FROM: Project Lead
TO: Beta Users
INFO: Upcoming patch, AI tweaks, Firing Drill improvements
PRECEDENCE: Flash
SITUATION
As the working days slowly start to melt together, we are preparing the release of the second Arma 3 Beta patch. This update will bring the BattlEye anti-cheat implementation and tracked APCs to the main game branch. Speaking of these armored vehicles: in the full version of the game, both will have Anti-Air variants as well. Sneaking up on us after that is the next content addition, which you probably have spotted a glimpse of in the official Beta trailer. Another huge focus is the full game and its release. All personnel is being mobilized, we are working with our external partners, and finalizing the release schedule. Within weeks you should know the specifics of the Arma 3 Q3 release, as well as some of our plans beyond that.
INTELLIGENCE
Visit the Arma 3 website for another cycle of the Community Focus widget. Shown off this time are two cool Beta videos and an impressive-looking mod package adding Private Military Company content. We look forward to seeing this mod continue development of even more equipment, as well as progress on other quality mods out there! Finally, we reach out to one of the German community hubs over at Armed-Assault.de. Incidentally we are today hosting a small studio visit for a German game website and magazine. They are getting a sneak peak at full game content, so stay tuned for coverage.
Programmers Vojtech Hladik and Krzysztof Bielawski have taken on the effort of communicating the Artifical Intelligence work we have done and are still doing in this Captain's AI log on the forums. Not everything is as visible as adding a new APC or helicopter, and these changes are fundamental to gameplay. It might give players a better understanding of what it takes to develop and improve AI for a game as big as Arma 3.
OPERATIONS
Thanks for your feedback on the Firing Drills added with the Beta. In the full version you'll find a few additions that some of you have mentioned would be nice. The mode will be enhanced with optional bonus targets, adding a trade off between speed and bonuses collected by finding and engaging these. There is also more emphasis on bonuses for accurate target engagements. Will you go for the quick hit on-the-move, or do you take your time to aim and get a center-mass shot off. The types of targets are expanded with steel, popper targets and skeet clays. After we finish the full game's Courses of Fire, we may try to trickle some of this into the Beta drills.
Today our audio team has begun recording the final actors for the Radio Protocol - bringing more variety to the collection of voices. They are also improving the use of the direct speech channel now that the overhaul of the protocol itself is complete. This aims to bring back hearing radio communications nearby as well as over the radio. It would also move combat shout messages back to this channel rather than a squad's intercom.
LOGISTICS
Senior Designer Karel Mořický has started a useful page on the Community Wiki to track documentation relevant to modders. We'd like to eventually integrate these updates into the (now) Beta hub as well, especially after release. This is when we intend to step up our game when it comes to tools and documentation. Recently, Karel has been documenting enhancements to the editor module framework. How to use it as a scenario designer, how to design and configure your own modules, and more.