Colin K. M. Clarke
Abilities and Classes | Battlefield Heroes - Free to Play, Cartoon Shooter
Abilities and Classes
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!
Comments (1603)
ohh thank got more information at last hey the first post is mine.
lol Nice one...
I cant wait... Saludos desde Honduras
This game is definitely worth waiting
cool
The blasting strike is very deadly, especially how you used it ;-P
This all sounds really cool, I'm just torn. What class should I pick? Gunner or Commando?????? Sneaky sniping and making people say "Great Monkey Tango" sounds alluring!
Nice!!
nothing new :(
(Expression has been cleaned up for the ultra skilled swearing 15 year olds).
hehehe smooth :P hope the game will hurry up with coming :D
WOOOOOOOOOOOOO CARNT W8 =] lol
I <3 BFH
nice i want to throw a jeep!
im definently gonna pick gunner ^^ well hope that they release the game soon, coz i cant wait :D
yes i look forward to seeing me in game too !! XD
any news on a release date?
cant wait:D is there not already a date when beta is comming???
I want to play please give us the beta!
I want to play please give us the beta!
:D great
cant wait to play this game
keep up the good work :)
keep up the great work, and i hope to be playing soon
yeah drop the beta online people:):)
hurry hurry :D
nice :D
Hmmmm, "conrolled chaos" sounds amazing! An original concept for a game is a hard ting to find these days. Looking forward to crushing enemies with aerial tank bombardments. :)
Sounds pretty nice
Finaly more info ! :D
What about the nades? "each explosion will push the remaining grenades around."
Is one of them going to kill you if it flies back to you? what about the teammates? will there be friendly fire or not? and how much does a grenade hurt?
THX :)
Looking forward to play that game :)
Blasting Strike sounds amazing. Are the new locations of the vehicles random, or can one deliberately kill planes with cars when you run out of bullets?
Oh, right, unlimited ammo. You know what I mean.
Sounds interesting thx for it!
See you guys next month on the battlefield =)
Woohooo!!
I definitly going to play as a commando! :P
Been waiting for something else to read apart from the comments on the site for a while =)
Thanks
Pedro, I know when you gave your email it wasn't for me but I sent you an email so next time you check.
Mmmmm
LoL, I'm defantly being a gunner.
Nice ;) visit : http://www.bfheroes-france.com if you speak french ;)
Looks like TF2... but funner :O!!11!! lol
...hmm, it will be many sleepless nights soon ;)
...can't wait
Sounds very very cool, im curious about the controlled chaos :D
Sounds great!I cant wait anymore!
Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait, goddommot!!
Soldier is definitely my class!
But, next month... man... that's quite long still.
Well, time passes by quite fast in te summer :P
"How did that tank get up there?" That's funny... Sounds awesome though! Can't wait!
Where did you heard that it would come in next month?
Excellent article, thank you for the update.
I know it wasn't meant to, but it doesn't unfortunately answer the burning question EVERYONE actually wants to know of WHEN, or hint at any progress...
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It's a Page One Sticky!
Although all comments here should REALLY be just about this article, I see the usual comments flooding in, so this is an attempt to answer, deflect or redirect some of the most common questions and comments:
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:::: Last Updated: 12 June ::::
"When is the game out"
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Absolutely no hints from EA/DICE and non-disclosure agreements gagging the Closed Beta testers
First is a Closed Beta (only friends and professional testers)
Then possibly opening this up gradually adding more people who signed up to QABoss, as a phased move to Open Beta?
Ben Cousins (Senior Producer) is quoted as saying "We see our open beta as our launch event. That's when the game becomes playable worldwide."
"I can't see the Play Now button"
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First you must register on this site.
I presume the Play now button will appear for most of us when the game goes to Open Beta
"How do I join the Closed Beta"
--------------------------------------------
http://qaboss.com/index.php?option=com_qaboss&project_id=7&project_name=...
But this started a while ago and they clearly state it is only for people they know, professional beta testers or if you give VERY compelling information in your application.
"I want it now"
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We all do!
But it has to be ready.
The fortunes of this entire project rests on how well it takes off. There has clearly been a huge and positive response to the IDEA of this game, so now they have to meet the expectations. EA/DICE are trying to protect that precious first impression of their new baby when it comes out to play, and we all know how some kids can be very cruel with their comments!
Having said that, "I want it now" is a valid comment which I encourage everyone to post on the "Site Update: Login/Registration" article:
http://www.battlefield-heroes.com/news/site-update-loginregistration
It shows DICE how popular the demand is for the game. Without these DICE may not think people are bothered waiting!
Website & forum
-----------------------
A summary of issues & suggestions can be found on this page:
http://www.battlefield-heroes.com/news/site-update-loginregistration?pag...
But we do not have any official response to these or other website suggestions yet.
Also that page has a longer version of my comments above about their new baby.
Misc Q&A
-------------
Q. Where do you download this game
A. Read the FAQ. What they don't say is the PLAY NOW button won't appear to any of us until they enable it - AFTER the closed beta - so it's not there yet!
Q. Is the game going to work with game controlers
A. Good question, if any employees or beta-testers see this, it would surely not be breaking the NDA to tell us this
Q. How many characters can you have at a time?
A. I believe the initial plan was only ONE, so you can progress it's career.
Q. How do you get to change your Characters' looks?
A. When you get the game, I believe it's built into the game, not this website.
Please mail me on "eve try at hot male dotco dotyoukay" (say what you see) if you can correct me on any of this, or have any other popular questions you'd like added here.
BFH Geek news
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If you look at the RSS feed (http://www.battlefield-heroes.com/feed) you will see the [dc:creator] for this "Abilities and Classes" article is 2261329099, which is not Colin but ChuySkyWalker (Jeff) - see http://www.battlefield-heroes.com/user/20
So I suspect these articles were written some time ago, not posted by Colin (who is probabaly FAR too busy atm) but by forum admin.
They are being drip fed to us, to keep us happy whilst we wait. Not a bad thing, just an observation...
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I hope all this helps some people.
I had to post this here, as many people only scan the first page of comments, before posting their own.
I'll update it if we find anything new, so you only have to come back to this place if you get sick trawling through the IWANTS.
The great thing about battlefield is that these moments occurred when people least expected it, not because of triggered abilities. I hope heroes can still produce these moments when abilities are not in play.
and now you can fling tanks at planes as well? it's sounding less and less appealing to us pilots all the time here- tell us if we get bombs already! If codename eagle had them why can't we!?
Man iam excited want to play
Guys... We want a Release date...!! ^^
I can't wait any longer ;D.
cant wait:D
nice work team it is realy good work i look out for the game
(i mean it realy nice work)
nice....when will the free beta be?
Niiice, i cant wait for the beta!
Soldier class isn't really popular so it seems? Alltho making it rain grenades sounds awesome, in a madman kind of way ofcourse!
I find it hard to wait too, hope you guys also make a Mac version, so i don't have to install crappy windows on my new iMac ;) Please mr development team?!
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