Arma 3 Development SITREP TL;DR
Some of the juicy parts from the last few Arma 3 dev
SITREPS:
Some new audio data was recently added to Dev-Branch, raising several inquisitive eyebrows. Given that additional progress is likely to pop up over the next week or so, let's take a quick peek. In simple (i.e., overly simplistic) terms, after the weapons audio samples overhaul (going live with 1.40), the team moved on to decoupling the 'shot' itself from the 'tail': an additional layer audible during and after discharging. For any given weapon, a number of 'tails' can be defined. The goal is to link the tail to environment within which the shot takes place. In effect, the 'tail' in a forest would sound different to that in an open meadow.
TL;DR - In-engine detection of the surrounding environment will have a direct affect on weapon sounds. Basically
Laxemann's "Enhanced Soundscape" but built into the engine.
On a related note, recent
changelogs have contained notes relating to the
detection of bullets impacting / flying around units. Let's take a quick look at how it all fits together. The first changes (released for a wee while now) were adjustments to pathfinding.
If an area is under heavy fire, the AI will now prefer (in direct contradiction to the Kenny Loggins school of thought) to plan around such danger zones. More recently, the detection of bullets passing close by units
was enabled. This information is now mapped to the behaviour of a unit reacting to threats.
The next step will be to connect this to penalties in AI aiming accuracy. Although we're at an early stage, we can say that our goal is to improve the experience of firefights by refining their lethality and promoting / rewarding the use of legitimate tactics / maneuvers. However, making changes to core mechanics is not without risk. If we're not satisfied with the results, this work may yet not make it into Marksmen DLC.
TL;DR - We might finally see in-engine AI suppression, but perhaps not until the Expansion DLC.
As we mentioned in our
Scanning the Horizon blog post,
development of a new terrain continues apace. This production is a huge, ongoing effort, so - with respect to our goal of shining a light on the deepest, darkest corners of development - let's take minute to catch up with the noble Environment Department. Headed up by
Martin 'Maxell' Pezlar, the team has shifted from a 'pre-production' phase into full on,
balls-to-the-walldevelopment. With much of the research, experimentation, and endless wishlists of assets in place (ish), and the basic shape and structure of the environment approved, the true work has begun! The team is now focused upon populating the map with compositions (above and below water!), refining the details of the height map, retouching the satellite texture / mask, and coordinating the production of all the assets.
TL;DR - Development of the new terrain (for the Expansion DLC) is now in full swing. Still no clue on the specifics of the terrain (other than rumours), but they have said it will be something 'different'.
This week we're hoping to push two splendid (and related) features to
Dev-Branch:
Weapon Resting and Recoil Overhaul. Although we've dug into a bit more detail over the
last week or
two, it's probably worth outlining the basics once again. Weapon Resting provides 'passive' benefits to certain aspects of weapon handling, such as reduced sway. This 'rested' state is determined by a real-time algorithm that identifies situations where aiming would reasonably benefit from a stable firing position (e.g., when prone, leaning against a wall, resting on a low wall, etc.). Our Recoil Overhaul aims to make the mechanic more fluent by correcting some existing behaviour and rewarding the intelligent use of stances and movement speeds. Overall, this development contributes to our goal of making firing a weapon simple to do, and rewarding to master.
TL;DR - Weapon resting and an overhaul to the recoil mechanics are coming in the Marksmen DLC.
Speaking of which, passengers using their weapons in vehicle cargo positions now face a bumpier ride, following the release of 'Firing from Vehicles Inertia' (FFV Inertia) to Dev-Branch. We outlined the basic goals of this feature
last week. Now we're on the lookout for feedback. Two key values are open to tweaking:
the magnitude of the sight misalignment (versus vehicle velocity), and the stabilisation of the aim-point (versus vehicle turning).
TL;DR - Firing from vehicles will be getting weapon inertia.
If people seem interested, I'll keep this updated with future SITREPs/dev announcements.
