STACK #139 May 2016

GAMES FEATURE

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Talking ‘Bout A Revolution

Ignoring the plot of 2011’s Homefront , Dambuster Studios has developed Homefront:The Revolution as an open world reboot with a new back story.We spoke with narrative designer, Stephen Rhodes.

“What we did for H:TR was go right back to these core ideas and rebuild from there. It doesn’t share characters or timelines, we ditched everything and rewrote the backstory and took our time creating a world stage where the USA being occupied by a Korean military force was plausible. "The only real similarity that H:TR shares with the first game is that one core concept.”

I n many ways, the development cycle of Homefront: The Revolution mirrors the tumultuous events of the game itself: an uncertain future, tectonic shifts, belief and solidarity. Well, we might be getting slightly carried away, but there’s no doubt that Dambuster Studios have truly weathered a storm getting the game to market. “The road has been a little bumpy, but it feels really good to finally have completed it and to soon get it out there for everyone to play and enjoy,” says narrative designer, Stephen Rhodes. “That’s what any developer really wants; to see their hard work being enjoyed by gamers. It’s why we do what we do.” H:TR has been billed as a reboot rather than a successor to Homefront , a game released back in 2011 and lambasted for its short campaign. Recognising an opportunity to impress its own vision on the game, the team at Dambuster rewrote the backstory in its entirety. “We knew that everyone was really into the concept of an occupied America and the alternate history angle of the narrative. These are themes that few games have explored; some have, like the Resistance series, but it’s still quite an unexplored space,” Rhodes

Xxxxxx • Homefront: The Revolution is out May 20

GAMES

from other works of alternate history fiction. For me personally, I studied military history at university so I love the idea of alternate history, and the chance to help write a narrative like this was what enticed me onto the project.” Homefront: The Revolution started life as a linear corridor shooter and a direct sequel to Homefront . Along the way, Dambuster Studio changed the game to become open world and even added a co-op mode. Rhodes is clearly excited about H:TR and he’s eager to convey that. “H:TR offers really fun but tactical game play, a cool story with some interesting twists and turns, and a fun co-op mode with a year's worth of free content support. “We wanted to create a game where the player feels like the underdog through the entire experience and really feels like they’re fighting against a far superior foe, having to pick their fights carefully and conserve their resources. This sense of being the underdog is a strong theme within the game and offers something that I think is quite unique in shooters today. “I think there is a lot packed into our game and I can’t wait to hear what people think of this new take on the IP and the direction we are heading.”

Consulting a wealth of reference material and experts on “potential scenarios and concepts like those we depict in the game” helped Rhodes and his team write the plot, and the narrative designer cites books like The Man in the High Castle, 1984, and more recently, United States of Japan as major influences. “I think the story we tell is a very human one and focuses more on the characters who live in this world, but the broader narrative strokes definitely take influence We wanted to create a game where the player feels like the underdog through the entire experience...

explains. “Despite these two core themes being popular, the context and execution given in the first Homefront didn’t go down so well.

• The country’s missile program was first developed with assistance from the Soviet Union in the ‘70s. • North Korea has compulsory conscription for all males. about the Korean People’s Army you (probably) didn’t know • The Korean People’s Army is the largest military force in the world. • It has a reserve force of 8 million.

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