A local insurgency contracted Red Spear PMC for an operation: infiltrate an abandoned, sandstorm-stricken airbase for supplies and intel.
[h2]Task Force Elite answers the call of duty and meets the mercenaries on the battlefield. This is a black op.[/h2]
Since this summer's Tip of the Spear: Task Force Elite alpha test, the artists and level design team have refined the layout and visuals of Abandoned Airbase. For those that haven’t played it yet, the map takes place in the desert at an abandoned military airbase at the foot of huge mountains. Teams fight across key choke points for control of an aircraft hangar in the middle of the map.
There were a number of visual improvements made since the last round of testing. All assets are now upgraded to 4k photorealistic textures and feature improved UV mapping for greater depth and realism.
[h2]Task Force Elite - made of special forces operators from Delta Force (CAG), Green Berets, and more - enter the airbase to eliminate Red Spear mercenaries.[/h2]
The hangar has also received a face lift. Dust particles float throughout the hangar, and rusted metal walls glisten under the light that shines through its many windows.
The hangar is the crowning jewel of the map.
From a gameplay perspective, a number of observations stood out to the team when reviewing alpha testing data and feedback:
- Visual performance was strong – we even had a report of a user running Windows Vista on a 2011 build getting a consistent 25 frames per second.
- As player counts increased, the playable area of the map naturally shifted. Edges of the airbase and perimeter guard towers saw more action, and at 20+ players, the verticality of Abandoned Airbase shined once players crawled to safer vantage points atop towers and buildings to avoid the mayhem below.
- The layout of the hangar and progressive spawn point installations was well-received and remain untouched at this time.
- Spawn camps needed additional protection from snipers, so the design team stacked containers and added several tall buildings to provide cover around the perimeter of the spawn camps.
Both team’s spawns could benefit from additional vantage points to defend the base and provide covering fire for teammates pushing towards objectives, so the designers installed new structures at the front of each team’s base.
Snipers’ views into the spawn camps are significantly reduced with the addition of new structures.
There was one other major revelation that was especially noticeable on Abandoned Airbase: the Task Force Elite team’s camouflage helped them blend in too much on the map compared to their Red Spear PMC counterparts. The Task Force Elite team’s uniforms need to be “nerfed” (made less effective) to bring them closer in line with the camouflaging capabilities of the Red Spear PMC team. We’ve also added Spawn Armor with a visual countdown on-screen to let players know how long they are invincible for (i.e. until spawn armor is depleted or the player fires their weapon).
[h2]1 more day until the hottest new military first person shooter arrives!
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