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The Story So Far

6th February 2018

Hello!

My name is Mike Arkin and I’m the CEO of Big Boat Interactive. Back in the 90s I had an opportunity to be part of the team that made Battlezone on PC at Activision, and many years later I was lucky to be part of the team that brought it back to Steam and GOG for the first time as Battlezone 98: Redux.

Towards the end of Battlezone 98 Redux we started to think about Battlezone 2, the 1999 sequel, and what we could do next.  We learned so much from the development of Battlezone 98 Redux, and now it was time to take that experience and apply it to Battlezone 2, or as it’s now named - Battlezone: Combat Commander!

For those new to the world of Battlezone, Battlezone: Combat Commander is an FPS-RTS hybrid, where you collect scrap, create a base, build deadly units, then control them as you take on the enemy in explosive first-person battles. Set 30 years after the events of Battlezone 98 Redux, you take control of a young pilot, thrust in to a deadly war to help prevent devastation being unleashed upon the human race.

THE MODDING COMMUNITY

Battlezone comes from a time when games were made to be modded.  When we made Battlezone back in ‘98 we did not have time to make new tools, but we at least were able to release all of the tools we used to make the game. Although they were quite basic, to my surprise the community jumped on them and started making content! From new multiplayer maps, to Instant Action single player maps!

The modding community were innovative and they even started to make their own tools allowing them to create even more mods.  It would be an understatement to say that the mod community flourished and kept Battlezone alive all those years.

Battlezone 2 was even better.  Like many modern games, the design was VERY mod friendly.  The core design of the engine allowed for much more modding than its predecessor, and the entire UI was script files that could be modified and replaced.  While it’s a lot more complex, the modding system of Battlezone 2 is very powerful and looking at the depth of mods out there, it shows.

WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM BATTLEZONE 98 REDUX?

One of the key takeaways from Battlezone 98 Redux was that we really tried to upgrade every single part of the game, however small, and while that was great, it meant we didn’t focus on the places where we could get the best results.

Another key takeaway was that we ended up adding so much to that poor 18 year old engine that we unfortunately reduced performance on lower end computers.  Many of our oldest and most loyal players were on low-end PCs, so that was a real disappointment for them.

HOW DID THIS AFFECT DEVELOPMENT OF BATTLEZONE: COMBAT COMMANDER?

As a result, our goal for Battlezone: Combat Commander was to be more focused, and a little less ‘kitchen sink’ in the development plan, so we came up with 3 things we wanted to focus on:

1.       Graphics - Update the DX6 renderer to DX11 and upgrade the models and textures.

2.       Multiplayer - The MP code was very old and not very good by modern standards.  So, our goal was to update and upgrade as much as we could to ensure a smoother MP experience.

3.       Modding - We had great success adding modding capability’s and steam workshop support to Battlezone 98 Redux, so it made sense to do that again to BZ2!  There were mods out there, but the game needed an in game mod menu so players didn’t need to load mods by command line anymore.

About 10 months later, here we are and we’ve achieved all we set out to build and more. The graphics have been upgraded more then we planned, and the end result is better than we expected.

SO WHAT’S IMPROVED?

You’ll have to wait in see in the next blog post, where I’ll be going in to greater detail about what we’ve been doing to help bring Battlezone: Combat Commander in to the 21st Century! Keep an eye out for the next post coming very soon!

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