Star Wars Battlefront: DICE Edition is an upcoming mod for the 2004 Star Wars: Battlefront, inspired by DICE's 2015 game, Star Wars Battlefront and 2017's Star Wars Battlefront II, as well as Delta-1035's GCW-1035 and Battlefront-1035. Work on this project began in late 2019 as a 'side project'. It was originally devised as being Galactic Civil War only - much like the 2015 game - and the class system was inspired by the AI classes from the 2015 title's 'Skirmish' and 'Missions' modes:
- Soldier class would have a standard blaster rifle, a scattergun, and thermal detonators
- Heavy class would have a rapid-fire heavy blaster, a Barrage launcher, and mines
- Scout class would have a sniper rifle, Scout Pistol, and thermal detonators
- Demolitions class would have a blaster pistol, Smart Rocket, and impact grenades
- Specialist class would be armed with a unique blaster, stinger pistol, and thermal detonators. The Rebel Jump Trooper has a Jump Pack.
A new feature that features in this mod is randomized heroes. When a map loads, it picks a random hero for each faction out of a select pool - for the Rebels, this is Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia. For the Empire, this is Darth Vader, Boba Fett and the Emperor.
As time went on, the mod evolved. New weapons were added, more maps were included, and eventually the Clone Wars began. The inspiration behind adding the Clone Wars was to give players access to different playstyles that could come with having the Clone Wars included. On top of that, it also allowed me to include planets that were not possible to include if the mod was Galactic Civil War only.
One of the biggest issues I faced was deciding what weapons to use and what units to bring in. I decided that the Republic Specialist should be the Jet Trooper, and the CIS Specialist should be the Droid Commando. Unfortunately, early testing to make the Droid Commando utilise a Disguise Kit did not work out, so its secondary ability is a Vibrosword Strike.
The maps themslves have undergone changes as well. Geonosis has additional spires and Acclaimators lining the map, Hoth's Echo base has cut ice corridors instead of natural corridors, and Bespin: Platforms has gas balloons around the skies. One major addition was the inclusion of two maps brought over from Star Wars: Battlefront II by Sleepkiller. Coruscant: Jedi Temple and Death Star: Interior would serve as era-locked maps - Coruscant for the Clone Wars, and Death Star for the Galactic Civil War. Furthermore, the inclusion allowed me to change the Galactic Conquest mode slightly: by changing the Republic and Empire base planets to Coruscant and Death Star respectively (special thanks goes to Dark_Phantom for helping me figure the Galactic Conquest scripts out)
The mod is currently in the final testing stages and a beta will be out for testing later in the Summer. If all goes well, a full release will follow.
Beyond that? It's my goal to reinvent a couple of the maps in Star Wars: Battlefront. In particular, I want to create a more accurate Theed map. These will be released separately and I aim to make them compatible not just with this mod but with all copies of Star Wars: Battlefront in general, modded or not.
