DICE has shared a new development update about its goals for the next Battlefield, and the feedback from players taking part in Battlefield Labs testing sessions. This latest post focuses almost entirely on destruction, and the studio’s ethos for how it’s going to work in the next game.
The high-level goals with destruction haven’t changed much; it’s still designed to create new tactical and gameplay opportunities for players, and to allow different player actions to deliver a noticeable impact on the surrounding environment – with the potential to reshape it.
Though DICE’s destruction aspirations are pretty standard for a modern Battlefield, the developer wants to change how the mechanic is implemented, as well as how its quirks are communicated to players.
A key goal this time around is for players to be able to easily identify which walls can be destroyed (and which cannot), as well as which parts of the environment can be affected by different tools/gameplay styles. As revealed in a new blog post, the developer is adding visual and audio language to make those aspects clear to players.
This language should be consistent across the entire game, too. DICE gave the example of a random wall, which can take damage from smaller bullet impacts, explosions, as well as vehicles driving through it. The thinner the wall becomes, the more that will be reflected in the way it looks.
Each “state” will create new gameplay opportunities. Holes big enough will allow bullets to pass from each side to the other, letting you hit enemies behind cover. Audio and visual VFX will play to let you know you can shoot through a wall, and whether your hits have landed.
The rate at which walls and other destructible objects degrade varies depending on their surface type. Each time you chip away at something, it creates rubble and debris to match the level of inflicted damage. That debris will itself remain, creating dynamic cover that persists for the rest of the match.
Battlefield Labs Early Pre-Alpha Destruction! 💣💥
byu/Dedzigs inBattlefield
DICE also shared a brief demonstration of destruction from a pre-alpha build of the game. If you’ve been keeping up with the Battlefield Labs leaks, you’ll no doubt be familiar with that area of the map – as it’s the only one players got to play on.
As Battlefield Labs continues, the developer is looking to gather feedback about the balance of environmental destructibility, and the gameplay impact caused by various forms of collateral damage that result from destruction.
The developer is also looking to tweak the balance of destructible objects, how quickly they degrade, not to mention the overall impact on map flow when so much of the environment has been destroyed.
It remains to be seen how successful DICE is going to be in reaching those goals with the final build. I can tell you, however, that – having been following the Battlefield franchise for nearly 20 years, that the Battlefield Labs leaks have me convinced that DICE is finally building on what came before and not starting from scratch with the next Battlefield.
