One of the strengths of Battlefield 3 is that each new DLC brings geographically stunning maps and vehicles with which to explore them. For instance, Armored Kill’s Alborz Mountain, a vast map that explored elevation, had players move from a low-lying lake up to a snowy mountain top. This could either be done slowly on foot or the whole scale of the thing could be taken in rapidly by helicopter.
It’s why the dirt bike that’s coming in the End Game DLC is quite so appetising, it’s going to give us the means to travel about the levels on ground level ridiculously quickly. A new blog post from DICE goes into the many jumps that the dirt bike will be taking advantage of. Check out some excepts and video below.
Before tiring your eyes with all the words below, excite them a little with explosions:
Ooooh, ahhh, and all of that.
“Creating a well-designed and successful jump requires more than just making a bump in the ground or adding a random ramp to a prop,” writes QA analyst Malin von Matern.”To create a jump that works as intended, you need to make sure you work with the physics engine in the right way, almost like when building a jump in real life. If the jump is too long or too steep you will lose speed and possibly fail the jump, or the jump will simply become dull and forgettable. Make the jump too flat and it will likewise lose its edge.
“Something I learned is that you want the jump to have a nice curve in order to simulate the g-forces that take place when pulling off jumps in real life. The curve also helps the motorbike keep its momentum all the way through the jump, giving you those epic “big air” moments.”
Matern also goes into the style of the four new maps coming the End Game DLC: “While the two most jump heavy maps are Operation Riverside and Kiasar Railroad, the other two maps – Nebandan Flats and Sabalan Pipeline – rely more on using the skills you have learned on the constructed jumps on the raw terrain. I have personally had lots of “Battlefield Moments” during playtests on these maps. My knowledge of what I can make the motorbike do has saved my skin more than once. So don’t be fooled if you have a hard time spotting jumps on those maps. They are there, just a bit more hidden.”
If you’re interested in the iterative process of map making then it would do you good to read the rest of Matern’s post. It goes into the details of perfecting the geometry of a jump to guide players to a safe landing.