Stuart Black on Bodycount

Stuart Black has joined Codemasters to work on what is popularly described as the spiritual successor to Black - Bodycount. However, that's not exactly how he puts it himself as we ask him a few questions on his latest project.

You claim to "re-define gunplay" with Bodycount. What exactly does that mean in terms of gameplay?

There's a very particular style of fire fight that I dipped my toe into on BLACK that I'm interested in exploring further. You know, ratcheting up the visceral intensity and broadening the overall experience of that.

It's hard to put into meaningful words because it's all about the feel. And how it feels effects every moment of game play. It's about the response of the game to players when they pull the trigger. You're going to pull the trigger a lot in Bodycount so that response better be impressive, varied and unlike anything you've experienced before.

How would you describe the FPS genre today, and how is Bodycount going to resemble/differ from it?

In game play terms I think the genre is doing okay. There are way too many cover shooters, relying on whack-a-mole mechanics, but that's trends for you. They come, they go. Story wise things are a lot narrower. There's good stuff, but the choice is limited. I've had enough of dangerous men in cruel worlds. It's depressing and dull. You can tick off the story beats in your head.

I want to have fun. Bodycount is about giving you a consequence free excuse to blow shit up in your virtual world. There are bad men in the world. Evil neo-Nazi scumbags tagged The Target. Join The Network and help take them down.

Destructible environments is something we've been promised in a lot of games before (with varying results). How are you going to do it better?

We're not out to do anything ‘better' than anyone else. Console development is all about where you choose to spend and the tech tricks you've got up your sleeve to do things fast and cheap. Creative individuals in teams, who aren't just copying something, are going to make different choices on where and how much to spend.

We spend a lot on destruction. More than anyone else. I'm more stubborn about bullet impacts on a flat concrete wall than anyone on the planet. Therefore our bullet impacts have a higher fidelity and a more detailed story which, when developed across all surfaces and items, creates a visceral intensity that is very satisfying and morish. You just want to keep ripping stuff up because it feels so good. And that's the moment we're chasing, to make our players feel empowered and happy. To give them an emotional high.

I want to help people feel better at the end of a rubbish day. Ripping stuff up and blowing away bad guys is a great stress reliever. It certainly works for me.

How will this destruction be implemented in multiplayer?

All the destruction is implemented in multiplayer exactly as in the single player season.

Speaking of multiplayer, what are you most excited about there?

That would be how persistent destruction changes the nature of the fire fights. At the start, with a pristine world, it's all about the SMG and Shotgun. Brilliant at ripping through walls and CQC. As the world is ripped apart, the line of sight opens up, and Assault rifles dominate until you get to a stage where you can see through an entire building, through multiple partition walls, and the sniper rifle comes into its own. It's very dynamic and we're still exploring the tactics that develop from it. Especially when you combine it with our lean-cover system. There is some very unique sneaky stuff you can pull that I'll never reveal. It'll be interesting to see how quickly people discover them and what the counters are.

How much of Black's spirit (or Operation Flashpoint, for that matter) will be present in Bodycount and in what way?

BLACK was a very important game for me as a designer. I'm grateful to Criterion and, Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry in particular, for the opportunity I had to prove, to myself, if I knew what I was talking about when it came to making a shooter. I had a very specific idea of how that should feel and the mechanics needed to deliver that experience. The reception it received and the fans it still has around the world has been very gratifying and gave me the confidence to feel comfortable with my innate sensibilities when it comes to shooting games.

I'm really trying not to make BLACK2. Bodycount will be a significant departure from what I would have done with that. My hope is that when people play Bodycount, those that are BLACK fans will be satisfied that the things they loved about it are present and correct. The feel is there. But that there is so much more and that it expresses its narrative and characters in a fresh and dynamic way.

We hope that Bodycount is the start of a compelling journey that will develop, exploring the world, characters and game play we're creating. Through the barrel of a gun, one bullet at a time.

It is perhaps financially sound to develop a Modern Warfare 2:ish game these days. Bodycount doesn't seem like that kind of game, so would you say that there's a risk in not taking the safe route?

No, the risk is in trying to copy Modern Warfare. They're not exactly doing a lot wrong. There's not a lot of opportunity to come in and say, ‘Hey, look what we're doing better than them.' That's a very uncreative view; ‘Look at their market share, let's have some of that.'

The opportunity is to find the space that exists beside Modern Warfare, or Halo, or BioShock, or Battlefield or any of what you'd perceive as ‘Genre Leaders'.

People have called FPS an overcrowded genre since forever. That didn't stop any of the aforementioned titles becoming essential games in your collection.

I'm making Bodycount because I believe it will be a game that only we can deliver and that it deserves; needs to exist. Time has shown me that no one is going to come along and fill the space that Alex Ward and I defined for BLACK. Something like MW or even Vegas was probably influenced by BLACK in vague ways. But that's all it is - vague. They have their own interests.

I am a believer in the creative individuals that make up the team. They make the game what it is. They define the feel. If they are the right blend of talents, with the right direction, they will create something unique. This is what all the best teams in the world do, irrespective of game type.

Supposed safe routes are risky precisely because they look safe. There is no safe route. Make something new that delights, fascinates and entertains. Love it and channel that love to your players. Make people feel happy.

Have you upgraded the EGO Engine in any way, and if so how, and how will it become apparent in Bodycount?

I'm an airy fairy creative guy so I'm not 100% on the tech speak of EGO. EGO is constantly evolving. I've described it as a Bank because teams put tech in that others can then draw out. So, for example, EGO didn't have anything to do with shredding the world and objects in it. We wrote that stuff and now it's in EGO. Conversely the racing team had banked some great physics, online host/client stuff and lots of bits and bobs like water simulation that we've taken and adapted, saving us time or allowing us to implement a feature we wouldn't otherwise have. All of Codemasters internal games are a representation of the power and flexibility of EGO.

How exactly will the bullet meter work?

That I'll know about 3-4 months from release. At the moment we have a few ideas for little second to second risk/reward loops. They are the bullet bar, kill chains and hot zoning. Any, all or none of these might make it into the final game. It all depends how well they function and how they integrate into the overall progression.

The bullet bar is all about getting your kill rate up. Special bullet types will drop into your mag that let you chew through the bad guys. Drop out and you're left vulnerable, fumbling a reload because you're so wired.

Kill chains are inspired by beat ‘em up chaining. Same thing, but it's about the order and manner in which you take down enemy types with the last in the chain dropping big Intel payouts which you can cash in for character abilities, weapon upgrades or to call in the big guns; tactical airstrikes from helicopters, predator drones and mobile weapon platforms, which will behave kind of like pets.

And hot zoning kind of works in conjunction with the kill chains and Intel. It works as a mechanic to influence the type of enemy you'll face and where they'll focus their attention.

You've teased us with "mouth-watering" modern weapons, what can you tell us about the arsenal in Bodycount?

Ah, the guns. This is what it's all about. You're not going to talk, barter or puzzle your way through Bodycount. All your interaction is down the barrel of a gun.

We're inspired by Heckler & Kosh, Sig Sauer, Walther and Glock. Weapon design doesn't move very fast so you have to pick carefully to bring something new to the table.

As with everything in Bodycount, it's not about replicating reality but using it as a springboard into an exaggerated, kind of ridiculous but still cool interpretation of it. Our guns are like wild animals, barely controlled, that roar when you squeeze the trigger.