ArmA3 コミュニティー・アルファの公開を予定

急制動を行うAero L-159 Alca

Bohemia Interactive Studio の developer’s blog post にて今年の 6 月に行われる E3 後にプレイアブルビルドの公開を予定していると発表しました！
以下 Game Spark より

“コミュニティー・アルファ”にはゲームプレイ及び技術の新たな面を経験するのに十分なコンテンツが含まれており、熱烈なコミュニティーが最新のReal Virtualityエンジンを使用するModの制作準備を行う事もできるそうです。そしてその後にはより広範囲なベータプログラムが開始されるとの事です。またBohemia Interactiveは本作のゲームプレイにおける改善点などを幾つか明らかにしています。

■ DirectX 10/11を実装。

■ PhysXが動作 - 特にラグドールアニメーションは本当に印象的に見える。

■ UIはユーザービリティに焦点を当てて再デザインし改善されている。

■ ゲームのユニークな部分を犠牲にせず、新規のプレイヤーにも理解できる、ようより分かりやすいものにしたい。

■ 完全新規のモーションキャプチャにより、アニメーションを再加工。シリーズ中最も現実的なアニメーションとなっている。

■ マップのスケールはスクリーンショットでは伝えられないほど巨大。

■ 滑らかでしっかりとしたマルチプレイヤー経験を約束。
http://gs.inside-games.jp/news/320/32055.html

MOD 製作者や新しい機能を試したいユーザーにとって本当に嬉しい事です。

RWSを装備したHunter (Plasan M-ATV)	待ち伏せに最適な森林を移動するNATO軍兵士とMerkava 4M
着陸態勢のMH-6J	新しいケミライトイルミネーション

今日公開されてArmA2から確実に進歩していると分かったスクリーンショットがこちら。

夜間パトロールをしているイラン軍なのですが、この光源の表現が凄い！
ArmA2 じゃどんなに設定を上げても MOD やアドオンを入れてもできなかった事が実装されます。光の柔らかさ、反射光や照射させられる事によってできる影などこれはいち早く試してみたいです。

運転席からの車内の様子ですがサイドミラーやおそらく前方を写しているビデオモニタが動作しているのが確認できます。これで車両の操縦性が格段に向上すると思いますが、凄く重そう・・・

また、pcgamer.comでQ&Aのインタビューが公開されました。

Q&A
PCG: When will the Community Alpha be available?

Daniel Musil, A3 Project Lead: The exact date will be announced following E3, but it should follow a month or so later. It depends on a number of internal and external developments.
Jay Crowe, Creative Director: Once we manage to shake off the jet-lag from LA?wash off that conference-hall smell?we intend to set out what’s on offer and how we’ll be inviting people to get involved in much greater detail.

How many people do you expect to participate in the Community Alpha?

Jay Crowe, Creative Director: Well, we’re talking about an alpha build of the game. We accept that it’s not something that those with only a passing interest would get involved in. Rather, we’d expect that our community will be the driving force behind this initial offering, at least.

Musil: We have no limits, though ? anyone interested is welcome! This will be an iterative process and we will appreciate any proper feedback. If we took a guess, there could be thousands.

Crowe: You only need to look at the success and popularity of similar alpha releases to see that, if it begins to gain momentum, such previews can generate large numbers of really passionate players.

During the Community Alpha, what aspects of the game is Bohemia going to be most interested in receiving feedback on?

Musil: We’re especially interested in the new technologies running on the broad range of hardware out there. In regard to our large, open world there is always lots of aspects to tune. Also, the new scripting frameworks are very flexible but relatively new.

Crowe: Yes, a very recent beta patch for Take On Helicopters added support for Java in the RV engine. Long term, its being considered as a replacement for our proprietary scripting language, but?at least for TKOH and A3?they’ll operate side by side. We hope that once the Community Alpha is in place, modders will be able to explore the possibilities ? and identify any pesky limitations ? of this exciting new feature.

Musil: Overall, we’d expect quite general feedback to the game, which we’ll then evaluate and seek to shape it up alongside our customers needs.

Crowe: Although we can get into details later, one option is to stagger the release of new engine features. In this way, we might focus upon a particular aspect and garner useful feedback. For example, one week after the Community Alpha launch, we might drop in the scuba guys or enable physics on vehicles, listening carefully to the feedback on how these systems perform.

Musil: We’re not seeking overly specific feedback?I mean a missing screw here and there, it’s fundamentally our job to retain the quality of our game ? the goal is to identify and neutralise important stability issues, across the big range of hardware combinations our there.

The blog post references a delay. Are you delaying Arma 3 further than Holiday 2012?

Crowe: Yes, we’ve pushed back our full release, which originally stood as Summer 2012. Although, with the Community Alpha, many people will still get to enjoy their first experience with a playable build of Arma 3 very soon. This iterative model of development?sharing a public preview build?is becoming more and more widespread on the indie scene. Arma 3 is a big game. It’s packed with a lot of complex new features. This Community Preview enables us, as a relatively small team, to spend more time polishing and improving it ahead of a full, retail launch. Take On Helicopters was a step in the right direction, but, we can always do more to improve day one stability.

Does Bohemia believe that Arma 3 will be one of the PC’s most-demanding games when it releases? Are you worried about that?

Musil: We consider the Real Virtuality engine to be more like a platform than a game. Our community has used it for a much longer period than is perhaps usual for the most modern games. It’s why we’re scaling the rendering quality and the whole engine to fit both current machines and also high-end desktops in the near feature. At higher settings, there is usually more to compute and render?longer view distance, better quality further in the scene, denser and more extensive particles, multiple shader-based effects, and so on. Generally, we would like to allow users to always set the best quality regardless of hardware performance, which we achieve with our powerful range of video options.

What’s a weapon or vehicle in A3 that’s exciting to you right now?

Musil: For me, it’s the Gepard GM-6 Lynx. An impressive and modern anti-material weapon we had a chance to try ourselves. Makes me respect it both visually and when putting fire down-range. There will be another devlog about this recording, including some behind the scenes stuff.

Crowe: Well, I might just be a little biased from the last project, but right now it’s the Mi-48 Helicopter Gunship. Our community christened it the “Hamok.” It’s big and it’s ugly and it’s all the better for that!

Musil: Honestly, though?although it might sound a little staged?the best weapon for me is new lighting model, which I like very much personally. Visually, it’s a big step up from our previous games. I hope this weapon will be great help for promoting our game.

流し読みですが、コミュニティ・アルファバージョンは制限無しのようで、ArmA2を購入していなくてもプレイできるそうです。

developer’s blog post
GameSpark
PCGamer
VG247

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