Battlefield Heroes™
It’s in the name… Mar 26
Ben Cousins, Senior Producer
Hi, Ben Cousins here, Senior Producer on Battlefield Heroes. In the last blog entry James talked about the process of designing the character classes in the game in the late spring last year. At this point we were pretty far along with the design of the game, and we also had a playable prototype which the team were having a lot of fun playing. So now it was time to present the title to the wider EA.
I’d imagine many people think that working for a big games company like EA is quite ‘corporate’, with lots of meddling from executives and constant financial update meetings. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Battlefield Heroes wasn’t really on the radar of anyone outside of the DICE studio until we had spent six months in development — more than half of our overall development time.
Recently EA appointed a new CEO, John Riccitiello — one of the changes John has implemented is the division of the EA studios into ‘labels’, covering specific types of games. The four labels are Casual, Sports, Sims and Games. DICE is part of the Games label, which includes shooters, driving games, RPGs, RTSs and action/adventure. This new label structure gives each individual studio lots of freedom to make the games it wants to make — the games it believes will be exciting and successful, rather than taking direct orders from ‘on high’ on what to do. DICE recently announced Battlefield Heroes and Mirror’s Edge, two games which are direct results of this new ‘City State’ model of studio management — games created independently with very little influence from anyone outside the studio.
Frank Gibeau
This is the system that gave us six months to work on the concept and prototype for Battlefield Heroes before it was seen by the Games Label president, Frank Gibeau. I flew out to the EA HQ in Redwood Shores, just south of San Francisco in early June of 2007 to talk him about the game. Frank is easy to present to, as he’s a hardcore gamer (you should see his line-up of World of Warcraft characters — pretty impressive) and thus you can use the language of games and gamers with him. At this stage I was talking pretty broadly about the concept for Battlefield Heroes — a free-to-download Battlefield game, focussed on accessibility and fun and with a cartoony graphics style — we showed him some images of characters, a movie of the new third person camera and talked about the classes and game modes. Frank was really impressed by the concept, gave us a few suggestions (like introducing the Royal Army as the Nationals nemesis, rather than another army we had initially planned) and gave us the go ahead to complete the game.
As soon as you know you are going ahead with launching a game, you start thinking about it’s name. Battlefield Heroes wasn’t always called that — DICE gives products codenames so that information can’t be leaked about them before announcement. James Salt codenamed Battlefield 2142 ‘Stella’ (after the sci-fi setting and the Belgian beer), Battlefield Bad Company was codenamed ‘Next’ (as in ‘Next-Gen’) and Battlefield Heroes was simply called ‘West’ for the majority of the project (as in a South Korean-style Play 4 Free game brought to the ‘western’ world).
Title slide from the early presentation we showed Frank
However you can’t launch a game just called ‘West’ — it gives you no sense of what the game is about, so we set about trying to find a real name for it. I’ve named quite a few projects in the past — I was the guy who came up with the name Home when I worked at Sony, and it’s an aspect of game development I find interesting, but always difficult. Even when you have found a name that works for the project, you then have to subject it to numerous legal checks to make sure nobody else is using the name and often your favourite choices are already taken.
One thing I’ve found that makes choosing a name too slow is including too many people in the decision making process — you end up with endless lists and endless opinions that don’t get you any closer to the answer. Sometimes a dictatorship works better, or at least one person coming up with the ideas. With this in mind I spent a few days making a shortlist, and I sent it around to a few people in the studio for feedback. ‘Battlefield Heroes’ was an early favourite — it retained the Battlefield name, it communicated the fact that this is a game about creating, customising and leveling up your own unique war hero and it also didn’t lock the game into any specific historical setting, so we could go ahead with our fictional world of the Royals and Nationals battling it out over the results of the Cycling in the Olympic games.
So after we decided that ‘Battlefield Heroes’ might work, we sent the name to the EA legal department for clearance and held our breath. These things can take a long time as the legal team needs to do quite stringent checks on the name to ensure nobody else is using it. After a couple of weeks of waiting, the name came back as ‘OK’ which was great news! Finally the development team knew what they were working on, and we could start developing logo ideas and moving forward with announcement plans for the game.
Next time — the importance of playtests and the design and development of the ability system
(1) Mar 26
Phew… I sure am glad you didnt keep the name Battlefield West…
(2) Mar 26
quite interesting… so u sneaked well around infos of WHEN exactly this summer it will come out ^^
And maybe u r able to show some map previews and/or vehicles which will definitely be ingame then next time plz!?
**** i was checkin the page SO often for new ingame News and now nothing was shown ;-(
So plz make sure to show something next time =) and PLZ SOON!! ^^
Every two weeks would be nicely of ya..
Otherwise i’ll come round your studios and slap u a bit with a big big Whip to make u work faster xD
Keep doin the work.. -cant wait to pwn!
(3) Mar 26
Nice ! The Game seems to be a great one(That´s a Battlefield Game - Of course it going to be a great one! :] ).
(4) Mar 26
Cool! I’m sure, that the game will be finished soon. I want to play it immediately!
(5) Mar 26
Nice one this has made losts of members at [Admin note: please stop spamming your URL. We appreciate your patronage, but would like things to be kept on topic. Thanks!]
Happy, thanks
(6) Mar 26
You could have released the game until the end of the summer… in the south hemisphere. Too late now, all your south american fans will be horribly sad. =)
Keep up the good job. I Haven’t seen such a nice piece of free online game in a long time.
(7) Mar 26
Yeah, its really interesting to see how game development works, although i would prefer the finished game instead of this ;) Its going to be really cool with wing-walking as a integrated function.
(8) Mar 26
Wait a second, the Nationals and the Royals are battling it out over the results from the Olympic Cycling event?!? That’s HILARIOUS!!! xDDDD I guess the game was a little more silly than I thought… BTW, Hoctu is right. It IS a good thing you didn’t keep Battlefield West. The logo kinda stunk. xD
(9) Mar 26
Battlefield west… Im glad you changed that name alright!
Why are you making the royal army the “bad guys”??? they helped rid the world of Nazism.
but otherwise EA, you you tell us something that has something new to tell us about BF:H? all we know now are old codename and what a pain in the but it was to get the TM. thanks for this news but isnt this website about Battlefield heroes? I think we are all happy that the game is going to be launched.
(10) Mar 26
sounds good! keep up the great work oO
(11) Mar 26
Heroes is better..
I cant wait until summer :(
(12) Mar 26
Heroes is the best!
(13) Mar 26
I’m very excited for the game, it’s going to be on my system as soon as it’s released!
and the name “Battlefield: West” is pretty terrible tbh, even if it is just a code name.
and a note to the admins:
“Be Constructive! If your comment rating drops to low, it’ll disappear.”
you might want to throw another “O” in the “to” there big shooter.
[Admin Note: Ugh! My bad, all fixed. Thanks :)]
(14) Mar 26
I think they should make it for the PS3 and call it Battlefield: Home
(15) Mar 26
Keep up the good work guys! =D
(16) Mar 26
plz give us some info about vehicles/any sorts of transport
(17) Mar 26
Nice ^^ I see you guys got a hardcore president gamer! that gives ideas to the game!
(18) Mar 26
one beta plizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
(19) Mar 26
Beta please and not a very good name
(20) Mar 26
I was unaware that the premise of the battle was over the results of Cycling in the Olympic games. At least we’re fighting for a good reason!
(21) Mar 26
Congrats on getting an “OK” on Battlefield Heroes!Keep up the great work!
(22) Mar 26
this game is very funny GREAT!!!
(23) Mar 26
I want see the Game RANKS !!! RANKS I WANT RANKS =D
(24) Mar 26
free download in Summer 2008 it me to long time , i wont to play jet ;D Plese make faster XD
(25) Mar 26
Yeah “West” reminds me of Cowboys and Indians…although that would be kinda cool.
I think that Heroes is a perfect name. It just fits the whole cartoon atmosphere.
Keep the blog posts coming guys!
(26) Mar 26
can’t wait to press the big button.
Keep up with the good work. Don’t ruin this now.
(27) Mar 26
I cant wait The game look awesome, Can i ask when the game come out ( in the summer i know but in june julai? or what? ) KEEP IT UP! :D
(28) Mar 26
Great read!
nice to read how things are being decided, and EA isnt an evil corp witch only goal is to make money :D
(29) Mar 26
Great work guys, keep going and don’t give up!
(30) Mar 26
Thanks for the new update I couldn’t wait for it. ;p
Keep up the good work.
(31) Mar 26
very nice, I really love the way you guys are giving us the actual steps of making a game to help the time go by, God speed to the review on X-play coming up. They can be a tough crowd to please
(32) Mar 26
Interesting to see how companies come up with their names. Lookin forward to BH. Keep up the kewl work
(33) Mar 26
It’s great to know that you had control over your game and made it your way and not the way your publishers wanted! GO DICE keep up the good work.
(34) Mar 26
Awesome.Looking forward for this game. B-)
(35) Mar 26
Swwwwwweeeeeeeeeet
WINNAR!!
(36) Mar 26
This comment is relevent to the article (so many that have been deleted)
I’m supriesed this game has gone so far as it has, (its all good fun in theory ) it probably should be called “Battlefield FREE”, I also think its going to be the death of the battlefield franchise unless the next battlefield comes outs soon after, Battletfield Bad company is exceptional eye candy and probably the best game play of any 1st person shooter ever made BUT its not PC (Make a game Correctly (with serials and users and passwords .. LIKE BF2142).. people pay money .. Make a console game of it.. People Newsgroup it, IRC it, P2P it, Edonkey it , probly Face book, I’ve even seen peeps sell ranks on Ebay ..
EA should produce ALL games where you have to input a serial code to play it ..
If not ..then stop complaining about piracy
(37) Mar 26
LOL come to think of itDiCE are full of S*it .. there owned by EA (Name 1 EA Game that has been updated after its been released for the Users/Players or is it just the case of fix what needs fixing and then move on to the next game …
(38) Mar 26
Battlefield Heroes sound much more…..heroic than “West”.
(39) Mar 26
Doesnt matter what it is called as long as it is good and it is battlefield made by DICE xD
(40) Mar 27
Frank looks like Harry Potter..lol
Good work guys..you made me buy my first real PC with 1942.
Bad Company looks great…looking forward to having fun with Heroes.
(41) Mar 27
omfg i have to say WTF and WHY THE **** havent u brought out BF:Bad Company FOR FKIN PC!!!??????????!?!?!?!?!??????? omg omg omg it would’ve been THE MOST EVER WANTED GAME 4 PC with a Gameplay like 2142 or BF2(which is the most serious of all and i love it)..
!!!!!!!!!!AND I WOULD’VE ->!BOUGHT!<- IT IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!!!!
after release omg it looks like the best BF ever kthx with all the stuffn s h i t to blow up just so AWESOME ijmagine a BF TOALY BLOWN UP AT THE eND OF THE ROUND makin like 40Dudes discover their Nerves EDGE OMG
ALL i can say is I H8 U FOR NOT BRINGIN :BC OUT FOR PC OMG OMFG OMFGSTFUKTHX im serious..
xD
(42) Mar 27
This is looking to be a great title, I just hope that the main part of the company doesn’t decide to intervene now that this has been posted.
(43) Mar 27
I just saw this site and couldn’t be more excited! Just one more reason to switch to Windows OS…
(44) Mar 27
i love the Heroes game but i can not f***ing believe it that u blew BF:BC up for the pc i spent 5k buying a new one so i could play it on max. besides that keep up the beast work on Heroes it looks awesome and dont s**** it
(45) Mar 27
Sounds like it’l be good for me! (im to cheap to buy a lot of stuff) I know I would have never bothered getting it otherwise, and thats just more money that EA is going to get. I think its good that finally a real company (I mean like… big recognized game creater) has caught on to the whole free, add supported thing
(46) Mar 27
Wow! I’ve played all of your games, maybe not all of the expansions for BF2 but this is spectacular. I’m looking forward to such a creative game similar to TF2. I like the combination because it entices players to join.
If this company wants to get involved with a very large multigaming clan, featuring the BF2/2142 franchise, hit us up at http://www.warriornation.net
Bring ‘em along boys!!
(47) Mar 27
I like Battlefield Heroes, I think that Battlefield Freedom would have been a good name too.
(48) Mar 27
Can I just say a huge thankyou to Frank Gibeau for singlehandedly stopping this from being yet another ww2(esque) game all about the Americans saving the world. So sick of that patriotic garbage (I’m looking at you, MOH!)
And I realise that other vehicles are probably not yet ready to be seen by the public, but can you drop us a hint? maybe a scan of a piece of paper with a few vehicles/locations scribbled on it? Cheers!
(49) Mar 27
Hmm, very interesting corporate structure you guys have working with there at EA, it throws a wrench (albeit a small one) in the usual “EA is evil, they control small talented dev studios too much after they buy them out” arguments. Hope the game work out well for you guys, I love the look and i’m sure it’ll be fun to play once it comes out.
(50) Mar 27
hey, everyone of my friends in seden are waithing to battlefield heroes relese
(51) Mar 27
Tell me this game can be played in Asia as well. =3
(52) Mar 27
Tell me this game can be played in Asia as
(53) Mar 27
sounds ggood
ALL BATTLEFIELD its GRRRRRRRRRRRRREAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTT
(54) Mar 27
i need this gamme
good job ea nad dice
helllo
someone talk spanish?
(55) Mar 27
I can not wait! This is like a buy 8 Battlefields and get 1 free coupon. What is the new secret code word? I wont tell. ;-)
(56) Mar 27
Can’t wait to play it!! I heard that it has a open beta? is it true? Or is it a myth like some country said that an other country had weapons of “mass” destruction…
(57) Mar 27
w00t w00t!!
A new battlfield can’t wait!!
(58) Mar 27
man, west was one bad name,heroes ftw!
(59) Mar 27
iz there going 2 b a beta or some type of demo becuz i want 2 play it so bas!!! btw wat sorts of vehicles r der???
(60) Mar 27
Man when me and my buddy saw the release trailer for this he and i were excited. he wants to be my wingman (Literaly :P).
(61) Mar 27
So far, so friggin’ good!
Whoa can’t wait for the launch.
(62) Mar 27
Hmm I’m not that big of a BF fan (yay come rate me low so this’ll disappear like the jerks on youtube do :D) but this might be on my pc somewhere around summer, I really like the game and the “reason” for fighting is grand =). What bugs me is the resemblence of the game with Team Fortress 2; especially the graphics. Okay, the graphics of Team Fortress 2 are amazing but that doesn’t mean you’ve got to copy them =). Anyhow, since this is Free to Play I can’t really blame you for copying graphics for your own commercial succes can I xD? I’d say keep it up, and please take all the time you need to make it bug-free. Don’t listen to the ‘0MG r3l34s3 1t R1gh7 n0w plz!!!1!! Me w4n7 pl4y!!!!!! Me w4n7 pwn n00bs!!!!’ people, but just release it when it’s done (and no, I don’t believe most of those promises for any game apart from Duke Nukem Forever -> remember Hellgate London’s release date when it’s done? Apparantly it didn’t release when it was done)so we all have a fun, bug-free and generally free experience :D! Thank you for creating games DICE, and thank you EA for giving them freedom and publishing them!
(63) Mar 27
How exciting it is to follow the game birth!
Can’t wait to install it !!
Keep on the great work !!
\o/
(64) Mar 27
Cool Name, Cant wait to play this, Feels very Team Fortress 2-ish but funnier/more realistic
(65) Mar 27
ok…Im happy you picked Battlefield Heroes as the name :D
(66) Mar 27
Just like to say keep the hard work up :), but it would be better if the you guys when your ready of course would occasional would maybe hop onto several vent or teamspeak channels to talk about some ideas u could include into the game. And maybe shed some light on the 1st/3rd person view? Hopefully u wont be harassed too much by the hundreds of questions all at once XD
(67) Mar 27
Congratulations on the name.
I also like the way the new CEO is thinking. Maybe that will boost some innovation? Just like BF-H
(68) Mar 27
Royals and Nationals going to war over Cycling results? Is this finally the utterly mad war game I’ve been looking for?
But seriously. It’s great to see you take a serious franchise and give it a huge comedic makeover. Sitting on the wings of planes? Great throwback to the glitch in Battlefield 1942. Emotes? Only if you have the ‘rotatey-hands-at-the-midriff’ manouver. DO IT.
(69) Mar 27
I take it the original country was the US? I’m so glad you guys picked the Royal army.
But you really came up with the name of HOME? That is just pure awesomesauce….
(70) Mar 27
bf heroes - the best name
(71) Mar 27
this is my first comment, so here goes:
-i think that there should be more classes;
-will the sniper be able to kill with one hit in the head? if not, shouldn’t everybody do more damage in the head?;
-the name is great(it would suck to have to do another website);
-when will the game be released(the approximate date);
thanks and keep up the good work
(72) Mar 27
Nice ! The Game seems to be a great one(That´s a Battlefield Game - Of course it going to be a great one!
(73) Mar 27
Just watched the video, looks amazing!! I love that you’ve got the TF2-like cartoon style, it has an original and awesome name, and you’ve included planes and tanks! Leveling up and character creation in FPS is an bloody fantastic addition too! Definatly looking forward to this!
(74) Mar 27
So you’ve got a rough working version? Can we expect more in-game videos then?
(75) Mar 27
This game is gonna be sooo mad, i cant wait, as soon as i can im gonna hit that big button and start playing!!!
Keep up the awsome work guys, 10/10
(76) Mar 27
Yep, Battlefield west, wasn’t the right name ^^. We are very impatient to see the game released ^^
Good look and good work
(77) Mar 27
I like how you guys are so open about this game. Instead of keeping it secret like most game developing companies do.
(78) Mar 27
Oh noes, not west? why not Battlefield:Quebec :D
(79) Mar 27
Yea, “Battlefield heroes” is much, much better than “…West”
(80) Mar 27
how play
(81) Mar 27
I got a question, is there any way DICE can tell us or me that what “time” BF3 will be in? like bf2142 was in the future and bf2 was modern warfare.
(82) Mar 27
cannot wait for the next blog post!!! keep up the good work guys!!!
(83) Mar 27
Sounds really good for a game, Just thinking of it makes me wanna buy it :), GOOD thing its free :)
(84) Mar 27
Give it Battlefield Heroes in German ?
(85) Mar 27
i cant whait until sommer. can you do more trailers on youtube that would be good
(86) Mar 27
Can’t wait, thank god you changed it from Battlefield West LOL
(87) Mar 27
Lol, glad the old title was removed, apparently it was just the americans and germans in the european theatre, the brits didn’t help, or the poles, or the russians who killed more nazis than the western allies did combined, then there’s the canadians, the aussies, gurkas, kiwis etc etc
(88) Mar 27
Nice!
can’t wait for the release!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(89) Mar 27
Wow , this game is really cool. I can’t wait for the release.
Keep up with the good work.
(90) Mar 27
I do understand that it is all about fun and not like all others from the series. But I just wonder… if the game is made for low spec rigs will you have a chance to use your kick “bottom” pc in it and see some relevant changes to the graphics? Or will it just be more about resolution change?;) More updates on the site please! Show us some more gameplays!
(91) Mar 27
i cant not wait untyl summer but it is the best game ever see^n before but yea thx huh made this game and make other games like this they are so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(92) Mar 27
I can’t wait! :D
I go love this summer ghehe… Come on guy’s hurry up :p we want to plaaaaaay!
(93) Mar 27
I get so tired of people saying BFH is ripping TF2….when in fact you could Say TF2 is ripping off the Incredibles or PIXAR.
This direction in style is a breath of fresh air to me. There are countless games that all look like the top next gen game. so why arent you guys ripping on other games for looking like Crysis, gears of war? Seriously folks.
The industry is so inbred and it is inbred by idiots who copy their favorite title because they think their game will sell if they copy the look.
TF2 and BFH are a welcome change to gaming. Bottom line. Cheers!
(94) Mar 27
I like
(95) Mar 27
THIS ROCKS MAN!
(96) Mar 27
Anything seems to be good. Only thing is, that the name “heroes” is already used in the medal of honor series.
(97) Mar 27
I do love the idea of this game, and what it will be. I just have a question for EA.
In the past people have complained about your games having bad game mechanics, and/or terrible glitches. I’m just wondering if you guys at EA will be taking extra care to make sure there’s nothing really bad. The occasional glitch is fine, same with one or two mistakes in other fields, but do your best to keep these to a minimum. Even if it’s a free game.
(98) Mar 27
I realy love the idea of creating a free game that looks this fun. I would be jumping out of my seat and counting the hours untill its opening, instead I am filled with my own personal dissapointment. This is not due to any part on the game ( which looks brilliant by the way) it is just that I am one of the loathed people in the gaming community that owns a mac. Now…to the part that is relevent to the article…Battlefield Heroes is a brilliant name. Good change there. Ilook forward to playing that title on one of my friends computers…
(99) Mar 27
greet game so far i am so glad that the name was ok! the only thing is that why did you call it battlefield west! greet job!
(100) Mar 27
to start me off i will say great job and also keep this comment on and you will be coolio! if you try to vote it off you will stink like the rest of the scoundrels on the side of the road! Well since we hve an understanding we can finally talk like civilized men/woman!
When is this game coming out? people ask this all the time but not me if you think about it you aren’t paying for this and you have no idea the work they put into this! (also if you rush it the game might be worse.)
also is this game going to be all about rank rank rank or is it going to be about how good are you not what lvl you are. That is why I liked battlefield 2!
-A great friend Me!
(101) Mar 27
Woo! Keep these posts comin’!
(102) Mar 27
short and snappy:
love the name
love the idea
love the goal
love the work
and
love the effort
keep on “Truckin’”….Grateful Dead
(103) Mar 27
this question is for Ben.
I was just wondering if anyones ever cracked a joke about your last name? cuz when i read ur name the first thing that came to mind was those southern jokes ’bout marryin’ ur cousin. haha. cracked me up.
…just wonderin’
(104) Mar 27
Can’t wait to try it. Looks cool, hope it plays as well. This process may open up a whole new generation to P.C. gaming. Which has if we are honest been suffering with the console game binge.
Keep up the great work!
(105) Mar 27
any word of a linux port? or compatible with WINE?
(106) Mar 27
i am realy looking forward to this game i have batlefield 2 and 2142 now and i realy like the free game idea:D
(107) Mar 27
WHEN JJEEZUSSS WHEN WILL THIS COME OUT I’M GOING TO EXPLODE AND IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT. *holding breath, truning blue, passing out, hitting head on desk, suing for damages*
(108) Mar 27
OMFG don’t make me wait until June/July/whenever to play this game!!!!!!!!!!
(109) Mar 27
funny game
(110) Mar 27
love the look of the game i will play it .but do us a great favour and bring an updated 1942 back wot a great game that was and still is.it was the best battlefield game to date .who wants modern war fare 1942 yippppppppeeeeeeee
(111) Mar 27
It’s great to see these insights into the more ‘professional’ side of pre-production with the games (ie the naming). Thanks Ben!
(112) Mar 27
Good Dice!:D
I hope to meet someone here on the forum in the game:D
Rate what u want but i still like the game:D
(113) Mar 28
great game
(114) Mar 28
someone is abusing this comment thingie giving thumbs down to every comment even if its good.
Thumb me down now lol :P
(115) Mar 28
I can not wait for this game. Screw CoD4 and Halo3.
(116) Mar 28
The name wouldn’t happen to be in anyway inspired by MOH: Heroes, would it?
(117) Mar 28
hmmmm…i really wish when the game come out you will be prepared for people who have no life but to ruin a game by creating a hack and give it to people so they can do the dirty job!!! ANyways i cant wait for summer,vacation,no school,free time, wow wat a perfect time to release a game! Hey make us more excited about this game more,like post more Blog talking about the characters,weapons,vehicles and maps!!
(118) Mar 28
I´m gonna get this game as soon as the button pops up (promise)
hope that all the battlefield “series” games continue in all my life time, keep up the good work!
(119) Mar 28