Battlefield Portal – What it means for Esports

EA just announced Battlefield™ Portal, a community-driven platform in the upcoming Battlefield™ 2042 that lets players create and discover unique experiences. You can read the official briefing HERE.

Portal provides players with a full creation suite that includes both settings and logic editors that let you create the experiences you want to play. It also brings back maps, weapons, vehicles, and more from past Battlefield games, reimagined with modern visuals. You will be able to relive content from Battlefield™ 1942, Battlefield™: Bad Company 2, and Battlefield™ 3.

In Battlefield™ V, with no tools, we created a redesign for 5v5 Domination and created 4v4 Rush, which many players are still playing beyond Season 4. We can’t wait to build new competitive experiences with Portal for Battlefield™ 2042.

We were able to attend a detailed behind-the-scenes presentation this past Tuesday to better understand what Portal offers and what it means for Battlefield esports.

How it works

Portal will allow players to create custom experiences (public or private) through a web-based platform (easily patchable and doesn’t require external certification to update) and launch them through dedicated servers, free of charge. Unlike BFV Community Games, you will be able to completely launch a server with only 1 player and even fill teams up with AI to privately test your experiences before going public with them. You can also set the maximum players to any number from 1 to 128 (64 for old gen) regardless of what game mode you are playing (unlike BFV).

Once your experience is created, you will be able to either share your code so that others can play with what you created or share your editor URL so that other players can help you work on the experience you are creating and modify it themselves. This means you will be able to share competitive modes/settings. With share codes so that setting up matches becomes an incredibly accessible process with all the possible bans that there can/will be.

All 13 maps also feature “Arena Sized” (smaller) sections you can use to create experiences. These will likely be perfect for smaller and more competitive modes without leaving huge open areas.

Players will also find pre-set templates to build their experiences from (Rush, Conquest), or they can start from scratch to really build something unique.

In addition to the 6 classic maps, players will also find 40+ Weapons, 40+ Vehicles, 30+ Gadgets, together with Classic Factions and soldier archetypes from 1942, BC2, and BF3. Unfortunately, these items aren’t balanced and retain their original values, which means that if you want to play any of them with 2042 items, it will require a lot of testing to get it right.

The Builder

The builder allows players to create and easily share experiences through a web-based platform available for console and PC players. It provides both a settings modifier and an advanced logic editor. 

  • Settings Modifier: This allows you to modify many options, similar to how community games/rsp worked but incredibly detailed.
  • Advanced Logic Editor: This is an advanced visual description tool that allows you to manipulate game elements named “Logic Blocks.”

The tools provided in the builder are incredibly detailed powerful and will allow players to create incredible experiences (we already have a few in mind).

Customizable features include:

  • Maps – Pick from the selection of 13 available maps
    • 7 BF 2042 Maps (Orbital, Hourglass, Kaleidoscope, Manifest, Discarded, Breakaway, Renewal)
    • 2 BF 1942 Maps (Battle Of The Bulge, El Alamein)
    • 2 BF BC2 Maps (Arica Harbor, Valparaiso)
    • 2 BF3 Maps (Caspian Border, Noshahr Canals)
  • Modes – Choose from a range of game modes – whether it be more established modes like Rush or Conquest or starting with something completely custom.
  • Mode Settings – Fine-tune various details within the mode, including:
    • Factions – choose which soldiers, weapons, and vehicles can compete on the battlefield
    • Mobility – Toggle players’ ability to Aim Down Sights, go prone, and more
    • Visibility – Toggle Heads’ Up Display and minimap visibility for players
    • Arsenal – Restrict weapons, Specialists, gear, and vehicles that players have access to in matches
    • Scale – Adjust the balance of each battle by controlling the max number of players in each team as well as which weapons they have access to
  • Team Select – The ability to put different teams and eras of soldiers against each other
  • Weapon/Gadget/Vehicle Restrictions – Fine-tune which soldiers should be available from each faction, which weapons and attachments they can use, which vehicles are available and how to access them
  • Settings – Players can use these to refine the experience they want to make, toggling options like core game mode rules, soldier settings, vehicle settings, and UI settings
  • Logic Editor – Additional options to cater to unique experiences, allowing players to define rules, set victory conditions, team scale, and specific in-game events.

 

What are your initial thoughts on Portal? Let us know in the comments!

 

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