ARMA 3: Reflecting On 2015 and What's to Come In 2016

[Brian]

ARMA 3 is one of those rare jewels in gaming where the game was designed and built with PC gamers in mind. Unlike EA's Battlefield series which started out on the PC as a somewhat open platform only to become a victim of its success by evolving into a closed off series where people cannot mod the game any longer, Bohemia Interactive has taken the opposite approach by working more closely with the community that has helped it spawn some memorable and game changing mods such as Day Z, Epoch, Arma 3 Life, Breaking Point, Battle Royale and many more. 

 

With nearly 2 million copies sold since release, ARMA 3 has done exceptionally well coming from a small developer that has only a fraction of the resources other industry giants have access to. And the game looks to have a bright future ahead with the developers optimizing for it and adding more features in 2016. In their new video (found at the end of this article), Bohemia reflects on 10 important updates to the game in 2015 and 10 exciting features and additions to look forward to in 2016:

 

 

1. Release of Eden Editor - A 3D Scenario Editor.

 

2. Launcher based server browser - already live on the dev branch. It will help facilitate the detection and automatic download of mods.

 

3. Audio - improvements to audio fidelity and more features to be added.

 

4. Visual - update targeting ARMA Apex (originally for Eden update): An overhaul of game lighting configuration and introduce C shader and Screen Space Reflection technology. 

 

5. Usability improvements - A variety of improvements such as switching weapons, interacting with objects, game difficulty and fixing long standing UX needs. 

 

6. ARMA 3 Units -  Introduce event organization, integrate parts of the service in game and make jumping into multiplayer quicker and easier.

 

7. Script improvements - Bohemia will continue to work closely with the community to bring additions, improvements and optimizations to scripting.

 

8. Scripted multiplayer - complete revive and dynamic groups by extending and finalizing their functionality. 

 

9. Vehicle classes - ARMA 3 will see the introduction of new vehicle classes such as light strike vehicles and vtol aircraft.

 

10. Tanoa - The crown jewel of 2016 will be the release of ARMA 3's new and long awaited map. Tanoa is 100 square kilometers and takes place in the South Pacific Archipelago. 

 

I personally have spent more than 2000 hours in the world of ARMA 3 and years later I'm still not done with it. This is a testament to the game's extensibility thanks to the continued support of the developer and more importantly, the community continuing to mod it everyday with exciting new additions. 

 

ARMA 3 - Scanning The Horizon 2016

 

 

 

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