Operation: Omega Dawn

349 0

We’ve just finished development of our v1.2 patch and our first Booster Pack, Operation: Omega Dawn!…which is very different than “Red Dawn” or “Dawn of the Dead” :-)

omegadawn1

I’d like to give our blog readers a bit of info on our first downloadable content – and I’ll try to keep in away from sounding to much like a sales-pitch filled with shallow marketing-speak. The team and I really wanted the Omega Dawn Booster pack to add a new gameplay experience and to enhance the replay value of the core Warhawk game. Not be some nickel-and-dime upgrade that takes advantage of our player community!!! (That’s my own personal opinion on DLC so I’ll get off my soapbox now)

So without further ado…

The Omega Dawn Booster pack adds 3 key things:

* A night-time battlefield with 6 layouts called the “Omega Factory”. It’s huge btw.
* New 7-player aircraft called the KT-424 Combat Dropship.
* And 5 updated bonus layouts for battlefields from the original game so that you can play using the new Dropship.

First let me ramble on about the new battlefield: Many of you all wanted a night time level so that’s what we did. The battlefield takes place at night well… actually at early dawn. We wanted to make this level a bit more challenging and visually improved than our previous levels. It has more involved building layouts with more vertical structures, platforms and detailed spaces for ground troops.

Here’s the map of the entire battlefield.

omegadawn2

This more advanced layout compliments the dropship really well as there are some places in the level that are only accessible by air. This is especially cool for transporting vehicles! We also added some macro scale color changes to the bases to help players communicate locations within the symmetrically balanced battlefield.

You’ll see all of this more in these screen shots so I’ll stop talking about the new battlefield now :-)

omegadawn3

The Combat Dropship is pretty damn sweet I gotta say. During the entire Omega Dawn dev-cycle I was trying to have us deliver on the crazy notion of a “Multiplayer BOSS”. Something that a team could all work together to control and that would require other players to work as a team to defeat the opposing team’s “BOSS”. We’ve had several just wicked memorable moments playing with our testers that felt like classic BOSS battles … but in a fast-paced multiplayer game!

What else?

Oh yeah…we also integrated the Combat Dropship in the 5 biggest layouts from the original game. It really changes the way those levels play which is good ‘cause it gives them a fresh feel … like an Irish spring!

Ahh…there are 2 things you will all ask immediately I’m sure: “when does it come out?” and “how much does it cost?”

omegadawn4

We are in our final global test phase right now (internally it’s called format testing). Once we pass and go “gold” (which is a pretty odd term given a purely digital distribution but whatever) then I can announce a specific date. But we are still on track for our “December” release.

And as far as pricing goes – the Omega Dawn Booster Pack will sell for $7.99 on the PlayStation Store. Why don’t we just charge $8.00? I mean seriously? Does that one penny really fool anyone? :-)

I’ll probably need to make some follow-up posts once you all have had a chance to comment. So smash this site with questions and I’ll do my best to post a FAQ about the upcoming Booster Pack!

As always … Rock on!

Comments are closed.

349 Comments

  • No Jobe, YOU ROCK ON, U R TEH AFWNESS RAWR. GO WOWHAWK GO RAWR. :3

    Yes I will buy the map pack.

  • Wow Poppa, nice list, expecially the sea battle thing. I don’t like the sub thing because it might make things unbalanced. But a carrier from the sky adapted for water that hold Warhawks instead of tanks would be awesome!

  • That dropship look so sweet, this is going to be a great patch

  • what happens to the players that wont buy the map pack??? what happens when the maps switch around at the beginning of a new game and some people dont have the new map???

    this will split the community, it would have been better to release this map pack for free, let the community grow bigger, and then, charge for the next map pack

    its too early in the games life to be splitting the community up, and the people that wont buy the map pack will definitely leave the game…making the community smaller… and eventually…disapper

    bad move

  • This sounds great thats all the game needed was a night battlefield. That dropship is Hot!!!!!!!! Keep up the great work!!!!

  • @xplosneer: Thanks. lol

    Ya, I didn’t think subs would work all too well with Warhawk.

    As for carriers, it would be way too cool if the carriers would be land AND sea based. Imagine being bombarded by attacks so the carrier pilot tries to take the behemoth to the skies to escape…Incredibly slowly, smoking and with flames everywhere, they barely manage to escape any further destruction (making the whole thing a raging fire killing any soldiers on board until the fires go out and the ship repairs itself) and have landed on the water on the other side of land. They recuperate and prepare for another attack as the other carrier draws near to finish them off. Epic battles. Nuff said. Lol

    Hell, even in the sea, the carriers could have one or two tanks. Why? DROPSHIPS!!! WOOT!!! Bringing them over to the enemy carrier to cause havoc would be awesome.

    As for the update splitting the community, I sorta agree. I think they should have the dropships and the new map layouts come free. The only thing we should pay for would be the new map. That way the community can stick together for the most part.

  • @Poppa
    Yes I agree with all of yet, and while it probably won’t come with Warhawk expansions(surprise me please Dylan), it’s a hope for Warhawk sequels or another game by Incognito(or of course EatSleepPlay since I read Incog is down to just a few people now)

    And special points for tanks to appear out of the hull of the ship? AWESOME.

  • Good News. My question is how will the dropship affect pure Deathmatch games? I understand much of the concept in a Team mode of play, but I’d like to know if your design of the level and dropship included specific applications for the free-for-all matches.

  • woo hooo. There are some cheap ass people here. its $8. Oh no! get a job. You got a $600 system and your gonna cry over $8. How about…dont get it?

    Im super excited for it and cannot wait for some drop ships!

  • wtf $9 for 1 map and 1 vehicle, this should of been free, all this does is split the community in to the haves & have nots, thank!!!

  • I cant wait for this!!! warhawk is the best!! tks alot!!

  • Well, this blows donkey sack… No one will be playing with drop ships and on the new maps now. I’v elearned my lesson from Resistance and their map packs. No one plays on the new maps at all. I seen like 4 people playing on camborn 1 time and never seen it again. I spent 9 bucks for it when it hit too. I didn’t even buy the new one caus eof fear the same **** should happen. I won’t buy this patch because people are too cheap and it’d just be a waste of money for me to do so. I’d gladly fork out 8 bucks to play the new maps and stuff but everyone else is too poor to let go of 7 bucks so it’ll deem them worthless. What a waste!

  • I cant wait!!! Warhawk is the S!@# I love this game!

  • Dylan, I have a question/comment combo :)

    1. Can people be RIDING in the vehicle while you have it lifted in the air? Like if you have a jeep, can someone be in the gun turrent etc on it or in the driver’s seat ready to take off when it drops?

    2. I was talking to a friend today and said the only thing Warhawk is missing in Capture the Flag is awarding points to people who help the flag carrier retrieve the flag and get away.

    I thought of a good way that this could be done fairly. This could be for the people who are riding/driving the jeep or take the flag carrier is in (helping him escape) or the person flying the Warhawk just above the carrier and blocking fire.

    Simply have something saying that this person must be close to the flag carrier for so many feet (it would be a large number of feet so someone can’t just run next to their flag carrier friend at the last minute). The range that they have to be close to them should be very close on the ground but allow some distance when in the air.

    I hope this makes sense. I know, I am one who usually there helping the flag carrier more than I am going for the flag so a few points of appreciation would be great. Oh, the person would have to be close to the carrier when they score too, so they get the points as well.

    If I confused you, I can be contacted :)

  • My question is this… Over 6 million ps3’s sold inside of a year. That’s pretty damn good for a machine that was 600 bucks for more thna half of it… So, what the hell is everyone of these 6 million +users doing with them?? Games sales are abysmal and no one downloads any gmaes or patches from the store. It’s a piece a’ joke is what it is! I was so lookin’ forward to this patch too. when I see people leaving the regular maps and hear more people playin on the new ones… that’s when I’ll buy the patch, not until then.

  • What are the chances of the rumors being true that Warhawk will allow up to 64 players to be able to play on the same map.

    Is this possible with this map and if so that is awesome. I know this is getting ahead of what is coming out but I still want to know. Is there any plans on bringing out more vehicles.

    Plus I do want to buy this map but seeing as I get beat all most all the time I really do not want to buy this. But I think I will any way. I just want to know can you play this game on Lan only and be able to play with four people and still be able to play the whole map or will some be taken off.

  • Dylan, could you post a video of this?

  • oh, another question.

    It looks like the Dropship will be available in the largest layouts of the old maps. I’m ok with that, but I wonder if you made any improvement ot the performance of the game engine. I stopped playing on 32ppl layouts because there is too much tearing and frame drops for my testes when they are full. I only play on up to 24ppl maps as they run as smoothly as I wish.

    So I was wondering if the Dropship will make things worst in those 32ppl layouts or if you fixed something code-wise.

    Thanks you.

  • Warhawk owns!

    Truly one of the best 3rd person shooting games out there if not the best! And the fact that it’s online is a big plus(duh! lol).

    Anyway I’ve always loved night stages, I think they’re my favorites…right next to sunset stages.

    Watch me plant some serious landmines :DDDD

    This stage has so much stealth potential, gives me goosebumps. I think I’ll get all my stealth kills here.

    That Dropship will be something…..really gives us Rocket Launcher users something to aim for =)

    Thank you Incognito, you guys own!

  • Oh yeah, forgot to say:

    or Dawn Patrol(Megadeth)

  • Looking forward to this. I have a question though. Will the DLC content be region coded? I live in Japan, have a Japanese PS3, a US import copy of Warhawk but buy things off the Australian Playstation store as I have an Australian credit card. The Motorstorm DLC pack from the Australian store was not compatible with the Japanese copy of Motorstorm, so I am worried about downloading the Warhawk DLC if it is not compatible with my US version of Warhawk. It appears games are region free but DLC is not. Will the Warhawk expansion pack be region coded too?

  • Nice, I can’t wait to get this :).

  • CANT WAIT, im getting this!!!

  • I got the Disc version of the game.. so I CAN’T get it.. we need PSN cards SONY YOU’RE STARTING TO SUCK!. How hard is it to print some pre paid PSN Store cards come on! Digital distribution? cashless sociaty is what this is and it SUCKS.

  • not-buying-incognito

    thats bs…not nickel and dime ing… lol you crooks are silly.. skip the nickels and dimes shoot straight for the multiple dollar section huh? you make a game that gets boring after two weeks now you want to put out a pricey patch that will be fun for what a couple days.. you really think someone is going to get excited about one stupid map… resistance has been out for longer and still has more people playing, not to mention they just put out DLC for only 4.99, and you can get the 1st add on they have along with the new 7.99.. meaning you can get 4 new maps, plus 4 diff sizes for each map, plus 6 diff games modes for each size and map…

  • To me, it’s not the price… 8 bucks isn’t bad. I’ll burn 8 bucks if other people are willing to do the same… but see, we don’t know who and what and when people buy these patches unless we buy them and find out the hardway no one is playing them. Look at Calling all cars for example… I bought it for like 10 bucks… I played 2 people online out of a possible 4 and that was it. 1 time… booted the game up to play some more and no one was on and I’ve checked from time to time and nothing. no one. Resistance map packs are the same. no one uses them. I’m sick of it! the only way people use them is if they’re fre cause people are too damn cheap. I’m sick of suffering cause other people are too poor.

  • so I buy a game in the REAL WORLD.. but sadly you’re not included with any future upgrade.. hmm makes my 60 euro investment in this game pretty useless and next time I’LL pass on this scam. I feel scammed.

    Putt this out on disc.. no doesn’t have to be a stupid useless bluray disc a cd-rom would work just fine. Why bother buying games on disc anyway.. hell why bother getting a PS3 if you can’t collect the real deal but only data and baked air. Either sell to all or leave it. Even MS has worked that one out.

  • disc-crimination!!!!!

  • Awesome! Can’t wait to get this update, too bad Europe gets PSN store updates with delay. Since SCEA reads comments there is a trick my friends and I figured to be extremely awesome and, furthermore, very fresh concerning gameplay. It’s about creating servers or gameplay mode, where you are unable to fly using analog sticks – just SIXAXIS controls. This might seem a little strange, but in the end, I think, it’s a very fresh addition to gameplay. Perhaps some people will prefer playing typical modes, while others who just want to have Fun will play the mode we suggested.

  • Again, the money doesn’t concern me… I’ve bought into next gen and have learned it’s costly. I bought 2 lcd tv’s since last year. both 1080P just to experience the ps3 that way “it should be” what a joke that was… Anyways…

    Motorstorm/ w all add on content after retail $ 84 bucks. Is that worth it? No.

    Resistance w/ add on content after retail $ 79 bucks

    Warhawk w/ add on content after retail $ 72 or 52 depending on your choice of dl or buying the disc

    Is all of this worth it? No… I think not. The price structure is absurd. They’re trying to recoup losses here. I’m sick of it all.

  • Great work Dylan n crew! your friends on the Warhawk forum are waiting for something there, so please post. Anyway the new stuff looks great n cool. cant wait, ps. now get back to work on more stuff!! THANK YOU sweet deal will make a very good game even better.

  • Man come on dylan we freakin got the game and all the game had was bugs and crashing and stats restarting dont you think you should at least give us this pack for free since we had to go through that?

  • >>Motorstorm/ w all add on content after retail $ 84 bucks. Is that worth it? No.

    My favorite offroader of all time… -> paying

    >>Resistance w/ add on content after retail $ 79 bucks

    One of the best shooters ever made though, i’m happy to cough up money to support further development of this title.

    >>>Warhawk w/ add on content after retail $ 72 or 52 depending on your choice of dl or buying the disc

    The only beef i have with Warhawk is that some bug screwd up mystats. I’ve played like 50 games and i’m already some Sergeant CMD (and the patch 1.1 didn’t downgrade me) SOMEBODY FIX THE STATS. I don’t want to play with a rank i haven’t achieved!

    >>Is all of this worth it? No… I think not. The price structure is absurd.

    Some people pay 100’s of $ a year for World of Warcraft… it’s one game with no plot that never ends. Worth it? Heck no!

  • Dylan and the rest of the guys at Incognito,
    Excellent job on Warhawk! I have purchased 10 PS3 games in the last year and this is hands down my favorite of them all. 95 hours of game time and counting…
    I am very excited to hear about the release of Omega Dawn. I will be happy to pay the $7.99 to expand upon the current game.
    I don’t mind paying for expansions like this, but I agree somewhat with what other people have said about free booster packs. Keep track of how much people will spend on this game…the DLC adds up over time.
    I think this game is magnificent and as long as there is a robust online community playing, I will be happy to pay to expand upon the game. Still…keep note that we started at 40, now we’re at 48…just remember that once we reach the $60 threshold, we, the players, even the diehard ones, might be a little more hesitant to invest more money into the game.
    Regardless…keep up the great work. I support your efforts and absolutely love this game.

  • In Europe:

    – when is it coming out?

    – how much will it cost? ( in €, not £ )

    Thanks

  • Sweet! I’m in … although it would be nice if it was only 7.99. Canadians are getting a raw deal STILL!

  • Oh and props Papa, although your probably writing WarHawk 2 for Dylan and the boys (and girls?)…lol. I agree an option to set the voice chat to open mic would be welcomed even if only in user created rooms.

  • @9158

    You should check the European Playstation website from time to time. ;)

    http://community.eu.playstation.com/showthread.php?t=172437

    It’ll go for £3.99, €5.99

  • @DarkKnight: Lol, thanks man! There’s still a few other things that I’d like to add to that list. Stuff like RFOM Parties (which was mentioned earlier) and voice channels (again, mentioned earlier). As well as stuff like user created emblems, clan uniforms, etc. They’re little things, but they make a huge difference. Of course, I’m sure there’s a lot more stuff that can be added…

    BTW, I’m also Canadian (from Montreal)! =D Kind of ridiculous though that the PS3 (and games) price tags match their US counterparts, but the PSN content is still more expensive. Maybe it has something to do with extra licensing fees for distributing content online in Canada? =/

    I also want to add that I feel the ranking system should be based more on the leaderboard. You can still keep the medal requirements, but say you get into the 15%-20% area of the leaderboard and you have all the necessary medals and ribbons, you’d rank up to Wingman. Make the leaderboard take into account all the ratios, and points and the like, and you have a decent ranking system based more on skill than time played. Once you obtain a rank, you cannot lose it, so going under the 15%-20% section wouldn’t be such a big deal. Or of course there’s the possibility making it possible to lose rank until you reach the “milestone”. Airman to Wingman, you can lose rank (and any items you got with that rank), but once you get Wingman, you can’t go below that rank no matter what your position is on the leaderboard. Top ten players on the leaderboard (who obtain the appropriate medals) get the best rank possible and once achieved they can never lose said rank (maybe when you’re 60+% on the leaderboard, each new rank you obtain cannot be lost).

    Of course, you can still have customization options become unlocked via ranks (unique rewards for achieving a rank), but since a large majority of players would never get to a certain area of the leaderboard, you’d have to have medals and badges and the like unlock a big portion of items. You can also have a “Warhawk Items Dealer” who, rather than selling you weapons, sells you items and customization options. You get currency via the ribbons (and maybe achieving certain medals nets you a certain amount of cash).

    Actually, speaking of weapons and customization…can we possibly see customization options for weapons? :)

    I’d love to customize my Rocket Launcher with decals…with a white finish underneath. Would be way too pimp. Same goes for Jeeps, Tanks, Dropships and any other vehicles that get added to the game.

  • developers have food to bring to the table… you want them to work for free.

    I wanna see how many of you would work for free…

    8 bucks!? you guys waste more than that in an hour

  • Why did you guys ban me from the PSN?

    I cannot sign in and it says my account has been suspended..

    I have $20 buks in there..

    WHY DID YOU BAN ME?

  • This is great, can’t wait.

    …..I can’t believe some people are complaining about $8, for one developing this stuff takes a lot of time and effort (believe me I know being a software developer myself) and secondly most of you would spend $8 (sometimes more depending on where you live) going to the theater to sit there for only 2 hours of entertainment. Come on people grow up, people have to start appreciating the value of others work. Just like you would like people to appreciate the work that you do (assuming your employed).

    Now, I just have one question…..How does it work for people that don’t have the new add-on?

  • Thanks for the updating blog, having pages makes it a lot easier to go through comments!

  • still no motorcycle or hoverboard= fail.

    the maps are too big and when you are on foot it takes forever and when you call for back up they bring the heat. i love sniping and launching air strikes so why can’t i get a small vehicle so that i can remain stealthy??

  • Wow those sreenshots look great!

    I have a few questions…

    Will Omega Dawn be released on blu-ray?

    Omega Dawn comes with just 1 new map?

    How long are you guys gonna keep making Warhawk “Booster Packs” ?

  • wooohoo a night map better dust of my trusty sniper rifle and sharpen my knife for some night killing.

    AWSOME job Dylan Jobe i salute you

  • @MasterCharged: Damn…now I got to add hoverboards to my wishlist. lol

    Would be pretty badass if we can do tricks on the hoverboards when we get a lot of height. I’d also want it to be able to cross water. I don’t think hoverboards should come equipped on the player upon spawning though. If they do, you may as well replace my sprinting idea with it.

  • I have no problem coughing up money for the packs, I just can’t with out any Playstation Cards for sale anywhere. Can someone tell me where I can buy them.

    Oh, but Omega Dawn looks absolutely amazing BTW, all the buildings look to make for great cover from Warhawks and I’m really excited to play CTF on the huge map.

  • More ideas:

    New game mode:

    -Demolition. Each team has a target (castle, giant node, tower) which the host can set the health for when making the game; he can set it to only requiring one swarm missile to destroy the object, or he can make it practically invincible. Host can also choose to set whether the object regenerates health (similar to capturing bases and flags, the more team members in the area, the quicker it regenerates health). Would be a fun mode.

    Miscellaneous:

    -More customization options when creating a game. I’d like to see options to switch weapons around (to have all sniper battles). Maybe have the pistol and knife always be there. The option to turn grenades “off and on”. Same goes for Warhawks (with maybe having the swarm missiles and chaff be there as default). Also would like for the host to be able to turn auto-aim off. Precision aim only.

    -Spectator mode (especially when you’re hosting as a server, i.e. not playing, just hosting). Also screen capturing like in RFOM (but you do it via the menu screen rather than through a keyboard).

  • SONY WE REALLY NEED A PSN CARD BECAUSE IM PRETTY SURE A LOT OF US DONT HAVE CREDIT CARDS AND IT WOULD BE MUCH EASIER IF WE HAD ONE ……… MORE PEOPLE WOULD BY STUFF FROM THE STORE THEN PLEEEEAAAASSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEE

Please enter your date of birth.

Date of birth fields