Developer Diary: Producer Ben O’Donnell

 

Hello and welcome to the latest installment of the Syndicate Dev Diary. I am Ben O’Donnell and have been a Producer with EA Partners for 8 years now.  That’s a long time. When I started at EA, Duke Nukem Forever had only been in development for 72 months.  I guess I must have earned my stripes because 2 years ago I was asked to work on EA’s much loved franchise, Syndicate, with Starbreeze Studios. The game was already in development when I joined and it felt a bit weird to be talking about the inspiration behind it, so I asked some of the Starbreeze crew who have been on it from the start to give me some insights. Roger Mattsson, Lars-Magnus Lang, Tommy Johansson and Andreas Gschwari are the core guys on the team and have lived / breathed Syndicate COOP since it’s inception. 

One thing everyone on the team agrees to is that COOP was a way for us to really acknowledge the legacy of the original game. Of course the 4 agents in the original game made the 4 player COOP a no brainer, but the team didn’t want to stop there. Using locations from the original game and creating a weapon upgrade system are just some of the many ways we have tried to weave in the heritage of the original Syndicate.

 

In terms of the actual COOP gameplay inspiration there are some real standout titles on the market which have really inspired us. We wanted to create an experience somewhere between Left For Dead and Borderlands. Left For Dead offered such a visceral and atmospheric COOP experience and really made you feel like you were fighting for your life. Borderlands added elements of persistence and upgrades to the mix and we felt that both of these elements were pretty consistent with the original Syndicate style and tone and would make for an amazing COOP experience.

 

The team, especially Roger, have also taken a great deal of inspiration from MMOs such as Dark Age of Camelot. Within the Syndicate COOP, you are able to create Syndicates of your own and invite your friends to join. Then through a system of looting and spending upgrade points you are able to build your character and Syndicates to take on the rest of the world in Global leaderboards.  Making this progression system compelling and satisfying was certainly something we looked to the MMO genre as inspiration for.

We hope that Syndicate COOP will excite the fans of the original game as well as those who are new to the franchise and we look forward to seeing you guys getting your hands dirty in the COOP world of Syndicate this February.

 

All the best

 

Ben