BASTEK
released December 16th, 2021

Hi all. I'm Vectif, I've worked on a few terrains previously (namely Djalka, and Straya), and I'd just like to come here to announce the next project I've begun working on; Bastek. A proof-of-concept terrain of attempting to create middle-eastern themed terrain for Arma 3 using Arma 3 assets. The idea of avoiding the usage of the Arma 2 assets nearly every middle east terrain uses will hopefully make Bastek have it's own style, and a unique one at it. The Arma 2 assets are great and lovely, but too many middle-east terrains look just like Takistan and Zargabad.

So this is welcome, and feel free to join me on my journey of creating this terrain; I'm very excited for this project, and middle-east is one of my favourite themes in maps and videogames. I've been taking the time to research real life imagery and also playing multiple games set in middle-east to try and get as close as I possibly can to something believable and immersive. Not to mention something light in size and also very versatile.

This project is fictional, and it's fully made from scratch. I drew the heightmap in greyscale and curated vanilla A3 objects that would fit the theme, alongside researching real-life images and playing games set in the theme.

CLICK FOR ZOOM OR OPEN SEPARATELY FOR MORE DETAIL. Newer screenshots on newer replies to the thread.



Story & Context
Bastek is a fictional terrain, however, a lot of refferences and influences are taken from diverse areas of the world, such as; Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Egypt, and Istanbul. So you may see a lot of variety in this regard as you go from area to area. Bastek is also canonically set in a time of economic and political turmoil. There is a vast difference between the richer and poorer areas, which has caused many riots and fights in the region. There's a lot of ideals in conflict that range from religion to politics and how the wealth should be divided in such regions, however, all this is often overshadowed by the success and beauty of the more popular and developed parts of the region. A once succesful country, now heading towards war. Insurgencies arise, countries begin to show support... and interest... meanwhile private military companies are starting to exploit the grey areas of their contracts.

Technical details
8km size
2m cell size
Expected filesize: under 200MB (this is very subject to change!)
Current object count: 50k

Goals
First and foremost, I'd like to finish the terrain and get it out there, I hope this will provide the Arma community with a good and brand new middle eastern terrain, not to mention an unique one. I am putting my all into the design of the layouts and object placement of this terrain to try and make it the best I can both in terms of looks and gameplay. Everywhere I can I will try to place gaps, tactical vantage positions, ladders, stairs, connectors and much more to try and allow the players to be creative when traversing the terrain.

Support the creator
If you like my work, please consider donating! My computer is very budget and electronics are very expensive where I live, I don't have all the means nor the money to afford better hardware, I would appreciate having a more powerful computer for making more complex terrains in the future, not to mention work in a plethora of other projects I'm passionate about, all the things I make are passion projects of mine that I work on during my free time. Any amount is greatly appreciated and helpful, even just a single dollar is a lot for me. If you like what I do, this would help me a lot.
Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/vectif

If you have any ideas, suggestions, refferences, or would like to offer help or support me with anything in specific let me know! Thanks!
-Vectif.

Below in my thread replies you will see the progress of this terrain, from day one to current time as you progress in the timeline.