Milestone 12

* Milestone Schedule
* Roadmap
* Release Notes
* Milestone Feedback
* Production Feedback
* QA Feedback
* Coruscant Feedback

## Milestone 12 - Monday, 23ʳᵈ April 2007 - Prototype PC

Running on X360 and PS3:

A playable section of the game incorporating the Vertical Battlefront. Gameplay will be:

* Tatooine Conquest (Instant Action) over the vertical battlefront
* Republic vs CIS
* Single player with bots
* Functionally final HUD / GUI
* Placeholder art for HUD / GUI
* Placeholder particle effects
* Placeholder ambient effects
* Ground to Space firing, and vice versa
* Escape Pods functional
* No atmospheric effects (used to make battle appear larger than it is)
* Other large ships in space
* Multiple capacity vehicles (troop transports) , including respawning
* Placeholder sounds
* No hero ships
* Candidate final controls / handling (inevitably tweaked later)
* Hero Unlocking
* Escape Pods (1st pass)
* Jedi gameplay including Melee moves
* Functional AI for Conquest Mode:

	+ Strategical AI Behaviour
	+ Class Specific AI behaviour, inc Special Abilities
	+ AI using land vehicles
	+ AI spawning in space and staying in space
	+ Capital ship turrets (AI only)
	+ Not all Secondary Weapons
* Target numbers of AI = 50 over the VBF
* Satisfactory framerate = ~20fps stable
* Option to use Controls on Single Analog Stick via debug menu only
* Not networked
* Not split-screen
* No story content

Art:

* Tatooine - Splitscreen VBF version for review
* Dathomir - Phase 0
* Kashyyyk - Phase 0
* Coruscant - Phase 2
* Mustafar - Phase 1

Setup (Multiplayer):

* Bespin Phase 1

Setup (Story):

* Coruscant Phase 1

LucasArts and FRD to agree details and content and mechanism of the online beta test.

## Milestone 13 - Monday, 21ˢᵗ May 2007 - Prototype X360 and PS3

Running on X360 and PS3:

* Prototype running on X360 and PS3 with same content as PC version in MS12 except:
	+ Only PS3 @ 20fps with 50 AI on Tatooine
	+ Xbox 360 Networked and Split-screen

		- Console-hosted LAN and Online
		- Min. 8 Players / Uncapped Max Players
* Network Test
	+ PC-only (better bug capture)
	+ 8+ human players per game
	+ Uncapped max number so we can push up playercount as high as possible
	+ No AI
	+ Able to be run in Performance Modes to cheap Rendering
* Jedi Force Power (Storm and Stun)
* Galactic Conquest Design - final
* Sound & Music system and features completely functional/ready for asset integration
* FX - lava for Mustafar functional for evaluation
* Controls / preferences menu, ability to change between pre-sets
* Frigate destruction (1ˢᵗ pass effects) - ship exterior only
* Ships hovering (during take-off orientation before flying off)
* Combat Density - PC-only assessed with 89 AI over VBF

Art:

* Coruscant - Splitscreen VBF version for evaluation
* Tatooine - Splitscreen VBF version
* Mustafar - Phase 0
* Yavin 4 - Phase 1
* Old Imperial Shipyard - Phase 0

Setup (Multiplayer):

* Desolation Station / Death Star Construction - Phase 1

Setup (Story):

* Bespin - Phase 1

## Milestone 12 - Monday, 23ʳᵈ April 2007

Summary:

* Prototype - PC

Content Detail:

* Content of the build to be suitable for the PC Prototype as defined in the Milestone Schedule

Game Design:

* Iterative improvements on Prototype Preview

Game Design (Multiplayer):

* Bespin Phase 1

Game Design (Story):

* Coruscant Phase 1

Gameplay Features (AI):

* Singleplayer with bots
* Conquest AI
	+ Strategical AI Behaviour
	+ Class Specific AI Behaviour, including Special Abilities
		- Not all Secondary Weapons
	+ AI using land vehicle
	+ AI spawning in space and staying in space
	+ Capital ship turrets (AI only)
	+ AI Flying in formation (1st pass)
* Target of 50 AI over VBF

Gameplay Features (Miscellaneous):

* Tatooine Conquest (Instant Action)
	+ Played out over the vertical battlefront
* Functionally final HUD / GUI
	+ On foot / Vehicle elements only. Not menus or frontend.
* Ground to Space / Space to Ground firing
* Escape Pods functional
* Jedi gameplay including Melee moves

Art (Characters):

* Non-human Creatures - Tauntaun - Ep. 5

Art (Planet Levels):

* Tatooine - Splitscreen VBF version in progress for evaluation
* Dathomir - Phase 0
* Kashyyyk - Phase 0
* Coruscant - Phase 2
* Mustafar - Phase 1

Art (Weapons):

* Rebellion -> Heavy Weapons Class -> Golan Arms HH-15 Rocket Launcher
* Rebellion -> Sniper Class -> BlasTech E-17d Sniper Rifle

Art (Vehicles):

* AAC-1

Art (Miscellaneous):

* Placeholder art for HUD / GUI
* Placeholder particle and ambient effects

Technical (Rendering):

* Target of 20 FPS

Technical (General):

* LucasArts and FRD to agree details and content and mechanism of the online beta test

Production:

* Deliver Windows Build
* Deliver Xbox 360 Build
* Deliver PS3 Build

## Milestone 13 - Monday, 21ˢᵗ May 2007

Summary:

* Prototype - X360 and PS3

Content Detail:

* Content of the build to be suitable for the Console Prototype as defined in the Milestone Schedule

Game Design:

* Prototype running on X360 and PS3 with same content as PC version in MS12
	+ Only PS3 will be an average of 20fps

Game Design (Multiplayer):

* Xbox 360 networked and split-screen
	+ Console-hosted LAN and Online
	+ Minimum 2, uncapped max players
* Desolation Station / Death Star Construction Phase 1

Game Design (Story):

* Bespin Phase 1

Game Design (Miscellaneous):

* Galactic Conquest Design – final

Gameplay Features (Miscellaneous):

* Jedi Force Power (Storm and Stun)
* Starfighters hover before take-off
* Frigates destructible
	+ First pass, for the Munificent class Frigate
* Combat Density
	+ PC Only assessed with 89 AI over VBF on Tatooine

Art (Planet Levels):

* Coruscant - Splitscreen VBF version in progress for evaluation
* Tatooine - Splitscreen VBF version
* Old Imperial Shipyard - Phase 0
* Yavin 4 - Phase 1

Art (Weapons):

* Rebellion -> Sniper Class -> Disruptor Pistol
* Rebellion -> Melee Class -> Reinforced Combat Staff

Art (Vehicles):

* Jedi Starfighter

Technical (Rendering):

* FX – lava for Mustafar functional for evaluation

Technical (Network):

* Network Test
	+ PC only (better bug capture)
	+ 8+ human players per game
	+ Uncapped max number so we can just push up player count as high as possible
	+ No AI
	+ Able to be run in Performance Modes to cheapen Rendering

Technical (General):

* Sound & Music system and features completely functional/ready for asset integration
	+ Nothing visual to validate. This is an internal development piece. Demonstrably solely by the correct usage of sounds etc in-game.
* Controls / preferences menu, ability to change between presets

Production:

* Deliver Windows Build
* Deliver Xbox 360 Build
* Deliver PS3 Build

## Hardware Prerequisites

XBOX 360

* FLASH 4548
* XDK 5426

Note that, in order to play the game on XBOX360, each player now needs to sign in with separate profile to be able to play in splitscreen.

PLAYSTATION 3

* SDK 1.5.0

The above is unchanged from MS11

PC

* Dual Core Athlon 64 4600+
* Nvidia 7900 GTX

The above is the target hardware spec for meeting an average of 20fps in Tatooine Conquest mode.

Tatooine ALL PLATFORMS

* Conquest – Details follow **NEW**
* Story Phase 1

Coruscant ALL PLATFORMS

* Multiplayer Phase 1
* Story Phase 1 **NEW**

Bespin ALL PLATFORMS

* Multiplayer Phase 1 **NEW**

Yavin ALL PLATFORMS

* Ground-only conquest **NEW**

## Art - Work in progress (PC ONLY)

Endor

Death Star 2 Interior (death\_star2.res)

Desolation Station (desolation.res)

Hoth (hoth.res)

Bespin (bespin.res)

Dantooine (dantooine.res)

Yavin (yavin.res)

## Art Phase 0

Kashyyyk ALL PLATFORMS

Dathomir ALL PLATFORMS

## VBF Splitscreen

Tatooine preview **NEW** ALL PLATFORMS

* LODs used all the time

## Tests

*Test room* (ai\_test.res) ALL PLATFORMS

* 50 AI

*Jedi vs infantry test in test room* (jedi\_infantry\_test.res) ALL PLATFORMS

*Duel in test room* (duel.res) ALL PLATFORMS

* Single player or splitscreen

## Tatooine Conquest Spec

### Performance

* 20fps (50 AI) average on Nvidia 7900 GTX, Dual core Athlon 64 4600+

### Movement / shooting

* Debug menu option to use controls on single analog stick

	+ Move & turn on left stick, strafe and look on right
* Player

	+ Altered cam position (slightly more overshoulder)
	+ Autoaim
	+ Auto targeting toned down – and only on enemies
	+ Lockon (for enemies on foot)
	+ Health – multipliers adjust difficulty

		- Story mode – more health
		- Jedi’s have more health than soldiers
* Weapons

	+ Bullets more obvious
	+ Muzzle flare
	+ Accuracy of weapons adjusted

		- Player more accurate
		- AI less accurate
		- Sniper made more precise
* Jet pack behaviour – thrust controls vertical only.
* Melee

	+ Jedi lockon distance adjusted

* Ships

	+ Rate of fire adjusted so easier to shoot down targets
	+ Radius to get in to ships widened
* Vehicles

	+ Firing accuracy improved
	+ Scale of LAAT and clone tanks more consistent
	+ Hover tank camera improvements

### Presentation

* Ingame menus

	+ Transitions on existing menus improved

* HUD

	+ Icons for ship’s weapons
	+ Vehicle damage – icons for each vehicle
	+ Text messages – xxxx killed xxxx – improved

* Frontend

Prototype Quickmatch – press X on Press Start Menu

Default number of AI now 50

* Audio

	+ Placeholder radio chatter in Conquest

### AI

* AI troop transports

	+ Quicker at getting into space
	+ Passengers on CIS transport
* Cover animations
* AI using Ion cannons

## Stage (PC only)

##### **Heroes & Villains**

* Darth Vader
* Mace Windu
* Jango Fett
* Princess Leia
* Lando Calrissian
* Zam Wessel
* Droideka
* IG88
* Rep. Clone Skytrooper
* Darth Sidious / Emperor
* Darth Tyrannus / Count Dooku
* Darth Maul

* Tarrful

##### **Imperials**

* Imp. Officer
* Imp. Stormtrooper
* Imp. Scout trooper
* Imp. Snow Trooper
* Imp. Pilot (Engineer)

##### Republic

* Rep. Clone Commander

* Rep. Clone Trooper
* Clone Sharpshooter
* Rep. Clone Jet Trooper (engineer)
* Rep. Clone Heavy Trooper

##### **CIS**

* MagnaGuard
* Battle Droid
* Super Battle Droid
* Assassin Droid
* Pilot Droid

##### **Droids**

* C-3PO
* R2-D2
* MSE-6 (Box) Droid
* Medical Droid
* Dwarf Spider Droid
* Tri-Droid
* Ammo / power droid
* R4G9
* Buzz Droid
* Imperial Probe Droid

##### **Beasts**

* Rancor
* Krayt Dragon
* Ewok
* Gungan
* Tauntaun **NEW**

##### **Space Vehicles**

* Millenium Falcon
* Imp. TIE Interceptor
* Rep. X-Wing
* Sith Infiltrator
* Rep. Gunship (LAAT)
* CIS Gunship
* CIS Droid Starfighter
* Rebel B-Wing
* Rebel V-Wing
* Rebel A-Wing
* Rebel Y-Wing
* Rep. Starfighter
* CIS Tri-fighter
* Imperial shuttle
* CIS Landing ship
* CIS Escape Pod
* Imp. Tie Fighter

##### **Ground Vehicles**

* CIS Hailfire droid
* CIS AAT
* Rep. Clone Hovertank
* T4B
* AAC-3 **NEW**
* Sith Speeder
* Imp. Speeder Bike
* Rep. BARC Speeder
* Imp. AT-ST

##### **Weapons**

* CIS Electrostaff
* Rep. Vibrolance (Power Lance)
* Westar-34 Blaster
* Rep. DC-15 Blaster
* Rep. DC-15a Blaster Rifle
* Imp. E11 Blaster Rifle
* CIS E-5 Blaster Rifle
* Reb DH-17 Blaster Rifle
* E-3 Blaster Rifle
* Reb E17d Sniper Rifle **NEW**
* Zam Wessel Sniper rifle
* Rep. DC15s Pistol
* CIS Blaster Pistol
* Rep. Disruptor Pistol
* CIS Disruptor Pistol
* Reb. DL-44 Blaster Pistol
* Zam Wessel Pistol
* Rep. Shotgun
* Rep. Grenade Launcher
* CIS Sonic Charge Launcher
* Rep. Rocket Launcher
* Reb HH15 Rocket Launcher **NEW**
* Rep. Sorosuub Fusion Cutter
* CIS Arc Cutter
* Rep. Fusion Cutter
* Rep. Thermal Detonator
* Rep. Det Pack
* Rep. Mine (HX2)

##### **Props**

* Rebel Turret (Desert)

Please note that in MS12 the following assets have been revised in accordance with requests from LucasArts and require another review:

* Lando Calrissian
* Droideka
* IG88
* Imperial Officer
* Tri-Droid
* Imperial Probe Droid
* Rancor
* Imperial TIE Interceptor
* Rebel X-Wing
* Republic Gunship (LAAT)
* Rebel B-Wing
* Rebel V-Wing
* CIS Landing ship
* CIS Hailfire droid
* Sith Speeder
* Republic BARC Speeder
* Republic Disruptor Pistol
* Imperial E11 Blaster Rifle

## Known Issues:

PC

* Quickmatch also has a Spectate mode option in faction select which flies a camera around the level while the 50 AI are playing the game, with an FPS and average FPS display. Useful for testing the framerate over the whole VBF
* Affinity bug - this manifests itself as a very poor framerate and is related to a known bug in Nvidia drivers. To fix do the following:

* Bring up Windows Task Manager
* Identify the game task, right-click on it and select “set affinity”
* Core 0 and Core 1 should both be ticked. Untick one and then exit Windows Task Manager
* Go back into Windows Task Manager and set affinity to both cores again
* Exit Windows Task Manager, return to the game and framerate should improve considerably.

* bf\_perf.bat - use this for testing framerate (runs with different command line options). Has extra optimisations that haven't had full testing on, hence not on by default

PLAYSTATION 3

* Lightmap on Mustafar terrain is broken
* Using software skinning for the characters, as SPU skinning is temporarily broken. This is slower.

XBOX 360

* Lightmap on Mustafar background is broken
* Start button does not exit Pause menu
* Memory issue - some characters / vehicles can't stream textures, so texture appears corrupt. Most prevalent in Instant Action and Story.
* Music / sounds only play for short duration before cutting out.

GENERAL

* Coruscant – the overly angular scorch-marks on buildings are the result of a shader bug.
* Quickmatch option (X on frontend splash screen) runs Tatooine with 50 AI in conquest mode.
* Some Z-fighting polygons on Coruscant (debris texture & planet layer). This is a technical issue.
* Prop lighting on Coruscant. The ambient is generally bright regardless of environment. This is a technical issue.
* Terrain lightmap resolution increased, giving better shadows on Tatooine. This is new tech, so not all issues resolved. Known issues are the terrain lighting not balanced on Tatooine, and holes are filled in on the console versions.
* Menu bug - Can get wrong mode if menus are traversed too quickly. E.g. in a LAN game, if 4 levels are available for Conquest rather than 2, this means it has ended up in Singleplayer instead of LAN.
* Restarts can be unreliable

## Optimisations

DONE

* Fixed a threading issue which was preventing the physics from running in a seperate thread efficiently
* Added LODs to Tatooine ground
* Using portals in the Republic Base and the Krayt caves.
* Optimised flying vehicle navigation
* Optimised some expensive loops (iterating over physics geoms, and AI stims)
* Terrain threading (still needs more work though)
* Seperate 3rd person versions of weapons
* Embedded templates - means that less CPU time is needed when creating new characters or objects
* Shadows culling at a distance

PLANNED

* Simple floors on Tatooine (so requiring less physics tests)
* Animation threading
* Cloth threading
* Texture streaming - pack files

**Project Title:** ***Battlefront III***

**Developer: Free Radical Design**

**Milestone: Milestone 12**

**Production:** **Jamil Dawsari**

**Gabe Gils Carbo**

**James Morris**

**Orion Kellogg**

**Milestone Review**

April 23ʳᵈ, 2007

**Milestone 12 – Monday 23****rd** **April 2007 – Prototype PC**

Running on X360 and PS3

* A playable section of the game incorporating the Vertical Battlefront. Gameplay will be:

* Tatooine Conquest (Instant Action) over the vertical battlefront [Lucasarts]: Approved

* Republic vs CIS
* Single player with bots

* Functionally final HUD / GUI
* Placeholder art for HUD / GUI
* Placeholder particle effects
* Placeholder ambient effects
* Ground to Space firing, and vice versa
* Escape Pods functional
* No atmospheric effects (used to make battle appear larger than it is)
* Other large ships in space
* Multiple capacity vehicles (troop transports) , including respawning
* Placeholder sounds
* No hero ships
* Candidate final controls / handling (inevitably tweaked later)
* Hero Unlocking
* Escape Pods (1st pass)
* Jedi gameplay including Melee moves
* Functional AI for Conquest Mode:
+ Strategical AI Behaviour
+ Class Specific AI behaviour, inc Special Abilities
+ AI using land vehicles
+ AI spawning in space and staying in space
+ Capital ship turrets (AI only)
+ Not all Secondary Weapons (TBD)

* Target numbers of AI = 50 over the VBF
* Satisfactory framerate = ~20fps stable
* Option to use Controls on Single Analog Stick via debug menu only
* Not networked
* Not split-screen
* No story content

Art

* Tatooine - Splitscreen VBF version for review [Lucasarts]: Approved
* Dathomir - Phase 0 [Lucasarts]: Approved
* Kashyyyk - Phase 0 [Lucasarts]: Approved
* Coruscant - Phase 2 [Lucasarts]: Approved
* Mustafar - Phase 1 [Lucasarts]: Approved

Setup (Multiplayer)

* Bespin Phase 1 [Lucasarts]: Approved

Setup (Story)

* Coruscant Phase 1 [Lucasarts]: Approved

LucasArts and FRD to agree details and content and mechanism of the online beta test. [Lucasarts]:

Items carried over from MS11 [Lucasarts]: Approved

* **Homestead: some remaining texture issues** **-** **To be completed by Milestone 12** **(April)** [Lucasarts]: Approved
	+ While there have been significant improvements in this area, there are still some details which must be addressed.

		- One of the light sources on the wall is not lit - must be addressed by MS12
		- The shadow decals of the wall objects have too hard of a shadow on only one side of the object.  Looking at the way the light sources are arranged inside the Homestead, one would expect a smaller, more diffused shadow decal around the objects on the wall and not a hard, big shadow to one side as seen on the object with the green and red light

* **Republic Base/Outpost redesign: concept & approval -** **To be completed by Milestone 12** **(April)** [Lucasarts]: Approved
	+ FRD to send through concept artwork of both the Republic Base (interior/exterior) and the Outpost.
	+ The concept will include both architectural and proposed texture art
	+ LEC will send back feedback both from Mark and Licensing with the goal of a maximum 2-day turnaround on the feedback.
	+ This is the first experience a player will have of BFIII and we need it to rival what they'll experience in the latter part of the game in areas such as Kashyyk and Mustafar.
	+ **NOTE:** Regarding the Outpost design, please ensure that it is designed so that a player standing in a specific area will have a sweeping view of the town below and Mos Espa in the distance, e.g. on a small tower for instance.  This is the first scene for the player in story mode in which he looks out into the world you've built...and it should be a good one.
	+ **NOTE**: The initial concept of the Republic Base exterior is a great start. We'll have more specific feedback on Monday, but our initial thoughts are:

		- It could use some more external indications that it's a base, e.g. some gun emplacements, exterior piping or wiring, and maybe a window into a command center would really pull the exterior together a bit more.
		- Also consider using the lower hangar opening as the tank bay and adding a second hangar opening above it and flanked by those towers for the starfighters and gunships.

For your benefit we have chosen to classify the importance of areas for this milestone review under a classification of A, B and C, where C is of less consequence. To obtain a pass, you are required to implement the review areas under Classification-A as high priority. You may also need to resolve Classification-Class Bs to improve the quality of the game as part of this milestone or as a part of future milestone submissions. Addressing issues that LucasArts may raise against a Classification-C, will further improve the Overall product quality under our criteria, but these issues are not significant towards a pass if you are at not at or beyond the Alpha stage of development.
## Build Performance

**Overall**

* We were able to get 20fps using the hardware described by FRD.

**Good**

* Performance on the capital ship seemed better than on the ground.

**Areas to Improve**

* **Class B:** Fps fluctuates between 10 and 16 fps on Tatooine on the ground during normal gameplay.

	+ **[FRD: This may happen throughout the game whilst it is considered work in progress. Of course though we hope the average will be higher.]**
* **Class C:** Culling system does not appear to be working. As an example, spawn in the republic base as soon as the game starts. FPS will be around 20. Exit the republic base and view the city, FPS drops to around 15. Then re-enter the republic base such that the city is no longer viewable, FPS will remain around 15 rather than going back to 20.

	+ **[FRD: We don’t believe this is a result of the culling system. NPCs triggering doors to open are likely to be the cause of this]**
* **Note:** Given that we are only getting 4-5 FPS on the Playstation 3 Quick Match, expectations are high regarding hitting the 20 FPS target in MS13

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

**STATUS**:

Acceptable
## Tatooine Conquest Mode over VBF Prototype

**Overall**

* Acceptable first pass of VBF prototype on Tatooine.

**Areas to Improve**

**Art**

**Functional GUI**

* **Class B:** In the spawn select screen, there’s no map graphic, and thus there’s no “highlight” that shows which spawn point is currently selected in the map.

	+ **[FRD: This will be improved in MS13 but will be subject to constant review]**
* **Class C:** Highlighted state under class selection isn’t obvious until the player starts to change the current selection. It may be better to have an animated state to emphasize the highlighted selection (would help color blind players as well).

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Class C:** The select character screen uses the wrong helmet for the sniper on the selection icon.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

**Character Selection Notes:**

* **Note:** The helmets are too similar to each other, particularly for the clones, although it’s also true of some droids. The class icons should be separated enough so that each icon can have text beneath/above it that identifies what each head is.

	+ **[FRD: There will be insufficient space on the screen – and this will be made worse for users of standard def TVs]**
* **Note:** When a player has a class selected, there should be arrows to the right/left as applicable that let players know which way they need to scroll to select the next option.

	+ **[FRD: Some sort of visual direction will be put in place]**
* **Note:** The select spawn point, and select character screens utilize a completely different scrolling system. One is vertical with text, and the other is horizontal with icons. On the concepts we had seen they both utilized the horizontal bar with icons. We would expect that these screens would be consistent with each other.

	+ **[FRD: Noted. The interface has been significantly revised and MS13 will give a better idea of our intent in this area.]**

**Functional HUD**

* **Class B:** There’s no indication of the health progression status of vehicles in their hud. Currently when the tank is just a sliver away from being destroyed, its diagram in the hud changes to red. There should be a linear color progression that clearly shows the pilot/gunners the current damage state of the tank.

	+ **[FRD: Agreed]**
* **Class B:** There’s no hero bar while playing the hero.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
* **Class B:** The current iteration of the mini-map is not hitting the goal of helping players navigate the playable area and find areas of interest.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
* **Class C:** weapons with infinite ammo such as the arc cutter show 200 rounds, and the number never changes despite player firing the weapon.

	+ **[FRD: Noted. This will be looked into]**
* **Class C:** The jetpack bar and the vehicle throttle bar are exactly the same. When final art is in, these will need to be visually distinct.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
* **Note:** In order to reinforce the function of the health and stamina and jet progression bars, consider concepts which add some sort of easily understood icon next to the bar which helps identify its purpose.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
* **Note:** Although we understand that final art isn’t implemented, the hanging bar used for the jetpack doesn’t communicate its function in any way.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

**Design**

**Functional Hud**

* **Class C:** Players should be able to scroll up/down along with right/left with D-pad or analog stick.

	+ **[FRD: This is in its current form due to compatibility issues with the PC > PS2 adaptors]**
* **Class C**: When a secondary weapon runs out of ammo the hud/functionality should switch to the next secondary weapon that has ammunition. Currently the HUD area for the secondary weapon is empty, and the player is able to switch back and forth between empty and the alternate secondary weapon.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
* **Class C:** Character’s stamina doesn’t regenerate while they’re on a vehicle.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
* **Note:** Will rockets have an ammunition limit in vehicles? The current HUD doesn’t show ammunition numbers.

	+ **[FRD: We’ll investigate this.]**
* **Note:** Should the player’s health be shown when they’re inside a closed vehicle?

	+ **[FRD: We believe that this should be the case and adds consistency of information]**

**Republic Base/Homestead**

* **Class C:** If one spawns on the upper level interior, there’s no easy way into the lower level of the base without either jumping over the railing or going outside.

	+ **[FRD: We may add props to act as some sort of stepping stones to different levels]**

* **Class C:** There’s a strange square artifact underneath the light fixtures of the homestead

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

**STATUS**:

APPROVED
## Art – Tatooine Splitscreen VBF

**Overall**

* Good first pass of Tatooine VBF

Good

* The Frigate interiors feel like a really tight and potentially fun indoor area.

Bugs

* **Class B:** Escape pods don’t work

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
* **Note:** The trifighter on this level looks different from the ones in other levels. Its midsection is green.

	+ **[FRD: This sounds like a 360 streaming issue. Can you specify the platform this issue appeared on?]**
* **Class C:** There’s no shield graphic over the hangar of the frigate.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
* **Bug:** Driving a vehicle into the republic base vehicle area, all of the geometry disappeared, as if I was under the world. This effect went away when I exited the vehicle.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
* **Bug:** CTD upon trying to fire the ion cannon from the republic base.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
* **Bug:** The interior of the landing bay isn’t visible.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
* **Bug:** When using the sniper zoom, it takes up both sides of the split.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
* **Bug:** The cantina interior is empty (no bar, etc).

+ **[FRD: Addressed in MS13]**

* **Bug:** When the top screen player lies prone, they’re not visible onscreen.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

**STATUS**:

APPROVED
## Art – Dathomir Phase 0

**Overall**

* Phase 0 received.

**STATUS**:

APPROVED
## Art – Kashyyyk – Phase 0

**Overall**

* Great potential for interesting gameplay and look.

**STATUS**:

APPROVED
## Art – Coruscant Phase 2

**Overall**

* The texture quality is where we want it.

Good

* The cityscape now looks much more dense, which is great.
* We like the traffic patterns, they really add to the immersion.
* The Jedi Temple is starting to look great, and like the traffic, is a nice touch to see.
* The scorch detail under the crashed LAAT in the north of the map is a great touch.

**Areas to Improve**

Art

* **Note:** The props, billboards, particles, and decals are not up to the quality of the static textures.

	+ **[FRD: This will be looked at during Art Phase 3]**
* **Class C:** The scorch mark decals look very low-rez even when the alphas are working properly.
* **Class C:** The scorch mark shapes on the buildings are generally too uniform

+ **[FRD: Noted]**

+ **Class B:** There don’t seem to be any shadows on this level.

+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Note:** The scorch detail under the crashed LAAT should be thicker and more pronounced.

	+ **Note:** We’d also expect the impact to have had an effect on the ground: Gouges and buckling.
	+ **[FRD: This will be addressed during Art Phase 3]**

* **Note:** The rubble strewn about the level doesn’t look like it came from the buildings in the level.

	+ **Note:** The “outer skin” texture of the building is not attached to any part of the rubble which would help ‘marry’ the rubble with the building from which it came.
	+ **Note:** The building rubble that is strewn about the level isn’t the same color as the buildings from which it’s been created.

+ **[FRD: Currently a prop. This will improve once it is treated as background by the game]**

* **Note:** On some of the buildings it would be nice to see flame or red heat flickering in the depth of the point of impact, i.e. as if fires were burning deep inside the building.

	+ **[FRD: This is likely to appear as particle effects applied in Phase 3]**

* **Note:** The smoke particle effect on the building “craters” is understood to be placeholder – can you confirm?

	+ **[FRD: Yes, this is placeholder]**
* **Note:** The building rubble has fallen mostly in areas that are outside of the critical gameplay path. It would probably be more interesting if some of it was in the critical path and could provide infantry cover as players moved from CP to CP.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Note:** Are the little white pods on the floors intended to stop vehicles? If so, then they shouldn’t be destructible.

+ **[FRD: These are simply destructible props]**

* **Note:** Where will the planetary cannon go?

	+ **Note:** Where will the control console for the planetary cannon go?
	+ **[FRD: We considering placing this in the senator’s building and will be subject to playtesting.]**
* **Class C:** The shadows of these objects shouldn’t be projected on their current position.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Note:** It looks like part of the skybox is sorting through some of the buildings in the horizon.

+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* This is causing the buildings to look transparent.
* **General Feedback on area outside playable area:**

	+ **Class C:** The billboard buildings look great, but they aren’t selling the Coruscant scale. Generally there should be fewer and larger buildings, with a few true behemoths such as the Senate in the far background.
	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

+ **Class C:** The flatter area of the non-playable Coruscant sections is too flat, and doesn’t reflect the look of the movies. They need to incorporate more contours and generally appear more as the top of a city that goes down for miles.
+ **[FRD: Noted]**

+ **Class C:** The trenches between sections of the city should be extremely deep. In the Star Wars lore, these trenches can be hundreds of miles deep. They should be closer to the playable area and sell the player on the fact that they’re standing on top of a structure that extends down over 100 miles to the planet’s surface.
+ **[FRD: Noted]**

+ **Note:** Mark is working up some concepts to give you a visual indication of the feedback (as a picture is worth a thousand words). We’ll get that feedback to you in a separate delivery (most likely over ftp).
+ **[FRD: Thank you. We have this.]**

+ **Note:** Would making the playable area that can be traversed by starfighter more narrow, probably just over the deep trenches that surround the playable area, allow for the use o cheaper textures on the non-playable areas?
+ **[FRD: We don’t believe this would be ideal]**

Design

* **Note:** Consider adding non-destructible objects at the base of ramps that are too small for tanks so that players are not enticed into trying to maneuver up those areas.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
* **Class C:** Starfighters and gunships on the landing platforms should be oriented so that they can take off and fly straight at the capital ship without turning.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Note:** Where will the planetary cannon go?

	+ **Note:** Where will the control console for the planetary cannon go?
	+ **[FRD: We considering placing this in the senator’s building and will be subject to playtesting.]**

**STATUS**:

APPROVED
## Art – Mustafar – Phase 1

**Overall**

* This level really delivers the epic sense of scale typical of Star Wars locations.

**Areas to Improve**

Art

* **Note:** The mushrooms don’t read as well as they used to now that the sky is a lot darker.

* **Class C:** The mushroom interiors look like rock rather than mushroom.

+ **[FRD: These mushrooms are a hybrid metal/rock structures built upon rock. Below is the reference material we have on them.]**

* **Note** The piece where the Star Destroyer bridge would connect to the body of the ship seems overly damaged – unclear what it is.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

+ You would want to see the rest of the Star Destroyer outside the playable area.
+ **[FRD: Noted]**

+ You would want to see scarring on the ground where the ship crashed.
+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Note:** The lava seems to be moving too quickly down the “waterfall”
* **Note:** Lava texture should bubble and pop

	+ Seems too flat and uniform as well.
	+ **[FRD: Both noted. Lava shader is work in progress]**

* **Note:** The path up to the mushroom isn’t clearly defined as a path. It should have lights on both sides, like the other path does. Also the floor textures should probably indicate that it sees a lot of foot traffic.

	+ **[FRD: Noted.]**

* **Note:** The light with the star map around the CP seems like it should be animating or fluctuating, as Star Wars holograms tend to do.

	+ **[FRD: Agreed]**

* **Note:** The room behind the meeting room where lava flows through cracks in the walls, the lava from the cracks is a different color and quality than that in the “pool” below.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

+ **Note:** You don’t die if you fall into the lava, you can walk on top of it.
+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Note:** The terrain should have clearly marked paths for armor and infantry that use it to traverse from CP to CP.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Note:** the only ramp that leads up to the landing pad isn’t lit and is easy to miss.

	+ **[FRD: This is being revised and will be addressed during Phase 2]**

+ **Bug:** The stairs leading to the landing pad aren’t actually solid and can’t be walked on.
+ **Note:** The landing pad is very small, it seems to just have room for a pair of ships. Where will all other players land in 50 player matches?
+ **Note:** The landing pad is also extremely difficult to land on. Actually, we’ve never successfully landed there.

+ **Note:** Is it possible this whole building is 20% too small?

* **Note:** Will the lava glow and light the terrain dynamically? This will be good to let players in tanks that they’re approaching a non-passable area.

	+ **[FRD: Lava will light the terrain but it will not be dynamic]**

* **Note:** In the central processing room, it’s easy to get turned around and there’s no easy way to identify which way is out, and which ways goes further into the plant.

	+ **[FRD: Improved lighting should aid navigation]**

**STATUS**:

APPROVED
## Setup (Multiplayer) – Bespin Phase 1

**Overall**

* Received delivery of setup phase 1.

**Areas to Improve**

* **Class B:** The Bespin level doesn’t look lit on the PS3. It’s pitch black.

	+ **[FRD: Noted. We suspect this is a bug.]**

Design

* **Class B:** The AI never land and play with the CP on the gas platform

	+ **[FRD: We’ll investigate this]**

* **Note:** We believe that it’s probably a mistake to make the gas platform a playable area in instant action, as the level already feels quite large and dilutes the action.

	+ At the very least it should probably not be a CP, but perhaps only has AA turrets.

**Class B:** The landing area on Bespin is very small, and is too easy to miss amongst the rest of the towers on Bespin.

+ **Note:** This is an area that would probably benefit from having auto-landing.
+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Class C:** The AI guarding the Star Destroyer bridge are almost always facing into the bridge, rather than toward the only entrance into the bridge (where the enemy would come from).

	+ **[FRD: We’ll look into this]**

* **Note:** The top roof area of the Bespin playable area can be landed on, but there’s no way for infantry to get down to the rest of the Bespin playable area from this point. Is it intended that this be a landing zone. If so there should be a way for infantry to get down.

	+ **[FRD: This isn’t intended to be a landing area.]**

* **Note:** A few areas of the map are extremely over-bright.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Note:** Will this open window be covered with glass? If it isn’t it feels like dropping down to the CP below would be too easy and break the flow of the map. However being able to view the CP below would beg reat.

+ **[FRD: We’ll investigate the possibilities of this area through playtesting]**

**STATUS**:

APPROVED
## Setup (Story) – Coruscant Phase 1

**Overall**

* Received Phase 1 setup.

**Areas to Improve**

Art

* See Coruscant Art deliverable section.

Design

* **Class B:** It’s unclear which “area” you need to secure at the beginning of the mission, the objective text is simply “Secure the area”.

	+ **[FRD: This is placeholder text]**
	+ **Note:** The actual objective of killing “x” number of enemies is not a clear.
	+ **[FRD: This is placeholder text]**
	+ **Note:** It’s possible to “secure” the area with enemy droids still around.
	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
	+ **Note:** You would expect the objective to be something a bit more grounded in the game environment
	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
* **Class C:** You cannot clear the area in a vehicle, only kills on foot count.

	+ **[FRD: This may be a bug]**
	+ **Note:** You would expect that you could complete objectives any way you want, on foot, or in a ground vehicle.
	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Note:** Why do players need to use the AAT tank to complete the objectives?

	+ **[FRD: All objectives should be regarded as work in progress]**

* **Class C:** There are no enemies to fight you when you get to the CIS hangar.

	+ **[FRD: as above]**

* **Note:** Why make the player fly the gunship up to the capital ship?

	+ **Note:** Could your provide different ways for players to complete this objective?

		- E.g. Take the gunship up yourself, escort the gunship in the starship, or disable the AA guns around the hangar to allow the gunship to land.
	+ **[FRD: Please regard these objectives are work in progress and that, particularly in the single-player campaign, there will be some linearity. Please consult the design document for extra details]**

* **Class C:** The AI on the ground don’t seem to travel up into the hangar of the Star Destroyer.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Class C:** When the player is going to spawn on the capital ship, the scene in the background of the character selection should be the CIS cruiser, not the Coruscant surface.

	+ **[FRD: The camera is currently placeholder]**

* **Class C:** When the cruiser’s reactor is destroyed, all units (friendly and enemies) should be running to get out of the ship.

	+ **[FRD: Noted – noted, but we’d argue that the droids would persist in attacking the player rather than focus on self preservation]**

**STATUS**:
APPROVED
## General Feedback

**Art**

* **Class B:** The target reticule looks corrupted.

	+ **[FRD: Can you expand on this and tell us which platform this is present in?]**

* **Note:** When are we going to see the jetpack droid?

	+ **[FRD: Subject to feedback to questions raised today, MS15 at the latest.]**

* **Class C:** Vehicle shadows blink in/out of existence depending on player position.

	+ **[FRD: We will investigate the source of this issue]**

* **Class B:** LAAT – The gunship doors on the left/right don’t match. One is open and one is closed.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Class B:** The CIS units all blend into the background (of all maps it seems), making them difficult to spot.

	+ **[FRD: The characters are very thin in design. We can investigate methods of character lighting to improve visibility]**

* **Class C:** The super battle droids should run with their weapon arm held up (as seen in the movies), rather than extended forward.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Class C:** Characters in the game look really dark.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

**AI**

* **Class C:** When a player moves a vehicle into the AI’s main route, they are unable to figure out how to get around it for the most part.

	+ **[FRD: Pathfinding. Noted]**

* **Class B:** The AI units are still getting stuck running into various parts of the Tatooine geometry.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Class C:** The AI very often fly their starfighters sideways. This seems to be interfering with their ability to land.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Class C:** We find that AI in starfighters tends to ram each other more frequently than we would have expected.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
* **Class B:** If one starts the game with default settings (16 AI per side), the density of action feels very sparse. This might be partially due to the fact that a large number of AI are sitting still guarding CPs.

	+ **[FRD: This is under review]**

* **Class B:** While we like that the AI units are able to change their mind about their current goal, their new goals often don’t make sense given their current situation. For example an AI may be going to capture CP1, but as soon as it gets there and starts the capture it changes its mind and heads off to CP7 (which might be in a different VBF layer altogether).

	+ **[FRD: This is an issue relating to AI knowing when a CP has been captured or not. It will be fixed.]**

* **Note:** For Turrets (and capital ship weapons) manned by AI, does a physical AI actually occupy the turret or console?

	+ **[FRD: Physical AI aren’t present yet but will be in place in the future.]**

* **Class B:** AI had difficulty taking off from the cruiser hangar. They fly up to the hangar door and spin in place.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Note:** The force push power acts in a cone on objects and enemies in front of the player, which makes it hard then to attack a unit by force pushing objects into them (as they’re also pushed away currently).

	+ **[FRD: We’ll investigate this issue]**

* **Class B:** Units don’t have a hit reaction that is appropriate for melee hits.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Note:** On Yavin conquest mode units are all taking the same paths across the map. They eventually all line up into rows.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Class B:** Friendly and enemy AI occasionally path straight to CPs and ignore combat around them.

	+ **[FRD: Noted. AI is undergoing constant review]**

* **Note:** Super Battle Droids don’t seem to switch to their anti-infantry laser very often when in close range.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Class B:** When units are trying to get into a starfighter they don’t try to fight other units.

	+ **[FRD: Noted. This is an AI visibility issue]**

* **Class B:** AI should prioritize CPs within the capital ship before leaving it to capture CPs on the ground, e.g. Republic AI left the capital ship to capture the Cave CP without first capturing all the nearest CP’s inside the ship.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Class B:** AI from space chose to land at the Republic Base to capture the Cave rather than landing at the Landing Bay CP.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Class B:** Units from two different factions will congregate around a CP to capture, but they will not fight.

	+ **[FRD: Noted. This may be an AI visibility issue]**

* **Class B:** Units will pick up health/ammo packs even when they are fully supplied with health and ammo already.

	+ **[FRD: Noted. Overcharge will benefit AI like the player. Will try to localize this effect so the AI doesn’t spoil the pickups for the human player]**

**Map Navigation**

* **Note:** To assist navigation, consider having text appear onscreen which corresponds to the sections or rooms of the map, e.g. **Republic Base** would appear when the player enters a specified radius around the Republic Base. Alternatively the name of the section or room could appear on top or on the bottom of the mini map. A third alternative, is to have the name of the section appear in the player’s HUD when they look in the direction of an area, e.g. player is outside Homestead and looks towards the Republic Base. The text CANTINA would appear slightly above the Cantina CP and REPUBLIC BASE would appear slightly above the Rep Base CP. The text would need to depict distance in that the Rep Base text would appear slightly smaller than the Cantina text to indicate that it’s further away.

	+ **[FRD: We may be able to implement something like this with icons. We don’t believe text would be the best solution]**

**Health Regen**

* **Class C:** The health regeneration on players is too fast. Currently players regenerate health nearly instantly after being out of combat for a few seconds.

	+ **[FRD: This is something that will be corrected through continuous playtesting]**

**Audio**

* **Class B:** As soon as the player fires a few shots, audio starts to play “I need ammo!”. This audio currently plays very frequently and we’ve found that it can get under one’s skin. It should probably only happen when the player tries to fire their weapon without ammo.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* **Note:** Generally you’d expect to only hear informational audio triggers from one’s own side. For example if I’m playing Republic and we take over a CP, I wouldn’t expect to hear a droid inform me that they’ve lost a CP.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

**Health Bar on Destructible Objects**

* **Note:** What is the gameplay benefit to having a health bar above destructible objects?

	+ **[FRD: This identifies which objects are destructible and their health status to the player]**

**Spectator Mode**

* **Note:** This seems like it would have great potential for attract mode, and could be interesting in other situations.

* **Note:** How is it envisioned to function in-game?
* **Note:** How are you generating the spectate mode camera path?

	+ **[FRD: This is a fixed animation spline.]**

**Lock On**

* **Class B:** When you lock on to an AI character on foot, you do not circle around the unit that you have locked on to.

	+ **[FRD: The purpose of lock on will be to keep the character on screen – not to fix movement relative to the character. This is not yet fully implemented]**

+ Does not seem to improve auto-aim or aim-assist.
+ **[FRD: Lock on will improve these areas. This is not yet implemented]**

* **Class C:** The melee unit doesn’t seem to be able to lock on to standard enemy AI.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

**Duel**

* **Note:** The standard battledroid is extremely powerful against all units, including Jedi heroes. Does their weapon do higher damage?

	+ **[FRD: No. We’ll look into this]**

* **Class C:** Enemies do not seem to attack the player unless you are facing them.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
* **Note:** Force pushing a jumping Jedi is very satisfying.

	+ **[FRD: Noted!]**

* **Class B:** Saber throw is still not working properly for the player (saber hangs in the air)

	+ **[FRD: Intermittent bug]**

* **Note:** Jedi are extremely aggressive against standard units, but not aggressive against other Jedi.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

**Crouch**

* **Class C:** Melee units and Jedi cannot crouch or go prone.

	+ By design?
	+ **[FRD: Going prone with a lightsabre is not advised]**

**LAAT**

* **Class C:** As a passenger in the LAAT you should be able to jump out whenever you are close to the ground. (e.g. whenever the doors are open). This may also apply to any open vehicle.

	+ **[FRD: If the craft is hovering and covering a landing area then this should be the case.]**

* Rockets are unlimited.

	+ By design?
	+ **[FRD: We’ll investigate this]**

**Camera Position**

* **Class B:** The camera position for melee doesn’t work as well as it does for ranged combat. Players need the wider field of view as melee attacks often deal damage to opponents on their sides, and even behind them.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**
* **Class B:** The camera position for the heroes fails to delivery the “hero experience,” i.e. people want to see these iconic SW heroes in all their glory. Various camera positions need to be attempted to find one that sells the character and serves the best gameplay.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

**Dogfighting**

* **Note:** The regular flying speed of the starfighters may be too slow, as everyone always ends up boosting continuously

	+ **[FRD: Players will always boost if boost is available (or sprint if sprint is available) – this isn’t relative to top speed. However, we’ll review ship speeds throughout development.]**

* **Class C:** Boosting speed doesn’t feel like an afterburner effect, and it should. It probably shouldn’t have an infinite duration, and it should feel like extreme acceleration.

	+ **[FRD: We’ll investigate what can be done here]**

* **Note:** There should be an extreme way of slowing down, basically an opposite of the booster effect.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

**Overhealth**

* **Note:** How does over-health show up on player’s health bar. We’ve noticed soldiers seem to spawn in at half health and suspect that this is because they don’t have the 150% health. When they’re at 100%.

	+ **[FRD: The health bar will extend further than normal to represent overhealth. This will only be visible whilst overhealth is in effect.]**

**Ion Cannon**

* **Bug:** The Ion cannon on Tatooine cannot be rotated to bear on the capital ship. It starts facing away from the ship, toward the Cliffside. It’s not possible to rotate the cannon toward the right or left, only up/down.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

**Xbox360 Bugs**

* Spectator mode has a corrupted icon

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* Spectator mode doesn’t work on the 360, it causes a crash.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* Mustafar appears in the Freeplay list of maps but the game consistently crashes when we try to load it.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

* On occasion upon loading a level the textures don’t load properly. This mostly seems to happen upon loading a level just after the 360 rebooted itself due to a crash. (Bespin pictured below).

+ **[FRD: Noted]**

**Miscellaneous Bugs**

* **Bug:** Noticed on the PS3 version - when shooting at AI in a tank, damage to the tank is taken directly by the AI and not by the vehicle, e.g. hitting the tank directly with another tank’s weapons killed the AI but the target tank was undamaged. The AI body appeared next to the target tank.

	+ **[FRD: Noted]**

**STATUS**:

APPROVED**OVERALL RATING:**
**APPROVED**

Battlefront III

Fresh-Eyes Notes

Milestone 12

## Look/Feel

* Obvious lighting issues

	+ Some areas are too dark to see what is going on

		- “Because of the lighting I’ve fallen down twice”
		- “It’s so dark—I’d never have noticed that doorway”
		- “Too dark to notice detail on textures”
	+ “Characters are lit too darkly on their back”
	+ There is an intense bloom/glare, especially on Tatooine

		- “The lighting is blown out”
		- “Too bright to see anything”
* There is not enough detail in the environments for some players

	+ “The sky isn’t very interesting. There should be more going on.”
	+ Not enough objects in the world

		- “The environment looks bare”
	+ Not enough distinction between the textures

		- “A lot of tans and whites are blending in with each other”
	+ The ground is lacking detail
	+ “There needs to be bullet marks when I shoot the wall”
* Overall graphics quality not “next-gen”

	+ “Looks like PS2.5”
	+ You would expect more particles, better explosions, better detail, lighting, etc. on a next-gen title
	+ Stretched textures noticeable

		- Streaming bug popping up
	+ Some think that “explosions are really awesome”

		- “Really great smoke and dust”
		- “Shouldn’t see dust kick up in the capital ships etc;”
		- Others think “you’d expect explosions to linger longer in next-gen”
	+ “The orbital strike shot looks lame”
* Art style not over the top enough for Battlefront

	+ “It almost seems too realistic”
	+ In a Star Wars fantasy game you would expect it to be more “over the top”
	+ “Too safe of a visual style – trying to look like a realistic military shooter game”
	+ Can you have anything more interesting than crates in the CIS gun room?

		- “Something more Star Wars-y than crates”
* It’s difficult to see enemy units at a distance

	+ CIS units are particularly hard to spot

		- In the CIS Cruiser against metal areas
		- Against grey backdrops in Coruscant
	+ Issues with the reticule being too light to don’t help pick up enemies
* The inside of the Mustafar Mushroom looks like rock, rather than fungus
* Scratch audio track is playing too frequently

	+ “Voice-over over-the-top,” “obviously placeholder”
	+ “The voice over lines suck” (referring to the written lines)
* Animations are “wonky”

	+ Running animation looks goofy
	+ Jedi don’t look to be moving right
* Player sounds “like he’s wearing heels”
* The fusion cutter sounds “like a chain link fence”

## Camera

* The character on the left is a little disjointing at first

	+ Takes a little while to get centered
	+ Close up camera can work for some

		- “I definitely like the position of the camera, off to the side rather than directly behind”
	+ The camera seems too close to the character for others

		- “You can’t see anything to the left of the character
		- “I have a little problem with the loss of legs”
		- “Can you ever see your feet or is this the only camera view?”
		- You can’t tell when you’re crouching because camera is too close
	+ When a character starts running in Fracture the camera backs up to give you a wider shot

		- When you stop moving in pulls in for a tighter POV
* With heroes and melee, you would expect the camera pulled out more.

	+ “You’d want to see more of the iconic characters”
	+ “The melee camera is way too close. You can’t enemies when you get close to do a melee attack. They just get lost.”
* Going from 1st to 3rd person is jarring

	+ It goes from the left side to the right
* QA found first-person mode easily

	+ Many experienced players prefer first-person
	+ “Melee characters should be controlled from 3rd person”
* Clearly the zoom in effect is temporary

	+ “You are going to have a kick-ass Star Wars effect with all kinds of filters, right?”
* The rocket launcher totally obscures your view in first person mode
* The Disruptor Pistol takes up more than half the screen in first-person view
* Camera too close to vehicles

	+ The camera is too close to the starfighters
	+ You would want more situational awareness
	+ Too close and disorienting for BARC
* There needs to be a “reset camera” button or an “auto-center”
* Some players noticed the beginnings of a death camera

	+ “Death camera is a must so I know who shot me and from where”

## Combat

* Grenade throw isn’t implemented correctly

	+ Arc is not in tune with the character’s throw
	+ There is no lighting on the grenade
	+ No tracer on the grenade

		- Actually, it seems to appear inconsistently
	+ “I like that the detonator has a trail so I can tell where it’s going”

		- “I’d expect my team’s grenades to have blue trails while my enemy’s are red”
	+ “I can’t even see the detonator on the ground when it lands”

		- There should be some audio/visual cues when a grenade or detpack is nearby
		- “Call of Duty has grenade indicators on-screen”
		- “It’d be cool to kick/throw grenades back at enemy”
* The reticule doesn’t distinguish friend from enemy
* Gun fire effects and blaster shots are not impressive
* Melee combat is a mixed-bag

	+ When a melee character is too close to an opponent they will swing through the enemy

		- “The animation for the lance trooper is really hard to understand”
	+ “The lance trooper’s weapon needs to look more effective”

		- “Should swing faster”
		- “The lance should be smaller”
		- The weapon looks really “goofy”, “feminine”

			* Skepticism that it will ever look like a natural infantry melee weapon
	+ “I do like the idea of melee – the different attacks are cool”
* Friendly Fire– I’m just shooting at anything because there’s nothing to kill
* Force powers affect all objects in a cone, not just the one directly in front of you
* Difficult to play as hero

	+ Hard to lock on to targets
	+ Hard to figure out how to switch and use force powers
	+ Players had a hard time figuring out that lightsaber swing is bound to R2
* It’s not clear that you have switched weapons. It needs to be more obvious that you are switching
* Target lock doesn’t work as expected

	+ “I would expect a strafe lock when I’m locked on to someone”
	+ It currently doesn’t seem to do anything
* Auto-aim not working correctly

	+ Auto-aim is on for sniping – it’s too twitchy

		- “It’s hard to get a headshot,” maybe impossible
	+ Auto-aim locking onto teammates
* The detpack doesn’t read as a detpack
* Difficult to tell which direction lasers are coming from during battle

## Vehicles

* The AAT doesn’t feel like a tank yet

	+ Hovers much too high
	+ The firing on the AAT tank looks “whacko”
	+ Why is there a big bulls-eye on the back of the Clone Hover Tank?
	+ “The tank is taking up so much real estate on the screen that I can’t see my target”
* When you run over a unit in a tank the tank shouldn’t bounce and come to a stop
* You can’t get out of a vehicle immediately.

	+ “That’s no fun”
	+ You should be able to just jump out of it and roll

		- “Like in the movies”
* There isn’t “enough room” to maneuver vehicles on Tatooine
* Capturing CPs in vehicles

	+ “I think I like it, but it probably makes the game unbalanced”
* “How can I tell how much health my vehicle has?”

	+ Lack of damage states
	+ What are the interface bars?

		- Health and ammo?
		- Health and shields?
		- Health and speed?
	+ Is health a bar or is it the vehicle outline?

## Controls

* “You would expect clicking the stick would crouch or zoom or something”
* Players had difficulty pulling out of the landing bay on their first attempt

	+ Nosing the ship up quickly enough was a universal problem
	+ “I prefer the old version of tapping a button to take off”
	+ Why are the flight controls inverted by default?

		- “Up should be up and down should be down when you are flying”
* “I keep wanting to shoot with R1”

	+ Usually the ones are the shoot, and the twos are the option.
	+ “I instinctively expect the 1 buttons to be crucial to the action”
	+ Trouble finding R1 as the weapon switch button
* Starfighters should have more extreme afterburner/braking speed management options

	+ “You would expect boost and brake to be button presses rather than on the analog stick”
* “I can see the Ion cannon but I don’t know how to fire it”
* “Unclear how to aim the ion cannon”

	+ The cursor was hard for players to see
* You can’t control the jetpack because you have to hold the button down

	+ Jetpack control must be a toggle
* Starfighter controls were not intuitive

	+ “Roll needs to be on the right stick, not the left stick”
	+ In starfighters - For me it feels like R2 and R1 are reversed

		- “It feels really weird”
	+ Others found that roll/pitch were “fine”
	+ Feels like the opposite of when you’re running around on foot
	+ The left stick rolls instead of turning you.

		- “Dogfighting would be a bear with this control scheme”
		- “I feel like I’m really fighting the controls, more than I should.”
* Landing could be difficult

	+ “I tried to land by pressing the triangle button” but was thrown off by delay in landing
	+ “It wasn’t clear that I could brake or how to do that”
* Walking is too slow

	+ “I’d rather run at full tilt if I push the analog stick all the way forward, or walk if I only go part way.”

## Conquest

* New players don’t understand conquest mode.

	+ Unclear what tickets are
	+ Unclear how to win
	+ Unclear how CP’s and tickets are related

		- It might make more sense of the mechanic were abstracted
* The translucency and static on the CP hologram could be nice.

	+ “Needs to be more next gen”
	+ Could do things with lighting and translucency.
	+ “Should be lighting that goes up into the air”
* Difficult to locate CPs

	+ The CPs are too subtle

		- “I walked into a CP and didn’t even know it was there”
		- CPs can be too faded
	+ There didn’t seem to be any visual cues on the ground to tell the player where to go
	+ “Not enough indicators have been implemented to drive you toward the action”
	+ “It’s hard to tell where the Red CP’s are”
	+ “Why can’t my enemy CP’s be breadcrumbed?”
	+ “I’m wandering around”
* How does the game address the “Chasing your tail” scenario from BF1 and BF2 – you take a CP, you lose a CP, you take a CP, you lose a CP?

	+ “It seems like there are way too many CP’s”
* Takes too long to conquer a Command Post
* The beeping noise made by Command Posts gets “icredibly irritating”
* Unclear when you’ve captured a CP

	+ Nothing happens IN the gameworld
	+ There should be a more noticeable sound when a CP is captured
	+ Two-sided hologram doesn’t read intuitively
	+ Nothing happens on the mini-map etc;

## General Gameplay

* Captures the feeling of wandering around in a “realistic” environment, but it’s hard to figure out what you need to do.

	+ “The population may be there, but you never see it because you aren’t in the action”
	+ “The battle should be in your face as soon as you start”

		- “Are you ever going to pick up the battle with the AI having already landed?”
		- “The action should be in your face immediately”
* The maps are big and there’s no direction.

	+ There’s so much going on both inside and outside buildings, and you can’t tell where you need to be
	+ “I feel lost on capital ships and on the ground”
	+ “Reminds me of the very early versions of BF1 where there were massive levels with 8 or 9 command posts”
	+ “I’ll hazard a guess that the maps are too large”
	+ “I want constant battle chatter telling me what’s going on”

* Is there a mix between dense sprawling areas and urban infantry areas?

		- The game should have a mix between map types.+ In BF2 we tried to have a natural flow to the levels

		- Instead of trying to do 50/50 and meet in the middle, have 5 on 1 / 4 on 2 scenarios etc
		- Assault Style – Attacker vs. Defender where one side has a distinct advantage
		- Matched Style – 50/50 facing off “in the middle of things.”

* In Battlefield the main paths were really clear, and there were clear “sneaky” routes off the beaten paths.

	+ In Tatooine there do not appear to be any clear paths
	+ There should be some obvious routes – but also open area to flank and be sneaky with a vehicle
	+ “Are there going to be grates and tunnels to sneak through?”
* World interaction

	+ “I want to be able to break a lot of stuff with my gun”

		- “Stupid stuff” like lights
		- “If most things are not going to be destructible, I’d want clear indication of what is destructible”
		- “I want decals on everything I shoot”
* “The AI obviously isn’t final”

	+ “My team AI sucks…they obviously aren’t doing any good here
	+ AI will let you run by without shooting
	+ AI will bunch up in corners
	+ Mace actually turned and ran from a grenade, which looked really smart

## Interface

* Mini-map very difficult to use

	+ They were heading in the right direction, but the enemies were above them

		- “Why does there appear to be a bunch of red stuff out in the unplayable area?”
	+ How do you guide the player to the place they are supposed to be without forcing them to navigate with the mini-map?
	+ “I’m assuming that the center of the mini-map is me, but I can’t tell where I am on it”

		- “I want to be really visible on the mini-map. I have no idea where I am on it”
	+ “The biggest problem that I have is the mini-map isn’t telling me where I need to go”

		- “I see a bunch of red and blue dots, but I don’t know which are enemies, which are CPs, and which are in space”
		- “Am I red or am I blue? I’ll guess that I’m blue and try to find a red control point.”
	+ “The CPs on the mini-maps are not clear”

		- “The mini-map bugs me. I never know where to go.”
	+ CPs in space should look different on the mini-map than CPs.
	+ “The white X’s on the mini-map don’t make any sense”
	+ Distances on the mini-map are not clear
	+ Structures do not show up on mini-map
* Health meter not very clear

	+ “I don’t get what the ‘L’s are”
	+ “I don’t understand why I sometimes have a second bar above each side”

		- Referencing jetpack and over-health bars
* Common complaint that D-pad doesn’t work during front end

	+ “Intuitively I would expect the D-Pad to interact on the front end”
	+ D-Pad and analog stick should both work
	+ Also need to be able to add units etc; by holding the button down rather than tapping it over and over again
* In some places you can’t see the targeting reticule because only the dot in the very center changes color
* Teach players what they’re seeing by displaying text on screen that describes the area that they’re in.

	+ E.g. As you enter a room, it will say “Turbo-laser Room” etc;
* When friendly names come up, they should be in your color

	+ When an enemy name comes it should be in the enemy color
	+ “Why are all the names in white?”
	+ “There should be floating icons that distinguish friend from foe”
* When the AI is playing as a hero it should just use the hero’s name rather than a unit designation

	+ When a player is playing as the hero, it should be the player’s name
* Hero notification message too subtle…players didn’t notice option

	+ Having to select hero from respawn is “unacceptable”
	+ Players didn’t know “press left” meant “…on the d-pad”
* “Why do I get to play as Mace Windu?”

	+ “Is it part of the story? Did I earn it?”
* When you spawn in the visual should be of the layer that you’re spawning on

	+ E.g. when you’re on the spawn screen it should show the ship and not the ground
* Some difficulty understanding the CP pips at the top of the screen

	+ “What are the things at the top? My guess is that they would be control points…”

		- White=uncontested, red=enemy, blue=friendly
	+ The CP icon on the top of the screen isn’t the same as the icon on the mini-map
	+ If it was the same CP icon as on the mini-map it would be easier to understand.
	+ It’s not clear why the CP’s on the top of the screen are linked one to one with CP’s on the map.

		- E.g. if you take the 7th CP, the 7th pip changes.
		- Instead of a “balance of power” type of meter that presents a more abstracted tug of war.
* The CP meter is very unsatisfying. It looks like it’s only half full.

	+ There should be effects on the screen that clearly show the CP changing hands
	+ The icon on the right for taking over the CP isn’t as obvious as it was before

## Space

* Difficult to see the tactical advantages of holding space or a your own capital ship

	+ “Why would defenders ever fight in space?”
	+ Why would anyone ever dog fight?
	+ Starfighters could be worth more tickets / points than standard infantry.

		- The defender needs to be able to destroy the ship from the outside.
		- We’re counting on AI to flesh out the space layer to give you something to shoot in space.
		- Taking out the orbital cannon is one compelling reason
* In space, being able to target and see where your enemies are and how you’re oriented is a problem

	+ In BFRS space may be too easy, but it’s accessible
	+ In a lot of flight games it’s hard to get good at flying

		- The controls aren’t usually pick up and play
	+ Player was able to stay on an enemy starfighter’s tail, but wasn’t able to shoot him down

		- “I don’t feel like I’m going to fast or freaking out”
		- “I want a lead indicator to show where to actually fire”

			* Freelancer, Wing Commander, SWoN, other titles all do this
	+ “I can sort of tell where my enemies are, but I can’t get to them”

		- It’s not clear which target you have selected based on all the red arrows around the edges
	+ Must be able to see behind you during dogfighting
	+ Will there be a padlock view?

		- X-Wing Alliance had it
* “There’s nobody up here”
* Enemies fly in circles…not compelling dogfighting fodder
* Lasers feel so slow that player can dodge them

	+ Satisfying in some situations
	+ Other situations make the combat seem comical
* “It’s easy to get lost in the capital ships”

	+ It’s too convoluted to move around inside the capital ship

		- There need to be more direct routes to the hangar
		- No one found the way off of the capital ship
	+ In BFRS’s campaign, there’s nothing to do anywhere other than the primary objective
	+ There are lit “doors” in hangar that seem like they should open, but are just part of the background.
	+ “The hangar alone could use 50 players”
	+ “There should be constant laser fire in the hangar”
	+ It should be consistent. If there is a light over the door, it should open
	+ It’s totally unclear how to escape from the capital ship once the reactor is destroyed
	+ The doors are locked and hallways double back on themselves
	+ There needs to be some indication of where to go

		- Lighted exits and other clear paths that guide you to the right spot
		- Like the emergency exits on an airplane with lighted paths
		- Droids, arrows etc; should lead players to hangar and other hot-spots
	+ The hangar, rooms of interest, should be different colors
	+ Wow – that’s a big hangar (CIS Cruiser)

		- Feels like it may be too big
		- Seems like there may be a lot of running around in empty space
* The capital ships outside of the playable area are too close and draw players to perimeters

	+ Players were flying toward a distant capital ship, and then turned around at the perimeter
* In BFRS you can earn hero ships in space.

	+ When you land and get out you are playing as the hero character.
	+ Land and space are separate, so you would only get the hero ship on a space level
* You have to get fairly low to the ground to land

	+ You would want to be able to initiate landing from higher up
* The contrails on the back of starfighters are too light to see against the background
* “I was expecting a lot more action to be happening in terms of enemy ships”
* Unclear which of the capital ships you can land.

	+ Why can’t you land in the Acclamator or Munificient?
* I’d really like to be able to control the capital ship.

	+ In Battlefield moving the carrier someplace else, somewhere more defensive, was interesting.
	+ I’d like to be able to move it, even if it moves really slowly.
* Unclear that you lose control when you are returned to the battlefront in space
* Transport ships

	+ Must be able to switch to gunner seat etc; when you want to
	+ Can’t get out until the ship lands, which is frustrating

		- Especially when hovering close to hangar/ground etc;
	+ AI is bad at landing and steering
* Tried to land on exterior of CIS Cruiser “because it looks like a big landing pad”

## VBF

* Doesn’t feel like two big sides clashing against each other in a single battle.

	+ “I feel detached from the main battle because it seems like there are two small battles going on rather than one large battle”

		- Seems like there’s a cool little battle that might be going on in the capital ship and another cool little battle on the ground.
	+ “I would anchor myself to one area or the other – land or space”

		- “I would either defend my ship, or invade the ground”
		- “I wouldn’t go back and forth between both”
	+ Will the orbital cannon be totally obliterating?

		- If it were so deadly that the only way to win is to go up there and take it out, that would be a good reason to leave the ground to attack and defend.
		- If there are two equally matched weapons – land to space / space to ground they’ll just be trading shots against each other.
		- If I take over the capital ship, can I use the orbital strike and guns against you.
* The VBF really opens up the world

	+ “I know the point of the game and how to play it but this feels like a new game”
	+ Seems all over the place – like you can go anywhere
	+ “It’s like you’ve got three battles going on at once, which is cool”
	+ Capturing a command post doesn’t seem like the main objective.
	+ “It’s Battlefronty – but it doesn’t seem like Battlefront.”
* The VBF seems like it’s hiding in the background and not really relevant.

	+ Do you really care about seeing stuff flying in the sky while you’re on the ground?

		- It needs to be bigger and more important
		- There isn’t enough interaction between space and ground
	+ I was focused on capturing CP’s and guys to fight on the ground

		- Not focused on the things going on above me
	+ “None of the air-to-ground-to-air stuff was evident”

		- “[The VBF]…didn’t seem to have any impact on the game”
		- What is the threat to the ground from the capital ship? Why would I want to destroy it?
		- What is the benefit to taking CP’s in the capital ship?
	+ No one on QA figured out the VBF on their own

		- Once pointed out, they thought it was cool
* Escape pods

	+ The escape pod needs to be way faster if you don’t control it
	+ “It’s a bummer that the wreckage from the escape pod fades instantly”

		- You should at least be able to see it for a little bit.

+ It’s not clear what the escape pods are.

- The pods should be open

* Look/feel

	+ “I like how you can see the stars starting to come into view”
	+ Seems like you get into space too quickly
	+ “Re-entry effect is cool”
	+ Fire between ground and space looks “awesome”
* Not enough enemy density

	+ Possible to traverse the VBF without running into opposition
	+ “I want to see a million enemies and friends”
	+ “I haven’t found enough people to shoot, I don’t feel like I’m on a Battlefield”
	+ “It took ten minutes to find someone to kill”
* The distance between things on the maps seem too huge, even if you did populate the map

	+ You’d need 150 guys just to make the ground feel populated
	+ The areas are too open
	+ The playable area hasn’t been defined

## Split-screen

* Gameplay

	+ Good density on single-layer CIS Cruiser
	+ Promising performance on single-layer CIS Cruiser
* Interface

	+ “I don’t have a crosshair—where is my crosshair?”
	+ “From a distance, I can’t tell who’s on my team”
	+ Mini-map is difficult to use

		- “Mini-map is useless during split-screen because it’s too small”
		- Is the other player on the mini-map?

			* How can I find them?

## Levels

#### Tatooine

* The city is pretty “maze-like”

	+ Difficult to find exit/entrance for the Cantina
	+ Unclear how to get out of the landing bay (on Tatooine) on foot unless you fly out in a starfighter

		- Most players couldn’t find the exits.
		- Once you find the exit you’re running through the hall for a long time
* Tatooine – “It seems like there’s not enough capture points on the ground part of the map. I think they must all be in space”

	+ “It looks like there’s two, maybe three”

		- There’s actually 5, but it was unclear
	+ The placement of the landing pad CP “isn’t good” on Tatooine
* You run into a building when leaving the Republic Base in a tank
* Unclear how to fire ion cannon

	+ Players ran by controls without noticing
	+ Tried to get to ion cannon by running through cave
* “Why do droids care about capturing a Cantina?”
* Lighting makes the mountains stand out too much from the foreground

#### Coruscant

* In Story Mode, “I like that progression is only forward”

	+ “If I wanted to go back I’d replay the mission.”
	+ “I like that I can respawn at the last point I died”

		- It was something we desperately needed in BF2.
	+ “Secure the club” – There is no indication of where the club is.
	+ “Capture the gunship” – There is no indication of where the gunship is.

		- In story mode, if somebody doesn’t want to fly, there should be an AI option to get them up to the VBF
	+ You can’t see the CIS cruiser from the ground.

		- It’s not clearly in your field of view from the ground
		- Players fly aimlessly until redirected
	+ When you first land on the hangar there’s nobody to kill
	+ In Coruscant story mode you would expect that the AI would run for the escape pods after the reactor is blown
	+ Unclear where the reactor is in the capital ship

		- Players were looking for it on the bridge
* It’s getting toward Coruscant

	+ “At times, I do feel like I’m in the middle of this massive city”
	+ But you would expect more skyline, more of a Blade runner feel.

		- The neon signage helps
		- The traffic may be too small to read what you’re looking at
	+ You almost wouldn’t want to see any sky

		- “Like being downtown in the financial district”
	+ “I kind of feel like I’m on rails because of all the walkways”

#### Kashyyyk

* Why can’t you have the fight on the beach?

	+ It would be interesting to be exposed down on the beach, and have the fight in the trees more toward the back.
	+ Could be an interesting to include the beach as part of downloadable content.

		- Ep1 – Naboo map
		- Ep2 – Geonosis map
		- Ep3 – Kashyyyk beachhead
	+ Make them available
* Even in blockout you get a sense of scale.

#### Bespin

* “The VBF metaphor makes sense here because the land is in the sky”
* “Seems to have the density that you would expect on Coruscant”
* “Looks mostly like Cloud City!”

	+ Too orange / needs to pinker
	+ “The level looks really nice”
	+ “It needs to have 3d clouds billowing around”
* It’s not clear where to go inside Cloud City

	+ The minimap doesn’t provide very much information
	+ “Everything looks kind of the same in Cloud City”
	+ Hard to find your way around
* The Tibanna Platform is confusing

	+ “Is this a place I’m supposed to land?"

		- Player unable to land successfully on platform
	+ “Is this a command post?”

#### Yavin IV

* No one ever went to the edges of the map

	+ All of the action in the center; not necessarily a bad thing

## Miscellaneous

* “Do you need the capes on the hero characters?”
* If you spawn into the gunship it’s not clear what you’re spawning into

	+ “All you see is the camera floating”
* In story mode, “you’re still getting the feeling of being a lone gun”

	+ You would expect the player to be heroic, but the army and the squad backing you up.
* Recharging health

	+ “I don’t think I like that”

		- It makes the guy who hands out health, and health droids insignficant
		- Health regeneration seems too fast
	+ “Ooh, I think that’s great”
* No sound or HUD indication that you’re picking up a health or ammo pack

	+ Friendly AI that pick up your healthpack should acknowledge your contribution
* It’s unclear how you earn star points
* “It has the makings of fun”

	+ More Star Wars fantasy fulfillment per square foot than BF1 or BF2
	+ The story mode takes you through so many different Star Wars environments
	+ Exploration seems like it’s going to be fun
* Right now “it was unfun. Just unfun.”

	+ “I lost. I felt like a spent the whole time just finding a CP to capture.”
	+ “Not enough freak crazy Star Wars events”
	+ “I had no sense of urgency”
	+ “I didn’t see the end of the game coming, and it wasn’t clear why I lost”
	+ “There should be more secret shortcuts and alternate routes”
	+ “It’s going to take months for combat to feel right”
* It’s a “bummer” that you can’t play splitscreen in the story mode

	+ “That’s something that parents and kids really like to play together”
* It would be “neat” to have pop-up video / commentary on the campaign as reward for completing the story campaign
* Feels like a larger version of Battlefront II with nothing new or innovative about it
* There shouldn’t be dirt coming up from capital ship interiors when you throw a grenade
* Dooku is clearly “holding his saber wrong”
* The Interceptor seems too sluggish
* “The Super Battle Droid doesn’t look as cool as he did in BF2.”
* “Weird that the flying droid ships can be manned by Clones”
* Will Magnaguards have cloth like in the movies?
* Desire for more girls and bounty hunters

	+ “You need Mara Jade, Nomi Sunrider, Aura Sing etc;”
* “Can you use your jetpack while prone?”
* “It would be cool to play as part of the Black Sun”
* “The names for the droids and the clones are too similar”

	+ “It all seems like a bunch of numbers”

**Respondent Facts**

**Occupation:**
Lead, Assistant Lead, and QA Testers

**Most Commonly Played Platform:**
PC. PS2 was a close second.

**Least Commonly Played Platform:**
PS3. PSP and Wii tied for second.

**Most Played Game Genres:**
Action/Adventure, First-Person Shooter, and Third-Person Shooter

**Favorite Genre Overall:**
First-Person Shooter

**Least Commonly Played Genres:**
Sim, Sports, Arcade, Racing

**Average Amount of Time Playing Games for Fun:**
5-8 Hours Per Week

**Opinions of Battlefront 1 & Battlefront 2:**
We intentionally recruited testers with little or no experience with Battlefront 1 & 2. Of those who had played the games, the average reaction was that previous Battlefronts were, “Neither Bad nor Good”. This was the middle response in a scale of quality. This suggests that these players were not averse to the Battlefront franchise, but found some elements of the past titles lacking. Overall, BF2 ranked slightly higher than BF1.

**Styles of Online Play:**

* These players preferred team based play to “me against the world” online games.
* They preferred objective-based to sandbox/freeform types of play.
* And they were evenly split on playing competitively vs. playing co-operatively.

**Assumptions:**
It is fair to assume that the testers responding to BF3 fall into the core to hardcore group of gamers. These are players with a very thorough understanding of industry trends and established game controls and mechanics. Because of this, they were able to pick up the game quickly and with very little instruction. These are the types of players that would be opinion leaders on Internet forums and mavens in the online community. It is also safe to assume that many reviewers will share their level of expertise and tastes when the time comes to evaluate Battlefront 3. Historically, our internal QA score has been within 5 points of the final Metacritc rating.

**Format**

Eight Testers spent an hour and a half playing Battlefront 3. While they played, all testers in the room were encouraged to provide commentary, particularly the player with the control. Players played Instant Action Conquest with max A.I. on Tatooine, Coruscant, Cloud City, and the C.I.S. Cruiser single-player. All players had a chance to play for about 5-10 minutes. Once everyone had a turn with single-player, players switched to split-screen Instant Action on the C.I.S. Cruiser and Tatooine.

**Overall Trends**

**Summary**

**\***Players had fun.
\*The visuals delivered on the Star Wars universe.
\*Players were not aware that the VBF existed.
\*They had trouble piloting vehicles, particularly starfighters
\*They got lost a lot, especially on the C.I.S. Cruiser.
\*In general, the world felt empty.
\*Players were not impressed by A.I. behavior.

**Positive**

Most players were very enthusiastic about the authenticity of the visuals. Tatooine, Coruscant, and Cloud City frequently elicited “oohs and aahs”, particularly when players recognized locations from the movies. Overall, most players agreed with the statement, “The game looks as good, or better than, I would expect from a 2008 action game.” And many players strongly agreed with the statement, “The look of the game captures the Star Wars universe.”

Players rated the on-foot controls highly. Many strongly agreed with the statement, “It was easy to control my character on foot”. These are players who are very familiar with FPS and Third-Person Shooters on consoles, and took to navigating the world with little difficulty.
Many players agreed with the statement, “I understood why I won or lost the game.”

Most players agreed with the statement, “I had fun while playing BF3,” with three out of eight giving this statement a 5/5 (completely agree).

**Negative**

The testers were not aware that the VBF existed until it was pointed out to them almost 45 minutes into the session. Once they recognized it, they were enthusiastic, but many responded to the statement, “Land and space both felt like important parts of the battle.” with N/A or disagreement.

Vehicle controls did not fare as well as the on-foot controls. Players disagreed with the statement, “It was easy to control space vehicles” and neither agreed nor disagreed with the statement, “It was easy to control land vehicles.” Observing players, space controls certainly proved to be problematic. Many players commented that the controls felt “backwards” and that “Roll and accelerate should not be together”.

Overall, the combat experience was found to be lacking. This was largely due to the low density across the VBF. In general, players did not agree with the statements, “I felt like I was part of an action-packed Star Wars battle.”, “I felt like I could play any way that I wanted to”, “Combat on the ground is fun and exciting.” and “Combat in space is fun and exciting.”

Despite the fact that this was a very skilled set of players, many got lost and confused, particularly on the capital ships. There were a number of complaints regarding the minimap. The iconography of the map was not clear, and the geography of the world was not effectively communicated. Many players wanted a different map when they were in an interior than the one that they have on the terrain.

A number of comments were made regarding the intelligence of the A.I. However, this was not a major concern for the players. They assumed that A.I. behaviour will improve throughout the course of development.

Most players had difficulty distinguishing friendly units from enemies, particularly at a distance.

**Takeway**

There is still a great deal of work to be done on the vertical battlefront, vehicle controls, A.I. behaviours, player navigation, and combat density. But, despite all of these challenges, most players still said that they had fun playing the game. Players enjoyed touring familiar Star Wars environments, hopping in and out of vehicles, and firing into clusters of units (friendly and enemy alike). In general, the testers were optimistic that any issues with animation, A.I, and navigation would be fixed in the course of development.

**Verbatims**

## References

* MS12\_QA\_First\_Impressions.pdf

Coruscant’s iconic background scenery and perimeter redesign

* Coruscant will be taking on more of an “island” approach in that the canyon's walls (which are still city buildings and structures) will go down deep into the black abyss of the city below
* Visible from the “playable area” (but not *accessible* from the VBF) will be iconic structures pushed far out into the distance
	+ Senate Building, Jedi Temple, Industrial Area, Large Dense (indiscreet) Buildings

Senate Building referenceJedi Temple referenceIndustrial Area ReferenceLarge/Dense Building(s) Reference