Open Fortress’ small development team may be taking things slow and steady right now, but that doesn’t mean we’re averse to putting out larger updates every now and then; we’ve still been hard at work behind the scenes, whether that’s tinkering with cool new gadgets, improving the existing OF gameplay experience, or dealing with hate mail from unhappy fans. (Well, one unhappy fan, but he’s very unhappy. More on him later.)

Today we’re pleased to announce the fruit of our labors with Revision 13, the latest major update for OF. Read on to find out more!

The Saw Ballista

Three out of four medical professionals agree that an intact spinal column is necessary for higher cognitive reasoning. The other medical professional, adamant that a lack of vertebrae can be creatively worked around, is DEAD - his belief violently disproven by a Saw Ballista to the torso. This versatile addition to the Deathmatch super weapon roster is one mean piece of machinery, capable of slicing and dicing opponents in all manner of gruesome ways, from point-blank carnage to creative round-the-corner trick shots. (Did you know that the saws it shoots are made of 0.9% rubber - just bouncy enough to bounce off walls, but not quite enough to bounce off human flesh? Or kevlar, if that’s what your opponent’s wearing. Either way that sucker’s going down, and it ain’t gonna be pretty!)

Deathmatch Maps

What use is a superweapon if you haven’t got an equally super battleground to try it out on? Today’s update adds dm_angeles_dev, the first new OF map to feature the Saw Ballista and the second to take place in sunny L.A., following last year’s duel_mulholland. Angeles is a tight, vertically-oriented warren of alleyways, rooftops and offices, with players encouraged to make the most of the space through jump pads and slipgates. If Mulholland is the responsible older sister of the OF map family, Angeles is the scrappy younger brother, stealing expensive muscle cars and joyriding them down Interstate 405 while drinking milkshakes and firing sawblades at little old ladies - a habit not even the map’s eventual artpass will cure it of. Fun for target practice though.

We’ve also added the Saw Ballista to dm_campway, an existing Deathmatch map and a remake of the DOOM II classic Entryway. The demon-infested corridors of the original map may now be a secret spy base disguised as a holiday campground, but you’ll be getting in just as much ripping and tearing with the new addition to your arsenal. As the old campfire song goes: “YOU ARE HUGE! THAT MEANS YOU HAVE HUGE GUTS!”

Another homage to the golden age of the FPS, dm_facility_dev takes the classic GoldenEye 007 map and retools it from the ground up, bridging the quarter-century gap between our mod and the original game in a way that James Bomd himself would no doubt be proud of. (That’s not a typo - James Bomd is the founder of the American Dev Texture Fan Society, and he’s been pestering us for many years to promote his little club on one of our blog posts. Here you go, Mr. Bomd!)

But the new maps in this update don’t just hark back to the oldest generation of multiplayer shooters. dm_auxiliary_dev takes its inspiration from TF2 fan favorites such as cp_steel and cp_foundry, throwing a unique hexagonal layout and an intricate network of scaffolding into the mix. And while the Saw Ballista may be a gruesome newcomer to the old frontier, no doubt Auxiliary’s eventual artpass will make veterans of the Gravel Wars feel right at home.

Right at the opposite end of the spectrum, dm_hangar’s new artpass is quite simply out of this world. Our finalized rendition of DOOM’s E1M1 map aims to do the iconic level justice, building on the outer space theme partially developed by Valve in rd_asteroid and taking it in all-new directions. Just make sure you watch out for those pools of toxic green sludge - shipping breathable air up to the Moon is pretty expensive, and doesn’t leave much left in the budget for OSHA safety certification.

Finally, dm_control has received a cool new artpass, with a cliffside facility theme that James Bomd would surely feel right at home in. There, two shoutouts in one blogpost - hope you’re finally happy, Mr. Bomd! Now will you please stop sending us aggressively worded letters?

MCTF Maps

Outside of Deathmatch, today’s update adds two new work-in-progress maps for the Mercenary Capture The Flag gamemode. Halloween may be behind us but spooky shenanigans still abound in mctf_obzen_dev, a throwback to the torchlit dungeons of classic Quake and Unreal Tournament maps. Meanwhile, mctf_august_dev finds the mercs battling in a partially flooded submarine base that would no doubt raise a knowing smile from the mouth of James Bomd. (Turns out he’s also the editor of Tallahassee Model Submarine Digest Monthly, so shoutout to those guys as well or whatever. Look, would you argue with a man who’s started sending you cow manure in the mail? We’ve had to fumigate the offices five times already, and he’s said he’s considering sending it in larger envelopes. If this isn’t the end of it we’ll have to start returning the favor, and God knows where we’re gonna find a cow in this economy.)

Finally, as part of our wider efforts to broaden the gamemodes covered by the OF map pool, mctf_badworks_dev adds a new spin to Badworks, already represented in both Mercenary Domination and Deathmatch. Three gamemodes, two teams, and only one rule - out here in the desert it’s kill or be killed. Or maybe that’s two rules? Eh, we’re game developers, not mathematicians.

Note: with the sheer number of work-in-progress maps added in this update, we’ve also decided to add a new #map-feedback channel in our Discord server. Head there if you have any suggestions or encounter any map-specific bugs that need reporting

And more!

Texture improvements, bug fixes, and many other smaller touch-ups all await in Revision 13, which is now available for download; full patch notes will be released in a separate blog post per usual. Enjoy, and as always, happy fragging! (Except for you, James.)