Development Blog & Reveals

Yeahhh really nice screens!!! This animations are great...but this lying position=D

Edited August 18, 2012 by BobbyArmalike

I'll just note the guy was constantly transitioning between run and standing still. The game looked more fluid when the player used combat jog/walk to move. The constant rising and lowering of weapon is irritating and so is running into objects...

If you kept sprinting for 2m just to stop and start sprinting again any AAA title would look and feel clunky.

One modifier key (CTRL) is not intuitive? Heh. Check the video above. Another example - SMK anims in ArmA II,

Exactly, it's not intuitive. Intuitive would be having one key which lets me take a look over an object right in front of me without going through different stances plus having a system in place which simply lets me rest a weapon on an object right in front of me.

Xeno would you basically say A3 is "old wine in new skins" or "new wine in old bottles" ? ;)

Hm... first one.

I'm honest, I was quite disappointed as not that much has changed compared to A2/OA. Let's say it this way, it's still ArmA :)

Xeno

+25 Xeno

a lot of buttons , the best way IMHO BIS has to copy GRAW 2 player's control with improvements

For what it's worth, when Jay's avatar got KIA in the last GameStar infantry video I thought it was because the player got too trigger-happy and opened fire and hit the stone, the AI OPFOR soldier ducked, and then the shots were landing to the ground behind and to the right (OPFOR view) of the OPFOR soldier, and then the OPFOR soldier seemed to one-shot (headshot?) the player character before he could "walk the subsequent rounds" onto the OPFOR soldier's center of mass. On that third life, is he supposed to be playing like a casual to "have more fun"? :lol:

As for the animations bit though, Zukov, Xeno -- BI and Jay have gone on record as saying that ARMA 3 does not use sticky cover (so "take a look over an object" like that is out). You can try the community alpha out and in your feedback to BI suggest different keybindings, but the system you're seeing in the Gamescom build seems to be consciously intended.

i don't know, im sowhat used to arma 2 controls now, ofcourse it could be better perhaps, but i like it as it is.

http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/oymbet/arma-iii-gc-2012--tech-demo-walkthrough--cam-

Vehicles @ 3:10, arty action @ 6:10. Really, really good particle effects of explosions going on in the smoke, as the MRLS rockets hit the ground. Muzzle flashes in third person view are also great.

/tinfoil: is PhysX directly involved? Praise Nvidia! :icon_mrgreen:

The narrator-dude actually said that PhysX allowed them to do many cool things. Truly this tech is a one miracle to be hold.

The narrator-dude actually said that PhysX allowed them to do many cool things. Truly this tech is a one miracle to be hold.

:icon_mrgreen:

HOLEE SHEEYT, I hadn't finished watching the GameTrailers vid before posting -- check out that particle displacement on the Comanche, as it fires its missiles. :icon_twisted:

Edited August 18, 2012 by Iroquois Pliskin

"Prrss X to get into cover" yeah I got what are trying to say, and I will ignore it and judge from what I see in alpha.

check out that particle displacement on the Comanche, as it fires its missiles.

now BIS owns me fresh pants!

Xeno

Well, that is sad to hear. Despite the major improvements in many other areas a frustrating game to play is just a bad experience. (I can stand that, that is why I've been playing this for a decade now, but other might not...)

The light in the end of the tunnel might be that "data collection tool" for optimizing the controls that they talked about so many times?

"Its still ArmA"

I dont see that as a negative point. My two cents...

"Its still ArmA"

I dont see that as a negative point. My two cents...

I'm disappointed to learn that people still consider it clunky, but there are still many reasons to crave Arma3. I neeeeed Arma3!

Regarding animations & infantry control - are there any other people who personally tried it on GC build?

I'm asking because the feedback till now has been almost exclusively positive (from Bohemia abroad consultants, random focus testers from the community and also some normal people), and this 180° turn is unexpected. I mean, we will never be Battlefield3 with fancy FIFA engine, but we did make quantifiable improvement over Arma2. ( "Same anims as Arma2" - seriously?)

The development continues and there are more upgrades planned, but - if there was some specific constructive feedback from actual GC build players, some specific issue you had, or thing you didn't like we could definitely use it.

Well A3 finally needs meaningful default controls to switch seamless between sprint, run and walk (and tactical walk).

2x W is just horrific design. Shift/Alt+W are best and used in other games too.

Also YXC for stance changes are really bad as these are not comfortable to reach.

Toggle stance with Q (toggle crouch)/E (toggle lie down) like OFP had would be far better.

In addition probably he was hoping for adjusted collision shapes like in Rg's addon,

automated step-over low objects and auto weapon lowering on collision.

As Xeno played RO2 quite a bit, he is used to better movement and object/terrain interaction than Arma offers so far.

---

Personally I am shocked to see the excellent crosshair system from OFP completely dropped. :(

Rough crosshair is based on luck only, while the OFP system still was about training and skill.

Edited August 18, 2012 by .kju [PvPscene]

I did not play the demo but from what I am seeing one thing really pops out a lot. It's the rifle sweeping up and down when controls are in hands of new player.

Perhaps jogging should be the default option and run should be accessible once you lower the weapon manually, since if you are in combat there is really no reason to run at slower speed (you will either chose to have weapon up and ready or move at sprint speed).

Lowering and rising the weapon 20 times a minute is really irritating and it happens automatically when you go run/stop/run/stop. If animation system allowed I would suggest a timeout before lowering weapon while running, so it does not happen each time you make 2 steps.

As for the lack of smoothness of camera acceleration: short of decoupling the camera from animated character there is really no helping it. If you watch helmet cam footage it does not really look like BF3 either, on a side note.

Edited August 18, 2012 by Panda_pl

I don't like the OFP Controls at all so i think PvPscene and i could make a nice testing group xD.

Regarding the controls: Of course the animations feel more fluid, but it is still the same animation system under the hood. Your character comes to a complete stop to change weapons, throw grenades and so on. You should be able to throw grenades on the run without these animation problems. The other point is the Ctrl+wasd to change stances. If there are several "layers" of commands on the same keys, it gets a bit chaotic imho in tight situations and a proper cover system like in Crysis2/RO2 where you automatically change the stance of your character depending on the objects around you without "sticking" to it would be nice.

I liked the new shooting mechanics very much though.

2x W is just horrific design. Shift/Alt+W are best and used in other games too.

No argument there, although it doesn't strike me as terribly harmful. Sprinting is for quick dashes between cover, and the momentary pause when you suddenly double tap is too short to matter much.

Also YXC for stance changes are really bad as these are not comfortable to reach.

Huh? Seems like it should be second nature to any PC gamer, and I've surely never had trouble with them.

automated step-over low objects and auto weapon lowering on collision.

Former would be nice (vaulting), second is imo crucial because it allows for realistic barrel-length decisions in cqb.

Personally I am shocked to see the excellent crosshair system from OFP completely dropped. :(

Rough crosshair is based on luck only, while the OFP system still was about training and skill.

What do you mean the OFP crosshair? All I know is that the ArmA 2 crosshair is downright shameful, making the arcade crosshair superior to the weapon's sights at most ranges, penalizing players who play the game correctly. The crosshair SHOULD be a matter of luck, restricted in usefulness to snap shots at close quarters where the probability is on your side. The game should actively push you to play it realistically, not provide cheap default-enabled opt-outs for core gameplay mechanics.

RE: Animations, I am anxious to see if the general nightmare concerning launchers and stance/weapon switching has been resolved.

Well A3 finally needs meaningful default controls to switch seamless between sprint, run and walk (and tactical walk).

2x W is just horrific design. Shift/Alt+W are best and used in other games too.

Also YXC for stance changes are really bad as these are not comfortable to reach.

Toggle stance with Q (toggle crouch)/E (toggle lie down) like OFP had would be far better.

In addition probably he was hoping for adjusted collision shapes like in Rg's addon,

automated step-over low objects and auto weapon lowering on collision.

As Xeno played RO2 quite a bit, he is used to better movement and object/terrain interaction than Arma offers so far.

---

Personally I am shocked to see the excellent crosshair system from OFP completely dropped. :(

Rough crosshair is based on luck only, while the OFP system still was about training and skill.

And where would you put lean then?

Keep Q and E for lean left and right YXC is fine for stances but I agree that double W could be replaced by Shift+W (although it isn´t a bid deal)

maturin don't try to force your believes on others. The main strength of the series has always been that people can it play the flavor they like.

You play without crosshair, or rough crosshair; faced paced/PvP/competition players want to play with a meaningful crosshair.

If you really want to improve the infantry/shooting mechanics, enhanced the weapon sway greatly while standing, enhance some more while crouch, and make firing from lie down (and hold breath) very precise. In addition reduce the excessive eagle eye zoom in to make distance shooting harder, and scope use actually meaningful. In addition remove the crosshair completely from (at least) heavy sniper, and launchers, and do rough crosshair for MGs. And while you are at it, reduce the time one can sprint - it should not be the default speed people move with, but used only for emergency situations and to traverse dangerous areas quickly.

Lean is best on mouse 4/5, as you can combine it that way conformable with movement (different hands).

Or exchange it with XC - quick stance change is far more important in combat than lean in Arma.

Edited August 18, 2012 by .kju [PvPscene]

And where would you put lean then?

Keep Q and E for lean left and right YXC is fine for stances but I agree that double W could be replaced by Shift+W (although it isn´t a bid deal)

Or

- remove leaning from Q and E,

- put sprint to E,

- (now it comes! :D ) add analog (fluent) leaning by swaying the mouse to the right or the left while pressing CTRL or something like that! ;)

I play with the arrow keys anyway and my sprint is on the End key (the one above the up arrow key). But fluent leaning would be a damn cool thing. :)

Edited August 18, 2012 by Undeceived

Regarding animations & infantry control - are there any other people who personally tried it on GC build?

I'm asking because the feedback till now has been almost exclusively positive (from Bohemia abroad consultants, random focus testers from the community and also some normal people), and this 180° turn is unexpected.

As that's probably only a handful people, I'm sure you'll get some quality feedback on the issue when the community Alpha hits and people start experimenting with it at home, with unlimited time, their own home control setups and fast access to feedback sites like DevHeaven and the forums.

I personally haven't tried it yet and I'm potentially talking out of my ass with the following, so take it with a pinch of salt.

From what I've seen, the default forward "W" is as always the "weapon-down jogging", what might be useful is to make the "tactical pace" the new default. Reasoning behind this is that it still provides reasonable pace of movement without being all up and down with the rifle. And after that, as PvPscene says, all the different speed control methods probably need to go. My suggestion would be something along the lines of modifier key + mousewheel. For example, Shift + MW Up once from tactical pace brings you to normal jog, and next one brings you to full sprint. Shift + MW down from tactical pace gives you the slow "tactical pace".

That way, for example, you can go full sprint with shift+frantic scrolling up without awkwardly tapping the W key and loosing momentum. Maybe shift + middle mouse click would be reserved for going between safe/combat stances.

What I do not agree with PvPscene is the (QWERTZ here) Y/X/C combo. Those seem to be super common amongst games.

- (now it comes! :D ) add analog (fluent) leaning by swaying the mouse to the right or the left while pressing CTRL or something like that! ;)

Imho this has never really worked in Ravenshield.