Leaderboard

Instead of posting these elsewhere, updates regarding Siege will now be posted here. A quick recap on what Siege is. Siege is a map I created during Gamma development period of APB. Unfortunately due to several reasons, of which performance was the main reason, it never saw a public release. I will be reviving it now for Delta, and this does mean redoing large parts of the level. Here is what I posted about it in a recent thread: As a reminder, the reason I am working on Siege instead of the Fjord remake, is that the Fjord remake is an even bigger project that I need more time for, and I do not want to let down player expectations for it... Siege is my mid term solution so that I can still deliver a new piece of content within a more reasonable time frame. So, as a first teaser update, I've created this short video, showing the functionality of the medieval cannons. NOTE THAT THIS MAP IS IN EARLY DEVELOPMENT AND VERY MUCH A WORK IN PROGRESS! * Impact sound is missing from the video due to it not exporting in the mix file, I didn't notice until I uploaded the video. Expect more updates as development continues!

Don't be alarmed by the seeming appearance of symmetrical map design, there is in fact a lot of asymmetrical balance in place, for example the Soviet side of the castle has an extra way of getting onto the castle walls. Ultimately however, balance is something play testing has to point out. I have largely overhauled the level terrain (and I do mean that, big reworks have gone into the terrain in order to make it easier to adjust when needed later down the line, plus it looks better). I can even still make another infantry route to the opposing base via the river area on the opposite side of the castle, as a last resort (currently that area is "reserved" for air to air combat). Quite a few hours have already gone into Siege. I'm still on schedule for an internal QA release this weekend.

Small update (but big in terms of development time): The map has been re-textured from scratch. In this process I've split the map terrain file up in two for easier material management; a main terrain file, and a castle file. In the process of re-texturing I've managed cut down approximately 300 unnecessary draw calls without a loss of texture detail, via merging mesh while retaining UVW coordinates. Also, additional texture detail added in places that previously did not have them. Finally, and this will impact gameplay slightly, both team bases will be thematically different; The Allied base is on a grass surface with lots of grass, shrubberies, and trees. The Soviet base is on a concrete/dirt surface with more industrial props laying around. Current estimation is that W3D testers can get their hands on a playable version of the map (without alternate objective) this coming weekend.