Edy Zahid Blog The Thoughts of One Game Developer

Blade Thrust Tactics : The Meaning Behind The Game

Original Design - a game about human struggle within a harsh environment.
Final Result - a game about the struggle of a weaker side ( the Alliance ) against a powerful side ( Idea Empire ) in the quest of freedom.

Recently I was playing a strange little indie game called Passage. The game itself has nothing special to it but what makes it different is because it was designed and developed by its developer, Jason Rohrer to convey meaning of life and death. Every aspect of the game has been designed to convey this meaning. From my opinion, Passage represent Jason Rohrer's self expression on the subject of life and death.

A game can transcend beyond its stereotype limitation ( mindless fun ) to have an impact on human soul if the developer care to put extra effort to design their game to convey some meaning to it. I was inspired by Planescape Torment game because the game has brought many complex issues with it. I can never forget this haunting question - "What can change the nature of a man?". That question still haunts me to this day. It's a deep stuff.

It's All Started With Dreazth

That's why I decided to start Dreazth, a RPG game project around February 2001 to create a game that reflect my view about human struggle within a harsh environment. Dreazth is a game world of which technology clashes with mystic forces. The game world is imbued with dread, despair and mystic atmosphere ( D2M ). The world is at the brink of major war and people behave in their own self-interest. As you play the game, you'll soon realize the true nature of human in oppressive condition - they are greedy, clueless and hopeless. You can either become just like them or choose another direction - become a good man and prove that there is still a value of kindness within a harsh environment.

I must say this is a big project as I've never done any game project before. It took me almost 3 years to fully build a complete structure of the game world - geography, social system, creature types, organization, conflict issues, and even people details who runs those organizations. Unfortunately I face a problem on how to integrate all these details in quest based game play so I switch to mission based game play. Although the game at that time mutates to strategy oriented game instead of RPG oriented game, most of messages that I want to convey in the game still survive the transition.

That Big Change

But then something big happen on June 2004. I have fast forward the time line in the game world several years later of which the Idea Empire has become a global empire by invading cities/towns throughout the world. An underground rebel organization called the Alliance was formed to fight the global empire. Player are in charge of a special operative squad to carry out several missions for the Alliance in their campaign to liberate several regions throughout the world.

This my friend is where the game starts to become something else - I lose focus of what the game should be and instead focus on more action oriented aspect of the game. I think this is the hazard of long game development project - you tend to lose focus of why you develop the game in the first place and turn it into something way different.

I finally managed to finish the first trilogy in the game called Blade Thrust Tactics on April 2009. Originally I want to create RPG game which convey message about human struggle within a harsh environment. But in the end I turn it to become a tactical combat game which convey message about the struggle of a weaker side ( the Alliance ) against a powerful side ( Idea Empire ) in the quest of freedom. Hey, that is not such as a bad transition, isn't it?

Struggle of Weaker Side

The struggle of weaker side message has been communicated throughout the game with these design implementations:

1) Your squad starts with pathetic supply and it's up to you to salvage any remaining items carried out by your dead enemies. If you don't salvage, you are not going to finish your objectives.
2) The Alliance only has little money to fund their operation so it is possible they will run out of their fund in the middle of campaign. You are responsible to help the Alliance gather more money by completing certain missions.
3) The enemy will try to insult and intimidate you at the early part of the game. Luckily you can only read this if you get close to them.
4) The war machines aka tank gives you nightmare if you enter the sector from wrong entry point. This eventual death can be prevented if you spend your time reading recon details ( mission section ) in the game website.

So there you go - Blade Thrust Tactics game condensed to its core. When you play Blade Thrust Tactics, you are effectively struggle within your limitation to achieve your objective. There are lots of enemies to be killed but that is not totally important. The more important thing is during your time playing the game, if you feel frustrated about your limitation, then I guess I've already deliver my message in the game.

You need a strong will and guts to play this game.