Project Reality began in July of 2004 as a Battlefield 2 modification. It was created with the intention of taking a retail game that has a solid foundation and increasing the realism level to compliment the game engine. The announcement of the project and the initial recruitment was posted by the founder (Requiem) on the Desert Combat forums at PlanetBattlefield. The proposed project was exciting enough to attract a number of people onto the development team even at that early stage. A website was quickly realized and the project then had a web presence, associated imagery (initial web banner) and community forums to start building the grand project.
The name Project Reality was initially meant to be a temporary project title, but the name stuck amongst staff and community alike and the Mod began recruiting aggressively. Project Reality began almost a year before Battlefield 2 was released to the public and as a result had much time for preparation and discussion on what changes could be made upon release. The Modding team took advantage of this to pre-produce art assets to gain a head start upon the retail release of Battlefield 2.
As the release of Battlefield 2 drew closer, we were one of the Mod teams selected by Electronic Arts to attend their Official Mod Day in Europe (see pictures below). This was very beneficial for the team as we had the chance to meet personnel from Electronic Arts, other Mod teams, and various prominent community websites. It was also the first time any of the Modders had a chance to play Battlefield 2 and to use the official editor.
Along with building up a team of professional Modders came an enthusiastic community intrigued by the projects' plans for the game. This has led to a fan base of over 41,000 registered forum members and numerous media appearances which reached out into the Battlefield 2 and gaming communities. From being one of the rookies on the scene (Project Reality does not have a history of developing for the Battlefield 1942 or Battlefield Vietnam titles) we believe we have succeeded in becoming a major player among the active Mods. With Project Reality, the root of our popularity lies in producing a modification of high quality whilst at the same time also listening to our community, who have provided us with a number of great suggestions that have been implemented in-game.
The future of Project Reality? Well, the best has yet to come!
You can find a more complete timeline created by the community here.
