Ivan Buchta currently works as a creative director of Arma 3 in the company’s studio in
Brno.
He holds an MSc. Degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of J. E. Purkyne in Usti
nad Labem. During his studies, he took part in analysis of old maps and use of GIS outputs in
the game engine of Operation Flashpoint. He cooperated on several community modifications of
Operation Flashpoint, externally constributed to the terrain development of the tactical military
simulation tools Virtual Battlespace (VBS) 1 and 2.
In the independent Czech game developer Bohemia Interactive, he took part in the development
of Arma 1 and its expansion Queen’s Gambit as terrain designer. He also worked as lead designer
for Arma 2 and Operation Arrowhead military games. He currently focuses on taking the hardcore
tactical simulation to a new level with Arma 3.
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Talk - The challenging art of freedom
The presentation deals with the development challenges associated with creating an openly structured gameplay in a military simulation game. It provides overview and assessment of general requirements, technological limitations and design solutions employed in the development of the Bohemia Interactive’s past titles. Animations and environment are discussed in greater detail.
An insight to real time animation presentation subsystem in Arma engine is provided. Attendees will be given various examples and case analyses of real in-game situations, which may help them either to design gameplay to avoid possible issues or to design animation subsystem of their real-time engine in order to handle such issues acceptably.
The overview of the terrain creation method is provided as another example of the unique approach to Bohemia Interactive’s gaming projects. The requirements of game design and relationships of the gameplay and terrain are widely discussed, with the in-game examples of the resulting virtual landscapes. Also, the AI-related aspects of the terrain design are brought to attention of the attendees.
The speech is concluded by the examples of the discussed areas in the development in Arma 3. The acceptable level of abstraction in a game presentation is discussed as a viable approach in a large-scale simulation.