Here is a presentation of four map concepts with a unique gameplay that I thought. Back to urban maps for this last pack that came out of my head !
TITLE > Blackout
WORKING TITLE > Blackout
SUPPORTED GAME MODES > All
BRIEF > Advancing in Paris by night, without any light, in the streets and through buildings (offices, parkings, a shopping center).
ATTACKER (RUSH MODE) > USA
FICTION > The battle for Paris left the city badly damaged. The power grid has been hit by a bombardment. The Marines are taking this opportunity to attack the remaining of the Russian troops.
DESIGN THOUGHTS > The interest of this infantry map is to play in buildings where lights and night vision goggles will be essential.
ARCHITECTURE > Take again the design from Seine Crossing and Operation Metro. Include building insides like offices or a shopping center. The map would be cut in half by a big avenue and in the middle, an aerial metro station like we can see in the campaign mission « Comrades ».
TITLE > Berliner Park
WORKING TITLE > Tiergarten
SUPPORTED GAME MODES > All
BRIEF > Armored combat in a big park in the middle of a city.
ATTACKER (RUSH MODE) > USA
FICTION > This is spring. The battle for Berlin takes place in the big park of Tiergarten, next to the Brandenburg Gate, where tanks from both sides are gathering.
DESIGN THOUGHTS > The aim of this map is to create a tanks battle in an urban park.
ARCHITECTURE > The purpose of this map is of course to play in a park far bigger because many players like me love the beginning of Metro in rush mode and are sad to go through the galleries lol. Add the Germanic elements in decorations (e.g. statues). The outline of the map will include modern German buildings and the famous Brandenburg Gate.
TITLE > Helsinki Streets
WORKING TITLE > White street
SUPPORTED GAME MODES > All
BRIEF > Infanty fighting, by day, in an urban environment, with snow on the ground.
ATTACKER (RUSH MODE) > RUS
FICTION > The US army moved to Helsinki to prepare an attack on St. Petersburg. But the Russian army has overtaken the preparations by invading Finland. Heavy snow on the ground makes it difficult to move forward with non-armored vehicles. Most fights will be conducted on foot.
DESIGN THOUGHTS > This city map provides good visibility like most cards in the game (no night, no rain or snowfall), but with a winter environment: snow. The harbor is frozen, the battle will rage on as the water, or rather the ice ! Once the port is taken, the goal is to move forward in the city, and key areas to control would be located along an upsloping avenue, giving a slight edge to defenders.
ARCHITECTURE > Create facades more Finish than in Paris. Create the marina with ships.
TITLE > Operation Red Dice
WORKING TITLE > Dice
SUPPORTED GAME MODES > All
BRIEF > Infantry and vehicle fight in Stockholm close to DICE studios.
ATTACKER (RUSH MODE) > RUS
FICTION > The US army has been pushed out from Finland. Their are currently based in Stockholm. Present masters of the Baltic Sea, the Russians are preparing to kick the Marines out of northern europe.
IDÉES DE CONCEPTION > The interest of this map is fun : play around DICE studios ! More seriously, the idea is to play an urban map, by night, with two banks and a bridge long and large enouth. To go from one bank to another without going through the bridge, given their distance, boats are available. Basically a kind of Seine Crossing more focused on a vehicle fight. A bit of a remake of Battlefield 1942 Market Garden map.
ARCHITECTURE > Create facades more Swedish than in Paris. Create the bridge (highway?). Create background buildings like DICE studios !
BONUS 1 : NEW GAME MODE : PROTECT/DESTROY
This game mode exists on a competitor game (Search and Destroy in Call of Duty), and some of you will cry foul because they believe (rightly) that this is not the same kind of video game.
But I am convinced that it would be interesting to play this type of fashion oriented gameplay with a realism like Battlefield 3 as opposed to a too strong arcade game.
Furthermore it is not a plagiarism. As a reminder to young poeple, this mode exists since a very long time on a lot of games (Tactical Ops in Unreal Tournament, Counter Strike in Half-Life).
Battlefield 3 also deserves this challenging gameplay and it would allow the game a real boom in online competitions.
This mode would be a 8 vs 8 (2 squads per team), with of course two targets, one bomb, one life per player and per round, and the victory for the team set by default to 10 rounds.
This mode would be played on map portions smaller than other modes, but remain relatively large (since we can go in each building) and therefore the time given to defuse a bit longer.
BONUS 2 : NEW CLASS GADGETS
In Winter Operations pack, I proposed to strengthen a class role with customisations. The new gadgets here offers to enhance a second role or to create a new one. It increases again the game possibilities and matches its maxim : « Play like you want ».
Assault : 40mm grenades pack
The Assault class doesn't win a new object, strictly speaking, but the use of two new 40mm grenade for its grenade launcher :
- Stun grenade : It disorients the enemy by affecting the hearing and the sight (sound + light flash). In the game, it creates a large suppression effect.
- GLIMPS (Grenade-Launched Imaging Modular Projectile System) : This is a grenade equipped with a camera. In ballistic firing, it can quickly find out the enemy forces behind a hill. On urban maps, the image will blur and then will cut if you fire it above you (because of the altitude limit in urban maps). However, you can fire it in a long corridor before crossing it.
These two with the smoke grenade, they enhance the getting forward role of the Assault class. They are selected in place of the healing kit. To enjoy the grenade launcher at its maximum, and strengthen the assault/getting forward role, I recommend to move the other types of grenades (fragmentation and flechette) and the M26 MASS in place of the defibrillator. Indeed, the defibrillator is more important to me that the healing kit. I find it more balanced having to choose between objects that do damage and the defibrillator. And it allows two types of grenade at once, at the expense of the healing kit. The choice is hard!
Engineer : Automated turret
Battlefield 3 is going on in the near future so I think it is not ridiculous to include small automated turrets (the technology exists, especially used in paintball clubs ; the miniaturization and providing it in numbers in an army there is another story).
The power and size of the charger could be equivalent to an MP7 for example which would not unreasonably allow many kills (1 or 2). The device is also fragile and therefore susceptible to grenades.
The turret replaces the rocket launcher and can be repaired.
This object enhances the interest of the engineer infantry on a map.
(I admit this is the idea which I am the least satisfied but I find nothing else for the moment to strengthen its interest in maps infantry)
Support : Radar jammer
This object scrambles all minimap/radar of nearby vehicles and sticks to all surfaces such as C4.
It prevents operation of any vehicle proximity scanner asset, any Recon motion sensor, and any Recon radio beacon.
For the enemy, interferences are not seen, the enemies do not just appear on the map.
The jammer replaces the ammunition kit and can be selected at the same time as the C4.
This object enhances the Support value in a map with vehicles.
Recon : JIM LR (multifunction infrared long range binoculars)
This object allows us to stress the Recon observation role at the expense of creating an insertion area as it replaces the beacon.
The binoculars have the most powerful zoom in the game (x20 ? more ?) and adjustable (right click to zoom) but it is cannot be mount on a weapon !
It provides a normal vision, and an infrared vision with targets visible in white on black or black on white (left click).
It provides telemetry guidance, that are the target distance and the angle of fire advised for a x12 scope : ideal for adjusting your shots.
So switch back to your weapon: you must translate the information relative to the graduations of the weapon sight. That will come all alone with your experience of the weapon.
By knowing the precise distance and your weapon, you should hit more easily without having to do x attemps that could identify your position to the enemy.
To go faster, request help : another Recon from your squad will observer for you and tell you the targets and the associated indications.
Maybe he can see exactly where you hit (I do not know if impacts are visible at long distance in this video game).
OTHER EXPANSION PACKS :
The images are created with video game screenshots, movie captures, pictures from Google Maps and Google Earth, and photos found on Internet. Those creations are for private use and nonprofit.
Beside, their quality is variable, depending on the sources used and the graphic effects I applied on them. The only goal is to illustrate my ideas : I do not pretend to be a graphist !
Estheral