EA and DICE announced that the new Battlefield closed test in Battlefield Lab will focus on destructive effects and gameplay.DICE has published a new blog on X, briefing the Battlefield destruction that the team is designing and testing.The team also showed some Alpha beta versions of the game's destructive effects.

Original blog:

We once again bring a community update with the destruction themed community and summarize our initial experiences in the Battlefield Lab game process.

First, let's preview how we design and test the sabotage mechanism in the future.

Our destructive design philosophy

Our goal of destroying the mechanics is to further enhance the depth of the game by allowing players to reshape the environment and convert the surrounding environment into tactical advantages.For example, break through the walls and raid the enemy, reshape the battlefield to open up new roads to the occupied area, or destroy buildings to eliminate offensive squads.

We design destruction mechanisms around easily recognizable visual and audio languages ​​to let you know what can be destroyed, changed, or converted through the game.

Our goal is to make destruction an integral part of your battleground experience, creating an intuitive, fun and fulfilling environment where you feel the power of shaping the world around you.

Destruction and gameplay

Let's take the wall as an example to illustrate the new mechanism of destruction.Once the wall is damaged enough in the explosion, a smaller impact force (such as a bullet) can also cause it to be destroyed, allowing you to shoot through the wall.Audio VFX not only helps you see, but also allows you to hear whether the attack is successful.

Different types of surfaces will now also degrade visually and then rupture due to persistent surface damage.When the building begins to collapse, it will appear as an "apple core" with its core exposed, and the destroyed parts will leave rubble and wreckage on the surrounding ground.

The new mechanics allow you to create more opportunities related to destruction during the game and to influence your surroundings by using different types of weapons or vehicles.For example, the rubble caused by destruction will now remain on the battlefield, allowing you to create and exploit new cover and protection opportunities.

Above is an early pre-alpha example showing the ability to destroy walls to quickly pass through a building to reach the other side – without this tactical effect, you either run around the block or climb stairs to reach the other side.

Use destruction carefully to gain an advantage, as your advantage may also be the enemy's advantage, and this exposed floor may now be used by them against this new route.

Feedback and verification

The insights we gather cover everything from destruction as a tactical element to the player's distinction between indestructible and destructible environments.

During the testing phase of the Battlefield Laboratory, our main concerns are as follows:

Learn which environments can or cannot be destroyed and what kind of firepower is required for different types of materials

Collateral damage caused by fragments and destructible elements

Tactical use of destruction to create new paths or sustained environments

Balancing the ecosystem that creates damage through firepower and destruction

Our current gains

The initial trial session of the Battlefield Lab is designed to test server performance, gunfights and movements, and give participants a preliminary understanding of the future direction of the Battlefield.Participants have currently conducted multiple trials and have provided thousands of feedback.As we start testing other topics like destruction, we hope to share some initial learning results and the next steps we draw from these trial sessions.

We initially encountered some server stability and performance issues, which provided valuable data for us to adjust the server configuration.We have seen that subsequent trial sessions bring a smoother gaming experience to participants, and we are moving in the right direction and further testing will be carried out with more participants in the future.

We learned that while the gunfight feels good, there is still a need to further balance the different weapon prototypes and their damage values.Feedback on the move shows that we need to continue iteration to find the appropriate balance in speed, such as crouch sprints, combat tumbling, overturning and other features.Be sure to check out our previous community updates.

Finally, as we redirect our focus to destruction, we received feedback on the balance of destruction objects on the map and fine-tuning of surface damage levels.Destruction will be the topic that continues to be discussed in our game sessions, and we will continue to test these and other destruction areas in the following game sessions.

What's next?

If you are interested in helping us verify the future of Battlefield, sign up for Battlefield Labs now.If you want to learn more, read our FAQ and join the discussion on Battlefield Discord.We will release new community updates in the future to keep you informed of Battlefield Labs’ continuous testing and learning outcomes.We look forward to seeing your hands on, listening to your feedback, and talking about Battlefield with you!

// Battlefield Team

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