ArmA II: Operation Arrowhead discussion thread

[katipo66 94]

I think BIS should just focus solely on their editor, forget making campaigns... i reckon they could sell the editor as a stand alone package if they could make it to be friendly enough to the average user... like me!

They should make it easy to throw units down and have them patrol an area without need to scripting etc... if they could manage that sort of ease of use then i reckon they've got a winner! its an amazing editor already but its still not dreamweaver for want of a better example :)

the 2 main modules they should focus on are the ACM + SOM in my opinion, i currently play just those 2 together and love it, each preview is totally different (apart from som) i never know what to expect, but it could be even better, a whole lot better if i had a bit more control in the setup.

For example with the ACM module: if you could easily add certain unit and group load outs... damn just have it fully customisable so you can tick off a selection off units and groups etc you want to spawn. and also create some sort of border on the map so the battle may have structure

And for SOM: maybe more dynamic type missions, not overly dynamic but just a little more complexity and variety than current.

I reckon they could pass it off as some sort of combat generator or similar... they could setup some templates with a whole bunch of scenarios if people want to have more specific missions.

Its all about content management these days, people want the power to do things for themselves in a whole lot of areas, no one does war editor better than arma, well no one else does war editor!

With all the possibilities that the editor and arma can give you i think they could probably tie up the FPS market, ok maybe not :P but i can see the possibility in it.

So come on BIS.. quit making campaigns and give us a fully fledged stand alone editor!

Please :D

[That guy 10]

@katipo66

I disagree. a single player campaign gives the game focus, and context. with out it, its mostly just hollow having units. the campaign gives the game its soul

with context and events in the campaign, we have a nice backdrop, a "storyline" and such. it makes the world seem more alive. look what people have already done with the "canon" story in the form of missions and addons. hell look at arma 1 and all the fleshing out the SLA and RACS got.

plus, some people who play this game never take advantage of the editor. like one of my freinds. despite me showing him how it works on multiple occasions never uses it.

[katipo66 94]

@katipo66

I disagree. a single player campaign gives the game focus, and context. with out it, its mostly just hollow having units. the campaign gives the game its soul

with context and events in the campaign, we have a nice backdrop, a "storyline" and such. it makes the world seem more alive. look what people have already done with the "canon" story in the form of missions and addons. hell look at arma 1 and all the fleshing out the SLA and RACS got.

plus, some people who play this game never take advantage of the editor. like one of my freinds. despite me showing him how it works on multiple occasions never uses it.

I only played 1/4 of the campaign before i got bored? different strokes huh!

I dont think theres to much need for stories? and also the options for multiplayer etc.

[Vick 19]

@katipo66

I disagree. a single player campaign gives the game focus, and context. with out it, its mostly just hollow having units. the campaign gives the game its soul

with context and events in the campaign, we have a nice backdrop, a "storyline" and such. it makes the world seem more alive. look what people have already done with the "canon" story in the form of missions and addons. hell look at arma 1 and all the fleshing out the SLA and RACS got.

plus, some people who play this game never take advantage of the editor. like one of my freinds. despite me showing him how it works on multiple occasions never uses it.

not saying the campaign isnt needed, i agree with you there, but the editor eats up most my time second only to multiplayer. The campaign I've got less than 3-4 hours into

[catito14 0]

I only played 1/4 of the campaign before i got bored? different strokes huh!

I dont think theres to much need for stories? and also the options for multiplayer etc.

Well, that depends the type of campaing they will make .... ArmA1/QG/ArmA2 campaigns were really boring, lacks of emotions or surprises and extremely short.... but if they make a campaign like CWC or Resistance, well ... the succes will be assured. The CWC and Resistance campaigns was the mainly reason that made OFP in a legend.

[Flash Thunder 10]

I think BIS should just focus solely on their editor, forget making campaigns... i reckon they could sell the editor as a stand alone package if they could make it to be friendly enough to the average user... like me!

To make the Editor more accessible without dumbing it down, just implement some new tabs in the editor.

Weapon Loadout tab on the character selected, like in DR. Makes life alittle bit easier to choose which weapons you want to spawn with and the Noobies dont have to jump through some hoops to script it like in A2.

Also adding a Randomized button for your loadout and other stats would be a great addition.

Adding a Missions properties tab, so you can add the picture of the mission, Name, Breifing, objectives and other properties, currently have to do it the script way out of the game.

Intigrate Spawn tick box, for ease of use for spawning X object X unit, and other properties such as spawn X unit at Y Altitude.

I think making these things easier would be nicer to the new comers and it will make the game more accessible and less work to be done via script.

Very simple and Awesome things I hope BIS implements into the editor for OA. :)

Edited March 18, 2010 by Flash Thunder

[Big-Rooney 5]

I seriously doubt that there will be any major updates to the editor, if you look down to it the editor has really remained the same over OFP/ArmA1/ArmA2.

Now i didn't actually bother getting Dragon Rising so I know nothing about it, But Flash Thunder makes some good points there, Life would be alot easier for the less experienced players if you didn't have to go through alot of init coding to get the weapon you wanted. And if you could change all the things you need to do at the moment outside ArmA2 within the actually mission building environment

Edited March 18, 2010 by Big-Rooney

[AnimalMother92 10]

@Flash Thunder

That would certainly save time!

[Laqueesha 474]

Looks like the background picture on the official ArmA 2 YouTube page has been changed to show a PR photo still from Operation Arrowhead.

Good news for all of you camo enthusiasts, it shows a U.S. Army soldier wearing an ACU UCP uniform along with Crye Multicam equipment. Could this mean that Crye Multicam-equipped units will be in Operation Arrowhead? Only time will tell.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ARMA2official

Edited March 18, 2010 by Laqueesha

[Undeceived 392]

W000T, KSK!! :D

(I know, I'm pretty late ;) )

Edited March 18, 2010 by Undeceived

[katipo66 94]

@Flash Thunder

Yeah thats what i was trying to say :)

But i was on energy drinks and got carried away :p

I still feel theres a stand alone package somewhere in there though, just because the editor is so powerful and more importantly 'Addictive' as it is, just a bit daunting for the casual gamer as it stands now.

[AnimalMother92 10]

Looks like the background picture on the official ArmA 2 YouTube page has been changed to show a PR photo still from Operation Arrowhead.

Good news for all of you camo enthusiasts, it shows a U.S. Army soldier wearing an ACU UCP uniform along with Crye Multicam equipment. Could this mean that Crye Multicam-equipped units will be in Operation Arrowhead? Only time will tell.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ARMA2official

Woah nice catch! That made my day. Looks like the plethora of MC threads we made caught their attention :D

Is he wearing an ACUPAT top with Multicam pants? :eek:

Edited March 18, 2010 by AnimalMother92

[Alex72 1]

Yeah looks nice. Hope some new models with pants more tucked in and tighter along the leg comes as well. The pants on the still on that youtube pic looks proper mil. :)

[Flash Thunder 10]

@Flash Thunder

Yeah thats what i was trying to say :)

But i was on energy drinks and got carried away :p

I still feel theres a stand alone package somewhere in there though, just because the editor is so powerful and more importantly 'Addictive' as it is, just a bit daunting for the casual gamer as it stands now.

Exactly. Plus it makes sense seeing how BIS advertises the Editor to be User Friendly and intuitive yet simple things like loadouts and respawns require Scripting knowledge??

Time well tell it would save alot of time, for people like me who use the editor 95% of the time when playing Arma 2.

Thanks for pointing that out Laqueesha :D

[[GLT] Legislator 66]

I wonder why people won't understand that the editor itself is a "script" if I may call it so. The only difference is that scripting commands are hidden behind buttons. If you add a button for every function and scripting command, you can forget the editor. When I started editing 5 years ago I read the whole Krawall forums editing section. There was nobody who helped me, I did everything by myself. Some people should stop complaining and start doing something instead. It's easy to blame anything inside the game but changing vital elements is a very difficult matter. However that doesn't mean I'm against improving or extending the editor. I just wouldn't expect them in Operation Arrowhead. Maybe it's the best to reintroduce the cadett and advanced mode of the editor as it as set up in Operation Flashpoint. Beginners could have "more buttons" to click on. But I think this is starting to get offtopic.

I'm open for a release in April 2010 :)

[Flash Thunder 10]

I'm open for a release in April 2010 :)

Ha I dont want another rushed project, 9 months isnt enough time.

I would say it will come out in June at the earliest October being the latest.

Hopefully their publishers will give them some breathing room.

I really want to hear this new sound engine that they're working on, rebuilding it entirely.

More screenshots please! Make for good wallpaper!

[Lhowon 10]

I really want to hear this new sound engine that they're working on, rebuilding it entirely.

I'm not sure what to think of this, on the one hand an overhauled engine is superb, but that's not the same thing as saying the sounds themselves will be different. Perhaps they will be processed differently and with better quality, but unless they have the original high quality recordings to put back in (assuming those recordings are great as well...) I'm not sure we can expect the default sounds to be dramatically better.

I don't know much about how all this works, but sadly I don't see a concrete reason for thinking everything will sound a lot better yet. Sure hope so though.

[cross 1]

Something for a laugh...

loled at the tags on Youtube page (

) while reading.... so you can end up here if you search "original free girls" or "standalone girl simulator" :D

..along with Kawaii: Ultimate dating simulator :D

Edited March 18, 2010 by Cross

[Laqueesha 474]

Something for a laugh...

loled at the tags on Youtube page (

) while reading.... so you can end up here if you search "original free girls" or "standalone girl simulator" :D

..along with Kawaii: Ultimate dating simulator :D

Girl scar patch. :D

[EricM 0]

Weapon Loadout tab [...] Missions properties tab.

Exactly. Together with a couple more of those wonderful modules and a fully functional 3D editor (unlike the one hidden in Arma 2) that would make our lives much easier...

[.Phoenix. 10]

Looking good, and it's nice to see some different Blufor than just the US armed forces. Also some great additions to the arsenal on all sides and a very good looking island.

And yes I do realise the other Blufor is mainly for marketing reasons, still looks like some quality stuff ;)

ps: The guy on the backround picture of the official YT channel could just be sf since they have been wearing mixed camo for a long time, maybe BI will switch the camo for all US Army soldiers to mc but don't rely on it. Even if they don't, there will be texture swaps by modders pretty soon after release.

[Undeceived 392]

I really would love to know (in case the KSK units are playable) if there will be spoken German language in the game, like there was Russian and Czech in Arma 2 (beside English).

[myshaak 0]

I really would love to know (in case the KSK units are playable) if there will be spoken German language in the game, like there was Russian and Czech in Arma 2 (beside English).

Excellent question.. That would also raise a queston of having a "Takistani" language as well...

[[GLT] Legislator 66]

Ha I dont want another rushed project, 9 months isnt enough time.

!

BI stated last year that the working on Arrowhead started in Januar 2009. That's 14 months now which should be enough for an addon. Keep in mind that the bugfixing phase had been done from May 09 - now :p

[Alex72 1]

^^ True. With emphasis on "addon" wich it basically is even though an advanced one. But its not a totally new ARMA so bugs squashed in A2 is bugs squashed in OA. New tech and new campaign will certainly see some bugs im sure but as a hole i dont think there will be the same amount of problems A2 had at release (wich wasnt much from my point of view and my style of using the program).