00:00Peggy 16
00:09This week an overview of Talamarket from the Battlefield Aftermath DLC.
00:13Whilst all four maps in Aftermath are themed around the same concept of a post-earthquake environment,
00:18they all play differently.
00:20Team play is always at the forefront when designing maps at the DICE studio
00:23and Talamarket, internally nicknamed simply Marketplace, is no exception.
00:28A lot of the designers at the studio are big fans of classic competitive shooters like Counter-Strike
00:33and for Aftermath, they wanted to bring some of that old-school shooter tradition into the mix.
00:38Their goal was to create a fiercely competitive map where it's kill or get killed.
00:43This was achieved by carefully deciding where to place walls, covers, streets, plazas and buildings,
00:48as you can see in this specially created fly-through.
00:50One important area for them was to make the map as symmetrical as possible,
00:53the thought here being that Symmetry brings a simplicity and, with it, a focused kind of energy into the game.
00:59Once you learn the map, you know it by heart no matter where you're positioned on it.
01:03The challenge instead lies in using your skills within the clearly defined confines of the battlefield.
01:08Symmetry also created some challenges for the DICE team that needed solving,
01:12like how do you build a level that plays the same on both sides but still has a varied look
01:16and feel to it.
01:17The answer in this case is that the level contains multiple art themes to make the different areas feel distinct
01:23from one another.
01:24The challenge becomes a bit more complicated than that though.
01:27Unlike traditional shooters where players spawn mostly on one side of the map,
01:30Battlefield spawns work more like a grid, making it more unpredictable how the teams rotate in the map.
01:36With this in mind, all areas in Tala Market had to be built in such a way
01:40that they could function as standalone combat encounters.
01:42The Symmetry aspect shouldn't be misread as an attempt to force everyone into playing the same way.
01:48Rather, they're making sure that the map encourages different play styles.
01:52If you enjoy sniping, there's a long street with an open area.
01:55If you like big standoffs, the market and its courtyards will be great for mid-range encounters.
02:00In addition, there are very tight streets that form a maze with fast-paced close-quarters action.
02:05In a way, Tala Market plays more like an arena than your typical rush mode from A to B to
02:09C.
02:10This is the map where, more than any other, you play to show off your skills both as an individual
02:15and as a tightly-knit team.
02:17Aftermath is out this December and is included with Battlefield 3 Premium.
02:21You can also purchase it separately.
