Interview: Bo Andersson Talks Payday: The Heist

Its no secret that I am openly excited for PS3‘s co-op FPS, Payday: The Heist. The Left 4 Dead-style 4-player shooter takes place within the confines of various “heist” scenarios and allows 4 friends to murder and steal from banks. I think I speak for us all when I say FINALLY.

Recently we reached out to Bo Andersson, Executive Producer with the developer of Payday, OVERKILL. He allowed to ask a few questions so I could enlighten our readers on why they need to play Payday: The Heist. Here’s what was said:

The first thing a lot of us thought when we saw footage of The Heist was that it shares a striking visual similarity to another shooter. What would you say to those remarks?

Thanks. I think it is inspired by quite a few. Some think Left 4 Dead – which is great as people who like to play that sure will find the same dynamic type of gameplay in here. As for focus on co-op I think we draw inspiration from L4D but remember this is the core team that made Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 1 and 2 for the PC – we know our co-op since then. In GRAW we had you play 4 player squad tactics in co-op through the full single player scenario. GRAW was very hardcore of course but it taught us how to build missions and network code for a game like PAYDAY.

Due to the game’s subject matter it has a bigger focus on strategy than running in “guns a blazin.” What has been done to encourage players to play at the pace you wanted?

You can do both! The scenario will adapt to you. If you go in more clandestine –take out cameras – tie hostages down and so on the police will not be as aggressive and foremost not able to attack you from blind spots. If you go in gun blazing the will try to stop you faster and they will be more eager to steal your hostages (who are your extra lives when it comes to trading later on). On top of that the geometry can change in the level depending on your actions. Trucks might stop in different places, doors may get shut if you rush in and so on. You actions stealth or force affects the scenario.

With 6 levels and down loadable content on the way soon after what has been done to increase replay value?

All of the above. On top of that we have four different difficulties where the scenarios act a bit different and the AI is way more challenging from on difficulty to the other. The behavior of some special units also change from time to time. For example sometimes riot shields might settle for basic combat on easy normal difficulty while on hard or OVERKILL they block off corridors in attempts to lock you down.

Add to that a leveling up system that has 146 upgrades to your guns and your gadgets. These level ups are visible in game and you really need to reach higher levels to be able to cope with the hard and OVERKILL difficulty.

Last but not least you have the Challenge system. This is a system of challenges that gives you more money during the heist (and with more money you get new upgrades). One challenge for example is to not let any police force touch the roof of the apartment you are heisting and pulling a panic room from as you might have seen from videos online. That one is HARD, but using trip mines in 4 player co-op is a tip.

In total there are over two hundred challenges. Some of them are tied to Steam Achievements and PS3 Trophies.

Not all of us have 3 friends to play with all the time so some of us will be getting very familiar with the A.I. Be honest with us here; Are the NPC’s going to get me killed?

No we did years of developing AI for your team mates. GRAW 1 and 2 was a good testing ground for this and for PAYDAY we took it to new heights. The PAYDAY AI is better at getting you protected and back up if you get downed than your average player. Instead of building an AI that behaved “realistic” we aimed at building an AI that behaves as a player. This has been very successful and it is quite often you mix up who is played by AI and who is played by real players on line. I enjoy playing with team AI a lot. The great thing is that we kept the interaction simple. You can call them over to come with you or help you up if revived. They will react to that and to what is happening in the scenario. You will not order them around a lot to get to certain positions etc – so no baby sitting at all. Will they screw up? Yes of course – they are only “human” and a lot depends on their skill level of course. If you really want to make it hard for yourself you can also chose to go in solo. But you need to know what you are doing. Solo on OVERKILL in the SLAUGHTERHOUSE Heist – no one has made that so far, no one.

Payday: The Heist is set to be released later this month and will be a PSN exlcusive. Take that Xbox, with your Gears of War nonsense.

Thanks again to Bo Andersson for taking the time to talk to us and be sure to check back here soon for a full review of the game.