similar, but different at the same time. The match (and each subsequent respawn) begins with you zooming into the map from high above in a swooping motion, and all hell breaks loose from there.
The control scheme is exactly like the Call of Duty layout, but the shooting feels like a mix of the Call of Duty and Battlefield franchises. Shooting a gun in Homefront gives you recoil, so feathering is necessary, but not all guns act the same. From my time with the game, every gun except for the sniper rifle gave adequate feedback, but the sniper rifle seemed very easy to use with no weapon sway due to breathing whatsoever. The assault rifles felt great, as did the SMGs. When I switched over to the light machine guns, I had one heck of a time controlling them, but I am associating this to the fact that I only used that class for a short time. Pistols felt decent as well, although I thought they took a few too many shots to down someone, but not so much that it got frustrating. The melee was a lot more to my liking than Call of Duty. I can’t tell you how many times I have been knifed from seemingly impossible distances in the Call of Duty series, and the team at KAOS made a point to make sure the melee attack was fairly realistic. You literally have to be within two or three feet to pull off a knife kill, and this took a bit of getting used to due to the fact that I had played a bunch of CoD prior. Once honed in, however, I became very familiar with the melee. Prone is in the game as well, and it is greatly needed while you are vulnerable piloting a drone. The HUD contains all the elements you are familiar with, and should not be too hard for any gamer to grasp. The bottom left features a square mini map with score, time limit, and if you are winning or losing. The bottom right contains up and down d-pad graphics showing which Battle Points items you have assigned to that class, ammo count, grenade count, and your total Battle Points. As you kill another person or take an objective the amount of Battle Points you got for that action appears right over your cross-hair, but it was not intrusive. It also says the name of the player killed a bit below your cross-hair. In objective games the capture points will show up with their distance from you on the main display. When shooting an enemy a X type marker pops up around your cross-hair and when you are getting shot there is no “strawberry jelly” like the Call of Duty series, it is just a red curved flash indicating which direction the damage is coming from. After you die there is a “follow cam” that follows the enemy that killed you for a few seconds, I am still up in the air on this type of camera. The HUD was never in the way, and always offered great supplemental information to keep me moving through the map, especially while playing Ground Control and Battle Commander.
Homefront features six customizable classes: assault, SMG, heavy, sniper, tactical, and stealth. Each class features a slightly different base layout, but is fully customizable based on your play style. Like the newest Call of Duty, the class you pick will change your in-game appearance, so there can be some benefit to picking the stealth class and changing around the layout to your liking. In each class, you can edit a variety of things: main weapon, secondary weapon (including attachment and camouflage skin for each weapon, the main attachments we saw were sights), grenade type (you generally start with two very handy EMP grenades that are great at stopping vehicles and a two frag grenades), Battle Points slot one, BP slot two, and up to three “perks.” The perk system is slightly different in Homefront than you may be used to in other similar games. The perks cost points, and the better the perk, the more points they cost. So if you wanted, you could use three base perks costing 1 point each, or one higher level perk costing 3 points. It made the system feel more like that of an RPG, which I actually liked. The few perks I noted when playing were: “Thick Skin,” basically more drone armor, “Quick Draw,” allows you to pull your gun up faster, “Straight from the Hip,” allows more accuracy while hip firing, “Drone be Gone,” faster drone speed, and other perks that allow things like faster reloading. For your two Battle Points slots, you will chose from things like RPGs, the base of which is non-homing but will explode if in the vicinity of a vehicle (great against air drones), drones, a flack jacket that lasts until you die (costs 300 BPs), and other smaller personal items. You get 150 Battle Points per kill, 70 per assist and objective defend, and 30 per spot or avenging a teammate, so they are not terribly hard to come by. You can also use your Battle Points to purchase vehicles in a match before you spawn in after each death. The Battle Points system adds a great new dimension to the standard FPS gameplay, and as the battle continues, you’ll go from seeing players with Humvees in the early stages to players with tanks and Apache choppers in the later stages.

The drones in Homefront will be familiar to those that played Frontlines. We only saw three, but they were very easy to control and very fun to use. The three in our matches were: a mini helicopter that fires 2 missiles every 4-5 seconds (costs 800 BPs), a mini helicopter spotter drone which you use to spot people using the right trigger (think Bad Company 2’s spotting ability, but from a vehicle and worth 30 Battle Points per spot, costs 250 BPs), and a ground drone that is highly maneuverable and uses a mini machine gun to take out enemies (costs 500 BPs). At first, the mini helicopter with missiles seemed quite overpowered, but as people realized they could purchase the aforementioned rocket launcher for a mere 250 Battle Points, chopper drones began dropping from the sky left and right. Even with that being said, I feel the community will complain about the chopper drone even though it is easily countered. The drones are something I really love about the game. They don’t feel tacky or like a cheap giveaway of a free kill such as the RC car in Call of Duty: Black Ops. They take a bit of skill to merely keep them in the air, and even more to successfully land the right amount of shots it takes to kill an enemy. I feel like they are one of the main features that set Frontlines apart from other games, and they have evolved very well into Homefront’s gameplay.

The only vehicle I had a chance to play with (besides the drones) was the Humvee which costs 400 Battle Points and is unlockable at level 7. It controls very well and you can change seats depending on if you want to drive, shoot, or ride shotgun. Unfortunately I did not accrue enough Battle Points to get a chopper. This is not due to me not getting enough BP in a game, but more due to the fact that I couldn't help myself from buying drones and rocket launchers. I did record the costs, level you need to be to purchase, and names of other vehicles though: Light Armor Vehicle (LAV) Piranha – 1400 BPs (Level 10), M1A3 Abrams – 2000 BPs (Level 15), AH-700 Scout – 2400 BPs (Level 22), AH-64 Apache – 3200 BPs (Level 30). One key thing about the vehicles to note, as many people had questions about this, you can spawn directly into a teammate’s vehicle so they do not have to, for instance, bring their Apache down to ground level and make themselves more vulnerable.


We were only allowed to play three game types in our time with the game. Battle Commander was the most prominent with Team Deathmatch and Ground Control as the other two. I have discussed Battle Commander in depth (although the BC mode can be played over Team Deathmatch or Ground Control, it works the same way but with the star system added), and you all know what Team Deathmatch contains, so that leaves Ground Control. Once again those who played Frontlines will know exactly how to play Ground Control as it is the game’s namesake. In Ground Control, both teams attempt to capture a series of 3 points which, upon capture, pushes the front line up, or upon loss of the points, pushes the front line back. It is basically a big tug of war mode. The interesting thing about Ground Control will be to see how people play it. It was great in Frontlines because people actually went for the objectives and tried to push the line, but in recent games it seems like even while playing an objective-based game, many players would simply go for kills. I am hoping this trend does not follow into Homefront. Even with the limited amount of gametypes we played, everything felt exciting and fun. I think the Battle Commander addition really added that layer of depth needed to each gametype, and made it seem like a whole new ballgame. Come launch day you will see me in Battle Commander Team Deathmatch quite a bit, it is a very welcome addition to the game, and it is hard to get across in writing just how much fun it was.

The leveling system in the game is very similar to other first person shooters you may have played recently. You accrue XP as you play and unlock items as you level (up to level 75). No word was given if there will be any kind of prestige mode.
Unfortunately I did not get the time to dissect each map we played, but the good news is that none of them stood out as bad. Each map we played, including the Xbox 360 exclusive Suburbs, played great and offered play areas that were both conducive to close battles and vehicle combat. Even the close quarters maps that do away with vehicle combat felt very fun due to the drones everywhere and people calling in air-strikes via the Battle Points system. The larger maps were played with gametypes like Battle Commander Ground Control and really gave a feeling of what KAOS was going for in differentiating Homefront from the other large-scale offerings in the market.

The Homefront multiplayer is in great shape for being in beta stage internally. KAOS was mum on whether we can expect a public beta or demo, mentioning that they just held their biggest test yet internally throughout the complete THQ organization, but a beta is always possible to help make sure the game is the best it can be. The game feels solid, and was good enough to make me stay in my seat over the five hours without so much as a drink break (which was impressive considering the open bar). Homefront feels fresh. It feels like a revitalization of the war-based first person shooter genre, and a great counterpart to games like Activision’s Call of Duty and EA’s Battlefield series. THQ has begun to reinvent itself with the debut of their new logo, and games like Homefront can only help the company move away from its varied past.
Overall, the game seems to fill a different niche than Call of Duty, Battlefield, or any other shooter on the market. Fun modes like Battle Commander and features like Battle Points bring a very different feel to the experience, and the usable equipment adds another layer of depth to an already interesting offering. While we were only allowed a small segment of what the final multiplayer will contain, it was enough to leave me wanting more after a long play session. I cannot yet say if Homefront will have enough pull to drag players away from Call of Duty, Battlefield, Halo, Killzone, Crysis, or any other games in the over-saturated genre, but I can say from the small bit I have played, those who choose to invest in KAOS and Homefront will not be disappointed.

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HOMEFRONT PC

Hey guys,

As promised, here’s your first in-depth look at Homefront’s PC specific features which should hopefully answer a bunch of questions on the MP side. The team at Digital Extremes has been working hard with Kaos Studios in order to deliver the best possible experience and tailor many aspects of Multiplayer specifically to the core PC audience.

THE HEADLINES:

We can officially confirm that Homefront will be a Steamworks title making good use of Valve’s excellent toolsets. Steam was simply the best choice to deliver the features we needed on PC. Shameless plug – Homefront is now available to pre-order on Steam right here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/55100/

We also confirm the Official Recommended Specs for the game. A few websites this week released what they claimed to be the official specs, most weren’t. Read on for the final word from Kaos and Digital Extremes.

Finally, we wanted to confirm that you’ll be able to enjoy Homefront in glorious 3D on PC thanks to full NVidia 3D Vision support. We showed it off at CES earlier this year, it looked rad.

The guys at Bash & Slash recorded a podcast with Digital Extremes & KAOS Studios that covers a load more detail, so click the link for even more info!
bash.podbean.com/2011/01/29/bash-177-homefront/

PC SPECIFIC FEATURES

We thought long and hard about the additional features the PC community would appreciate and expect.

From a gameplay standpoint, we’ve done some additional work on the vehicles. On PC, you’ll be able to control all vehicles from the 1st person cockpit viewpoint as well as 3rd person. We also added additional control options for helicopters, to give those players looking for more sim-like controls something to get their teeth round. There are three settings:

o Ace: Allows for the best maneuverability, but takes the most practice to master.
o Veteran: Balanced difficulty and maneuverability.
o Rookie: Pick-up-and-play level of difficulty, least maneuverable.

We’ve included a Practice Mode so you can get to grips with vehicle controls outside the pressures of a live match. No need in wasting your hard earned Battle Points!

Lastly, we added some extra vehicle abilities for co-pilots, such as a Recon function to the Scout heli, and we obviously support joystick control for all vehicles.

In terms of other gameplay changes - we introduced a Squad Management system for PC, with Squad based VOIP. We also offer Clan Support on PC, and we’ll be tracking more post-match statistics on the PC platform. As stated above, we’re a Steamworks title and we use Valve Anti-Cheat to counter cheaters.

We also feature Multiplayer Match Recording (check out the podcast for more info), and we’ll be releasing a Dedicated Server Browser Executable to allow you set your own private Homefront servers within 2 weeks of launch. LAN support in there as well!

Finally, a few tweaks you’d expect as standard - we optimized the UI to make it more PC / Mouse friendly. We support SLI / Crossfire configurations for extra performance, and we support 3D through NVidia’s 3D Vision if you have the appropriate hardware.

FAQ

Will there be a PC Beta/Demo?
Right now the teams at Kaos Studios & Digital Extremes are working hard on finishing the game at the highest level of quality possible. Of course we’d love to release a public Demo, but this would detract efforts from the main game.

Rest assured, we have conducted a lengthy private Beta on the PC to help us fine tune the game, so any Demo would be for promotional purposes only.

Will a Dedicated Server Executable be provided?
Definitely, we’ve been listening to what the PC audience is looking for and that file will be provided for use. We know it’s been disappearing from the FPS space and want to support the core PC gamer where we can. We need to test the dedicated server infrastructure at ship with the influx of traffic and bug reporting, so we plan to release this within two weeks of the PC title hitting shelves.

Will there be Mod Tools?
Not at launch, no. Right now the team is hammering away at the game, building those tools for Community use would take away resources that are needed on the final game. The good thing is: Mod Tools don’t need to be in a box, so if the PC Community is supporting Homefront, we have the option post-ship to provide the Community with something like that.

What’s with the Microsoft deal, why are they getting the extra map and DLC first? What happened to PC?
We’re trying to release a brand new IP in a really competitive space, and we need as much help as we can get to drive awareness for this game. Microsoft came to us early on, loved what they saw, and offered a ton of marketing support. That support will help lift the profile of all three formats. Having them say; We love the game, it looks great & we want to support it – is also a great morale boost for the studio, and really validates all the effort going into the project.

But this is a business right, and you never get something for nothing! Given the fantastic level of support we’re getting from them, offering an extra map and an exclusive window on DLC in return seemed like the best thing for Homefront

How many players in Multiplayer on PC?
Homefront will support 32 player servers on PC when the game ships. Our large maps actually play best with that number. We found that the critical factor in delivering ‘Large Scale Warfare’ is less to do with having hundreds of players, and more to do with the density of players in each game.
That said, maximum player count on PC is something we can look at and potentially change if the demand is there for it!

Is there environmental destruction?
Only low-level, mostly superficial destruction – why you ask? Our Creative Director, Dave Votypka has this to say about environmental destruction:

In pre-production we experimented with dynamic destruction, but found that this actually detracted from the experience. We use what we call ‘environmental narrative’ throughout our level design to tell the story of occupied USA, and allowing this environment to be destroyed takes away a lot of what we achieve with this. In multiplayer, because of our focus on lots of vehicles with heavy firepower on the map at all times, destruction would remove a lot of the structures we placed there to support the infantry game and help balance that infantry versus vehicle mechanic. For example, in our map ‘Farm’ there’s a wooden church with a belfry that’s perfect for sniping. If we allowed this to be destroyed early in the game, it would remove that tactical option from the map for the rest of the match.

What are the server requirements?
Server requirements are actually pretty low, such that more processing power simply yields the ability to run more servers concurrently.

Will there be Linux Support?
No dice, sorry guys.

What anti-cheat measures are you utilizing?
Valve Anti-cheat is included, as well as a number of other techniques for protecting content, executable code, and game memory.

Will there be any kind of tournament support?
Demo recording support will be available on dedicated and listen servers. Also, automated demo recording upload is possible with some simple scripting. There’s Steam-Group based Clan Support, Player Stats, & Leaderboards.

Will there be Spectator mode?
Yup, via the admin commands.

Are there server admin tools?
Yes, dedicated server tools and RCON.

Will there be Eyefinity Support?
Not initially, but this is something we could add if there is strong demand for it.

Steamworks seems to be the mostly-likely DRM solution for the PC release. Will this mean that Online Pass will not be implemented for the Steam versions of the game?
There will be no online pass for PC Homefront. DRM is something we take very seriously from the end user point of view. While some form of DRM is vital, we want it to affect the user experience as little as possible. Our DRM is Steamworks based, and will require the user to have a Steam client (to which they need to log in during the installation process). Steamworks DRM is the least intrusive that we have seen, and it does not require the user to keep original disks. Since we are also distributing the game via Steam, it is the obvious choice.

OFFICIAL HOMEFRONT PC SPECS

Minimum Spec
· Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7
· Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon X2 2.8GHz
· 2 GB RAM
· Shader Model 3.0 graphics card with 256MB of memory
· NVIDIA GeForce 7900GS or ATI Radeon 1900XT
· 10GB of free hard drive space

Recommended Spec
· Windows Vista or Windows 7
· Intel or AMD Quad Core 2 GHz+ CPU
· 2 GB RAM
· NVIDIA GeForce 260 or ATI Radeon 4850
· 10 GB of free hard drive space

NVIDIA 3D Vision Recommended Spec
· 3D Compatible NVIDIA GeForce 480/570 Series GPU
· NVIDIA 3D Vision Kit
· 3D Vision-Ready Display
· Intel Core i7 processor
· 2 GB RAM
· Windows Vista or Windows 7
· 10GB of free hard drive space

[[SCUM] OUTLAW]

http://community.homefront-game.com/blo ... c-features
with pics



First Person Vehicle Cockpits

The PC version of HOMEFRONT will support first person perspectives for each vehicle type. This includes additional artwork in the form of detailed vehicle interiors and fine-tuned effects for the first person views.

There is different sound assets/sound processing in order to make sounds heard while inside vehicles more realistic.

Players will be able to toggle between third and first person viewpoints while inside vehicles.



Vehicle positions

Humvee (High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle)

· Driver
· Gunner
· Passenger front
· Passenger rear left
· Passenger rear right
LAV (Light Armored Vehicle)

· Driver
· Main gunner
· Passenger 1
· Passenger 2

M1A3 Tank & Type 99 Tank

· Driver/Main gunner
· Secondary gunner

AH-64 Apache Helicopter & Z-10 Helicopter

· Pilot
· Gunner

Scout Helicopter

· Pilot
· Co-pilot(recon/spot position)

Practice Map


A practice map is available via the Main Multiplayer menu. The practice map allows individual players the opportunity to hone their skills before jumping into a multiplayer match. Players do not have the restriction of Battle Points, nor will there be a limit to vehicle spawns. This a great place to practice: Helicopter maneuvering and strafing runs, landing air-strikes, or even just a quick way to check on video and control settings.

Clan Support


Players can use Steam groups to manage your clan. Once you create a group, go into the game and choose which group you want to play as. This group will show up as part of your name as well as a unique identifier in the scoreboard. We offer clan support with the following features:


· Players can associate a clan tag with themselves via the options menus. Clan tags will be prefixed to player names in matches.

These tags are linked to the steam groups that the player belongs to.

· The game browser allows players to sort games by the number of their clan-mates/friends present in each game.

· We have built in extensive dedicated server support, such that clan servers can be sufficiently managed.

· We have incorporated a robust demo recording interface which will allow clans to record their matches, useful in competitive game-play scenarios.


Demo Recording

In an effort to fully support competitive gaming, we will be providing the community with the necessary tools to prevent cheating during sanctioned online and LAN games.

Beyond the prevention of cheating, demo recording has other useful applications in competitive game-play scenarios, such as determining rule violations, settling match disputes, and clan strategizing.

HOMEFRONT demo recording is fully hardwired without the need of a console. This will include the implementation of specific in-menu UI to access a pre-recorded demo directory, whereby a user will choose which demo they wish to playback. This directory will be saved locally on a user’s PC.


Statistic tracking



· Per-player statistics that are tracked are:

· Time Played
· Level
· Kills
· Deaths
· Wins
· Losses
· Average Lifespan
· Total XP
· Clan Tag
· Achievements
· Challenges

Per Weapon Stats (Primary, Pistol, Grenades, Knife)
Kills; Deaths; Shots Fired; Shots Hit; Headshots; Time Played; Vehicles Destroyed

Per Special Weapon Stats
Drones - Kills; Shots Fired; Shots Hit; Vehicles Destroyed; Uses

Air Strikes - Kills; Uses

Launchers - Kills; Deaths; Shots Fired; Shots Hit; Time Played; Vehicles Destroyed

Per Vehicle Stats

Road kills; Time Played; Gun Kills; Gun Shots Fired; Gun Shots Hit; Gun Vehicles Destroyed; Shell/Rocket Kills; Shell/Rocket Shots Fired; Shell/Rocket Shots Hit; Shell/Rocket Vehicles Destroyed

Infantry/Vehicle Loadouts: The player's current setup for their customizable infantry/vehicle loadouts



HOMEFRONT UI


From Breck Campbell (Lead UI Artist):

Our goal was to develop a PC specific user interface that was
comfortable and familiar enough to hard-core players of the genre, but
clean and well-organized so as not to turn away new players to the
franchise. We made note of a number of benchmarks, followed their lead
when they did it right, and made improvements where we saw opportunity,
or where new conventions had evolved.

We took inventory of all features that were considered standard on PC,
what was lacking, and what were wish-list items. Console UI tends to be
less content-heavy and can afford more playfulness with their visual
style, but on PC we tended to strip away a number of visual style
elements unless they could serve specific purposes. Marketing also
weighs in heavy on the over-all look, so finding balance between these
is what shaped the final Homefront PC UI.

Join Game and Create Game screens were completely specific to PC, so
following best practices in grouping features (such as buttons and
widgets) and filtering content (such as servers and maps in lists) was
important. An interactive breadcrumb trail helped to clean up the front
end UI screens and allowed more space for screen content, while
providing the user with a quicker, alternative means of navigation. Most
players favored large, easy-to-target buttons. Another priority was to
have a well-organized, customizable keybinds screen that didn't feel
like an after-thought. At the end of the day smart groupings and simple
layouts were the goal.

Additional In-Game UI

In-game map

We have provided a functionality that will allow the player to view a map of the battlefield at any time during game-play.

Battle chat



Battle chat is accessible via a bound control. Through the interaction of a context sensitive button, a radial menu appears on the HUD which allows players to issue specific commands (see command list below) to their squad or team via Fire and Zoom, defaulted to left and right mouse click (though, this can be mapped to a player’s individual needs). Alternatively, by tapping the Battle Chat button, a player can issue commands from the default look option by targeting a specific object within the reticule. This functionality allows players the freedom to move while issuing commands.

With the radial menu open, players can issue the commands by navigating their cursor to the desired command on the perimeter of the menu, with the center dynamic command menu allocated for spotting. Dynamic commands are dependent on what is being targeted. If, for instance, an enemy vehicle is targeted in the middle of the menu, a visual notification (text) is displayed that an enemy vehicle has been spotted. If the same player has targeted a friendly vehicle, the centre option then becomes a Wait/Pick-up command. In the event that a player issues a command to a squad mate, visual notification (text) will appear onscreen which indicates that a command has been issued to them. In addition, all commands incorporate as many variations of audio commands as needed.


Radial Menu Commands

The following is a list of radial menu communication/commands (assuming communication options are mapped to left/right mouse click). This also includes the on-screen-text to be displayed (OST):

Fire
Squad chat (send command to squad only)
Clicking left mouse button would engage chat with entire squad. This option would not be available if player existed in squad alone, only team chat would be accessible in this scenario.
Zoom
Team chat (send command to entire team)
Clicking right mouse button engages chat with entire team
Advance (requests that squad/team mate advance forward from current position)
OST - “Move forward”
Retreat (requests that squad/team mate fall back of current position)
OST - “Fall back”
Hold (requests that squad/team mate hold current position)
OST - “Hold position”
Follow (requests that squad/team mate follow player’s position)
OST - “Follow me”
Backup (requests that player requires backup from squad/team mates)
OST - “Need backup”
Yes (player confirmation/consent of squad/team mate action/request)
OST - “Affirmative”
No (player refusal/denial of squad/team mate action/request)
OST - “Negative”
Spot (confirms that player has spotted enemy)
OST - “Enemy spotted”
OST - “Enemy Armor spotted”
OST – “Enemy LAV spotted”
OST – “Enemy Humvee spotted”
OST - “Enemy Heli spotted”
OST – “Enemy Ground Drone spotted”
OST – “Enemy Air Drone spotted”
Pickup/Wait (requests that player requires squad/team mate pickup - to be a target specific request).
OST - “Requesting pickup”
OST – “Wait”

Audio Barks
Commands, issued via the radial menu or quick spot, are accompanied by its own unique audio bark. Players will hear the bark dependant on the allocation of the command (either squad or team). Each bark is accompanied by its respective on-screen-text, displayed above the mini-map on the in-game screen.

Icons

In the event that a player engages teammates with one of the above-mentioned requests or actions, a simple/generic icon will appear above that player’s head to communicate that a request or action has been issued. This request or action will also be reflected on the mini-map via the player icon for a short period of time.
Icons located on mini map will represent all friendlies and enemies:

· Light blue indicates player’s current squad mates
· Green indicates non-squad teammates
· Red indicates enemy

· To avoid onscreen confusion and clutter, a player will not see the nameplates of other non-squad teammates or enemies on active game-play screen unless within player FOV (Field of View).
· Once spotted, icons on mini map will reflect enemy position with the appropriate icon (dependent on what was spotted). A timer is utilized to reveal an enemies position for two seconds.
· Light blue will always indicate all squad mates and green for non-squad teammates.

Squad Switching

A screen listing all of the players on the user’s team will be shown, sorted by squad allocation. Squad allocation headings will be shown above each list of players in a squad. When a squad heading is clicked by the user, the user will join that squad.

The Squad Browser will be accessible to players at any time during game play, as well as within the spawn menu. This will allow players the freedom to switch squads at anytime. We will allow a maximum of 16 squads per team. There will be no limit or predetermined number of squads or player counts. An additional empty squad will always be available to players in the event that they wish to play alone or in a smaller squad

In addition to the above-mentioned flexibility, the player who creates a squad initially (Squad Administrator) will have the ability to lock and unlock their respective squad.

Squad Based VOIP

Game modes such as death match do not require the need for team based communication but for team based gameplay, where we have a maximum of sixteen players on either side, team/squad-based communication is provided.

Audio is broadcasted to members of a squad regardless of their proximity to a squad mate. Any squad consisting of more than one player has the ability to communicate player to player as needed. This allows individual members of a squad the freedom to move to a specific location, organize and communicate game-play strategies, without the restriction of audio proximity.

Example: A group of four players forms a squad. They enter the match and decide to split-up and take positions on either side of the map. Despite their relative distance from one another, inter-squad communication will always remain intact. This will allow the squad to organize and communicate game-play strategies without the restriction of proximity-based communication.
Note: non-squad voice chat will only be supported at the end of a round while in the scoreboard.
Controls – Joystick Support

We have strived to implement the most commonly used control peripherals in our PC control setup and support, including:
· Keyboard support
· Mouse support
· Microsoft common controller
· Generic PC gamepads
· Generic PC joystick (and other joystick-like hardware)

It will be possible to bind controls, and tune controller sensitivity via the control binding screen.
Competition Features

These are the current features in Homefront that allow for clan matches/league competitive play:
· Demo Recording
· Intermission timer (Currently 60 seconds but are working to make this a setting in the console of the server and be variable.)
· Console ability to switch members to a team. Ability to swap teams as a player as well.
· Support for Clan Tags.
· Support for private dedicated servers.
· RCON Access
· Ability to make a admin (or anyone) a spectator via console.
· Ability to turn on and off auto-balance.

· Ability to run the server in “Mixed Mode” with maps from the TDM or GC in rotation.

LAN Play / Valve Anti-Cheat / SLI / Crossfire, 3d Vision

Supported

[[SCUM] OUTLAW]