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**OFFICIAL** AT Battlefield 3 FAQ and News Thread

Page 212 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
imaheadcase said:
I tried every one of those, everyone was sub-par. Each one had a major defect. I forget which order, but one was the pads under mouse scratched up on my razer vespula mousepad, so it was not smooth anymore. One of them would stop charging after the first month.

I've prob spend over $400 on wireless stuff and it was all junk that broke :/

What is up with bf3 servers? I can never get more than 4, 64 player servers anymore for last 3 days 🙁 Did everyone quit the game already..
Click to expand...


sucky. no idea wtf is up with Bf3 this week, I guess the trifecta of SR3, MW3, and Skyrim really killed traffic?
imaheadcase said:
Can't use those, terrible for music. Brother uses them for gaming though.
Click to expand...

are you an audiophile or are they that bad?

my cyber acoustics started acting up, everything is so full volume that it hurts my ears

sucks, they did vibration for bass and they were great 🙁
 
Zargon said:
that records great but...the size is maybe even worse than fraps....
Click to expand...

hahaha, that will be hard to overcome. UT at YUV420 is half the size of Fraps and Dxtory's native codecs. Around 1.25GB/min vs 3.5-4GB/min. If you can maybe find a M-JPEG codec thats free that would help. The more compression you get will impact your ingame fps more and more. I play for a couple of days and fill up my disk then stop to cut it down. I'm still searching for the perfect balance of low cpu overhead, file size, and edibility.
 
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Childs said:
hahaha, that will be hard to overcome. UT at YUV420 is half the size of Fraps and Dxtory's native codecs. Around 1.25GB/min vs 3.5-4GB/min. If you can maybe find a M-JPEG codec thats free that would help. The more compression you get it will impact your ingame fps more and more. I play for a couple of days and fill up my disk then stop to cut it down. I'm still searching for the perfect balance of low cpu overhead, file size, and edibility.
Click to expand...

Wow, you have a BF4 video. That IS new! 😉
 
Childs said:
hahaha, that will be hard to overcome. UT at YUV420 is half the size of Fraps and Dxtory's native codecs. Around 1.25GB/min vs 3.5-4GB/min. If you can maybe find a M-JPEG codec thats free that would help. The more compression you get it will impact your ingame fps more and more. I play for a couple of days and fill up my disk then stop to cut it down. I'm still searching for the perfect balance of low cpu overhead, file size, and edibility.
Click to expand...

on first look I thought fraps was bigger.....I'll check again

I need to get my spare 1tb green in that machine so I can store footage on it
 
DICE employee Alan Kertz, a.k.a. Demize99, did a Q&A session on Reddit today.

[–]modo_komodo 33 points 8 hours ago

In MP, are players doing anything in particular that you weren't expecting? So did you design something in one way only for players to use it in a totally different way?

[–]Demize99 51 points 8 hours ago

I had not expected players to stick Claymores to their Jeeps, or to bounce APCs around the map. I'm more pleased to see players finding the deeper interactions between classes in the game, stuff we designed but don't explicitly teach (like being able to laser designate aircraft to use Javelins on them).

[–]CRoswell 26 points 2 hours ago

Is the javelin being fixed? It misses tanks WAY too much with SOFLAM guidance. It also hits like a pansy.

[–]Demize99 38 points 2 hours ago

Both will be addressed.

[–]CRoswell 15 points 2 hours ago

You made my otherwise unremarkable morning a happy one. 😀

[–]ExAm 15 points 7 hours ago

Do you know anything about what causes the LAV's speed to glitch out like that? I'm curious as to what part of the code would do that. I'm assuming it's about the same part that causes the damn thing to rebound violently backward if you try to drive it into water at high speed d:

[–]Demize99 80 points 7 hours ago

Mmm, the LAV floats. Float physics are... well, set so they don't sink. So when the game thinks it's going so fast that it will sink, the gives it upwards buoyancy, throwing it across the map, or backwards.

Battlefield, the original Physics Game.

[–]survivalist_guy 6 points 1 hour ago

People were always sticking explosives to jeeps. In Battlefield 2 we called them jihad jeeps. No offense, but how did you not see them doing it again ?

[–]trillex 120 points 8 hours ago*

Will there be "major" changes to the UI, as suggested on the /r/battlefield3, such as changes to the minimap and various smaller tweaks to ensure it is a lot more functional than the current one?

EDIT: Also, are there plans to make more interesting maps, i.e. making certain flags more desirable because you get more/better vehicles, etc.? This was also discussed vividly on /r/battlefield3

[–]Demize99 67 points 3 hours ago

Simply because this is the most popular topic... I have to reply. (Jerks!) We're aware that there are areas of improvement, and the community has been kind enough to design solutions, many of which are excellent. We take your feedback seriously insert marketing speak

I really can't give you a when, or a promise even. Just... We hear you.

[–]theduderman 7 points 2 hours ago

Just listening to the community and interacting with it as much as you guys have is incredible for a developer with a game the scale and scope of Battlefield 3. Nothing much else to say but thanks. Maybe I speak for the verbal minority, but we believe you guys will do your incredible product justice in the long run.

[–]KeystrokeCowboy 20 points 2 hours ago*

Translation "No"

So if you worked on BF2142 then you should appreciate the fact that the UI sucks unbelievable amount of balls. The minimap is completely useless. You should know what a giant turd it is and I say that without any hesitation. Seriously, your team fails at so many things about what make Battlefield the great game that it is. Fix the minimap and polish the ui, add voip(team AND squad). Why the fuck you didn't just copy the PERFECT minimap from BF2/BF2142 to BF3 is clownshoes insane and I seriously want to punch the guy who said "Yeah we got this part of the game that everyone liked, but we are going to change it". I would have been completely happy to give DICE my hard earned money if they just redid all the BF2 maps in the frostbite engine and called it a day. No lie.

Edit Here is a perfect example of what I'm talking about when it comes to the minimap http://www.keenandgraev.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/mfminimap.jpg

[–]cheapasfree24 23 points 1 hour ago

I'm not entirely sure about this since I'm not in game design at all, but this doesn't really seem like a "Core Gameplay Design," and thus blaming the OP serves no purpose. Also, you could be constructively critical without blowing into full hyperbole mode.

[–]bremelanotide 25 points 1 hour ago

Holy shit, BF is serious business, huh?

[–]Mashu009 26 points 9 hours ago

What's parts did you work on exactly?

[–]Demize99 62 points 9 hours ago

I designed the infantry experience. I am primarily responsible for the weapons and gadgets that soldiers use, as well as the movement of the soldiers. I work closely with the vehicle designer and level designers and I also work on game modes.

Finally I am responsible for the balance in the Multiplayer game.

[–]warcode 18 points 8 hours ago

Why are all the maps more balanced for 32 (48) players?

(64 player conquest Metro being the prime example)

[–]Demize99 25 points 6 hours ago

We looked at the mst popular 64 player maps in BF2, generally they were the maps that took a 32 player setup, grew it a bit and then added players to promote a higher pace and player density. While I recognize that is not ALL players, the numbers are pretty clear that say, 64 player Karkand is more popular than 64 player Oman. Even on 2142, where we actually only built 32 player versions of our urban maps servers were often cramming 64 players into that space.

[–]alexcroox 45 points 8 hours ago*

I've been playing since '42, have to say BF3 is the first in the series where infantry gameplay is done well and is actually enjoyable, gratz!

[–]MagicSeaPickle 25 points 7 hours ago

Second this, I love the way infantry moves in this game.....feels so fluid. Thanks for doing such a great job!

[–]AwesomeFama 13 points 7 hours ago

I just love how well the running around and vaulting things works (and looks).

[–]vocab252 8 points 7 hours ago

My friend from work who has never really played games that are FPS kept on gushing over the fact that 'you can see your soldier's legs! wow!' And also the knife animations when you stab someone.

[–]Matfink 22 points 7 hours ago

Agree - silky smooth. Was there some re-application of Mirror's Edge code/design here?

[–]Demize99 36 points 6 hours ago

Most definitely, we learned a lot from ME.

[–]Magic_toenail 9 points 3 hours ago

This is my biggest question: Will there be a mirrors edge 2 using the new engine? I for one would be very happy to play it!

[–]monocoque 7 points 3 hours ago

Do you know who I would have to bribe/threaten to finish the sequel?

[–]My_First_Pony 7 points 7 hours ago

Is there any chance of allowing C4 to be planted on the MAV again like in beta?

[–]Demize99 46 points 6 hours ago

None, sorry. Too exploitable.

[–]rolfie25 34 points 8 hours ago

Easter Egg Question: The sandcastle in Operation Metro near the playground has both the Swedish and the Norwegian flag. I'm wondering why the Norwegian flag is there, since the one in Battlefield 1943 only had the Swedish flag?

[–]Demize99 51 points 7 hours ago

The number of Norwegians on the team has grown. We thought we'd make some new friends. 🙂

[–]opelwerk 4 points 6 hours ago

No wonder this game is the best in the series. 😉

[–]rolfie25 9 points 7 hours ago

I see. I found it patriotic to find the Norwegian flag in one of my favorite games, thank you DICE. 🙂

[–]Enfors 26 points 5 hours ago

How come we can't create more squads?

My friend and I sometimes have to spend the first 10 minutes in a game waiting for a squad to have two free slots so we can both join the same one. In 2142, we could just make our own squad at will, which I thought was much better. Is this a matter of the UI of creating squads wouldn't work well on consoles or something?

[–]LieutenantClone 4 points 3 hours ago

Ugh, this is so frustrating. And if you don't manage to get in your friend's squad by the end of the round, you run the risk of getting put on separate teams. Then, because you were automatically switched, the game wont let you switch back, because you are "switching too often". Frustrating!

[–]CRoswell 3 points 2 hours ago

*on 64 player maps

On 32 we rarely run into problems, but 64 player maps (The best BF experience IMO) it fucking sucks. We have to join a practically empty server and try to populate it.

[–]Narwhalmadness 26 points 8 hours ago

Why did the destruction between bad company 2 and battlefield 3 get toned down? There are a lot more wall is Battlefield 3 that can't be blown up compared to BC2, this isn't a hate message I love/loved Battlefield 3 I just wondered why it has been toned down.

[–]Demize99 29 points 8 hours ago

With Battlefield 3 we wanted to get back to some of the Urban fighting that we had in 1942 and BF2, that requires a shift of focus on destruction from taking down a building to taking down the Facade of the building. I think it has worked quite well, and in the open environments there's a larger scale of destruction similar to BC2.

Of course, we'd love to see more and better destruction.

[–]Zilka 17 points 5 hours ago

I understand you weren't happy with completely obliterated maps in BC2. But only facades approach is a bit too much, almost like its a technological step backward. I don't want to see whole buildings collapse, but when I try to destroy somethings that from experience with other materials can be destroyed and it doesn't, that is very disappointing. On firestorm there were two AT guys on first floor of one of the big storage buildings. I climbed on the roof to C4 on their heads from above, which didn't work. Even though facades on the same building collapse just fine.

Also why fences and walls? I tried to sneak up on tunguska on Kharg, by blowing a hole in a concrete wall and it didn't scratch. Even though other concrete walls on the same map can be destroyed with bullets!

And do you know if ground deformation will be back?

[–]CRoswell 9 points 3 hours ago*

I actually hate that I can't go through parts of the building. The buildings act as "funnel points" on maps. While I understand the appeal from a level design aspect, I loved the ability to go through any building on the map in BC2. Making a door with C4 or a rocket to get the drop on an enemy squad was so much fun!

[–]TBatWork 23 points 2 hours ago

BC2 is my favorite Kool-Aid Man simulator, except my pitcher is full of blood.

[–]Fyshokid 35 points 8 hours ago

Here's a less technical question: Do you enjoy the montages people make of your games?

[–]Demize99 162 points 8 hours ago

Love em, there's a redditor that posts some C4 montages which have me rolling on the floor. Operation Douchebag is a personal favorite.

[–]Balofyarn 156 points 6 hours ago

For the lazy. (In order of release)

Operation Dickhead
Operation Douchebag
Operation Asshat

[–]Ktmouse 10 points 2 hours ago

I haven't genuinely laughed this hard in a long time

[–]VVaffles 31 points 8 hours ago

How much longer must we wait for the vehicle horns and headlights DLC?

[–]Demize99 52 points 7 hours ago

How much are you willing to pay? 😉

[–]WeAllWin 33 points 2 hours ago

For that? Nothing. But it belongs in the game. seriousface

[–]Pottifar 21 points 5 hours ago

I will bake you a cake and find a way to ship it in one piece from Norway to Sweden if you implement it.

[–]Kelmard566 25 points 9 hours ago

Oh hey it is Demize, I follow you on twitter. Anyways my question is how long do you think Battlefield 3 will be "fully supported", for example - expansions, map packs etc? Also from what little I played I really enjoyed the game.

[–]Demize99 60 points 8 hours ago

I cant answer this since it would actually put a legal responsibility on my employer. Sorry.

[–]ExAm 25 points 8 hours ago

We appreciate this kind of honesty from you guys 🙂

Typically, employees doing this sort of question-and-answer deal just whitewash over it or derail, so thanks for giving it to us straight.

[–]i_love_goats 5 points 5 hours ago

Thanks for answering this, most people just don't answer tough question!

[–]evilviking 5 points 3 hours ago

DICE has stated officially that BF3 will be their most supported game ever, so I think we have a lot of great stuff ahead of us, especially if we look at how much content was released for Bad Company 2 (a comparatively minor release).

[–]bubbagumphump 23 points 8 hours ago

I think 2142 is the greatest mp game in the bf3 series. The Titan battles were epic and Gibraltar had a great bottleneck designed in the map that resulted in many fun battles. Can you comment on what your role was during this game and how much freedom EA far you to develop 2142 as a fairly unknown game developer, as opposed to bf3? Tack!

[–]Demize99 19 points 8 hours ago

I had a similar role on 2142, designing the infantry experience and also worked on the team that designed Titan, though it was not my idea.

Frankly, EA has been a breeze to work with, we were independant during 2142, and now are wholly owned. If anything this has made things better for us at DICE since we have better access to central EA tools, tech, marketing, and development resources. We have also been able to benefit from things like ANT, the animation system developed for the EA Sports titles, and of course Frostbite developed here at DICE is being used at multiple EA studios.

[–]jrrbean 21 points 8 hours ago

Think there may be a chance of a BF 2143? Perhaps as an xpac for BF3 or something? Titan mode was soo much fun, it would definitely blow my mind to play that shit on the new engine. 😀

[–]Demize99 29 points 6 hours ago

its definitely a popular topic in the office. That and ME and even Codename Eagle! There's never a shortage of ideas, just time. 🙂

[–]nmezib 34 points 4 hours ago

You know who have a lot of time and great ideas? Modders. They just don't have the tools, if you get my drift. Hint hint, wink wink 😉

[–]S_Presso 10 points 8 hours ago

Many of my friends are huge BF2 (and now BF3) fans, but they have actually never played BF 2142. I had so much fun playing that game. It was like a better BF2. And the Sci-Fi Theme was great. Would love to see a "BF2143"

[–]mcartz33 20 points 8 hours ago

were you pressured at all during development about having to create a game that destroyed call of duty?

[–]Demize99 40 points 8 hours ago

I think the biggest pressure was from ourselves as a team, trying to really out do all the projects we've worked on before.

[–]mcartz33 19 points 8 hours ago

and you certainly succeeded my friend, all that work payed off well!

[–]falcun 22 points 8 hours ago

Is your ingame name Demize99? I want your dogtags 😀

[–]Demize99 26 points 7 hours ago

It is, on all platforms.

[–]LuXiius 24 points 8 hours ago

Who do you consult, when choosing equipment and weapons for the games?

[–]Demize99 76 points 8 hours ago

Andy McNab, as well as various other police and military service members. Many DICE guys did their mandatory service in the Swedish Military (it is no longer mandatory) and have personal experience. One of our Sound Designers is a trained sniper.

[–]2wheels 49 points 5 hours ago

no wonder when you're being sniped hear such terrifyingly accurate sounds of bullets whizzing by your head.

[–]goodspellar 49 points 8 hours ago

Why were there so many things cut from the BF2 multi-player?

Also, will there be a time when we'll get in-squad VOIP, better commo-rose, better squad management, etc?

2nd question (if you don't mind): It's clear the interface (and maps) were designed with console in mind. Will the interface and menus be cleaned up? Also will the DLC maps go back to BF2 size?

[–]GamerOfFreedom 17 points 8 hours ago

Considering you probably had a tight schedule during the last 6 months, I would think no doubt some "major" gameplay features were left out or lacked polish like the commo rose (yes that is a major feature). Will those be added in/be polished, post release or is DICE taking a "game is done no more features" stance?

Now, BF3 lacks destruction in my opinion, see Operation Firestorm for example the signs are indestructible while fences and what not is. Similar thinks can be seen on Grand Bazaar where some buildings can be somewhat destroyed and some not, why this and not the other?

B2K advertises "Expanded Destruction" So I think the reason the vanilla maps lack destruction of time pressure and you didn't have time to implant destruction properly in those maps?

[–]zeveronian 16 points 8 hours ago

Hey Alan,

Even though the beta was an old build and you said that most bugs had already been taken care of, what was the biggest thing you had overlooked?

[–]Demize99 48 points 8 hours ago

How bloody hard it was to take that first set of MCOMs!

[–]Maxion 3 points 4 hours ago

Pair up with a buddy. You play assault. Run in the middle of the park from the attackers and some B, you cover the middle ground while he runs down into the smoke and arms B. If you do this right at round start around 2/3 times you succeed, about 1/3 times you also arm A in the mass confusion. Best is if your buddy plays support then he can drop ammo for you to replenish your smoke grenade supply.

EDIT: Speaking of metro there is a large gameplay bug in the map. When the first set of Mcoms are blown up the defenders can get into the rightmost tunnel (seen from the attackers POV) since you cannot get in that tunnel from behind and since it is so long they can camp in there with LMGs mowing down anyone trying to enter with no counter, effectively shutting down that route. I've done this with my friend both playing support with extended mags. If you "cross fire" IE one starts firing 100 rounds after the other you can put down continuous fire for a LONG time.

[–]fvanlaere 17 points 7 hours ago

Are 2 persons jets going to come back to the series?

[–]Voidsheep 17 points 6 hours ago

Did you ever play Forgotten Hope, Project Reality and/or Point of Existence for Battlefield 2?

Is it official stance of DICE that modding Battlefield 3 would be too complex for the modding scene and do you personally agree with it? What do you see as the biggest issue with modding in Battlefield 3?

Is there even a little possibility of showing a little love for the e-sports / LAN party scene in the future by releasing the server files for public?

[–]Demize99 30 points 5 hours ago

Well, I played PoE for a little while, while I was working on it.

I don't think it's the complexity of the tools that is the problem, but rather the complexity of middleware and licensing that goes on. No one writes all their own stuff any more, a lot of the software we use we cannot release to the community for legal reasons.

There's a strange sentiment out there that we think mod tools somehow reduce the popularity of DLC. That's rubbish. If the DLC is good people will buy it, even if there are mods out there. If it's bad, people won't buy it. If there are mod tools, then people still have to buy the main product to play. It's win win, it's always been that way.

[–]Voidsheep 7 points 4 hours ago

Thanks for your answer. It's a shame the middleware can't be licensed for community use, I'm sure the modding scene could do wonders with Frostbite 2.0.

Is piracy the main concern with release of public server files? While it would allow cracked servers, it feels kind of sad to kill the game's potential in LAN parties and any possibility of modding because of that.

Anyway, great job with Battlefield 3. It's no doubt the best FPS of 2011 and Frostbite 2.0 is truly amazing engine. Can't wait to see what else you guys do with it.

[–]juanjux 18 points 8 hours ago

Hi Demize,

I want to ask you about the progress on the PS3 input lag/response time bug affecting the aiming (it's 240 msecs on my PS3, measured it with a video at 60FPS and a video editor, doesn't happens at 576p or Bad Company 2). Could you reproduce it? Has the root cause been found? Will the fix be on the next patch?

Thanks!

[–]Demize99 24 points 8 hours ago

We're aware of it, and smarter people than me are looking at it. I don't have more info than that.

[–]someuser_321 4 points 2 hours ago

I share the exact same problem. It is the only reason I have (temporarily) stopped playing, because it gives me motion sickness if there is too much input lag!
Other than that, BF3 is awesome! (apart from the blinding tactical light!)

[–]Munchy2k 12 points 9 hours ago

Have you played MW3 yet, and if you hadn't worked on BF3, which would you be playing more of right now?

[–]Demize99 51 points 8 hours ago

Before I worked on Battlefield I played it competitively. I like the open feeling and balance of vehicles and infantry.

I like cod, they do an excellent SP and I have a lot of respect for what they have built. I haven't played 3 yet, and I haven't enjoyed the mp since MW1. That was truly a brilliant step forward for mp shooters.

[–]alexcroox 51 points 8 hours ago

CoD4 was definately the last good CoD.

[–]allintensivepurposes 23 points 4 hours ago

I think all of the last ones were good, but 4 was the last "Damn that really changed the game".

It's like the first time you tried bacon vs. the last time you tried bacon; every time is good, but god damn that first time...

[–]PvtMashkov 12 points 8 hours ago

What does it take to become a game developer at DICE? What studie do you recommend?

[–]Demize99 26 points 8 hours ago

I can only speak as a Designer, and the biggest thing that we focus on is prior art. I put together a portfolio of mod work when I applied to DICE. Without the time I had "wasted" on modding that one summer in college I would never have the job I have today.

As far as education, for me the 4 year computer science degree has been invaluable. Even though I don't personally write code, the understanding I have from school of how code systems work helps when I work with the guys who do write the code. It makes me much easier to work with, and considering my job is designing gameplay systems, I am able to design them in ways that both are player and code friendly.

tl;dr Learn Code Basics, Make your own Stuff (maps, mods, art, whatever)

[–]Dalinair 6 points 3 hours ago

Is it all C++?

[–]siphyn87 13 points 8 hours ago

Hi Alan, what would you say was the hardest thing to adjust to while living abroad in Sweden? Also, in Bad Company 2 there was more of a variety of locales for the maps IE: snow, desert, jungle maps. Any chance of adding more variety to BF3, or possibly porting some of the old maps over, similar to what happened when you guys ported a few bad company maps to bad company 2?

[–]Demize99 63 points 7 hours ago

It bloody gets dark at 1600 (4pm) here in the winter. That's rough. Candles are your friends.

Though I think the biggest adjustment I've had to make is realizing just how loud we Americans really are. It's painfully obvious to me now, we don't talk, we yell. You can pick out an American tourist from a mile away, you'll hear them coming. In Sweden you don't get ahead by talking louder than the guy next to you at the meeting, they're not going to want to work with you. You can't interrupt people, cut them off, it's very inclusive. Breaking myself of those habits has improved not only my interaction with my coworkers and Swedes, but frankly makes me a better person in general. I know I do better in personal relationships and even dealing with Loud Americans. People tend to settle down and relax when they realize you're not going to try to talk over them. 🙂

[–]Edibleface 9 points 3 hours ago

Funny thing is, im a bit more of a quiet person, and being talked over is one of my biggest pet peeves. people do it ALL. THE. TIME. I should clearly move to sweden. only logical choice.

[–]Demize99 11 points 2 hours ago

Works for me.

[–]VonCuddles 6 points 3 hours ago

So true. My dad is american and I work with americans (international company based in england, im english). Always had a laugh about how LOUD you guys are! On the phone its insane, shouting down the handle! A lot of people find it annoying, but as I've lived with it all my life I just find it hilarious!

[–]SikhGamer 13 points 6 hours ago

Favourite gun to use?

Also, dude buy the entire sound department a beer or two. It seriously rocks.

[–]Demize99 13 points 5 hours ago

Done and Done.

Favorite gun? G3.

[–]gkl[!] 75 points 6 hours ago

Why "Demize99"?

Edit holy shit it's my reddit birthday! Yay! Upvotes for everyone!

[–]Demize99 31 points 6 hours ago

It's actually a name I used for Warcraft 2 56k multiplayer. Originally it was just the word demise, with a twist of l33t. Then when I went to sign up to my first email of course it was taken (Demize). I added the 99 at random and tada!

[–]SimonXR 34 points 1 hour ago

So you're not actually 12 years old?

[–]tachyon534 14 points 1 hour ago

I now realise '99 was 12 years ago and I feel old.

[–]4InchesOfury 20 points 8 hours ago

Flashlights. Why.

Also if anyones wondering, proof: http://twitter.com/#!/Demize99/status/136741583595896832

[–]Demize99 16 points 8 hours ago

http://twitter.com/#!/Demize99/status/133891163617898497

[–]4InchesOfury 17 points 8 hours ago

But when it was put in place originally, did nobody think that it might be just a little too bright?

[–]Demize99 29 points 7 hours ago

If you think that's bad...

The simple reality is that when we playtest, we tend to be Gentlemen. We work together, we have to get along, if someone whores it up with some over powered thing in the playtest it gets a bit... personal. So a lot of the abuse-able items don't get heavy use. We specifically plan on making balance changes when the game goes "Live." No game launches perfect.

[–]L4NGOS 73 points 7 hours ago

Hire the worst trolls you can find to game play test BF4, pitch them against each other and reap the excellent results.

[–]Demize99 31 points 5 hours ago

It's definitely an interesting concept.

[–]t1mmen 33 points 4 hours ago

I'm very surprised you guys don't do this already.

Playing on a friends-only server (which is basically what you're describing) is awesome, but the majority of players will experience the game almost exclusively on pubs, where the trolls live.

[–]mrbrick 3 points 3 hours ago

You guys should really consider hiring trolls to do play tests. A gentlemanly game is one thing, but having people abusing things in the real world is another. Im kind of surprised you guys don't have a team of people dedicated to trying to abuse the shit out of things during play tests.

[–]Culverin 3 points 2 hours ago

You have also just described as situation in which everybody mostly knows what they are doing. This definitely isn't true on multiplayer, there are many people coming "up" from a simple CoD arcade style shooter and don't really know what to do.

This might account for lack of what I might suggest as core communication tools such as a full commo rose, in-squad-voip, and same-vehicle-chat.

Quite often, you will find situations where you might want to switch driving positions, or tell people to bail out or even request repair. As you mentioned "We work together", many players don't even know what they should be working together for.

[–]voxketo 10 points 5 hours ago*

The simple reality is that when we playtest, we tend to be Gentlemen

that's the thing I always notice 😉. You need a few guys that are on jerk duty. I believe that most of the MP problems stem from the fact that play testing happens between civil people. Hence, in game voice com and other things as bothersome. People are assholes online and it boggles my mind that after 10+ years of this, no company tries to seriously tackle that ... as an example, use the quick match for an hour and join a new server every five minutes. Count the number of times you get matched into losing teams that are permanently outnumbered or severely outmatched (rank and score). It's no accident, players do this on purpose and it ruins it for everyone. Winning is fun but steam-rolling noobs will get boring sooner than having actually balanced matches.

[–]Lawrence_Alexander 8 points 7 hours ago

Then find some cod kiddies and let them do it, why bother testing in a way it's not going to be played 99 percent of the time?

[–]voxketo 12 points 5 hours ago*

what I don't understand is how this made it in the game at all. I mean you guys appear to be dedicated to some kind of realism and in the SP you use light very realistically. It's quite jarring to jump into MP and get glared by a flashlight in broad daylight. Even the toned down version isn't good enough. Get a flashlight, go outside, have someone shine it in your eyes from a distance -> NOTHING happens ... the eyes work on relative scales and there are few things that outshine daylight so much that they'll actually block your vision.

[–]mrbrick 4 points 3 hours ago

Fully agree here. I think at night, in the dark the light works perfectly. A high powered light in the dark makes it impossible to see how or what is behind it. But at day? No dice.

Though I vaguely remember seeing tank camo in teh 90's that was high powered lights that made the tank very difficult to see in day light at a far distance.... on flat terrain in the desert.

[–]Kikitheman 11 points 6 hours ago

What was the hardest thing to complete in making the game ?

[–]Demize99 22 points 5 hours ago

The bloody Mortar. Don't ask. 😛

[–]LeaferWasTaken 34 points 3 hours ago

Shell goes up, shell comes down. You can't explain that.

[–]aceair 6 points 1 hour ago

Aliens.

[–]Kikitheman 6 points 5 hours ago

And now , why was it so hard to make the mortar ? Also it is pretty balanced ( except for the fact that you can camp with it from the spawn ( tehran lagway comes to mind ) ) .

Also , what do you think about people making scripts for battlelog , to fix bugs or add feautures ( queue system at launch ) . Do you disagree with the practice or do you support it ?

[–]Demize99 10 points 3 hours ago

I'm neutral on the whole grease monkey scripting stuff. It's rather our responsibility to make sure no one can cheat the system, if they want to add features, cool.

[–]thecoshman 13 points 9 hours ago

Slip any Easter eggs in to a game that have not been found yet. You don't have to tell us what they are. Are Easter eggs even that easy for developers to slip in, or is it too industrialised for a programmer to be allowed to 'go crazy' like that?

[–]Demize99 20 points 9 hours ago

There's definitely some Easter eggs out there, most have been found, but especially in SP there's a lot of kind of inside jokes and self references. For example, in BFBC2 the dialog between Sarge and Sweetwater before the Thunder Sniping section is actually a conversation between two devs when we were designing the mission.

[–]falcun 7 points 8 hours ago

What was said in that mission so I don't have to go redo it? 😛

[–]Demize99 15 points 8 hours ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXURUHjl6Qg

[–]Juneaus 5 points 7 hours ago

What do you see as the future for equipment unlocking systems?

Personally I'm not a fan. If you gave me a button to unlock everything now, I'd press it.

I can see a few reasons for it such as training newbies before you let them loose on what could be a bewildering selection, but I'm sure you could counter that with better dedicated tutorials. Also I can see having a long unlocking time as a way to keep people who feel compelled to unlock everything playing.

Having seen the progression from '42 (no unlocks) to BF2 (main gun) to 2142 (lots of choices) to BC2 (even more) to BF3 (more still), what's next? It seems like one of those systems that has an optimum, and looses fun when you push it too far.

[–]cmart 5 points 7 hours ago

Will you be staying on for the next Battlefield release?

[–]Demize99 11 points 5 hours ago

I'm still with DICE and will be for the foreseeable future. No comment on what projects, right now I'm still on BF3.

[–]tholic 3 points 6 hours ago

1) When did DICE start to develop BF3? 2) Is there any cool stuff you had to cut from the game? 🙂

[–]Demba187 9 points 8 hours ago

Do you have any experience with real guns? Did you study military strategies and weaponry before making this game? Is realism important?

[–]Demize99 22 points 7 hours ago

I've shot real guns, Glocks, Sig pistols, the HK MP5, and the Bofors AK5 (the Swedish 5.56mm assault rifle). The AK5 was a lot of fun since it was fully tricked out, at night, wearing NVGs using laser sights, and a red dot sight on the weapon.

Yes, IRNV is really THAT GOOD IRL. 😉 Doesn't make it fun though...

We go for a balance of Authentic and Fun. Authentic is things like the AK has to have the bolt handle charged if you empty the gun and then reload, but an M16 only needs to have a small bolt release pressed to be ready to shoot. Fun is that you respawn, and it takes more than 1 bullet to ruin your day.

[–]L4NGOS 9 points 7 hours ago

About the IRNV, will anything be "done" about it so to speak? A tweak, nerf or something?

[–]DaftLord 8 points 8 hours ago*

A few things:

Awesome game + series, have clocked in several hundred hours since BF2
Will we see a night/day change to the maps? Ie bazaar at night or TH during the day
IRNV. Will it be fixed so that you are blinded/can't see more than 20ft on sunny maps. Trying to sneak around only to be shot by someone with it from miles away is damn annoying
Similarly with the flashlight blinding in broad daylight

For those people that say IRNV is OP, the specs of current gen NV can detect and recognize a standing man at up to 500metres. Try the same thing during the say and you will be blinded.

Edit: I will be hunting the Dice team's dogtags very soon 😉

edit 2: EOD bot. Please tell me they are going to fix the controls of it. It's really hard to try drive it even in a straight line

[–]CyDenied 8 points 7 hours ago

Are you still on their team, working on upgrades/expansions/anything?

[–]Demize99 11 points 7 hours ago

I have the Frostbite Editor open on the other screen right now, tweaking, tuning and balancing. For BC2 I was on another project almost immediately but it was more of a 90/10% situation. I always spend time with the game after launch, in my role it's imperative.

[–]bigtabs 7 points 6 hours ago

Frostbite Editor...... Mod tools.... I know I'm not the only one thinking it. You could release them in any old state and we'd be happy. Mod tools do not need to be a polished product.

[–]mcartz33 30 points 8 hours ago

One thing that bf3 is lacking in my eyes is the presence of dinosaurs! where are my giant fucking t-rex's with lazers on their backs?? you should seriously consider it for battlefield 4

[–]patroNlol 11 points 3 hours ago

Didn't you play through the campaign? It included a dinosaur.

[–]Sneaky_Zebra 7 points 8 hours ago

If you could work on any game (past of future) what would it be?

[–]Demize99 23 points 8 hours ago

A turn based strategy game like Jagged Alliance, but with all the toys of Battlefield. I suck at turn based, but I love the micromangement and all the depth in gameplay systems.

[–]InvalidFish 10 points 7 hours ago

Fuck yeah, Jagged Alliance! I've waited years for something like that game to be made again. No such luck. A true gem.

[–]Demize99 15 points 7 hours ago

They started to make a new one, or rather, the license holder did (SirTech no longer exists). They canceled it. Now there's some sort of online version in the works.

I don't have high hopes.

[–]Dentist0 6 points 8 hours ago

Is Mikael really as crazy in the office as he seemed IRL? 🙂

[–]xyrgh 9 points 6 hours ago

Firstly, what's the most frustrating/difficult/annoying aspect of your job?

Secondly, give me a run down on a day in the life of a game dev?

[–]Demize99 35 points 5 hours ago*

Second, day to day is dependent on what part of the project. An example day on the road to shipping near the end of the project.

900 arrive, coffee mail, hanging up my coat.

930 small team meeting, briefing on the top issues and an update on what each person will do today

1000-1200 as a senior designer I spend most of my morning working with coders and other designers reviewing work and solving problems

1200-1300 Lunch, MineCraft

1300-1500 Playtests of various types, diff game modes, mp, sp, different platforms, etc

1500-1700 I finally do some work, I fix bugs with weapons, address feedback from Playtests, and of course additionally assist other team members

1700-1800 Dinner in the Studio cafeteria (typically "catered") let me tell you, doesn't matter how good the food is, this is not a "benefit" but it does help us finish the game

1800-2100 (or 0200, depending) Big tasks or big bug fix time. Depending on how much to do. 2100 is basically a minimum. Oh and I'm also working Saturdays. My record in a week I think is over 80 hours a week. Generally I avoid working more than 6 days in a row, it burns me out.

Not all fun and games, but hopefully it results in fun games.

[–]Demize99 13 points 6 hours ago

No piece of art is ever done, inevitably you have to accept that something has to be done so you can make some money, keep the business going, make the next game, food on the table, satisfy corporate greed, whatever your motivation/perception. It's one of the reasons I love working on Multiplayer and Battlefield specifically. I know we will keep improving the game after it ships.

The industry gets a lot of flak for releasing games that are buggy, or in some cases even broken, the reality for us developers is that post launch updates allow us to keep working on our art.

[–]raul2010 2 points 8 hours ago

I personally like the Battlelog experience. Was it developed by DICE or did you hire an external company? Also, do you know how many people were involved in developing Battlelog?

[–]S_Presso 3 points 8 hours ago

The technology behind the battle log was developed by ESN:

http://www.esn.me/showcase/battlelog/

"ESN has played a key role in the design and development of the Battlelog web and voice experience, acting formally as subcontractor to EA DICE."

[–]mandhor 4 points 8 hours ago

Can you tell us about your career path up till your current job at DICE? What were the most important steps that have brought you to where you are now?

Any pointers on how to get into games/entertainment industry? Any particular requirements to fullfill that you know about?

[–]Demize99 10 points 8 hours ago

See this response: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/commen...meplay_designer_on_battlefield_3_amaa/c307766

[–]mandhor 6 points 7 hours ago

Thank you for answering this. Seems there's still some hope for bored corporate/business coders like me ?

[–]Demize99 16 points 7 hours ago

Many of our coders come over from business to do something that's actually a challenge and fun. I don't think the pay is competitive with a fortune 500 firm, but hey beats SQL queries all day.

[–]t-had 4 points 8 hours ago

What other jobs/career options did you have before you got into game dev?

[–]Demize99 9 points 7 hours ago

I was lucky and came straight out of college, into Unemployment and then got my dream job. During school I worked in IT as a desktop tech, and had originally figured I'd head towards the Network Admin route. Of course, I've also worked the typical retail jobs as a teen, a Walmart like place, a Circuit City, temping as data entry, that sort of stuff.

The best "Job" I ever had was the summer when I couldn't find "real" work between semesters of college. I joined a Mod Team for BFVietnam called Point of Existence (kinda a Desert Combat for BFV), and treated it like my real job. I worked on it every day, became part of the core development team, hit deadlines, shipped builds, and learned a ton. All of that translated directly into my transition to game development as a professional.

For me personally, the hardest thing about that transition is learning the "soft skills" like how to get along with tons of other creative people without walking over them, or getting walked over. I'm extremely passionate about what I do, and I think I scare the poor Swedish guys here in the studio some times. 🙂

[–]delta_450 4 points 7 hours ago

Seen that UI concept by Anderz? It's excellent, you guys should genuinely consider taking it aboard.

[–]smack_daniels 2 points 5 hours ago

Did you design the UI? /pitchfork

[–]CuTEwItHoUtThEe 4 points 5 hours ago

Why are the flashlights as powerful as a million suns?

[–]bgog 4 points 5 hours ago

I just love the game! I really think you did a bang-up job on the class balancing.

I'd like to add a counter point to some a couple common complaints as I don't think there is as much need for change as others.

Mortar - I'm as annoyed as the next guy when hell is raining down but they are easily countered. People are just too lazy to do it.

Flashlight - Never used one but have been the recipient many times. Sure, they may be a tad bright but you just aim for the middle of the light and you can see them coming from a mile away.

IRNV - This I use. It has advantages but so do other sites like extra perf vision, zoom factor etc etc. A little nerf so if someone is 80% hidden, you can't pick them out from the tip of their left shoe perhaps, or make them bloom up in daylight etc. In my opinion, the biggest problem with this thing is that you spend less time enjoying the fantastic graphics since it's all green.

Thanks for doing the AMA and making a great game!! ... oh and <cough> add voip to pc for the love of god 😉

[–]jarikulli 2 points 5 hours ago

Are you planning to release big maps with 7+ flags in the future? Not Karkand DLC included. And by big I mean actually big, not console version playable area + two flags.

[–]ShadowRam 4 points 3 hours ago

I've always wished the BF series had 2 things.

1) A network of flags in conquest, where you had to capture some flags before you could unlock others to take. Basically creating a front line of combat. Forcing the team to work together.

2) You had to build up something on a per map basis to use the non-troop carrying vehicles. Through money (like CS) or experience points on a per map basis. Basically creating a Infantry only start, and vehicles warfare by the end. Prevents the vehicles from being wasted or used for stupid purposes like 'ramming' and planes for personal transport to take flags.

These mechanics have worked great in other FPS games, why did you not try these?

[–]Riddla26 6 points 8 hours ago

First off thank you for doing this AMA! I put in the request, I didn't think it would come to anything but I felt that quite a lot of the gamers on Reddit would appreciate asking you some questions related to the design process on the Battlefield series.

My question is quite a simple one (hopefully!):

What part of the Battlefield 3 infantry experience did you enjoy designing the most and why? (Animation, gun handling, player movement, environmental effects such as suppression, etc) What's in there that you feel is a personal touch, something you're really proud of having in the game?

[–]Demize99 17 points 5 hours ago

I think for me it's the movement. Getting a soldier to move like a real soldier, feel like he has weight and physical presence in a virtual world is a real challenge. I'm so happy with the result. Very proud, but of course not satisfied. 🙂

[–]Riddla26 3 points 5 hours ago

It's definitely one of the most physical experiences I've had with a video game to date. You've done a great job and I hope that any tweaks and improvements you make satisfy that little "this could be better" itch you'll always have as a creative person!

[–]wiraqcza 6 points 8 hours ago

Is this openness from DICE, with many of you being responsive on twitter/reddit/forums, a part of bigger strategy and something planned, or something that just emerged?

And from perspective, was it a good move? Don't you guys feel overwhelmed or distracted? Between appreciation and relevant questions there must be many haters that will just throw shit at you.

[–]Demize99 14 points 7 hours ago

We're passionate about what we do, I don't think this is any corporate effort in place, rather we get some guidelines and training on what to say and what not to say (in the end we all want to keep our jobs). I've personally been burnt in the past and almost lost my job once (or twice) by saying the wrong thing to the wrong people. It's definitely a risk, but we're making games for people who play them, if I have a dialog with those players, the really passionate people, it makes me better at my job and it might even help sell more copies. Really it's win win for everyone.
Click to expand...
 
imaheadcase said:
Can't use those, terrible for music. Brother uses them for gaming though.
Click to expand...

really? i think they sound pretty good. i use the eq to tweak the sound as it was a little flat with the default and i turn off the surround when i listen to music. tis true that music sounds not so good with surround on. i just flip the surround switch to stereo and im good.
 
$45 from a no-name third-party seller doesn't mean squat... since that's more than what most of us paid beforehand from Amazon.
 
I don't think that means much being a non-name third party. I have no doubt the game will fall to that once the christmas season ramps up though.

realjetavenger said:
And it is not the limited edition that all pre-orders were. So add $15 to buy back to karkand.
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I paid $41 from Amazon for the digital download as preorder, so yea - Good things come to those who can't wait?
 
oogabooga said:
I don't think that means much being a non-name third party. I have no doubt the game will fall to that once the christmas season ramps up though.



I paid $41 from Amazon for the digital download as preorder, so yea - Good things come to those who can't wait?
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Its back at $51. Do people really hate Origin that bad? I have no problem with it..
 
Just a reminder on a couple of tweaks for folks having odd errors/crashes:

(1) If you're seemingly running out of system ram, despite having plenty of ram, try enabling a page file. I know lots of us have shut those off given all the cheap ram and fragile/small SSDs, but it stabilized the game a bunch for me. I'm running 512MB.

(2) If you're seeing the Windows Aero error that changes the color of your task bar with an annoying warning in the middle of the game, you may be running out of VRAM. If you want to monitor it, use Sysinternals Process Explorer (or just about any video card app for nVidia cards). If you find you're running out, drop textures down (from ultra to high or high to medium), and shut off deferred antialiasing (MSAA). I found this to be particularly bad when alt-tabbing - with the game filling all available VRAM, Aero may put it over the edge.

Also, I'm now running Catalyst 11.11 with CAP1, and I pretty quickly had a game freeze today (screen lock and all, but not a BSOD or system crash, though). Hadn't seen one of those for a while (if ever). Then I played a few good rounds with a bunch of you guys, so maybe it was just a fluke. Would be curious if others are seeing improvement or problems with 11.11.
 
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god just played for a couple of hours and I realized how shitty it gets. My team lost and the other team still had around 700+ tickets.
 
Homer Simpson said:
really? i think they sound pretty good. i use the eq to tweak the sound as it was a little flat with the default and i turn off the surround when i listen to music. tis true that music sounds not so good with surround on. i just flip the surround switch to stereo and im good.
Click to expand...


Trying using them after using a pair of $200+ headphones. Its night and day to me.
 
Anubis said:
gah i really wish more people i knew IRL had PCs capable of playing games, theres no possiable way to get that many points on the console in 1 game
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Probably a crowded 64 player metro map clogged at the usual bottle necks, just tossing down ammo boxes for 1000 tickets. :sneaky:
 
QuantumPion said:
Probably a crowded 64 player metro map clogged at the usual bottle necks, just tossing down ammo boxes for 1000 tickets. :sneaky:
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LoL ya but it was a combination of winning combat efficiency and resupply medal and going 100 - 5 with a buddy giving me health packs and reviving me as we try to sneak around the points in metro and flanking them all.

Oh the feeling of flanking a 64 man team with a M60, grip, IR, and extended mag.
 
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