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Darren: Hey everyone, this is Darren, also known as Bombadil from No Guts, No Galaxy, and I\'d like to welcome you to the Mechwarrior Online Dev Vlog #10 . This is our chance to get the know the devs and hear directly from them on the past, present, and future of Mechwarrior Online. In this episode we\'ll get some information on the conceptualization and development of the upcoming new swamp map, and get some sneak peeks at the newest battlemechs coming to Mechwarrior Online.
Let\'s jump right in with an interview of Dennis, Art Director at Piranha Games. Dennis, what was the inspiration for the new map called Viridian Bog?
Dennis de Koning: We wanted a map that was a lush tropical forest. Everything else is either desert, whether it be... a very hot desert or even a cold desert. I mean you can even say it\'s a desert in a way. And we wanted something that was not as open as many of the other desert style maps. Something that was more crowded, kind of like metropolitan style maps, except completely forested. And now obviously Forest Colony is, in the name has forest, but it\'s hardly a forest. It\'s more of a shoreline. And we really wanted to get something that is far more dense, and although big at the same time it has has a sense of claustrophobic feeling to it.
Darren: In terms of gameplay, what were you trying to achieve with the design of this map?
Dennis: We wanted a lot of areas of corridors, bypasses, secret ways to get around the back. There\'s a lot of areas in here, it\'s basically this map has like 3 different levels to it. There\'s a main terrace... basically the map is a giant sinkhole made up of an upper terrace and a lower basin. In the lower basin area, which takes up I guess the lower third of the map, it has these very large what I like to affectionately call as umbrella lilies that are actually taller than an Atlas. So when you\'re under them you feel like you have a canopy above you, the fog is a little thicker donwn there... although people can target you they can\'t necessarily see you.
The main area has tons of trees and roots and anything you\'d expect to see in a very very dense jungle. Lots of hanging vines everywhere, bushes and slime, swamp water everywhere. In the entire map there is nowhere you can get dry feet. It\'s definitely a foot rot style environment.
The third level would be on top of the terraces. Some terraces are accessible by calcite steps, terraced steps. But most of them are actually only accessible through jump jets. Now that doesn\'t necessarily give you a advantage, because you\'re still having to look through a canopy of heavy trees in order to see anything you\'re shooting at. So you don\'t know whether your missiles will make contact for example, because what you have targeted could be behind a giant tree.
Darren: Will there be any graphics settings that will enable you to remove obstacles on the map, thereby giving you a line of site advantage?
Dennis: No, absolutely not. I know this was a question on the forums, and I wanted to answer it then but I thought I\'d wait to actually say it, with my voice. No, most of the things that will get culled because of low spec machines are very very small little brush, bushes and grass. Anything that is maybe up to mid thigh of a Commando or something might disappear or LOD out a little sooner than normal. But otherwise there will be no fundamental change in gameplay at all.
Darren: Looking to the future, what are some of your thoughts on older maps getting updates?
Dennis: I would love to. I have a deep desire to go back and basically rebuild...that\'s probably a big word, but rebuild all the maps almost from the ground up. We\'ve come so far in learning what we can get away with and what we can do with Cryengine. A lot of the earlier maps were done very quickly. But now I think we are seasoned enough that we\'ll be able to go back and really bring those levels to life. Really bring them to the level of what people expect them to see.
Darren: Can you tell us anything about new map design as it pertains to Community Warfare?
Dennis: The Community Warfare maps are obviously designed slightly different in this case, where they are more like bi-directional essentially. It\'s an attack/defend kind of idea. There\'s kind of a two stage element to the map, where you have to infiltrate the, for lack of a better word inner core. And then have a central target to destroy in order to win the game.
The maps are going to be fairly simple in the way that they are not going to be metropolitan. They are going to be much more open world. But they are going to feel kind of... the whole feeling I guess that we\'re trying to go for here is akin to storming the beaches of Normandy, where you have landing craft... you\'re thrown onto a beach essentially. There are caltrops and other type of anti area or area denial obstacles to try to keep you back from infiltrating the target. There\'s an inner core that has to be breached. Meanwhile your enemies are obviously trying to kill you.
It\'s not as simple of a strategy as doing a simple base rush, because if you think you can just move forward en masse and take over, you\'re going to die. Your team is going to lose very very quickly. There has to be a lot of strategy involved. You need to coordinate very well. Your light runners have to do their job. Your brawlers have to do their job. Your LRMs can\'t just be throwing their missiles into walls. You have to really know you\'re going to make contact or your just not going to win.
And as far as the defense side, you\'re going to have the inner sanctum to protect, and when it\'s breached obviously things get a little hairy. Although that doesn\'t necessarily mean that the game is lost at that point, it just depends how long you\'ve been able to keep your offenders off prior to the breach.
Darren: And next, here\'s a quick sneak peek at the three newest battlemechs coming to Mechwarrior Online on November 18th.
First up are a pair of iconic hero mechs from the husband and wife team of Grayson Carlyle and Lori Kalmar Carlyle, of the notorious Gray Death Legion mercenary unit. More than just being the mech she was piloting when she first met her future husband as enemies on the battlefield, with 2 ballistic and 4 energy hardpoints, Lori\'s Pirate\'s Bane, or LCT-PB variant, is also the first ECM enabled Locust in MWO.
And with the very mech that Grayson piloted while he and his commandos drove the bandits who killed his father from Trell 1, Carlyle\'s Gray Death Shadowhawk SHD-GD variant stomps onto the battlefield with one ballistic, four energy and two missile hardpoints.
And finally, for those who purchased the Mist Lynx or Koshi collection from the Clan Collection Wave 2, they will be arriving in your mechbays on November 18th, will be available for 
on January 6th, and then for 
on February 3rd. And as always, for more information stay tuned to mwomercs.com.
And that concludes the MWO Dev Vlog #10. Be sure to stay tuned for future vlogs, including more information on the development of Mechwarrior Online, community spotlights, and the exciting future of the MWO competitive scene. And on behalf of Piranha Games and No Guts, No Galaxy, thank you for watching! And until next time, MechWarriors!
[/spo you can even say it\'s a desert in a way. And we wanted something that was not as open as many of the other desert style maps. Something that was more crowded, kind of like metropolitan style maps, except completely forested. And now obviously Forest Colony is, in the name has forest, but it\'s hardly a forest. It\'s more of a shoreline. And we really wanted to get something that is far more dense, and although big at the same time it has has a sense of claustrophobic feeling to it.
Darren: In terms of gameplay, what were you trying to achieve with the design of this map?
Dennis: We wanted a lot of areas of corridors, bypasses, secret ways to get around the back. There\'s a lot of areas in here, it\'s basically this map has like 3 different levels to it. There\'s a main terrace... basically the map is a giant sinkhole made up of an upper terrace and a lower basin. In the lower basin area, which takes up I guess the lower third of the map, it has these very large what I like to affectionately call as umbrella lilies that are actually taller than an Atlas. So when you\'re under them you feel like you have a canopy above you, the fog is a little thicker donwn there... although people can target you they can\'t necessarily see you.
The main area has tons of trees and roots and anything you\'d expect to see in a very very dense jungle. Lots of hanging vines everywhere, bushes and slime, swamp water everywhere. In the entire map there is nowhere you can get dry feet. It\'s definitely a foot rot style environment.
The third level would be on top of the terraces. Some terraces are accessible by calcite steps, terraced steps. But most of them are actually only accessible through jump jets. Now that doesn\'t necessarily give you a advantage, because you\'re still having to look through a canopy of heavy trees in order to see anything you\'re shooting at. So you don\'t know whether your missiles will make contact for example, because what you have targeted could be behind a giant tree.
Darren: Will there be any graphics settings that will enable you to remove obstacles on the map, thereby giving you a line of site advantage?
Dennis: No, absolutely not. I know this was a question on the forums, and I wanted to answer it then but I thought I\'d wait to actually say it, with my voice. No, most of the things that will get culled because of low spec machines are very very small little brush, bushes and grass. Anything that is maybe up to mid thigh of a Commando or something might disappear or LOD out a little sooner than normal. But otherwise there will be no fundamental change in gameplay at all.
Darren: Looking to the future, what are some of your thoughts on older maps getting updates?
Dennis: I would love to. I have a deep desire to go back and basically rebuild...that\'s probably a big word, but rebuild all the maps almost from the ground up. We\'ve come so far in learning what we can get away with and what we can do with Cryengine. A lot of the earlier maps were done very quickly. But now I think we are seasoned enough that we\'ll be able to go back and really bring those levels to life. Really bring them to the level of what people expect them to see.
Darren: Can you tell us anything about new map design as it pertains to Community Warfare?
Dennis: The Community Warfare maps are obviously designed slightly different in this case, where they are more like bi-directional essentially. It\'s an attack/defend kind of idea. There\'s kind of a two stage element to the map, where you have to infiltrate the, for lack of a better word inner core. And then have a central target to destroy in order to win the game.
The maps are going to be fairly simple in the way that they are not going to be metropolitan. They are going to be much more open world. But they are going to feel kind of... the whole feeling I guess that we\'re trying to go for here is akin to storming the beaches of Normandy, where you have landing craft... you\'re thrown onto a beach essentially. There are caltrops and other type of anti area or area denial obstacles to try to keep you back from infiltrating the target. There\'s an inner core that has to be breached. Meanwhile your enemies are obviously trying to kill you.
It\'s not as simple of a strategy as doing a simple base rush, because if you think you can just move forward en masse and take over, you\'re going to die. Your team is going to lose very very quickly. There has to be a lot of strategy involved. You need to coordinate very well. Your light runners have to do their job. Your brawlers have to do their job. Your LRMs can\'t just be throwing their missiles into walls. You have to really know you\'re going to make contact or your just not going to win.
And as far as the defense side, you\'re going to have the inner sanctum to protect, and when it\'s breached obviously things get a little hairy. Although that doesn\'t necessarily mean that the game is lost at that point, it just depends how long you\'ve been able to keep your offenders off prior to the breach.
Darren: And next, here\'s a quick sneak peek at the three newest battlemechs coming to Mechwarrior Online on November 18th.
First up are a pair of iconic hero mechs from the husband and wife team of Grayson Carlyle and Lori Kalmar Carlyle, of the notorious Gray Death Legion mercenary unit. More than just being the mech she was piloting when she first met her future husband as enemies on the battlefield, with 2 ballistic and 4 energy hardpoints, Lori\'s Pirate\'s Bane, or LCT-PB variant, is also the first ECM enabled Locust in MWO.
And with the very mech that Grayson piloted while he and his commandos drove the bandits who killed his father from Trell 1, Carlyle\'s Gray Death Shadowhawk SHD-GD variant stomps onto the battlefield with one ballistic, four energy and two missile hardpoints.
And finally, for those who purchased the Mist Lynx or Koshi collection from the Clan Collection Wave 2, they will be arriving in your mechbays on November 18th, will be available for on January 6th, and then for on February 3rd. And as always, for more information stay tuned to mwomercs.com.
And that concludes the MWO Dev Vlog #10. Be sure to stay tuned for future vlogs, including more information on the development of Mechwarrior Online, community spotlights, and the exciting future of the MWO competitive scene. And on behalf of Piranha Games and No Guts, No Galaxy, thank you for watching! And until next time, MechWarriors!
... scary stuff.!
want them now! Loved those two.
