Development Blog & Reveals

[Flash Thunder 10]

Yeah I heard it from one of the devs basically they said they want Arma 3 to be the last one for a while. They want to move onto different experiences don't blame them I would get tried of making a military super realistic game for a long time but they do have Carrier Command and they did do Take on Helicopters.

If Arma 3 is as great as it appears and is way less buggy then Arma 2, Arma 3 can last 5 years easily with the added functionality Modders will have and more people are being exposed to the franchise.

Don't rush them into doing quick sequels. The time will come when they go back to their roots.

Arma 4 will be released around 2025 and be "real virtuality" see what I did there? ;)

[twisted 128]

I have to say that I agree with some of the criticisms of the jogging animations shown in the last video. It was a mixture of the old clunky ArmA animation system, and the soldier seeming to cover more distance than visullay perceivable by the player.

I agree with a lot of the analysis of the animations. They ned to be worked on more which makes sense seeing as it's pre alpha.

Even of biggerconcern to me us the lack of more advanced and more noticeable weapon sway which is probably one of the most important ways bis can siImulate the skill and experience need

[myshaak 0]

It is an issue. People already complained that firefights don't last long enough. A perma-rangefinding helper in optics doesn't help this. In fact snipers, that were already broken, will be beyond broken because having to calculate range was the only thing stopping anyone with a sniper rifle from having dozens of frags with ease - since there's no wind that affects the bullet, only range. And I don't see BIS adding wind either. And there is no breathing simulation still. Aim is too steady.

So now everyone will be able to be a pro-sniper. Oh and did I mention there are no forests so snipers will be able to see you kms away?

It's about magical LRFs breaking the game.

I get your point but range finders are not the "game breakers," it's, as you said, the absence of wind or any kind of weapon sway. Sure, "magical" LRF is not "fair," but you could have said that about night vision in CWA-Arma 2 or thermal imaging in OA, both of which had unlimited battery power and you could not damage the sensitive electronics by improper use.

[2nd ranger 282]

How would that play out in MP, also maybe some guerella fighters are a lot more hardened than some fresh out of the academy albeit pro trained soldiers, or because they may not carry everything plus the kitchen sink do you give them the ability to bound or move quicker?

Your animations would become faster and more fluid as you gain more XP.

EDIT: I thought it would be blindingly obvious, but I now feel compelled to point out that this was a joke. BIS forum behaviour #3: 95% of members cannot identify a joke unless it is followed by a :p

Edited May 7, 2012 by 2nd Ranger

[Maio 293]

Your animations would become faster and more fluid as you gain more XP.

No way man... the way it's set out now is good enough. BIS should not limit avatar functionality based on faction or XP.

[kimozabbi 1]

The only reason BF3 has great animations and it's usually referred to is because they took the animation system off EA Sports which spent millions on developing real life sporting animations for games likes soccor, NFL etc...

So you can imagine how difficult it must be even with Raptor cameras to really transfer that real life feel movement into a game.

John Sonedecker has created some very convincing animations on a tight budget. Best animations I've ever seen in the milsim genre.

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[roberthammer 582]

kimozabbi - their game uses Unreal engine , just like RO2 - it got better animation system , which works very smoothly and you don't need to mocap those animations

[max power 21]

It's not the worst animation I've ever seen, but there's something going on with the way the feet are working. It looks like he drags his toes are something. And the crossovers I'm not so sure of.

[liquidpinky 11]

He looks like he is moving to the beat of some tune on his ipod, the way he bounces slightly with each step.

[Shelestov 270]

I think one of the reasons why A3 anims seem so robotic - there is no acceleration and deceleration within transitions betwin animations, and no stabilizing fluctuations at the end of a particular move. These are subtle touches that can add a lot of immersion, though in real life they are not so noticeable.

Edited May 7, 2012 by Shelestov

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Your animations would become faster and more fluid as you gain more XP.

also maybe some guerella fighters are a lot more hardened than some fresh out of the academy albeit pro trained soldiers, or because they may not carry everything plus the kitchen sink do you give them the ability to bound or move quicker?

It should be up to the mission maker to decide or implement. Add it as a module, or use another optional method. Forcing that kind of stuff onto players can only lead to the nearest clone shooter.

[kimozabbi 1]

I think one of the reasons why A3 anims seem so robotic - there is no acceleration and deceleration within transitions betwin animations, and no stabilizing fluctuations at the end of a particular move. These are subtle touches that can add a lot of immersion, though in real life they are not so noticeable.

You hit the nail square on the head, I was thinking exactly the same thing myself.

[gonk 0]

It should be up to the mission maker to decide or implement. Add it as a module, or use another optional method. Forcing that kind of stuff onto players can only lead to the nearest clone shooter.

or it will end up being a "Benny Hill Simulator"..

[4 IN 1 0]

Great. It should be kept then.

BIS should make the shooting more problematic as IRL, not as easy as it is already now. Dude right now firefights are over in a few minutes because of how precise aiming is and you complain it's not?

If popularity among people who just want to run around popping each other's heads at 100m is the measure of game's quality for you - then CoD is the best shooter in human history.

If you pay attention to fundamentals, shooting while moving is the same as shooting still, all you need to do is to isolate upper body from lower body movement and smooth out yor steps,which ARMA clearly fail to do.

[NoRailgunner 0]

Those anims could use a little more real world physics eg inertia so they won't look too gamey + instant/strange. Please don't add/force achievements/rewards XP like "faster/fluid animations", "supersteady aim" or any other of those "SergeantMasterSuperSpecialOperator" skills.....

[msy 22]

I think one of the reasons why A3 anims seem so robotic - there is no acceleration and deceleration within transitions betwin animations, and no stabilizing fluctuations at the end of a particular move. These are subtle touches that can add a lot of immersion, though in real life they are not so noticeable.

I agree, it needs some transition before the next animation beginning.

[slatts 1978]

I agree, it needs some transition before the next animation beginning.

they're not finished yet...

[mrcash2009 0]

True we are seeing still WIP, but in the finished article we get to see what people are asking, then finally it will truly "Feel" a leap ahead. Nail this and finally all the silly COD/BF3 posters wont ever have excuses to post "ZOMG!!! ANIMZ LOLZ!!" .. not that its really wanted anyway.

If I play arma 3 and the level is upped on everything but my body still sniffs of Arma2/1 ... I would be a little "miffed" .. I doubt it though.

That video was impressive, esp the water aspect cruise missiles from subs ... I think Mandoble with have a field day :)

[krazikilla 5]

Bikini girl is using WIP male animations since female version isnt finished yet (that said i am not responsible for unarmed cycles - just a headsup before u stone me publically :)). And as for headbob looking like in arma1 - headbob is a matter of tweaking mostly.

I hope you dont say the male and armed anims are finsihed?

They dont look good yet to be honest.

Bit very arcada- stylish, like they have no weight.

Also, Please dear BIS make proper Gun sights like RO2 or similar. The black surrounding isnt very up to date.

Everything else looks pretty much awesome though :)

[4 IN 1 0]

I hope you dont say the male and armed anims are finsihed?

They dont look good yet to be honest.

Bit very arcada- stylish, like they have no weight.

Also, Please dear BIS make proper Gun sights like RO2 or similar. The black surrounding isnt very up to date.

Everything else looks pretty much awesome though :)

I'd rather they spend time on finding a way to make reflex sight work as they should instead of some fancy RTT scope that totally eats up performance(which is already on the edge of between good and bad)

[PuFu 4600]

they're not finished yet...

while that is true, take notice of the following:

In A2, blending animations is NOT possible afaik. As in morphing one animation with another to get a transition between them. I really hope that limitation was somewhat overcome.

Surely, you could mocap everything, but you would have a continuous animations instead of iindividual ones. The best way to do it is, for instance walk to crouch: 2 animations, being able to blend/morph them, instead of having 3 individual animation files: one for walking, one for crouching and one of walking crouched...

[lapa 1]

I remember these exact discussions just a couple of months before the release of Arma1 and Arma2. People kept saying how the released videos were work in progress and how the finished product was going to be something completely different. In both cases, it was evident that BIS was working on a tight release schedule and there simply wasn't enough time or manpower to tackle everything.

A lot was only slightly improved from previous incarnations of the game engine - from the perspective of the end-user, of course. BIS probably has spent a lot of time reworking key aspects of the game engine to allow for new features and improve some of the old ones. Still there may be a lot that can't feasibly be changed without reworking the code from the ground up. Maybe there just is a point to which the animation system can be honed without starting to change everything else as well, so to speak.

At any rate, let us hope this time BIS has enough time to finish the game before the release. At least the community alpha phase suggests that there's slightly more time to tweak the game.

One thing is certain, Arma3 will be an improvement over Arma2. To what extent, we shall see.

[Mr. Charles 22]

I'd rather they spend time on finding a way to make reflex sight work as they should instead of some fancy RTT scope that totally eats up performance(which is already on the edge of between good and bad)

I think RTT is heavily optimized for A3. There is a screen of the M-ATV (or so) with 5 or 6 RTT Sources, so we could have one little RTT in our scopes ;)

[4 IN 1 0]

I think RTT is heavily optimized for A3. There is a screen of the M-ATV (or so) with 5 or 6 RTT Sources, so we could have one little RTT in our scopes ;)

It is optimized for vehicle compartment , which do not have as much detail rendering when look from outside in most case

[nodunit 397]

It is optimized for vehicle compartment , which do not have as much detail rendering when look from outside in most case

Depends on how it is done, for example some cases of RTT use less anti aliasing to soften the impact, others remove a few shaders. Outside of FOV one can't really optimize one without doing so for the other, the difference here is how wide of an angle and view port do we see through the scope. If, as the example is given from RO2 image, then surely one single, possibly wider source would not take more processing than rendering from four different camera's drawing upon four different scenes, much less with all of these in view at once.

In fact missing on such an opportunity as this would be a sad one indeed, not only do we have RTT capability, but as pointed out from the new video, there is also a shader that can bend light to create mirage and heat effects, and as such could be (at least in theory pending on how it functions) create a scope that would bend the image around the edges as well.

Of course if the developers don't do it then the community certainly shall, I know I've already got a few plans for that render to texture capability..oh yes.