Armed Assault Interview (con't)

FiringSquad:What multiplayer features are you planning at this point for the game?

Paul R. Statham:ArmA and multiplayer are really going to slot together well, our netcode has really matured as we've worked on it and certainly we're expecting ArmA to support 60 players as minimum. But for us multiplayer is never simply about the numbers of players involved, it has to be more than that, more substance, more content. ArmA's multiplayer is going to be oozing substance, and content. Obviously as with singleplayer, multiplayer will feature the whole island, a plethora of vehicles and weapons as well as the great depth and possibility offered by the AI, use them as enemies, use them as friends, choice is yours. Mode wise ArmA will feature a wide range of choices, from the usual quick action types: deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag etc. onto the the modes which offer a little more strategy and depth: cooperative, capture and hold, attack and defend, hold location, sector control etc. Then a level beyond that we're going to have hard coded into the game a mode of play similar to the immensely popular capture the island, this aims to be a persistent, largescale conflict, fought over the whole island for hours, even days at a time. It will have a constantly changing battlefield, a real ebb and flow type warfare that really challenges gamers.

FiringSquad:What can you tell us about the graphical features in Armed Assault?

Paul R. Statham:Obviously graphics are important in any game, for us we look at graphics as a way to build a sense of style into the game, a contributing part of the immersion and experience of the game as a whole. ArmA will support a number of the more useful DX9 features such as pixel shaders, normal mapping and HDR range simulation. When we look at using a graphical feature we don't look at is as a way to check off a box in the list of "geek speak" we look at it as a way to implement something that has a practical purpose, for example one of the really cool things about the HDR lighting we have in the game is that bright lights such as sunlight or explosions affect how well you can see the world around you, what that means in practical terms is that if you have the sun in your eyes, and you're about to ambush the enemy you put yourself at a disadvantage due to your decreased ability to see.

FiringSquad:Are there plans for any mission editors and mod tools for the game like Bohemia release for Operation: Flashpoint?

Paul R. Statham:The modding community is part of the reason we're still around today and in a position to create our future games. ArmA will ship with a built in mission editor, this mission editor is completely fully featured and is essentially the same one that we use to create the campaign, single player missions and multiplayer missions, using it gamers can create their own campaigns and missions, create their own cutscenes, implement music and speech files into their missions, basically do any of the things that we ourselves do in the content that ships with the game. In the areas of modding support we're definitely looking at ways we can help the community to make a jump start on getting their content created and released, we're looking at releasing the tools they need around the same time as the game ships and we're already working on the documentation they'll need to use the tools. Operation Flashpoint has seen thousands of addons/mods released over the years, everything from TV Show and movie tie ins, onto mods covering virtually every war fought in any period and every nation of soldier that's carried a weapon, so of course nobody wants to see that great work go to waste, fortunately with a little tweaking all content from Flashpoint can be converted to work with ArmA so basically as soon as ArmA is released people should start seeing addon/mod content released.


FiringSquad:What are the current status of the game's progress and when will it be released?

Paul R. Statham:The question as to when it will be released is down to the publisher, at this moment in time we don't have a global publishing deal with any publisher so we continue to be available for discussions with interested parties. At this year's E3 we're represented by IDEA Games who will be showing Armed Assault to journalists and publishers, so anyone wishing to arrange an appointment should contact them [http://www.idea-games.com/index_main.php?id=contact]

FiringSquad:Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Armed Assault?

Paul R. Statham:I'd like to say a big thanks to everyone who reads this interview, we're really passionate about the games we create so it really means a lot to us to get a sense of the excitement and anticipation that's building up around ArmA. I know people are eager to get their hands on the game, just as we're eager to finish it and start seeing some of the amazing content the community produces, so hopefully it' not going to be too much longer before it's released. And before that we can promise to release more and more new information and media about the game, following the period of silence where we had to focus primarily on the development side.