How much destruction is on Orbital? Can you destroy most of the map or is it a little limited?
It's mainly either the rocket event when it explodes or the smaller scale structures with more detailed destruction. The large assembly building for example is indestructible, but there is a bunch of small scale destruction too on mid sized assets
Can you please tell us if this is the beta build or just for showcase. The website and Twitter says only 4 specialists will be available to play but all other specialists appear in the beta trailer.
For the beta there are 4 specialists selected, but I think all content was used to make the trailer. For launch all 10 specialists are in though :)
Ok I guess I have a question. Maps being massive, draw distance is important. Do you use fog, terrain or any other masking techniques? Is the entire map and all 128 players rendered even though you can't obviously see from one end to the map to the other?
Finally, is there hard cover for infantry against tanks in open ground or is it a series of slopes where the average infantry man gets blown up by airplanes and tanks without a chance?
We mainly use occluders (that literally removes anything behind it so it wont render, but is only used in indestructible things like bigger buildings and terrain/rocks etc. Also we have LODs on the assets making sure that they are very basic from far away (essentially making sure assets arent rendered with all their detail you see up close from far away).
Yes! I'm an infantry player mainly myself so I always make sure there are some hard cover, to varying degree ofc. Some areas are meant for vehicles but even then it's great to have some stuff to play around.
It seems the map is really big. A map that big does it contain certain areas/flags where was built to be more "soldier x soldier", "tank x tank"?
For sure! It was built to make sure there is something for everyone :) For example if you want to fight all the time go to the launch site sectors (Assembly Building - Crawlerway - Launch Platform) and if you want a slower pace fight along the ridge on the side sectors
You are the map designer or coded the map?
map designer! I wasn't alone though, there are also a bunch of talented artists, vfx, audio, qa, lighting and tech people working on the map ofc!
Hey I have a question. What are the conditions that affect the Rocket Launch being either a failure or a success????
At certain stages during the launch sequence the rocket is vulnerable and there are visual cues for when that happens, that's all i'll say for now ;)
Wondering if any UI feedback would be passed on. It would be nice to see the kill/damage/action XP log go back to the center again as it was in previous games or at least have an option to toggle it to center. The kill feed on the left and XP feed on the right obfuscate the action/kill feedback
Anything that a lot of people feedback on while be looked at ofc!
Wait. You were a level designer on this??? Awesome. Man thanks for all the hard work, especially through these difficult work conditions. Thanks to all of you.
Indeed I was! Designed this one and Renewal :)
Hey! I'm a programmer and would like to work with level design in the future. Any tips? Sorry it's not BF related hahah
Yo! Awesome =D And yeah my main tip is to just make layouts, for any game! Anywhere you can easily make stuff, either just top down layouts or actual blocked out maps in a level editor is great. Key to designing maps is just analyzing maps you enjoy and why you enjoy them (and hopefully why others enjoy them too) and getting used to making stuff (and iterating!). I rarely block something out perfectly on the first try (if ever), it's all about starting with a main idea what the intent is and then iterate iterate iterate!
I know you're a level designer and this stuff is technically not supposed to be your field (though I'm sure you know this stuff more than I do lol) but do you know if you guys will support the Vulkan API alongside DirectX 12. Thank you
That is an excellent question that unfortunately I don't know haha, hopefully we can release more info regarding that stuff as we get closer to beta and launch!
Can't wait to get that polished Orbital goodness! One question though, could you go deeper into what the findings were from the playtest that made you move the Assembly Capture Point from inside the building to the rooftop? Too chaotic, too many angles to die from in the original location or something else?
Sure, the main thing was that it swallowed players a bit too much, which in conquest isn't really what we were looking for. Essentially fighting in there is really exciting when you have a lot of people there, but we cannot guarantee that in 128 player conquest since there are so many other areas to fight in, but in other modes that is less of an issue ;)
Will the Beta be Cross platform play as well?
Will share when we get closer to beta!
Hey I like this, random is good. Keeps things fresh. I'm interested to see all the little details of the map again, enjoyed it during the play test. Hoping with all the tweaks it's even better! Interested to see how the moved flag position (I think it was b, the one inside the big tower) affects that areas gameplay.
Yeah that's the idea! And hopefully with some things random and some things player-impacted you get a lot of variation which was the main goal. And yeah in Conquest it played better with the flag on top of the building, but the inside with the half-assembled rocket might be a flag in other modes ;)
Hmmm, very interesting indeed!
It played way better in Conquest. The inside with the half-assembled rocket is still a flag in other modes :)
Quick question by minimum system requirements do yall mean GTX 1050 Ti will be able to play the game fine, or just 1080p 30 fps?
I'm actually not 100% sure, will have more answers as we get closer!
Did you take any inspiration from just cause 3 because that’s the first thing I thought of when I saw this map
Haha I can see that, but for me the main reference was caspian border from bf3. Not the layout itself but how we use vegetation and a sort of circular flow for the map
Can you be on the rocket when it launches and ride it up into the sky? :)
I'll leave some things to be discovered!
Sorry, one last question. I noticed you said the flag on the assembly building is on the roof now, is that the B flag?
Correct! It used to be inside the building but is now the rooftop with the helipad
So I assume both the tornado and rocket launches (or not launches) don't happen every single match so to keep it varied?
Correct! At least the weather and storm, the automated launch is part of the map but the outcome can vary. For example if it launches successfully it doesn't alter the map too much, other than making the launch platform more air friendly. If it explodes however, it's mayhem in the best possible way :D
Can't wait to try out Orbital again, is the tornado on this time?
Yes!
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