By Matt Leone 02/16/2007
In the March issue of Games for Windows: The Official Magazine, THQ and developer Kaos Studios opened up about Frontlines: Fuel of War in an extensive cover story. But for those of you looking for a bit more, or who haven't had a chance to see the issue yet, we rounded up a series of choice quotes from the developers about the game for a 1UP companion story.
So here's the Frontlines development team on...
Story: "Because of our background, people expect a good multiplayer game, but most of our energy has been in making a good single-player game. We sat here for two weeks, without any computers, and just talked about the story." - David Votypka, design director
Visuals: "We had to tune a lot of the engine because of the scale of use. We didn't want to look like another Gears of War. We have a more realistic, modern military type game. So we changed the lighting system, the terrain system, the physical materials system -- we needed to change a lot to accommodate this huge outdoor environment... On the character side...you get to customize tattoos on his arm...bandanas and headgear... The kind of detail you'll see is when you have a solider wearing someone else's suit. There's tape over the name...maybe a couple bullet holes in the clothes from the guy that previously wore it." - Joe Halper, senior producer
Community: "From the second that we opened the studio, we asked a lot of questions to the community. After all it was them that helped us with Desert Combat. We asked them about what they wanted to see in our next project. Usually game companies don't get that involved in the community, at least not until it's too late in the process to implement any of these ideas. So we wanted to get feedback from what competitive, clan, and casual gamers wanted to play. Modern Combat people, GRAW folks, experts -- everyone. The idea was to create a balanced game that would please them all." - Frank DeLise, general manager
Mistakes Many Games Make: "Not knowing when to stop -- knowing where to cut, where not to cut to overdesign. You have to be careful about making a game that has everything you want in it; the game winds up losing its focus. That's a challenge for us too -- we want to put everything in Frontlines, but we have to take a step back. That's what defines it, [and] what makes it a good experience. So we dive into this recipe of go-anywhere, do-anything action -- drones/teamwork that make it take a leap forward. It also makes us look at things we didn't like [such as] "conquest"-like gameplay. It was too spread out, too frantic and not nearly focused to a front. It's a point that all gamers go through." -DeLise
The Medic: "Playing the medic usually sucks. You get the worst gun. You're stuck in the background reviving people, but it's a rewarding support role. The only downside is that you barely get any credit for what you're doing in-game because you're forced into the background. Since there is no defib kill in this game, what is the ultimate humiliation move? It isn't in there yet, but the adrenaline injection that revives the fallen also gives live foes a heart attack." - Votypka
The Team Being Based in New York: "I'm a New Yorker for life. And the one thing I realized is that there are few if any game studios here. New York is an art mecca and yet nobody thinks to set up here. There's no way we would've gotten this far if we were somewhere else. When we first started -- 14 people with a new name, a new studio -- there might've been some hesitation on the part of modders we asked to join us. It's a huge chance. But the city itself is a huge draw to people to come work with us. It's better than setting up in the middle of nowhere.
"We moved, as a group, from Long Island to New York when we started getting money from DICE (the marketing dollars to continue making Desert Combat). Working with the DICE guys was great. BF1942 was a big step for them. EA didn't get behind them at first, didn't put any marketing dollars into the game. But as people were getting into Desert Combat, more and more people were noticing what Battlefield was all about. As a team, we had a good time there when we were acquired by DICE. So that was actually pretty good." - DeLise
EA vs. THQ: "So EA offered great incentive packages. They wanted to keep the team together and get [it] to either move to Sweden or EA LA. We were just 14 people and we wanted to try and stay together. Was there any chance we could stay in NYC? 14 people? That's like a decent hiring day for EA. That's the way they look at it. They have this whole superstudio system, so it was a simple matter of move or leave. No hard feelings, there.
"The general mode of thought is: they don't want to move? No problem? Need an R&D team? We'll build you one. Need an artist? We have plenty of those. They don't look at it as, "These are the guys that helped create this stuff." To be honest, for EA it's business. They want to give people bonuses to get them to move to their specific studios. Maxis moved. DICE Canada, made a bunch of great expansions, shut down. I wouldn't fault them; that's the way they like to work.
"THQ has a totally different perspective. It's all about keeping your own identity. We create our game, and our structure. We set the milestones, set out a budget and then we're greenlit. We're off. We'll see 'em when it comes to QA. That's a totally different philosophy -- very hands off and totally trusting. They actually want to make sure that they don't poison the creativity of the studio. THQ was sniffing around for us even before the EA deal and when we decided we didn't want to move, THQ was there for us. We actually in-source with other THQ substudios. Like Relic -- they've had some downtime after finishing Company of Heroes so we'll have those guys make some buildings structures for us. We are very cooperative, which is very different from EA... When I was there, EAP [third-party division -- the ones that found Battlefield] was in competition with EA in a sense. They wouldn't cross-talk with each other about developments. Even amongst the guys there -- from studio to studio -- it was pretty competitive." - DeLise
