One of the most intriguing things I have heard so far in
Dust 514 is the ambitious approach CCP has taken towards the environments.
With maps touted to be an enormous 5km squared in size there will be plenty of
battlefield to fight over, but this isn’t what excites me.
What I am mesmerized by is the possibility that the battlefields will be
constantly changing depending on how developed the world is. Depending on the
development of a planet certain areas could be blocked off.
“maybe a route you
used to take is now filled with water.”
“Oh, I know this place but it doesnt look how I remember it”.
With environments changing over time this could prevent the
game becoming dull and repetitive like so many others (cough, MAG cough) But perhaps what is most impressive is that prior to the
match the commander will be designating what installations go where, bringing not
only a huge tactical approach to the game but also ensuring that no two fights
will ever be the same, making it near impossible to know what your opponent is
planning until you are well in the thick of it.
“Commanders place vehicle and installation loadouts prior to
the match. Placing preliminary spawn points and structures on a wireframe map”.
But most interestingly it could have a knock-out effect on
campers. Campers tend to pick a single spot on the map where there are a great deal
of players passing by while remaining hidden. If installations are not in a
fixed position every game and routes potentially blocked off depending on the
development of the planet, this could make it increasingly difficult for campers to
find spots that are "good" and will force them to get more involved, which can only be a good thing.
good points. but not knowing maps is a little scary when u first think about it.
ReplyDeleteHow big is 5KM map compared to a MAG Domination map? like how many times good it fit inside a Dust map?
ReplyDeleteAlso, from the early demo from 2009, I got the feeling that there was a lot of open space though the fighting would be concentrated at certain facilities where objectives are located, so in those areas camping will be effective I think.
not sure. anyone know how big MAG domination maps were?
ReplyDeletecan u provide a link to where they said those things in yellow?
ReplyDeletejust want a source because if true then im looking forward to this even more.
Changing environments is something I've been looking forward to since Red Faction 1 on the PS2... yea, a long time. Instead, I've gotten the same thing over and over and over. I don't want people to know everything about the map. It will encourage people to use scouting & recon, use and improve their situational awareness, and make people think a bit more.
ReplyDeleteMerc, please print the link to the article, thanks.
ReplyDeleteA DUST map is about the 5 times the size of a MAG domination map
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeletecan u provide a link to where they said those things in yellow?
MAG Worldwide said...
Merc, please print the link to the article, thanks.
Please do :)
5 times? good lord thats huge
ReplyDeleteHere is the link to the article. Lots of info inside http://dl.eve-files.com/media/0911/Dust_514.pdf
ReplyDeleteyay! love the thoughts towards actually tacking game-killing issues! :D
ReplyDeleteI really hope Dust will have big, dynamic maps. I heard somewhere one of the CCP devs talking about the level design work he was doing, which made me sad because I thought it meant a fixed set of maps. But then I saw the comment about "map design technology" which sounded more promising.
ReplyDeleteAllowing corps to persistently modify battlefields could open a whole new can of worms though. CCP then has to balance the whole battlefield setup system so that corps can't build impregnable fortresses.
Some how i think that shoud not be the problem, after all killing the opponents isn't the goal its capturing spots, defending spots but not how much kills you get from camping
ReplyDeleteThat's why DUST seems so cool....it sounds ever changing. Nice find merc
ReplyDeleteOn that early comment about the dom size map. I believe dom maps were 1km2. (They were originally hoping to pull off 2km2 maps(4x what they ended up being.) ) So for the math challenged, the Dust maps are basically a dom map five times across, and five times high. So because we are dealing with area and two dimensions, means that 5x5=25 times the size of a domination map in MAG.
ReplyDeleteSee math is fun and we didn't need a spreadsheet! [I'd just advise avoiding the artillery skills until you train Algebra V. Its not really worth it otherwise :) ]