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Well what a year! Here we are, about to sit down to eat way too much food once again.

Lets recap the going-ons of the past 12 months at our local BigD Gaming Community:

 

Community Growth

After the Return of BigD Gaming in 2015 with Project Reality v1.3, we have gone from strength to strength with the launch of SQUAD on Steam in December 2015. We have experienced an explosion of growth bigger than the ham raffle at the local RSL the weekend before Christmas.

We have seen numerous individuals become regular members of the community, Five new community units come alive, movement to stronger, dedicated server hardware and of course a growing love of Squad and its unique teamwork-based game-play first developed in Project Reality, the place where this community originally grew from.

 

Its been a pleasure to watch this community go back to the future and it where it belongs, a fun, awesome place to game at with great people and great game-play.

 

 

So This Game Called SQUAD

From the moment SQUAD released on Steam, it came out with a small but solid start:

• Kohat & Logar maps
  
• 2 game modes
  
• 3 factions
  
• basic movement and animations
  
• barebones of Project Reality gameplay
  
• a ton of bugs
  

Yet it was a huge hit in the AUSNZ community, here on our BigD Gaming servers.

 

Since then Squad has gone from possible steam early access floop to a solid and successful game with a bright future.

Over the past 12 months, we have been treated to regular updates that brought the following features and improvements:

• Russian Forces
  
• Weapon optics
  
• Server Licencing
  
• Server performance increases
  
• Gorodok, Yehorivka, Kokan, 24 new map layers in total
  
• Official SQUAD SDK + a budding modding community
  
• Vehicles - HELL YES FINALLY!
  
  • BTR
    
  • HMMVW (Normal & CROWS)
    
  • URAL
    
  • Technical
    
  • Rocket Techie (Unarmed, 50cal, SPG, Rocket)
    

  [*]Vehicle repair station,

  [*]Emplacements

  [*]Numerous New Weapons added

  [*]Optimization Bullet Penetration

  [*]UI Changes

  [*]New player models

We have had Thousands of players enjoy Squad on our servers. Many, many have continued to play the game on a regular basis and many have become frequent members of the greater community.

We had nearly 1000 users register on our website, with over 600 registered users who have Steam and Squad linked to their BigD account - which all have access to our Community Whitelisted server and events.

 

Squad is only going to get bigger and better as the development matures and marches towards the Beta stage in 2017.

I can not wait for Helicopters and the British!

 

 

Community Contributions

This community survives on donations, its the lifeblood of our services we can and do offer.

• 159 separate donations
  
• 126 individual donors
  
• Average donation = $20
  
• Top single donation = $200
  
• Full donation list can be found here: BigD Server Costs | BigD Gaming Community | http://www.bigdgaming.net/goals/bigd-server-costs.1/
  

On behalf of the Management team, I would like to thank each and everyone who donated previously and in the future towards the continued success of this community.

 

Not all contributions are made with dollars, a big part of the BigD Gaming Community's success comes from the many level-headed individuals leading by example in-game, assisting new players to the world of Squad and just been all round great people - these people are more valuable than gold. Again, thank you very much for all you do to help out for the greater good.

 

 

Community Communications

There have been big changes in the way we communicate to and as a community

• We said goodbye to Teamspeak and hello to the new kid on the block: Discord
  
  • BigD Discord has grown to have over 600 members
    
  • Direct admin assistance
    
  • Event & News notifications
    
  • Join Discord link: Discord | https://discord.me/bigdgaming
    

 

• Developed our website further:
  
  • Media section - easy content sharing
    
  • Streaming hub - advertise streams
    
  • Website Style - unique to us
    
  • Website useability - better layouts and easier browsing
    

 

• Website hosting moved to a corporate hosting package
  
  • Page loading times reduced
    
  • Uptime improved
    
  • Future abilities available
    

 

• Facebook page used for community news and events announcements
  
  • Like our page: BigD Gaming | Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/bigdgaming
    

 

• Steamgroup also used for events and news annoucements
  
  • Allows integration with our website for whitelist features on Squad servers
    
  • Join our group: Steam Community :: Group :: BigD Gaming | http://steamcommunity.com/groups/bigdgamingau
    

 

• YouTube revamped and ready for big things in the near future
  
  • Subscribe to our channel: BigD Gaming | https://www.youtube.com/user/BigDCommunity
    

 

Community Events & Competitions

Did you know events take approximately 10-15 hours of preparation before event start? Its crazy to think of the amount of effort and time a few put into running great events for us all

• The first events in February revolved around organised AAS game-play
  
  • Op Squad Madness
    
  • Valentines Day special + giveaways
    

 

• In April we went all out and organised the super successful, objective-based event Op Birdwood for ANZAC Day
  
  • Story driven content + pre-recorded voice backstory
    
  • Structured teams with pre-planning
    
  • Event took Three Weeks to plan and excute
    

 

• During the middle portion of the year, Skirm10 our very own 10vs10 team competition kicked off for over Two Months
  
  • 8 Team Round Robin
    
  • 3 seperate matches played each week for 7 weeks
    
  • Rounds streamed and record with weekly recaps
    
  • Grand Final streamed live by multiple cameraman
    
  • Influx of players and units into the community
    

 

• Fast forward to September and our very own event team is born,who start off by organising quality teamwork events for the next couple months:
  
  • Road to Logar - Organised AAS
    
  • Back to Logar - Organised AAS
    
  • Kings of Chora - Organised AAS
    
  • Storage Wars: Militia Strikes Back- Organised AAS
    
  • Ghosts of Gorodok - Territory control with FOBs
    
  • Checkmate - Scenario based
    

 

• BigD YOLO: our take on a One Life event style kicked off in October with great success
  
  • Six successful YOLO events over October & November
    
  • Various tweaks and changes to improve the experience
    
  • Admin Cam made available to those who have died - so to watch the action
    
  • War Games YOLO with story-driven missions
    
  • More to come in the future...
    

 

• Finally, we rounded out the year with a celebration of Squad launching One Year ago on steam with:
  
  • BigD Squadiversary event
    
  • Organised PAAS gameplay
    
  • Teams balance with community units
    
  • Pre-selected commanders
    

 

So I just typed up way more words than I did in high school...

To wrap up, again a big thank you to all who have contributed and helped to grow and make this community what it is, from all my admins Junior and upwards, to the many many community members who love the salt, I just love the BigD.

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

 

Regards,

Madhouse

Head Community Admin

Edited April 10, 20188 yr by Madhouse

<place holder for videos>

So let us know what your favourite memory of 2016 @ BigD Gaming was below - brownie points for loving my signing in Discord...

I can choose a favorite. It's when I got 20+ people to say they wanted to hear Spono read when Spono wanted only 6. Love the crowd and support from the bigd community and have been trying to get some of my irl friends in. My personal goal for 2017 is to get at least 20+ members to join the [N/A] boys (best unit around). I'm hoping many of my unit comrades think the same.

 

(^internal thoughts though, what a kiss ass!!)

 

-RDAH

Been my first year in the community and i must say that i Love the people, Love the games, Love every part of it. From my very first game on gorodok in v6, this has been my main game ever since that i always come back to.

 

Most memorable moment would have to be when v7 released and vehicles came. Servers were full to the brim with people wanting to test out the latest and greatest addition. We had a server for wacky races, 3 full servers of 64 people, and a hundred people in teamspeak. The community involvement was so high it put a massive smile on my face

 

Much love to you all, Greene

favorite memory for me.. coming back to see BigD flowering again for another year and many familiar faces that are popping back up after a 3-4 year break and the start up of 10 v 10 matches again only played a few but you cannot beat it also just helping people start up their own unit sections with in BigD ie meeting filthy crab and getting him pumped on it and to see ULD grow as it has

Joined this lovely community at the start of the year after I backed squad. Best part out the community is the players hands down, every one is so friendly in discord and game big up to mad and spono for providing this wicked community. Excited for what might be on the horizon and hope that we keep getting bigger and bigger thought 2017! Great work fellas Aussie out!!!

I joined this community on the back of a recommendation from @Bigsmokeee after my second consecutive game of squad with him. While biggy went Mia after this for a while I was brought into the community and enjoyed the friendly atmosphere and quality banter... Or sometimes questionable banter @Greene

 

I have like many of us once involved in the community tried to assist in growing the community that we all love, from trying to organise rocket league events or Sunday fun days to growing the Arma 3 exile server it's been a sometimes frustrating but rewarding journey so far. I have just returned from some time away and plan to become more involved again once the new year arrives.

 

My favourite memories this year are the not so serious time of playing a different game like shell shock while having a few drinks. Look forward to many more of these

My favorite memories are of how supportive and encouraging people on the BigD servers have been to newcomers, from the early days of EA release where Spono showed me the ropes of being a less terrible squaddie to the support of newcomers during the steam sales and V7/8 releases. It is great to have a community that provides generally quality gameplay while remaining inclusive of newcomers. The same goes to how supportive different units under the BigD banner have been in providing a place of banter, support and community to many of these new members.

It's been an absolutely fantastic year and I look forward to being a part of this community for the many years to come.

@Tex haha maaate.. still one of the earlys.. but you are here in this.

 

 

 

cant wait till my upgrade arrives!

 

but another clip from the early days when i could access admins.

 

I'm excited to see what 2017 brings for the new skrim competition, that competitive play and bragging rights aspect of a community is always fun

There are so many.

 

Yesterday on Chora I shot a sneaky US crawling out from an abandoned RUS Truck, only to watch it get lit up by our passing BTR.

 

Today when seeding #1 had a hectic last minute long range engagement with Militia on Logar AAS v1, US 50s versus Dshkas and a SPG. Also watching Punisher fail at driving.

 

Getting a Logi stuck on that little bridge exit/entry from Russian Main on Kohat during V7 release (where's sappers/recovery when you need 'em?).

Just getting together and having a good time. At least that's all I remember.

Could I suggest an info graphic for the new year so any new members can see who to talk to to get involved and play with people in their respective interests.

 

I'm thinking the info graphic to be a large circle in the middle with squad listing the admins under that and the. Arms branching off it with images of other games in smaller circles for things like:

 

Mine craft : @RDAH

Rocket league: @Tex

Shell shock:

Csgo:

Golf with friends:

H1z1:

Dayz:

Bf1:

Miscreated:

Ark:

The division:

Gtav:

 

And any other suggestions worthy and the people allocated to that be happy to involve new members and conordinate nights of playing that game with everyone.

 

Just a thought

 

Cheers,

Tex

Add ArmA 3 and Insurgency, a fair amount of us play those games.

Damn.. Sooo many memories, and the best thing is they never stop getting made. Every day that I jump on discord I hear some borderline moronic shit that makes my have a chuckle and every time I boot into squad something unique happens at some point.

 

Been a hell of a year, so I'm going to go for dot points I think...

 

1. Joining [uLD] and the community in around march and seeing squad and the community develop to what it is now.
   
2. Coming second in the 10v10 as [uLD] FAG (fam for life boys, never forget the FAG!)
   
3. The creation of the event team and some amazing AAS and INS games, and having the honor to play most of them as a nearly undefeated commander!
   
4. The birth of our one life events (YOLO) and their transformation into the branching story driven missions they are now and I can't wait to get stuck in and make them even grander next year.
   
5. Seeing [uLD] step onto the International Competitive Scene in fine form and win their first match, and again having the honor to SL for it!
   

Its been a fantastic year and I am thoroughly looking forward to seeing what happens next year as our international recognition continues to improve in the Squad community and new and old community units continue to change and grow and build this fine community into the unique playground that it is.

 

AND I can't wait to FAST ROPE into a hot-as-shit LZ with you all as squad continues to mature.

 

Much love, Steez