Dennis Brannvall chats helmetless troopers, original Battlefronts & more!

Dennis Brannvall recently talked with the Battlefront Podcast about a range of topics in Battlefront.

This is the second part of Battlefront Podcast’s conversation with Brannvall. You can listen to the first episode on SoundCloud.

Some highlights of this latest episode:

• Helmetless stormtroopers were removed to keep authenticity in Battlefront. “If stormtroopers no longer feel like stormtroopers, then we need to act on that.”
• Bringing space battles to Battlefront were “super important.” When DICE made the road map for the expansions, space battles were second on the team’s list next to Skirmish.
• He played the original Battlefronts during the development of the base game. The focus of this Battlefront was to create “fronts of engagements” with a massive “firefight in the middle” where each side is “trying to push through.” This differs to the originals’ “spread out engagements.”
• He noted that this Battlefront and the original Battlefront shouldn’t be compared because they cater to different crowds and the Star Wars franchise has changed. However, he doesn’t want to “ignore nostalgia.”
• Battle Station’s three-stage gameplay was a way “to get more Star Wars story into Battlefront.” He hinted that they’ll “probably continue” doing multi-stage gameplay in the future after the positive reception to Sabotage and Battle Station.
• “It made more sense to go with a fully constructed Death Star as opposed to the second Death Star.” However, Brannvall noted that they do “pay homage to the second Death Star.”
• There’s an upcoming fix for heroes spawning on the surface of the Death Star.
• “So many different factors” went into choosing which heroes and villains made it into the game. “Getting a hero and villain for each expansion was really important.”
• They are “running out of space” for more customization options in the game. Brannvall said he “had to pull many strings” to get as many customizations as they did for the Death Star.

To me, the most interesting statement Brannvall made is in regards to more multi-stage gameplay in the future. Maybe this is a hint that the Rogue One: Scarif expansion’s exclusive mode will be multi-stage (i.e. have multiple sections with different objectives).

I also find the “running out of space” comment a little worrying. Hopefully, they’ll still get some of Rogue One’s upcoming troopers, like the Shoretrooper.

What I jotted down above is merely a sample. I definitely recommend listening to the 33-minute podcast below: