Act of War: Direct Action Q&A - Dale Brown

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The New York Times best-selling author Dale Brown was one of the first major authors of the techno-thriller, the genre of books that explore the potential for high-tech weapons and equipment to transform warfare. As such, he was an ideal partner for Atari and developer Eugen Systems on their upcoming game, Act of War: Direct Action. This techno-thriller of a real-time strategy game is set in the near future and depicts the United States responding to high-tech terrorist assaults on its soil. In addition to helping plot out the game, Brown is coming out with a novel, Act of War, which will flesh out the story in the game even further. We recently had the chance to ask Brown about the game and get some of his thoughts on gaming.

Act of War is set in major Western cities, including San Francisco, Washington DC, and London.

GameSpot: How did this collaboration between you, Eugen Systems, and Atari begin? Who approached whom first?

Dale Brown: I was contacted by my Hollywood agent, Alan Nevins of The Firm Entertainment, and told that Atari was looking for a military thriller writer for an upcoming project.

After working on the Megafortress game project in the past (with publisher Three-Sixty Pacific), I jumped at the chance of developing another game.

GS: In terms of plot, how will the book and game be related? Will one continue the story of the other, or do they take place at the same time and complement one another? Is this a case of a book being based on a game, or a game being based on a book, or something else entirely?

DB: The story I wrote came first, and then the book and the game each branched out on their own simultaneous production tracks. Gamers will find common scenes in the book, and readers will feel very much at home with the game. They are two separate productions, with separate creative talents involved, taking advantage of the different media and different players' and readers' perspectives and experience.

GS: We know you don't want to spoil anything, but can you set up the basics of the plot for us? What's the time frame? Who are the major players? What's going on?

DB: The Hollywood logline might be this: A brash young Army commando and his grizzled veteran mentor are given the impossible assignment of hunting down a shadowy multinational corporation that seeks to destroy rival oil companies around the world.

GS: Aside from being exciting and entertaining, are there any particular themes that you're trying to explore in both the game and the book?

DB: Our joint objective in this project was simple: push the boundaries of current-day military special operations. We wanted a firm foundation in modern-day weapons and tactics, but we also wanted to show what might or could be done with tactics and technology that are in development right now.

GS: Is Act of War set up in the same universe that most of your books are set in? For example, will we see popular recurring characters such as Brad Elliott and Patrick McLanahan show up? Or is it entirely separate from your established universe?

DB: This was a completely separate project with separate characters. The focus from the beginning was for an 18- to 45-year-old target market, which meant we needed mostly younger characters.

However, I wanted to maintain my most popular theme that I employ in my novels: bold, audacious characters, plenty of high-tech gadgets, and plenty of unexpected twists and challenges.

Infantry are critical in urban combat, because they can fortify buildings and gain height advantages on rooftops.

GS: One of the common themes found in some of your previous work is high-tech weapons and equipment, some of which almost seem more science fiction than fiction. Did some of the more exotic weapons and equipment in the game, such as the SHIELD (super high infantry electronic defensive system) unit, come from your imagination, or are they the product of stuff you've seen in development? And how far away are we from seeing such stuff for real?

DB: SHIELD was based on technology in exoskeletons and advanced infantry weapon design that I've researched and used in my novels for years, starting with The Tin Man back in 1999. However, the real-world technology has advanced even faster than even I could imagine, so SHIELD is more fact than fiction now.

I believe we'll see cybernetic soldiers on the battlefield easily before the end of this decade.