Battlefield 4, EA DICE’s latest release and the newest instalment in the Battlefield franchise, has managed to offer life-like gameplay mechanics, even though the game has been subjected to numerous bugs and issues. While one of those aspects has been offered via the in-game dynamic weather, EA says there are plans to offer real-time, location based weather in the future.
DICE CEO Patrick Soderlund was recently in an interview with The Guardian where he revealed how the company is looking to add more to the already present in-game dynamic weather with the help of Cloud servers and geo-lederboards.
“To us as developers … we have to look at ourselves, every version we do of something, we have to say to ourselves, okay, if we make another one – and the big word there is 'if' – we'd better make sure it has an impact, that it changes and feels like a meaningful evolution of the brand. If you stagnate, you're better off moving to something else,” Soderlund stated.
“I sit the floor above the Battlefield development team and there is no lack of ideas down there! It's just a matter of, how many of them are feasible and how many can we do.”
He revealed that there are thousands of ideas in store for the future editions of Battlefield. “One of the things I think is cool in Battlefield 4 is the geo-leaderboard - you can find out who in your neighbourhood is, say, the best best assault player. That's cool. And so let's take that a step further and say, what if we had servers where it pulls in just things as simple as weather and day time from the local area.”
“If the server is in Stockholm and it's sunny, what if the map is sunny, too? What if it's snowing and dark in Moscow? Okay, let's have the servers there playing snowy and dark maps. You look at the possibilities and realise you can do so many more things in the cloud-enabled world than we couldn't do before. That's frankly one dumb idea from me, but it's kind of cool,” he added.
Additionally, on the topic of the future of the franchise and if the franchise will continue to exist, Soderlund stated that it can be done provided the company decides to “modernize the experience to some extent.”
“If you try the multiplayer today on PS4 or Xbox One you'll find it's a very different Battlefield game than what you would have played on Xbox 360 a few years ago. Not only does it run at a higher frame rate, you see things you haven't seen before.”
“You have the dynamic battlefields, the dynamic maps – people may say that Levolution is a gimmick, but it isn't at all, it adds an extra layer to the gameplay. Those elements are on the current generation consoles but the experience is multiplied on next-gen.”
“If we can push ourselves and look for meaningful innovation, then I think there will be rewards,” he concluded.
Battlefield 4 is currently available for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC in North America and Europe.
