The BIGS: Q&A with Dan Brady

When Take Two secured exclusive third-party publishing rights for Major League Baseball games last year, baseball fans knew it was only a matter of time before 2K Sports began expanding its hardball reach with new titles. The first of those new games is the just-announced arcade baseball title, The BIGS. Heading development of the game is Dan Brady, general manager of the development house behind the BIGS, Blue Castle Games. Brady is no stranger to baseball games, having previously served as technical director for EA Sports' MVP Baseball series. We recently spoke with Brady about just what to expect from the upcoming game, and how his experience on more-realistic baseball games has informed the making of The BIGS.

GameSpot: What is The BIGS, and how did Blue Castle Games become involved in the project?

Dan Brady: The BIGS is a brand-new take on arcade baseball. In The BIGS, you are going to see all of what makes baseball spectacular, all the time. Our goal is to make the major league players look like heroes when they make the big play, and to make you feel like a king while doing it.

How did Blue Castle become involved? There is a bit of a story there.

Blue Castle Games was formed in early 2005, with the intention of gathering together truly amazing development staff to make great games. As it turned out, the original staff was composed of a significant portion of the senior members of the MVP titles, and some of their really talented friends. We had all worked together over the years, but had been sent in all sorts of different directions as time had passed. Blue Castle represented one more chance for us to reassemble and get back to making great games again.

In the middle of 2005, Blue Castle was contacted by 2K to do something new in the baseball genre. Up until that moment, we were exclusively focused on IP prototyping. We hadn't considered working on another baseball product, but 2K really impressed us with [its] energy and passion for bringing fresh ideas to the baseball category. Over the last 16 months, we have grown quite a bit. A lot of the former MVP team has joined us, and we have really rounded that out with some extremely talented newcomers. Right now, we're really excited to be making The BIGS, and to be back in the baseball market.

GS: Your team brings a good amount of baseball game experience to the table. How does your experience on the more realistic MVP series tie in to what you're creating here?

DB: We learned a lot when we wrote the first MVP title. While it was a great starting point for the franchise, many development mistakes were made that really handcuffed us in future years. Development of The BIGS has gone much more smoothly, and we have a much higher-quality engine than we had before. MVP and The BIGS are very different games. You will feel a sense of familiarity in the design choices that we have made, but our target is something very different.

GS: What are some of the biggest lessons you've learned from previous games that can be applied to The BIGS?

DB: Keep the game to a manageable scope. Always have the game in a playable state. Tune, tune, and then tune some more. At the same time, you always need to listen to the fans, understand the requirements, and stay true to the sport.

GS: Are you starting from scratch with The BIGS, or is there any sharing of technology between your team and Visual Concepts?

DB: The BIGS was started completely from scratch. While we aren't sharing anything with Visual Concepts, we do have a fantastic dialogue with them. Visual Concepts has an incredible team, and there is a great deal that we are learning from each other.

We're really excited about the engine that we have created for The BIGS. You're going to have to take my word for it, but it is better than anything that we have had to work with before. I am really looking forward to showing off the quality of the engine over the next several months, as we move toward final. Some of the details that the team is able to put into the game are absolutely outrageous.

GS: What game modes will be included in The BIGS?

DB: The main mode in The BIGS is called the BIGS League Challenge. The challenge is completely different than a traditional season or franchise mode. You are going to play games, train your players in a number of action-oriented training minigames, earn power-ups, and ultimately struggle to win the World Series. When you play this mode, each team that you face will feel like a unique team. If that team is known for their fielding, then you are really going to feel that in the game--much more so than in other sports games.

To round out the experience, we have a new multiplayer mode, exhibition, online (up to four players), minigames galore, and the standard create-a-player. We also have some quick action-oriented modes in the game. While it is still too early to give out details, there is one that I am particularly excited about: Imagine blending pinball and baseball, and then taking it all to a completely new level.

GS: Tell us about the controls in the game. Are they similar to what we've become used to in 2K MLB games, or are you going for something different?

DB: Many of the recent baseball games have felt like they played themselves, while the user merely provided timely decision making. The BIGS really goes the opposite direction. The action is very twitch-based, and when you play the game, there is a sense of direct connection between you and the game that just hasn't been present in baseball games before.

We're also pushing hard to create a different feel between the athletes. You're going to see a lot of uniqueness in the animations, and when a big play happens, it feels huge. Similarly, when you don't make the big play, your failure is going to be equally spectacular. I really think our game stands on its own as a very different entry to the baseball category.

GS: What can you tell us about the arcade aspects of the gameplay, such as power-ups, unlockables, and the like?

DB: First off, we have a few rules in the office: No flaming feet, no flaming bats, and no one is allowed to break the sport. You are still going to see a lot of power-ups in our game, however. The uniqueness of our power-ups comes from the fact that they are situational power-ups. Imagine being on defense; you're in a bases-loaded situation, and [Albert] Pujols comes to the plate. This is a big moment, and a possible turning point for the game. There are a lot of different choices that you could make, but you decide that your first concern is keeping Pujols from hitting the long ball. You could pitch for this, but if you really want to be sure, then you can use a power-up to get past Pujols.

Have you ever hit into a strong headwind? Probably not like in The BIGS. If you use the headwind power-up, it feels like the entire world has turned against the batter. The flags turn, debris flies, and the batter ends up looking directly into a dirt-storm. Pujols could still make contact, and fielding is pretty tough to do with all that wind, but Pujols is not hitting a home run.

Power-ups like this represent a turning point in the game. They don't happen too frequently, so you will have to pick the right one and make sure that you use it at the right moment. These power-ups are all tied into the BIGS League Challenge mode, where you can earn them as unlockables.

GS: Most arcade baseball games put the emphasis on offense, particularly jacking home runs left and right. How do you go about making sure that the other aspects of baseball (pitching, defense, baserunning) are fun and worthwhile to your strategy as a player?

DB: From the beginning, we have been working very hard to bring fielding and baserunning up to the level of pitching and hitting. I am happy to say that we have come up with some pretty major changes to the way that fielding and baserunning work. Fielding is our favorite part of the game right now.

All great arcade games find a balance between actions and counteractions. In The BIGS, batters are certainly going to try to hit more home runs, but fielders are going to make more spectacular wall catches as well.

GS: How would you describe the visual style of the game?

DB: You are going to see lots of energy, healthy exaggeration, and extreme detail. The heads and stadiums are the best that I have ever seen in a sports game (arcade or sim). The power-ups are quite unique and give us a great opportunity to visually punctuate some of the bigger moments in the game.

You are going to see a lot of things that you haven't seen in a baseball game before, but they will all still feel like they belong. We want over-the-top moments, but we don't want to reinvent the sport.

GS: The BIGS is being released on three PlayStation platforms (PlayStation Portable, PS2, and PS3). How will the games differ, and will we see any sort of crazy cross-platform communication between the three?

DB: We are not currently planning to have cross-platform communication. We are working hard to push each machine's technical abilities, and to create console-specific content for each machine. We do have some very interesting ideas for the PS3's controller, though... Details to come later. GS: Except for Wii Sports, this will be the first baseball title on the Nintendo Wii. What can you tell us about the Wii version of The BIGS, particularly with regards to the Wii controller?

DB: Well, it is still too early for specifics, but we are working very hard on the Wii title, and it will employ some uniquely different control mechanics. The faster gameplay in The BIGS, the power-ups, and the minigames are all going to allow for opportunities to show off the Wii's exciting control system.

GS: Will there be any tie-in or communication between The BIGS and future MLB 2K entries?

DB: It really is too early to tell, but I don't think that is likely to happen. While The BIGS and MLB 2K are complementary products, there really isn't much similarity at all between them.

GS: Apart from the four-player support, what else can you tell us about the online play in the game?

DB: As a brand-new title, our online effort is primarily focused on quality-of-play issues, and not on a large feature set. Multiplayer action in The BIGS can get extremely tense, and trash talking has reached all-new heights in our office... We just need to make sure that it transitions well to the online space.

GS: Finally, though you've spent a good portion of your career on baseball games, is there another game genre or sport you'd like to try your hand at developing in the future?

DB: I've been very fortunate to work in a lot of different genres in my career. During that time, I have found that the genre matters far less than the team you are working with. At Blue Castle, I am lucky to be surrounded by some of the most talented people in our industry, and that makes it very easy to come in to work every day. Right now, my team and I are having a blast making this baseball game, and I wouldn't trade that for anything. Before I finish my career, though...I wouldn't mind trying my hand at making a really great RPG.

GS: Thanks for your time, Dan.