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Frontlines: Fuel of War - Dev Blog "Frontlines Mechanic" Feature
Chris Leyton
26/10/2007
THQ and KAOS Studios provides details on the innovative feature that drives Frontlines: Fuel of War...
Accompanying today's video release detailing the Frontline mechanic, KAOS Studios' Martin Raymond Senior Game Designer provides a further look at the feature in the forthcoming Xbox 360, PS3, and PC tactical shooter.
My name is Martin Raymond, and I'm the Senior Game Designer on Frontlines: Fuel of War. When we set out to design Frontlines: Fuel of War, we knew we wanted to create an FPS that could do it all, from close quarters infantry combat to intense land and air vehicle battles. After merging our gameplay ideas together, we were left with the question:
"How do you combine intense, fast-paced tactical action with large, open-ended gameplay and a huge arsenal of vehicles and weaponry?"
This was our big design challenge, and our ultimate answer is something we call the frontline game mechanic, which is the driving force behind Frontlines: Fuel of War.
We wanted to offer a wide selection of gameplay experiences, from tight urban infantry battles to massive open ended armored battles (let's not forget about the jets and choppers, however that's probably for another post). We also wanted to heavily promote teamwork and concentrate the action on specific regions of the map at a time so that you wouldn't have to wander the map aimlessly trying to find someone to kill or trying to figure out what you need to do next.
So, this is all well and good, but how does it actually work?
The Frontlines Mechanic
The concept behind the Frontlines mechanic is simple: Each map is composed of multiple series of objectives that are either neutral or owned by either the Western Coalition or the Red Star Alliance. Each of these series represents a frontline and only objectives contained within the current frontline are active and can be captured.
Capture all objectives within a frontline, in any order, and the front will advance deeper into hostile territory, revealing the next frontline. Push the front all the way back to the enemy's base and capture it and victory is yours!
What's interesting about this mechanic is that the game focuses the action on the same frontline for both teams; the action is always centered within the frontline and you always get a choice between setting up defenses at your objective or joining a offense squad towards hostile territory.
Our loadout and role system will make sure to provide you with plenty of cool toys to make both offense and defense as equally exciting and action-packed parts of the game.
Objective Types
In order to add some variety and strategic elements to our gameplay, we're using 3 different objective types.
We've stayed away from the idea of limiting the completion of any objective type to a certain kind of loadout; it's simply no fun as a player to make it to an objective only to find out that nobody on the team can capture it because they're missing item x.
In frontline, any loadout can capture any objective. Your team is the only instrument required to be successful.
'Destroy' objectives
As the name implies, this requires a team of making its way into the enemy's base and placing a demolition charge onto the target which can range from Anti-Air stations, power generators and more.
The team on the receiving end of a demo charge can capture the objective back by repairing it. The ground support role has a distinct advantage here as he can repair items much more efficiently with his repair tool.
'Secure' objectives
In order to secure an area and capture this type of objective, a squad must keep it free of hostile presence for a specific duration. Teamwork really pays off here as securing an area is much faster with a larger group of teammates.
'Control' objectives
This type of objective will face a single player with the task of tapping into a variety of enemy electronics from computer stations to satellite dishes in order to take it over. Since only one player can interact with these machines at a time and the process can take several long seconds, it's crucial to have your squad watch your six in order to avoid taking a bullet to the back of the head while you're typing away on a keypad.
Stay tuned for more details into our various weapons and vehicles soon! In the meantime have a look at our awesome video, to get an in-game look at how the mechanic works!
