STACK NZ Mar #60

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take the care to make sure that you can hear the
bolt carrier group (BCG) sliding back and forth in
a noisy fashion in the right weapons, if you know
what to listen for. When I sit in an audio review
and listen to the sounds as they describe the
work involved, I’m always in awe at how much
thought and detail is put into it.
I should mention that Frostbite is an amazing
tool – it really unlocks the power of the artists
and designers, allowing us to quickly prototype
and iterate on a wide range of things – it’s
especially powerful for weapons, with a hundred
values per gun that can change the feeling and
experience in-game.
How do you capture the sound of an
RPG? Is this something you borrow from
accumulated audio from other Battlefield
titles?
As you can imagine, it is tricky to capture
the sound of an RPG. We didn’t capture
a new sound for this game, but rather are
using one captured for Medal of Honor –
with some new tweaks to it, to make it
sound great for our game.
ill all the same weapons be available in
oth single and multiplayer?
Yep! There might be some different
mechanics in where you find them available
for use, though, and of course AI are rarely
s creative in their strategies as players are.
have several favourites – because of the
weapon differentiation, it’s not “one size fits
all”, and if you take the wrong gear into the
fight, let’s just say you’re putting yourself at
a disadvantage. Luckily, in Hardline we have
multiple Loadout slots on the customise screen
so that you can create several presets to save
your favourite configurations.
When playing the game, do you have a
favourite weapon, or weapon combo you like
to use?
Personally, I sometimes go for style in
addition to substance – I like to roll the AKM
bare-bones as my catch-all, with the wooden
foregrip and ironsights only, because I think it
looks badass (and I can go 5:1 with it). If I’m in
a close-quarters situation, I love to use the FMG
with a red dot and silencer – it’s a terror and
looks wicked. If I’m out in the open, I prefer a
DMR like the Saiga to pop shots off at distant
targets, maybe with a compensator to manage
the recoil. Finally, for a variety of settings like a
solid battle rifle like the HK51
to handle enemies at
different ranges
– I flick between
semi-auto and
fully automatic to
help manage the
recoil of this beast,
but always try to roll the
stubby grip on it.
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GAMES FEATURE
over the place. It also allows us to give each
weapon a specific character, as the other
weapons in that class do things like change
their effective damage per second (DPS),
their engagement range, or other attributes.
The most important step is probably
iteration, however. We play these over and
over and over, and constantly tweak them
based on player feedback until they both feel
right and we see the right data reflected in
the collected metrics.
We’ve made a couple of changes from
BF4. We’ve modified the recoil on the weapons,
making them more skill-based, but at the same
time making it easier to understand the effects
of your shots. We’ve made your selections
of weapon attachments more crucial than
ever, with more differentiation between the
attachments. We’ve increased the power of
submachine guns as a category, truly making
them a viable close quarters option. And there
are a few more changes hidden in there, as well,
but you’ll have to find those for yourself.
Do you recruit weapons experts to brief
the team on the functionality and abilities/
restrictions/limitations of each weapon?
Absolutely. There are a few of us on the team
with extensive experience and training. Luckily,
this kind of expertise is acquired in addition to
our other skill sets, so it’s not required to have a
full-time expert available for consultation.
Throughout the course of our careers, we
have consulted many firearms experts – the
guys who actually know and use these things –
and have a fairly encyclopedic knowledge from
a practical perspective. One of our designers is
even a certified armourer.
Do any of the devs undergo weapons
training to familiarise themselves with how
guns react when fired?
Not specifically for this project, but yes,
in general it’s a requirement for designers to
understand how weapons work, feel, and are
handled – Battlefield is known for its authenticity,
and we have to uphold that tradition. Not only
that, but our job as designers is to bring you
experience you might not otherwise be able to
have, and recreating all of the details as perfectly
as we can greatly helps immersion.
We've had a taste of the weapon audio at
E3 last year and with the recent beta, and it
was certainly impressive. What is involved
in creating the audio for the game? Are
the weapon sounds simply accessed via a
sample bank?
There’s a lot involved in recording weapons.
From capturing the sounds of live fire in all
modes – single, burst, automatic – to the
impacts and ricochets, and all of the sounds
of the action (reloading, bolt carrier group
movement, and so on), suppressors, etc, there’s
a ton of recording that has to be done. Our audio
engineers then take all of the pieces and make
sure they sound great in game – gunshots don’t
transfer directly or easily to game space. They
In general it's a
requirement for
designers to understand
how weapons work,
feel and handle