[Poll] Tantive IV : We need your opinion !

Hello everyone ! For those who don't know me, I'm Praglik, Env' Artist in charge of Tantive IV's concept for the BattleCry project.

Because Tantive is one of the least appreciated map from Battlefront 2, I proposed to spice it up a bit by fundamentaly changing it's settings. Instead of going from a traditionnal close-combat map, with blank and repetitive corridors, we could make a map with a truely unique ambiance and an inventive level design.

But Tantive IV is a fairly cult location for StarWars fan so there is no way to get rid of these closed environment who doesn't allow big scales battle the way we imagine BattleCry...

We tried to find the best way to make an interesting map without declaring an open war with the fans.

So, for the lore part, on Wookiepedia it's written the following about the fate of the Tantive IV :

Quote :

"Unable to find the plans on board the Tantive IV, Darth Vader ordered a team of stormtroopers to sweep the planet below to find them. Afterward, the corvette was destroyed and the entire crew was killed. Imperial propaganda, including a falsified report by the survey vessel Wide-Eyed, would later proclaim that an asteroid storm caused the destruction of the Tantive IV."

All we know comes from Imperial Propaganda. But what if there was more ?

We have the power to extend the story of StarWars, we're not EA Games, we can make a unnofficial "fan fic" around Battlecry.

Darth Vader ordered to destroy the Tantive.
They tried hard to destroy it. After a long-lasting dogfight they launched few missiles and, indeed, the Tantive was damaged. In fact it crashed on Chenini, leaving no survivors.

After running a few planet scans, Imperial Forces found no life signs aboard the Tantive IV. Mission successful : it looked like an accidental crash.

The true story was hidden by the official propaganda for years. But eventually, one information leaked : a small drop pod lost for ages revealed the position of the Tantive through a distress signal.

But there was more. More than a drop pod. An evidence about the Empire's mischieves was hidden on Tantive IV. What exactly ? No one knows yet. But something big enough to rumble the Empire.

Rebels jumped on the occasion : they sent a special task force to get the evidences before the Empire, who reacted the same way. But the planet itself seems alive... Could it be possible that there was some truth behind superstitions around this Tatooine's moon ?


As said in the wiki : "The erratic appearance and disappearance of this celestial body led to many superstitions..."




Level Design


The Tantive crashed on Chenini ages ago, which mean it's in a very derelict state.

For representing the crash, it's pretty simple : we tilt the ship a bit, burry the cockpit under the ground and tear appart the right side of the vessel.

It will be on two levels : the main floor, as seen in the movie (white corridors and medium-sized computer rooms) and the cargo hold. This part would be fairly big, with a lot of covers made by destructed walls, computers, leaking pipes...

The cargo hold would be totally messed up with containers everywhere, cables hanging from the ceiling... but the main floor will remain intact, just some cracks, boulders and burned parts.

People are asking online to make destructible environment : we will listen and make it destructible.
On the biggest map size (64 players at least), the right side of the ship will provide an access to the planet's ground if you break the ship's walls.

But we will not show it before the launch. Imagine the thrill when someone understand for the first time that they can break the doors and walk on the planet ?


The moon will be very dark, almost scary. The derelict Tantive will fit exactly in this theme, Dead Space style. I want the player to stand in the middle of the battleground and think "Okay, I understand why there is so much superstitions about this place".

On the outside, there will be the blinking escape pod who led the Rebels and Empire to found the Tantive. It will provide cover, light, and some kind of objective in case of Capture the Flag or King of the Hill mode.



I would truely LOVE to work on this project. But there was some objections about the use of the Tantive in this settings : can we, or can we not mess around with the lore ? In my opinion, even if we don't use the official story, we expand it. Fans will love it. Hardcore fans will probably understand that we need a story who serves the gameplay, not the opposite...

What do YOU guys think ? We make this, or I try to come up with something different ?
(btw, my english is far from perfect: it's not my mothertongue. I hope I'm still clear ! If there is some mistakes, just send them by MP and I will correct my post)

I'd cut the stuff with the dogfight. Maybe something like: After the crew was killed the Empire left the Tantive in range of Chenini so that the moon's gravitation could pull the ship in and crash it on it's surface.
I think that'd fit better with the 'make it look like a crash' justification.

If we create the moon's surface it shouldn't just be a background to the main battlefield though. I like the idea of making it a secret that the walls are destroyable but to make the map viable for 30+ players we have to put CPs etc on the outside, too. We could limit the entrances a lot though so destroying the walls will be more important.

I don't think there will be a true problem with lore, but if necessary we can just find another Blockade Runner type ship.

I agree with Ben. I've been talking with Delante and Chris, and we think a sort of Dathomiry/Dagobah Desert Mars would look cool. The pics on Wookiepedia suggest the moon looks like a red celestial body. I'm not sure how or if there should be oxygen, I'm tempted to say no, but either way would work. I have some pieces here to take inspiration from.

http://gyazo.com/921016fd106c607d5a1bd4e552b35036

But more reddish.

http://gyazo.com/56fdb30a1505ce583e9cfa03e7c536f7

But A little more reddish and less vegetation.

http://gyazo.com/8bd22638f4bb51f1e9dbb236cf0ebfd7

And of course Dagobah but less swampy.

http://gyazo.com/418b7c6d24c9d47741be8121a63a7bd3

Here's Mars too.

I'm fine with the crashed ship idea, but I'm not so sure about making it the Tantive specifically. I think having a normal non-crashed Tantive map would be just fine in addition to the Chenini map. Having small, intense 12-16 player infantry maps is just as important as the larger more open ones.

I don't thinks we should make different maps. The Battlefield system works pretty fine : you make one big map with small variations for each different map sizes : 16/32/64 for example, but we could go for 8/64/128 or anything in between.

Making different maps for different sizes will be very time-consuming and restrictive.

For example, with the tantive we could have the 16 players size only in the main floor, 32 players with the cargo hold aswell, and 64 with Chenini's ground.

I believe I've made myself pretty clear on this.
I like the idea of the crashed ship, just not that its the Tantive IV.
It could be another CR-90 (the type of ship that Tantive IV was), or even some sort of abandoned base.
TBH, the Tantive IV itself does not make any sense for a map at all (except for the small part of the boarding), as it was destroyed pretty quickly after the capture.
I dont believe one bit that Vader would be lazy enough to just ditch it, so it would spiral into the moon and etc, when he could destroy it utterly and destroy all the evidence.
Remeber: Vader is competent. A lot.

Now if you wanna throw lore out of the window, for the sake of environments, no problem, though I've already given an alternative (another crashed ship, abandoned base).

If wrecked/abandoned bases are an option, I would vote base for Tak Base on Talay - the base destroyed by Dark Troopers in Dark Forces. And/or, the abandoned base on Dantooine Leia tries to trick Tarkin with.

If we want to stick with crashed ship, the closest identifiable CR-90 type ship is the Sundered Heart, Raymus Antilles' ship before the Tantive. There's no mention of what happens to it after the events of 'Empire at War'

Alright guys. If we want to play it safe, then we just rename the ship to Sundered Heart, and crash it. Or figure out a different planet to crash that is closer to the lore.

Let's play it safe then.
I have no idea what differences there are between the two ships : can someone explain a bit further ?
I really need to start working on it - being semi-idle is killing me 

The Sundered Heart is the ship seen in Episode III. It's pretty much the exact same as the Tantive IV. In Empire At War it has extra engines attached to it.

Yeah, it is Captain Antilles ship during Episode III. He was then transfered to the Tantive IV with Leia during their trip to Alderaan. But as you know, got caught.

Same ship, but with the EaW modifactions

Spoiler:

I prefer the one i posted  .