One Small Step for Ham, One Giant Leap for Hamkind

Our troops have been making headway, on the Moon! Rejoice as Hogs of War Lardcore ventures deeper down the lunar rabbit hole!

Pigs in Space is where we make our first landing. New types of set dressing (including those that might make you question whether the whole 'space' thing has really just been hoaxed together by the enemy all along...) have been plotted around the map. The painted outer edges now have a much clearer terrain type distinction, to ensure your squad don't go wandering off and falling into deep craters!

Duck vehicles will also be making a timely appearance here, given this is the only space map to contain water - we felt it only fair for each team to receive one within their starting spawn area. It'll certainly make for quick and easy traversal around the map, because don't forget, bumping into a friendly hog while driving will automatically cause them to jump in with you, plus you can drop them off wherever you like via the 'eject' button in the inventory, amazing!

The biggest development challenge so far has been trying to attain the right feel per setting, as after all, we want each multiplayer map to have three available visual options in Day/Night/Special, but how do you differentiate from that when the core environment is encapsulated in darkness and shiny stars? That's where the dynamic use of colour comes in.

Take Moon Buttes for instance. If Pigs in Space provides a more traditional approach to the types of deep blues and flat white hues you find on a lunar surface - then Buttes is where we really begin to experiment a little more outside of orbit! Greens, Purples, Reds, even Yellow tinges have been played around with, all to try and create an entirely new space feel that is unique, while acting entirely independently from the rest. The 'Night' setting has tended to be the easiest to replicate, because that's where we know the exposure intensity can be cracked up just that little bit more, maybe with some fog to help simulate moon dust, but what about the 'Special' setting?

Such a setting is one that will offer a complete visual curveball for the chosen map. For example, the Special setting for Play Pen sees angry clouds and a torrential downpour of rain, something that is the opposite of what many players are both used to and expecting for such a bright and colourful environment. So for our space maps, why not make them appear as though they are on earth? The inspiration for such an idea actually stems from a time when I first got into Hogs of War modding and managed to get a lunar map running with daytime lighting. It looked horrendous, given that the texture was never meant to be observed under such bright conditions, but it's always been something I've carried into Lardcore.

Cratermass is the main map where an earth-like visual setting seems to make the most sense. At a first glance, it gives the appearance of a trench like system of dugout holes across a sandbag and barbed wire infested battlefield. It's only as you look a little closer and spot the crashed rocket, lunar modules and Swill wells that you realise you are in fact a long way from home. Although, certain other gameplay elements that you find in the sky above also removes you a little from the space theme, like how did birds and a Blimp get into space? Rest assured, we have a few model-switch ideas floating around that we'll be sure to share with the community in due course!

For now though, our focus is on getting the rest of the pig classes put together, which means new hats, helmets and accessories are on the horizon for a future showcase across our social media pages. On top of the new GUI creation, online networking, localisation and testing that goes alongside all that - there's plenty to be cracking on with soldier! Until next time, cheerio!