Ghost
Town
There are some cool ramps and bridges and also a scaffolding
platform. Basically a lot of ways to make some new routes and
block off existing ones. The objects try to use the existing
world objects where they can, so you’ll see lots of wood
and metal.
Cameron Pinard: Because of the size
and layout of Ghost Town there isn’t a lot of flexibility
with forge objects, that said we tried to include as many
interesting things as possible and keep visually similar to
Ghost Town. There are a number of blocks and barricades as
well as a few platform-like objects that we haven’t
seen as many of on other maps.
How are objects created for Forge?
What’s the process from concept to implementation? What’s
the hardest part about creating Forge objects?
They are created by the artists. Hahahaha…
Seriously though, we usually try to think first what does
this map need, and come up with a quick list of objects. We
try to think like the Forgers out there and give them things
that are useful. You’ll notice that we definitely have
more building-type items now and less decorator style objects.
Forge objects generally get made by
a 3D artist, a lot of times these are added toward the end
of production of a map so that we can pull finished or near
finished assets from the level and use them. Some of the more
unusual forge objects are conceived at some point during development
to either solve a specific problem (blocking the door in foundry
for example) or because we think it would be cool to have
(the soccer ball). Occasionally we’ll have some specific
target ahead of time like the crates on foundry that had to
serve a particular purpose.
The most frustrating thing I’ve
found making Forge objects is that we have to localize their
names, this means that we have to have a clear idea of what
the object is and what it is called earlier. This can be really
frustrating when you have a sudden moment of brilliance later
in development cycle and are unable to add things in. There
are some other difficulties in creating forge objects, for
instance you have to finish all sides of an object, the process
is very different from creating an environment object, and
because we have to account for players completely filling
the map with all the given objects, we have to be somewhat
budget conscious.
When we are looking to create objects
in forge we will basically try to make items that can be used
in various ways. So we will usually start with basic primitives
such as a box or cylinder then we will move onto items like
walls and bridges. We will also try and make things that match
the map that they are being placed in as best as possible.
For example the objects in Foundry were built with the specifications
set by the map layout. But they had to be versatile enough
that players can move things around to make all types of scenarios.
We also try to think of goofy or cool things we would like
to set up and do when we customize our own maps. So then we
will make a few other objects based upon ideas folks have.
Going forward we are taking a close
look at how people are using forge items and using that information
to make new and better Forge objects in addition to the standard
ones that have been created.
With Ghost Town's Forge objects, artists
invested heavily in the painstaking work of making the wooden
planks and catwalks completely match the environment. Without
knowing the maps, it will be difficult for folks to tell what's
been added in via Forge and what is existing geometry. The
planks and connected platforms in the foreground are just
a couple of Ghost Town's new Forge objects. With just a few
planks and walkways, players will be able to make considerable
changes to the way Ghost Town plays and those seemingly small
changes could have drastic ramifications on how the map plays.
There are some brand new objects in
the Forge this time around. What are they? How will they change
the Forge and gameplay?
The biggest new things are the Forge
filters, these are forge objects that change the camera settings
to create a variety of effects. I think some of them will
be useful for adding a little bit of a different flavor to
custom maps, but the main intended use was for those who are
interested in creating cool screenshots and films. Our Community’s
machinima makers should get a kick out of them.
Where did the idea for the Forge filters
come from?
If I recall correctly, they grew out
of the crazy screens people are taking in-game through the
Films. We saw a lot of people putting the camera in really
specific locations to get awesome effects to change how the
game looked. Cam was messing around with the idea one day,
and it looked pretty cool. We also wanted to give players
some extra knobs to tweak.
At some point during DLC 2’s
production the question came up of “what crazy new Forge
thing are we going to make this time around?” I compiled
a list of things I thought we could do and would be interesting,
one of the ideas there was a way to change the various camera
settings, something we’ve had control of for a while
but I thought it would be cool to give to users. Barry went
over the list and picked out a few that really stuck out for
him he suggested I take a look at the camera effects object
we’d used previously for grenades and equipment. During
this time we’d all been really impressed by some of
the great screens people were getting using the limited grenade/equipment
set, in the end we wanted to both bring that to more users
and really expand the abilities of the people already taking
great shots.
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