BF Hardline writer: "We had to cut out dialog so the bad guys felt like bad guys

[Dr. Pezus]

http://www.polygon.com/features/2015...ny-of-villains

During Battlefield Hardline, the player moves quietly among criminals, striving to remain undetected. The bad guys chatter among themselves. Sometimes they deliver gameplay clues, like the location of a boss. Other times they supply plot fillers in order to make the game world feel more authentic. And then they talk about themselves and their own lives and desires. This is where problems arise.

Writer Rob Auten told me that one of the difficulties he had with this game was creating thugs who were engaging enough to seem realistic, but not so engaging that the player might feel guilty about shooting them.

"I wrote one about this guy getting back together with his ex-girlfriend," Auten explained. "Someone on the team pointed out that 'hey idiot, this is someone you are about to shoot in the head, not deliver flowers to,' so we decided, let's not go down that route. We had to cut out the dialog and make it more informative. We had to make sure the bad guys felt like bad guys so the player isn't as emotionally conflicted about the gameplay."

I'm the sort of player who wants to know this stuff, who wants to wrestle with the problem of shooting the dude and surviving (and feeling bad about it), or letting the fellow live to see his partner.

But game designers know their audiences, and there are certain understood boundaries for goons. "Part of the cops and robbers fantasy is moving among the bad guys and being in the same room," said Auten. "So you have an opportunity to hear more from them. In some cases we made them too charming and people felt bad about shooting them or wanted to hang out with them instead of fighting them and that is no good."

The cardinal sin of thug design is making the bad guys seem more interesting than the central character. "You don't want anyone cooler than the player showing up. Players don't want to feel like they are on the side of the squares, interrupting this cool party of fun guys."

Writing dialog in Battlefield Hardline is more of a challenge than in most military games, simply because criminals are more layered than soldiers, at least on a fictional level.

The writers on games like this are torn between creating rich, believable characters, and cleaving to sets of rules about games laid down by designers. Apart from just making the player feel good about dishing out slaughter, there's also the dreaded threat of boring the player.
This game just feels more and more gross considering the real-life consequences of America's cop-worshipping culture.

[Dr. Pezus]

Just wow. This guy is a writer.

"The cardinal sin of thug design is making the bad guys seem more interesting than the central character. "You don't want anyone cooler than the player showing up. Players don't want to feel like they are on the side of the squares, interrupting this cool party of fun guys.""

[Mmm_fish_tacos]

Actually that sounds like a better game. It happens all the time when cops go undercover.  That's the hard part, knowing you might have to kill someone you just became friends with. It also could have opened up a choice mechanic, deciding to stay a cop or actually becomeing a criminal.

[Dr. Pezus]

Actually that sounds like a better game. It happens all the time when cops go undercover.  That's the hard part, knowing you might have to kill someone you just became friends with. It also could have opened up a choice mechanic, deciding to stay a cop or actually becomeing a criminal.

Exactly. Dehumanizing them is just terrible imo. It tells me the game is devoid of any real personality.

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