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Exclusive: Brothers in Arms Q&A Feature
Derek dela Fuente
17/12/2004
Gearbox President Randy Pitchford gives us an insight into Brothers in Arms...
Without a shadow of a doubt one of the most impressive gameâs publisher at present must be Ubisoft in both the number of epic and new game franchises. The latest game to capture the imagination is Brothers in Arms Road to Hill 30, a first person shooter, set in WWII, based on a true story.
Set during the famous airdrop before the invasion at Normandy, Sgt. Matt Baker and his squad of 101st Airborne paratroopers were scattered over the French countryside. As the story unfolds, the player (Baker) must choose between the success of his mission and the lives of his men â“ his brothers in arms. Brothers in Arms we are told will immerse players in the historic eight-day invasion of Normandy â“ with unparalleled imagery, authenticity, sound and gameplay.
To get the full insight Derek dela Fuente interviewed Randy Pitchford, President of Gearbox Software, which is developing the game.
TVG: Gearbox has a great reputation for creating AAA quality titles. What were some of the goals and ideologies you have set in place with Brothers in Arms?
We wanted a game where you could be one of the guys in a real squad of soldiers â“ like in the war movies youâve seen. This is why the game is called âBrothers in Armsâ. Also, we wanted the situations, the places and the soldiers to be as authentic as possible. The idea was to use the interactive medium to create a sort of time machine back into the real D-Day invasion. So, the team recreated the real places and the real battles â“ itâs pretty neat and itâs never been done like this before.
TVG: How important and focused is the team on creating perfect AI and what are the areas you can broaden to make the AI in this game impressive? To gamers this is an almost invisible area of the game, which is running behind the code, and it is hard to get a fix on the full complexities. Can you expand on AI building and perfecting?
AI has been a huge part of Brothers in Arms and involves lots of inventions â“ systems that have never been done before. It was created because we wanted these guys to act like real soldiers. Weâve played games before where the player has command of a squad and the guys act more like chess pieces than people â“ where they wonât do anything (even if theyâre in grave danger) unless the player asks them to do it. Brothers in Arms is different. The guys will engage the enemy as they were trained, dive behind the nearest cover and alternate fire while guys reload or reposition themselves.
The AI in Brothers in Arms is very complex and comprises a bunch of different systems that not only make sure the guys react like trained soldiers but help them see the environment for what it is. There is also a new system we call âSituational AIâ that allows the enemy to use smart strategies to fire and manoeuvre against the playerâs squad.
TVG: Will Brothers in Arm offer a mature game, which could present explicit scenes and narrative? Would you agree that realism is the only way forward? So with this in mind do you research any psychology aspects of war? To add, being based on real events, are there any no no's?
Brothers in Arms is a mature game that lets you become a 101st Airborne paratrooper for eight days of the Normandy invasion. Brothers in Arms depicts this period authentically, so there are some pretty horrible things that happen.
While Iâm not sure that realism is the only way forward for all games, it is the only way forward for a game like Brothers in Arms.
One of the side effects of realistically depicting real soldiers in real war is that some things actually happened that could make some people uncomfortable. There is violence in war. There is also brotherhood and honour. While our interactive medium is relatively new, we donât think that the importance of telling these kinds of stories is any different with this medium as with others (such as books or film). We expect many people to be entertained by the experience. But we also think that the experience is a bit more than just entertainment â“ it is history and it contains commentary about the human condition.
TVG: Tell us about some of the background technology of the game and the salient points pertaining to the games 3D engine!
Gearbox licensed technology from the best engine developers in the business. Then, we modified the engine with lots of custom technology to allow Gearbox to make the game it had planned to make. The Gearbox graphics technology allows the team to render Normandy as vast and accurate as we could imagine it â“ to take the player out of the corridor and into the real world. New technology also allows facial expressions and emotions that really help express these characters. And, there are many technology inventions in artificial intelligence that Iâve spoken about above.
TVG: What is the story to the game â“ does the central character Sgt Baker come with any baggage and can you set the scene?
Baker is the leader of a squad of paratroopers from the 502nd parachute infantry regiment of the 101st airborne division. He was put in charge of the squad just before the jump when the previous squad leader broke a leg in a âtraining exerciseâ. Baker doesnât really want to be squad leader.
Near the beginning of the game, Baker remembers:
âMy dad said something to me after the divorce: He said, âevery soldier has two families, those you raise and those you raise hell with.â
Bakerâs dad left him alone with his mother when he went off to war. He was killed in Italy.
TVG: Would you agree that there are war games that have great gameplay ideas and flash graphics but few, which offer the real futility and panic of war? If you had to pick one aspect of the game that you feel will advance the genre on, what would it be?
Brothers in Arms will raise the bar in authenticity. This is not only about the places and the events, but the people and what you lead them through.
TVG: How random will the behaviour of both Sgt Baker and his support team be? Do soldiers consciously or sub consciously takes note of the mayhem occurring around them and does everyone have a long list of variant behavioural reactions?
Well, since Sgt. Baker is the playerâs character we expect his behaviour to be completely random.
The non-player characters in Bakerâs squad have personalities and those personalities arc as the game progresses. This means that youâll find a soldier who may start a bit fearful, but over the course of the eight days he will find it within himself to give up his fear and fight. Other characters have different arcs. While this does occur in the game as you are playing as Brothers in Arms progresses, youâre not likely to find wide mood swings from one side to the other and back again within the course of one mission. The goal was to create interesting and plausible characters that all participate and compliment Bakerâs story. The goal was not to prove evidence of a complex emotional modelling system by amplifying the effects of in game stimuli to quickly and radically change the emotional state of any given character.
TVG: What types of enemies will the player face, will bystanders be pulled into the events and does the French setting offer any real unique qualities pertaining to gameplay?
In the area are Ost battalions (conscripts) and regular German infantry. Unfortunately, the German 6th Parachute Infantry (fallshirmjager) are around the area too. The paratroopers are like the elite, special forces units of the era and theyâre a tough enemy for Baker and his men. As the team approaches the town of Carentan, they also have to deal with the 17th Waffen SS Panzer grenadiers â“ these guys are very tough. And there are support units including aircraft, crew served weapons (like the Pak 36 Anti-tank gun and various anti-aircraft weapons) and even support vehicles like carts, trucks and half-tracks. And, of course, there are Nazi tanks. Stugâs and Mk IVâs are the most commonâ¦
TVG: Can you expand on the command system of the game and what kind of control you have over the two fire teams?
Itâs really simple, but it allows for very authentic manoeuvres. You just pick which team you want (a lot like choosing your weapon) and you point at where you want to issue a command (a lot like aiming your weapon). If you aim at the ground, your order is to move to that position. If you aim at an enemy, your order is to attack the enemy. If you repeat the attack order, youâre asking the team to assault (charge). It goes like that â“ itâs a context sensitive, one button command system. Very simple to use.
Itâs very effective because it allows you to quickly and plausibly execute authentic squad commands. You can move a team up behind cover â“ just look near the position you want them to go to and press the command trigger. The order will be âmoveâ and theyâll pick smart positions around the cover automatically when they run over there. Then, if you have an enemy target nearby, you simply look at the enemy and press the command trigger â“ thatâs the attack order. If it was the only enemy, odds are good that your men already wouldâve opened up on them, so your attack order would just focus their fire and clear them to use grenades and things. If there was more than one enemy, youâre helping them prioritise which target you care about most for whatever tactics you have in mind.
Now that your team is firing upon the enemy (the enemy is probably trying to keep behind cover and is returning fire as best as it can), you now should try to move around the enemy and flank him. You can select and direct your other team to move to a flank or you can go do it yourself (or you can bring them with you and do it together for maximum firepower on the flank).
There are infinite tactical options and they are influenced by the context of each situation. Since the game is real time, is played like a first person shooter and has very realistic and natural environments, there are a zillion ways to solve a combat problem. Itâs not like playing chess â“ itâs like playing war.
TVG: What kind of body and environmental deformation and injury will the game offer beyond the norm?
The body is amazingly resilient, so you wonât find tons of gratuitous parts flying about. But, sometimes the conditions are such with artillery or grenades or bigger, crew served, weapons that a human body can be horribly torn apart in war. This can happen in Brothers in Arms. If youâre not careful, you could rapidly find yourself with a squad full of Brothers without Arms.
THANK YOU
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Brothers in Arms Road to Hill 30 is scheduled for a release during February 2005; look out for further coverage soon.
