'83 News

Why Photogrammetry?

83 was proposed as a realistic tactical shooter and because of this it was decided very early on that the use of photogrammetry should indeed be used; not only for speeding up art production but more importantly for the high fidelity that can be achieved through such a process.

Workflow

There are many processes involved in photogrammetry but we begin by capturing surfaces. In order to generate accurate PBR textures we need to collect as much data as possible. Basically meaning we need to grab a camera and take a ton of shots from various angles. All images need to be consistent, with some overlap, and the same lighting conditions from the beginning to the end of capture.



We then proceed to importing our photographs into a relevant photogrammetry software such as Agisoft or Reality Capture. This software compiles all the relevant capture data, calculates where they are in 3d space and finally recreates a 3d model.



When we are happy with our 3d model we then usually export to a sculpting package and optimize any topology. The capture tools can often produce artifacts depending on how complex they are, so it’s important we clean these models up and smooth them out. The end result is our high poly asset.

The final step of our workflow is to create a low poly version of the asset for optimsation purposes. We bake the necessary maps such as albedo/ normal / height from the high scanned version to the low-poly version and then proceed to importing the assets to game for testing.

The Basics

Our first goal when beginning the animation for ‘83 was to get the basics feeling really smooth. This gives us a baseline for playtesting; a bare minimum that we can expand upon and eventually apply more advanced systems to as we progress. These animations include, but are not limited to walking, crouching and proning. Each of these animations have subsections, for instance, under crouching we have a walking and crouching. These animations also require transitions; from walking to jogging, from jogging to proning. Getting these transitions to feel realistic and smooth can be a real challenge, but one that our experienced animation department are used to!



Weapon Animations

Our animators start work with a very basic block out of each weapon type. This allows them to create basic animations with a variety of weapons. A player weilding a rifle, for instance, walks very differently to a player weilding a pistol. Each of these animations have to be created in first person and third person.

A new system currently being introduced is a Freelook mode for first person, giving the player the opportunity to survey the area without full body movement while in cover, or spot enemies while sprinting through a battlefield, making movement more tactical and give control to the player. With this comes a new way of animating first person, no longer is there only the arms and weapon on a locked camera to consider, but now we have full upper body animations, giving a sense of realism to the player as they see animations in more detail.



Advanced Systems

Our animation department have pitched a ton of cool and unique systems for ‘83, most of which we want to keep under wraps at the moment! We can, however, confirm that movement such as ladder climbing and physics based death animations are currently being prototyped. Our coders and animators are also currently working on dynamic mantaling, leaning and limping.

The priority for animation at this early stage is to push the range of the movement for the player, working with designers to get a sense of where the limits should be, how high can climb? How far can you jump? We do not want the player to feel restricted in how they navigate the maps.

One of the most important parts of early development is testing. Here at AMG we hold weekly playtests on ‘83 which not only allow us to identify issues with new features but also keeps members of the team who may be on other projects up to date with the progress of development. On a playtest day we ask everyone to submit the features they’ve been working on as early as possible during the day, so that our programmers can run an afternoon build. Production then make a list of changes that have occurred since we last tested and create a feedback form relating to the features that have changed. This week, for instance, we were testing new Role Data implementations and also a new neutral test bed map. After the playtest is completed it is production's job to collate the forms and create actionable feedback for our developers.





Another way which we test new features of ‘83 is in maps created specially for the purpose. In the images to the left you can see three such maps. The first image is our physics test bed, this is where we make sure that the ragdoll deaths of the characters are working as intended, helping our animators define any issues and test them without requiring a whole playtest. Our level designers have been making a number of these maps to test all sorts of features; a shooting range to test our weapon accuracy and an obstacle course to test our crouching, prone and vaulting heights. We also have development maps to test art assets, audio and vehicles. We try to keep most of these maps as neutral as possible to enable developers to focus on the feature that they are testing.

Do you want to know more about how we test '83? Ask us in the comments below or reach out on our discord!

Thanks for you support

Antimatter Games

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Welcome to our second developer dispatch for ‘83! This week we will be talking about one of our major pillars of design; Accessible Realism and Authenticity. Every design decision for ‘83 is filtered through this concept; from weapon functionality, character and uniform aesthetics and location choices for maps. This means that all possible actions within ‘83 function as players expect them to in real life but not to the point where they become tedious or ‘un-fun.’ In keeping with this all weapons and uniforms will be historically accurate for the time period. In this dispatch we will unveil a little more about what this process entails.


In ‘83 every weapon and grenade will look and function as they do in reality. This involves a ton of research from all of our disciplines, production, code, weapon artists and animators all work together to ensure that each weapon functions as realistically as possible. Once research on the weapon has been completed, our artists can start creating a blockout of the weapon, this acts as a quick sketch and allows our animators and coders to begin work whilst the artists create the final weapon art.

Animators and coders then work together to ensure the weapon fires, reloads and recoils realistically in both first and third person. Rounds which exit the weapon are then handled by our custom ballistics-handling code, which first performs a line trace at close range to ensure network load is manageable and CQB hitreg is reliable, and then switches to projectile-based bullet handling if nothing was hit, in order to properly handle bullet drop velocity changes. Bullet penetration is also handled on a per-round basis, taking into account multiple factors to ensure that lethality is calculated accurately.


One of the major reasons we are so hyped about having such an active community surrounding ‘83 is your attention to detail and passion for realism matches our own. This is an integral part of researching era appropriate items. Every time you tell us a ring on a ramrod isn’t setting-appropriate, or that we’ve made the wrong kind of buttons for our uniforms it gives us an opportunity to correct these issues - and every piece of research material you send through gives us valuable insight into the setting. Thank you for all your hard work thus far - and please, keep it up!


Despite having an alternate historical setting, we are focused on using technology and materials that are authentic to the era. This applies not only to our weapons and uniforms but to our maps and locations. For instance, in our Soviet Missile Base our levels team did extensive research on the colours and materials used in locations that were operational in 1983 . For example, our Missile Silo map is heavily inspired by the Plokštinė missile base in the Žematija National Park of North-Western Lithuania. As this base has been reconstructed it allowed our team to see the realities of life on a Soviet Missile Base; such as the central bunker (pictured opposite) and the labyrinth of tunnels that housed the missiles themselves.


Thank you for your continued support!
Antimatter Games


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We'd like to extend to you all a very warm welcome to the first Developer Dispatch from Antimatter Games. These Dispatches will contain updates about the development of '83, a recap of the week's social media, and what to expect coming soon! We wanted to take this opportunity to extend a massive thank-you to the community for the response to our trailer, and for all your well-wishes in the past months. It's been amazing hanging out in Discordwith you guys, hearing your
ideas, and seeing all the amazing reference you've sent through. Thank you!



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The first weapon we're showing you in detail is the Russian-made AK74, which replaced the AKM as the standard rifle for Soviet troops, first seeing service in the 1979 Soviet-Afghan war. Seen rendered here with its weapon sling and iconic bakelite magazine, the AK74 is still one of the most popular assault rifles in the world today, with more than 5 million weapons produced since 1974.


Introducing one of the weapons shown in the trailer - wielded by the British forces - the L1A1 SLR (rendered here with its rifle sling). This semi-automatic 7.62 rifle was a mainstay for British servicemen from 1954, until its replacement by the SA80 in the mid 80s. Eagle-eyed viewers may notice the charging handle on this model is a Belgian metric handle, but that will be changed before release


Our British soldier was loving christened Rodney after much internal debate here at AMG. His uniform is the cold weather parka worn by the British Army during the 1982 Falklands War.

Our Soviet Soldier sports an Afghanka, an early 1980s uniform which saw prolific use during the Soviet Afghanistan war. This is the second version the Soviets made for winter use, very appropriate for our wintery Missle Silo map. This was the very first asset created for '83.


Thanks to everyone for their support.
Antimatter Games

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