If there is one developer everyone should be keeping an eye on, it is Digital Extremes.
They Have created a vast portfolio of great games like Dark Sector and Darkness 2, but they also plan to get sci-fi fans excited with their upcoming Free-To-Play game WARFRAME. We pick the brain of Digital Extremes’s Creative Director Steve Sinclair and find out about the inspirations behind the highly anticipated game.
Q: First of all I have to say, WARFRAME looks like an outstanding game for something that is placed in the Free-to-Play model. Why did the team decide to follow this business model instead of a retail release?
A: We wanted to make a game with a smaller team. We wanted to do it with a level of agility and freedom you cannot get when you’re taking someone else’s money. We wanted to execute on an idea that we believed in but publishers told us wasn’t going to work in their portfolios. And we wanted to do all of this in a way that didn’t take years and years.
There’s only one place you can release something cool and small and build it continually with your audience. That is Free-to-Play on PC. We can listen to feedback and make changes and deploy them in hours or days.
Q: One thing Digital Extremes has always been known for is its great art design. From Pariah to Dark Sector to Darkness 2, you and your team have proven that you know how to create eye catching characters and worlds. What was the initial inspiration for WARFRAME?
A: You nailed it. We did an in concept engine demo back in 2004 for a sci-fi concept. We poured our heart and soul into it. It felt unique and for its time it was visually stunning. It sparked ideas that we could never hope to fit into a single game. We pitched it and after the applause and astonishment wore off, after they ran the numbers on comparables, we got turned down. We adapted the pitch and put the high concept on ice… until now.
Q: Will WARFRAME have a story for players to progress into?
A: In a traditional linear sense, it does not. WARFRAME is focusing more on player stories than a traditional imposed narrative. There are mission-threads that form a story in the player’s imagination. There are mysteries and narrative threads about the world that I think some players will seek out and enjoy. But the real strength is creating procedural variety and more open play possibilities that create player stories. Simple example:
Scott (our lead level designer) was getting new players around the office to play WARFRAME. “Man, I totally dig the ninja vibe, but I want to be able to do more ninja things.” Scott went to Geoff (lead animator) and said, “Wanna try knee slide when you sprint and press crouch?” Scant days pass and Dave (producer) is playing with Corey(QA) during our usual play test. They’re running into this big open space with two bridges on either side. Dave takes one way, Corey the other. They reach the middle of their respective bridges when suddenly, simultaneously, Dave and Corey both whip into a knee slide – machine guns blazing, Grineer blood flying everywhere… they look across at each other while it’s happening. They almost stopped playing to high-five each other.
Q: Many Dark Sector fans probably noticed that the race you play as are called the Tenno, which was the last name of Dark Sector’s protagonist. Might we see a connection between Dark Sector and WARFRAME?
A: Yes – though its more in an abstract, almost Final Fantasy way… I hate to be vague but much of it is still coming together but it’s safe to say that WARFRAME is an extrapolation of ideas that we had in mind during the making of Dark Sector.
Historically speaking, as absurd as it sounds, it’s probably more accurate to say that Dark Sector borrowed ideas from what has now become WARFRAME!
Q: What kind of gameplay style does WARFRAME go for? I noticed a mix of gun play, telekinetic powers and close combat. Will this mean players can choose their own play style when taking on the Grineer Empire?
A: Exactly! The pillars are guns, swords and powers. We’re trying to create WARFRAMEs that are actually difficult to compare. When that happens it means they aren’t just minor variations. When that happens it means you’ve probably expanded your gameplay possibilities, players have more room to think and improvise within the combat ‘system’.
We were fighting about the Loki WARFRAME. It has a decoy ability, and someone was arguing that it totally sucked vs. Excalibur’s Slash ability. Someone said that Loki’s Switch Teleport (where you can swap places with a target) was so cool that it made it worth suffering the crappy Decoy ability. Scott piped in, “Have you ever tried Switch Teleport with your Decoy?” Response: “No. What? No! No way!?”
Q: Can players expect to see any types of customization?
A: Big time. This is the key to progression! As you rank up your WARFRAME it opens up slots for ‘Mods’ that you find while you’re playing. The Mods interact with each other, and with the base abilities and play-style of the player. Because you have to make choices, because you might find rare mods, people end up trying out many different ‘recipes’ to find the best build for a particular WARFRAME.
On top of this, because we’re third person, we are building a lot of personalization options into making your WARFRAME look cool. Even if you like hot-pink.
Q: From what you have played, what is your favourite type of WARFRAME? I personally love the look of the one with the hammer head style helmet!
A: That’s my favorite! Well, right now it is… it kind of changes because they feel very different from one another. The one you’re talking about is called ‘Loki’. Unlike many of the other WARFRAMEs, Loki lacks a clear direct damage so you need to be creative when playing as Loki.
I was playing with James (CEO) the other day and we almost crapped when a Grineer Bombard come lumbering out. This guy’s armor is so thick it takes a long time to take one down. It doesn’t help that he’s firing huge splash-damage rockets everywhere. The ship we were on happened to be damaged – so there are fires and the ship is shaking about to explode — kind of stressful actually. So James was playing a different WARFRAME and he blasted the Bombard with Stasis. Usually it’s a great way to take the pressure off and regroup for a bit but for reasons I can’t explain, I jumped my Loki into a burning fire hazard (and started taking crazy damage) and then POP I switched teleported with the frozen-in-time Bombard. He went down, unable to escape the fire, and we didn’t fire a single shot!
Q: Will WARFRAME contain any forms of micro transactions so gamers can extend their playtime with future content?
A: Right now our plan is to give players a great game that is evolving and growing with them. As we add new features, they’ll roll out to everyone. In return, we hope they will make purchases that customize their WARFRAMEs or expand on their arsenal a bit. As that happens we will be furiously building more WARFRAMEs, more missions, and expanding on what is resonating with the audience!
Q: What can gamers look forward to in the upcoming BETA?
A: They can look forward to reaming us out about what they love and hate and watching us work our asses off to make the game even better. I can’t wait to see what they think. Do they like the item-centric leveling system? Do they think the procedural content generation is compelling? Will they dig the coop PvE space-ninja game we’re making?
Q: When will gamers be able to get their hands on the WARFRAME BETA?
A: We’re targeting this fall, as much as that terrifies me. But we want to tear off the band-aid. We want to get the primordial-ooze of the game out there and see what people think.
Q: Are there any other projects you would like to give a shout out to?
A: I’d love to shout-out to e:info readers for being patient enough to read my ham-fisted answers and to the gamers that are following WARFRAME and asking questions on www.facebook.com/PlayWARFRAME. I read them all! You guys are in first, you’re the alphas! For the rest of you, take 15 seconds and sign up for beta at playWARFRAME.com so my boss pays for coffee!
To sign up the the upcoming WARFRAME BETA, click here.
For more information on Digital Extremes and WARFRAME, click here.
