How Arma II changed online shooters

Royal battles are different: colorful and frivolous Fortnite, hardcore and with a hint of Pubg realism. The projects of this genre differ not only in the setting, but also by gameplay. Somewhere we are waiting for heroes with unique abilities and high TTK, like in APEX, and somewhere quite familiar ballistics and already familiar, but modified mechanics, as in Call of Duty: Warzone.

This is not to say that everyone loves this genre, but it is also stupid to deny its popularity among players. This is confirmed by the continued continuation of the already mentioned Warzone. And against this background, I wanted to talk about the game, without which the genre of Battle Royale would hardly be born. Namely – about the second part of Armed Assault or just Arma 2.

What is Arma 2?

Arma 2 – Heiress of the Operation Flashpoint series and direct sequel Armed Assault – first -person tactical shooter developed by the Czech studio Bohemia Interactive. Unlike their more arcade competitors (and in 2008 it was Call of Duty: World at War and Battlefield: Bad Company, the game was a realistic military simulator.

No concessions for the player: from the lack of tags over allies and opponents to the need to use a compass for orientation on the ground. When the beginner finally figure out which way to fight, he was awaiting the following test – local ballistics. Weapons have a strong return, you can shoot effectively either single or short bursts. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the distance to the enemy and either adjust the sight, or take a condemn.

A system of interaction with objects deserves special attention. There are no quick keys here. Want to treat? Kindly open the inventory, find the necessary item (first aid kit, syringe with morphine or adrenaline – depends on the situation and the effect that you want to get) and after apply it after applying it. You need to equip the store with another type of cartridge? For this, there is also a whole menu caused by a separate key.

And, of course, a huge location, for a detailed study of which will take more than a dozen hours. A special charm is added by a setting chosen by the developers – actions take place in the post -Soviet space in a fictitious country called “Chernarus”. Not often games throw us into our native coniferous forests, small villages and cities with familiar panel houses, usually preferring tropical islands or Western megacities for them.

Not the smallest location

Inventory is quite visual, but not very convenient to use

But all this fades in comparison with the main feature of not so much ARMA as Bohemia Interactive – the attitude to the community. Firstly, the developers created the editor of the missions, with which you can create levels for both single and cooperative passage. Secondly, they carefully monitor modifications. No, Take-Two, not in order to file a lawsuit at the first opportunity, but on the contrary, in order to offer the most talented place in the company.

Serious games

Realizing that there are no special restrictions in creativity and having dealt with the software necessary for creating their own mods, the players began to create. First of all, they began to develop the ideas of the original source. How can the game be called a military simulator if when shooting you do not need to make an amendment, and the player can be tired of wearing any amount of equipment? Moreover, the Renaissance system prevents the atmosphere of real battles in the atmosphere.

So mods began to appear that make the game more realistic. New aspects of the conflict, various samples of weapons and military equipment. Improved system of medicine and even more hardcore ballistics. Yes, yes, the line about the wind was not a joke. These and many other mods, including new cards, eventually led to the emergence of “serious games”. Projects, the purpose of which is to imitate various military operations or individual battles, both real and completely fictional.

“Serious Games” is an extensive and interesting topic that deserves a separate material. Now we’ll talk about key features, thanks to which such projects stood out not only among other Arma II servers, but also among all other online shutters.

Firstly, the maximum realism at all stages, including not affecting the gameplay. Each mission (and such games are held, as a rule, a couple of times a week) begins with preparation for the operation, during which the commanders of the branches sit in the “headquarters” (a separate room TeamSpeak), arranging marks on the map and trying to predict the actions of the opponent.

Secondly-the importance of teamwork and interaction not only between individual players, but also between detachments. The total number of people on the server is ± 200 people. The number of parties depends on the mission: as a rule, the attacking side always has a numerical advantage over the defending. In order not to get confused among such a number of people, it is important not only to draw regularly with the map in order to understand the approximate location of the enemy, but also to keep in touch with the allies. However, the exact positions of both enemy and union troops are unlikely to find out. Indeed, in “serious games”, players are not marked on the map in real time – you can only navigate by marks that are sometimes placed by eye and in a hurry.

So that this aspect is felt authentically, a mod was created that adds full -fledged radios to the game. Both short -wave (for communication within the department) and long -wave – for communication between departments and with the headquarters. Radio is a full -fledged item occupying a slot in the inventory. So a particularly cunning player, finding himself in the rear of the enemy and eliminating one of them, could choose a walkie -talkie from the corpse and the rest of the game to eavesdrop on opponents. Or, to pretend to be your own, wedging into negotiations (suddenly it was a beginner whose voice the other partners had not yet had time to remember?).

KV (short -wave) radio. As a rule, every fighter has this

DV (long -wave) radio – usually issued in the amount of one piece per department

Thirdly-lack of revival. One game is one life, so you should be extremely careful and hope that you are lucky. As I said, preparations for the operation can take an hour. Another hour, you are likely to get to the destination, unless of course you get into an ambush or will not undermine in a high -explosive projectile, which the opponents laid by the road. The total duration of one mission is about 3 hours, so it remains to be the dead ahead of time to communicate with comrades in misfortune, or to while sitting the time until the next operation in some session.

The description of “serious games” certainly raises the question – why continue to play this?! Why are people sitting in Timspika and spending dozens of hours waiting for a mission, which finally succeeds in seeing the enemy? But this is a real rare – during many operations you will not have to shoot at all. The command may not guess the enemy’s plan and send you to the flank, which he will simply bypass.

Why all this, if you can start any session shooter and distribute the headshot to the right and left, enjoying the concentrated gameplay? The answer is surprisingly simple – “serious games” give a unique experience. The opportunity to feel like a participant in the fighting, when you sit most of the time in the mud, afraid to get a crazy bullet and trembling from each nearby projectile.

And what if you save key elements in the nonukcasinosites.co.uk/casinos-not-on-gamstop/ form of hardcore and the desire to give players a unique experience, but at the same time make the game more interesting for a wide audience? And at the same time, and change the boring military setting to something new? Probably, thanks to this course of thoughts, a mod appeared, which has changed the entire industry for many years.

You will see about this picture at the beginning of the game

To ride “on the armor” is fun and atmospheric, but only until the first meeting with the enemy.

It is scary to say this, but almost 11 years have passed since the release of Dayz – the next anniversary will celebrate the next January next January. The modification developed by an enthusiast from New Zealand offered to go to the already familiar Chernarus, now surviving the epidemic of the virus. The local population turned into zombies and has become even less friendly, the roads are now littered with barricades, and the danger in the person of other survivors awaits every angle.

It is difficult to imagine a more suitable moment for release. In the yard 2012, people fan from the setting of the zombie apocalypse and enjoy the third season of walking dead. A year earlier, Minecraft continues to gain popularity and proves that people are interested in sandboxes. And high -speed Internet is distributed through the planet, allowing players from around the world to share content with each other, including conducting direct broadcasts.

This is not to say which of these factors became decisive, but Dayz shot. At first, streamers and flying agents paid attention to her. The game has generated memorable situations over and over again, both comical and intense. Here another player is trying to lure you into a trap, pretending to be wounded and asking for help in the chat. But you managed to find a fallen helicopter, near which lay the most powerful sniper rifle in the game. And here you are with this rifle at the ready, stepped on a stone, broke both legs and died of blood loss, getting acquainted with the legendary bugs.

Flytsli and streams sometimes resembled full -fledged series – with overcoming, survival and even betrayal. It is not surprising that the players wanted to get the same experience and began to fill the servers. But on the way to unforgettable adventures, they came across many obstacles, the first of which was a high threshold of entry. The modification not only adopted the hardcorn of the original source, she elevated him to the Absolute.

Survival came to the fore – in the literal sense of the word. The hero, as befits a simple mortal, wants to eat and drink, and can easily die from hunger and dehydration. So first of all it is necessary to get the provisions. This can be done in two ways: either to search at home in the hope of finding food and water, or to go hunting – the benefit of the forests of Chernarusi now runs hares and chicken. And water can be collected in any reservoir, after finding a flask.

The second problem was zombies. Any clash with them is a mortal danger. In many ways, due to crooked and torn animation-it is hardly easier to get along them than xenomorphs, and tangible damage can be caused only by shooting in the head. And every missed bite can turn into bleeding, infection or fracture of the legs. And if bleeding can still be poured with bandages, then for the treatment of infection it is necessary to find antibiotics that appear on the map not so often. And with broken legs, the character was completely lost the opportunity to walk – it remained only helplessly crawling along the location. And if you or your partners did not have morphine at hand (yes, in Dayz he miraculously treats broken bones), getting out of this situation is almost impossible.

But other players became the main problem. The fact is that in Day z there is no “their own”, everyone is here for himself. The modification does not punish the murder of other players, we can say – even encourages, because all equipment can be removed from the corpse, from food to a rare weapon – the catch only depends on your good luck. Of course, there are situations in which it is profitable to unite with strangers – for example, in search of those same antibiotics or for assembling a helicopter, the spare parts for which are not so easy to get. But are you ready to put the stranger into the team, knowing that he can shoot you in the back at any moment?

Simplified cooperation between random counterclaims, both text and voice. However, more experienced players often used it to lure newcomers into a trap: pretended to be friendly or portrayed that they were in trouble. However, there were opposite situations: sometimes the players really united and helped out each other.

Searching for supplies and fighting other players is much easier in the company of faithful friends. But another problem has surfaced here: cooperation in Dayz is as inconvenient as possible. And if the absence of markers over partners, although led to periodic deaths from friendly fire, was perfectly combined with the general realism of the game, then what to do with the respins? In modification (however, this is rather a sin of Army itself) there was no system that allows you to gather a group. All that you and your friends have to do is go to one server and pray so that you appear as close to each other. Sometimes to reach a comrade who was unlucky to appear at the other end of the card, could leave for an hour, or even more time.

By the way about the map-its size was now felt absolutely different. On ordinary servers, as well as during “serious games”, it was possible to get to a point of interest with the help of ground technology, or a helicopter. Here, most of the time, you have to move to your two and this is a dubious pleasure. On the one hand, this adds meditativeness to the game process, especially if you play in the company of friends. Having reached the next forest, you understand that there are almost no supplies and begin to inspect the surrounding territory in search of hares and chicken. Having discovered them, you start hunting, and your comrade at that time cuts firewood to breed a fire. And now you are already sitting by the fire and discuss abstract topics in anticipation of dinner. But not everyone wants to penetrate such an atmosphere of campaigns and survival. For many, fermentation in the same type of forests for several hours, waiting for PVP, will seem mortal boredom.

Those who coped with difficulties and got used to the local game process, expected a more important problem – the lack of the final goal. Dayz does not put any tasks before the player, remaining a sandbox. Here is the server, here are other players, here is a set of game mechanics and conventions – do with them what you want. But all that can be done is to survive and fight with other players. Because of this, interest in the game faded directly in proportion to the number of watches spent in it.

Another problem was the inability to feel your own progress. Everything that you earned during the game, from supplies to weapons, was lost after death. There is an undoubted plus in this – the rates are extremely high, because from the loss of equipment that you mined for several days, you are separated by a pair of zombie bites or several bullets. And the first time it works fine: each fight causes bursts of adrenaline and it does not matter if you win or lose – there will be a lot of emotions. But over time, fear disappeared, adrenaline disappeared and this turned into a routine: to appear on the shore, get to a point with good loot, drain it in PVP – repeat – repeat it.

However, despite all the shortcomings, Dayz offered a truly unique experience and thanks to this she continued to attract new players. This was noted not only by the author of the modification – Dean Rocket Hall, who, instead of the development of the existing project, decided to start creating a new game, but also other publishers and developers. A wave of “surviva” of varying degrees of quality was overwhelmed by the Internet and, mainly, an early access segment. Dayz Standalone, Rust, H1z1, The Forest and many others. Among others, domestic developers were also noted – HammerPoint Interactive presented in 2013 a game called The War Z. Later, the project could not stand the lawsuit and was renamed the Infestation: Survivor Stories

However, repeating the formula for success was not so easy. In addition, players began to lose interest in the setting of the zombie apocalypse. Projects went into oblivion at the same speed with which they appeared. The formula had to be changed, and you should start with the finalization of the weaknesses. One of the first to understand was Brendan Green.

Arma 2 Battle Royale and Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds

In 2014, Playerunknown, namely, was such a nickname by Brendan, released his project – Arma 2 Battle Royale. It is interesting that he did not take the original Arma II as the basis, but Dayz – it turned out to be a modification for modification. At the time of the release, the mod was very far from the usual PUBG, but included all the key features, thanks to which a new genre would later appear.

Firstly, session, which allowed to solve the problems of the absence of the final goal and a sense of own progress. Now the task was extremely clear – we must defeat rivals in the allotted time. Accordingly, the more often you played and the more actively developing skills, the higher you took place in the match.

Secondly, the dynamics of the gameplay increased. Now you could forget about the hourly wrapping in the forests. Of course, you had to spend time studying the location in search of a loot, but from now on you were limited in time. The addition of a constantly tapering zone in the root has changed the approach to gameplay. Now you, like other players, were forced to move regularly, and towards each other.

An important feature is the random behavior of the zone – each match it falls on different sections of the map. This not only adds the effect of surprise, but also makes each match unique. The tactics and route of movement have to be invented and rebuilt on the go. In addition, you never know where the enemies are, but you understand that they are moving in your direction.

But there were also problems. The inheritance from Army Fashion went bugs and weak optimization. In addition, in order to start the game, it was necessary to deal with the installation of two mods at once – Dayz and Arma 2 Battle Royale, which could push those who do not like to adhere for a long time in launches for a long time. But the maximum number of players became the key problem – at the same time only 24 people could be on the server.

Fortunately, the modification continued to gain popularity, and Brendan was able to find publishers – the release of a full -fledged game was only a matter of time. PUBG appeared in the Steam early access section in March 2017. The game retained key features and continued to develop them, not forgetting to rule the weaknesses.

So the players received a full -fledged pumping system and the ability to customize their character. What is important for a third-person play-yes, PUBG suddenly changed the view from the eyes from behind the shoulder, which fundamentally changed the gameplay. It would seem that such a change should have added speakers to the gameplay and make it more arcade. However, in practice, it only led to the dominance of the campers – because now you can see the enemy, even being in the shelter. However, after a while, the usual first -person mode appeared, so everyone was satisfied.

Another important innovation was the map: although it reminded Chernarus with the general style and the name of the cities (hello “pebbles” and the military base “Sosnovka”), but was originally imprisoned for the regime of the royal battle. The points of interest are competently scattered on the map, so that fans of meat can land on some large city, and more modest players-go to look for a loot by nooks.

We also finalized the cooperative component: three full -fledged modes and lobby appeared in the game, in which players could gather to search for a match. You can fight in deuces, detachments of four players and in solo mode. However, for ardent fans of hardcore there is an opportunity to go alone to play against units or doubles. First of all, the game with partners is distinguished by the opportunity to “raise” the wounded comrades – now an unsuccessful clash with opponents did not necessarily become fatal. And it is not so difficult to stumble upon rivals, because the total number of players increased to 100 people.

Incredible scale, entertainment and random, making every next game unlike the previous. This attracted players, journalists and streamers. But there was a problem inherited PUBG and repulsive the mass audience – hardcore. This was especially affected by complex ballistics, reminiscent of a similar system from the arm. Yes, and the setting of the modern war managed to fill in the point – it was not without reason that Battlefield decided to turn into the era of the First World War, and Call of Duty, on the contrary, went to conquer the cosmos.

Other projects

Of course, other studios began to pay attention to the popularity of the genre. There were small projects from an indie segment, most of which could not leave early access. Sony also faded, in the wake of the popularity of Dayz unsuccessfully investing money in the development of their surviva – h1z1. They decided to fix this with another infusion of money, only now – to alteration of the aforementioned H1z1 to the royal battle.

A similar story happened with Fortnite – initially the game was another survival simulator and did not gain popularity among players. However, after a change in the genre, she attracted many gamers. Of course, the setting – cartoon, cheerful, he attracted an important role, he attracted a casual and children’s audience – the one in which no genre project had been throwing before. Who knows how the fate of the royal battles and the Epic Games studios itself would have if it were not for this decision? After all, now Fortnite is one of the most popular games throughout the industry, and Epic Games is engaged in the development of his launcher. And you can’t say that just a few years ago their financial situation was very shaky.

The new genre did not bypass the Titans among the creators of online shots-Activision and Electronic Arts. To begin with, they decided not to take risks and not spend money and effort on creating new franchises, but to start small – add a regime to existing projects. For DICE, the experience was not very successful – nobody turned out to be needed and forgot about the next part about it, this time trying to copy another game – Escape from Tarkov.

But the trailer looked promising

The last nail in the lid of the coffin was scored by their colleagues in the workshop – Respawn Entertainment – a studio famous thanks to a series of spectacular and dynamic jokes Titanfall. In February 2019, without any announcements and PR companies, she released a new project-APEX Legends-a mixture of royal battle with a heroic shooter in the Titani universe. Despite such a sudden release, the game quickly began to gain popularity. And the conditionally paying model of distribution was far from the main factor.

The key role in the success of Apex Legends played the attention of developers to details. They seemed to take all the weaknesses of other projects and processed them, making the game as friendly as possible to the players, but at the same time – incredibly spectacular and hardcore. On the one hand, there is a convenient interface with the breakdown of objects by color and “body kit”, automatically clinging to suitable weapons. On the other hand, a high TTK resembling old-school shooters, which is why the game became extremely demanding on Skill. Changed the most annoying element of royal battles – the impossibility of revival. Now, with a comrade who fell in battle, it was possible to remove the token and revive an unlucky partner at a special station.

The initial pool of heroes

But the main innovation was the system of heroes with unique abilities (both passive and active) and ultimate. Each player could choose a character suitable for his game style. Love to lure enemies in a trap? Here is a kaustic who knows how to put bombs with poison. Want to break into the thick of events and kill stunned enemies? Reyf with the ability to go to the inviz and a bangalor with a smoke curtain – more than ever. There is a character who can treat himself – a very important option for loners.

Activision also decided not to rush and started with a separate regime instead of a full -fledged game. For the first time, the royal battle in the Call of Duty series appeared in Black Ops 4. This is not to say that it turned out to be excellent or, on the contrary, terrible – the result came out average. Against the background of a bright and convenient Apex, the new mode looked gray and inexpressive, and the interface and interaction with the inventory could compete with Pubg. However, there were pleasant moments, mainly relating to weapons. Local ballistics was to those who could not control PUBG, and a very low TTK made a gameplay easier than in APEX

The developers, evaluating the prospects of the young genre and collecting the feedback, carried out large -scale work on mistakes and already in 2020 rolled out a full -fledged game – Call of Duty: Warzone. And if some things remained familiar – a setting of modern war, behavior of weapons, TTK, etc.d, – the others were new even for lovers of the genre. For example, a gulag appeared – a place where the dead players got. Here, unlike APEX, you do not need to wait for the surviving comrades that you are surviving (although the opportunity to buy a fallen friend at a special station was also present). After death, you find yourself in the arena, and for a successful revival you need to defeat another player. On the one hand – the game gives the right to error without completing the match after death. On the other hand, you could be mistaken only once.

We worked on the inventory. If in Black Ops 4 he was the weakest element, then in the Warzone system of interaction with it became almost the most convenient in the entire industry. All the useful objects that fell out of the enemy were selected, it is only worth running up to them-a sort of simulator of the robot permissive in the conditions of military operations. Another pleasant feature was the opportunity to create a “assembly” from weapons and perks in advance and order it all at the same station during the match. On the one hand, this kills interest and excitement, because randomness is an important component of the genre. On the other hand, it makes the game more honest – now you can’t write off the defeat on the game with the words “Yes, I just could not find my favorite gun, I would definitely win with it”. In addition, to order equipment, you need to not only get to the station, but also get a certain amount of money. They can be selected from defeated enemies, find it in the boxes or honestly earned, performing orders – for example, hunting your heads.

Warzone, like the predecessor, turned out to be an excellent alternative to those to whom APEX and PUBG seemed too complicated, and Fortnite is too cartoony and nursery. In a pleasant sense, the support unusual for the Call of Duty series is surprising. The developers issued new cards, balanced weapons and even held events. Not Fortnite with concerts of real celebrities, but still. Even now, after the release of the second part, the Warzone server still continues to work.

Gulag, despite the name, rather resembles the decoration from the film “Rock”