EA Targeting Industry Leading Destruction Effects with Next Battlefield

[T0@st]

Electronic Arts in Canada is actively recruiting for a VFX Director position at its Ripple Effect studio—the job listing implies that the ideal candidate will be set to work on the next mainline Battlefield title. EA has implemented a cross-studio development system, where multiple teams have helped to build AAA games, including their controversial plus troubled Battlefield 2042 entry—the popular online shooter series has been steered primarily by DICE in Stockholm, Sweden. Several satellite outfits assisted in producing BF 2042, including Ripple Effect (an "evolution" of DICE LA), but the multiplayer gaming community was disappointed to discover that EA's massive deployment of resources did not result in comprehensive environmental destruction within 2042's gargantuan maps.

Insider Gaming has been keeping tabs on recruitment drives at EA's miscellaneous "Battlefield 6" studios, in order to extract clues about the game's origins and progress. We know very little about the status of BF6, beyond Vince Zampella's declarations from Autumn 2023. His Los Angeles studio appears to be leading the charge; industry insiders believe that DICE Stockholm has been demoted in EA's studio hierarchy. The latest Ripple effect job advert provides a promising insight for Battlefield fans who enjoyed the "Levolution" aspect of Battlefield 4's changing environs: "We are looking for a Senior 3D Artist like you to help us create the most realistic and exciting destruction effects in the industry. You will report to our Art Line Manager, based in our studio in Los Angeles, CA. We are looking for candidates located in Vancouver with remote options." Zampella and Co. are likely having to up the ante, following the launch of "The Finals"—an Unreal 5 engine-powered shooter developed by former DICE veterans. Embark Studios have implemented some impressive destruction effects—serving as a key component of the game's mechanics.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Deleted member 237269]

The executive team at EA should maybe check
https://store.steampowered.com/app/671860/BattleBit_Remastered/

We don’t need top graphism but something everyone can play.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

I really hope BF6 doesnt flop like 2042 did at the start.

The executive team at EA should maybe check
https://store.steampowered.com/app/671860/BattleBit_Remastered/
View attachment 329862
We don’t need top graphism but something everyone can play.

Yeah Ill pass on that. I dont need to feel like im playing a Minecraft mod of Battlefield.

 

[natr0n]

Ravenfield captures BF feeling in around 1GB.

 

[NC37]

I really hope BF6 doesnt flop like 2042 did at the start.


Yeah Ill pass on that. I dont need to feel like im playing a Minecraft mod of Battlefield.

Most of them have all flopped at the start since BC. What happens when you try to compete with CoD which used a much simpler engine. Notice how BF games got less and less about destruction as it went too. The deformation and destruction took more power and time to build. EA wanted quantity over quality. Now we've reached the point after years of pushing this where the Frostbite engine is laughed at and a buggy mess. EA management changed and suddenly they remember what Frostbite used to be able to do.

 

[Sabotaged_Enigma]

First improve your rubbish EA App, EA!

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Hmmm. Wasnt a rumour that EA was dropping frostbite engine in favour of UE5 a while back since frostbite is old and tonnes of spaghetti code that nobody knows how to use properly vs UE5 which is easier to understand and use?

Not that I care much about the franchise anymore since the last 2 or 3 games but im still interested to see how it turns out.

I give Zampella a lot of credence but even his medal of honor VR reboot flopped pretty hard and nobody talks about it. Didnt talk about it when it was released. Didnt talk about it after it was released. Nobody talks about it at all....because its garbage. At least he wasnt that guy who was one of the developers for candycrush that EA pushed into the chair of 'lead developer' or 'head of development' etc etc for a battlefield game. We all know how that game turned out....

Zampella has some serious chops. Dont know if they are mutton chops but he has the experience to make the next BF game potentially a winner so long as the EA executives stay away and let him work.

 

[Bobaganoosh]

The executive team at EA should maybe check
https://store.steampowered.com/app/671860/BattleBit_Remastered/
View attachment 329862
We don’t need top graphism but something everyone can play.

I agree that they should focus on gameplay and content before graphics, but EA has enough studios that are assigned to any "BF" game at this point that there's no reason it can't have both good gameplay and good graphics. 2042 was terrible at both. It has worse graphics than BF:V by a long shot because they wanted to go to their newer Frostbite engine, but couldn't figure out how to make it work so they just did like a half-step. That and they didn't do photogrammetry like they did on previous installments. They couldn't even get RT to work right lol. Maybe it's because the people who invented the Frostbite engine are gone (like the main guy who's at Embark now).

As for Frostbite vs. UE5, it has previously been the case that EA invested so much into Frostbite that they didn't want to just scrap it. It seemed like it could do all the things you'd want a shooter engine to do, but it had become so convoluted and messy due to staff turnover (and them trying to also make it a racing simulator engine among other things lol) and losing the people who really knew what they were doing with it that I'm curious how long they'll let their teams struggle before admitting defeat with it.

My biggest problem with this franchise as it sits today is that EA (and DICE) forgot what made it "Battlefield" to begin with. There was no clear direction or theme to 2042 and their attempt at a hero-shooter was a complete failure. Honestly, I wish they'd scrap that whole mechanic and go back to human characters (with fall damage, can't fly, slide a mile, etc.). Trying to recreate "Apex in the Battlefield genre" was a complete mistake. Let them be separate games. They used to have a really good middle-ground between mil-sim and arcade shooter where it didn't have the "realism" of squad or HLL or something, but also didn't try to be so silly that it had Fortnite vibes...just leaning enough on the realistic side to encourage people to PTFO. I actually really like that side of Battlebit, even though it does look like a minecraft shooter.

I think it needs destruction, levelution, best-in-class graphics, and the gritty real-military-guys (that may also crack situation appropriate jokes, lookin at you BC2...not whatever the hell 2042 characters were up to lol...preferably war-tapes style audio for MP though) and BF:V style movement mechanics. The movement and graphics in BF:V were it's only saving graces really. The maps and gunplay were pretty bad for the most part. Also, a huge one: DEDICATED SERVERS...bring them back.

OK OK...I'm a huge BF fan (pre-2042 anyway)...and I've rambled enough. Sorry lol

 

[raptori]

The executive team at EA should maybe check
https://store.steampowered.com/app/671860/BattleBit_Remastered/
View attachment 329862
We don’t need top graphism but something everyone can play.

No thanks, this game is a total fail at graphics and audio , those are 2 out of 3 pillars of any game.

 

[wolf]

Perhaps a response to The Finals?, It's been a many a year since I mained BF games, but I saw a comparison to Bad company ...2(?) and The Finals seems like an evolution of those destruction physics, maybe they didn't like being showed up?

Reminds me, time to fire up the retro box I'm working on and play some BF1942

 

[Denver]

Where's the "not interested since BF4" option? lol

 

[Hyderz]

the only leading industry destruction effect is when you release the game half baked....
then you will see the destruction effect of people leaving the game early

 

[lexluthermiester]

While advancements are cool, this does feel like EA grasping at anything that will help their floundering prospects...

 

[_Under2World_]

Marketing team once again doing their worse to focus on the less important part and mess up everything else.

 

[evernessince]

Hmmm. Wasnt a rumour that EA was dropping frostbite engine in favour of UE5 a while back since frostbite is old and tonnes of spaghetti code that nobody knows how to use properly vs UE5 which is easier to understand and use?

Not that I care much about the franchise anymore since the last 2 or 3 games but im still interested to see how it turns out.

I give Zampella a lot of credence but even his medal of honor VR reboot flopped pretty hard and nobody talks about it. Didnt talk about it when it was released. Didnt talk about it after it was released. Nobody talks about it at all....because its garbage. At least he wasnt that guy who was one of the developers for candycrush that EA pushed into the chair of 'lead developer' or 'head of development' etc etc for a battlefield game. We all know how that game turned out....

Zampella has some serious chops. Dont know if they are mutton chops but he has the experience to make the next BF game potentially a winner so long as the EA executives stay away and let him work.

The frostbite engine is spaghetti code because EA fired all the senior engineers who knew how to work it and replaced them with cheaper greener talent. They also tried to repurpose the Frostbite engine for their other games when it was only ever designed for the BF series. As usual EA takes a good thing and ruins it.

 

[lexluthermiester]

The frostbite engine is spaghetti code because EA fired all the senior engineers who knew how to work it and replaced them with cheaper greener talent.

That's what I meant by "floundering prospects". EA management has jelly for brains and/or their collective heads up their bums..

 

[MarsM4N]

Perhaps a response to The Finals?, It's been a many a year since I mained BF games, but I saw a comparison to Bad company ...2(?) and The Finals seems like an evolution of those destruction physics, maybe they didn't like being showed up? Reminds me, time to fire up the retro box I'm working on and play some BF1942

That's because almost all Battlefield dev's jumped ship and are working now for Embark Studios. Very unlikely that EA will find new dev's who can create magic on the super complicated Frostbite engine. The EA heads really shot themself in the foot with their moronic decisions, pretty much the nail in the coffin for Battlefield and STAR WARS games.

Bad Company 2 was the peak in destruction, after that they scaled down destruction with each new release in favour of bigger maps & more buildings. It had also the best sound engine of the whole Battlefield series, called "War Tapes". It was most likely even the best sound engine in history of FPS. It also had the best stats tracking ever, every bullet was tracked & documented. BF2042 on the other hand can't even award points correctly like in previous games, lol.

Hmmm. Wasnt a rumour that EA was dropping frostbite engine in favour of UE5 a while back since frostbite is old and tonnes of spaghetti code that nobody knows how to use properly vs UE5 which is easier to understand and use?

Almost all of EA's games running on the Frostbite Engine, so it wouldn't make any sense to ditch it for a equal worse performing engine that doesn't support all required features. Plus there is no way that EA would hand over 30% of their revenue to EPIC. Never ever. The Frostbite Engine get permanent updates and is still fine for todays games, if used correctly. BF2042 is mostly trash because they made too big battle royale'ish maps, which just crippled the whole game performance wise & gameplay wise.

I give Zampella a lot of credence but even his medal of honor VR reboot flopped pretty hard and nobody talks about it. Didnt talk about it when it was released. Didnt talk about it after it was released. Nobody talks about it at all....because its garbage. Zampella has some serious chops. Dont know if they are mutton chops but he has the experience to make the next BF game potentially a winner so long as the EA executives stay away and let him work.

Which didn't surprise anyone, except the greedy shareholders who green flagged & pushed this nonsense. It's a "VR Only" game. Nobody plays VR games.

"Embark Studios have implemented some impressive destruction effects—serving as a key component of the game's mechanics."

The only destruction effects in BF2042 where implemented in the game preview trailers & they didn't make it into the game. In fact BF2042 has the least destruction effects since BC2. Even "Call of Duty" nowadays has more destruction, which is absolutely laughable when you look back when EA used the argument to troll COD for it.

 

[Bwaze]

Things get cut out of games at the last minute, because developers have problems with implementation, bugs etc.

And what we're talking about here is an intent to start implementing something. So in reality this "plan" might never even begin to start happening, if they encounter problems, or if they reconsider...

 

[KrazyT]

EA Targeting Industry Leading Destruction Effects with Next Battlefield​

No problemo !
I'm ready to buy a nVidia PhysX card ... hum ... wait ...

 

[watzupken]

Better looking destruction? Or are they looking at their own destruction? Fundamentally, the BF series have lost its lustre and in my opinion, it’s the lack of focus on gameplay that’s causing it. A lot of game companies prefer not to tackle this tricky issue, and tries to go around with swanky looking graphics to try and make up for the boring gameplay and story. It works for a limited time and people quickly lose interest. So I am interested to see if this can reverse the series’ decline.

 

[unruheherd]

With Vince Zampella, who criticized Dice for forgetting the roots of battlefield in the past, things are gonna get interesting for BF again. I've loved the series till BF 4 and haven't played it a lot since, staying away from the newest installment entirely. Put my time into battlebit instead. I'm ready to come back to BF if Zampella makes the team capitalize on the roots of a good bf experience.

 

[Vayra86]

It keeps amusing me how many people think that bi-yearly, or near that cadence, sequels of ANY franchise can continue to be great, compelling games to keep playing.

Do you not logic?! Its a regular release, so why would every subsequent one get more effort put into it, only to be forgotten a few years later? This applies to FIFA, CoD, BF... you name it. Heck even Final Fantasy falls prey to it, with much greater time periods between releases, but its arguably less problematic there because there is just more time between them. You can't reinvent the wheel two dozen times. Its round, it'll roll, and if you make it square, it won't. Duh.

This is also why a game like Battle Bit can do all that a half dozen BF's do but much better. It condenses years of experience into a single game that just wants to be great. The design goal there is NOT to make another sequel that 'reinvents the game' where nothing can be reinvented without making it worse. The design goal is instead to just make a good game. And lo and behold... devs make a good game. Its really not hard to make a good game. We already know how it works. Good games work the way our favorite games play. We know them very well, we know what makes them tick.

There will not be another great BF, and if there will be, it will be killed before you know it by its sequel. Its time to get the memo, by now, after decades worth of shooters that really haven't changed all that much at all. I'm sure they will reboot the franchise and perhaps they might be able to get some momentary BF glory in there at some point. The real question is, how many dollars will you waste before finding it, only to lose it moments later. Just stahp and move on, honestly.

Digital games don't need to reinvent themselves. Gaming is pretty much done. Only the very odd release from time to time manages to truly reinvigorate what we already had, and some others just take all lessons learned and pile them into a single great game (like Baldurs Gate 3) that really doesn't do anything new but just has great execution of all that gaming has evolved to. Its very refreshing to realize and accept this. Suddenly it becomes very easy to filter out the nonsense from the true gems in gaming. And yes, a vast amount of games is nonsense you don't need.

I mean consider tabletop/board games. Monopoly is still monopoly. Even though they released many different versions of it... the base game still stands as it did on day one. 95% of the innovation on top of that is utter bullshit.

 

[Random_User]

EA, you should have had respect and honor the original DICE developers, which made the masterpieces, and not hinder their plans and ideas. Now you have to suffer eternally, and pay full price for what you've done.

I strongly doubt, many people, would want to work in this garbage company. Or if some will, they might not achieve their goals, or have enough skill. Unless they hire og team, they will have no success. But I strongly doubt, any of them would return to this miserable place.

The current titles having less destruction than old ones, is the least problem of Battlefield series. They missing the elefant in the room, since there are much bigger problems, like the core of last Battlefield games are completely broken. They are no longer belong to the series.

What EA should have done, is to revamp the visuals, and add better hardware and software support to older BFs. The perfect BF recepy/concept already exist. There's no need in adding new and rubbish ideas and "components".
People don't want another battleroyale. People want old usual, "ordinary" Battlefield, with good cooperation and brilliant simplicity, but with good graphics and realistic visual effects. This has been told many times already. After that has been achieved, and the gameplay is amazing, they can think of adding destruction, and other features.

Spoiler

The games like Battlebit, clearly made out of laughs, have more common with Battlefield, than what EA slaps this name on lately. And yeah. This is what happens, when top management seek for MTX and rivaling rat tunnel fighter that is COD, and eventually even hire the COD lead designers to "improve" gaming experience, and put "new" ideas into old franchise, instead of supporting proven concept. The series is lead by people, who don't even have the vision of what battlefield game should be.

Another proof is, that EA completely out of touch. Since they are missing the RTX "Remaster" bandwagon, which is another golden goose they could capitalize on, by selling old games. And if they are that lazy, they could give these older BF games to GoG and Steam, easily, and enjoy fresh royalties from abandonware.

Even if they'd made the same thing with BF2/2142/1942 that Blizzard did with D2 LOD, it would still be ok. I mean, the original and the "revamped" versions. This is huge pile of easy money, EA simply avoids for no apparent reason. Heck, the Ultima VIII and Crusader series have been revived and sold on Origin/EA app, and even GoG. Those are decade older than BF2. Why BF can't get such treatment?

Just sell the copies of favorite old games already, so people are not pressed between the rock and hard place (piracy). It's not that hard to understand. Nobody is even asking support and bug fixing, as this was never the option before. Just new legit keys. Or give the source code to the modders. At worst, it would add the spare cash flow.
No development required. People already use alternatives to GameSpy. And even if needs some, EA can implement the crutches the modders have made for free. There's huge amount of solutions. BF2142 V1.51 patch was community made after all. Valve added community patch for L4D2 not long ago. That shouldn't be that hard.
I mean many GameSpy games already moved to SteamWorks. Some even got rid of GFWL disater. At worst case people can use Radmin game rooms. Only keys and installers needed.
AFAIK everything in old chapters like BF2142 was made in-house. So that is unique IP, that belongs solely to EA. There should not be any copyright problems, judging by my layman's undertanding.
And note, that, Battlefield 2, was already on Steam, since it's release, and it even had the DLCs/expantions. I'm somewhat sure it still would have strong sales, be it available.

Spoiler: TL;DR some ideas

After all the eastern eggs about BF2142/2143 in all BF sequels, starting BC2 and BF3, and even that "T39- Bogatyr" from RTX/ Frostbite RTRT showroom/demo. They had put so many efforts to mention all that. Was it all futile?even came so close to show the events, that lead the horrific climate changes, which turned into 2142. That IMO, they shouldn't do another part in between BF2042, and 2142 storyline.

Most of them have all flopped at the start since BC. What happens when you try to compete with CoD which used a much simpler engine. Notice how BF games got less and less about destruction as it went too. The deformation and destruction took more power and time to build. EA wanted quantity over quality. Now we've reached the point after years of pushing this where the Frostbite engine is laughed at and a buggy mess. EA management changed and suddenly they remember what Frostbite used to be able to do.

Yeah. BF2142 was last DICE Battlefield. After it's release, EA bought them, and the series went into downward swirl straight into cesspool, which it is now. Original team had spread across other companies and projects, and established there. EA simply has chopped the branch it was sitting on.

Spoiler: Battlefield management

And unfortunately, EA didn't value that. This is just remarkable, how relatively small group of talented people, which used to be the original DICE studio, have managed to gain more success, with such short deadlines, than several big studios, Simultaneously insulting player base instead of admiting the flop. I mean the development cycle of each recent title is several years. And it is fruitless, to say the least. The old games were made within one, two years between games. I mean BC2 was 2010, same year MOH, then BF3 2011, BF4 2013. Now to compare it to BF V, and BF2042. I'm sure the next game will take even longer be even bigger flop.
I'm not trying to offend or belittle anyone's work and efforts. But putting the NFS devs, along with rushed schedule and tight deadlines, doesn't cut. This is as bad, as setting Battlefield devs to develop NFS title.

But can't say BC games were particularly bad. They were spin-offs, and I might say, even better than almost all "true" successors. The first had fun story, it's shame EA had no balls to release it on PC.
And the BC2 was surely unfinished, and clearly lacked the assets, which been pushed to other installments, such as MOH 2010, and BF3. But on the other hand, it had best sound and physics, and destruction system, among all next Battlefield games. I might even dare to say, that BC2 sound was best surround sound in BF series. People can go listen to 2042 Portal, and compare it to original BC2. The jokes of NPC heroes were great as well.
The truth is, 2042 is more spin-off, than Bad Company games ever were. And thus, unlike BC, it should not even carry the Battlefield name. There's nothing of battlefield in this game anymore. It's some fancy COD on Frostbite There's a progress though. It advanced from "tunnel rat simulator", to the "flying squirrel operator" one.

As for Frostbite... it was designed by DICE for DICE, and solely for Battlefield series. Not Dragon Age, NFS, Star Wars, or anything else. For BF it served great.

EA Targeting Industry Leading s with Next Battlefield​

No problemo !
I'm ready to buy a nVidia PhysX card ... hum ... wait ...

EA already did a blast in the industry, with it's destruction of the series.

In case, If you want PhysX go get some GRAW1 and 2 PC or Joint Task Force RTS. And AFAIK you don't need separate PPU card for this.

 

[lexluthermiester]

EA, you should have respect and honor the original DICE developers

You are asking WAY to much of a company that cares only about money.

 

[AusWolf]

Destruction effects as something new and revolutionary? Have they heard about Red Faction by any chance?