How Warframe: 1999’s New Minigame Sells The Update’s Time Period

How Warframe: 1999’s New Minigame Sells The Update’s Time Period

As someone who has spent countless hours immersed in the vibrant and dynamic world of Warframe, I am beyond excited about the upcoming expansion, Warframe: 1999! The prospect of time-traveling to the year 1999, complete with a retro arcade experience, is just too enticing to resist.

Warframe is gearing up for a significant upgrade, featuring elements of time travel. In line with the 1999-themed expansion, a fresh mini-game will be introduced into Warframe to enhance the storyline development.

The highly-anticipated release of Warframe: 1999 is just around the corner, scheduled for December. Immersed in the year 1999, players can explore an aging 90s mall serving as a mission hub, featuring vintage arcade machines. One of these machines will offer fans a chance to play Caliber Chicks 2, a throwback run-and-gun minigame. To delve deeper into the connection between Caliber Chicks and the update’s storyline, Game Rant had a chat with Warframe’s creative director Rebecca Ford and Nic Cusworth, the mastermind behind Caliber Chicks 2.

How Caliber Chicks 2 Plays Into Warframe: 1999

How Warframe: 1999’s New Minigame Sells The Update’s Time PeriodHow Warframe: 1999’s New Minigame Sells The Update’s Time PeriodHow Warframe: 1999’s New Minigame Sells The Update’s Time PeriodHow Warframe: 1999’s New Minigame Sells The Update’s Time PeriodHow Warframe: 1999’s New Minigame Sells The Update’s Time Period

How Caliber Chicks Came To Be

In contrast to the primary Warframe team, Digital Extremes, Caliber Chicks 2 was developed by Sumo Digital. When discussing why Sumo was initially brought on board, Ford shared some insights about the motivation behind creating the arcade game.

The primary story base for “Warframe: 1999” is situated within the Höllvania Central Mall, a fitting location as it’s modeled after ’90s-era malls that inevitably include an arcade. We’ve drawn inspiration from this decade in numerous ways throughout this chapter of “Warframe”, including music, fashion trends, tech designs, online relationships, and naturally, we felt compelled to incorporate gaming elements as well.

In simple terms, the team led by Nic at Sumo Digital is exceptionally skilled at handling diverse aspects of gameplay design. They’ve been a joy to collaborate with on Caliber Chicks and also on reimagining some classic run-and-gun games!

Ford deemed run-and-gun as one of the most significant sub-genres during that period, drawing a parallel between Caliber Chicks and popular games like Contra and Gunstar Heroes. Cusworth further noted that the minigame closely resembles classic arcade games in structure, featuring a main loop lasting approximately 15 minutes, distributed across three extensive and diverse levels. However, he also hinted at an unexpected twist: “incidents that push you back to the game’s start – but this time, things aren’t quite the same,” introducing a distinct aspect.

Building Caliber Chicks For The Era

The Sumo Digital team made significant efforts to ensure that Caliber Chicks 2 aligns with the aesthetic style of Warframe 1999, drawing inspiration from key sources they had previously mentioned. Cusworth explained in detail how Sumo Digital approached this challenge, discussing the steps taken to accurately replicate the visual characteristics of the era.

To be truthful, our enthusiasm got the best of us when it came to the game’s introduction. We concocted an extensive backstory not just for the game itself, but also for the fictional company responsible for its creation. Our aim was to create something that appeared genuine and fitting for the era. We opted for a 1995 setting, despite the fact that the 1999 update actually took place in 1999. The reasoning behind this decision was that 3D games were becoming increasingly popular in arcades by 1999, and we wanted to design a classic game that had been around for four years, still attracting players with its charm and appeal.

Cusworth went into detail about how they tailored Caliber Chicks to suit the atmosphere of Warframe: 1999. He explained that since Rebecca has a fondness for British culture, this served as inspiration, prompting them to delve into the late ’90s British cultural scene when designing the minigame. The Prodigy, Meat Beat Manifesto, and Chemical Brothers were cited by Cusworth as significant influences during this process.

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2024-12-13 14:53