GC 2008 Press Coverage

[Barely-injured 0]

Of course with a small dev team, you can't do everything... but, if you actually care what the community thinks, you would fix/change/add the main things on their wishlist. And Idk about you, but I haven't seen anything more sought after then improved vehicle handleing/targeting/damage. Yet... there dosn't appear, and there has been no mention of, any serious improvement in this area.

uh hello...... AI ?!!  

that is the simple most requested area of improvement that people were talking about ever since arma 1.0

this was indeed the top thing on most peoples wish list and that is what devs have stated that they are working to improve.

Besides i dont see why did you bring up this whole improved vehicles thing now, as Suma already said long time ago that there would not be alot of improvements in this department. Not that BIS have the resources to make something like that even if they wanted to.

I would be lying if i didnt say that i too sometimes have dreams about an arma with proper radars FCSs FLIRs and what not, but in the end we have to face the realities of what we have and make the best of it.

[sniper pilot 36]

...that is the simple most requested area of improvement that people were talking about ever since arma 1.0...

Correction, that is the simple most requested area of improvement that people were talking about ever since OFP 1.0...

[jfish83 0]

Right on

[EricM 0]

I think Arma2 already showed various gameplay enhancement as pointed before : Micro-AI, command system (simplified and higher-command), first aid and bandage, dragging wounded, dynamic discussion, better civilian life and wildlife, partly destructible buildings where you can hide (and that AI can use), reloading while walking, moving with binocs, true Vtol, more factions (US, Chernarus, Rebels, Russia)

+ possibly 3D editor (not realtime, but something like that was announced some time ago, tbc)

Not counting the most important gameplay : try to make features work and kill as many bugs as possible !

Yet I would love to know if those cockpit screens are working ingame, or if it's just another trick like in Arma... It would be nice to have a camera view in one of those...

[Kirq 0]

I saw dragging but no first aid and bandaging, Can You link the video please ?

[MBot 0]

Micro-AI, suppression, cover and animation/movement system haven't realy been shown yet, only talked about. The GC08 presentation was mostly about graphics and the world (which we knew was going to be great anyway). Considering the former will by the core-gameplay of Arma II, I am looking forward to some exciting and major relevations in the comming months (or at least I hope they will come).

[EricM 0]

First aid was announced, not showed... granted.

[Average Joe 0]

First aid was announced, not showed... granted.

Eric, did you miss the ingame video where a soldier carrys another, drops him and then another begins first aid on him?

[Kirq 0]

First aid was announced, not showed... granted.

Eric, did you miss the ingame video where a soldier carrys another, drops him and then another begins first aid on him?

Ahhh now I rememeber that, it was a bit buged if I recall, medic first started to provide first aid on the ground 2-3 meters away from wounded soldier, then he warped to the soldier and begun to "shake" during first aid animation.

Dragging and carying animations looks top notch, I wonder what will be the diference in gameplay between thos two action I suspect that :

-dragging = quick reaction on surprise contact, slow movement

-carying = slow reaction reaction but faster movement

[EricM 0]

Quote[/b] ]did you miss the ingame video where a soldier carrys another, drops him and then another begins first aid on him?

I think I did but but then again I saw bandage recently in a XAM mod video, so I wasn't sure and thought I had mixed both...

Maybe dragging = slow but you can use your gun (albeit with lower accuracy for fire cover) with other hand,

Carrying = faster but no possibility to use guns... (you need to hold the guy...

[paragraphic l 2]

Maybe dragging = slow but you can use your gun (albeit with lower accuracy for fire cover) with other hand,

Carrying = faster but no possibility to use guns... (you need to hold the guy...

Well maybe it's also better for the injured soldier that he is not being dragged the entire time, try to imagine how that feels when shot in the but or upper back leg.

[stakex 0]

Well you know, its all a matter of gameplay vs eyecandy. BIS obviouslly is more concerned with the look of the game, then the actual gameplay factor... as most of the major improvements to the game have taken place in the graphics department. In fact, there dosn't really seem to be one MAJOR improvement to gameplay compared to ArmA. It would seem that the target for ArmA2 is the 360 community, and not the long time series fans... who aside from the BIS suckups, don't want yet another repeat performance with ArmA2.

Because Micro-AI, Macro-Command, VTOL, carrying wounded people, talking to anyone on the battlefield and a better bullet penetration model has absolutely nothing to do with better gameplay.

Ok yes, better AI (if it is actually better, as this still remains to be seen) was actually the number 1 thing everyone wanted... so forgive me for that one. And yes, that better AI will improve gameplay allot, but the rest of thoes features you mentioned are very minor, and are not MAJOR changes to the gameplay.

Battlefield clearence was done for VBS2 and likely was just ported to ArmA2 to BIS likely spent very little dev time on it, bullet penetrastion was done in ArmA1, and the conversation system might be allot of fun... but if its not hardcoded into the system, and is just in the campaign, its all but useless aside from said campaign.

But still... aside from the AI, thoes are all minor additions in terms of gameplay. None of the outdated game system in ArmA1 are being overhauled, and large portions of ArmA2 are likely going to stay outdated. Its kinda sad seeing people praiseing BIS for mediocrity in this department...

And Again I don't think it has much to do with BIS having a small dev team... it has more to do with their simple desier to make the game look better, instead of play better. Many small dev teams have built games from scratch in three years... BIS has simply been adding to an existing game platform for the last 4 years. So unless half of BIS's team are working on a new game now... theres no reason that major gameplay improvements couldn't have been made.

[Commando84 0]

I dunno i think there is a script line that populates towns with civilians, maybe it also is a script line that activates the civilian intel thing. If they have seen enemies or not and what they remember.

[Raphier 0]

I think Arma2 already showed various gameplay enhancement as pointed before : Micro-AI, command system (simplified and higher-command), first aid and bandage, dragging wounded, dynamic discussion, better civilian life and wildlife, partly destructible buildings where you can hide (and that AI can use), reloading while walking, moving with binocs, true Vtol, more factions (US, Chernarus, Rebels, Russia)

+ possibly 3D editor (not realtime, but something like that was announced some time ago, tbc)

Not counting the most important gameplay : try to make features work and kill as many bugs as possible !

Yet I would love to know if those cockpit screens are working ingame, or if it's just another trick like in Arma... It would be nice to have a camera view in one of those...

Dragging was in ARMA, as an deleted feature. Still, it's same animation, now just with added script!

Tadaa!

[NeMeSiS 11]

I think Arma2 already showed various gameplay enhancement as pointed before : Micro-AI, command system (simplified and higher-command), first aid and bandage, dragging wounded, dynamic discussion, better civilian life and wildlife, partly destructible buildings where you can hide (and that AI can use), reloading while walking, moving with binocs, true Vtol, more factions (US, Chernarus, Rebels, Russia)

+ possibly 3D editor (not realtime, but something like that was announced some time ago, tbc)

Not counting the most important gameplay : try to make features work and kill as many bugs as possible !

Yet I would love to know if those cockpit screens are working ingame, or if it's just another trick like in Arma... It would be nice to have a camera view in one of those...

Dragging was in ARMA, as an deleted feature. Still, it's same animation, now just with added script!

Tadaa!

It was? I didnt know ArmA supported multiple units for 1 animation (As needed for the carrying animation).

[paragraphic l 2]

It was? I didnt know ArmA supported multiple units for 1 animation (As needed for the carrying animation).

In the SLX mod it's been done by making dragging a 'driver'-animation and being dragged a 'passenger'-animation and made it all as one vehicle... AFAIK and in the videos for ArmAII it looks like the same system

[The_Captain 0]

Are any improvements by BI that aren't in someone's 'favorite area' automatically 'minor, insignificiant' improvements?

It seems many of Arma2's features are new, hard coded into the engine, and took a fair amount of work. I remember reading somewhere (or seeing in a video?) that most of VBS' features are scripted in to the Arma/VBS2 engine, while similar features are hard coded completeley differently into the Arma 2 engine.

I really don't think BIS is being lazy and just copy/pasting code from the older engine...

[NeMeSiS 11]

It was? I didnt know ArmA supported multiple units for 1 animation (As needed for the carrying animation).

In the SLX mod it's been done by making dragging a 'driver'-animation and being dragged a 'passenger'-animation and made it all as one vehicle... AFAIK and in the videos for ArmAII   it looks like the same system

I know but it didnt look like it at all, the 'pick up' and 'being picked up' animations were perfectly synchronized, and it looked like he was actually walking, not sliding around in an invisible vehicle.

And im still unaware of these animations being present in ArmA even though i spitted trough alot of the animations for my 'AI animation player' when i tried to make the AI a bit more lifelike

[Heatseeker 0]

I believe the Micro a.i. or improved a.i. pathfinding precision might be more of a change to the pathway lods in the maps and the way the a.i uses them. In Arma the a.i. move in the middle of a street just like a car does because of that. Maybe they will define diferent pathways for vehicles and infantry and use many infantry pathways in towns.

SwitchMoving animations to have the a.i. feel more alive is not a dramatic change to the a.i. either, that was something BIS considered for OPF (the animations existed).

But the a.i. itself is not bad, its still the best real a.i. out there, we wouldnt have 98% of the MP servers playing coop if the a.i. was poor.

About the campaign, saving and passing data isnt something new either, it was used in the OPF:R campaign, maybe BIS will expand on the possibilities of said feature.

So... i think we going the get a better game but not many improvements (gameplay and features).

[4 IN 1 0]

i wondered if you guys have saw the VBS VTK video

what we have now was pretty much the same thing we saw in that video

[Törni 0]

It would take much longer if everything would be made again from the scratch. I see no problem in improving the existing technology. It is the end result that counts.

[Raphier 0]

It would take much longer if everything would be made again from the scratch. I see no problem in improving the existing technology. It is the end result that counts.

But they have been working on this game since OFP1 !

[r3volution 0]

Working on the same game engine for years is perfectly acceptable, as long as you streamline code and expand the capacity of the engine as you go. I just hope the performance enhancements they were talking about are as good as they say, like Arma 2 running as well as or better than Arma.

[Praelium 0]

New video at http://www.armabase.de

Can someone translate both the text on the website and the questions from the video?

[Maddmatt 1]

In the SLX mod it's been done by making dragging a 'driver'-animation and being dragged a 'passenger'-animation and made it all as one vehicle... AFAIK and in the videos for ArmAII   it looks like the same system

I doubt it. Good for a mod, but developers using a hack like that in their own engine? Unlikely.