- Pinstripe
- May 29
- 3 min read
As the middle of the year looms ahead, we wanted to take the time to give you all an update on the project, as well as a shout-out to our beloved community and the work they have produced in assisting the remaster!
Over the last 6 months we have endeavoured to work alongside the Hogs community in bringing the original game up to scratch, specifically within the realm of localisation! You'll remember in our last article that was posted back in January, we mentioned that this area of development is indeed one of the biggest, so we've had to call on specialist members of the existing community in lending a hand!
Origin text such as mission briefings, newspaper headlines and in game elements have all needed checking (and in some cases correcting!) in all original languages of French, German, Spanish and Italian. We know how proud each localised section of the community are regarding their version of the game, so it's been a great experience in gaining the insights of the players here.
Not only that, but these troops have also been involved in creating newly written content for the remaster! As promised at the early stages of the project - we are currently looking at adding in a new Italian Team for the English, French, Spanish and German versions of Lardcore, while the Italian version will receive a new Japanese team. As explained in our most recent Devlog episode, this was due to the original Italian localisation team deciding to swap out the existing Japanese team in their version for an Italian one! As such, we have to level the playing field in regards to the number of teams available in each version (so that everybody gets the same!).
The Community Team were hand picked based on their contributions to hogs and, most importantly, speaking the required language! Each were tasked with writing up new dialogue for their respective team, including choosing the team & pig names. Given that our development team are UK based, we felt it best to hand such a task over to those who best understand how the humour of hogs is portrayed in their mother tongue, so you can be sure that this new content has been hand crafted by the best of the best!
Elsewhere in development, we are pleased to announce that the promotion point bug on Mission 17 has officially been fixed in Lardcore! Many a veteran player will of course be familiar with this confusing issue involving the destruction of medical tents in a specific order in combination with Major Grimly yelling at you for apparently doing the wrong thing. Given the missing promotion point, it's always been a bug that contributed to the player's inability to reach the max available promotion point total, but no more shall you be penalised for following orders! You'll now be receiving two medal drops as standard!
Meanwhile, our lead artist has been cooking up a storm in the menu department! We'll be saving the main bulk of work for our next devlog episode, but you can check out the sneak preview below!
It is once again time for us to take cover, back into our development dugouts while the troops continue to defend this position. We're very excited to show you all what's coming up for Lardcore, including those ever awaited new pig models. We'll be sure to have the next devlog episode uploaded real soon, until then - thank you all once again for the continued support, it won't be long before Hogs is spread across the world, bringing folks new and old to the most classic turn based shooter! Bye for now!
- Pinstripe
- Jan 28
- 3 min read
The battlefields of Saustralasia are certainly looking lovely this time of year, be it with quite a few extra touches to boot!
2025 is well and truly in full swing as we charge full speed towards our team's goal of getting the remaster ready for release (hopefully before Christmas this year!). Such a battle plan is an ambitious one at that, but as the development pieces start to fall into place - we are getting closer and closer to achieving that goal! So whats left to do exactly? Lets break things down into their simplest components:
Pig Models - perhaps the most obvious of the lot, our new models are indeed still cooking in the oven, but it won't be long before they are ready! The trickiest part is not actually the modelling itself, but rather attaching the hog and all its potential new polys to the original game's animation rig. All the game's animation sequences for the pigs stem from here, so we need to ensure everything is properly paint weighted to our new mesh! (and get all the new hats attached!)
Maps - our scouts are pleased to say that all the levels (visually) are close to completion, with prop passes entering their final phase before we get the decals in! Lighting will still need touching up in places along with our water and grass, and we also intend to get some new visual features added in as a bonus, the likes of which we hope to show you in an upcoming dev log episode! We've been making a note to expand on those blank map spaces, building new structures where possible (both within and outside of the playable space) and, ultimately, bringing this world to live more!
Particles - You'd be surprised at the depth the original game went to with certain effects, from different coloured sneezes and melee hits, to the pigs brushing off dust and radiating heat particles after being hit by the flamethrower, the list goes on! With that in mind, you can then understand how we've had to go one step further in assigning that detail, for example in Lardcore - each explosive weapon receives its own individual explosion effect, calculate that into how many different explosions you can get in hogs and that equates to just a fraction of the work that needs doing! A good particle is one who's components blend together seamlessly, and that's what we aim to achieve here!
Menus & Localisation - HQ has recently reported that all our menus, including the new ones, are fully designed and down on paper, so the next step is to connect those functional dots with the visual ones! The game flow in both single and multiplayer will follow the same path as the original, so that means the inclusion of the usual suspects - mission briefings, map screen, newspaper screen etc.
On top of that we're also getting all the text together for the additional languages of French, German, Spanish and Italian, not to mention all the new translations that are needed! (shout-out to the Hogs community Localisation Team!)
Online Multiplayer - this section is very much 'the programmers dugout', and for good reason! The original online multiplayer for the PC version of Hogs was primarily designed with LAN to LAN play in mind, so translating that simple framework 25 years later has been quite the undertaking! The most important part of online play to us is in ensuring visual consistency across the board, most notably when it comes to dealing with controller inputs and damage dealt. Hogs of War Lardcore will look to offer up 4 players multiplayer for both online and offline play, because how could we forget our couch multiplayer roots, eh?
Testing - Perhaps the most time consuming of all, once the entire game is stitched together it will need to be rigorously tested. This section goes hand in hand with online networking, as that is where the biggest bulk of issues are likely to arise from (after all the offline stuff is checked off!). As a side note, we do appreciate the outreach we've received from the community regarding testers, and should we ever need such assistance in future we'll be sure to get the word out!
So, its full speed ahead for development of Hogs of War Lardcore! We'll be keeping our heads down and getting on with the tasks at hand, though you can be sure that we'll continue to do our best to bring you the latest updates (when we have something new to show you!). Releasing this year is the goal, but should the outlook change or delays alter the timeline then the community will be first to know. Massive thanks as always to the community and everyone's continuing support for the project, we've come a long way since 2018/9, here's to making this year's big push!
- Pinstripe
- Sep 20, 2024
- 2 min read
With Pro League kicking off very soon - its time once again to receive the gifts from Grimly! New maps updated, old ones returning, take a look at the patch notes below!
The Latest Patch for all Hogs of War League ISOs is out now. Changes Include:
Hogs of War League ISO File 1 has been updated, changes and patch notes include:
Hedge Maze
Map has received updated spawns after being re-added to competitive map pool, primarily to avoid first turn double poisons
Existing weapon crates adjusted in contents & quantities
Square Off
Anti-Revan mine removed from minefield island to allow for jump
x5 spawns adjusted to avoid instakill zones. In some places spawns, crates and explosive barrels have been swapped around to help with further prevention
Well Well Well
Further fixes added to areas most likely to produce instakills, testing required here
Over the Top
x4 spawns moved in response to easy first turn shell kills
Pitch Invasion
x2 spawns moved away from instakill zones
Bridge the Gap
x4 highest spawns moved down to avoid first turn MG instakill
Chill Hill
Several spawns moved away from minefield
Ridge Back
x1 spawn moved away from waterside to avoid potential first turn kill
Hogs of War League ISO File 2 has been updated, changes and patch notes include:
Saustralia Stand-Off
Spawns moved away from the instakill zone near water
Temple of Doom
Multiple spawns for both sides adjusted to avoid easy double/triple first turn poisons
Morning Glory
Further fixes added to areas most likely to produce instakills, testing required here
Hedgerow Warfare
Artillery HP reduced from 250 > 200
Hogs of War League ISO File 3 has been updated, changes and patch notes include:
Dam Busters
Map has received complete competitive overhaul, with spawns and crates adjusted to fit
players can find x1 50HP and x1 20HP health crate on their side of the map. Multiple weapon crates available
Both players hold one spawn on top of the dam, with the artillery closest to them posing a tougher shot
Death Patch
Health crates returned to same location as was originally in pdrag
Smaller medical tent has replaced one of the larger ones. New small tent holds 80HP, large remains on 100
Outer slippery tiles adjusted to remove OOB instakills (should now be resolved)
Aqua-Base
x2 aquatanks (located closest to spawn positions) have been reduced in HP from 150 >> 100. Other two vehicles remain on default 150HP (travel further = greater armour)
Grassy Outpost
x1 spawn adjusted to avoid very easy first turn double poison
