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The Scrying Eye Ii–An Exploration Into The Manifold Influences On Warframe

(PSN)MoRockaPDX

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(PSN)MoRockaPDX

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The Scrying Eye II–An Exploration Into The Manifold Influences On Warframe

 
Thematic Origins 
 
“A big single player console game that was super, ultra, hardcore sci-fi, Canadian manga-style,” said Sinclair, “with energy tentacles coming out of people’s heads and giant robots that had organic limbs and Metal Gear Solid-esque stealth suits and telekinesis and crazy, crazy stuff like that, all sort of riffing off of a Dune [and] Metal Gear vibe.” –Steve Sinclair, Creative Director @Digital Extremes
 
  That was the description for the planned Dark Sector game, somewhere between 2002-2004, and that quote in a big window into the creative mindset. A game that has taken a great many years to become, Warframe.
 
  Welcome to the second chapter is the Scrying Eye, an exploration into the myriad influences on the development of the popular, third-person action MMO/RPG game for PC, PS4, and XBOX1. Everthing I discuss is from an outsiders perspective, as the only communication I have ever had directly with a member of DE was me begging for a job from Rebecca Ford(DERebecca).
 
  Going back to the quote above, parsing is down Steve Sinclair ([DE]Steve) mentioned four to five different influence sources. Three specific ones are, “super, ultra, hardcore sci-fi, Canadian manga-style.” So, histrionics aside, and you would understand if you have seen an interview with [DE]Steve–he is a man of great and genuine energy and excitement–The influence is Canadian skewed sci-fi with some manga thrown in there. What makes it Canadian and what makes it super, hardcore, ultra, is debatable, but today in a world of serialized mega-Marvel-Movie Franchises, it is not so extreme or niche. This is good for Warframe, I imagine, because more people are ready for a game that has these themes running through it. 
  The Manga part makes me think of nearly a hundred different animes and mangas I am aware of. I can say at the very least that the words, Guyver have been said by the dev’s in relation to the Warframes and Gundam, maybe even Macross/Robotech, in relation to Archwing. I can only imagine Ghost in the Shell, Akira, M.D. Geist, and a zillion other incredible examples are bouncing around in the dev's collections. 
  The Guyver deserves special attention, because it is such a clear parallel. Biotechnological war-suits of incredible power worn by human beings. The Guyver is very much a Warframe precursor in conceptional terms. The energy tentacles and giant robots, never seemed to exactly materialize, unless you look at the Dark Sector Demo and count the big robot toward the end, and maybe the big robots in the game. But, those are small fries in most manga/anime. So, hard to say. The tentacles only ever showed up in the boss fight at the end of Dark Sector, and I don’t know, Hydroid today? They could be a reference to the weird and strange, and that alludes to my previous article, all about that Lovecraftian shadow. But, its hard to read too much from these broad strokes and draw exact parallel, especially when the game took so long to develop and changed so much. Lets move on.
 
METAL! GEAR! SOLID!
 
  I will probably come back to the manga anime influences in later posts, but for now lets move onto Metal Gear Solid. A natural progression form manga/anime is a Japanese game, MGS is the fevered dream child of Hideo Kojima and Western military/spy movies. It features old, contemporary, and fictional military/spy technology, with painstaking detail, and has plot and themes that vacillate from grounded existential commentary, to brain melting wackiness. And it does so, arguably better than most of the material Hideo says he is inspired by. 
  Lets cite some very obvious examples of MGS references. MOA’s have a clear familiarity to the MGS4 Gekko Drones. The Grey Fox/Ninja and  Raiden ninja form also have pretty clear markers on Warframe. 
  I can almost see how Dark Sector wanted to be a stealth game, but didn't really get there. It has lean/cover mechanics, but was very stealth light, until you could turn invisible. Aside from the glaive I don’t think there are any silent weapons, though I could be remembering wrong. So, A stealth game it did not become. And that is understandable as the pressure to make a war game bubbles through. The large set piece fight with the soldiers, Hayden Tenno, and the Ape Beast on the piers is a good example, as is the boat deck, and the winding path to the end game via the Jackal bot.
  It’s probably a stretch but I would say the exclamation, verbally, that Grineer and Corpus soldiers make when they first spot a Tenno is on the level of MGS.
 
The Thematic Disruption Of Dark Sector (The Published Version)
 
 Dark Sector abandoned its original concept of being a spiritual successor to Unreal Tournament somewhere around 2000-2002. Then it was, I imagine a Unreal Tournament, but in outer space with bounty hunting, based on descriptions (Giant Bomb, Closing Digital Extremes’ Psychic Wound). 
  Development, moved into the hands of [DE]Steve, changing into something more akin to the existing Warframe. Puzzling out how much of the current version and original design document are the same is difficult. 
 
“Even in its early state, Warframe has sailed passed the original design document that formed the foundation of Dark Sector in 2004. It’s still very much that game, though, and making sure it’s a success is hugely important to the development team.” – Patrick Klepek, Giant Bomb article, Closing Digital Extremes’ Psychic Wound, Feb 19th 2013
 
Coupled by this,
 
“It's really, really close,” said Sinclair. “The timeframe, the enemies. [...] It is very much that [ game], but the major difference is it is not a single player, linear, narrative experience. That's the major difference, but in terms of lore, in terms of the enemies, in terms of the abilities, the powers, how the power suits that we call warframes work--that is all from those original ideas.”
–Steve Sinclair, via Giant Bomb
 
 
My picture of how and when exactly things played out since the initial Dark Sector development to today Warframe is not clear. I am doing more and more digging and hope to make another topic or series on the subject.
 
DUNE
 
  Frank Herbert’s, Dune is considered a science fiction classic. It has surprisingly come up a lot recently. Not surprisingly because, DE is a fan of Dune, or at least the core creatives are. The shields have been compared to that of the shields in Dune. The exactness of the comparison is dubious to me, as I don’t personally think they behave too similar, but rather more like traditional shields. I do however get the vibe feel, that [DE]Steve was talking about in the first quote at the top. In Dune there is a rare resource called the Spice. It can grant incredible powers, and in sufficient quantity it can change a person, if it doesn’t kill them first. The powers of the spice evoke a connection to the universe, and possibly another dimension, and permeates everything. This kind of cosmic awesomeness deserves attention, because I give a lot, maybe too much, credit to H.P. Lovecraft. Ignoring how much Lovecraft, Frank Herbert may have read, Dune has a powerful way of describing otherworldly weirdness. I personally feel the recreation of this atmosphere is one of the greatest reasons I love Warframe. Bonus points to anyone you has watched Jodorowsky's dune. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1935156/
 
Conclusion
 
  I don’t know, so much of this has been about the thematic feel. And I feel that there is so much more that could be said about it. Maybe with some community discussion I can form some new thoughts on the matter and post a part two on the thematic origins of Warframe.
 
References
 
Patrick Klepek, Giant Bomb article(web), Closing Digital Extremes’ Psychic Wound, Feb 19th 2013
Edited by (PS4)MoRockaPDX
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