Steam API / Achievements

[StankyKneePads 1]

Being as though we are seeing further integration into Steam, will we see Steam Achievements work their way into the full release campaigns and availability for us to have custom achievements in our missions?

[Fushko 59]

I would like to have achievements that promote multiplayer gameplay e.g. "Play in a multiplayer session with 5 or more friends" "Heal a total of 1000 soldiers in a muliplayer session" or the like.

[ric 1]

Being as though we are seeing further integration into Steam, will we see Steam Achievements work their way into the full release campaigns and availability for us to have custom achievements in our missions?

ummmm do you play BF3?

[jibemorel 10]

xXxx360noscoperoflstompXxxX achievement, pleazzz BIS. Or not...

[dale0404 5]

Somehow I don't think achievements are needed for A3, so let's NOT DO THIS!!!

[BadHabitz 235]

I would guess that achievements will be tied to all of the official BIS content, like the showcases and campaigns. Maybe even creep into the multiplayer, but not more than "Played multiplayer" and "(number) of hours in multiplayer". I highly doubt there would be any type of stat tracking and achievements tied together for multiplayer. Otherwise I'd design a scenario to pad my stats to a ridiculous level.

[Deadfast 43]

My personal dislike of achievements aside, I don't think you could ever have them in a game so open to modding as Arma - people could just give themselves whatever achievement they wanted.

[da12thMonkey 1943]

There is a cfgAchievements section that you can see in the ingame config browser, which details the following achievements: "Hunter", "Marksman", "Quartermaster", "SkyHigh" and "Speedfreak".

However, they're obviously not active and I guess they're probably just a remnant of BIS testing out what was feasible for Arma 3 achievements, given the open, modifiable nature of the game.

[Dwarden 1125]

ingame achievement system (non-STEAM) was part of A2/OA ... you could unlock it while playing armory missions :)

[kylania 568]

My personal dislike of achievements aside, I don't think you could ever have them in a game so open to modding as Arma - people could just give themselves whatever achievement they wanted.

Heh I did this in Take on Mars. A little ashamed, but oh well. :) They had two achievements specifically for cheating, so I feel justified!

[-=seany=- 5]

Why would anyone be against achievements? They are pretty much synonymous with Steam releases, so I imagine that there will be official BIS achievements. Personally, they are not something I have aimed for why playing a game (not yet anyway). But some times I do smile or take notice of achievements that appear for some games I play. Eg noticing I have built "1000 mines across any number of play throughs" in Civ5 etc. They are pretty harmless and some people enjoy completing them.

You could get one for being kicked By BattlEye more than three times in a row :D

Or one for dieing in a helicopter crash less than 10 seconds after it taking off

Just kidding of course ;)

Edited August 18, 2013 by -=seany=-

[progamer 14]

The thing you guys and gals miss in Arma 3 is that you could very simply cheat to get all the achievements and to prevent that would go against the openness of Arma. The achievements would have to be something just for fun but without any "cheat" protection.

[nuxil 2]

achievements in arma3. oww. what a horrible thought.

if bis does this. they might as well sell their soul and go for a fully Bf/Cod style game.

im not happy about the game atm. please dont make me more unhappy. "no joke"

Edited August 18, 2013 by nuxil

[-=seany=- 5]

achievements in arma3. oww. what a horrible thought.

if bis does this. they might as well sell their soul and go for a fully Bf/Cod style game.

im not happy about the game atm. please dont make me more unhappy. "no joke"

I just don't understand this type opinion I see so many times from this community when some thing like Steam integration is announced, or the Workshop is announced, or the possibility of achievements. We get these kind of reactions all the time and it baffles the hell out of me (probably the Devs too). Remember when BIS added "tips" to the loading screen in OA, I could only laugh at some of the reactions people had.

Give me a rational explanation as to why Achievements are "a horrible thought". Explain to me how it can make your time playing the game worse?

It's like a bunch of old grandads complaining about a digital radio tuner or having to use text messaging. :D

[ProfTournesol 956]

I couldn't care less about steam achievements, but i agree they are harmless.

[tonygrunt 10]

The way I see it achievements in Arma 3 would be pointless and a waste of time due to the openness of the game. People would create missions, addons and achievement servers that would give you all the achievements in no time.

If something can be ranked people will abuse it.

[nuxil 2]

Give me a rational explanation as to why Achievements are "a horrible thought". Explain to me how it can make your time playing the game worse?

It's like a bunch of old grandads complaining about a digital radio tuner or having to use text messaging. :D

There are several rerasons, How to implement it, What should it be for?. (weapons, medals etc), Weapons achievements would the worst ever as you restrict players, you will just noobify new players with less powerfull weapons.

Would it popup during gamplay?. (you are awarded with this awesome stupid achievements that has no meaning!)

If you like achievements for walking the longest distance, 100+ kills , etc. This can already be done by the mission maker(s).

Another reason, The dev should focus on other things than stupid achievements ingame. The game has such a bad performance and other issue that should be Pri 1, and i dont want to see the devs spend time on something idiotc as achievements.

So in fact all the achievements you want can be done by the mission maker or mod's, so if you really want this why not just do it yourself.

Steam api for achievements is just a bad thought, I dont think you really had a good thought about it espessialy for Multiplayer.

Lets say there was a achievements for 100 kills. whats stopping me from making a script that just sends guided bullets to all players or ai.? basicly nothing.

It also brings unessescary stats hores to the game. which we dont need.

For single player. they could just same method as they did in Oa. no need to mess around with Steam Api for it.

Edited August 18, 2013 by nuxil

[-=seany=- 5]

Weapons achievements would the worst ever as you restrict players, you will just noobify new players with less powerfull weapons.

What does this mean, how would you restrict players? There are no unlocks etc (is that what you mean?), it's just a icon and info that appears in Steam

You seem to be equating it to global persistent stats/ranking system or some thing (a la BF2/3 etc). Steam achievements are just a fun novelty. They are not uber serious in game rank system with leader boards where people would cheat to get the best score (which in turn makes the stat system pointless). And if some one wanted to cheat to get them...who cares. They are only cheating themselves.

When I think of steam achievements for Arma3, I think they would most likely be focused on the firing range/challenges etc possibly the campaign also.

"Stat whores" are a null point too, again it's just for fun, there are no unlocks or in game rank. I could care less if some one else got all their achievements by exploiting. They are not on the same level as a persistent integrated ranking system that other games have. More a personal record/stat system, for your own enjoyment.

Again, I don't care if there are achievements or not. I just don't see a reason to be against them. It seems pretty harmless to me.

Edited August 18, 2013 by -=seany=-

[nuxil 2]

yes i might mix up persistent stats/rankin and achievements. but imo "they both sit in the same boat"

however, as you say. this would just for fun and is not some uber serious in game rank system. if its not seriouse and has no real meaning. why implement it. cant you have fun in a usermade mission which implements this?

all this can be done in missions. and nothing is stopping you from saving your stat/hits or whatever you want to your own database for a firerange or other missions for that matter.

i just dont like the achievements idea. some do, good for them. but im not a big fan of it.

[StankyKneePads 1]

Glad I was able to spark somewhat of a conversation over this.

My reasoning behind this is for more social engagement within the Steam community. I know the majority, from what I have seen across the forums, "loathe" steam for some reason.

On a business / marketing stand point the achievement system is a great opportunity. There are many people that use Steam that are quite a bit more engaged in the social aspect of Steam than I and I would guess most of you are. There are people that pay attention to what achievements their "friends" have gotten. Of course I have no inside stats, but I would be willing to bet that many downloads and sales are driven from these achievements being displayed on profiles. A vast enough amount of sales / downloads that wold make or break a company? Not likely, but every download / sale counts, specially when investment on a marketing strategy is low.

Putting more fingers out there to massage people into downloading mods, missions and purchasing the full version of Arma 3 certainly wouldn't hurt, what so ever. I know many of you that have been playing and modding the Arma series for a long time cringe at someone talking about "DayZ", but hey not knowing or ever engaging myself with the developers / owners of the Arma series, I am still willing to bet one of my testes that their feelings were not hurt what so ever when DayZ drove more sales of Arma 2. That was a whole other hand out there massaging sales. A few more fingers would be great.

To those saying that because Arma is a modifiable game and would lead to people cheating the system, therefore should not implement the Steam achievement system:

Why play / mod at all then?

I am not talking about a global ranking system, I am talking more along the lines of like what someone else mentioned. Heal so many players, destroyed this, destroyed that, completed "this mission", completed "that mission", "this challenge" completed in "3:45", etc.. All specific to each each mod,, letting modders come up with their own achievements for their missions.

[theevancat 277]

My personal dislike of achievements aside, I don't think you could ever have them in a game so open to modding as Arma - people could just give themselves whatever achievement they wanted.

They have achievements in TF2 and CS:GO - both games that are very open to modding (and have bots.) And yes, while a lot are very easy to get (camping an idle conveyer belt for your 50 kills with whatever weapon you need) there are quite a few that require incredibly specific situations that can't be done easily with AI and modded maps.

So there's a yes and a no for that aspect.

[Smurf 12]

So the people that care about it will make them by any means and those who don't like it eventually will make them. No one wins nothing, everyone is happy.