The FragCast Crew interviewed Patrick Bach the Sr Producer and Anders Gyllenberg the PC Producer for ea dice on Thursday, February 25th Just a few days before the release of their worldwide release of their highly anticipated game. (Audio Podcast is at the bottom of this post, We will have the Video up a bit later)
We talked to both of them about:
* Their Backgrounds at DICE
* Feedback from Beta
* DLC and Post Release Patches
* What Competitive Gamers and Clans should expect
* PC Development
* Their focus on the community
Overall this experience was quite possibly one of the most interesting I have had. I had spoken with many developers before, but these two were quite phenomenal in their responses and their openness to say the least. Both Patrick and Anders answered everything with grace and poise which makes me glad to support a game that not only has class, but also respect for the PC Gamers they helped support. We knew DICE had great things in store once they released their dedicated server plans, and now after hearing what they had planned for their game in terms of support and development I am convinced they are a developer we should support and respect. They did not speak to PC Gamers as we were a small minority which had no rights or general worth to the game, and they readily acknowledged that the reason their franchise is popular is due to the success of classics such as Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 1942 on the PC. The general discussion revolved around issues surrounding the Beta for BC2 to which we were given outstanding replies. Both of these developers knew about every issues we threw at them, and they had already setup a systematic approach to patch it before the final product was released. They knew about all of the exploits thoroughly, and they were able to answer questions about the kit balancing system that explained why certain kits may seem unbalanced when they really are not. They are aware of the issues that may arise due to their decisions that may impact the competitive community in general, but they felt these decisions were necessary in order to make sure the game appealed to the majority of players. Regardless, they are willing to work with us in order to develop some mutual dialogue in which certain mods and such could be instituted in order to provide competitive gamers what they need. Both experienced Battlefield veterans and newbies to the BF series will both be impressed with the outstanding job the DICE guys did. The immersive environments, excellent sound, outstanding graphics, as well as attentiveness to the balance of the game are all factors giving Bad Company 2 an excellent name and great support in the gaming community. No doubt such an exemplary developer should be rewarded by loyalty of those who marvel and enjoy the glory that is Bad Company 2.
Backgrounds at Dice
* Patrick Bach – Started in 2002 with Radisports Challenge 2, moved onto the the BC Series, and was senior developer for BC2
* Anders Gyllenberg – Started in 2002 with The Road to Rome expansion, moved into BF2, went to Swedish army, came back for Battlefield online, and started work on PC version of BC2
Feedback on Beta
* There will be no PC Demo, but the game will be monitored extensively at release in order to make sure Beta issues are resolved
* Weapon damage problems will be resolved in the final release
* Troggle strafe and crouch is being looked into as a serious possibility
* The developers have been looking on YouTube, Twitter, and the forums to check out how the players develop these new methods of exploits
DLC and Post Release Patches
* The team for BC2 will not leave for other games, they will continue to support BC2 and there is a huge post-release plan that will be set into play next Wendesday
* Bad Company 2 will have extensive internal testing before any patches are out, allowing for a more streamlined patch release as well as compatibility
* The balance of the game will be the primary focal point for the developers, any things that could bring this balance out of sync will warrant action from the developers team.
What competitive gamers and clans should expect
* The game has been balanced for players that are new to the BF series, many ways to go about this was the reduction of the amount of kit choices in order to prevent them from being overwhelmed
* Many different new game modes have been added to allow people with varying playing styles to find their favorite game type
* Older gametypes might be added depending on what the community feels is necessary
* Killcam has been added, but it can be disabled in the PC server settings, not in console ones though
* Battle Recorder and Mods have not been officially announced, but depending on the feedback given by the community and the needs of the many, these could quickly come into play.
* The DICE development team is not beyond working with exception modders and third party developers in order to create a game that defies all expectations
* The DICE developers felt it would not be in the interest of the community to be producing peer2peer systems which would not provide for stable gameplay as well as decent online performance.
* Global Stats are being worked on internally by DICE, and depending on what is setup it will be run by DICE themselves on their website
PC Development and Community involvement
* PC and Console games are generally developed side by side now a days due to the commonality of the engine which allows three games to made simultaneously with special care taken by the PC developers to incorporate the PC specific features ranging from graphics, sound, input and many other things
* A lot of DICE developers are active on YouTube, Twitter, and the EA forums, Anders wanted to emphasis that when posting on the forums, it is much more likely to be heard on the forums if you try to provide constructive criticism with reasoning and support why.
* Their developers want to engage in fruitful dialogue with the players, if you have a legitimate problem with the game in terms of compatibility, exploits and such, let them know!
* Girl characters are a possibility the DICE team has wanted to made a possibility for quite a while, unfortunately it keeps getting moved on to the “next game.” Hopefully it gets released soon.
* Unofficial Server Files are still in discussion, and depending on the demand of the game and the ability to feel comfortable with such a program to give the community what they need, they will release it accordingly.