While the development team is hard at work to deliver the first Arma 3 campaign episode, the game’s massive islands have already been deployed. Considered as the crown jewel of Arma 3 by many virtual combatants, we talked to one of Altis’ masterminds, Environment Lead Martin Pezlar!
We're often asked to let some of our people talk about what it's like to develop a game at BI. 'Report In!' gives you a more personal perspective on our team, a more detailed look at the way we go about our work, and fresh information about our ongoing projects.
In his role as Environment Lead, Martin is responsible for the massive terrain in Arma 3. His team’s ambition resulted in a landscape of over 290 km2 - surpassing all previous BI games (comparison image). However, not only scope, but also level of detail and lighting were pushed to the next level. Mix in a bizarre adventure in Greece, and we have more than enough ingredients for a Report In™ dev interview! Tell the people a little about yourself. What's your role? How long have you been with Bohemia Interactive? Which projects have you contributed to and what is your favourite BI game or mission?
Greetings! My name is Martin Pezlar, perhaps better known by my nickname ‘Maxell’ on the Internets. I’ve been working as a Lead Environment Artist for 2 years now. Before that, I worked at BI as a regular Environment Artist, also for about 2 years. I was recruited back in 2010 from the ranks of the Quake 3/Doom 3 map design community. My first task at BI was to develop Takistan for Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead. I then later worked on the smaller Shapur map (Arma 2: British Armed Forces) and Proving Grounds (Arma 2: Private Military Company). Naturally, my favourite BI game is the latest, most polished, and most beautiful instalment in the Armaverse: Arma 3.
And can you give us some random facts about yourself?
I love life, surprises, fast motorcycles, perfection and efficiency, intelligent humor and having the sun shine on my back. I hate laziness, human stupidity, and arrogance.
Can you start by explaining a little bit about the terrain development process?Phew! Where to start! The terrain development process is kind of a marathon – it’s a massive task. Let me try to capture the most essential stages.
First of all, you have to have a clear goal: what kind of map do you want to create, what should it look like, what features should be present. This means you always need to do some rock solid research. All of this drives the initial analysis and design, which is then evaluated by all of the Department Leads, the Creative Director and the Project Lead.
Once everyone and everything is aligned, we move on to build a very basic map prototype. This is just a quick, low-quality terrain mesh with low resolution textures and simple mockup buildings. It helps to test the in-game scales, proportion and overall feel. Once everyone is happy with the prototype, we move ahead and start preparing a list of all the assets required for the final production version of the map. This again involves a lot of analysis and spreadsheets, which ultimately serve as the battle plan for the Art and Environment Departments.
Finally, when these documents have been approved and finished, the real, high quality, production of the required assets can begin. Simultaneously, the creation of the landscape itself, the map layout, the sculpting of the terrain, and the satellite textures is starting. Then, *crash-boom-bang*, 2.5 years later, we have a brand new game world.
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