"The story in video games will not disappear, it becomes richer and richer." Blog 1 UP

But 2018 has also been a year of uncertainty, with the closure of companies that are precisely emphasizing this approach, as was the case with Telltale's storytelling factory and with decisions such as the lack of a narrative mode in the game that continues to dominate. Sales lists: Call of Duty. The fundamental question, which has academic, industrial and even philosophical derivatives, is decisive: is video games an adequate means of telling stories?

David Berlin, director of the franchise of Battlefield V, the contest Call of Duty who did not give up the story, has his own ideas about it. And he shared them with 1UP in an open discussion beyond the marketing and empty promises.

Question What is a director of the franchise?

Reply In the context of "Battlefield V", my task is to define, in a very comprehensive way, what is the game. This is achieved primarily by forging nuclear foundations for all the experience . Then I have to talk to the directors of each department so that they understand the meaning of these pillars and carve them together about how they are embodied in every aspect of the game.

One of the pillars is, for example, the feeling of belonging to a squadron. So, you have to ask yourself, how does this affect Stories of war [la episódica campaña narrativa del juego]? How does this express itself in the design of weapons? What is its impact on the creation of the different classes [los tipos de soldado que puede manejar el jugador]? It is therefore a matter of setting the frame. And once that is settled, my job is really to make sure that we stay on the sidelines, that we are faithful to the pillars we have chosen.

And, of course, now that the development is over, because my job is also to be with you and explain what the game is about. [sonríe]. Because from my point of view, you have a very broad perspective of the whole development.

P. And what are the most effective communication channels to maintain this internal coherence? Person to person or help having a conceptual art and all kinds of corks with annotations and Stickies who strengthen the pillars?

R. They are both. Trust is one of the issues we do not talk about too much, but it's very important. It's not about taking each team leader by the hand, but giving them the opportunity to express their own creativity, without breaking the pillars that we have defined. I think if you let the team express its own creativity, it acquires a sense of ownership of the game that makes them believe it more and work harder to get the best result.

P. Despite difficulties such as the closure of Telltale, the narrative design is more crucial for the video game.

R. That's it.

P. Do you think this has to do with competition from you against you, not so much against other video games, but against other forms of entertainment where the narrative takes it? I am referring mainly to phenomena such as Netflix.

R. This is a difficult question because it is a general question for the industry. I would even say that for the entire entertainment industry, not just the video game. But I believe that if you do something good, you stand. I will not give you the specific titles, although I'm sure you can think about what they are, but in recent months I've played on two AAAs that constitute a player experience unique really extraordinary. And they sell well. So I think if you put your heart into it, people realize and are willing to pay for it.

So, actually, I do not think the story crushes the video game. I think it's increasing its wealth. And I think it takes a lot of time. One of the biggest narrative discoveries of the game, and not a lot of comments, I think of Portal 2.

P. It's fantastic, yes.

R. The story you find if you want to go deeper writing on the walls. And I think Telltale has told incredible stories in recent years. I think we Battlefield V we have the best we have ever had. I think it's a refinement of this choral narrative that we explore in Battlefield I and I think we are going to have a lot of success with them.

P. There is a tendency that we see in the past Battlefield, in titles like God of the war, in the same Spiderman Imnsoniac, and there is no such obsession for the huge sequence of action, set-piécè, and the development of the characters is greatly improved. Why is this happening? Why, suddenly, do the AAA designers seem to have come to the conclusion that continuing to inflate the scale of the action does not stop the player as much and we have to look for other ways?

R. I think this has to do with the need to bet on variety and diversity. When you have this, you keep the reader / viewer / reader / listener intrigued and hooked. I think that's what we get in War Stories. Tirailleur I think it can make the player cry; and it's good to cry Under no flag It's more like a comedy. I think you have to find an emotional toll; it can not be just a race full of explosions from start to finish, because people are bored; there must be changes of pace. Maybe you start slowly, convey your sadness and suddenly accelerate to an incredible epic and even humorous moment, and then go down again. I think that way you get an interesting campaign.

P. At the same time, in this Battlefield There is more freedom than ever in the way I want to achieve the goals that are asked of me. A little this philosophy of open mechanics that has Breath of nature and Metal Gear V. How do you balance this change of pace with an open experience for the player?

R. I think people react differently to experiences. If you put a fixed narration that goes from A to B, it can be wonderful, but it will resonate with certain types of players and with others, no. But if instead, you give tools and tell the player: "we will let you be the author of your own story" I think you will create a story, the fantasy that you live second by second, which will be very rewarding

I will give you the example of Nordlys, the mission carried out by our Norwegian guerrilla. You can choose to embody a stealthy character, who kills with knives thrown on the back of the enemy and passes between them like a shadow. But you can also be the guerrilla who will sack, who takes a jeep and faces the enemy abreast, then steals a plane that is hacked. I think it's the strength of story integration with an open mechanical system.

P. Do you think that you come back somehow to Dragons and Dungeons? Because what I was describing earlier is the definition of the role-playing game, video game, roleando of the character in the way he behaves in detail.

R. Yes, it has to do with what I told you, to give the tools to create your own fantasy by hand. Because you can do it and some people do it perfectly, creating masterpieces. I do not think these studies should change their approach; Plus, I hope not. But for us … Think in Battleflied, you have all kinds of vehicles: planes, tanks, jeeps … And you also have all kinds of weapons that generate completely different ways of fighting. Thus, our own assortment makes sense of adopting an open style of play. It suits us perfectly. And I think we come to tell the best stories when we focus on this mantra, in the play "play as you want".

P. I comment something very interesting in the presentation of Battlefield V; this bet for greater integration between what is done in the campaign and multiplayer. How far are we from this definitive merger, an MMO where we lead a soldier during a persistent war and structured narratively?

R. [Risas]. Let's see, I'm a dreamer. We will see what we will do in the future. But what you say is a beautiful fantasy. For the moment, our goal is for the campaign to take you, so to speak, to test everything for the multiplayer mode.

P. Both experiences are successive, but the gameplay is continuous.

R. Exactly. You test all aspects of the game in the campaign, then the landing is softer in the multiplayer mode. Suddenly, you are in a tank and this does not overwhelm you because you have handled it in profusion in the countryside.

P. We finish. You talked about diversity. Mike Carey, a famous comic book writer, told me a few months ago that the inclusion of diversity in stories was not just an artistic will to solve an impending and bloody problem with minorities. It is also a profitable business. Do you agree with this opinion? I ask because in Battefield V you have suffered from the hatred on Twitter that seems to awaken in a certain sector, mainly male, that women can be absolute protagonists of epic pop culture.

R. It's an artistic decision, to be clear. But it is true that we have a lot of players among our fans; The feminine debate was therefore the following. If you remember, I told you that our main motto, the most important pillar, is that Battlefield It's a game that you can play at your leisure. For the first time, we let the player create the character he wants. But if I could create any character, with the exception of women, we would betray ourselves. Therefore, we give you the opportunity to create the character you want.

P. And what will be the new paradigm in the future? Something visual? Artificial intelligence? The story?

In the visual part, I must say that the technique ray tracing in which we work, studies with NVidia are revolutionary. This is a step closer to photorealism. This is not immediate, but it is perceived on an instinctive level. If you go to the movies a few years ago and look at the CGI [los efectos visuales generados por ordenador]you say immediately: "It's CGI I do not know how to technically say why I know, but I know." The brain knows it. But the movement is good and this building looks like a building. What happens next?

It is daylight These are innumerable little reflections. This is what makes us start to feel in the last two years that we no longer distinguish the CGI from the real. And this is applied massively in movies and video games. I think it's the last key to achieving total photorealism. But of course, as we are dealing equipment more powerful, we can also be even more faithful with the animations.

I think we now have all the keys to producing photorealistic images. Now, it only remains to improve in each of them.

P. Last question. What do you personally do with your research on these lesser known aspects of the Second World War that you tackle in the game? Has your point of view on the conflict changed?

R. For example, everything related to Tirailleur. I had seen the movie Days of glory, but I really did not know much about them. I did not know either that there were many women in the Norwegian guerrillas. This has therefore opened my eyes a lot to what it really means that a conflict is global. It means that nobody leaves intact. No matter where you look, everyone is affected by the war.