Arma 3 dev team decreasing?

[Undeceived 392]

Hope this is the right place for this thread. If not, just move it elsewhere.

 

 

I noticed this sentence in the new arcticle from Jay (RiE):

 

Quote

It's no secret that our team is smaller now than it once was, but the passion and commitment to the platform is as strong as ever.

 

If I'm correct he's talking about the A3 dev team.

 

As I don't think BI is firing waves of people  and knowing that there's no thoughtless or needless "filling" sentences in such reports, I found it quite an interesting piece of information. IMO it could hint at a new big project (which wouldn't be a surprise ), but of course it could mean something else too.

[warden_1 1070]

I think he means the team working directly on A3 stuff. They have been embracing outsourcing to former Arma modders and their small studios more now.

[Undeceived 392]

Ok, could be. I'm thinking of the new Amsterdam studio too, so he could be talking about "Team Mike". Anyway that sentence had that really special touch when I read it the first time. 

 

EDIT:
Well, that's probably bullshit as the Amsterdam team is working directly on Arma 3 (Orange)...

[ProfTournesol 956]

I'm curious to know what the next big thing could be though.

[Sniperwolf572 758]

1.) Senior Leads moving onto other projects that are not public for a while now. What are we on now, like a third or fourth Arma 3 project lead?

2.) Second wave of DLC's post-expansion to smooth out the money income

3.) Enfusion engine has been in the pipe and public knowledge for what feels like forever now

4.) Public admittance of people moving to other projects. Artists clearly busy with something else if B01 did the art.

5.) More community people being hired/injected into the Arma 3 sunset-period dev team

 

"Gee, I wonder what's going on" said nobody who can read between the lines. 

[fn_Quiksilver 1636]

1 hour ago, Undeceived said:

Hope this is the right place for this thread. If not, just move it elsewhere.

 

 

I noticed this sentence in the new arcticle from Jay (RiE):

 

 

If I'm correct he's talking about the A3 dev team.

 

As I don't think BI is firing waves of people  and knowing that there's no thoughtless or needless "filling" sentences in such reports, I found it quite an interesting piece of information. IMO it could hint at a new big project (which wouldn't be a surprise ), but of course it could mean something else too.

 

look back to communications around June/July 2016 when Apex was published, most of the team has transitioned to new unannounced project about a year ago.

[Undeceived 392]

29 minutes ago, Sniperwolf572 said:

1.) Senior Leads moving onto other projects that are not public for a while now. What are we on now, like a third or fourth Arma 3 project lead?

2.) Second wave of DLC's post-expansion to smooth out the money income

3.) Enfusion engine has been in the pipe and public knowledge for what feels like forever now

4.) Public admittance of people moving to other projects. Artists clearly busy with something else if B01 did the art.

5.) More community people being hired/injected into the Arma 3 sunset-period dev team

 

"Gee, I wonder what's going on" said nobody who can read between the lines. 

 

Yeah, you're right of course, especially point 3 is quite obvious (didn't notice too much of the other points though, apart from the logic of 2. Oh and the previous A3 lead went to the Amsterdam studio which is working on Arma 3 content - at least "officially" ).So everyone knows they're up to something and that's not DayZ alone. But AFAIK it's rather one of the first times where they directly hint something in their blogs.

[R0adki11 3949]

There probably working on Half Life 3 Arma4. 

[warden_1 1070]

I would welcome another major expansion with a few maps and some new units and engine features. Much larger than Apex and with a $60 price tag to push their cash flow along.

[Rich_R 1087]

10 minutes ago, warden_1 said:

I would welcome another major expansion with a few maps and some new units and engine features. Much larger than Apex and with a $60 price tag to push their cash flow along.

 

Agree, IMHO Bi is one the few game developers left from a bygone era who appear to do it for the passion and seem to really care about the player and their product. Anything that helps keep doing what they do I'm up for :)

[drebin052 324]

5 hours ago, warden_1 said:

a few maps

 

Unlikely.

 

While it would be very nice to have, I doubt that there will be any more terrains that get officially added to A3 after Malden 2035. It took at least two years to do just one smaller terrain like Tanoa for instance, and that was with the full team working behind it.

 

Quote

and some new units and engine features. Much larger than Apex and with a $60 price tag to push their cash flow along.

 

Hate to be a buzzkill, but while continual upgrades to the engine are to be expected, content-wise Helicopters, Apex, and Jets have already covered all of the important aspects of fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, with Marksmen handling the infantry side of things. Both Orange/Tac-Ops and Tanks will then fill the remaining gaps left for infantry and ground vehicles. So I don't think there'll be another full size expansion on the scale of say, Operation Arrowhead, that would add entire factions with new toys.

 

Don't get me wrong of course. All of this would be very nice to have but it's pretty certain at this point that none of it is going to happen with a reduced team.

 

Like @Sniperwolf572 said, if there's going to be anything new that gets added post-Tanks DLC, then it'll be outsourced to external devs like B01. And while the quality of the content that they make is also excellent as we saw with Jets DLC, they generally aren't on the same scale as Apex content-wise.

[toiletuser 29]

arma is their flagship, they are moving team to new title (i hope aarma4) cos a3 does not need as much devs since minor dlc's are left to be done. i guess!

it is a good news if you ask me

[Rich_R 1087]

Here's a few thoughts - As BI has proven with porting of assets, game design rarely cleanly separates one engine from another. With this in mind, could BI create forward-looking assets, easily converted to a new game engine.

 

Also, as BI are in the habit of contracting work out and looking to modders for paid content, could they expand that to many of the incredible talented players that fill these forums? Both allow for additional assets to keep the bank account where it needs to be while/if they are working on the next stage of Arma.

 

Looking to the original focus of this thread, I think its ironic in this time of corporate game developers trimming back studios and cutting staff, BI seem to cruise along, doing what they do best :)

[[evo] dan 79]

21 hours ago, Sniperwolf572 said:

1.) Senior Leads moving onto other projects that are not public for a while now. What are we on now, like a third or fourth Arma 3 project lead?

2.) Second wave of DLC's post-expansion to smooth out the money income

3.) Enfusion engine has been in the pipe and public knowledge for what feels like forever now

4.) Public admittance of people moving to other projects. Artists clearly busy with something else if B01 did the art.

5.) More community people being hired/injected into the Arma 3 sunset-period dev team

 

"Gee, I wonder what's going on" said nobody who can read between the lines. 

Arma 4? BIS Cake and Beer Simulator?

[nikiforos 450]

Maybe moving on to Arma 4 with the Enfusion engine :)

[[evo] dan 79]

Just now, nikiforos said:

Maybe moving on to Arma 4 with the Enfusion engine :)

Hopefully with upgrade scripting, 3d editor out of the box, and better multiplayer physics (objects being able to stay on each other without scripting). its probably going to be a Czech drinking sim though.

[R0adki11 3949]

3 hours ago, Rich_R said:

Also, as BI are in the habit of contracting work out and looking to modders for paid content, could they expand that to many of the incredible talented players that fill these forums? Both allow for additional assets to keep the bank account where it needs to be while/if they are working on the next stage of Arma.

This already been done with the Jet DLC, i know quite a few forum members who have worked on content for it as part of B01. I assume you mean to expand and create further DLCs beyond the existing specified DLCs?

 

[Rich_R 1087]

3 minutes ago, R0adki11 said:

This already been done with the Jet DLC, i know quite a few forum members who have worked on content for it as part of B01. I assume you mean to expand and create further DLCs beyond the existing specified DLCs?

 

 

Exactly. Continue the contracting out of asset development.

[dlegion 98]

Haha....maybe they are massing resources to finally fix immensely complex features like attach explosives to vehicles/objects or add the incredible ability to push a vehicle and drag a soldier !

[andersson 285]

Robot lawnmower simulation game.

[fn_Quiksilver 1636]

4 hours ago, dlegion said:

Haha....maybe they are massing resources to finally fix immensely complex features like attach explosives to vehicles/objects or add the incredible ability to push a vehicle and drag a soldier !

 

cant tell if sarcasm :) an attach-explosive script only requires about 10 lines of SQF now

[nikiforos 450]

What a journey but it seems Arma 3 nears the end of the journey.. Thanks for all the memories and hopefully let's welcome the new era.

[dlegion 98]

1 hour ago, fn_Quiksilver said:

 

cant tell if sarcasm :) an attach-explosive script only requires about 10 lines of SQF now

....heh with words its always easy.
i did it for real, and (for an inexperienced scripter with not much time to waste re-inventing the wheel) it took way more, and still main problem is that its not "standard".
every server will not have attach explosives, logistic (move a simple sandbag is still not possible), drag/push an object or a soldier ecc...
its a shame that infantry gameplay its the weakest point of the entire ARMA series.

here's the topic about my axed features:

 

[Greenfist 1863]

22 minutes ago, dlegion said:

....heh with words its always easy.
i did it for real, and (for an inexperienced scripter with not much time to waste re-inventing the wheel) it took way more, and still main problem is that its not "standard".
every server will not have attach explosives, logistic (move a simple sandbag is still not possible), drag/push an object or a soldier ecc...
its a shame that infantry gameplay its the weakest point of the entire ARMA series.

here's the topic about my axed features:

 

I wouldn't call putting someone else script in zip file "doing it".  :)

Perhaps things like these are what BI considers good for community made applications. They can't possible do every little thing for us, instead, they provide us with the tools do it. After all Arma is platform, not a complete game in itself.

 

I sort of hoped Bohemia would have dropped the most of the active development at Apex, and concentrate on the next generation. But after seeing the 64bit and Jets I'm glad they're still following through with it.

[road runner 4344]

3 hours ago, fn_Quiksilver said:

 

cant tell if sarcasm :) an attach-explosive script only requires about 10 lines of SQF now

Not on the hulls of ships it's not!! I've tried all the attach to mods and scripts, and just cannot get the explosives to attach to the trawler hull underwater, the charges keep dropping to the sea bed!!

I've seen a couple of old videos of this working, but having a hard time to get it working, as I wanted to have the Helo cast insertion, swim to blow up a spyship, use the sinking trawler script once the explosive detonate, but the fucking charges keep falling off!!