A few weeks back, we kicked off one of our most ambitious undertakings yet: the Community Map Project. In this venture we will build a Battlefield 4 map together with you, the community, from concept to release.

THE ROAD TOWARDS PRODUCTION
The project is currently in the concept phase, as illustrated below in the roadmap. To complete this first step, we need your help to decide on things like map location, setting and themes before we head into production of the map.



After launching this project we’ve received many great concepts, ideas and feedback. The level of contribution from you has us even more excited about this collaboration! Unsurprisingly, everyone’s idea of the perfect map is different, but by reading through and absorbing the CTE forums and Reddit posts, we’ve identified some clear trends.

URBAN VS. RURAL SETTINGS
One of the most asked for settings could be summarized as “urban”. Urban – as in bigger cities and towns – is something that doesn’t fit within our High Level Framework.

The term “terrain based” used in the framework was meant to disqualify urban concepts and we want to clarify why.

Urban maps are rigid, expensive and performance heavy. This means we would have to spend much more time optimizing content instead of perfecting it for gameplay and balance. It also makes it much more difficult to have consistent and good destruction, purely based on performance and memory. An example of an “urban” map is Siege of Shanghai.

In contrast, a “terrain based map” (Golmud Railway is an example of one) is our internal way of describing a rural map, mainly featuring terrain and free-standing buildings. This type of map is immensely flexible and easy to work with, allowing us to make bigger changes faster and to iterate more on the map based on your feedback.



DICE LA team members analyzing a community poll in our Community Map filtering process.

CHOOSE A HIGH-LEVEL SETTING
The idea is to gradually narrow down the concept, going from a general to a more specific understanding of what the map will be. Through internal meetings, we’ve identified popular concepts, grouped them up, and ended up with this top three:

Jungle
Desert
Mountain


David Sirland, Producer
Thomas Andersson, Creative Director
DICE LA

A while back, we talked about the road ahead for Battlefield 4™ and how we will continue to support the game with more content. We were pretty vague. Now however, the time is right for shedding some more light on what you can expect going forward.

We plan to release new content in a slightly different way, always with our ear to the ground and enhancing the game based on your feedback. Expect game updates and tweaks, and things like a weapon pack – but also one or two bigger content drops.

Create the Community Map with Us

Ok. This is something we’ve never done before. There’s a piece of content coming in 2015 that we’re really excited about. We will build a Battlefield 4 map together with you – the community. Together with our development team, you will get to shape a playable map based on your input and expertise on what makes a fun multiplayer level. This map will then be tested and tweaked in the CTE (Community Test Environment), available for Battlefield 4 Premium members.

As part of this CTE testing you will be providing feedback* on the map, and creating the final thing together with us. During this process we’ll be sharing behind-the-scenes details of what the development process for making a multiplayer map looks like.

As a thank you to the Battlefield community for sticking to your Battlefield 4 guns and giving excellent feedback to improve the game, we want to show our appreciation by releasing the “Community Map” as a free download, available to players on all platforms.

Give Community Map feedback on the Battlefield 4 CTE forum

Winter Patch Arriving in March

In March, we’ll deploy what we call the Winter Patch, polishing things like netcode and soldier collision. This update will also tweak one of our competitive game modes, Squad Obliteration. Fast-paced and hugely focused on team work, this will become the lead competitive game mode for Battlefield 4.

In case you haven’t had the chance to try it yourself yet, Squad Obliteration features two five-player teams fighting for possession of a bomb on the map. Your goal is to destroy two out of three enemy bases with these bombs to win. Our ambition with Squad Obliteration is to create something fast and challenging for the players and an entertaining experience for those who watch the matches.

More to Come

Stay tuned for more news on Battlefield 4 updates including the Community Map and more. It should be a fun ride since you’ll be helping perfect the experience together with us.

Thomas Andersson
Creative Director, Battlefield 4 | DICE LA

Server 1:0------> http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf4/servers/show/pc/4b889c73-64ff-4701-b4f6-33a8e3cffd67/Demonlords-net-1-0-DAGON-Carrier-Assault-CQ-NO-Rules/ [battlelog.battlefield.com]

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