In a previous blog post James discussed a bit how we arrived at the three main archetypes found in Heroes. With these archetypes nailed down it was time for me to sit down and turn all the notes into actual game play figures. Since heroes tend to be the ones who are still alive when the credits roll the first major hurdle was enabling someone to still feel heroic, even in defeat. My solution was to try and reduce potential frustration and to "always leave them laughing." Frustration to me meant trying to remove no-win situations. Injecting humor and laughter into losing was a bit more difficult. Thankfully there is a term within the Battlefield world known as "A Battlefield Moment".

For those new to the BF games a "Battlefield Moment" is any time in the game when things go horribly right. For example: A grenade lands near your feet causing you to flee in panic knowing death has swept down on you. Only to have said grenade not kill you, but instead launch you into the air feeling a mix of relief and joy just as a low flying plane strikes you, returning you to your home base in a euphoric rush of confusion. Though this did create another dilemma: How do we create moments that are almost always accidental? Being an American I immediately created an oxymoron to answer this problem "Controlled Chaos".

Allow me to use an ability which has already been discussed, for an example. The Grenade Spam ability allows the Soldier class to throw many grenades at once. Each of these grenades is on a timer, and each explosion will push the remaining grenades around. Being bounce-happy little things this can cause the grenades to end up in some weird places. Thus the Soldier is able to introduce a measured amount of chaos into the playground. Though not all abilities are used to introduce chaos, some are best used to survive the heroic hijinx that goes on.

Heroic Shield allows the Gunner to protect himself and all nearby team mates with a shield that will last for a short period or until a certain amount of damage has been inflicted. Not terribly impressive by itself. However, should you find yourself in a cluster of grenades or the soon recipient of a gift-wrapped tank shell, this shield will allow you a chance to find yourself in a tree contemplating the good life enjoyed by local squirrels. Also, since the Gunner is able to share this shield with nearby friends it helps re-enforce the feeling of this class being a nice guy to have around. But we need more examples!

The Commando's abilities are actually the least chaotic. This is due to the Commando being a very deliberate class that suits those people who are, well, rather evil, to be honest. The commando can increase his damage with his sniper rifle, poison victims with his knife, turn invisible both to run away or to gain an advantage over the unwary prey, or set down a trap to catch the inattentive. All of these things are very deliberate acts. However, the presence of this sneaky class introduces another element of chaos; usually noted by other players with the expression "Great monkey tango, where did he come from!?" (Expression has been cleaned up for the ultra skilled swearing 15 year olds).

Now there is a last ability I want to talk about, because it really is my favorite. Going by the name Blasting Strike this ability is probably the most chaotic, and responsible for some of my favorite moments so far while developing and play testing Heroes. Simply put, blasting strikes allow the Soldier to take all nearby enemy troops, vehicles, and empty vehicles and move them elsewhere. Elsewhere may be defined as 'a few feet that way' or, "How did that tank get up there?" At first this ability was a hard sell to Mr. Salt. I believe the moment when he first saw the method to my madness was somewhere between crushing three enemies with a tank, and throwing a jeep into a passing spitfire plane.

Although I haven't covered all the class abilities in Battlefield Heroes (there are quite a few more!) I hope this has helped everyone better understand what our vision of "cartoon game play" represents. I look forward to seeing you all in game!


http://www.battlefield-heroes.com/dev-blog/abilities-and-classes