Battlefield 4 Dragon’s Teeth DLC To Introduce Two-Handed Ballistic Shield

New gameplay elements are coming to Battlefield 4‘s Dragon’s Teeth expansion in the form of a two-handed ballistic shield that stops bullets, according to DICE senior animator Ryan Duffin.

During a talk at this year’s GDC, Duffin explained that the studio had hoped to introduce the ability for players to equip a ballistic shield that they could use in combination with a side arm. Instead, the team landed on the idea of a two-handed shield that acts as a piece of moveable cover.

Ultimately, previous generation memory constraints limited the amount of new player animations DICE could incorporate into the game.

“We didn’t have enough memory,” Duffin said. “It added about a megabyte, but a megabyte on a 2006 console is a lot, so it didn’t work out.”

Though pushed to work with the idea of a two-handed piece of moveable cover instead of a more mobile one-handed shield, Duffin says the studio eventually agreed that it made more sense and would actually fit better with Battlefield 4’s more team-oriented gameplay.

“There was a lot of resistance at first. But the more we assessed it, the more we realized it was a better feature,” he said. “It turns out that stopping bullets in a first-person shooter is a ton of fun. We’re confident that it will create a new dynamic for the game.”

So far, little is known about the Dragon’s Teeth expansion, other than it will be developed by DICE LA and that it will revolve around urban warfare.

Thanks, Polygon.

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