I recently got to play more Battlefield 6, but this time on the game’s two biggest maps, and I had a blast playing in these big ol’ stages. But when I got a chance to speak to the devs behind Battlefield 6, I had to ask a strange question: Do you all have a button that lets you blow up everything that is destructible in the franchise’s famously destructible maps? The answer was yes, and there’s a good reason why.
During a Zoom interview with DICE producer Jeremy Chubb and design director Shashank Uchil, we talked about all the work that goes into making a big Battlefield map and how much effort they put into remaking the iconic and beloved Operation Firestorm map, which will be available in BF6 at launch. But, when our conversation veered into talking about how to balance maps that can blow up in all kinds of ways, I had to ask if they had a tool or button that lets them destroy everything in one click. So I asked and got a blunt answer:
“Yeah,” said Chubb. I then asked if it was fun to hit that button, and both Chubb and Uchil replied, with laughter in their voices, that yes, it was indeed fun to hit that big button.
“It is fun!” Chubb told Kotaku while laughing more. “It usually causes some big meltdowns in teams working on performance because we designed the maps not to be instantly triggered, like every instance of destruction [all at once]. And [the button was pressed] a few times, and there were some raised eyebrows about what we were doing for sure.”
When I mentioned that EA should release GIFs of the maps completely blowing up after hitting that button, Uchil said that was a “good idea.” So you’re welcome, EA marketing team.
The reason for BF6‘s big red button
You might be wondering why there’s a button in Frostbite, the engine BF6 is built on, that lets you blow up an entire map instantly. The answer is so that the team can easily playtest the map in its most destroyed state to make sure it’s still fun and balanced.
“So…think of the map as [having] three different states, right,” explained Uchil. “The map starts out in a pristine state, or however it is meant to be at the beginning. And then, as the map progresses, it gets more and more destroyed. And towards the end, if everybody’s using a rocket launcher or C4, you hit peak destruction. And like I said, the game has to be good in all three phases, the pristine phase, the in-between phase, and the final phase.”
According to Uchil, the “big red button” is the best tool for quickly testing that final phase of each map.
“You can see what is the worst-case scenario,” said Uchil. “Is there enough cover? Do we need to add some more things? Do we need to bring some more assets so in the final stage, it’s still fun to play? So yeah, that’s why we have the big button.”
At this point, I was fully distracted by the idea of the button, and asked if anyone had ever pressed it by accident. That doesn’t seem to have happened, and because the maps weren’t built to instantly explode, it could lead to problems if it did.
“I mean, we have times when you can crash a bunch of things,” said Uchil. “The destruction is meant to happen in parts. But if everything explodes at the same time, then it would melt down your computer.”
Now I hope someone is able to mod Battlefield 6 after it launches on October 10 and either activate this button as part of a wild mod or recreate its functionality. I really just want to hit a big button and make an entire map go ka-boom. That sounds like a blast. And after talking to the devs, it seems they agree.
