FROM: Project Lead
TO: Beta Users
INFO: Release week!
PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

Welcome to Arma 3 release week! In two days we are transitioning from Beta to full release. For some of you Alpha and Beta veterans this is almost like any patch that has come before, albeit a huge one. For others this is going to be the starting point of their Arma 3 experience. For all of us, this is the first step on a hopefully long journey - as the platform grows and matures. This Thursday, 09:00 GMT+1 (Prague), is our target time for the switch from Beta to full version on Steam. Things are prepared and staged, so it should be feasible. We'll keep you posted via our (social) channels - including unveiling the splendid launch trailer!

INTELLIGENCE

We forgot to highlight the most recent Community Guide video last week, so here it is: an awesome look at snipers and launcher teams. The next episode is well on its way already, and very nicely showing how all elements in Arma 3 come together to form combined arms warfare.

Let's also not forget a Report In! with our Playable Content Lead, Jaroslav Kašný, who is now cracking the whip to get the first campaign episode finished with his team.

The Community Focus widget was updated on the main page - with some cool videos resulting from staging the release content. It also features a shout out to one of the local Czech communities at ARMAseries.cz. Naturally we will continue to update this widget after release; there is loads more to feature! On a related note: we've featured our second Workshop dev favorite scenario. Creative Director Jay Crowe selected the fresh approach of Wulfenstein by Pavelbier.

There is going to be a SPOTREP to detail the changes from the last Beta patch to the release version on Thursday.

OPERATIONS

As will often happen, in some regions the DVD retail version of Arma 3 has already ended up with people. Until the game is officially released on Thursday, installing it before that time will 'downpatch' the game to the Steam Beta. You are of course free to use it that way, but it means the update on Thursday will be larger for you. Keep this in mind if you are on low bandwidth Internet connections. Basically the DVD version is a Steam Product Code with a partial data snapshot on the disc. The snapshot will make the download smaller, but it still must activate and update at least once.

To confirm: we will continue our daily experimental builds on development branch as per usual. In fact, there is a rather huge backlog of updates queued up behind our project's release data lock. Once this lock is relaxed on the 12th, our team is free to publish to Steam devbranch and you'll likely see many, many tweaks and fixes immediately. We'd recommend those on low bandwidth connections to stay clear of devbranch for the first few days as the updates can easily reach gigabyte territory. Main branch patches will also resume. There is no exact timing for these, but we intend the cycle to be similar to the Alpha and Beta stages.

LOGISTICS

After release, owners of Digital Deluxe Editions (and selected retail Deluxe editions) will find their bonus content downloaded to their Steam installation directory for Arma 3. Browse to the Bonus sub-folder (example path \Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 3) to get your tactical guide, maps and soundtrack. Further tracks may be added to the soundtrack together with the campaign episodes.

We recommend most users to switch back to the main game branch on launch. Daily builds on development branch will continue, but we imagine a lot of you have been on this branch just to preview the release content.

Your system may benefit from updating drivers for e.g. graphics hardware. In some cases there are official beta drivers that help Arma 3 - but use these at your own risk.

To ensure your system is well-prepared for the full game, please do a file integrity check via the Steam client after all data has downloaded. If you are using non-SSD storage, please defragment your drives after downloading. This can significantly increase performance. You could consider doing a full re-installation, but it's not mandatory. Starting with clean user profiles can also help (resetting options and controls) - but be careful not to mistakenly delete your editor scenarios.

Following on from the highly successful launch of Arma Tactics on NVIDIA® Tegra® HD devices, Bohemia Interactive is delighted to announce that Arma Tactics will now launch on compatible IOS systems and is available from Apple's iTunes Store.

Arma Tactics takes the best from the popular strategy genre... and goes mobile. The finest assets used in the critically acclaimed Armaâ„¢ series on PC now come to life on the Apple IOS platform, in one of the best looking mobile games to date.

Arma Tactics is a turn-based close-combat strategy game, where the player takes control of a four-member Special Forces team. There are no given strategies, rails to move on, or paths to follow; it‘s up to the player to decide how he will play through both the story-driven missions and generated missions with randomized objectives. Whether using stealth or a more direct approach, players will need to use their strategic thinking and use both basic and advanced weaponry while facing many different opponents - ranging from unorganized local militia to smart and skilled mercenaries.

With highly re-playable missions, weapons to unlock and whole campaigns to be regularly added, Arma Tactics offers many hours of intense ever-changing action.
Explore highly detailed battlefield environments that come to life with sophisticated particle systems and post-process effects
See your men come to life with realistic animations captured by a powerful motion-capture solution
Lead them through a thrilling single player campaign or improve your skills in generated missions
Gather experience points to level up your characters, upgrade weapons and unlock special equipment
Choose your difficulty – we make sure the game is fun to play for both casual players and hardcore gamers
Take part in challenging special game modes
Play as you like – by touching your screen or by using gamepad controls

Available for compatible IOS devices through iTunes
Price 4,99 USD
Currently supported IOS devices:
iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 6.0 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

FROM: Project Lead
TO: Beta Users
INFO: Sandbox staging, Review version, Radio Protocol
PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

Release prep continues and we're carefully juggling what changes we will still update the September 12 release version with. Today we're also sending the press review build to the global games media. We're excited to learn what they think about the game and Arma 3 as a long-term platform. The current version on development branch is not representative of this review version entirely - that branch contains experimental changes and of course still lacks content. That is about to change however; tomorrow's devbranch update will add all sandbox release content - a week before the rest of the world gets to enjoy it all!

INTELLIGENCE

With the staging of Altis, an issue with its memory footprint on low-memory 32 bit PCs was highlighted. This was hotfixed by increasing the default amount of memory allocated for people running the game on a 32 bit OS (this change should not affect 64 bit users at all, but that claim is being investigated here). We also posted ways of testing different values via EXE shortcut parameters and methods of generally increasing the OS memory settings (at your own risk). Programming Lead Ondřej Martinák summarized solutions on the forums.

Over a thousand scenarios have been published to Workshop already, and the game isn't even released yet! We've started to put some of our dev favorites in the spotlights. Programmer Ondřej was the first to submit his selection and he went for 'Ground Attack' by DICS. His comments on the scenario: "You control an attack helicopter with a simple objective: destroy the enemy vehicle convoy. The mission is focused on action, with smooth gameplay and some really nice attention to detail. While you're at it, also be sure to check out its sequel: Ground Attack II."

OPERATIONS

Besides the memory hotfix and workaround above, the programmers are working on optimizations to reduce the game's memory footprint generally. Some of these efforts have already made their way to devbranch, and more will come soon. A few examples of areas they are working on: the system dynamically generating road models on the terrains, on-the-fly shader creation based on current video settings, and storing of font data (Arma 3 supports a lot of large character sets such as Japanese and Korean).

All release version radio protocol actors have now been recorded, processed and added to the game. That means new English, Farsi and non-native English (AAF) speakers. Several exciting tweaks have also finally made their way into the game. The voice used by your avatar now matches your profile settings, and when you play as a CSAT character in the sandbox, you'll speak Farsi. Something which is especially cool for immersion is a fix which makes it possible to hear groups other than your own communicate in 3D space. So if you are sneaking up on a CSAT patrol, you'll hear their speech and can potentially find out what they know or what they are planning.

Besides release work, our playable content designers are working hard on finalizing the first campaign episode. They have gone into proper iterations based on all scenarios existing in a good playable state. Yesterday some of the last animations were recorded in the MOCAP studio. The designers' priority now is to finalize the texts (briefings, tasks, conversations) for translations and voice-over work. Meanwhile they keep tweaking the scenarios to serve as a cool introduction to the campaign.

LOGISTICS

If you still have Arma 3 Alpha Lite invites in your Steam Inventory, feel free to delete them. They have been expired since the Beta launched, and will not offer anything useful to you now or in the future.

Bohemia Interactive today released a brand new episode in their Arma 3 Community Guide video series. Taking a closer look at two specialized infantry roles, Andrew Gluck (better known as Dslyecxi) from ShackTactical covers a number of tips for sniper and anti-tank/anti-aircraft teams in Arma 3.

The Community Guide series opened with a more general introduction to Arma 3, whereas the second and third Community Guide took a closer look at infantry combat and multiplayer teamwork. The fourth video celebrated a milestone in development, as the game transitioned from Alpha to Beta. The previous Community Guide focused on helicopters.

People who want to jump in before Arma 3’s launch on September 12, can already purchase the Arma 3 Beta (34.99 EUR/29.99 GBP/44.99 USD) and the Arma 3 Digital Deluxe Edition (44.99 EUR/39.99 GBP/59.99 USD) from Steam and Store.bistudio.com. Both editions include a version of the full retail game, and the prices will increase upon the release of Arma 3.

FROM: Project Lead
TO: Beta Users
INFO: Altis deployed, Sandbox staging
PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

Yesterday we finally pushed the Altian homeland to development branch. It was great to see a lot of players jump into multiplayer and take a road trip together to explore the vast terrain. The rather sizable update came in over two gigabytes of data, because it did not only contain the Altis terrain data, but supporting objects as well. Included were its vegetation, rocks, roads and many static objects, such as the unique landmarks and other structures.

Next week (hopefully September 4th) we have another large development branch deployment planned for everyone who is already with us in the Beta. All of the rest of the sandbox content is to be staged on development branch - meaning tanks, artillery, static weaponry and more. We're only keeping playable content for the actual release. While we understand everybody is wanting to try out the content, please do remember that development branch is an experimental daily build. We do not offer guarantees this branch does not contain major issues and it passes very little testing. Check the disclaimers before opting in, and consider switching back to the primary version after September 12th.

INTELLIGENCE

We'd like to welcome the communities in Australia and New Zealand to an official Facebook page for their region. It is managed by our distributors Down Under - All Interactive - and they have special local events and activities coming up.

OPERATIONS

The gentlemen looking after our AI have deployed another round of tweaks and tests to development branch. They've mainly focused on Close Quarters Battles to make the AI not as easily caught unaware and oblivious to nearby threats. Their rotation speed and accuracy is affected by more factors now (like players) and they are more reactive. This does also make them more of a challenge, and our devs are looking for feedback to tweak the values. They also welcome isolated reproduction missions for specific bugs. It is still unclear whether these changes will be approved for the release version. Firstly, we need to check whether they work generally, and then to see how they affect existing scenarios.

LOGISTICS

For a lot of people Altis appears to be running great. For others however, there are reported issues with loading and running it. We are working on investigating this with priority. Some of our developers may contact people on the forums directly via Private Message, asking for system details. Your contributions to isolating the problem are appreciated.

Meanwhile there are also other factors that can impact your performance. There were a few rather persistent errors in the RPT logs, which were fixed on devbranch today (or can be disabled by using the -nologs parameter, but that also removes our ability to trace issues). Secondly, this was a large data update and if you've been on devbranch for a while, you'll have experienced daily data changes. If you are not using SSD storage, try defragmenting your drive. Verifying the Steam data integrity via its client can also ensure you do not have corrupted data.

Finally, now could be a good moment to revisit your video settings, previously optimized for Stratis alone. Altis is a much larger terrain and balancing your details, view distances and similar settings can help a lot. The maximum (Ultra) settings we offer in our game are there to suit the needs and abilities of future and enthusiast hardware. There may certainly already be PCs that run these settings now, but we recommend care when evaluating what configuration is right for your hardware. The auto-detect option is a good starting point.

In this illustrated, step-by-step tutorial, you'll create a simple adversarial mission (team vs. team) using the F3 mission development framework for ArmA 3.

You'll use many components from F3, but by no means all of them. The tutorial will explain how to configure those components that require input from the mission maker. The tutorial will also explain the components that are automatically enabled simply by using F3 to make the mission.

When you finish this tutorial you'll have a mission that's ready to play on either your locally-hosted server, or uploaded to your community's dedicated server. To help you check that you've correctly followed each step, a downloadable copy of the tutorial mission folder is linked at the end.

SITUATION

Right after releasing last week's final Beta patch, the team dove into preparing a solid build for Gamescom 2013. By burning some weekend midnight oil, yesterday we had a build we were happy with - and it flew to Germany last night. Today the Bohemia crew is setting up the business and public booths: installing the games, configuring the settings, and running through their presentations. Representing Arma 3 are designers Jiří Zlatohlávek and Karel Mořický. They'll be showing off the cool release package starting tomorrow, so expect plenty of coverage. Both Arma 3 and DayZ standalone are hands-on playable at the public booth. Visit us in Hall 9.1 (booth 32) if you're there!

The rest of us are testing, testing and testing the release build. We're evaluating issues on a case-by-case basis and selecting the ones we need fixed for September 12th. What remains is investigated and logged for post-release work. What about Altis?! The mothership is inbound and visitors of Gamescom can explore it however they like. It is also ready to land on development branch the day after Gamescom closes - August 26th. With it comes a whole bunch of new static objects - from obviously required vegetation, roads, rocks and buildings - to some more dynamic objects for scenario design.

INTELLIGENCE

So far the Steam Workshop support for scenarios is really proving its worth. It is a good first step towards more extended support. We love getting to work in the morning, selecting a random scenario, and having some quick fun. There are even some scenarios with custom voice work and music already. We look forward to more and more, especially on Altis!

If you're unsure how it all works: you can browse the Workshop in-game via the Scenarios menu. The Workshop button at the bottom of the screen will open it in the overlay (it is also possible to browse and subscribe out-of-game via any browser). Then all you have to do is a pick a scenario and press Subscribe. The scenario will be downloaded into the game, and you can immediately start it. Once you're done playing, you see a button in the debriefing screen which opens the scenario in Workshop once more. Rate the scenario, leave constructive feedback for its creator and share it with your friends. Subscribing to multiplayer scenarios works in a very similar way, except you start by creating a new server and open the overlay there.

OPERATIONS

You may have noticed updated voice acting for those showcases which feature the CSAT faction. We've finally recorded all release (including Alpha and Beta) conversations in the Farsi language, and it really adds a nice immersive feeling to them. Note that the main thing remaining to do this week is to record the actual dynamic radio protocols. So, until then, you'll hear English for the CSAT radio protocol - and that includes the Gamescom build.

Users of development branch will have also witnessed tweaks to inventory capacities and fatigue. Lord of the Bounce, Petr Kolář, elaborates : " the current status is going to stay as it is for release of the game, but the designers are working on improvements in this field on daily basis. We have already reduced being able to carry a ridiculous amount of stuff without impending some notable drawbacks. Soldiers are still able to lift some heavy burdens (to a much lesser extent than before), but moving with them disrupts their aiming skills a lot. You may experience the changes best while fighting in a group with encumbered AI soldiers; they tend to slow down the advance to have at least some energy to shoot precisely."

LOGISTICS

It should be noted that not all of the work seen on development branch will make it into the 1.00 release version. Our team wants to continue their work, but some of the changes are too risky to merge into the release build during the next few weeks. Imagine an AI improvement that enhances CQB behavior for example. This is very exciting work, but it can also change the behavior of existing scenarios. From now until release we go through the fixes in development branch daily and pick those things that are needed / safe. The rest will be used for patches.

Before the official launch of Arma 3 on September 12, Bohemia Interactive has published a final update for the Arma 3 Beta. The absolute highlight of this update is the integration of Steam Workshop – which makes the sharing of user-created scenarios significantly more convenient.

Now, with Steam Workshop content sharing, players can upload and download both singleplayer and multiplayer scenarios. Arma 3’s in-game scenario editor is a powerful tool, allowing for the quick creation of missions, as well as more complex scenarios. Enhanced gameplay modules make life easier for aspiring designers to get started without having to learn the scripting language.

Having created a scenario, players can easily push it to the Workshop with a description and overview image. Other players can browse the Workshop for a scenario that looks appealing to them and subscribe to it. This will download the scenario and let players start it without restarting the game. Interacting with the author is made easy: players can leave comments, give a rating and updates are automatically downloaded. Authors themselves can post update notes and promote their scenarios with screenshots and videos.

Designer and Workshop caretaker, Jiří Zlatohlávek, expands:
“Even though we are dedicated to support the traditional ways of sharing content, used by many of the popular community portals - in the fast and easy to use world of app stores, streaming services and real-time feeds, we felt that sharing user content could be improved. What we see in the Workshop is a faster and easier way both for the creators to get their work out there to players and for the players to find and try it while providing feedback and encouragement, where it's needed the most.�

The last update for the Arma 3 Beta also includes a long list of other improvements and fixes (overview here), and will be downloaded automatically via Steam.

Last but not least, as part of the countdown to launch, and Gamescom, Bohemia Interactive has released 9 brand new screenshots featuring the 290 km² island of Altis. The studio invites everyone to their Gamescom booth in the public area, located in Hall 9.1, C-32.

FROM: Project Lead
TO: Beta Users
INFO: Release plans, Workshop, Fixed-wing aircraft
PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

Wow! Lots of things to go through this week, so let's get to it. We dropped some intense bits of news on everyone, including our campaign release plan and the primary release of the game on September 12th. It was hard to say all we wanted to say in one (rather lengthy) blog. We hope it answered some of your questions, and helped explain the situation we are coming from. We like the contents of the release package and look forward to unleashing it in exactly one month.

Meanwhile, we are pestering our Quality Assurance department with getting the final Beta patch out nicely - ideally this week. Besides a huge log of improvements, its primary focus is the Steam Workshop going live. Already enabled in development branch, you can now publish scenarios from the editor and subscribe to them from within the game as well. At the moment the Workshop contents is only visible to owners of the Arma 3 Beta, whereas it will become visible to everyone. Cool stuff is already actively being published, iterated, given feedback and enjoyed!

INTELLIGENCE

Arma 3 will have its primary release on September 12 2013 worldwide. Join the countdown to launch!

The campaign will be released in three episodes in the months following release. Do please take time to read our blog with further insights into how this came about.

Episode 1 of the new season of Community Guide videos has meanwhile gone live and takes a look at helicopter mastery.

There has been a lot of talk within the community about the release package and assets perceived as missing, most notably more fixed-wing aircraft. We are planning to release more content in patches, besides the campaign itself. Let's explain what's going on:

- During our project review last year, we significantly changed the direction of the project - we feel for the better (details in the blog). This included a significant iteration of what we refer to as the ORBAT - our list of vehicles and weapons. Our priorities changed: building the game up from the infantry level, to combined arms support, and now arriving at the larger war. This led to certain assets being moved down in the priority list, a few being removed, but also entirely new and splendid content being commissioned (Ghosthawk, Darter, Ifrit, Marid, Kamysh, Zafir, etc.). The setting and factions also changed - resulting in assets previously shown on screenshots as OPFOR to become BLUFOR (Hunter, Slammer, Panther, etc.), along with some more faction reshuffling.

- A few assets seen in screenshots and other media were taken well before the project review, when Arma 3 was a different game. We remain convinced the changes were for the better. It wasn't optimal to show placeholder and prototype content before we knew we could finish it. This has also led to a renewed stance to public statements - not confirming or announcing content before we are quite sure about it (starting October 2012). Specifically vehicles like the F-38 (as we called it), were only ever placeholder assets taken from Arma 2, and used to showcase flight and the new clouds, as well as to test fixed-wing PhysX. They were meant to be significantly updated or re-done to match, but due to a shift in priorities, not finished in time. There was no ill-intent when showing them - rather overly ambitious goals, enthusiasm and a desire to share development progress.

- Adding content post-release is not necessarily new for our games, and a tradition we've stuck with ever since OFP Cold War Crisis. Veterans may remember the free Ultimate Upgrade packages adding major vehicles such as the Su-25, Chinook, Vulcan AA, Kozlice shotgun and more. Another example was the addition of Warfare mode and USMC units to Arma 1. Some of the content will be brand-new and some is finished content shown in the past. Top priority for the artists now are two Close Air Support fixed-wing beasts, one for both primary factions. And there is more cool stuff to come!

OPERATIONS

With regards to the Steam Workshop - we knew there were modders who have expressed concerns about the license agreement. Because of this we've discussed options directly with Valve and pursued more agreeable terms. Note that we still view this as an optional (but very exciting!) service to share content. The old methods are still in place and we have no intentions of changing that.

Our drones (Darter, Greyhawk and Stomper) will miss the final Beta patch this week. Instead they will be added to development branch soon. A few functionality issues are being resolved, but we absolutely cannot delay the patch.

Internally we are going to be on a development lock down very soon and up to release. This effectively means we will only make important fixes to release content. This is done to ensure stability in the release version. It may mean the updates on development branch are less significant - although we do want to stage a lot of release content there ahead of September 12th! We will also need to re-skin the game from Beta to release, so don't be surprised if Beta logos and texts start morphing into their final versions.

LOGISTICS

Last Saturday evening we attempted to do a live-stream of release content. It was partly thwarted by our Internet connection, but ultimately a version went up two hours later. A few hours before the stream, we ran tests and things were green across the board. When we were just about to go live, we found the upload connection being interrupted frequently - causing dropped frames in the stream. We decided it would be better to record the same presentation offline and upload it immediately afterwards. Check out the results here!

Bohemia Interactive today announced the release date for its upcoming tactical military shooter, Arma 3. Available in digital and physical retail stores worldwide, Arma 3 will launch on Thursday September 12, 2013.



Benefiting from the splendid support of Alpha and Beta participants, Arma 3 ships with the large open terrains of ‘Altis’ (270 km²) and ‘Stratis’ (20 km²), 12 singleplayer showcases, 3 faction showcases, 9 multiplayer scenarios, 10 firing drill challenges, more than 20 vehicles and 40 weapons, 5 factions, the scenario editor and modding support. The Arma 3 singleplayer campaign will be released across 3 free DLC episodes after launch.

To launch the countdown, the Arma 3 devteam is hosting an official Twitch.tv livestream on Saturday August 10 at 17.00 UTC. Live from Bohemia Interactive HQ in Prague, everyone is invited for a sneak peek at Arma 3’s release package. The livestream is expected to last about one hour, and those who do not want to miss out can already enlist for the event via Arma 3’s Facebook page.

Last but not least, Bohemia Interactive has opened the Countdown To Launch web page. Here players can find a complete overview of the content available in Arma 3 – alongside descriptions and screenshots.

To participate in the final stages of pre-release development, people can purchase the regular Arma 3 Beta (34.99 EUR/29.99 GBP/44.99 USD) or the Arma 3 Digital Deluxe Edition (44.99 EUR/39.99 GBP/59.99 USD) from Steam or Store.bistudio.com. Both editions include the full retail game and prices will increase upon launch.

Can you give us an overview of the campaign’s story and the player’s role?

Crowe: The player is a regular soldier, a Corporal who’s part of a NATO peacekeeping mission in the Mediterranean. Originally deployed in the wake of the total economic collapse of the Republic of Altis—a nation something like the size of Malta—a situation that flared up into a bloody civil war. It’s been a couple of years of uneasy peace following a cease-fire. This US-led force is now in the process of a staged drawdown, tasked to decommission the bases and coordinate the scrapping of military equipment and vehicles that they can’t afford to ship back home.

This withdrawal takes place in the context of decades of recession in the west and a rise in power and ambition of nations under the banner of CSAT, the Canton-Protocol Strategic Alliance Treaty. Stratis—the island where the player’s unit is based—is a key strategic position between east and west. But, with the US more concerned about its interests and influence in the Pacific and traditional European powers looking inwards at their flatlining economies and mass unemployment, it’s become something of an unaffordable operation.

The vacuum left by withdrawing NATO forces is being rapidly filled by CSAT, creating the conditions for, one might say, a flashpoint. The campaign follows the player from this point and examines his role across three distinct episodes: Survive, Adapt, Win.

How are the campaign episodes connected?

Crowe: Together, they form three parts of a single overarching story. Our “Episodes� are actually something like sets of interconnected missions—each a mini-campaign—related to the others in terms of the progression of a single timeline and in the gradual introduction of responsibility to the player.
“We ask the designers to think about what ‘winning’ actually means.�

van’t Land: The episodic design is not new. It’s not something that we implemented after deciding on these release plans. Though, admittedly, we originally intended to release them together.

Crowe: When we came to redesign the campaign, the game—the sandbox platform—was in a considerable state of flux. The episodic nature of our revised approach was partly geared towards managing that, and partly on trying to investigate some distinct themes.

van’t Land: Arma 3 is now built on a singular vision—combined arms military with an infantry core—but it’s still a very broad topic, so the themes help to focus that a bit more.

Crowe: While each episode looks at a different theme, there’s a consistent thread between them all—yes, in terms of narrative—but, perhaps more importantly, in terms of gameplay. If you look at the Showcases, for example, they generally give the player an objective, a tool or a set of tools, and offer some freedom in terms of how to go about achieving that goal. In the process, one aspect of the game is “showcased.� They work because they’re simple enough for us to test, but open enough to allow players to enjoy completing them without being led by the hand. Our campaign episodes are similar, but—rather than focusing on a single “thing,� like “tanks� or “scuba�—they develop a single theme over the course of a few missions, deploying a range of meaningful and appropriate features that, hopefully, serve to create a consistent, enjoyable experience.

In September, we're launching Arma 3 across digital and retail stores worldwide with new singleplayer, multiplayer and sandbox content along with our crown jewel, the Altis terrain. You can check out the details of our launch content over here. Our campaign, however, will be made available across 3 free episodes after release.

Supplied as free DLC to everyone who owns the game, the first episode, Survive, will be available within the first 4 weeks of launch. The Adapt and Win episodes follow in the months thereafter. Read on for our rationale behind this move and for some new details about our release package.

Back To The Future

When Arma 3 was first announced in 2011, it followed a more 'traditional' structure: plan - implement - release - support. Since those early days, much has changed. During the course of development, it became clear to us that to deliver the best game we could - one worthy of being a true sequel in the Arma franchise - we'd have to rethink some of the initial plans.

One of the most important decisions we made was to push the game towards a public Alpha and Beta testing phase. This has been an extremely useful experience for us. It stands, without question, that now more than ever our company believes in the adopted project methodology. It cannot be overstated how much the feedback and widespread testing has helped to improve the stability of the Arma 3 platform.



Paradigm Shift

The focus upon small, quick deliverables, the advantage of rapid, targeted feedback, and the experience of putting a game out into the wild has matured the team and improved the overall quality of the game. This has translated into regular pre-release updates and the gradual refinement and extension of the platform. It's made Arma 3 a better game. Furthermore, it has energized our team, many of whom were fatigued by a lengthy, difficult project. We've all enjoyed seeing long streams of positive feedback and constructive criticism.

However, these benefits have also come at a certain cost. This was the first large project we've run this way and things weren't always perfectly executed. Making frequent - sometimes fairly significant - changes to the base game makes it a true nightmare to create, test and manage a big number of complex missions. Let's say a given designer has four scenarios under their direct control. It's not unlikely that, after finishing a quick iteration of all four, the first couple are already broken. Assets are changed, environment locations get updated, bugs pop up, AI tweaks result in different behaviour, placeholder content is finalized. The list goes on and on.

This, of course, is a challenge that faces most game developers; however, the more fundamental these changes are, and the later that the root causes are identified, the harder it gets to deal with them. Developing a good campaign on a settled platform is far more effective. In the past, Arma has garnered something of a reputation for instability. We've been single-minded in our pursuit of real improvements in this area. In the context of this development, our Showcases have proven themselves to be the most robust content to develop, publish and maintain. These focused scenarios set a benchmark for the diverse range of features in Arma 3. They enable us to share with players real improvements like fluid animations, new radio protocol, improved lighting, upgraded sound engine, etc., through challenging, open gameplay.

Quality Over Quantity

Combined Arms, Tanks, Gunships, SCUBA, Night, Supports, Commanding, Infantry, Armed Assault, Helicopters, Drones, Vehicles, when all these things come together - and when players aren't held back by silly bugs - we think it's an experience unlike any other. We've chosen to invest in these scenarios, as well as in the various multiplayer modes, the huge sandbox of weapons, vehicles, factions - not forgetting the Challenges, Faction Showcases - and, of course our Editor, which unlocks the full potential of the mothership: Altis.

Meanwhile, we've been empowered to further develop key pillars of the game. We've made refinements to the AI, important fixes to the terrain, extensions to the platform of weapons and vehicles, etc., without fear of breaking something like a campaign. Just releasing the Alpha and Beta without making frequent updates would have been pointless. Instead, we've tried to put some real effort into a two-weekly patching cycle and daily builds on the Development Branch. Our pipelines were evolving with us as we went, meaning things like automated changelogs were not ready straight away - costing manual labour every update. Going through these things now will benefit the release, post-release support and future projects alike.

Set alongside the openness of the platform - the potential to make and share custom content, itself already being created and refined - we hope Arma 3's release sets a new standard of quality for us, and marks a step in the right direction towards fulfilling the real potential that our series has long threatened to deliver.

Turbulent Times

This is not to say that the project has been without issue. Arma 3 started life with a very different team and a very different scope and direction. Since 2012, we've seen the number of developers working on the game double, absorbing the Mníšek studio and bringing in a bunch of talented new hires in key positions across all 3 studios. And, later on in the year, we found ourselves in a position to conduct a thorough project review, which fundamentally re-evaluated the direction that the project was taking.

This turnaround was made no easier by some of the unpredictable events of last year. The uncertainty that was produced and the impact it's had - on both a professional and personal level - cannot be emphasised enough. It made a tough time exponentially more difficult. In the end, this process culminated in the successful release of the Arma 3 Alpha, and, despite some tough, pragmatic choices, we believe that it's put us in a much better long-term position.

Furthermore, the project plans, which crystallised last October, did not sufficiently take into account the great impact that public development would have in parallel to our internal milestones. More time went into directly supporting the Alpha and Beta than was planned, leaving less attention for the full game content. While it pushed our relatively small team's resources further, we stiill fully believe in the early access release strategy, and the benefits it has wrought.

Task Force Campaign

So why deliver the campaign after release? Simply put: it's not ready. There are several factors - some of which we've touched on above - that have made it infeasible for us to finish our work to the level of quality we'd be happy with for this release. Why make it at all? Well, we like campaigns and we simply want to make and play them. We also know that we owe it to our community, who've backed us from the start. To those eagerly anticipating the experience, we sincerely apologize for the additional wait. While we would have loved to include the campaign at launch, we could not accept compromising on its quality.

How has it taken so long, then? As mentioned above, the project has experienced fundamental changes in terms of its vision, scope, scale, and setting. Put frankly, almost two years of work related to the original direction was binned. Through a process of playing, evaluating, and honest reflection, we found that the original plan was not headed towards what we expected from a legitimate Arma sequel. The changes that were necessary to put the project back on track have been costly and difficult but, ultimately, we feel, worthwhile.

As we approach the end of Beta, we are also faced with various things that lock us in creatively. One such thing is localization. The game needs to be translated for many regions of the world and that requires finalized source texts. Similarly, doing voice acting takes time. We can't wait and rush things in the last moments before release. Finally, games need to be rated in many markets, for which rating agencies need a solid and near-final playable build well ahead of release. Effectively this all means the campaign would have had to have been finished roughly two months ahead of its launch. It was not.



Countdown To Launch_

Even though it differs from the original planned launch strategy, we have full confidence in Arma 3’s release package. When the game deploys, players will be met with a set of 12 diverse Showcases and 3 Faction Showcases, 10 Challenges, 9 multiplayer scenarios across 4 unique modes. Together with a huge sandbox of weapons and vehicles, an editor to create and share custom missions, and the enormous canvases of Altis and Stratis upon which to make them.

Looking at the game from the perspective of players joining us at launch - even in the brief absence of the campaign - there's a big variety of out-of-the-box singleplayer content. For players that have already supported us in our pre-release development, we believe that commissioning the new Altis-based Showcases, adding new Challenges and multiplayer modes, expanding the sandbox, and unleashing Altis itself, means a wealth of great new experiences await them, too.

We think of the main release as a platform - the beginning of a long lifetime for the game. A platform that will grow with official content additions, fixes, improvements, as well as with user-generated content. Veterans of the Arma series know that previous games have matured and become better with time. Our team is committed to supporting Arma 3, and we already have lots of post-release plans. Your feedback has and will continue to shape prioritization. Looking back to 2012, reflecting upon the progress the game has since made, evidenced by the success of the Alpha and Beta programmes, we're proud of the upcoming release. It's a product of our team's hard work and of the unwavering support of our dedicated community.

Thanks for keeping the faith and see you on the frontlines!

Joris-Jan van 't Land, Project Lead
Jay Crowe, Creative Director