The Glade 4.0

You know of the late lamented Corporal Smith’s exploits on the Planetside. All of us here at RPS are ragged veterans of those interminable wars, serving time in the forests of Foresal and missing drops on towers in the lost deserts of Oshur. It is with great trepidation (and after a phone interview with SOE Creative Director Matt Higby) that we can now reveal details of Planetside 2…

The first thing that’s clear; they’re aiming to recreate Planetside with modern tech. From the video I just saw, I think they’ve done it.

For those not in the know; Our story begins eight years ago, on a distant planet called Auraxis. Three immortal factions contest the surface of this planet; the militaristic Terran Republic, the guerrilla New Conglomerate and the advanced Vanu Sovereignty. Their troops can’t die permanently, so contests consist of hordes of tanks, planes and infantry rolling, skimming and tramping towards each other over the same shattered world, eternally.

Being the most-varied and largest-scale MMO FPS combat of all time meant it was a game that generated war stories: as a lone anti-armour Max, running round a hillside, accidentally into the blind spot under a rare towering enemy mech and shooting its tuchas until it died of humiliation; of the mighty RPS tank platoon pounding our Escapist rivals until they realised we had no air cover and we scattered our tanks into the shelter of unsympathetic trees; of gal-dropping an ANT supply truck on a besieged base, saving it at the last moment. Every player has a dozen stories.

That was Planetside 1. Planetside 2 is going to be set in the same place, with the same continents and the same factions, as Higby explained: “It’s going to feel very similar to Planetside. We’re bringing the game up to a modern feeling, making it more quickly paced… the systems and features we’re adding are things we learned over the last eight years from the Planetside Live service and the features that MMO gamers expect, as well as all the bells and whistles of a modern FPS.” That said, there is going to be increased empire differentiation, so that the tools, techniques, strategies and tactics for each faction are going to be even more distinct.


“It’s only recently that we’ve had the technology that allowed the dream of where we need to bring Planetside in the future.” He tells us that they’ve been wanting to make the game for years, and that’s it’s evolved over a very long period. They’ve built a new homegrown engine called Forgelight designed specifically for online MMOFPSes, critically incorporating Nvidia’s Physx.

“We’re talking 2011 AAA graphics quality… We wanted to allow the AAA visual effects and physics that you see in today’s AAA FPSes – in an massively multplayer game”. He quickly runs through how physics is going to change the world: incorporating flight mechanics to make flying much more realistic; setting up large dynamic objects that can move around and be used for cover; or the way weapons affect players, so that if you get hit by a rocket that doesn’t kill you, it’ll knock you back.

As with the previous game, it’s going to feature thousands of players battling with each other in realtime on enormous maps, with no instancing – “we’re only limited by how many can physically fit into a small area.” New, however, is a territory control and conquest system; “You’ll fight over more than just facilities and bases; this turns every square inch into contestable valuable real estate that you want to control. The battlefield is always moving, you’re not fighting in the same place; something in your territory yesterday is now the newest hotspot. All of our maps are completely hand-crafted so that every square inch supports gameplay. The size of our environments is completely unrivalled.” It’s worth noting that facilities also have an effect on other parts of your military force – ammo dumps giving ammo bonuses and so on.

The more territory you control, the more resources you’ll have flowing in, whilst both attacking and defending give you a burst of resources. “There’s no resources pop-up to be smashed by assault rifle butt – how empires control territory and hence resources determines how successful they’re going to be in the game.” These are used for skill certifications, weapon upgrades, attaching new weapons to your vehicles and so on.


There’s also a new skill certification tree. “It uses an offline time-based learning method – if you’re familiar with Eve Online, how they unlock skills, it’s similar to that.” Each skill is locked to a battle-rank though – a player can’t progress past a certain point unless they actually play. “It allows players with not much time to game to keep up with friends who have nothing but free time, and it allows us to have bonuses for players who are actively playing.”

The skills tree is extensive, to say the least – Higby mentions thousands of skills. “Every vehicle will have its own skill tree, every weapon will have its own skill tree. You’ll be able to completely customise your soldier to the exact playstyle you want”. Squad leaders will retain their separate advancement tree, allowing them to command larger groups, whilst outfits will both be able to specialise further and customise their appearance. Higby envisages a purpose-built outfit for air cavalry with customised reapers and bonuses to air combat, or armour outfits so that “if you see these guys coming over a hill in customised prowlers, you’ll know who they are.”

To make ad-hoc combat easier, there’s a new customisation addition; a class system, replacing the pseudo-classes of the original. You can seamlessly switch between classes that you’ve unlocked; so you can can play as a medic or engineer, or switch to maxes and heavy assaults, depending on what your squad needs. It seems to be a way of creating a soldier that fits the individual’s play style but still feels useful and recognisable in the battle. “The FPS elements we’ve taken are for faster paced combat; we like the Battlefield games.”


Finally, most importantly, there’s a new mission system which automatically generates missions to focus players and balance populations, as well as allowing veteran players to insert their own missions. This allows players to specify in some detail what troops they need, for example a mission requiring engineers to set up minefields or repair turrets at a base. The default missions, when no player-created mission is available, focus players on nearby territory that can be conquered, or needs defending.

One large change followed on what Higby describes as Planetside’s number one lesson; “get people into the action quicker.” Because of this each factions’ sanctuaries are gone, and with them the Hart shuttle. Instead, each continent has an uncapturable foothold for each faction. To also aid with, and to tie into the missions system, players can also choose to auto-squad with nearby groups, and spawn on their squad – though this latter doesn’t work under every circumstance, to give defenders a chance, it’s one of many elements that should improve the new player experience.

Other changes we’ve picked out from the release; “seaborne combat” is an innovation and something that an FPS has never featured, especially not on Planetside’s scale. Though the setting of Auraxis hasn’t changed, the description of “open fields, tightly-packed urban centres” is also a shift from the locations we’ve seen before.

It’s rare when doing interviews that you hear relief in a voice; the sound of a tongue that’s been bitten so hard, for so long, that it’s resonates scar-tissue. “It has unrivalled scope and unrivalled scale.”, says Higby. “In a world where most games are copycats, it’s unique… It’s really, really, really hard to make an MMOFPS; an MMORPG is way easier… It’s probably more trouble than it’s worth for most people. It’s a juggernaut. We feel like we’re going to blow the roof of the MMOFPS market with this game.”

SOE wouldn’t be drawn on release dates, beta dates or pricing structures for this. It is, however PC-only, the sequel to the best MMOFPS of all time, and all of RPS is certainly going to be playing it. We’re running low on war-stories, after all.

Q: 5) Seriously....why NC? VS for life.
A: 5) suck it, barney

Another skills tree question that we haven't gotten a chance to answer yet...



If you're BR 10, that's on your character. Classes don't really have RANKS, they have CERTS which are locked or "gated" by the player's overall rank. So, if you're BR 10, you aren't automatically a level 10 AA Max since a level 10 AA max doesn't actually exist in a meaningful way. But, you have access to unlock level 10 AA Max CERTS, those CERTS would still require time to train and unlock.

So, while you can switch into a variety of roles, you'd be playing them completely untrained until you put some time into advancing all of them.

One final note: More advanced roles (Such as MAX or Liberator) may require advancement down a specific skill tree to unlock, for instance you may need to spend some time training Heavy Assault to unlock MAX skill trees, that way everyone can't just spawn an untrained powerful vehicle / weapon and still be very powerful with it despite not having any of the bells and whistles unlocked. This is something we're still playing with internally, we're doing a lot of iteration on these systems - when they're totally locked down you guys can expect to see a full expose on them get released.

Again, huge thank you for the questions and feedback guys... It's really awesome to have this community as a sounding board, sanity check and idea farm on some of these things.

We definitely recognize that the inclusion of role specific advantages as part of the outfit progression will lead players to wanting to create smaller specialized outfits / divisions. We do have a plans to address this and when we're ready to reveal more details on the outfits system (which seriously, seriously rules, by the way -- I think you guys are going to be really stoked with what we're doing here) you'll find out all about it.

John Smedley and Producer Matt Higby were part of the SoE team that presented Planetside 2 at SyndCon, the annual guild meeting of The Syndicate, a guild that has been in existence since 1996 and works together to provide professional alpha and beta testing services as well as the writing for print as well as website game guides.
Planetside 2 is built on SoE’s own proprietary engine, Forgelight and we were given close up shots of the graphic possibilities with Matt accelerating the day / night cycle while the audience “oohed and aahed” at the light changes in an early build of the game. We were also given close-up looks of models and the level of detail possible, down to scratches on the paint of armor.

There will be a dynamic weather system that can affect warfare. Intense firefights causing a lot of smoke can affect the weather and they also spoke of volumetric clouds that can mask vehicles. That may not be in at launch, but is definitely in the long term plan.

“The long term goal,” said Smed, “is to have environment that is destructible.” If players wreck a base totally, they will have to rebuild it before it can be useful again. He also alluded to EVE Online’s outside-in approach in that they started with space and have since created on- planet game play while their plans are inside-out, with plans for space game play in the future.

“We can build in extra detail where it is needed,” said Matt as he pulled the camera in and out of landscapes and models. We saw the heat shimmer of super-heated air under vehicles, reflections of light off armor and the sun light striking the canyon at sunrise. There will be spotlights at night, on towers and on vehicles as well.

“Imagine the old Looney Tunes prison break,” Matt laughed, “with the spotlight following you as you try to escape it.”

Bases and outposts have attained greater variety, with some buildings built into the sides of stone walls, making the approach only, say 180 degrees, not 360.

“We will start with a single planet and continent,” said Smed, “then add more continents, and eventually planets.”

That brings up the possibility of naval and air transports between the continents as well as fighting on the high seas, refueling stations and floating bases – both on water and air. Planetside 2 will retain the same three factions, the Terran Republic, the Vanu Sovereignty and the New Conglomerate, but the three factions won’t be battling over territory just to hold it for the sake of holding territory. There will be outposts that control certain resources and looking at the map, players can gain control and hold them for the purpose of denying another faction the use of the resources, or use them, themselves.

The game will be able to re-allocate resources so that one strong faction won’t be able to completely monopolize a single resource. They might deplete one type of ore and spawn another, or create an abundance in another non-controlled area.

Matt then spoke on skills or as they are called in Planetside and Planetside 2, certifications. Planetside 2 will be much more of a skill-based game than Planetside was as the Forgelight engine is capable of the physics. For example, headshots will be possible and snipers will have a harder time of it, as ballistic physics will be in game and they will have to account for wind shift and bullet drop. The game will play very much like an FPS, with a keyboard layout that will be familiar to FPS players, however, there are leadership certifications as well as other support roles like medics and engineers.

Certifications can be trained offline or on, with online training speedier than offline. Players can still be a Jack of all trades, and bring specific load outs into each battle, but specializing will get players higher level certifications faster. Throughout the presentation, we were told we could do this or that, provided we had the proper certifications. For example, Terran Republic players will be able put a powerful anti-vehicle weapon on top of the Prowler (a mid size tank) and swap them out as needed.

If a player has the command rank and the certifications, they can command the base to raise specific turrets such as anti-personnel or anti-aircraft. Missions are area based, the objectives popping up as you enter an area, but leaders can also pick missions for the squad / outfit as well.

Players respawn on death and if leaders have the certification, the respawned player may be able to drop-pod directly back to the group rather than making his way back from the respawn point in a camp or outpost. Friendly fire will be in game, which will make AE weapons more strategic and player sacrifices more meaningful. Each faction will have an uncontestable base and Outfit housing will also be a safe sanctuary.

At FanFaire 2011, Smed had alluded to a cash shop, and he did the same here at SyndCon, reassuring the audience that they would not be selling power. If a weapon can be bought in the cash store, he was quick to assure us that it would be attainable in the game as well. Definitely though, one of the things that will be sold would be customization.

SoE hopes to create a parallel feel for outfits that’s like the US military, for players to recognize outfits for what they do, like how the 101st Airborne Division is known. To help with the identity, Outfits will be able to customize the look of their armor and vehicles. Leaders (with the right certifications) will be able to unlock abilities and customize the skill tree for the Outfit. Drilling down, an Outfit can have more than one Division, so they can have for example, a light assault Division, an Engineering Division and etc. Group play will be the same with 10 to a squad, but in addition, platoons of up to four squads can be formed.

In summation, Smed had this to say of Planetside2. “Basically, we took everything that sucked out of Planetside and made all the fun things better.”

What’s crackin’!

It’s Tramell “T.Ray” Isaac, Senior Art Director on PlanetSide 2™. In last week’s COMM LINK you met some of the core dev team leads; this week we want to switch gears and focus on the art style of PlanetSide 2. Currently, a majority of our team is comprised of artists, including concept, environment and character artists, 3D modelers, animators, tech artists and 2D graphic designers, to name a few. These artists have been diligently working on the paramount task of defining, and in some respects, re-defining the art style of PlanetSide 2. From this lens, we would like to give you a better understanding of how the overall aesthetic of the game will come to fruition throughout the course of development. But first a bit of background on me, just so you know where I’m coming from:





Seventeen years ago I started in the video game industry as a 2D animator. My first game was a title for Interplay, Blood and Magic. I think that sold like 7.5 copies…My second title started out as Steve Jackson’s GURPS. I believe most of you know this product by its true name, Fallout. Fallout 2 and Icewind Dale followed and a few short years later I began working on the original PlanetSide and all of its expansions. We had an awesome time working on original PlanetSide, and even though most of that team has moved on to other companies and games, we are still very close to this day. Soon after SOE released PlanetSide: Aftershock, I decided it was time for me to move on. I then went on to work on Neverwinter Nights 2 and Duke Nukem Forever. But SOE couldn’t take me being gone so long, so once again I returned and joined forces on The Agency. Now it’s time to make history again with PlanetSide 2.

The groundwork we put into the original PlanetSide established the foundation for much of the look and feel of PlanetSide 2. The original PlanetSide started out fairly simple in its visual approach. I came onto the project after about a year of production. A few things had been loosely defined, but there wasn’t a final cohesive look and feel to any of the factions, buildings, weapons, or vehicles. We started small by refining the look of the Terran Republic (TR) and the New Conglomerate (NC) characters, and then moved to the Vanu Sovereignty (VS) faction which had been designed but not created on the art side. By associating the factions with basic geometric shapes, we found a simple way to create visual opposition. We ended up with Circles (TR) v. Squares (NC) v. Triangles (VS). These shapes are simple and straight forward which works really well for player identification.

The iconic faction colors were also something that we played with, but ultimately chose Red for TR, opposing color Blue for NC, and combined them both to make the Purple of the VS. We needed colors that stood out on the screen for easy friend or foe identification. With the Vanu Sovereignty’s main color being so dark, we need a color that complimented purple that was vibrant and wasn’t used in the other two factions. Teal was the color we went with for these reasons. Once all the basic shapes and colors were established we took those cues and expounded upon them for the vehicles and weapons. The buildings were another story as they needed to have a nonspecific look that players could immediately recognize and not mistake for their own or as constructed by an opposing faction.

For PlanetSide 2 we took the origins of the factions, buildings and environments and re-imagined them with today’s technology. The buildings and structures now have more depth and detail. We took a look at what was created in the original game and re-developed it to fit the needs and aesthetic of the current gaming landscape. You will definitely see some familiar cues from the original bases in the buildings that we have re-visualized for PlanetSide 2. Each facility will still be identifiable as it was represented in the original game but with a modern twist.






The basic style cues for each faction are still intact. The Terran Republic is the faction that started it all. Their shapes and design are formed from circles and smooth lines. The TR look is more refined and sports some wear and tear but never looks overly used or secondhand. Most of their armor, weapons, and vehicles are constructed of composite materials that require a more sophisticated manufacturing process.



Terran Republic Mosquito


In contrast, the New Conglomerate is a bit less refined than the TR. The NC base look is derived from squares, rectangles, straights and 45 degree angles. The NC are a resourceful bunch, which is important in maintaining an older set of vehicles, armor and weaponry. Although NC weapons aren’t the most advanced, they ARE lethal just the same. NC armor will be chipped, dented and dinged but never compromised. The weapons and vehicles are worn but well maintained, something like your dad’s ‘77 Oldsmobile.



New Conglomerate Liberator


The Vanu Sovereignty is the most technologically advanced empire in the PlanetSide Universe. The VS are worshippers of the ancient technology found throughout planet Auraxis. I would say that they are more like an extremely powerful religious cult with energy weapons. As with some religious structures you would see things that are fairly ornate and somewhat extravagant. VS armor, weapons, and vehicles appear to be fairly contemporary with very little wear or damage. The VS is symbolized by triangular shapes and angles. Armor, weapons, and vehicles sport a carapace like shell layered like the plates of a lobster.



Vanu Sovereignty Magrider


New to PlanetSide 2 is the manufacturing company Nanite Systems (NS). NS created all the common pool vehicles and weapons. They are the PlanetSide equivalent to Stark Industries in Iron Man. We created NS to add an additional element and background story to the planetary war. Visually, NS is very generic Sci-fi. There is nothing particularly unique about the NS items; their colors are warm grays with off white and tan to accent. NS shape language is taken from the combined shape language of the three empires. NS weapons and vehicles can use straights, 45 degree angles, some curves, with some shallower angles incorporated into the form. Nanite Systems hardware is built to last not for flash.

SOE’s ForgeLight Engine™ has allowed us to bring the PlanetSide universe to life in a way that could not have been realized until now. The environments for PlanetSide 2 are the star of the show. We are working hard to give the players game environments that are immersive and believable. Much like the original PlanetSide, we will offer up a wide variety of ecosystems to wage war upon. Continents like Indar will present the player with a vast desert wasteland with canyons that stretch as far as the eye can see. Dust storms will plague the landscape. As the suns set, watch the shadows stretch and fade into the night. PlanetSide 2 environments will be “living” worlds. The battles will not only be about battling the other empires, they will also require the player to strategize against the continent itself.





Ok, enough of this bulljive. I have to get back to making the most bad-ass MMOFPS that you’ve ever ‘done seent’. I hope you enjoyed my little nugget of info about the art style of PlanetSide 2. For more information on the subject, please join us this for this week’s Webcast and Twitter Chat (info below). Until next time my friends, T.Ray signing off.

Tramell “T.Ray” Isaac
Senior Art Director, PlanetSide 2
@PS_TRay