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TakeitGame had a chat with Edward Stern, Brink's Lead Writer. We wanted to know more about the first Splash Damage's original game, after working in franchises such as DOOM3, Enemy Territoy and Wolfenstein.
Interview
This is Splash Damage's first original title. Do you consider that this can be a new era for the company?
Brink is a first for us in several ways. It's our first original IP (although it was a pretty serious honour and pleasure to work on Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake) and it's our first game made for all three lead platforms: PC, Xbox 360 and PS3, all at once, all by us, using the same engine and assets. Hopefully this is the first of many such games from us.
What's the biggest challenge about making an original game?
One of our goals was that Brink should be a world that players hadn't seen before. And that certainly involves some challenges. It's a bit harder to have a game setting for which no handy cultural references exist. You have to explain a lot more to the player and that sometimes means a lot of boring narration and exposition.
We think we've solved this problem by using our environments as our main narrator. The player's surroundings are much more eloquent and persuasive storytellers than an NPC who lectures you on "how things used to be." The story of the Ark (where Brink takes place) is revealed when and how the player chooses. The player can pull as much or as little information about how the Ark got to its current state, as they desire.
What was your goal when you first started working on Brink?
Oh, we had several. We knew it had to be really good (obviously). It had to be a world players hadn't seen before (see above), one that would look stunning, and unique. Finally, it had to build on all our previous gameplay experience, but also be welcoming for new players unfamiliar with the genre.
Where did the inspiration for such a project come from?
The odd thing is that almost the first thing that Paul Wedgwood said to me when I joined the company in 2002 was "you know, we ought to make a game set on an Arkology." Back then we were completely immersed in trying to make Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, so all I was thinking about was World War II history, technology, and reference photos. It was only when we were thinking about what game we wanted to make after Enemy Territory: Quake Wars that we remembered, "somewhere unique...somewhere where there would be a reason for factions to fight...somewhere they couldn't just leave."
Tell me what the highlight of this game is.
There is no one, single highlight, and that's the advantage and challenge of Brink's gameplay, it's always different. Our first game, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is 7 years old. It's had over half a billion games played. And no two of them were the same. It's that sort of near-infinite replayablity that we're after in Brink. We've been playtesting the game for quite awhile now, and the playtests are always different and always fun. Each game involves a different combination of abilities, tactics, and missions.
Has it is known, Brink allows the player to create its own character. Why did you choose this instead of having predefined characters?
Because it's cooler and we think players prefer it.
Seriously, we've seen how awesome it is in MMORPG games like World of WarCraft, how involved players get with their avatars when their appearance truly reflects their status and experience in the game. Previously it's been very difficult to have that degree of customisation in a player that has to be co-op/multiplayer on the fly. We found a way to allow players to have utterly unique characters (with two entirely separate customisation trees, one for Security and one for the Resistance) and still let them be sent over a network with no loss of quality or frame rate. Like I said, we think it's cooler.
How many people did this project involve? And how long did will take to get it finished?
That's a tough one to answer. Splash Damage has permanent development, production and QA staff, but you can't get a game made without some very brilliant production partners. Add in everyone at Bethesda helping with the publishing and marketing...hmm, I honestly don't know how many people that involves. Lots.
Brink is a first for us in several ways. It's our first original IP (although it was a pretty serious honour and pleasure to work on Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake) and it's our first game made for all three lead platforms: PC, Xbox 360 and PS3, all at once, all by us, using the same engine and assets. Hopefully this is the first of many such games from us.
What's the biggest challenge about making an original game?
One of our goals was that Brink should be a world that players hadn't seen before. And that certainly involves some challenges. It's a bit harder to have a game setting for which no handy cultural references exist. You have to explain a lot more to the player and that sometimes means a lot of boring narration and exposition.
We think we've solved this problem by using our environments as our main narrator. The player's surroundings are much more eloquent and persuasive storytellers than an NPC who lectures you on "how things used to be." The story of the Ark (where Brink takes place) is revealed when and how the player chooses. The player can pull as much or as little information about how the Ark got to its current state, as they desire.
What was your goal when you first started working on Brink?
Oh, we had several. We knew it had to be really good (obviously). It had to be a world players hadn't seen before (see above), one that would look stunning, and unique. Finally, it had to build on all our previous gameplay experience, but also be welcoming for new players unfamiliar with the genre.
Where did the inspiration for such a project come from?
The odd thing is that almost the first thing that Paul Wedgwood said to me when I joined the company in 2002 was "you know, we ought to make a game set on an Arkology." Back then we were completely immersed in trying to make Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, so all I was thinking about was World War II history, technology, and reference photos. It was only when we were thinking about what game we wanted to make after Enemy Territory: Quake Wars that we remembered, "somewhere unique...somewhere where there would be a reason for factions to fight...somewhere they couldn't just leave."
Tell me what the highlight of this game is.
There is no one, single highlight, and that's the advantage and challenge of Brink's gameplay, it's always different. Our first game, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is 7 years old. It's had over half a billion games played. And no two of them were the same. It's that sort of near-infinite replayablity that we're after in Brink. We've been playtesting the game for quite awhile now, and the playtests are always different and always fun. Each game involves a different combination of abilities, tactics, and missions.
Has it is known, Brink allows the player to create its own character. Why did you choose this instead of having predefined characters?
Because it's cooler and we think players prefer it.
Seriously, we've seen how awesome it is in MMORPG games like World of WarCraft, how involved players get with their avatars when their appearance truly reflects their status and experience in the game. Previously it's been very difficult to have that degree of customisation in a player that has to be co-op/multiplayer on the fly. We found a way to allow players to have utterly unique characters (with two entirely separate customisation trees, one for Security and one for the Resistance) and still let them be sent over a network with no loss of quality or frame rate. Like I said, we think it's cooler.
How many people did this project involve? And how long did will take to get it finished?
That's a tough one to answer. Splash Damage has permanent development, production and QA staff, but you can't get a game made without some very brilliant production partners. Add in everyone at Bethesda helping with the publishing and marketing...hmm, I honestly don't know how many people that involves. Lots.
