2019-04-01 PC Gamer

INTERVIEW

Coming away from the well-received vignette structure of

Battlefield 1, what storytelling traits did you want to carry

forward into Battlefield V?

Eric: I think what we found was a way to weave a story

and gameplay in a way to emotionally reach the player. It

might sound obvious, but that was our biggest takeaway.

Battlefield has always had spectacular, high-agency

experiences. But the ‘feels’ were new to the series. That

was what we wanted to build on most.

Battlefield V often uses mechanical progression and

spatial design to directly strengthen the narrative of a

given campaign. What did the partnership between

narrative and gameplay teams look like behind the

scenes? How much did this workflow allow for iteration?

Eric: We break each story into roughly 15-minute sections,

with a story map guiding us to what each is about,

both for narrative and gameplay. When it was best, we

were collaborating on experiences to blend gameplay

and narrative together.

balancing, etc) affect the singleplayer

design of a Battlefield campaign? As

the game’s multiplayer portion

updates over time, are there

dependent factors in the

singleplayer portion that require

adjustment as well?

Eric: Oh, so very much. You’ll notice

the health system is different to

multiplayer. In MP this relies on

health packs from allies. But in the

War Stories there aren’t always

friends nearby. The philosophy

behind this is key – multiplayer is

about fairness and balance. But

singleplayer is usually about a

dominant player, since a K:D of 1:1 vs

AI just isn’t very fun. Thankfully the

weapon feel in BFV is a real strength.

Those are pretty much 1:1, although

the damage vs AI makes them more

deadly than in MP.

Replayability is embedded into the

campaign of Battlefield V, from

standard collectible items to bespoke

challenges that require players to

I

spoke to some of the lead developers of the Battlefield V
campaign about the process of its creation, their goals
with various sections of the anthology, their thoughts on
audience reactions, and the potential future of single-player
campaigns in the Battlefield series. Also – the weird little song in Under
No Flag was improvised?!

Eric Holmes

Steven Hall &

Lars Gustavsson

The process behind BATTLEFIELD V’s campaign. By Xalavier Nelson Jr.

ERIC HOLMES
Design Director,
Battlefield V

Battlefield V’s
campaign leads have
worked on properties
including the
Batman: Arkham
series, Doctor Who,
and Battlefield: Bad
Company,
respectively.

STEVEN HALL
Lead Writer,
Battlefield V

LARS
GUSTAVSSON
Creative Director,
Battlefield V

PROFILES

Usually, there were great ideas

that would appear during

development of those pieces – for

example, the ad-hoc off-key song

with Bridger and Mason toward the

end of Under No Flag. You have to be

playing the game to come up with

ideas as to what would make it sing.

Another example would be the

DICE animation team having us

chase the document satchel in the

storm in Nordlys. I can’t even tell

you whose idea that was, but it was

a great moment.

How much do multiplayer

considerations (including

environment reuse, weapon

BELOW: Warming

yourself in a Nordlys

survival scenario.