Brothers In Arms SDK Interview
Written by John Callaham
Friday, 15 April 2005
Randy Pitchford of Gearbox Software chats with Computer Games Magazine about their plans for the upcoming SDK mod tools for their recent WWII tactical shooter Brothers In Arms.
Gearbox Software proved that the WWII action game genre isn't tired just yet with their release of Brothers In Arms: Road to Hill 30 in mid-March gaining high praise from game critics and high sales from retailers. While the developer is already working on a second game in the series, it is also preparing some mod tools for the PC version of Brothers In Arms that will be beta tested beginning next week. Computer Games Magazine got a chance to chat with Gearbox's head man Randy Pitchford to find out more about their mod support of the game.
Computer Games - First, is Gearbox Software pleased with the reactions that Brothers in Arms has received from gamers and game critics?
Randy Pitchford - It’s great for the game to get such attention and acclaim – we can hardly believe it. We knew that the innovations that the team achieved in squad combat, authenticity and character development in this kind of game were important, but it was hard to know what the world was going to compare the game to other things out there (since it’s a hybrid of so many other concepts we love).
I mean, we were really confident in how the game stood up technically against the other war games and we knew that we had really gone father than any of them have in terms of fulfilling the fundamental promise of using the medium to experience what these men really went through. Now that the game is out and we’re able to see the reviews and how the public sees the game, we’re obviously very proud.
I can tell you that one thing is clear: the Gearbox team will not squander the success and it will not take it for granted.
The team at Gearbox seems to be more eager than ever to apply everything we’ve learned (and the revenue the game earns) and put it all towards going even father with the next games. We’re going to talk about a new “Brothers in Arms†game at E3 which really does take the next step and also makes a lot of things about the game that were risky even better. Later, Gearbox will share even further developments that are really, really exciting. The support we’re seeing now will come back around over the next few years. So it’s really important for Gearbox to remain thankful to its supporters and customers.
Computer Games - When did Gearbox decide to create a full SDK for the game?
Randy Pitchford - I think, from the very beginning, we all knew we were going to a Software Development Kit (SDK) for end users who want to modify the game. I know it’s obvious now that Gearbox is a fully equipped and committed multi-platform developer, but we still have so much love and respect for the PC platform that we always knew that we wanted to give PC customers the power to push the game beyond where we went with it.
Computer Games - How hard was it to develop mod tools for Brothers in Arms, in comparison to Gearbox's previous work on the Halo PC mod tools?
Randy Pitchford - The SDK support for BiA is much bigger and better than any of our previous games that supported modification. With Halo, users were a bit constrained by the legacy of how the technology was constructed for development and the community discovered that there were some limiting factors with what Bungie and Microsoft were able to allow there. But I think the Halo mod stuff that the community has created is really amazing – some people have done some amazing things within the boundaries they were constrained by and the guys at Gearbox have been very impressed.
But, with Halo, mod authoers had to be limited to just maps and simple replacement and conversion kind of activities in multiplayer only. We also had a situation where we were only allowed to release the Halo Editing Kit to function with a Custom Edition of Halo PC – so that all of the core customers never had the opportunity to create or play with the new custom content. None of those problems are there with the BiA SDK. We’re allowing tons of power in code and content, we’re allowing single and multiplayer modifications and generally going into with the philosophy of letting the community go nuts with the software as far as we can within the bounds of the engine license.
Computer Games - What will be included in the first release of the game's SDK?
Randy Pitchford - We’re supporting new game code, mutators, levels, new characters, new weapons, completely new single player and multiplayer scenarios – mod authors will have a LOT of power with the Brothers in Arms Software Development Kit if they’re comparing it to the Halo Editing Kit and a lot of other games.
We’ve already seen some very amazing stuff with the first small group of testers who got to use the first version SDK.
For example, one of the teams created a modification to allow the player to use the squad command system in Brothers in Arms to direct artillery fire on distant targets. Think about that – have a friendly team set up on a mortar, look at a target and press the command trigger: “Put some fire on that position!†The mortar crew starts dropping shells into the thing and BOOM, BOOM, BOOM – the shells are away to the target. I saw a short video that the mod guys captured showing off what they had done - it was really awesome with the artillery landing short, but progressing in a rolling pattern until the target was finally hit and totally destroyed.I want our audio guy to give some new samples of Baker yelling commands like, “Fire for effect!†to support this kind of effort. In any case, it was very cool stuff to see and these guys build this modification in just a few days. I can’t wait to see what other stuff comes out of the community from the SDK – I know there are already a bunch of guys working with it.
We’re currently opening up the beta test program to another 100 participants, so there is an opportunity there for mod guys to get their hands on this stuff before the rest of the world. There is lots of information over in the Gearbox forums and on the Gearbox website at
www.gearboxsoftware.com.
Computer Games - How extensive will the mod tools' tutorials and documentation be?
Randy Pitchford - Our problem right now is that we have too much information, actually. The document I just looked at today that the beta test group is going to get is 2mb and almost 200 pages. I’ve actually been complaining that it’s too much stuff and the overload of information is going to seem intimidating - and this is only for the advanced stuff that is unique to Brothers in Arms because the SDK assumes you can learn the basics from so much of the other tutorial material that is out there already for mod authors using similar tools. I imagine for the public release we’ll have to include the primers and use the advance materials and samples as a basis for an on-line community that is centered around the modification of Gearbox games (with Brothers in Arms being the best headliner).
Computer Games - So, in addition to the mod tools, will Gearbox set up a dedicated forum or separate web site for Brothers In Arms mods?
Randy Pitchford - Currently, that’s the hope. I think for the public release we’re going to have to provide some simple primers with the kit and support an on-line community where mod authors and fans looking for content can come together to learn how to do more or download their latest mods. We have some capability now to deploy the advanced information I was talking about earlier, but we can imagine that it can go much farther. So, we’re actually looking for some webmaster types who may be interested in getting involved with such a thing. If any of your readers are interested in that, they can contact our community manager via the Gearbox website or forums (
www.gearboxsoftware.com).
Computer Games - Is it possible that mods made by third parties for the game might become part of a re-release of the game with new material?
Randy Pitchford - I would love that. We’re just now beginning to discuss contest and ways for folks who create cool stuff to be able to get their material out there to fans of the game. I think finding some way to include some of the best stuff in our future retail releases is a great thing we can do for the community. When we did Half-Life: Opposing Force, we had a contest for Team Fortress Classic level designers. The three winners all had their maps included on the Opposing Force CD. One of those guys was insanely awesome and ended up getting a job at Gearbox. He’s currently the lead level designer of the next Brothers in Arms game and has done pretty well for himself in creativity, happiness and money (royalties) over his years at Gearbox. I think this kind of thing is a really great path for exceptional amateur developers who, like a lot of us, just have “the burn†to make video games.
Computer Games - When can people expect the first public release of the mod tools?
Randy Pitchford - We haven’t announced a public launch yet, but you can imagine that it won’t be too long. We’ve opened up the beta test to another 100 participants, so people who must have this now can go to the Gearbox website and submit a request. We’ve put a few easy hoops to jump through in order to get in, so I think that people who really want to use the SDK have a really good chance of getting into the beta (if they sign up soon!).
We’re going to use the beta to teach us where to improve the SDK before the public launch. This includes affecting where we’re going to put our resources towards giving mod authors more power (based on feedback from the beta testers) and it also includes the kind of documentation and support we feel we should provide prior to public launch. This commitment is evidence of improvement and better resources than some of the efforts we’ve been able to make in the past. The hearts of the team seem to be in the right place and the successes we’ve had in the past (and the success we’re seeing with Brothers in Arms) is giving Gearbox even more capability to serve its customers better and better.
Computer Games - We have to ask: can you give us a little hint as to what we might expect from the next full Brothers in Arms game?
Randy Pitchford - We’re going to unveil it at E3, but we’re doing so by appointment only. John, of course we’ll give you a peek, but we’re going to be showing the game to a lot of your peers, too
There are some really exciting new features we’ve been working on that I can’t wait to get feedback on from the game critics. I’ve got to say that I love game critics – especially the fair ones. They play as many games as I do, but they are also forced to play the really bad ones as part of their jobs. We learn a lot from the serious game journalists and we take their feedback and insight seriously. I think you’ll find that our approach at E3 this year in giving priority back-room demonstrations to our friends in the media reflects that philosophy.
Computer Games - Finally is there anything else you want to say about the Brothers in Arms mod tools?
Randy Pitchford - Gearbox has a long history of supporting games post launch with modification capability and other things. There are always things we want, though, right? I know, as a customer, I always want the moon and the sun and the Earth (and a perfect game) and I want it yesterday and I want it flawless. But the reality is that everything worth anything requires a time commitment and an investment of resources. I know that Gearbox has that commitment and, even when it’s been an uphill battle, we’ve pushed for end-user support with our past games as far as we’ve been able.
With Brothers in Arms we have a lot more control than we’ve ever had before and we really want to give more power than we have in the past.The way we’re approaching the SDK for BiA, I hope, is evidence of Gearbox’s commitment and is evidence of Gearbox’s reinvestment of its success back into its products for the future. I also expect Gearbox to scale its commitment based on the response from the community, so I hope to see a great response because I know there are a lot of folks at Gearbox who are excited to help our fans and customer push new boundaries with the SDK.
Go sign up for the beta of the SDK:
www.gearboxsoftware.com Thanks for taking your time with me, John (and readers!)
