Hello there,
This week, we begin the countdown to Season 6: Dark Creations*, and throughout, you will be hearing about everything that is on its way once the season launches next week on October 10th.
Today, we will be diving further into the creation of Redacted, the upcoming Season 6 map and bring to light some of the Dark Creations on their way…
As we begin to unpack Redacted, we are also inviting LevelCap, veteran Battlefield™ content creator with a passion for informative driven content, to be a part of the process. He will be exclusively interviewing members of the development team that were involved in the construction of Redacted, and show more gameplay moments surrounding the map. Keep your eyes peeled for his coverage later on in this Dev Note!
Bringing Close-quarters Back.
In its most simplistic form, a “battlefield” can take place at any moment, any time, any location and Battlefield™ 2042 represents this through the maps, tone and themes that we have aimed to achieve, from the desert dunes of Doha, Qatar to the shipping ports of Singapore.
Through looking at the experiences that Battlefield 2042 currently offers and assessing feedback and requests from our community, it was evident that there is a particular type of experience that our players had been wanting more of… Close-quarters.
But we didn’t want to just create any standard Close-quarters experience, and with Redacted we wanted to push boundaries and create a map that is truly unlike anything we have on Battlefield 2042.
Redacted is our answer for relentless infantry-only, close-quarters combat fun alongside a full narrative-driven theme from start to finish.
Pulling off this unique location, however, presented some very interesting creative challenges to the team both on a gameplay level and visual perspective.
Evolving from Operation Metro & Locker.
It was clear that we wanted to create a pure infantry map as our next location in Battlefield 2042, and throughout the entire ideation process we frequently looked back to our previous maps that were known for this particular experience as inspiration.
Redacted is inspired by fan-favorite maps from Battlefield’s past like Operation Locker (Battlefield 4) and Operation Metro (Battlefield 3), experiences that have resonated with so many over the years.
Evolving from those experiences comes a brand new map that is tight and frantic, with an emphasis on claustrophobic and chaotic infantry-focused combat. A map which also asks you to work with your squad to communicate the location of the enemy, through your selection of Class, Specialist and Loadout in order to achieve perfect win scenarios.
Feedback surrounding Redacted’s spiritual ancestors were frequently around the linearity and relentless chaos that it brought, and this feedback became top action points for what we wanted to improve upon with Redacted.
And while we still encourage extreme action that challenges you to act on evolving combat scenarios, it’s important that there is ease of flow and opportunity to flank at every moment.
LevelCap recently sat down with members of the Development Team to discuss how we are making steps to improve upon that, and also goes hands-on with Redacted to highlight some of the improvements, take a look below!
Our World. Your World.
Most of our maps are derived from real-life locations or themes and, as part of the development process, we often go on reference or scanning trips to capture content for the maps we are making.
Redacted was no different, but since the map takes place in an underground research facility, situated in the remotest parts of Scotland, we had to get creative in where to draw inspiration from. After all, it’s quite difficult to find hidden underground research facilities.
As we collected references for our initial mood boards, we realized that many of the images we had gathered actually came from the same place, one of the offices of Swedish internet service provider, Bahnhof.
Their office, or bunker, has been used as a filming location for several movies and TV shows due to its remarkable architecture and atmosphere. Before being turned into an office-space and server hall, it served as a command center for the Swedish military during the Cold War era, capable of sustaining a direct hit from a nuclear warhead. Discontinued in the 90s, it was later repurposed by Bahnhof to serve as a data center.
We used this facility as a key inspiration for us at the start of production since it reflected the modern, yet mysterious, underground facility that we wanted to recreate, and it fit perfectly with the look and feel of Redacted. Bahnhof was kind enough to let us visit, take photos and even record some audio.
Going on reference trips together is not only a good team-building, but also a great way to experience what a place really looks, feels and smells like; using all of the senses to pick up the little details that you might otherwise lose out on if you are just looking at images online.
Creating Darkness.
As mentioned previously, we always look at and utilize the real world as much as we can, in order to deliver an experience that feels authentic and immersive. One way we do that is by using a technique known as photogrammetry, commonly referred to as photo scanning. Photogrammetry is a process in which you take photos of objects and use computer software to generate 3D models and textures. This is the only way to make an object look truly photoreal, as you are re-creating it digitally from photos you’ve taken!
We started using photogrammetry during the production of Star Wars™ Battlefront. Since then, we have used photogrammetry in every game we have developed, both for characters and environmental assets, including vegetation, buildings and props.
Another technique we use, which is similar to photogrammetry, is laser scanning. Where, instead of taking photos of an object, you scan it with laser pulses to generate a 3D model. When we start working on a new map, we usually scout for real-world locations we can travel to, that will allow us to scan either architectural and/or nature assets to use when building the level.
3D Printing The Future
Looking at the narrative of Redacted, we are exploring the Boreas facility in the Hebrides. A subsidiary of the Arkangel Corporation, Boreas is a R&D laboratory invested in the future of cybernetic combat enhancements, improvements to prosthetics and neural-linked military support. It houses first-in-class laboratories and training grounds for augmented soldiers.
To help make our prosthetics more believable, we were lucky enough to visit an orthopedic clinic in Stockholm called Aktiv Ortopedteknik. They gave us a tour of their workshop, explained how their prosthetic limbs are made and even allowed us to laser scan a few prototypes to use as a base and reference for our prosthetic limbs. Being able to visit and speak to experts who are working with the very thing we were trying to digitally recreate was such a great experience.
Holding the object you are 3D modeling in your own hands helps massively when you are trying to make it look as real as possible. It helps you understand how it’s constructed and how each piece fits together.
We then took the scans we captured during the visit and made a lot of functional and aesthetic changes to ensure they fit with the visual style of Boreas, heavily featuring the signature “Boreas blue” color that you will see throughout Redacted and on our Specialist cosmetics.
We also used our modified prosthetics to create in-world advertising for the lobby area of the map, showcasing how Boreas are marketing themselves as a benign manufacturer of medical equipment, while the public is none the wiser about the forbidden research they are actually conducting behind closed doors.
Zipped-up Secrets
Another element we added with the intent to dial the atmosphere up even further, as well as explain what had happened in the facility, were the bodybags. These bodybags contain failed test experiments that have been produced and later eliminated during the horrific testing they’ve been subjected to inside the facility.
To help with making these assets, we bought a bodybag online (yeah, you can do that apparently!), stuffed a mannequin inside and scanned it with the laser scanner. Despite odd looks from our fellow colleagues, the end result turned out really well and gave us an incredibly detailed model to work with!
Modeling and sculpting fabric with folds that look believable is a very time consuming process, so scanning a real-life version both saved a lot of time and increased the quality of the final asset.
As you play through Redacted you will start to detect visual differences depending where you are within the map, bodybags are one of many visual cues that will help you situate yourself in your map and prepare you for what’s around the corner.
The Writing on the Floor
Another detail we wanted to include was blood, both to hint at the struggle and fighting that had occurred in this location, but also for written messages left by the human test subjects. While the blood is fairly easy to make, the hand-written look is more difficult to recreate digitally.
To help with that, we bought some fake theatrical blood, and wrote messages by hand, which we then scanned with a custom-built photometric stereo rig. This camera rig takes a series of 8 images, each one with the light coming from a different angle, which we then use to create a texture that we place on surfaces such as the walls and floors in the level.
We also used this approach to scan medical supplies we had acquired which we use as litter scattered across surfaces, further hinting at the sinister medical experiments that have taken place.
And that’s it for our behind the scenes look at Redacted, what techniques like photogrammetry and laser scanning gives us, and what’s in store for you once this map launches.
Alongside this Dev Note and our LevelCap’s exclusive interview with members of the team, keep your eyes peeled for our upcoming Inside Battlefield Podcast where we continue our coverage of Redacted!
We are incredibly proud of the work we have done with Redacted, and we cannot wait to see you experience it on October 10th once Season 6: Dark Creations arrives!
As always, see you on the Battlefield!
//The Battlefield Team
*Requires Battlefield 2042 (sold separately) & all game updates.
This announcement may change as we listen to community feedback and continue developing and evolving our Live Service & Content. We will always strive to keep our community as informed as possible.