Frontier Defense 2.0 (Coop Tower Defense Gamemode)
Key Details
Project: Titanfall 2
Feature: Frontier Defense 2.0 - PvE Four-Player Coop Tower Defense Mode
My Role: Co-Designer and Gameplay Scripter.
Released: July 25th, 2017
Feature: Frontier Defense 2.0 - PvE Four-Player Coop Tower Defense Mode
My Role: Co-Designer and Gameplay Scripter.
Released: July 25th, 2017
Work Overview
- Designed and scripted new AI wave spawning and assault route selection systems, bombardment system and smoke shells, and Arc Mine traps.
- Designed and tuned enemy wave compositions for half of the maps supported by the mode.
- Added bomb functionality to Stalkers, to create Bomb Stalkers.
- Redesigned and refactored Cloak Drone target selection logic.
- Refurbished Harvester, Mortar Titans, Nuke Titans, and Cloak Drones.
Frontier Defense 2.0 Design Breakdown
I worked on Frontier Defense 2.0 as part of a four-person design team. My work specifically focused on design and scripting support for the harvester, AI spawning, enemy waves, attack routes, smoke bombardments, and specific enemy AI behaviors. On the content side, I designed and implemented the enemy wave compositions for half the levels supported by the mode. Our goal was to build an expanded version of the original Frontier Defense game mode. The original mode had strong bones, but suffered from limited strategic depth and replayability. Frontier Defense 2.0 would keep what was great about the original, and build upon the opportunities it created.
At its core, the mode is a coop tower defense. Four players collaborate to defend a large shielded tower called "the harvester" from waves of enemies. Players win by surviving all the waves. They lose if the harvester is destroyed.
Between waves, players can spend the money they earned to buy upgrades at the store. This gives them access to defenses, traps, and powerups. The store was a new addition to Frontier Defense 2.0 and expanded upon the money and banking system I designed for the Bounty Hunt game mode.
I took point on the wave and AI systems that pressure players. I pushed for clearer AI roles and a deeper consideration of force composition, attack routing, and wave timing. This was to incentivize better player cooperation and strategy across difficulty levels.
I wanted each AI to have a strong purpose within the enemy force. The mode would be most engaging if waves forced players to cycle between splitting up to cover lanes, consolidating to face major threats, and counter-attacking enemies shelling the harvester from a distance. This dynamic of shifting combat priorities keeps players mobile and encourages an active defense.
Frontier Defense taught me the importance of challenging rote player optimizations. Players tend to optimize. They will solve your systems if you let them. Prune rote strategies early, so players won't optimize their fun away. I adjusted many of our AI behaviors to counter common low-effort high-return player tactics.
For example, players quickly learn that the fastest way to deal with infantry is to rush enemy drop zones and stomp on drop pods with their Titan. I introduced Bomb Stalkers who land amongst other infantry. They explode when Titans step on them. This damage makes the drop zone stomping strategy very risky at higher difficulties, as players cannot afford to lose their Titans.
I employed similar strategies with many of our new and returning mode-specific AI, like Cloak Drones, Mortar Titans, Nuke Titans, and Mortar Spectres. Each was intended to either demand or disincentivize a specific player behavior.
I combined these clarified enemy combat roles at a macro-level with wave compositions and attack routing. I reworked our wave spawning and attack routing systems to give us granular control. This allowed us to reliably coordinate enemy assaults across multiple lanes in a way that wasn't possible in the original mode.
This allowed us to design waves that attacked players with unified strategies. We could stage multi-pronged attacks, screen mortar teams with blocking forces, use visible pushes to distract from cloaked forces pushing other lanes, obscure advancing infantry with smoke, and even bait players away from the harvester to expose it to flanking attacks.
I had really enjoyed helping breathe fresh life into Frontier Defense. Many of the lessons I learned about distinguishing combat roles, incentivizing desired player behaviors, countering optimal strategies, and thinking in terms of force composition and strategy laid the groundwork for my later work on the early Apex Legends character roster.
At its core, the mode is a coop tower defense. Four players collaborate to defend a large shielded tower called "the harvester" from waves of enemies. Players win by surviving all the waves. They lose if the harvester is destroyed.
Between waves, players can spend the money they earned to buy upgrades at the store. This gives them access to defenses, traps, and powerups. The store was a new addition to Frontier Defense 2.0 and expanded upon the money and banking system I designed for the Bounty Hunt game mode.
I took point on the wave and AI systems that pressure players. I pushed for clearer AI roles and a deeper consideration of force composition, attack routing, and wave timing. This was to incentivize better player cooperation and strategy across difficulty levels.
I wanted each AI to have a strong purpose within the enemy force. The mode would be most engaging if waves forced players to cycle between splitting up to cover lanes, consolidating to face major threats, and counter-attacking enemies shelling the harvester from a distance. This dynamic of shifting combat priorities keeps players mobile and encourages an active defense.
Frontier Defense taught me the importance of challenging rote player optimizations. Players tend to optimize. They will solve your systems if you let them. Prune rote strategies early, so players won't optimize their fun away. I adjusted many of our AI behaviors to counter common low-effort high-return player tactics.
For example, players quickly learn that the fastest way to deal with infantry is to rush enemy drop zones and stomp on drop pods with their Titan. I introduced Bomb Stalkers who land amongst other infantry. They explode when Titans step on them. This damage makes the drop zone stomping strategy very risky at higher difficulties, as players cannot afford to lose their Titans.
I employed similar strategies with many of our new and returning mode-specific AI, like Cloak Drones, Mortar Titans, Nuke Titans, and Mortar Spectres. Each was intended to either demand or disincentivize a specific player behavior.
I combined these clarified enemy combat roles at a macro-level with wave compositions and attack routing. I reworked our wave spawning and attack routing systems to give us granular control. This allowed us to reliably coordinate enemy assaults across multiple lanes in a way that wasn't possible in the original mode.
This allowed us to design waves that attacked players with unified strategies. We could stage multi-pronged attacks, screen mortar teams with blocking forces, use visible pushes to distract from cloaked forces pushing other lanes, obscure advancing infantry with smoke, and even bait players away from the harvester to expose it to flanking attacks.
I had really enjoyed helping breathe fresh life into Frontier Defense. Many of the lessons I learned about distinguishing combat roles, incentivizing desired player behaviors, countering optimal strategies, and thinking in terms of force composition and strategy laid the groundwork for my later work on the early Apex Legends character roster.